It all started like any other story: with a pony being born. It wasn't anything special, aside from the fact of life itself. The foal screamed, like they always do when they are born and exposed to the cold world. This one didn't scream from the cold, though; she screamed from the awful sound of ticking in her head.
As years went by she grew accustomed to the ticking following her around. Even if it bothered her, it couldn't steal her attention for more than a few moments. She lived in two worlds: the real and imaginary.
Her interest in books grew exponentially from the moment she learned how to read. Spending all the time in her life reading about adventures, love, tragedy and comedy. She didn't miss out on any philosophical reading, nor was she willing to skip any spell books that she came across.
When she was put to the test, to determine her worth, something unspeakable happen. She broke the barrier between the real world and her imagination. For a moment she held those two worlds together around her, able to change anything at will. She was woken up by a stronger force, yet the same nature as hers. A kind force that taught her how to use her talent. After that day she stopped hearing the tick. It was odd at first, to the point of her losing her mind in complete silence. That only forced her to fill her mind with something, something that wouldn't let her be in silence.
Time passed and she grew up to play an important role. Learning new things from new sources. Understanding that books weren't the only thing in her life worth spending time on. She learned about the magic of friendship and what it was to be a friend. Many years later she finally experienced what it's like when a friendship grows into something stronger.
She could no longer imagine her life without that special someone next to her. Always on her mind and in her heart, if not next to her. It was on a night like every other, when she was sleeping, sharing the warmth with her soulmate. She heard it again.
It woke her up from the dream, forcing to open her sleepy eyes and look around. The ticking. It echoed in her head louder than ever before, as if all the clocks in the town were cramped in her bedroom. She shook her head, before getting up. She had a weak memory of the ticking, but she thought it was just a headache. Comforting her mate with a kiss on the forehead, she left the bedroom for the kitchen.
She found a pill bottle and fought a while with the top, before getting it unscrewed. She couldn't remember the last time she had to take sleeping pills just to get some sleep, but she always had some around just in case. She shook the bottle, managing to get one pill out. After a moment of consideration she forced another pill out. The ticking went into the background during all this time, as she was trying to remember how many she used to take.
The sound of flowing water calmed her down to the point of almost drifting asleep. She swallowed the pills, then drinking from the glass till the sensation in her throat was gone. She looked at the empty glass, setting it down.
Turning the dial on the wall, she brought the light in the library to full strength. It'll be a few moments before she'll feel sleepy. She looked over the shelves, searching for something light. She pulled out a book she hasn't read in awhile, the old fairy tale book. She grinned knowingly, the tales weren't fiction as many thought. She sat down and opened the book, setting her eyes on the first words. No matter how many times she read the story, she could never believe how blind she was. She read the story long ago, when she was just a little filly. Back then, it was just a story, a fairy tale. Only years later she understood what it really meant.
She froze as she felt breathing on the back of her neck, before a pair of legs wrapped around her. "Are you coming back to bed?" asked the sleepy mare.
"In a bit, I'm having a headache and took some pills," she responded, continuing to read. "You know... if it wasn't for this book, I would probably never met you."
She looked back into the loving eyes of her mate, before closing her own as the pills worked sooner than she expected. She drifted back into the world of dreams, away from any care of the real world. The ticking remained.
As one of the ticks echoed in her head for a millionth time, she opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling. Covered in cold sweat she sat up. She was alone in her bed this morning. The lingering warmth from her partner was still there, but she didn’t pay any attention to it. The ticking was making her cringe.
She ran downstairs, not realizing she was matching her hoofsteps to the ticking. She knew what helped her silence the pain before: books. She randomly pulled one from the shelf and began reading. It didn’t seem to help her at first, but as she immersed herself into the words, the ticking became as quiet as her own heartbeat. Forgetting the reason behind reading the book, she continued.
The day passed with her going through a major number of books, keeping her mind constantly occupied. When her mate returned home, she spent time with her until it was time to rest for the night.
The ticking came back loud as soon as she closed her eyes. It haunted her, until she took the pills again. When she was woken up by the ticking the next morning, she knew this won’t go away on it’s own. She needed to find a way to stop it. She spent her days reading, disregarding sleep when she had to. She knew she could fix this.
Her mate was pushed aside by the books. There was no time for warmth they shared, as books took her day and night and everything in between. Days and weeks passed, until the day when the love couldn’t bare it anymore.
The confrontation was full of apologies, tears and promises. She had to explain what ‘it’ was. There was confusion at first, but it grew to fear. Knowing the cause of pain doesn’t help, unless there’s a way to fix it. All they could do for now was comfort each other. At the moment of closeness she missed something: the ticking was gone.
The next day it was back and pressed her to do something, but there was little she could do with what she had. She decided to visit the force that helped her back when she was a filly. She went alone, holding her hopes high, only for them to be crushed, when she didn’t get an answer. The ticking stopped on its own back then. It wasn’t stopped. Confused by what the journey taught her, she returned home.
She lost more and more sleep, until she was just a shadow of herself. Constantly with a book in front of her and a cup of coffee accompanying. There was one last thing she could do. She had to break the barrier between the world and her imagination. She was just a child when it happened, without knowledge or experience, but now she had both. She spent days writing theories, only to tear them apart the next moment. Each time she broke a quill or tore a parchment she was getting closer.
“I’m leaving.”
She was pulled away from her notes. The mare she promised to spend her whole life with was now standing with her bags.
She knew there was nothing she could do now, they both did. So she had to let go.
“This is isn’t a goodbye. Just see you later.”
The sound of the door closing echoed louder in her heart than in her ears. She couldn’t force herself to pick a quill again. She lost something she had for so long. Her body was too heavy to move, so she slumped down where she stood. What was she good for if she couldn’t even hold onto someone so close. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the world for a while.
The ticking was the only thing she heard. The sound resonating through her mind, silencing any other thought. It wasn’t going to leave her, she had failed. She could no longer keep her emotions in check, nor could she wear a mask. She screamed. At the top of her lungs, letting the world hear her frustration.
The world responded. She recognized the feeling when it touched her. The same blinding power to change the world at will. She was no longer an immature filly scared of it, but a mare. She wasn’t drowning in the power, she was above it. She saw what was missing when she looked into herself.
She didn’t waste a single moment. She knew what was the reason behind the ticking. It was her clock, warning her when the time was ticking away.
She found her mate on the hill where they promised each other to be together. She could only smile, realizing that it’ll be the same hill witnessing them bonding again. There was little she could tell her loved one, except, “Trust me.”
“I always do.”
Reaching into the power she discovered she held her mate in a loving embrace. She could feel the gentle flame burning inside. It was alluring to touch the fragile light. To take it. Her curiosity was giving into the temptation, but as soon as she touched it she felt the weight. She snapped out of it realizing what she had almost done. She was ready to quit, but she still needed to do what she planned.
She bent the rules she knew to her will, because there was something they both wanted, something they both needed to be complete. The moment she succeeded, she felt the power dissipating around her. She wasn’t alarmed, since she did what she wanted.
“What happened?”
“Remember when you found me reading that old fairy tale book?”
“It was so long ago..”
“You told me the day before that there was something missing in our life. I realized what and the ticking was only there to warn me that I was wasting my time.”
The ticking was gone and so was her power. She was happy with them gone, as she gained something more valuable. She carried a fragile life under her heart.
This is how the story of another unrealized successor ends.
