Time is Magic

Well, besides experiencing existential dread about the future of Equestria, I have had a lot of other things on my mind. I just finished a two-week intensive at the School of Friendship to “keep my rage in check”, but I fear that might not be enough. Luna thinks I am going to snap eventually, but I keep reassuring her that I won’t. Twilight told me that for the sake of maintaining order, my mom and sister need to go back to Earth and live their normal, human lives. Something about staying in another universe too long and messing with “strings”? Why am I not affected by this?

It doesn’t matter, anyways. My castle is finally built! I picked a location on the frontier of Equestria and the Crystal Empire. I found that the flow of time can be most easily sensed here. I caught some dragons trying to use a spell to rewrite history in order to get a lot more gems. I caught them and gave them a little conversation about that. Nothing to warrant Tartarus, though. Twilight told me I need to be VERY certain of an offense before deciding to incarcerate ponies. The Magic Man hasn’t been talking as much lately, which both puts me at ease and terrifies me. Did I do something to cause his absence? Maybe I need to do someth-

“Clockwork… thou hast a date today in ninety minutes time! We suggest thou prepareth accordingly! This is an issue of national security!”

Oh, crud! I forgot that I have a date today with Starlight Glimmer. I am glad she kept things rather professional during my two-week intensive.

“Oh yeah. Thanks for the reminder, ma! Also, thanks for helping me move in here!”

“With pleasure, dear. Now, as the stallion in a relationship, our niece gave thee cue cards on what to do. Please review them before embarking on thy date!”

Good point. I use my magic to grab the cue cards from my rather large bedroom, and look them over.

Tips for an anxious stallion in love:

1. Be yourself. If somepony wants to know something about you, you have nothing to hide. Tell them everything.
2. Be chivalrous! Even in today’s age of alleged egalitarianism, a mare will always like somepony who thinks of her first. Hold doors, offer to pay for meals, and ask her what she wants.
3. Keep your muzzle shut and your ears open. Some mares like to hear themselves talk, and if you are attentive, this will be a good way to their hearts.
4. Breathe! This is the most crucial aspect. A mare can sense a nervous stallion from a mile away! Act cool, but not sleazy!

Sincerely,
Mi Amore Cadenza
I vaguely remember something about the magic man from my lecture series on him. Doesn’t he have a marefriend?

“Magic Man, don’t you have a marefriend? A little help here!”

I’d ask my mom, but… she divorced my dad when I was 10, and I don’t think she would be a big fan of me dating a pony, even though I am a pony. I’d also ask my moon mom, but she never dated anypony in her life!

“I am so… SO nervous about this!” I say a bit loudly, alerting Luna.

“Anxiety is normal. Just breathe… all will be well. We promise.”

I feel better at Luna’s comment, and I am more at ease. That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t look ahead at my own future, so I have NO idea if this date will go well or not! Regardless, I put on my “statespony face” and make sure that I look rather professional for my date. I don’t want to appear like a fool! Just as I am about to leave my new castle en route to Ponyville for my date, I get a telepathic call.

“Clockwork… anypony home?”

Celestia… WHY does Celestia have to butt into everything. I want to scream, but I have to maintain a proper state of decorum.

“DO I ANSWER?!”

Okay then...
“Yes… what do you want?”

“Well first, it’s AUNTY Celestia, since Luna adopted you as her son. Secondly, I heard somepony is falling in love, and saving Equestria at the same time?”

“Yes… that is exactly what is happening. I don’t suppose you have any tips or tricks so I don’t look like a foalish pony?” Might as well ask her for advice. She is the oldest alicorn I know!

“I’ve never dated anypony before. Cadence is the first alicorn I have ever met who was willing to date somepony. Her a-mortality doesn’t seem to phase her one bit. My sister and I have been more cautious. I just revel in my students, and now Luna enjoys your company! I just wanted to call to wish you good luck!”

Well, this is a pleasant turn of events. I don’t like Celestia one bit, but at least she is trying to seem benevolent.

“T...thank you, aunty Celestia.” I say begrudgingly.

“No problem. Try not to fly home with any cider in your system! Alicorn or not, stallions can get quite tipsy!”

<Yes, but only if you drink something that would make Captain America tipsy...>

Well, I won’t drink. It doesn’t go well with me anyway. It takes a good thirty minutes to fly from my castle to the HayBurger, where Starlight and I will be having our first date. Again, love the Earth references on this guy!

Wish me luck, Magic Man!

