Clink.
Click click click click.
Katekeclick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
‘Where am I?’
Tick.
‘What is that noise?’
Tick.
'Dear Celestia, everything hurts.' Taking a deep and painful breath she grimaces.
Tick.
The acrid smell of oil and machinery waft into her senses. The sound of a fired furnace burning quietly behind the measured ticking. ‘Oil, metal, charcoal. Is this Tinker’s, workshop?’
Tick.
‘How am I? How am I alive?’
Tick.
‘The demons…’ Blearily she opened her eyes. Clockwork scraps and tools resting on the wooden surface next to her haphazardly cluttered her vision. The rough cobblestone wall of the workshop engraved with heavy claw marks and burns. `Killed everyone… I, I remember them tearing into me.'
Tick.
“Tinker?” Gently rolling off the table onto her hooves, her body aching from the activity. A small object bumped against her chest as she stabilized herself. Glancing down she saw a bronze pocket watch hanging from a chain around her neck. A golden light emanating from its face softly beat in time with her own heart.
Tick.
Reaching a hoof toward the clock sudden pain rushed through her body. ‘Right, I remember. Some metal cut my leg when they attacked. I should not of been able to survive those injuries.’
“Ha! It worked!” A familiar stallions voice hacked out behind her.
“Tinker!” She whipped around, the smile gracing her face immediately melting at the sight of a battered and bloody stallion laying on the floor. His light blue coat soaked with splotches of blood. “Dear Celestia, what happened!”
Darting over to Tinker, her horn glowed a brilliant blue. Enveloping Tinker in magical light. “Stay still, you’ll be alri-”
Tinker quickly cuts Sapphire’s sentence short. “Don’t waste your magic Sapphire, I’m too far gone to be saved.” Tinker gave a pained smile as he tapped Sapphire’s horn causing her magic to flicker out.
“At least let me get you to a doctor before you die!” Sapphire positioned herself and began to heave Tinker onto her back.
“There is no point in saving a dead stallion Sapphi. I’ve run out of time.” Groaning in pain Tinker toppled off Sapphire’s back, landing back onto the ground.
“What do you mean!” Sapphire repositioned herself to pick up Tinker again, but he pushed her away. “You're not dead yet, and neither am I. If I survived a demon taking my life, then you can too!”
“Did you survive?” Tinkers gaze latched onto Sapphire’s, his iridescent eyes entrancing hers.
‘Time running out.’ Reaching once again to the pocket watch, her eyes widened with horror. The color in Tinker coat beginning to fade to grey. “You didn’t, it’s impossible.”
Cracking a sad smile Tinker brought his hoof over hers. “I had to Sapphi, I had to save you somehow.”
Sapphire lurched onto the floor hugging Tinker’s hoof as angry tears starting to well up in the corner of her eyes. “Don’t leave! Don’t you dare die! I sent out a message to Celestia, she can he-”
“Celestia won’t do anything” Tinker yelled, causing Sapphire’s ears to flatten against her head. “She didn’t save anyone when she enclosed the demons in the mansion!” Tinker’s voice filled with strained rage, tears dripping onto the floor. “She watched. Watched the slaughter in the mansion as I pleaded, begged her to save you! She didn’t shed a tear as we watched the demon's spill the blood of all the other nobles!”
“That’s not true, the princess would help us.” Unable to look away from Tinker’s tearful face, Sapphire’s face contorted in disbelief. “Wouldn’t she?”
“The moment she sealed the mansions with the demons inside I knew she wouldn't help.” Tinker growled. “She tried to stop me from going in to save you. I haven’t seen her so angry when she said it was a suicide mission. Even then, she wouldn’t take down the barrier.” Tinker’s bright blue coat faded to a dull greyish blue. His voice softens as he watches the color drain. “She was right in the end though, it was a suicide mission.”
Sapphire’s barely contained tears spilled forth “I-Iwon't let you die! if you revived me, I could do the same for you!”
Calming himself, Tinker shook his head and chuckled. “Time can be moved Sapphi, not created.” Lifting up the tear streaked pocket watch, Tinker smiled. “I didn’t have much purpose until I met you Sapphi. After I got to know you, you made every single second on this planet worth it. You were the only one who trusted and respected me.
So, if I can’t be with you... Then the least I can give you back all that time.” Tinker’s eyes began to close, the pocket watches pulse becoming fainter. His coat now completely grey, along with his once vibrant eyes.
Clutching the watch tightly in her hooves, Sapphire managed to choke out. “Don’t leave! Don’t you dare die! I, I-I can’t lose you.”
“You know, you never have enough time to do what you want to Saphi.” Clearing his throat of sadness Tinker spoke with determination “I love you Sapphire Blueblood.” Kissing her forehead, he lay his hoof on the small watch. “Go on with your life, find ponies that make you happy like you did with me.”
Sapphire cried out louder and leaned into Tinker chest listening to his heart beat. “I, I-I need you! I don’t know what I am going to do without you!”
“You have all the time in the world.” The pocket watches pulsing glow nearly imperceptible. “I know you’ll use it well, better than I ever could.”
