Melody slowly lifted herself out from under the bed, once she was sure the other mare in the house had gone to bed. She wriggled out, leaving her suitcase, and standing up, giving her wings a soft shake to smooth the ruffled feathers. She trotted to the door, reaching a hoof out and twisting the knob, wincing at the metallic, 'POP!' that the lock produced. She stood stock-still for a couple of seconds, her ears flicking up as she concentrated on making sure no one had woken up from the sound. After the robe-clad mare was absolutely sure that the other mare in the household was still asleep, she crept into the hallway. She descended the stairs like a ninja, not daring to make a sound, seemingly having done this before. She trotted to the window sill in the kitchen, peeking out and grinning as the sun began to rise over the skyline of a small city.

"Ahhhh... Trotston.. never get's old." she sighed happily, glancing over along the skyline to see the shimmering tides of the ocean, reflecting the light from the golden-orange sun. It was a small port city, the ships simply black outlines as the sun, taking its time, rose over the city. Melody simply relaxed, watching it to its completion, the hovering, fiery ball now casting a glare of light over the nearby boardwalk, the water, and city, revealing their pure colors, mostly blues and whites. She suddenly jumped up as she spotted a very familiar mare seemingly fall out of nowhere, simply popping into existence over the boardwalk and slamming into it. The mare wore a red robe and had an orangish mane.

Melody laid on the floor of the basement in the house, the same one she had fallen into. Four hours had passed since she had seen herself, and she was waiting for her to show up. Finally, she heard some scrambling of hooves as a pony, seemingly a mare by the weight of their hoof-steps, sprinted into the house, followed by another. Had she not heard the mare in the house leave? Maybe not. Perhaps she had fallen asleep... How long had she been out? She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and slowly crept up the stairs, pressing her ear against the shut basement door. The sound of arguing could be heard between herself, and the home's occupant.

"HEY! I JUST SAVED YOUR ASS!" Past!Melody shouted, a hint of anger in her voice. "The least you could do is let me stay here and work on my research for a couple of days."

"No, the LEAST I could do is let you sit at the table and drink tea for 0.01 seconds, before booting you out the door." A mare, seemingly older by the sound of her voice, replied to Past!Melody.

"Ok, fine, that's a fair point, sorry for getting angry." Past!Melody sighed, rolling her eyes and taking a couple hoof-steps toward the other mare. "BUT! Aren't you the least bit thankful? C'mon, those guys were going to catch you if I hadn't stepped in. And why were they after you in the first place? You seem to have an odd obsession with clocks, but, other than that.." She trailed off.

Present!Melody slowly leaned forward and opened the door, very slightly, to catch a look at the scene going down in the kitchen. Her gaze was met with a tall, thin, and stunning mare. Her coat was clean and kept, as was her long, flowing tail and mane. Golden chains wrapped around her left front hoof, a small clock attached to one of them. Her tail drooled almost to the ground, a watch tied around at the base, golden chains mixed in with it. They strung themselves up her tail, ending at her base. The same phenomenon continued in her mane, the long strings of hair intertwined with golden chains, and finished with a watch wrapped near the bottom of the flowy, white sheet. Her ears were rather fluffy near their bases, an earring attached to both, one very tiny clock per ear. She had a small spiral design near the bottom left of the eye that she could see, the mysterious pony INDEED having some kind of obsession with clocks.

"Will you at least tell me your name? You look more coocoo than a--" Past!Melody cut off, stopping herself before she made the joke. "I mean, really, will you at least tell me your name? That really IS the least you could do." She frowned, raising an eyebrow and thumping the other mare's chest with a hoof.