***
Sunny wakes up the next morning, ready for breakfast. She had a nice dream about reuniting all of ponykind and woke up feeling refreshed and rested.

“Daddy is probably at work now, so I can make myself some pancakes!” She says, walking into her kitchen and doing just that. For a seven-year-old filly, she is quite useful in the home. Her day afterward remains quite normal, she goes to school, plays with her friends, and does her homework.
In fact, everything seemed too normal. Usually, her father comes home from the Maretime Museum around suppertime, but he didn’t come back tonight. Sunny wanted to know what was going on!

“I wonder where my daddy is today. Obviously, he is working on something crucial!” She thinks to herself, wondering where her father could be. The next day came and went, and Sunny’s father was still nowhere to be found. This is something that Argyle would never do, so Sunny Started to get worried.

“I have to figure out what happened to my daddy!” Sunny says with resolve. The next morning came, and Sunny Starscout made her rounds across Maretime Bay, asking where her father could be. She asked Sprout’s mother Phyllis, who said “haven’t seen him all week.”. She asked Hitch’s mother, who didn’t see him either. Her friends also haven’t seen him!

“This is bad… This is really bad!” Sunny says frantically as she is galloping back to her house in sheer terror. Who could have possibly done anything to her father? Was it a pegasi abduction like the legends said? A unicorn brain-frying? No, it couldn’t be, her father wouldn’t be bested by such nonsense!

Running into her room, she begins to cry like a young foal. “I want my daddy, why is daddy gone! Is he hurt? Is… is he, no, he’s not! Princess Twilight, if you are real, and the legends are true, I could really use your help right now!” Looking at the Mane 6 figurines her father made for her, she knows that her father didn’t lie, and maybe somepony will look after her. She cries herself to sleep, not knowing what the future will hold.

“Sunny… Sunny…”

Sunny was still sleeping, but she heard somepony speaking to her. She didn’t recognize the voice. Her mind was racing. Who could possibly want to speak to her, and why was she able to hear if she was asleep? It doesn’t make any sense.

“Who...who are you? Why don’t I see who’s speaking?” Sunny says, scared out of her mind. Was this voice the entity that took her daddy away? Anything is possible!

“You really don’t recognize my voice? You write me letters every night, Sunny!”

Sunny gasped. That could only be one pony. “PRINCESS TWILIGHT?!?!”

“Yes, it’s me. I know you have a lot of questions, but I am really low on magic. I have to keep this brief. I think I might know what happened to your daddy.”

Sunny’s interest was immediately piqued, and a horrible thought came across her mind. “Wh… what happened to my daddy? Is… is he dead?”

The voice sighed. “Well… he’s not alive, but he’s not dead. I think an old friend of mine might be the pony behind this.”

An old friend… Sunny’s mind raced and she tried to think about who this pony could be. “Nightmare Moon? She was defeated, no? The Tantabus? No, that was also defeated. Sunset Shimmer? Who could it be?”

“Somepony I loved like a brother. The Clockwork Prince.”

What? The Clockwork Prince? That didn’t make any sense to Sunny! Her father said he was a good pony!

“Your father was sent to the Place Beyond Time, and nopony can leave that place. He’s there, forever. I am sorry, honey. Even I can’t do anything about this.”

“B...but why would the Clockwork Prince want to hurt anypony? He… he was in love, his mother cared for him! I don’t get it!”

“He is a complicated pony. His wife betrayed him for the Legion of Doom fifty years after the prophecy came to fruition. She thought he was delusional trying to restore Friendship, and wanted to start over. He tried to save his wife, but he failed, and Princess Luna almost died.”

“Wait, I thought you alicorns can’t die! I don’t get it!”
“We are a-mortal, not immortal. We cannot die of old age or natural causes, but we can be killed. The Clockwork Prince loved two ponies more than anything: Princess Luna and his wife. With both of them gone, he had no reason to keep up my Friendship mandates. He… he is killing millions of ponies to try to bring Princess Luna back to life!”

The very thought scared Sunny to her core. “But… can’t you do anything about this?!”

The voice sighed. “The fight that killed Celestia, Clockwork’s wife, and almost killed Luna, also killed me. My body is gone, and I only exist in dreams, and barely at that.”

What… Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, dead?

Sunny began to cry. “I… I wanted nothing more than to be Your Faithful Student! I… I can’t now. I am so upset!”

The voice felt sad, but couldn’t do anything. “I understand. I had many students of my own back in the day, and I would have been honored to have you as one of them, but, it cannot come to pass. However, I do have a mission for you.

