The first thing that Lapis did when he got to Ponyville was to nearly slip into the gap in between the train and the station.
“Whoa there! Watch your step kid!” said the conductor, who was politely assisting the passengers in getting off. “Haven’t you ever been on a train before?”
“Well no, but I used to ride the subways almost every day in Manehattan.” Lapis explained, embarrassed. “There isn’t any gap in between the subway car and the concrete there, so I wasn’t planning on there being one here.”
“So, what brings you to town?” the conductor asked, smiling.
“I’m moving here.” Lapis replied.
“That’s great! You’ll love it here!” The conductor exclaimed. Why was this man being so nice to him? He must be planning to rob him. Or he was a colt-cuddler and was hitting on him.
“Well Ponyville’s a nice place. It has beautiful scenery, great school system…”
Wait, how old does he think I am? Lapis thought. Like, 40 and married with kids? I don’t look that bad!
“…Lots of good looking mares…”
Okay, he might not be gay.
“…and stallions, if you’re into that.”
Never mind.
“Well I got to get back to work. Nice to chat with ya!” He turned to help an old mare who was having trouble getting off of the train.
Strange, thought Lapis as he headed to the luggage cart to pick up his stuff. The young mare that was stationed there had already gotten his stuff out and had packed it neatly into the cart. Hopefully she hasn’t stolen anything, he thought as he went to her to claim his stuff.
“Are you Lapis?” she asked him, beaming.
“Yes ma’am, I am.” He answered.
“All right, I just need to check with the papers. You know, for safety and all that.” She explained. “I don’t know why I have to do it. I’ve been on this job for a year now, and no one’s ever tried to steal any luggage so far. I even asked my daddy, he’s the conductor you know, if anyone’s ever stolen any luggage on his train, and he said it’s never once has happened on his or his brother’s trains! It’s a waste of time if you ask me. People have other…”
“Um… can we get on with this?” Lapis interrupted. “I’ve got places I have to be.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” she apologized. Her yellow-orange face turned bright red in embarrassment as she played with her rose colored mane, which was tied into one big braid in the back. “I get off track sometimes. Anyway…” she looked down at the paper. “Let’s see here… unicorn… dark blue coat… white mane… green eyes… actually, your eyes look more emerald to me.”
“Huh?”
“Your eyes, they’re emerald, not…” she stopped herself. “Never mind.” Her face was redder than ever. “You’re all checked out and ready to go.”
Lapis pushed up his glasses. “Thank you.” He said. Why is she blushing so much? He wondered as he attached himself onto the reins to pull his barrow of belongings away.
He noticed that, although the train station wasn’t anywhere near as crowded as the subway stations in the Big Horse Apple, it somehow felt more alive and bustling. The ticket salesponies happily chatted up the travelers about where they were going, like they were family. Food vendors at all sides were making a fortune off of the hungry travelers that had just gotten off of the six hour train ride. The fragrant smells tempted Lapis as he passed their stands, making his stomach growl.
Just as he was about to leave the station, the young mare from before stopped him.
“Wait!” she exclaimed right before he opened the door.
“What is it?” Lapis inquired, wondering when, or if, he would ever get to his destination.
“You forgot something.” She replied. She was holding what appeared to be a piece of paper in her mouth. “I’ll just… um… put it in your cart.” She turned, stood on her hind legs and leaned on the cart with her front legs so that she could put the paper in to his barrow. Her cutie mark was a check list, but Lapis barely noticed that, even though he couldn’t help himself from looking in the same area. She got down off of his cart and turned to face him. “Well… um… bye!” she said, still blushing.
“Thank you. Good bye.” Lapis said. He turned and opened the door and went outside, lost in thought. Why was that girl acting so weird? He wondered. Why was she blushing so much? Could it be because she… liked me? No, that can’t be right. But what was that paper that she put into my barrow?
Suddenly, he became aware of his surroundings.
There was green everywhere! There were huge, towering trees on his left and right, only a few yards away from the dirt road. It had been a long time since he had seen trees that were of this magnitude. Central Park had nothing on this place. And a dirt road? Nowhere in Manehattan would you ever find that. There were only pony-made, rough, concrete roads there. The dirt road here felt soft and natural on his hooves. And the smell… oh, the smell. The urban nature of Manehattan prevented any smell of nature from getting in, so he didn’t usually get to smell these fragrances. His olfactory system was in heaven right now. Though, it unfortunately reminded him of the… harder times.
