Twilight Sparkle Stares at a Clock

by Final Cut

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Random
Length: 1160

1200 words of Twilight thinking about clocks.

If there's one thing Twilight loves, it's learning. Every day she takes a few hours to sit and study, maybe read a book or do an experiment. But today was different. Today she looked at the clock.

And thought.

Thanks to Lan (http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Lan) for cover image and Sabre (http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Sabre) for being my ever vigilant proofreader.

Published 2012-09-08 05:44:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-08 05:44:02 UTC

Ticking

Tick, Tick, Tick

Most ponies wouldn’t spare it a second glance.

Tick, Tick, Tick

Those who needed it might stop to check the time.

Tick, Tick, Tick

The more perceptive may be annoyed by the constant ticking.

Tick, Tick, Tick

But no one had ever really thought about it.

Tick, Tick, Tick

Until one day, someone did. One day Twilight sat.

Tick, Tick, Tick

And stared.

Look at it. It’s just sitting there, ticking away. But it’s so much more than that when I look at the details. There’s so much meaning behind it. So complex, yet so elegantly simple, one could call it a triumph of pony technology, and it is, such a complex system of gears and mechanical pieces. I could just think about how it works for hours.

The clock continued to tick.

But I already know how a clock works. I set apart this time to think, and learn something new, and I will. I need to look beyond the simple mechanics of the clock; I need to know what it means. Otherwise I’ll have accomplished nothing, other than sitting here staring at a clock.

One simple movement, repeated over and over again. Ticking.

Maybe it’s about the passage of time. Never ending, always flowing, regardless of the world around it. Whatever we do can only be considered futile in the end; time will continue to flow without us. By that logic, our only goal in life should be to enjoy it while it lasts. It’s like building sandcastles on the beach, you know that the tides will come and wash it away no matter what, yet you still give it your all and have fun. Time is constant, steady. It will forget us.

Except that time isn’t constant. Not only does it flow faster or slower in certain situations, such as at different altitudes or speeds, but it’s only relative to how much attention we’re paying to it. And there’s always the possibility that one day it’ll just stop. What will we be doing, where will we be caught when everything stops? If someone could look into our universe, what would they see?

Everypony would just be frozen in whatever they were doing. They’d see Pinkie, baking, throwing some kind of party. Just doing what she loves. Maybe they’d see Applejack out in the fields, just working for a living so she can have the privilege to enjoy life. Or maybe they’ll see me, sitting here and staring at this clock.

Now the ticking seemed like it was mocking her, tearing her apart when she could be working or having fun.

Maybe this is futile. Perhaps I’m just wasting my time and this entire idea is pointless... No, it isn’t. I’m not just staring at a clock, I’m thinking about it. I’m trying to discern its true meaning, beyond a piece of machinery, beyond a timepiece. If I can best it, I’ll have one more piece of knowledge in this world, and that must be worth a little time to gain it.

Or maybe I’m wrong about that too. Maybe this quest for knowledge is as about as productive as trying to get Pinkie to lay off the sweets. Even if I can figure out what the meaning behind this is, how will that help me, or anypony else, for that matter? Why am I sitting here trying to gain more knowledge in the first place when it’s worthless to me?

Oh Celestia, now I’m depressing myself. Maybe this entire obsession with learning has just been holding me back the entire time. Perhaps I’m simply over-thinking something mundane. What if

All of a sudden, the clock stopped for a few seconds.

Is it broken? Has time stopped entirely or is it just this clock? If time stopped, would I even still be able to think? No, of course not. That’s just silly. Still, I think that

It started again. Then Twilight noticed something she had missed before, something particular about this specific clock: Every time the second hand moved, the momentum carried it a little further than the next mark on the clock before the pin it was mounted to forced it back.

It’s almost as if it’s trying to reach further than it can, trying to move forward faster in time then reality will allow it too. But something always holds it back, prevents it from its goal. It’s reaching beyond its grasp, and it fails every single time. Why does it even bother to keep reaching?

That’s why it stopped. It can’t be bothered to keep trying when it realizes it’s doomed to fail, so it just winds down. It gives up. Yet even after that, it went and started again. Even when it knew success was impossible, it decided to pick itself up and try anyhow. Maybe that’s the lesson. Set goals beyond your means and never give up until you reach them!

And I know this now! I kept reaching beyond what I knew, trying to learn more. And even when the clock stymied me and I almost gave up, I picked myself up and kept going!

Wait a minute. That’s exactly what the clock was doing. Maybe… Maybe I am the clock. We’re one and the same, both always in pursuit of something we will never fully achieve. I’ll always keep looking for knowledge even though I’ll never learn anything, and the clock just keeps trying to go forward more quickly and reach the end of the story.

The clock simply continued to run its course.

Even if I set it ahead an hour, it refuses to be complacent with what it has. Nor will it give up if I set it back. It’s in an endless pursuit, trying to reach something it doesn’t know. Trying to reach the future. Trying to reach a place where it knows what it was moving towards.

Trying to reach knowledge.
It was at this point that Twilight actually decided to check the time on the clock she had been staring at.

Holy hay, it’s that late already? I’m going to be late for that party Pinkie’s throwing for… Wait, what was she even throwing a party for? Doesn’t matter, I need to get going.

She took one last look at the clock.

Funny, first useful thing I got from this clock all day was the time. Maybe I need to stop over thinking this so much, just take what’s offered to me. After all, if I hadn’t done that I’d still be staring at it. I would’ve missed the party and disappointed my friends. Pursuit of knowledge or not, they’re much more important than trying to find the meaning in some random object.

After all, at the end of the day, when all is said and done and I finally rest my mind, there’s still one possibility that won’t go away. There’s always that chance...

It might just be a clock.