Dr. Whooves woke up the next morning, still tired from his somewhat lack of sleep. He was getting ready to go to work when he glanced out his window. There were trees that looked dead, and the sky was somewhat more of an eerie shade of very, very light brown. Whooves's heart was racing at this point, and there was suddenly a knock on his door. He got out of his trance of confusion and concern and walked towards the door. He opened it and his boss was standing at the threshold with Whooves's work monitor.

"Hey, Whooves. I just came to say that you were right and I was wrong. I looked at this monitor again before opening up work for the day, and what I saw nearly horrified me. I think that volcanic eruption will happen in mere hours, hence the dead trees and eerie sky, and I think that all this has something to do with that clock. Do you know how the legend goes?" his boss said.

"Yeah. I know it by heart. Apparently, upon investigations done 3 years ago, there is, as you can imagine, a prophecy... Sort of. It's said that the clock has magic powers, and that the volcano underneath it has been extinct ever since Equestria first formed. However, that clock has the power to wake it up again. Because the volcano is buried under all that rock, there won't just be an eruption, but a huge explosion. One powerful enough to destroy the planet," Dr. Whooves implied.

"Perfect. Just what we need! All this prosperity, and we're gonna be crispier than toast in a few hours!" his boss asserted.

"But,-"

"But?"

"The legend also states that all this can be stopped and reversed if the clock is destroyed. However, the destroyer of the clock... May cease to exist..."

"Well, what about Equestria's deadline? Will it end through natural means? Like, meteor impact or something tons of years from now?" his boss asked.

"Yes," Whooves answered.

"But that clock is virtually indestructible! How will it break?"

"Only through an explosion. I've been saving a large dynamite stick for really bad emergencies such as this."

"But like you said, Whooves, the destroyer may cease to exist. Does that mean...?"

"Yes, I am willing to lay down my own life to save the lives of countless citizens. Come on, Equestria needs to know this," Whooves said, and escorted him and his boss to Canterlot.

Author's Note

Y'know, upon looking back on my work in this story, I see a lot of references to Dante's Peak. That movie was good.