Chapter 1: The Time of Day
In the span of a few seconds, the sobering thought brought forth a stifling silence. Luna was the first to break the unsettling quiet.
“What makes you say that, Twilight? Surely it isn’t so.”
The mare in question scraped a solemn hoof along the edge of the table, but her gaze didn’t stray from the outside, watching the milling ponies from her vantage point high within Canterlot castle. She studied them with a slight smile that somewhat soured when she felt like she was looking down upon the ponies. It only took a slight change in perspective, and suddenly that whole thing was different.
Which was the crux of the matter, after all.
“I just think… that… well—forget I said anything,” Twilight added hastily with a wobbly smile. She hid her expression behind a teacup, an effect that was slightly spoiled with the haste of the movement. Awkwardness and apologies were spilled with the tea.
Cadance leaned forward. “Well, Twilight, if you ever want to talk about it, you know we’re all here to help. You can trust us.”
She felt relief in that warm gaze, and slowly began to relax. The moment might have passed, and the conversation might have been different at this point, had Celestia not spoken.
“I’m worried about it.”
An old clock was mounted in this room. Most ponies never paid heed to it because of its constancy. But in the silence, its ticking was so pronounced that one would finally pay attention and wonder at its dedication. The musing thoughts often pass, but the ticks remained.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Twilight wondered if anypony would notice if the ticking stopped. The absence of the constancy being even harder to mind when it is so thoroughly entrenched in the background.
Luna was the first to offer a plaintive smile to her sister. “Nay, sister, you of all ponies shouldn’t worry about this problem…?”
Twilight couldn’t help but feel rising unease as neither her or Cadance moved to speak as well.
Celestia licked her lips and carefully chose her next words. “I’ve been worried about that, ever since the dream.”
“The nightmare,” Luna corrected. “It wasn’t your dream.”
Celestia’s nod was stiff, like a marionette’s strings cut.
“Yes,” Twilight added quickly, “I’m sorry for having brought that up, Princess, but that has nothing to do—”
“Do you think ponies can change, Twilight?”
Pinned under her look, Twilight shrunk back. “W-Well, yes.” Questioning eyes were reflected back to the severe alicorn, and wondered where this was going.
“Then you believe that I can change too?”
Though Twilight sensed a trap, she couldn’t see the form of it.
“Ye-es,” she finally replied.
“Everypony relies on me to be the same, and the same is what I’ve strived to be. This stability is foundational to all the lives in Equestria… but what if I change? What if corruption is indeed inevitable? I think it is prudent to at least think about that.”
Luna shook her head. “What happened to me, will never happen to you, sister.”
“HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE?!”
Celestia glanced up from the table to survey the shocked looks on everypony’s faces. Her gaze softened and her voice was lowered, but none of the intensity was lost as she repeated.
“How can you be so sure?”
Twilight was acutely aware of the clock again. It filled the silence with a steady mechanical click that she somehow found annoying. But usually she would love the sound. Was emotional circumstance all it took to hate it?
“Yes.” Cadance broke through the agonising pause with a surprisingly clear expression. “I don’t think it’s a problem at all.” She perked up with a false cheerfulness and began passing everypony new cups of steaming tea. They hadn’t touched the tea for over ten minutes. Twilight touched her cup absently.
Stone-cold.
The youngest princess very much doubted anypony was in the mood to drink tea now. It was a shame, really. The weather was nice, a pleasant wind blew through the window, and the lightest of conversations were meant to have taken place. Instead, a storm of brooding thoughts now sat heavy in the room.
“Cadance, do you ever have these thoughts?”
The alicorn froze on her way to pouring her tea and carefully set down her pot. She considered the question carefully and sighed. “I would be lying if I said it never crossed my mind.”
“So—”
“So I don’t think it’s necessarily true and while it’s good to think about it, it doesn’t do too well to brood about it. Forgive me, Aunty, for pointing this out, but surely if you can’t trust yourself, you should at least trust others? If you don’t have that, well, I guess it’s a wasted exercise to even resist at all.”
