A Brief Pondering on Time

by peepsy4978

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Doctor Whooves, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1489

Time is a strange thing, even in the hooves of an experienced time traveler and a princess.

Time Turner desires to understand time. When his questions go farther than he can answer on his own, he goes to a certain diarch for assistance. Often, these newly solved questions just bring more ideas and possibilities. But when there are no more problems to be solved, things get a little philosophical.

Published 2015-07-16 02:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-16 02:20:01 UTC

Time is strange

"...so it all comes together in a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey sort of way."

"Yes, I believe that describes the flow rather apropriately."

The moon was rising in the sky as a simple, shaggy brown earth pony spoke with a grand, white alicorn whose mane scattered rainbow light across the dimming room.

"Hm," the earth pony muttered. "So then, if this truly is how time flows with space, then all of my previous ideas, all of the theories... They were wrong. My years of effort and work were just a waste." He sighed.

The alicorn levitated one of the models laid out to get a closer look.

"Well, if this current traveled at a slightly higher frequency than was detected, then it could be very possible that your previous theory would be able to coincide with this one."

"Indeed, it would... Perhaps I should test this further. Might you have a sound level meter, a lux meter, a thermometer, and a clock I may use?"

The alicorn smiled. "But of course, Time Turner."

7 hours, 34 minutes, and one sunrise later, Time Turner and his alicorn assistant emerged from the library triumphant in their quest to explain time.

But now that we found the ultimate answer to time, Time Turner pondered, what is there left for me to do?

The pony sighed. "I can't believe everything is over... Oh Celestia, what can a pony do now?"

The princess smiled gently, if not regretfully. "We both knew it had to end eventually, though I can't say that makes it easier to face.

Time Turner walked over to the bench that was sitting in front of a huge window and lied down. Looking up at the starry, dark sky, he murmured, "Time just feels like it keeps going faster and faster. It's getting harder to grasp."

Celestia dipped her head. "It's strange how that happens, and nopony notices what happened until there's nothing to do about it anymore."

Sighing as he closed his eyes, the wistful little pony remorsed, "It slips right through your hooves, and when it's finally gone, that's when you take notice.

The alicorn strode out to the space where the window's light sprawled on the floor. She gazed at her gently flowing shadow until continuing. "I always used to see time as going so slowly, so calmly, like it had nowhere to go. Then, when I finally learned how to appreciate the slowness of life, it began running away from me, and I couldn't change a thing." By the time she had finished, there was a tear forming in her eye.

"But I thought you were immortal..." Time Turner muttered.

"It's complicated."

"..."

There was a long silence until the chronologist broke it with a sigh. "Time had begun to run faster and faster. Every time I would try to grab on, to hold it, it slipped through my hands. I never understood why it had to keep moving so quickly. I just wanted to keep it and hold on forever. All it needed to do was slow down."

Celestia shrugged, stretching her wings delicately as she pondered the issue. "I think my problem with time came when I began running after it. No matter how much I pushed to catch it, time just moved faster. I would panic, then I would fly after it, and now here we are, right now. We can't go back, we can't even stay for a while. We just need to keep going forwards forever."

Time Turner glanced around the room, sensing he would be here for a while. He decided the bench he was on would be as good a spot as any to spend the rest of the fading night. "But even when I stopped chasing time," he pushed, "it was still too far away for me to reach. I could never reach far enough to grab it. It was always just out of my grasp. I could enjoy feeling its presence, could appreciate it, but I could never truly be close enough to it. Everyday, it seemed to get farther away."

Celestia nodded. "And that's when the panic would sink in, and the running would start again. I could never win, never get close, even for a moment. It took up my world. I couldn't be distracted from it for long, because I always fell back to the ceaseless chase. Every time, I fell back to time."

"We started running in circles, doing the same thing every day, but getting faster. Closer. Then the repetitiveness stopped. We were running in a different pattern now. And when I stopped to realize it, I saw that there were more people in the chase. We all seemed to be catching up. It was so close..." Time Turner choked up then, and could not stand to continue.

With remorse and understanding, Celestia finished his thought. "And then it crashed to the ground, shattering. It felt like our lives went with it, our reason to carry on. All was lost, as it seemed, never to be found."

The pony blinked, sitting up on the bench. "Well, now, everything has changed, except perhaps time. Time and I still see other ponies on their way with their Time, but their chases are different from our chases, at different speeds, different patterns, ones that my Time and I need never face. We watch the other ponies running ahead of us, the clouds of dirt they kick up getting in my eyes, making them water, making me lose track of Time."

The princess strode to the large window, gazing at the moon. Remorsefully, she confided, "Every now and then, we lose each other, even being partners in time. But we always find each other. We don't let ourselves panic. We simply trust each other to make the right move, to take the right path to come back."

Time Turner looked up at the diarch, with a delicate smirk balanced on his face. "But somehow time is always ahead, conjuring up new events, new emotions. It plays with me, like I'm a toy. The uneasy feeling never leaves, and to be honest, I don't see why it ever would. Am I a fool for believing time is superior?"

Without a word, Celestia draped her wing over Time Turner's head. "I don't know if Time is a deity or a friend, a guardian or a playful little spirit. But what I do know is that time will always be with me. Even when time runs away, farther than I could ever imagine reaching, it is still there, as it will be forever."

The little brown pony closed his eyes in a delicate manner. "Time seems to carry me around, instead of me hauling it. It never lets me go, keeping a firm grasp on me, but it never lets me lay a single hoof on it. It's close to me, yet I'm far from it. It drags me up and down on the emotional roller coaster it has prepared, never letting me rest for a moment."

Celestia sighed, then closed her eyes as well. "But that's how it always was. Why would it change? All I can do is embrace Time's ride, letting it carry me away. I will enjoy the time Time and I have, all of it, so there is nothing for me to regret." The noble alicorn's voice broke. "Not any more. The one thing I will not let myself accept is looking back and wishing to do things right. I will make it right while I still can."

Time Turner opened his eyes, staring at the quiet streets of Canterlot. "I will look back on the memories," he swore. "The ponies I've met, the bonds I have made. Sure, it hurts sometimes, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. If Time and I were always together, well, life would be awfully boring."

The diarch dipped her head in agreement with the ordinary little earth pony. "It's the bumps that make life how it is. You can't fight them or avoid them. You just have to accept them and let them be.No matter how hard you try, you can't change time. But if there's one thing I've learned from my time with Time, it's that Time can always change you."

Time Turner looked up, into Celestia's eyes. "And when Time does change you, it can be a blessing or a curse. It can make you so much better, or it can transform you into somepony awful. It's all up to Time."

Celestia smiled. "It seems Time has run away from us again. Would you like me to send you home before your friends in Ponyville worry?"

Time Turner smirked. "No thank you. I've learned not to race with Time."

Author's Note

So yeah.

I'm not quite sure what this was supposed to be.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hopefully you enjoyed anyway! :pinkiehappy:

-Peepsy4978