Clocks and Gears

Gearhead sighed as he looked out the window of his father's car. He could see the ponies passing by on foot or bike, but he never actually saw a car. Some of the ponies stared at him, to which he just decided to go look forward instead. He wasn't embarrased, per say, but just very annoyed at the other pony in the car. He could hear the radio, playing a Sapphire Shores song, getting stopped by a hand that wasn't his own. He sighed again, knowing what was coming.

"Gear," his father said, "is there something?"

"No, Timeturner," Gearhead replied coldly.

"Young man," Timerturner replied, "you don't call your father by his name. You call him 'dad.'"

"Maybe I feel like you're not my real dad," Gearhead mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that," his father scolded. "Why do you think I'm not your father?"

Gearhead went silent, but he heard the car get a little faster. His talent, engineering, also gave him an uncanny ability to hear machinery in a different way than other ponies. He knew when they needed fixing and when they were just fine. Other ponies thought of it as a sixth sense, but he thought everypony could do it.

"Gearhead," his father said slightly louder than normal, "Why don't you think I'm your father?" Gearhead knew his father was getting annoyed, but he didn't care. He decided to drown out his father with the radio. But when he went to turn the dial, he saw his father grabbed his hand, though lightly.

"Let go," he said angrily.

"No," his father said sternly. "Not until you tell me why you don't think I'm your fa- Is this about your mother, again?"

"It might be," Gear said staring at his father with anger in his eyes, "or it might be that we had to leave Manehattan in less than two weeks."

"Son," Timeturner said, "I said that this would be the last t-"

"You said that last time. You always say it's the last time."

"Look," his father said not focusing on the road at this point, "I'm sorry about last time, but the clock was an easy fix. Besides," he said shuddering a little, "Manehattan is not a town for a young colt."

"I'm not a kid anymore," Gear said with a force in his voice. "I had friends. I had a life. Heck, I had a marefriend for Luna's sake!"

"Y-you did? Whe-"

"I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. You didn't pay attention, like always," Gear said coldly. "I just got her, for your information, and we had to leave right before we got to kiss for the first time."

"Well I'm sorry."

"You should be. She hates you, too."

"Look," Timeturner said with anger in his voice, "I'm sorry that you can't have everything, but Ponyville is the last time, understand?"

"Whatever," Gear said facing the road. He saw something and he knew what was going to happen

"Don't 'what-ever' me," his father replied. "I have raised you since your mother died alone and unable to actually spend time with you, okay?" Gear looked to see his father wasn't paying attention to the road, and it was his job to stop it.

"Dad," Gear started, but was soon cut off by his father.

"Don't 'dad' me now, Gear. When we get home, you're going to sta-"

"Dad," Gear said a bit worried now. "Maybe you sho-"

"Don't interrupt your father," TimeTurner replied now very angry at his son.

"Dad!"

"What is it, Gearhead?"

"Mare!"

"What are you-"

Gear grabbed his father's head and turned it to the road exclaiming:

"MARE!" Timeturner realized all to late that his son was warning him about a collision with a grey colored mare with blonde hair in a mail pony uniform.

"Miss," he yelled out the window, "get out of the way!" It was to late, though, and Timeturner did the only thing he could.

Those were the only words he got before the mare, yellow eyes wide, was hit by the car's side, thanks to Timeturner turning and braking the car in the last possible second....

~Elsewhere in Ponyville five minutes ago~

Sparkler didn't have the greatest life in town. Her mother had an eye sight problem, which was bad as ponies in town would laught at her mom. The worst part?

Her mother was a pegasus.

If she was a unicorn like Sparkler and her little sister Dinky, it would've been fine. She wouldn't have cared if her mother was an earth pony, because then it wouldn't have been so bad.

"Mom," Sparkler said to her mother calmly, "you need to take your eye medicine. Now."

"My little Sparkler," her mother said happily, "I don't need that medicine." Derpy then showed her daughter a simple little loop in the air. "See?"

"She's right, Derpy," Carrot Top replied, "you need to take the medicine." Sparkler knew Carrot Top ever since her mother introduced the two to each other. When Sparkler began school, Carrot Top was able to help her with the homework that her mother wasn't able to figure out. It came to the point that Sparkler found out that Carrot Top was her mother's closest friend, so she didn't have trouble with her at all.

"But," Derpy said sadly, "didn't you see the loop, Toppy?"

The name caused Sparkler to giggle a bit. Her mother may have had trouble as a filly, but she had the best names for her friends. "Yes," Carrot said embarrased, "I saw the loop. Bu-"

"Then I'm fine," Derpy said triumphantly. Her eyes became like little stars when she noticed a little filly staring at her. "Hi my little muffin!"

"Hi momma," Dinky said happily before the realization before her. "You're flying, momma!"

"Yep!"

"What about your occylis stuff?" Sparkler was going to correct her, but her mother spoke first.

"I don't need in anymore! Watch!" To show her younger daughter, she did another loop without problem. Normally she would've screwed up, but that wasn't the case today.

"Wow! That's cool, momma," Dinky said excited about her mother's capability to fly again.

"Wanna have a ride on momma's back?" Sparkler and Carrot Top were mortified about what Derpy had just said. Dinky was estactic, though.

"Um," Sparkler said in panic, "maybe you shouldn't mom."

"Nonsense," Derpy said grabbing her younger daughter and putting her on her back. "I'm perfectly capable of flight with a passenger." She turned to the filly on holding on to her back and said, "Ready muffin?"

"You bet momma," the small filly said happily.

And with that the two were off and the chase was on.