Twilight’s mouth flopped open. Across from her, Celestia did the same.
Cadance caught the gesture and sighed. “The answer, in my mind, is not to think about it. Life is too busy to worry about whether I’m going to inevitably corrupt and spread chaos all over Equestria.” She took a sip from her cup and set it down with an irate clank. “Besides, this is the first day I have free from Flurry Heart to catch up with my friends, and you’re all whining like you’ve been given a sack of mouldy hay.” Cadance rolled her eyes at the downcast expressions. “Oh what, so you’re going to continue after all of that?”
“It is a serious matter—”
“So it is!” Cadance shot back. “But it’s all hypothetical! I don’t worry about getting hit by a carriage as I cross the street, I just watch out for it, that’s all.”
There was silence for a few moments before Celestia’s heaving sigh abruptly blew out the stagnant mood. Cadance blinked at her, Luna reared her head back and Twilight broke her sullen gaze from the table to glance up at her in confusion.
“No, Cadance, you’re right,” Celestia continued softly with a slight smile. “Yes, I think I may have been overthinking about it. We just need to be mindful of the little things that fill up our day and trust everypony around us that we’ll get through it in one piece. It may be inevitable, but it’s avoidable, isn’t it?”
Luna’s tense shoulders finally drew down. “Yes, sister, I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.” The princess nodded sagely as she downed cold tea with a grimace. “We must procure better refreshments!”
Twilight’s wings unfurled slightly as her ears slowly rose from her head. Should she be happy that her words now carried greater weight than it did before? More and more, she saw the more vulnerable side of her former mentor. Each time, she felt their bonds deepening from the knowledge. The Princess hadn’t changed, had she? Twilight shook her head. No, only her perspective.
“The day is beautiful and I think it’s time to step outside, are you coming, Twilight?”
Deep in thought, Twilight twitched in response, her stare moving away from watching the vista outside. It was indeed beautiful and a shame not to experience in the present.
“Yes, of course,” she replied with a smile.
But as they left the room, Twilight faltered in her steps.
That’s because she realised she could no longer hear the sound.
Only silence.
The ticking had stopped.
I really love the way you convey their emotions... there's something just... just wonderful in your characterization.
The ending confused me a little. Beyond that, this was interesting. Somewhat deep, somewhat complex, and also somewhat powerful. But not overly so.
I like it
Not understand. Explain it to me, please?
It was a good story, untill the ending. That kind of ruined it, because it did not fit.
8315082 Uhm... Twilight was secretly dead the whole time! Because... uhm... THE TREES COMMANDED HER TO KILL HERSELF!!
But yeah, that ending lacked enough context to make sense of it.
People often have the misunderstanding that anything is possible given infinite time. There are many things that simply can't happen no matter how long the yardstick. People/Ponies are the same way. There are things that are likely, things that are unlikely, things that are highly unlikely, and indeed things that are impossible -- that no matter what the circumstances, they are outside the realm of possibilities for said person.
Thus the inevitability of something happening even to an immortal is not assured.
8315473
"Never say never".
After all, things rarely happen overnight. Like, the person I am right now won't even think of learning, say, martial arts. But the person I am tomorrow might be more inclined to do it. In a year, I change enough to actually enroll. In ten years, I am good in it.
Still, right now I am sure it is impossible. Even if it is not. If I won't try - I won't find out.
So I can't touch the moon today. But I can move a little close to it, step by step. Or build a rocket.
8315225
I think the ending referred to the fact that the clock's ticking stopped and Twilight only now noticed it. One could view it as symbolism concerning her fear that Celestia actually is changing, and not Twilight's perspective of Celestia.
Despite that, You're featured.
8315082
The silence is the result of something that was ever-present, ever-constant, and unchanging changing (the clock). It stopped being the same, and at around the same point, a few other things occurred:
The first is the Celestia stopped worrying about if she will eventually be a villain.
The second is that Twilight realized that her perspective had changed.
What these may mean, I don't know.
I hypothesize the ticking of the clock is representative of emotion, particularly doubt. Clocks representing the ticking of the heart, and thus emotion, are often seen in literature though less often than the clock as a representation of life.
