Chapters "Let's go! Let's go! Those gems ain't gonna mine themselves!" said the booming voice of Land Mine. "We gotta hustle 'em over to the Canterlot Trading Post! This low in the ground can make us richer than some filthy rich pony!"
"We're trying our best! There may not be any gems at these depths!" one of the team members replied.
"I don't care! Do you wanna be filthy, or do you wanna be wealthy?!" Land Mine said.
The miner ponies carried on. They had been digging for several hours (with lunch breaks in between), digging nonstop for more and more gems, small and big, for profit. They were all in poverty, and gem mining was their profession. They were all unicorns, and they all complained at how long it was taking each batch of gems, usually 10 minutes apiece.
Suddenly a wall gave way. "Wwaahhh- Oof!" one of them said. He had dug into a strange tomb that hadn't looked like it'd been used ever since the birth of the two princesses, Luna and Celestia. Inside was a clock that appeared to be... Working? Impossible, they thought. Nothing this old could've been working for this long. Perhaps it was recently moved here? Again, impossible. It looked as old as the tomb itself.
"No way. This has gotta be a joke," Land Mine said. "Seriously. You'd think it'd be gone by erosion. But, either way, this little puppy should be worth royalties! WOOHOO!!! Come on, boys! Let's get to work!"
However, at the slightest touch of a pickaxe, the whole ceiling above them came crashing down, crushing the three miners. Their bodies were later found a whole year later. Explorers examined the clock, surprisingly 100% intact.
2 minutes...
Several scientists say that when the clock strikes midnight, Equestria's fate shall be sealed, and thaat no one, not even Princess Celestia, would be able to stop it.
At least, that's what they thought...
Author's Note
Trying my hand at another story, this time entirely made up by me.
Chapter 1: Enter the Doctor
5 years after the mine incident, a beige pony was setting up to go to work for the day. He had a flowing brown mane and tail. His cutie mark: an hourglass. He worked weekly at a clock store, and though his real name was Time Turner, his preferred name (and pretty much what other ponies call him) was Doctor Whooves. He was always so intrigued by the story of the clock in the Griffon Mines, which he had dubbed the Doomsday Clock. He always believed that that clock had counted down till the Equestrian Apocalypse. Though, no one believed the good Doctor, despite his unmatched knowledge on time and clocks. They always told him that Equestria was eternal, or that it would take until long, long after the princess's life was over for Equestria to show signs of death. I guess that the Doomsday Clock has since faded into legend, he thought to himself. After a nice, hearty breakfast, he headed off to work, but not without seeing his favorite mare first.
He knocked on the door. A mare with a light gray coat and a mane and tail of yellow answered the door. She had exotropia, something Whooves got over long ago.
"Good morning, Derpy! How are you today?" he asked.
"Oh, y'know, the usual," she answered. "Hey! Did you know that clock everypony used to talk about now isn't talked about at all?"
"Yep... Definitely noticed..." Whooves answered. "Well, I'd best be going! Those clocks aren't gonna wind themselves! I'll see you this afternoon!"
"Okay. Bye!" Derpy replied.
It was the same old casual day at work: go around Ponyville, wind up clocks, fix them, if they're broken, same old, same old. Even so, Dr. Whooves loved every minute of it. He loved clocks to death. When he returned to his office at the Ponyville Time Center, his usual smile turned into a concerned frown.
"Those readings... There's no way that can be right!" he said.
"Somethin' goin' on, Whooves?" his boss asked as he walked around.
"Yeah... Look at these readings! They show that the supervolcano underneath the Griffon Tombs is bound to explode real soon! I can't say for sure when it'll happen, but the probability is at 75% chance! Something tells me that Ponyville- No, Equestria should be put on alert," Whooves asserted.
"Whooves... Meet me in my office later. You're not in trouble. Just some advisories," his boss replied, and walked away.
Author's Note
I'm not a fan of Doctor Who, by the way.
Wanted to get the first two chapters established so that way you guys can read something before I make the rest. HOPEFULLY, this'll be updated at a more steady pace than "The Outsiders".
Chapter 3: The Nightmare Begins
After a whole day taking notes of the changing landscape he once knew as the beautiful, perfect Equestria, Dr. Whooves went back to his house. After a hearty dinner, he decided to go to sleep for the night. He could swear he felt and heard tremors coming from below his house, and it kept him from sleeping. After about 10 minutes of worry and concern, he finally managed to work up enough courage to go to sleep.
In his dream, he saw what would become of the once breathtaking land of Equestria. He saw families torn apart, whole buildings collapse into sinkholes, whole ponies crushed with crimson liquid spewing out from underneath the boulders. Innocent mares and fillies. Completely flattened by death rocks. The main river that ran through his home was completely red with blood, much like the color of the sky at this time in his nightmare. Everything he saw completely horrified and petrified the good Doctor. But what internally killed him the most was seeing his beloved Derpy Hooves crushed right before his very eyes...
"No!!! NO!!!! PLEASE, NO!!!!!!!! WHY, CELESTIA, WHY!!!!!!! WHY MUST THIS HORRIBLE CATASTROPHE COME ABOUT?!!!!!!" he screamed. In seconds of his cry, his dream self was crushed by a boulder. His perspective then changed into an overview of what was once Ponyville, and then showed Equestria and the whole world spewing with lava. The once lush, green world that he called home was now brown as dirt, with glowing orange liquid gushing everywhere. After a few seconds of looking at this horrible image, a bright light clouded his perspective...
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Dr. Whooves screamed as he woke up from this horrific nightmare.