Sunny stopped crying and sniffled a little bit. “A… a mission? What kind of mission?”

“The Clockwork Prince did not separate everypony, but he makes sure that they stay separated. He needs the anger and hatred so the ponies die early, perfect for the magic to be taken from them. He uses these ponies’ magic to try and bring his mother back from the dead. For a time pony, this is a really stupid plan on his part. He will fail. His mother is gone! Now, for the mission. For his coronation, I gave him a gift. I don’t know if this gift still exists, but I do know that if you do what your father wanted, and try to reunite the ponies, the Clockwork Prince will see the error of his ways. If you reunite ponykind, the gift will heal him. He is not an evil pony, I knew him for over a hundred years. He… he’s just complicated.”

“So… how do I reunite the ponies? My father tried and was laughed at almost every day!”

“Just be yourself, Sunny. It might take a (really) long time, but the Magic of Friendship always wins. My magic is running out, and I wish you luck.”

The voice disappeared. “Wait, I have so many more questions-” Sunny pleaded, but the dream ended, and Sunny woke up in a cold sweat. “T...that was really Princess Twilight. I… I have to honor my daddy. From now on, I will dedicate my life to bringing Magic back for everypony. It’s what he always wanted!”

***
Finally! I made it to the HayBurger! I don’t know why I decided to fly, when I could have just teleported, but hey, a little exercise never hurts. I brought my cue cards just in case, and made my way to the line in front of the restaurant. A green unicorn mare must be the host. I check the timeline, and it’s good. Her name is Lime Green

“Greetings, sire! How is everything?” The hostpony says while bowing.
“Please, Clockwork is fine, Lime Green. I am actually going on a date today!”
“With whom, good sir?”

I was half expecting Starlight to just teleport in front of me and say “with me, dingus”. I was right. I saw five seconds ahead!
“With me, dingus!” Starlight says, teleporting in front of me, giving a sly grin to the hostpony.
“Ah, Madam Glimmer! How are you?”
“I’m good. We’re going to be two ponies tonight. Do you have any room?”
“Of course! We always have room for somepony at the HayBurger, especially for such cool ponies as you guys!
That’s a relief. Lime Green leads us through the restaurant and finds us an empty booth to sit at. It reminds me a bit of a Western Saloon, which gave me an idea.

“Starlight. You’ve done time travel before, right?” I ask rhetorically, knowing full well she has traveled through time in the past (pun intended!).

“Uhh, yeah! What’s your brilliant idea?” She says dryly.
“What year was Ponyville founded? I am still new here, ya know!” I wanted to see if Starlight would follow my train of thought.

“1933 CE. Why?” She asks me. Before she could ask a follow-up question, my horn flashes and the two of us are surrounded in magic. The image of a clock turning backward appears in front of us, spinning faster and faster. We see people moving backward in the restaurant. We see the moon rise, and the sun set, over and over again. In thirty seconds, the spell dissipates, and we arrive at a much more modest restaurant in the same location.

“How’d you like to have a meal at the Grand Opening of Ponyville?” I say with a grin. Starlight’s eyes widened in awe. “You…you went back 88 years, for me?”

I chuckle a bit. “Well, you don’t have time magic anymore, so I thought I’d give you a blast from the past! I checked the timeline before we left, and they serve the same food. I checked EVERYTHING before we left. Trust me!”, smiling at the thought. A young, green earth pony mare approaches us, notebook in hoof, ready to take my order.

Of course! The Apple clan were the founders of Ponyville! It makes perfect sense for Granny Smith to be working at the HayBurger in 1933!

“Well howdy, you two. Y’all must be new settlers! What are y’all going to eat here today at this fine establishment?”

I try to remember the dialect from the 1930s on Earth, and I assume it is the same in this Equestria.

“How about two house specials with crisps?”

“Certainly. Remember, Princess Celestia just revoked prohibition a few weeks ago, so if y’all want a cider, it’s on the house!”

That’s right! Prohibition ended on Earth in 1933. What is it with these two universes’ key historical dates having more than coincidental overlap?

Just as Granny Smith went to the kitchen to place our orders (with free cider), I noticed something odd. I see someponies fighting at the front door! A zebra is being restrained by two unicorns. Why? She wanted to eat at the HayBurger!

“What are you doing? We don’t let your kind in here! Git!”

Oh yeah… racism is a thing. Poor zebra. She just wants to eat here like anycreature else!