For something so central and thematic in this work, the clock is only referenced three times, at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The first two appearances of the clock appear first as Celestia speaks to the others, “I’m worried about it,” and again after she asks twice, "How can you be so sure?" In both instances, the clock's ticking becomes apparent after a statement or question which leaves those in the room in doubt. In contrast, at the conclusion of the story, the characters have seemingly found resolution and the clock's ticking is no longer apparent.
The idea of the clock representing doubt is complimented by the secondary idea of perspective introduced in the story, first when she looks "down" upon the other ponies, secondly when she realizes emotional shift results in the clock being bothersome, and finally when evaluating her perspective of Celestia.
Looking at both these themes as a whole, it becomes clear the emotional uncertainty and distress faced by Twilight come about as a result of her shifting perspective regarding Celestia. The discussion's topic is irrelevant. Its literary significance lies in how it changes Twilight's perspective of Celestia by introducing her "vulnerable side."
Thus, after brief contemplation, I rescind the initial theory and conclude the ticking of the clock is symbolic of Twilight's relationship with Celestia. When she was younger and naive, her mentor was seemingly all-knowing and perfect, as are parents for most children. However having become an alicorn herself, she has begun to see Celestia's flaws, thus shattering her previous notion that Celestia was perfect. As she states in the story about the clock, "The absence of the constancy being even harder to mind when it is so thoroughly entrenched in the background." Celestia was that ticking, the constancy in Twilight's life. However in light of their discussion, Twilight realizes that Celestia has her own flaws, doubts, and fears, and as a result she has lost the consistency Celestia had once provided, just as the consistent ticking of the clock is lost.
8315082
The clock, which has been emphasized as a constant, broke down with no warning.
This was neat to read. I liked it!
At first, I thought the clock stopping was symbolic of a sort of countdown to Celestia's internal breaking point. After thinking for a moment and looking through the comments, I think 8315881's (very thorough) analysis is more on point. As such, what little criticism I was going to levy is largely moot, with the exception that I don't have much take away at the end. It's a very interesting sort of conversation, which I've explored in my own work, but I feel as though Twilight's reactions don't carry enough weight.
The clock is a lovely piece of thematic environment, and I think if it played a marginally more prominent role its silence toward the end would hit with appropriate gravitas.
IMO, this moment should have been in all CAPS.
that ending was subtle. a bit too subtle. maybe if you had used more "tick-tock" dispersed in the story? rule of threes?
Cadence makes sense. Clearly, having a baby alicorn to look after helps to pare away the hypotheticals and focus on the current.
The ticking clock is a metaphor, but the problem is that it's not a metaphor for anything. It's just generally metaphorical.
Personally I'd argue that if Celestia managed to banish her sister then live with the loneliness and guilt for 1,000 years (a very, very long time to the point where the human perspective can't even visualise it properly) while also directly ruling Equestria by herself the whole time without going off the deep end, she's obviously made of far sterner stuff than she gives herself credit for and is never going to snap. Doubly so given that Celestia's life has basically entered a new golden age with not only the return of her sister, but also two more Princesses to help out and confide in her.
Who's a silly pony, indeed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this little anecdote, it poses a question many are too afraid to ask and answers it in such a precise and yet vague way. It is silly to hypothesise and worry about what could be. Cadence brings up an excellent point in stating that it's best to simply carry on with life and go through each day hoping to get to the end in one piece. Worrying whether something will happen is a waste of time. Better to focus on avoiding getting hit by a car than whether you'll get hit by a falling light post.
To perfectly honest, I'm a culprit of the same thing. I tend to worry about things. Mostly things that either, don't affect me or I shouldn't worry about entirely. So when I saw this story pop up in my feed, I was pleasantly surprised. I love how you describe the interactions between the princesses. It was interesting to see you tackle this existential question and how to answer it.
Thank you for writing this, I've really enjoyed reading it.
