My Little Clockwork: An Ancient Secret

"Two tickets please," Lemon Hearts said to the stallion behind the counter.

"That'll be twelve bits please," he replied.

Lemon placed twelve bits on the counter and smiled. The stallion takes the bits and puts them into the cash register drawer and places two tickets on the counter which Lemon picks up. Lemon trots over to Sprocket and hands her one of time.

"Here you go!" Lemon says excitedly.

"Thanks," Sprocket replies. "I'm so excited for this convention!"

"Me too" Lemon says. I..." She is cut off by the sound of a train whistle as it pulls into the station. "I guess this is us."

Both mares pickup their saddlebags and climb onto the train. They stumble past the various rows of seats until they find theirs. As they're getting settled a blue unicorn mare sits in the seat across from them. She has a blue and white mane and her cutie mark is of an hourglass.

"Hey! You're a time pony too?" the mare asks looking toward Sprocket's cutie mark.

"Yeah, I make and fix clocks and watches." Sprocket relies. "I don't control time. That's impossible. What does yours mean?"

"My cutie mark? It means that I make friends in no time flat, obviously! Oh, and that whole time magic thing I guess. Mostly it's the friend making." the mare replies. "I'm Minuette. Who are you two my train riding friends?"

"I'm Lemon Hearts, and this is Sprocket Watchclock."

"Nice to meet you," Minuette says. "Where's your destination, if you don't mind?"

"We're going to Canterlot," Sprocket answers.

"Oh really? Me too. I'm heading back home. I live there. I was just in Ponyville to celebrate my friend Twilight's birthday. It was a fun party but now I'm tired and happy to be heading home. It was nice to see her though. Since she became an alicorn she's been pretty busy." Lemon says.

"An alicorn? Is she a princess?" Sprocket asks.

"Not as such but at the rate she's going, it's only a matter of time." Minuette replies.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me you're friends with the Twilight Sparkle?" Lemon asks excitedly.

"Mhm, we go way back. We were in school together before she was taken to be Celestia's star pupil." Minuette answers.

"Wow that's so cool!" Lemon Hearts replies.

"I don't get it. Who's this Twilight Sparkle that has you all excited? Is she a fashion model or something?" Sprocket asks.

"You've been spending too much time in your gear nest. How could you not know who the great Twilight Sparkle is? She's only been the savior of Equestria more times than I can count. She's defeated so many foes, she's awesome. Do you seriously not know who she is?" Lemon says to Sprocket. Sprocket simply shrugs.

A pony pushing a small cart comes next to their seat row. "Snacks or refreshments anypony?" she asks.

"None for me thanks," Minuette answers. "I've had enough birthday cake to last a week, I swear."

"I'll have some cheese please," Sprocket says.

"Can I just have some water?" Lemon adds.

"Sure, here you go." the violet unicorn replies as she lifts and distributes the requests. She proceeds to push the cart to the next row.

"Hold on a minute." Sprocket says suddenly. "Did you say you can do time magic? I didn't think that was possible."

"Yes, it's possible and I can do it. I'm actually pretty good at it. I can slow time down or speed it up just by using my horn. It's actually pretty fun, though exhausting. I can only do it for like five seconds at a time before I need to stop and take a break. It takes a lot of effort but you'd be surprised what you have do with five seconds of slowed down time or sped up time." Minuette replies.

"That's so cool!" Lemon says.

"Yeah, I didn't know a thing like that was even possible." Sprocket says. "Can you just do it to anything?”

"Sure can unless it's bigger than a pony. Here let me show you." and with that Minuette's horn starts to glow and so does Sprocket's watch. Sprocket gasps as the second hand slows down then speeds up. Minuette let's out a sigh as the glow vanished and the watch goes back to ticking normally.

"Wow that's so cool!" Sprocket says excitedly.

"Impressive," Lemon adds.

"Why thank you," Minuette replies. "Listen, I don't know you very well yet but I'd like to ask you something."

"What is it?" Sprocket answers.

"Can I consider you two new friends?" Minuette says in a uncharacteristically serious voice.

"Yeah sure," Lemon answers.

"Absolutely!" Sprocket adds.

"Wahoo!" Minuette exclaims. "Best train friends are a go!"

"So what has you going all the way to Canterlot? I'm not aware of any festivals or anything going on." Minuette asks.

"We're going to a tinkerers convention. I'm so excited. I love this kind of stuff. Clockwork is my passion and there's gonna be so much cool stuff, I just know it. Tinkerers from all over Equestria are gonna be there to show off their inventions. I even brought one of mine." Sprocket answers and reaches into her saddlebag pulling out a mechanical owl. "Meet Owlbert the mechanical owl."

The owl whirls to life flapping its wings, turning it's head and opening its break. "Hoot!" it says.

"Woah! You built that yourself?" Minuette asks with awe in her voice.

"Sure did. Been working on her on and off for years. I actually sell simpler version at my shop in Ponyville. And look, he can tell the time." Sprocket says and then points to the owl's belly with her hoof. On it is clock hands pointing out the time.

"That's really neat, thanks for sharing. So is he your pet?" Minuette asks.

"I suppose so. Yeah you could call him that." Sprocket answers.

"Best part is, you never have to clean up his poop." Lemon adds with a giggle. Minuette and Sprocket both laugh in response.

"Well I'm glad I met you, train friends, I hope you have a fun time at the convention." Minuette says.

"Oh I know we will. I'm so excited!" Sprocket replies.