“Princess Blueblood?” Record Haste quietly ducked into her mistress’s room. A moment after adjusting to the light she saw Sapphire Blueblood sitting in the morning light of a large window. The large blanket that originally covered the royal bed now wrapped around the mare. “Princess Blueblood.”
“Yes Haste?” Sapphire halfheartedly stood up, letting the blanket fall around her hooves. Slowly turning to Haste, she quickly wiped tears from her eyes. “What is it?”
Haste gave Sapphire a quick once over, noting several things. The first of which is red eyes fresh from crying. Second, a look which she had seen increasingly more often over the past year. The look of a night of sleeplessness, paired with an extreme case of bed head. Lastly, the small pocket watch hanging around her neck. A broken piece of clockwork that she had never seen her mistress without. “I come with some news for you this morning. Your brother, Prince Blueblood requested that your niece Vervain stay at the family mansion for a few days. She will be arriving in a couple hours.”
“Oh, yes.” Sapphire pushed her disheveled golden mane out of her eyes. Taking a second to grab a hairbrush from a nearby bed stand, she returned her attention to Haste. “That’s right, I think he said something like that yesterday. Have the, th-” Sapphire yawned, the brush held in her blue magic falling to her side. “Agh, have the kitchen prepare her favorite lunch around noon.”
“I also have a message from the castle for you.” Haste pulled a small envelope from her uniform and held it out to Sapphire.
Sapphire resumed brushing her hair and rolled her eyes. “If it’s the Hunter’s Association, then tell them we still haven’t located the dracolich. It’s only been a week since they dropped it into my lap.”
Haste straightened her posture giving a side glance at the stamp of the sun on the letter. Taking a slow breath, Haste cautiously read the sender’s name. “It’s from Princess Celestia.”
The hairbrush clattered to the floor, released from Sapphire’s telekinetic grip. Haste watched as anguish and anger passed over Sapphire’s face before ending in a deep sadness. A familiar cycle which Haste had seen many times recently.
Sapphire took a deep breath before speaking. “What does she want.” She gently pressed the pocket watch protectively against her chest.
At Sapphire’s beckon, Haste quickly tore open the letter and began reading the short page. “It appears she is asking if you are alright. Your absence from the Hunter’s court has been worrying her for the past year. She knows that today is the anniversary of Celestial Tinker’s death.” Haste’s summary faltered for a moment as the entire room began shaking. Sapphire’s magic radiating throughout the room, covering every surface.
Steeling her nerves Haste continued summarizing the letter. “And is wondering if you would like some company to talk about what happened on that day.”
Crack!
Haste flinched as the large window cracked under Sapphire’s magical pressure.
“That’s. Enough.” Sapphire growled, quickly reigning in her magic. The blue aura around the room dissipating. Turning to see that the large crack in the window she sighed. Picking back up the hairbrush, she calmed herself. “Apologies for my outburst Haste. I, I have a lot on my mind. Tell her.” Sapphire walked back to the window and peered at the scaffolding around a large unfinished clocktower. “Tell her that I am busy watching Vervain today, and that she shouldn’t worry.”
“Of course, Princess. I’ll send your reply immediately. Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes in the dining hall.” Haste bowed and exited the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Sapphire lifted the watch in her magic to eye level. Wiping another tear from her eye, she watched her reflection in the glass. “Have I used my time well?”
“Auntie Sapphire!” A bubbly little filly yelled as she burst into the dining room.
Sapphire smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane affectionately. “VV, I hope your trip wasn’t too terrible boring. Take a seat, food will be here soon.”
VV pulled out one of the chairs next to Sapphire and took her seat. “Can you tell another journal story auntie?’
“Now? We’re just about to-” Sapphire’s objection was cut short after looking at VV’s pleading eyes. “OH, alright then, what story do you want today.”
“Ooh, ooh, how about the Wandering Nightmares! Or the Timberpack Hunt!” VV hopped in her seat considering the possibilities.
Pulling out a journal from her saddlebag, Sapphire ran her hoof over the gear symbol on the cover. “How about a new story.”
“New story?” VV stopped her listing and immediately sat to attention, a curious sparkle in her eyes.
“It’s a very special story, back when I first met a good friend.” Sapphire began turning the pages of the journal.
“What’s the story called?” VV asked peering at the worn pages of the journal.
Sapphire stopped at one of the earlier pages in the journal. “The Impossible Tinker.”
Author's Note
A Tinker's Last Breath is the corner of a very large puzzle which I may or may not finish writing. Since it was sitting in my google docs for several months I decided to upload it. If I ever get the inspirational spark to finish another story in Sapphire's or Tinker's timeline, I do plan to upload them. For that matter any of the other stories in root:Dawn will probably be uploaded if finished.
The Impossible Tinker, A Tinker's Reprise, The Timberpack Hunt, and The Wandering Nightmares are all in half-baked stages. If you're interested in any of them, leave a comment and I'll get on writing them when I have free time. Or if i'm not working on another project I get spontaneous interest in.
If you see any errors in either of the chapters, feel free to point them out and I'll fix them as soon as possible.
Hope you enjoyed the story!
