The alarm clock that had been ticking away to itself happily for hours on the bedside vanity suddenly rang with a shrill staccato causing the amorphous entity under the rumpled and misaligned duvet to stretch out a hoof, swiping it down aimlessly in the vain hope of finding the OFF button.
The hoof missed and swung down through empty air, the alarm continuing its shrill persistence causing the hoof to relocate slightly to one side and swipe down again, still with no result. It also missed on its third try, and at the fourth attempt it clipped the corner of the vanity causing its owner to shout out an arcane curse before the duvet was pulled back to reveal a rather grumpy dark blue Princess staring venomously at the clock with a look that met all the requirements of hatred and contempt concurrently.
While she nursed her right forehoof that had made contact with the bedside vanity, she brought down her left forehoof with frightening precision towards the OFF button, an act borne of the anger that its impertinence had caused her. A vindictive smile spread across her muzzle as her forehoof made contact and cancelled the ringing, but the gratuitous momentum behind her downward swipe continued into the device causing it to crumple into a random collection of misshapen parts, some of which clattered unceremoniously like a clockwork avalanche onto the floor.
The alarm mechanism, now in a shape never foreseen in the designer’s worst nightmares continued to click erratically as the clockwork spring wound down and the striker waved in empty air. She was going to need another alarm clock; the fifth this week.
She would get along with alarm clocks better, she reasoned, if they didn’t keep going off when it reached the best parts of her dreams. They deserved what they got.
She climbed out of bed; one foreleg then the other; then the hind leg. The hind leg felt the resistance of the misaligned duvet and snagged. Had the duvet not learned anything from witnessing the fate of the alarm clock that had openly mocked her? She wasn’t going to take this from the duvet so pulled extra hard to extricate her leg and tripped out of bed with her hind leg still ensnared firmly.
Luna fell onto the bedroom floor and yanked her legs free of the misbehaving duvet, finally climbing onto her hooves and sprang, turning to face her adversary, where it lay in its deceptive snuggliness half on the bed, half on the floor and braced her forelegs, pointing her horn vengefully at it.
Her eyes narrowed to slits as blue sparks started to fizz around her horn and she took aim.
Time stopped for the duvet as it considered its future in oblivion for its heinous crimes, then the alicorn that was its judge, jury and executioner paused, sparks flying angrily. Instead of a stream of purest magical energy from the massed powers of darkness that its owner controlled, the horn dulled, the executioner raised her head haughtily and turned away to flounce off into the bathroom. She had vaporised two duvets already this week and a fleeting flash of sanity had forced its way into her mind to prod her conscience just in time to issue a reprieve; the previous duvets had learned nothing from their punishment, so the chances were this one wouldn’t either.
She harrumphed as she set about preparing herself for the night ahead, determined not to look at the remains of the misbehaving alarm clock or its partner in crime, the innocent looking duvet. Oh, how those sweet looks were deceptive, but there was no doubting the malice that lay underneath its seductive facade. She told herself not to look at it, but still flashed it the occasional glance in the mirror to see if it was still there and prepared to show any remorse for its actions, but it had just lain there.
“You’re a good actor” she thought, seething inwardly “But I can see through your charade. Just wait; one hoof out of line and you will be vaporised; or worse!”
Luna finished preparing herself for the night ahead and tried to cast from her mind the ridiculous thoughts she had harboured about a conspiracy between her alarm clock and the duvet. Now she stopped to think it through, it was an utterly foalish notion. She just needed to get to bed a bit earlier and have a soothing drink to stop her being so restless, then everything would be alright again.
Luna strode out in a confident and rational state of mind to conduct her duties, laughing inwardly at her own stupidity for letting such small matters wind her up; she was a Princess, for Celestia’s sake, and ought to have known better.
The maids came into Luna’s bedroom and surveyed the scene; another alarm clock in pieces. Fortunately, they had become accustomed to carrying a spare with them every evening to return their mistress’s bedroom to its required standard, and set about recovering all the little pieces of broken clockwork mechanism from the floor before remaking the bed.
They carried out their duty diligently, wondering at the pressures their mistress must have been under if she was prepared to do so much wanton damage to the soft furnishings in her own bedroom. At least they didn’t have to replace the duvet today ...
Once the maids had left and turned the lights off, the moon was riding high in the sky, shining its silvery beams through the windows into Luna’s bedroom.
“Hey clocky” said the duvet “Want to have some fun?”
“Yeah, OK” replied the new alarm clock “I’m up for it.”
“Tomorrow evening when the pony’s been asleep, I’ll get myself wrapped round her ankles, then give you a signal to ring as loud as you can, OK? Then just keep moving out the way when she tries to turn you off; it’s a real laugh. It gets even funnier when she trips and falls flat on her face!”
“Sounds fun. Is it safe?”
“Yeah; you’ll be fine …”
