A Rumble In Time

Rumble lazily kicked his foot against a small can on the side of the road, sending it flying forward a feet until he met it once again only to repeat his action, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.‘Another day another pile of homework, another day another mare laughing at him or teasing him, another day another arbitrary punishment from his teacher or big brother, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.’ He thought before taking in a deep sigh and exhaling.

He felt like his life was in some kind of constant re-run, a Groundhogs Day of sorts. ‘Sure he had only turned 18 a few weeks ago, he was still a colt in everything but technicality, but at least most of his peers had marefriends, he had a stack of old playmares, they had relatively well off families that could afford simple things that his simply couldn’t, they had flushing social lives with many friends who attended parties at least biweekly, he had virtually no friends and hadn’t even drank in his life, nevermind attended some big party, they had parents, he had a big brother and nothing more, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.’ He thought, pitying himself.

He continued on like this for a minute or so, until he felt something suddenly collide with his shoulder. Turning around rapidly to see what the issue was an almost blindingly fast stallion ran ahead of him, dropping a small solid gold stopwatch.

Quickly picking it up Rumble didn’t think as he sprinted after the stallion, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Wait, wait, you dropped this!!!!” Although it was useless, for as soon as the stallion turned into a small alleyway he seemed to completely disappear, being found neither there or in either direction at the other end. He was completely gone, but Rumble was still left with that same golden stopwatch, that must have quite literally been worth its weight in gold

Stopping for breath he simply examined the curious thing before taking in a deep sigh and deciding that he ought to move quickly in returning it to some authoritative figure before his brother complained about him arriving home late.

Placing the small watch in his pocket Rumble picked up his pace again, running towards Ponyville’s central police station as fast as his legs could carry him.

………………..

Arriving at the police station Rumble almost collapsed at the door, being aided by a clearly concerned elderly mare, not an officer herself, but one of the station's receptionists. “What’s wrong son?” She asked with clear worry in her tone.

“I-I found this watch that somepony lost. He-he got away from me, so I couldn’t return it.” Rumble hurried out through struggled breaths, showing the mare the pristine timepiece he found.

“Well there’s no need to worry yourself too much about that son. Look, how about you just have a seat over here and I’ll get somepony out to see you. Would you like a glass of water?” She asked, placing a hand on his back as she directed him towards a sitting area..

“No thank you! I’ll be okay.” Rumble simply said before heading towards the nearest seat.

Taking a seat Rumble waited for a good few minutes before becoming impatient. He retrieved the watch from his pocket, examining it in every intricate detail. It really was an excellent watch, and he had no doubt that it’s owner must have been ridiculously wealthy, which meant that he’d be certain to get some great reward, he thought proudly to himself.

Although one thing he did notice was that the watch was constantly ticking. ‘Maybe the stallion was just trying to time how fast he could run.’ Rumble thought to himself. Regardless, it’d probably be better to turn it off now so it didn’t extend too much of whatever such an intricate device may run on. So he simply pressed the small button at the top of the watch.

….Suddenly, silence, complete and utter silence, a kind of extreme silence that Rumble had never experienced in his entire life. The only reason he knew that he hadn’t suddenly gone completely deaf was his loud, but regular breathing, which seemed to become at least five times louder than it had previously been.

It was as if the whole world had just melted away and he was the only thing left in it, but it hadn’t, the empty room looked at least somewhat normal. He couldn’t lay his finger on it, something just seemed off about the way the room looked, despite the fact that nothing major had changed.

Hesitantly getting up from his seat Rumble walked over to the receptionist's desk. What he saw behind it was beyond eerie. The mare he had just talked to minutes ago stood behind the desk with a pen in her hand, but she stood completely unmoving, not even a breath escaped her lips, after seconds, after what at least seemed like a good minute or two, nothing. It was if she was a completely inanimate object, but even then she seemed eerily still.

After a good minute or two of just staring at her with wide eyes Rumble brought a hand up right in front of her face, waving it merely inches away from her. He then tried snapping his fingers, giving the mare a light tap, even asking, before shouting, eventually at the top of his lungs for her. Nothing seemed to work, it was as if she died standing still, but that obviously wasn’t possible.

