I slowly opened my eyes, luckily there was no bright light to blind me as I finally came to. Once my eyes were halfway open I noticed that I was in my bedroom. Slowly, I began to pull myself up into a sitting position, resulting in a huge wave of pain washing over my body. When I was finally able to sit up the pain disappeared. I rubbed my eyes and yawned loudly while stretching my limbs out. Suddenly the door to my room burst open and Celestia, Luna, Blueblood, the mane six, Spike and a large amount of the castle staff rushed in and surrounded my large bed. Wasp and Zeri were already snuggled up beside me, although I felt a more protective feeling come from them than affection.

I just looked at them all confused as to what was going on, as my memory was slightly blurred at that moment. All I could remember was something about magic and me falling unconscious. Judging from everyone's expressions, it must have been serious. My head began to hurt as I tried to think back to the events before I fell asleep. It was no use, I couldn't remember any of it, so I asked Celestia and Luna what had happened. Everyone looked at me confused, asking why I couldn't remember anything about whatever had happened. I told them I didn't know the reason and that they should just tell me if it was that important.

The two sisters sat at the edge of my bed as they explained what had happened to me while the spider Fluttershy had given me sat on my head using its legs to rub my temples, which was suprisingly soothing. As the two princesses finished recounting the events, my memory started to come back to me. I shivered as I remembered looking into the eyes of the humanoid figure. They were the opposite of soulless, they were filled with nothing but soul. And somehow, that was even more disturbing. That grin on Clockworks face kept flashing into my mind. What did he do to me? And why me of all people?

I placed a hand to where he had shot magic into me, lifting up my shirt I saw there was a small black dot where the magic had struck my chest, the veins around it turned dark grey, but only a small amount. I looked to the mares in front of me in hopes of an explanation and a possible solution. They shook their heads and looked to Twilight, who informed me that whatever spell that was cast on me was ancient and shouldn't exist or even be known in this day and age, but there was no way to determine which spell it was without the spell book which contained the steps necessary to cast it successfully.

I groaned and lay back in my bed, the spider jumping off my head and cuddling up with Wasp and Zeri. If there was no way to tell what the spell was then there was no way of finding a cure. I looked out the window to see Luna's moon high in the sky, wondering how long I was asleep. I reached for the golden pocket watch on my dresser, only to stop as I saw a soft blue glow come from the inside of the watch. Carefully, I picked it up and opened it to check the time. On the inside, the clock was normal, but in the middle there was a glowing blue number written. One hundred and fifty.

I tilted my head in response to this, resulting in the others all looking at me the same way. Then it happened, the clock struck midnight and I watched the number shift and form a new one. One hundred and forty nine. That's when I realised, it was a countdown, whenever a day went by, the number would go down. And I didn't want to figure out what happened when it reached zero. I pointed this out to my family and they looked at the watch. Luna asked if I thought that the watch and the spell had any connection to the other. Given what this world was like, it most likely was.

The real question was what was going to happen? Usually in moments like this the villian of the story would appear and give their evil speech about some great scheme they came up with. But it didn't happen, Clockwork had disappeared with that figure, but I could still feel their presence. It was faint, but it was there nonetheless. Celestia had informed me that the Canterlot Mages had been working to figure out what the effects of the spell were and looking into whatever historical archive they would need to access.

This reassured me a little, I knew the mages, they were pretty determined and had an expansive knowledge of history and magic than even Celestia herself. But at that point in time, all we knew was their was an ancient spell in my chest and around my heart and that Clockwork was nowhere to be seen. Wasp and Zeri sat at my sides while nuzzling into my arms in an attempt to make me feel better, which worked, but only by a small amount.

I wrapped my arms around the changelings and gave them hugs before sighing and turning to the crowd and then to the Royal sisters, who looked defeated, but had a glimmer of determination in their eyes. As they moved in for a hug, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my chest. I grasped it and tried to control my breathing. Whatever that spell was it obviously wasn't friendly. Luna began to apologise for the watch, blaming herself for bringing the pain I was feeling, but it wasn't her fault, it was all Clockworks fault, and he would answer for whatever it was he had done.. When she asked me if I wanted to give the watch back, I said no.

I told her to stop, we all knew she'd never do anything to harm me. She had a very bad history of blaming herself, resulting in her being unusually quiet and less talkative. When you almost take over Equestria for those reasons you should probably just realise that you need to talk to a professional. I just stared at the watch and the number floating just above it, resulting in a sigh. Less than half a year to figure out everything, that wasn't how I wanted things to go down.

Celestia told me to stay in bed and rest up, telling me that I'd need my energy if I were to start looking around for answers to the many questions I had. In the meantime everyone would be returning home since it was rather late, and I didn't want to keep them from their sleep.

Celestia and Luna didn't feel comfortable leaving me with just Wasp and Zeri to protect me, so they decided to sleep in my room, resulting in a large group of guards and maids to do the same, transforming my room into one large cuddle pile. It wasn't unwelcome, it did make me feel a lot safer.

As I lay my head back to try and fall asleep again I looked to the watch which was now in my bedside table. When the number had shifted, I had felt something in my body. Something too faint to identify, but I knew it was there. I just hoped we could find answers soon. I was on a time limit, and I did not what to experience whatever would happen when the clock reached zero.

Author's Notes:

Please tell me if there's any areas that don't make sense or if there are any mistakes, I wrote the last bit of the chapter while I was really tired, so I would appreciate it if you dud point out anything you find.

Anyway, the plot thickens and now the hunt for answers and Clockwork shall begin.