"Ugh, don't touch me. Fine.. It's Steel, Steel Gear. Yeah, haha, I know. I like clocks, gimme a fucking break, alright?" Steel growled, rolling her eyes and turning slightly. Present!Melody narrowed her eyes at the cutiemark on the mare's rump, which was, unsurprisingly, a yellow framed clock, pointing to the time, 6:30. She gave a soft sigh, reaching into her robe and patting it down for the dagger, a look of fear filling her eyes as she realized she had left it in her suitcase. She bit her lip, slowly backing down the stairs and into the farthest corner of the basement, muffled voices arguing as she pressed herself as flat as possible. A solid thirty minutes passed before Steel trotted down the stairs, flicking on the light. Melody bit her lip, making herself as small as possible as she began to creep toward the door, Melody now noticing some things about the well-lit room. On the wall across from the door, there was a picture of what seemed to be a pirate crew, which Steel was inspecting now. There was also an overturned chair near the picture and several wilted roses.

As Melody hurried up the stairs, having narrowly avoided Steel, and somehow staying out of her earshot as she bolted upstairs, hoping to reach her suitcase before Past!Melody got too bored sleeping in the room upstairs that she had invaded. As she made it to the upstairs hallway, she slowly opened the door, widening her eyes as she was met with a Melody who was wide awake, and going through a blue suitcase, who had, in fact, turned to see who had opened the door. Past!Melody and Present!Melody locked eyes, a heavy silence covering the room, the tensity of the situation so thick you couldn't cut it with a saw blade. Past!Melody took a hard swallow, grabbing the dagger out of the suitcase, and turning toward Present!Melody.

"Who... are you..?" She growls, stepping toward Present!Melody, the knife held at length, and toward the stone faced mare.

"I'm you. From the future." Present!Melody says, taking the advantage of the distracted Past!Melody to give her a hard buck to the face with her front hoof, Past!Melody reeling back as Present!Melody grabs the knife out of her hoof, immediately going for the throat. Past!Melody screams, struggling as Present!Melody tackles her, one hoof holding Past!Melody down, the other struggling with the mare as she attempts to slit her throat, Past!Melody putting up quite the fight.

"GET OFF ME YOU CRAZY BITCH!! IF YOU KILL ME, YOU'LL DIE TOO--" Past!Melody attempted to say, her shout cut off by a gurgle as the blood began to pour from her throat, Present!Melody having won the shoving match. She stood up, panting, hooves soaked in blood from the quickly growing pool surrounding the Past!Melody.

"Yeah, already got that one figured out, don't worry. I'm sorry, but... This isn't the first time I've had to do this. Just close your eyes, you'll be with Golden soon." She sighed, as the life slowly slipped from Past!Melody's eyes, tears forming as she desperately struggled to crawl toward the door, dropping flat and giving one more hard spasm, the scent of urine filling the room as her robe turned a darker shade of red near her rump. Present!Melody gulped hard, this situation never getting easier the times she's had to do it. "I'm sorry, me. It was necessary. All for the greater good."

She rooted through Melody's robe, gritting her teeth as she attempted not to cover herself in more blood, or.. other, bodily fluids, gulping hard and placing a journal, and a potion bottle filled with blue liquid. Her eyes lit up as she tugged a short oak wood wand out of the mare's robe pocket, grinning widely and stuffing it in her own robe, her job almost finished.

"Sorry hun, it's a watery grave for you. Can't risk Steel finding you." She sighed, hefting Past!Melody over her shoulder, and carrying her downstairs, knowing full well that Steel wouldn't be out of the basement for a good 45 minutes. She trotted outside through the door at the end of the hallway adjoined with the staircase, making her way to the end of the boardwalk, tugging the corpse of Past!Melody behind her. As she reached the very end of the wooden platform, she frowned, closing Past!Melody's lifeless and gaping eyes, and shoving her over the edge with a sharp kick to the side, watching her form sink to the bottom, wearing an emotionless expression as it disappeared into the blackness below the surface of the murky water, the moonlight catching one last glimpse of the body as it sank, Melody turning away and trotting back up the boardwalk.

Author's Note

Wew.. things got serious this chapter. Sorry, Past!Melody, but it's finders keepers. The stakes are much higher than you know. But.. from whose perspective? Steel Gear belongs to SmiifKoqla.