Biting his lip in frustration the young colt eventually decided that it would be best to try and leave and find somepony else who could deal with the problem.

Opening the door to the police station he immediately slammed it back shut upon finding half a dozen ponies all going about their business as normal, although like the receptionist completely silent, completely still.

Rumble panicked for a few seconds but quickly realised what the problem was. It seemed ridiculous, but he knew from Twilight and her student that time travel and manipulation magic was possible, and while spells never mind enchantments like that were almost impossible to learn, they weren’t completely impossible. Could he have stumbled upon one of these rare artifacts when he picked up the watch?

It seemed ridiculous, but he had to try. It didn’t seem like he had any other option. So walking back towards the seat he quickly sat down before pressing the button on his little stopwatch, and just like that, although there was nothing in his view, there was a definite shift.

He waited there for little more than a few seconds before a stallion approached him, asking for his name. Panicking, he told the police that he was desperate for the toilet, and was allowed to go before being questioned.

Walking at a brisk pace towards what he was told was the way to the toilet, as soon as Rumble was out of sight he pressed the button. He wasn’t a stupid colt, and he certainly wasn’t going to let something so valuable and unique slip out of his hands so easily.

Going back to the receptionist area he saw that just like before everything and everypony had stopped, it had all gone completely dead.

Panicking he ran out of the police station, running for several minutes away from that place, although everypony he passed no matter how far he ran stood completely still. He didn’t care, his goal was to get as far away from the police station as possible so he couldn’t be questioned by the police about his watch.

He eventually stopped as he ran out of breath. He just leaned against one of the walls of some unnamed shop for a few seconds before he was able to regain his breath.

He had actually done it, he was free, not only from the station but with this thing free from just about anything. Again Rumble was more than perceptive enough to realise the potential value of what he had just stumbled across. Sure it was no doubt illegal dark magic, but if he was ever caught, which he doubted, he had a literally infinite amount of time to get away as soon as he pressed that little button.

Calming down, Rumble just simply walked about the streets of ponyville. He went up to a few random ponies to try and get their attention, but they were equally unresponsive as the receptionist. He might as well have been talking to a rock.

He walked the streets of Ponyville for several long minutes, staring at awe at the completely changed, and yet ironically unchanging world around him. The smallest things became extremely fascinating to him. An object thrown or dropped didn’t fall, the expression on a ponies face stayed rigidly still, yet extremely expressive, etc. Even the ants on the ground and the wind in the air were completely motionless.

He continued like this until conveniently as he began to feel his stomach churn with hunger he stumbled across Sugarcube Corner. He didn’t see why he couldn’t at least take a little look.

Walking over to the shop he slowly opened the door before looking around. As normal there were a few ponies sat down enjoying cakes or sundaes, a few foals sat a seat or so away from a nuzzling couple, a completely normal day. Looking over the counter he saw Pinkie Pie mid bounce as she played with the Cake twins, and Mrs Cake bent over tending to an oven. Again completely normal, eerily normal almost.

Walking up the counter he instinctively put a hand in his pocket before cursing himself, one for not having any money, and second for forgetting what state he was in, or rather literally everypony else was in.

He bit his lip as he looked at a massive raspberry cheesecake sat on the counter. He hesitated before pulling his hand away. He couldn’t be so brash. If too many things in the environment changed ponies would begin to notice, and he could get caught. But still, he felt starving and he really wanted that cake.

Compromising he apprehensively walked to the side of the counter, taking a big knife to slice about a quarter, leaning on the third side, of the cake off for himself. He gently turned the side he cut off away from anypony that might see it. Finally making himself a chocolate and caramel sundae Rumble left. Hopefully they wouldn’t miss the glass, and if they did he could always return it.

Walking the streets of Ponyville he took a sip from his glass with one hand, and a bite of his cake with the other. He waited until his treats were done before deciding to explore some other building. After all not only could he see old places from an entirely different perspective, now he could go anywhere he wanted, with no social or legal consequences. The temptation was just too much.