"Thank Celestia that was merely a nightmare. But... It seemed to be more like a... A vision or something..." he said to no one in particular. He went downstairs and got a glass of water. It tasted just fine.
"No sulfur dioxide has polluted our freshwater supply, thankfully," he said. Whooves studied volcanoes quite a bit in school in case something like this could happen. It was also the reason why he could easily calculate the reading from earlier that day. He checked a clock. 4:00 a.m. He decided it'd be wise to go back to sleep for the night. This time, he left his light on...
Author's Note
This chapter was mainly to further emphasize how ridiculously serious the situation is. This very chapter was also the reason why I decided to a "gore" tag on this. Mother of God, that was violent, right?
Chapter 4: It Can Be Stopped
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.
The train ride to Canterlot was nothing special, aside from the looks on Dr. Whooves and his boss's faces. Even up there, gossip about rumbles and hotter conditions were not uncommon. Even though Whooves was quite hungry, and Joe's Donut Shop was in the area of the castle, the safety of Equestria came first. It took no more than 10 minutes, but after a few misfires in their navigation of the castle, Whooves and his boss arrived in the throne room. Celestia was there.
"What brings you two here?" the princess asked.
"Your Highness, we suggest you take a look at these readings. They appear to show a critical condition below Ponyville. We ask that a meeting of everyone in Equestria be called. This problem is way more than deadly, and may be the cause of the hotter conditions and tremors," Dr. Whooves said.
"There is a supervolcano beneath Ponyville?!" the princess said, quite clearly startled.
"One big enough to destroy everything that makes Equestria what it is," Whooves's boss added.
Princess Celestia thought for a moment before speaking. "Very well. A meeting will be held in 20 minutes," she finally said.
"How much time do we have?" said one pony.
"Is this it?" said another.
The whole population of Equestria was buzzing with questions. Everyone had many questions and were panicking.
"Everypony calm down, calm down," Whooves's boss said.
"HOW CAN WE BE CALM AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" some ponies shouted.
"Everypony, we just wanted to say that we have no idea when that mountain's gonna blow, but we do know that nowhere is safe, and tha-" Whooves's words were cut off from minor tremors. Nopony was paying attention at this point. However, the Griffon Mines told a different story...
Midnight...
Everypony in Canterlot was shook by a gigantic earthquake. Suddenly, there were screams all around, almost to the point of deafening some. Whooves took a look outside, and the view was the very opposite of pleasant. His nightmare would finally come true.
Lava was erupting out everywhere from underneath Ponyville, and even the mountains off in the distance were blowing up. Whooves ran from his spot, as lava rocks were raining down. His boss followed close behind. Some pegasi decided to fly back to Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus, but the two cities were drenched by lava. Derpy flew up to Whooves and joined him.
"Whooves, what's happening?!" she asked, panicked.
"Our worst fear," he answered.
"Whooves, what're we gonna do?" Whooves's boss asked.
"I think I know how to stop and reverse all this devastation and chaos! We gotta get down to those mines!" Whooves responded, as they narrowly escaped death and ran out of Canterlot.
"So, boss, you wanted to see me?" Dr. Whooves said as he stepped into his boss's office.
"Yes. Whooves, I understand you have supreme knowledge on clocks and time and stuff like that, but putting a whole nation on alert of an eruption is serious business. If Dante's Little Inferno down there is gonna erupt, perhaps there would be signs, but, there are none so far. Putting a whole nation on alert, and the mountain doesn't erupt... That's not gonna look good on you. It really isn't. Ponies will look at you and question your knowledge on this stuff," his boss implied.
"Yes, but the readings-" Whooves tried to explain.
"I understand you know what those readings said, but you said the probability was 75%. What if the other 25% happens? I was just like you when that legend was first established, but I put a small town, Appleloosa to be exact, on alert, and nothing happened. Everypony looked at me like I was a fool. I don't want that on you, okay? Plus, it'll be bad for business. So just get out there and do your work, alright?" his boss responded.
"Okay, boss," Whooves replied, and walked out of the office.
The rest of Dr. Whooves's work day went by smoothly. Same old, same old. However, when he went outside, he felt hotter, and other ponies started to feel that way, too. Some were even talking about it. "Celestia must thought it was too cold down here," some of them joked.
"Why's it so dang hot out here?" Whooves questioned. He decided to inform Derpy of this.
"Derpy? Derpy, it's me. Open up," Dr. Whooves said as he knocked on Derpy's door.
"What's up, Doc?" Derpy answered.
"Do you think it's gotten... Hotter outside lately?" he asked.
"Now that I think about it... It has!" she replied.
"Do you think Ponyville or Equestria should be put on alert? My readings earlier showed a 75% chance of the volcano beneath the Griffon Mines giving an explosion of hellfire and death, and I think that it has to do with the Doomsday Clock. Maybe it's now close to midnight..." Whooves implied.
"I dunno, Whooves... Putting a whole country on alert seems like seriously huge business... If there are even more events like this, maybe, just maybe, there should be some notice," Derpy replied.
"Okay. Thanks, Derpy," Dr. Whooves replied, and walked away.
As he was walking home, Dr. Whooves noticed that birds were flying away from the vicinity of Ponyville, and lots of them. Clearly, this was not their migratory pattern, nor was it their migratory season. That's odd, he thought.
"Is it...? No. No, it can't be... Maybe they're a new breed," he murmured.
Author's Note
Yay, Looney Tunes reference!
Yes, I am aware that my chapters are usually short! I dunno why, but it still works.
Right?
