The Passage of Time

by MasterFrasca

The Frozen World

I stood there as the world lay silent around me. The birds stopped their beautiful songs and the creatures of the forest stood frozen as if they were being suspended in ice. The clouds had stopped erupting in rain and the wind had stopped blowing as the entire world around me lay in silence. The rain froze in place in mid-fall and the ponies unlucky enough to be caught in the storm stopped galloping for home.

I had stopped the passage of time itself.

This was a trick that my parents had taught me as a little filly. There was a certain spell created by my great-grandfather and handed down through generation after generation until I was finally taught it. When I first tried it out, my parents had come with me into what they referred to as “The Frozen World.” A few more times later, they let me venture into it on my own, but that was years ago, when they were still alive.

It had been ten years since I had last traveled into the Frozen World. I didn’t want to return after last time, as my parents never came back with me. They had just disappeared off the face of Equestria. Now though, my curiosity got the better of me. I had always wanted to try to enter the Frozen World during a rain storm, so I could walk through the rain as it lay frozen in time.

Glancing around again, I saw that the rain had stayed in place, unlike what I thought would happen. Apparently gravity had no effect on the individual droplets in the Frozen World. Reaching out a hoof, I poked one of the droplets and it instantly unfroze and ran down my hoof and through the fur of my leg. I lowered my hoof and took a few steps forward running into a good bit of droplets. When they came into contact with my fur, gravity would take over and they would run down my body, which in turn sent a chill down my spine.

Looking back, I saw a vaguely pony-shaped tunnel where I had been walking. By this time, my fur was thoroughly soaked, so in order to stop any more rain from clumping on my body, I focused on my horn and charged up a pulse inside it. Releasing the pent-up energy, all the rain within a hundred feet of me fell as if I had started time again. I giggled as all the rain directly above me splashed onto my face.

Many times before I had stopped time around me, entering this Frozen World, but this was different from all those other times. I looked around and saw a bubble of air, a perfect sphere that had formed due to the pulse of magic I had sent out. The stillness of it all sent my spirits aflutter, and I couldn’t help but smile.

I stood there taking the amazing sight in when a thought crossed my mind. My parents had disappeared one time when we were doing this, so what had stopped them from coming back to the normal world? Something must have stopped them, because no matter how many times I tried, staying in the Frozen World was impossible. Moving around in it would slowly drain my magic to the point where I couldn’t hold on any longer. I would pass out and wake up in normal reality. Coming back was almost mandatory, so what had kept them there, since it wasn’t their own willpower?

As these thoughts passed through my head, A shiver went down my spine as I felt the atmosphere suddenly become tense. My eyes darted back and forth as my heart rate sped up. A sudden feeling of being watched came over me, and I feared that I might not be alone in this Frozen World. I took a step back as I thought I saw something dart past in the distance.

I tried reasoning with myself, “Calm down girl,” I said to the silent world around me, “This is your world. Nopony else can get in with you.”

Immediately after my short pep-talk, I caught a glimpse of something moving out of the corner of my eye. Spinning around, I looked down the street looking for anything different. Nothing looked odd or out of place. Even the rain frozen in mid-fall had not changed. Something in the back of my mind wouldn’t let me calm down as paranoia started to seep through into my head. Nothing was happening, but my subconscious felt something out of place, something demented, something dangerous.

Another shadow crossed by the outer reaches of my vision and I snapped my neck to the left looking for its owner. Nothing had changed, and I was starting to become genuinely terrified of whatever was causing these disturbing feelings. I turned around again, feeling as if somepony was staring at me. The street was empty, but this time there was something wrong with the frozen scene in front of me. I couldn’t put my hoof on it until…

My eyes saw it and I slowly started backing up. There at the end of the street was a pair of glowing orbs that, if I wasn’t mistaken, were eyes. I took a step backwards and kept my eyes glued to the floating orbs. They didn’t advance, but the very sight of them had my hair standing on end. They were out of place. I looked away for a second to make sure I wasn’t going to step in the rain and freak myself out. I turned back and…

They were closer.

The eyes had moved forward when I turned back. I could see the blood red pupils now. I couldn’t take it any longer, and I closed my eyes, willing magic into my horn to return back into the normal world. After a quick second I opened my eyes and released my magic, willing the world to revolve again. The eyes were directly in front of me for a split second before the world started up again.

I jumped back as the rain once again fell onto my coat. “I guess that was what had kept my parents in the Frozen world,” I mumbled to myself. “But what was that?”

Comments

[aquilerafroot]

Wow, I'm really looking forward to what happens, if you're going to write about it.

[edit] oops, didn't see the complete tag there... but this could expand into such an awesome~~~

[MasterFrasca]

405923 It is complete as of now, but as soon as I finish one of my other 6 stories I may add onto this one. Just keep your eyes open

[Just a Moment]

"I could see the blood red pupils now."

Discord?

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Holy hell. Took me forever to get around to reading this...

How did I never find this before?

Thank you Shadowflash for the suggestion!

~Skeeter The Lurker