“Clockwork! You have to do something. This is not cool!”

“I can’t! Just being here disrupts the timeline. Just ignore it and eat in peace. Look! Granny Smith came with our food.” I interject, noticing that she came back with our platters!

“Noah Weinstein! I am ashamed of you! Twilight told me what happened to your people in “Europe” all those years ago. Isn’t this how it all started?”

That DAMN Egghead telling her everything.
“Magic Man, can you time travel?! What should I do?!”

“Do something, you dolt! What would happen if your mom saw you like this?”

“Well, I disguised myself as a regular unicorn when time traveling back, you want me to disrupt time?”

“NO, just save the Zebra, look what those goons are doing to her!”

Starlight is not wrong, the unicorns are constricting the zebra in chains and loading her into a wagon, presumably to be incarcerated, deported, or both!

“I’ll give you a kiss if you save her” she says with a grin.

Oh, to feel the touch of a woman! On it!

I make my way over to the two unicorns, still disguised as one.

“Hello good sir, we are busy detaining this Equus Quagga who violated Celestia Statute 201 on nonpony racial interaction. Please stand aside as we are working.”

In a blink of an eye, the wagon’s door disappears, and the zebra exits the wagon.

“Somepony here, quite sublime, is an alicorn in disguise, who can master time.”

The buck? I saved her flank from these pony racists and she outs me to the authorities.

“Just shut up quagga! Nopony takes what you have to say seriously! There must be another reason for your unexpected release. Guards, please detain her again. She needs to know her place. Use force this time!”

Oh no, you don’t! My wings grow back, and my mane gets to alicorn size. Now or never! “זאוואדו! עצור את הזמן! !!"

(Time! grind to a halt!). Everything and everypony freezes in place.

“Clockwork, what the hell are you doing?”

Wait, Starlight can move in frozen time? She runs towards me, with pleading eyes.

“I am going to teach these bastards a lesson! This was YOUR idea, was it not?”
“Yeah, but don’t hurt them!” she pleads
“I won’t. Also how can you move in my WORLD of frozen time?”. This genuinely interests me.
“עברה שנייה אחת”. (one second has passed)
“No clue. Maybe because I have time traveled before. Just don’t kill anypony, and you’ll be fine!” She reassures me.

“חלפו שתי שניות” (Two seconds have passed)
“Starlight, please move out of the way. I am going to do something cool.”
She obliges and notices that my wings grow back, and my mane regains its regal status.

“Want to see an attack rush?-wait never mind, you said not to hurt them.” I quickly correct myself, use my magic to teleport the zebra to a safe location, and take a deep breath.

“הזמן יזרום שוב.” (time will flow once again) I say, resuming the flow of time. The two unicorn policemen are confused, rightfully so. Zebras are not able to cast magic, so how was she able to disappear?

“Hold on a sec, when did you grow wings?” One of the policemen asked me suspiciously, before panicking.

“Time to run, Clockwork!” Starlight says, moving close to me. I quickly act, casting the spell to return us to our proper place in time. We finally made it back to 2021 CE!

“Wait a minute, J-corn. Did you cause a butterfly effect?” Starlight asks me worryingly.

“Not sure, let me check!”, quickly checking all the alternate timelines from that moment, I see that the only change to spacetime was that zebras got equal rights a few years earlier than before.

“Nothing much. Just suffrage for Zebras 10 years early. Everything else is the same. You made a smart choice telling me to run, and-” I was about to finish saying something, but Starlight kissed me on the lips!

“Uhhhh… you are going WAY too quickly!” I think to myself, not daring to tell her how I truly felt about this.

“Saving somepony you never met for the greater good was the most romantic thing anypony has ever done for me! Heck, even when I was dating Starburst all those years ago, he never did anything that nice!”
I wanted to kiss her back, but I didn’t want to rush things… ah screw it! I kiss her back, and she kisses me in return.

“No funny business until we marry, okay? You know the rules.” I say, setting a clear boundary.

“Woah, somepony is moving quickly! I didn’t even say we’re going on a second date yet!” Starlight says, laughing her flank off.

Wow… I feel like an idiot. I was trying to set a boundary, not be weird!

“Just kidding! We’re going on a second date. I get your position on the matter, now… tell me more about this Talmud thing you are obsessed with?! Luna tried explaining it to me, but she didn’t do a good job!”

“Well, it started two millennia ago in 70 CE, when the Temple was destroyed…”

<... Gulp.>