Sparkler and Carrot Top were watching the skies as much as they could under the circumstances. They were running as fast as they could to try to catch a pegasus. Inevitably, the Sky high mare was able to get out of their line of sight, which caused the two pony hunters on the ground to panic slightly.

"When did she get it last time?" Carrot Top was panicking, and Sparkler could hear it in the tone....and the shaking.

"She got it half an hour after she normally takes it," Sparkler said quickly. She was let go of, and Carrot Top was now shaking in place. "Don't blame me! Dinky wouldn't get up and wanted to see mom take it! Mom spit out a few pairs before she finally took them! Carrot calm down," Sparkler said consoling her mother's closest friend

"Sorry! Sorry," Carrot said now calm. "It's just that I can't imagine what might happen to her or Dinky if she-"

"Miss! Get out of the way!"

The two mares then heard a sound that sounded like flesh hitting metal....very hard.

"I think I know where she is," Carrot said horrified.

Scene of the crash, Present time

The two stallions got out of the car while dozens of pairs of eyes had watched the events unfold. The simplest thing to do in the situation? Argue about it of course.

"Of all the ways we could make a first impression," Gear started, "this definitely takes the number one spot as the worst. Way. To make. An impression!"

"It's not my fault," Timeturner barked at his son. "If you hadn't said I wasn't your father, this wouldn't have happened!"

"My fault!? You were the one driving and not paying attention, dad!" All the ponies watching knew that the 'dad' in that sentence was more an insult than a statement.

"You're blaming this on me? Of all the- Look," his father said loudly then quietly noticing the ponies watching, "She could be perfectly fine. She wasn't hit that bad."

Gear's mouth never hung that low nor his eyes that wide. "Are you seri- She got hit by a car," he said looking and motioning to the lifeless bod...ies. Gear started pulling on the last strands on his hair, exlaiming, "Oh Celestia she had a filly with her!"

"She what!?" Timeturner went pale before looking at the pony hit while noticing the young foal unconscious a few feet away. "Okay, you get the foal, I'll get the mare."

"Okay," Gear said in agreement. He wasn't going to argue. Not now.

A trait shared between father and son was definitely the love of children. Neither one wanted to argue with the other after finding out a filly was involved. If it was just a mare, it would've involved more arguing....and arm motions.

Gear looked at the filly in his hands. She was a light shade of purple with oddly streaked blonde hair. She had blue shorts and a sky blue blouse, which were both a bit dirty from the fall. She didn't have bruises from what he could tell, so she wasn't hurt in the fall or the hit. He looked towards his father to see how he was doing.

The mare in his father's arms had a mail pony uniform alongside a grayish coat and a blonde mane. She looked badly injured from the hit on her leg and arm, which mortified him. It made him think of his mother, which he didn't like one bit. He was interrupted by the sound of a mare his age screaming in fear.

"Mom!" A Pink colored mare with purple hair came bolting towards his father and the mare in question. She had jeans, a green t-shirt, and then he noticed the horn on her head, which confused him. 'The gray one is her mother? Strange,' he thought to himself. He then noticed her looking at him, saying, "Dinky! Oh Dinky..."

"It's okay," he said to her. "She's fine. See?" The mare looked and sighed in relief, and the filly squirmed in his arms. He put her down gently and saw her shake her head a little bit.

"Dinky! You're okay," she said hugging the filly with a tear going down her side.

"S-sparky? W-what happened to me?" Gear couldn't help but feel horrible. She sounded so innocent, which made him feel worse. The filly's eyes lit up and said, "where's momma?" Now he felt like complete garbage.

"She's fine," 'Sparky" lied. "She's just...sleeping."

"S-she is?"

"Yeah, sis."

"Can I sleep with her?"

"Later," Gear said calmly. "My dad needs to-"

"Who are you," 'Sparky' said angrily. Gear realized she knew that he had something to do with the hit.

"Gearhead," he said with his hand stretched. She looked at it, thought about, and shook it, adding the statement:

"Sparkler." She shook it for a second before feeling the hand on her shoulder. Gear saw it was his dad, mortified about the whole thing. Who could blame him? They were both mortified about the entire thing.

"Where's the hospital? I need to," he said before realizing the filly was awake, "...give them medical records."

"I'll show you," an orange mare said upon arrival. She had a farmer's appearance: Jeans and buttoned plaid shirt-- with orange bobby hair.

"Lead the way," Time turner said quietly.

Gear helped his father put the mare in the back seat while the orange mare, who was known to be Carrot Top, told Sparkler to take care of Dinky while they she had to do some things. Gear pulled his father to the side and said, "You drive her and...Derpy," he said stating the name of the mare they possibly killed, "to the hospital. I'll take some of my things and the house keys and unpack a bit."

"Alright," Time Turner said quietly. "You'll need to go to town hall, though."

"I'll ask them," Gear said pointing to the fillies. "Might as well, seeing as how we...well..."

"Yeah," Timeturner said sighing. "See you in a few hours."

"Same."

As the car pulled away, Gear grabbed the shoulder of Sparkler and said, "Hey could show me to town hall?"

"Why? Gonna do something there, too? No way," She said continuing away from him with Dinky by her side.

"We're new is all," Gear said. "Please?"

"Sparky," Dinky said with a frown, "why can't we help the new ponies?" Gear could see that Sparkler had no resistance to the adorable weapon known as Dinky, as she sighed in defeat after a few seconds of trying to tell her younger sister to stop.

"Fine," Sparkler said, heading another direction. "You coming...Gear?"

"Yes it is," Gear said, "and yes I am."