There is no one righteous, not even one. Rom 3:10. People have been struggling with this one for thousands of years. It's an important concept to consider, but it's the sort of thing that is real easy to over complicate if you don't stop yourself fast, when it's simple.
Celestia is a very silly pony. She believes (A) she is not corrupt and (B) everypony changes, thus (A and B) she will change to become corrupt.
A) If Celestia is perfect than she would be so far removed from the category of "everypony" that the entire premise becomes dumb. Celestia is already imperfect, already corrupt, already capable of evil. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Celestia is capable of great evil, and must be vigilant against her own mistakes. That was true yesterday, it will be true tomorrow. The biggest danger is not from her capacity to do evil, but from her belief that today, she will not.
B) Think of all the ways people don't change. Think of all the ways changes are cyclic, oscillating between states. Not everything about an individual will become every possibility of that thing over time. In fact, nothing will truly experience such flexibility. We are all unique, we all change in our own ways, and there's no way to know how we will change.
(A and B) The conjunction of these two corrected premises is that Celestia is not perfect and that her imperfections will change year to year, day to day, based on a pattern that is defined by the pony that is Celestia. By her nature, her memories, her experiences. Her friends and family. Exactly why are we supposed to be worried about this?
Good morning, Celestia. Try to do better today than yesterday.
8315473
It's not that simple either. That statement implies that it is dependent upon the actor who possesses agency to not undergo a change at some point during any stretch of this duration. That change could alter anything about their behaviour, their actions and all causality around them.
This is why when you alter something in the past, history in the future could change in any number of ways that you could imagine and more. It could be argued in this example that you could never fathom how many different variations of history could change because it is impossible, but that is only because of the processing power of human thought. Develop something with better processing power, and you will eventually find a way to anticipate increasingly more and more possible outcomes, thus defeating the aspect of impossibility.
Sapient creatures are the embodiment of change just as much as stasis. When you factor the primeval force of change to an otherwise static and vast expanse of time, you have no idea what will happen and cannot determine what is and what is not possible with any true certainty.
The only constraints you have to that end that I can think of are the Standard Model and other natural laws really, anything physically illegal and even then that tends to falter a bit if you go in deep and start to deal with exotic phenomena in far corners of the universe.
I conclude that impossibility is ... paradoxically, an impossible state of being.
I assumed this was about governmental corruption? I was very confused, I'll tell you that.
" Tick tock, goes the clock,
We laughed at fate and mourned her,
Tick tock, goes the clock,
Even for The Doctor.
Tick tock, goes the clock,
He cradled her, and rocked her,
Tick tock, goes the clock,
Even for The Doctor.
Doctor, brave and good,
He turned away from violence,
When he understood,
The falling of the silence."
I am quite capable of being evil on my own, thank you. I don't need some outside force to do it for me. #PinkyPiesMustache
I like these sorts of stories. Thoughtful and introspective.
The clock bit is a little vague. its there, Twilight notices it but there isn't any meaning attached to it that i can see that would signify anything if it suddenly stopped ticking.
ITS ALIIIIIVE
This whole 'clock' and 'ticking' thing really bothers me.
For the story as a whole and the mental exercise it executes, I very much agree with Cadence, though I am much less apprehensive to discussing the ins and outs of the matter for discussion's sake.
Author, could you please give us/me some finality regarding that stupid clock. I feel I have missed something incredibly vital, yet I cannot find a satisfactory answer regarding it.
Ah, I almost missed it, Celestia's little gaff!
No Celestia, if it is inevitable you may be able to delay it, but you cannot avoid it, like a clock ceasing to tick when the spring unwinds enough. Yes, delay it, by rewinding it, but the day you fail to do that...
But still unanswered is the question "Is corruption actually inevitable?". Poor Twilight, just when she thought there had been a resolution...
8318894
I understood the stopping clock for an analogy to the corruption.
"Would anyone notice ithappen? Or only when its already too late?"
Thats the way it happened with Luna; Celestia didnt see the signs until Luna gave in.
8318894
The ticking was symbolic of a countdown to the inevitable, like a bomb about to go off. When Twilight's fears were soothed, the countdown stopped.