//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Quantum Stopped 
// by CroakyEngine 
//------------------------------//

It’s funny how peaceful everything is when you slow down, like way down. The madness of daily life, of personal worries, of friends and families all ceased to exist when the world itself paused. In a way, it’s really quite beautiful, something that I had never quite noticed before.

Of course, being roughly one second away from getting impaled by two thugs in a dark alleyway tends to change one’s perspective of the world. In fact, I’d rate this as the second worst experience I ever had, right behind that one time when my elementary school teacher accidentally wrote my name as Asstral instead of Astral. The name never quite seemed to leave the memories of my peers.

I lowered my left forehoof, and along with it the only piece of accessory I had on me besides my gloves; a small, golden wristwatch with intricate patterns carved into its dial as well as woven artfully into its buckle. The markers on the watch did not abide to conventional means, and instead was replaced by cryptic symbols that were reminiscent of Zebrican glyphs.

Don’t ask me what it meant, since I’m still trying to work that out. All I know thus far was that it was a pattern or a cycle of some sort. The first time the stop had happened, it only lasted an hour. I spent most of that time stumbling around in a panicked frenzy. The second time lasted longer, about a day. While I was certainly much calmer than the first time, it would be prudent to say that I had been... unproductive.

I blinked and shook myself out of my thoughts. I looked forward and saw a knife mere inches away from my neck. Just below my head, a single droplet of sweat lay suspended in the air.

“That was too close,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief and carefully sidestepped away from the predicted trajectory of the blade. The two thugs who stood in front of me, completely frozen, looked almost comical in their enraged expression. One was a stallion, while the other was a mare. Both wore a simple jacket made out of fine textile. It seemed that in Canterlot, everything was fancy, even the criminals.

In a quick, efficient manner, I searched both would-be muggers and looked through their pockets. I came away with a few spare bits and a small knife. Shrugging, I patted the heads of the two ponies and trotted out of the alleyway, where puddles of water still remained on the ground from the storm scheduled by the weatherponies this morning.

The noise of a bustling city was gone. I don’t mean that like the way it was muffled by elegant walls in the dwellings of the wealthy, or from that of a sound barrier. I mean it was just completely absent. Two times, and yet I’m still not used to the fact that the only sound I can hear is that of my own hooves’ clip clops across the tidy cobblestone pavement.

After a while, I reached the one place I always came to when I needed some stress relief; Donut Joe’s. I walked into the small shop and plopped myself onto one of the free spots in the room. I levitated a trio of fresh, chocolate donuts from behind the counter, right in front of the frozen Donut Joe who looked like he was having an animated expression with a younger mare that had a six point star as her cutie mark.

I chuckled internally. After all these years, good old Joe was still trying to hit up mares a millennium younger than him. Trying being the key word used here.

I downed my, well, I guess you can say lunch, and stood up and trotted outside. I took a glance at Joe again, and after a few moments of hesitation, flicked a few bits onto the counter. It would just be mean to not repay him for the sugary goodness he unwittingly provided.

I stepped outside and took a deep breath of air, feeling much more refreshed than I was earlier. I looked down at myself, and saw my azure coat was marred with scratches and scraps. No doubt, my emerald mane was also in a disastrous shape. For once in my life, though, I really didn’t care. After all, there was nopony to care about the way I looked.

The afternoon sun was warm, but in a detached sort of way. The hunger I had contracted earlier died down with the donuts I ate. During my last two ‘freeze’, I found out that normal attributes from before the freeze will be kept constant during this time, so it’s highly unlikely that I’ll die from hunger. Despite so, one can still feel hungry, if only due to psychology of a pony’s mind.

Besides, hayburgers are still so Celestia damned good, and I’m definitely not about to pass up free food. I’m also pretty sure that I’m breaking a ludicrous number of rules just by being here, in this impossible, frozen space. Especially intriguing was when I jumped off a ten story high building (purely by accident), and came away with only a few bruises.

It did reinforce my theory that time was in fact moving, but at an extremely slow pace, that is except for the bubble that I somehow maintain about me. Anything that I touch becomes trapped in my little bubble of ‘normal’ time, which was why I always wore my gloves. Otherwise, everypony I accidentally made contact with would be suddenly unfrozen. If my personal experiences were anything to go by, that would be a very bad idea indeed.

I trotted around a corner, and stepped onto the newly constructed Luna Avenue, which runs parallel to the Celestia Avenue. A dozen new shops were already ready and opened on this street, seeking to take advantage of the popularity generated from its namesake. Shopfronts boasted hoity toity clothes, high-end restaurants and even a few bookshops.

It was also the quickest route to the Canterlot Archives. The road lay ahead of me, filled with unmoving traffic. I trotted in between legions of business ponies, civil servants and customers. I stopped when I walked past a rather pretty mare, with a butter coat and pink mane. She was currently being stared down by a lousy looking stallion blocking her path.

I tasted something rotten in my mouth. With a small prod, I unbalanced the stallion’s hoof and tilted his body sideways. Looking at my handiwork, I nodded in satisfaction and continued onwards. That pony was definitely going to get a nice, unsteady surprise when time unfroze again.

The number of ponies started to taper down, being steadily replaced by stoic looking guards and obnoxious noblesponies. Beautiful ivory towers flanked the road, and shop fronts were transformed into grand gardens and mansions. Finally, even they disappeared when I approached the sacred grounds that housed the royal sisters that ruled the land of Equestria.

As I approached the Canterlot Castle, I glanced at my watch again and juggled a few numbers in my head before nodding in satisfaction. If my calculations were correct, I would have at least a few days, maybe even a week. More than ample time, if I can use it correctly.

Perhaps this time, I can finally get some answers.