//------------------------------// // Such Big Decisions Made In So Little Time // Story: Clockwork // by 71NYL-5CR4TCH //------------------------------// I sigh. I never understand ponies. Other ponies, I should say. I've read 341 books on pony psychology, trying to grasp how their minds can calculate so much information coming at them so quickly. How they can make these decisions almost instantly, on what to believe, who to trust... Such big decisions in so little time. It will always amaze me how quick we are to judge other ponies. Ponies we don't even know. To pronounce them a liar, or fraud out of no sensation other than our own skepticism. And skepticism is just. Awful. It really is, if you think about it. While you may find yourself disappointed more frequently, you also find yourself much more eager and willing to explore the unknown. To progress. But if none of us were skeptics, then I suppose we'd jump into whatever fraudulence was tossed our way. I suppose the liars are to blame. To blame for our doubt, for our mistrust. But also our comfort. The world is so very random, and often acts out of it's own whim, or spite. Many ponies can't accept that, so they turn to the lies to look for a sense of continuity in a random existence. For a purpose. Maybe there is one. So perhaps nopony is to blame. Perhaps we all are. "I...I don't know what else you want me to say Twilight." I shrug, it's unfortunate, but sometimes it is for the best for others to find comfort in a lie. I hate to force lies or truths on anyone, they never sink in. "I don't want you to say anything, I want proof." Proof. What risky material proof is. It is the source of concrete evidence. Concrete evidence which makes a sledgehammer, capable of shattering comfort...or being dismissed with the wave of a hoof, depending on how beloved the lie or truth is. "Well...how would you like me to prove it?" I raise an eyebrow. I've been asked to prove my 'gift' before. Sometimes ponies can accept what I am capable of, and chalk it up to a spell which they haven't discovered yet. Sometimes ponies will dismiss it as a trick, and convinced they will not be proven the fool. Other times, well other times ponies just won't accept it with no reason not to. "Teleport." She commands. Well...that's a first. I've had ponies flash me pictures for very short periods of time, asking me what was on them. I've had ponies ask me to tell them about books I have read in the gaps. But this was...well...so brilliantly simple. "As far as I know, I am the only pony with the ability to teleport, but I've been wrong before. I do, however, know it takes some time, and a large, detectible burst of magic. So let's se it." Her face is captured in a cocky grin, her eyes pointed and teeth showing. Hungry to make a fool out of me. To be proven right. I almost hate to disappoint her, she seems so confident. I walk around the library, her eyes still fixed on where I once stood. I lay on the comfy looking couch and turn to face her back. It will be the first time somepony has seen me move within the gap. Or at least notice. But as always, time resumes. "W-what?" I hear her cry out as her stance jerks. Her head whips around, with audible 'wooshes' as her mane flips through the musty air. Finally her eyes lock with mine, and she stares. She stares with the widest eyes I have ever seen. I'm not sure what to expect next. A cry? A gasp? A demand for an explanation? I've heard all of those before. Her lips slowly stretch to form an enormous grin. "I...but...you...but how...Teach me." Well you are just full of firsts aren't you? No pony has ever asked me to teach them before. Ponies have asked 'how did you do that?!' but never 'show me how'. "I...can't. I don't even know how it works." "Well how do you do it? A spell? Did you read how in a book? Does the princess know?" This is why I like the gaps. "I...don't know I...started using the gaps when I was a little colt...and I don't think so..?" "What happened your first time?" She's so eager, she went from not even knowing something was possible to wanting to know everything about it. Ponies can change so fast. Such big decisions in so little time. "I was a little colt, like normal, I guess. I hadn't even started using magic yet. My friends and I were playing baseball. I was the pitcher, the one who throws the ball. I threw it to the other teams bater, he was a big mean colt, and he didn't like me very much. I could see a mean stare in his eyes, I think he was aiming for me. I heard the crack of the bat and saw the ball zooming toward me. I clenched my eyes and waited for an impact but...it never came. The world went quiet and still. When I cracked my eyes open I saw the ball, a foot or two away from my face. Just...floating there. I thought I had died at first, but when I stepped out of the way of the ball, everything just...started back up again. Ever since then, I can step into these gaps between seconds. It gives me a lot of time to think, and to be by myself." "So you didn't even try? It just...happened?" She looks disappointed. I shrug, "Pretty much." "Is that your special talent? Stopping time?" "I..don't know, to be honest. My cutie mark appeared right after it happened for the first time, but it doesn't make any sense to me..." She looks at my flank and squints, as if the image was blurry. But my cutie mark is extraordinarily simple, two parallel rectangles, side by side. Nothing more. Just two thick, parallel, white lines against my golden coat. "Me neither. Maybe I have a book that could help us." "Unfortunately, you don't." "Oh...right."