He stopped himself. Oh, no you don’t, Lapis, he told himself. This is a new start. Those times can’t touch you here. Don’t ever think about it again, okay?
He trudged on down the winding path. On each side of him were small houses, or cottages rather, that looked like they had been cut out of one of those old black and white photographs in a school-aged foal’s social studies text book, painted with colors so bright that they made Princess Celestia’s Sun look drab and dull, and pasted beside the road where Lapis was now. Occasionally he would pass one that had smoke coming out of the chimney, while others had an old pony fast asleep in a rocking chair on the porch, but most were empty. All the owners must be in town, then, he concluded. So where am I going to get directions? I mean, I don’t want to wake up any of those old ponies…
The answer to his predicament showed itself over the crest of the hill. ‘MS. CHEERILEE’S SCHOOL FOR YOUNG FILLIES AND COLTS,’ the sign read. The schoolhouse seemed to be old-fashioned like the rest of the buildings in the area. It was small, only a few rooms wide, and it even had a real bell tower that protruded up from the middle of the building. It was painted bright red with swirling, flowery designs on the sides. To the side of the building was an old-fashioned playground, complete with a slide, a swing set, a sand pit, monkey bars (wait, what?), and a see-saw. Lapis headed toward the building with some doubt. This building doesn’t look big enough to be a school, he thought. Even if it is, it couldn’t have more than one or two teachers. How small is this town, anyway?
He was close enough now to see that there were young schoolfoals still inside. They seemed to be hard at work making something out of paper mâchè, most likely a stereotypical baking soda volcano. The paste covered the room and was getting in some of the colt’s manes. I probably shouldn’t bother them until the school lets out, Lapis decided. What time is it any way?
He used his magic to levitate his (barely) portable clock out of his cart and held it in front of himself. The seemingly ancient, gold colored clock had belonged to his father, and was probably a family heirloom. Although, Lapis had never gotten the chance to ask about it before his father and mother… disappeared. Upon first glance, it seemed like a slightly oversized portable clock with a chain coming out of the top to go around a pony’s neck, like a necklace. However, if a pony inspected it more scrupulously, they would notice strange things about it. First off, according to every single watchmaker in Manehattan (there were a lot more than one would think), the clock kept perfect time. It was in perfect synchronization with the rotation of the planet, with the day to night clock in the bottom right corner perfectly corresponding with the raising and lowering of Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon, as if linked to the two alicorns themselves. The second strange thing about the clock was the stopwatch function. Although the rest of the watch worked extraordinarily well, the stopwatch button on the top didn’t work at all. And the red tick marks on the circumference of the clock that paired with the red needle which was for the stopwatch didn’t match up with the 60 tick marks on the inside of the white circle. Instead, there were 43 crimson marks lining the outside. The final peculiar thing about the watch was the inscription on the back. The mysterious symbols might have only looked like random shapes, but they were actually ancient Babyponian runes. Lapis had spent weeks during one summer at the local library translating it. It read, roughly: “This teller of time bestows upon worthy hooves the power to move about while time cannot for 43 of 60 parts of 60 parts of 24 parts of a day and night,” (this was a mouthful of a way to say 43 seconds).This explained the 43 red marks, but Lapis had assumed this was just nonsense or superstition. There was also another symbol below the inscription that translated to “Harmony.” The symbol was usually associated with the magical practices of that period. Oddly enough, this was the exact same symbol that had appeared on his flank when he was twelve.
Lapis quelled the memories that the watch stirred and checked the time. 2:59 and fifty five seconds. Fifty six seconds. Fifty seven. Fifty eight. Fifty nine…
Three o’clock.
The bell on top of the tower chimed, as if on cue. Perfectly synchronized with the watch. Nothing was ever perfectly synchronized with the watch. Nothing.
He would have thought about it more, but in an instant, Lapis was surrounded by hyperactive fillies and colts asking him questions at a million miles per hour.
“Who are you?”
“Where are you from?”
“Why are you pulling a cart? What’s in there?”
“I’m Sweetie Belle!”
“Do you know what a colt-cuddler is?”
“Um…. I… uh…” Lapis stammered, overwhelmed by all the curious foals surrounding him.
“Children, calm down please,” came a sweet, yet authoritive voice.
On the porch of the schoolhouse stood a mare with a cerise coat, a neatly combed pink-rose mane with a natural highlight, and harlequin-green eyes. The way she was able to grab the attention of the schoolfoals by using only her voice made it clear to Lapis exactly who she was.
“You must be Ms. Cheerilee,” he said, holding back his awe at her control. “Am I correct?”
“You are!” She answered. “And to whom am I talking to?”
“My name is Lapis Thyme,” Lapis answered. “I’m moving to Ponyville from Manehattan Island. I was wondering, do you know where the library is?”
“Of course I do!” She said, grinning widely. Her harlequin eyes lit up. Somehow Lapis knew that this meant she was planning something. “Are you an avid reader, Mr. Thyme?”
“Um… you could say that.” Lapis said. Truthfully, he loved to read. He had read everything from Daring Do to The Wonderful Science of Magic. He was such a regular at his local library that the librarian let him take as many books as he wanted! That might not have seemed like a big deal, but the librarian was so strict about the care of her books, she was known throughout his neighborhood as ‘The Book Nazi.’ She was known to banish people from her library for so much as dog-earing a single page. Though she was usually harsh, she had eventually warmed up, and Lapis regarded her as one of his only friends. One of his only friendships came from his love of books, so of course he was an avid reader.
“That’s great!” Cheerilee said, knocking Lapis out of his memories. “I have a good idea. Why don’t I have someone show you where the library is?”
A bunch of the foals raised their hooves in an attempt to volunteer.
Please don’t let one of the foals do it. Lapis thought.
Ms. Cheerilee giggled and shook her head. “No no no,” She said. “I was planning on somepony his age to show him around, children.”
Wait, who is she talking about?
Ms. Cheerilee turned and faced the inside of the school house. “Lily, could you come out here please?” She called.
“Yes, Ms. Cheerilee!” came a voice. A young mare came out from inside of the building. She was a unicorn with a coral pink coat, with a long, slightly disheveled mane, and lavender mist eyes that were slightly distorted by her cute hipster glasses. She looked him over curiously. Then she smiled and trotted down the steps to meet him. “And who are you?” she asked him as she held out her hoof for a hoofshake.
“Uh… my name is Lapis,” He managed to say. “I’m from Manehattan.”
“Nice to meet you!” she replied. “My name is Lily Hammer. But my friends just call me Lily!”
Some of the schoolfillies behind him started to giggle. Lapis was starting to sweat. Wow, she’s pretty, he thought. Keep it together, Lapis. Stop acting like an idiot. Say something!
“Lily,” said Ms. Cheerilee. “Lapis is moving here from the Big Horse Apple, and he’s looking for the library. You frequent there often, right? Could you show him there please?
“Of course!” she said, her eyes sparkling. “I’d be happy to! I’ll show you the town square… then the shopping center… then I’ll take you to meet my friends! They’ll love you!” Come on!” She started trotting off towards town.
“Okay…” Lapis mumbled as he turned himself and his cart around to follow. The schoolfillies behind him were still giggling as he left them behind. Lily’s cutie mark was a quill, but again, in typical colt fashion, he barely noticed that. But something was tugging at him in the back of his mind as he walked away from the schoolhouse with the pretty mare. I forgot something… but what? He pondered. But the Coral Pink unicorn interrupted his thought
“What does your cutie mark stand for?” she asked him. “I’ve never seen that symbol before?”
“Oh,” he said, shaking himself out of thought. “That’s the magic symbol for harmony. My talent is magic.”
“Awesome!” she exclaimed. “So is the librarian’s, Twilight Sparkle! I’m sure you two will get along just fine!”
Twilight Sparkle. That was the pony the Princess had told him to meet. So he was in the right town. If she was as powerful as the princess had told him, she was the pony he needed to teach him how to control… his power. The great power. The terrible power. The amazing power. The murderous, blood thirsty power.