Clockwork

by 71NYL-5CR4TCH

Fear

"So this is our purpose? Our meaning in this world? Simply to acknowledge others?" Twilight inquired, her curiosity had peaked to the words of this pony. To have such spent such little time together, yet to accrue so much, both emotion, and opinion.

"As I see it, yes, as I can find no other invariable meaning." I replied.

"I'd like to discuss more with you, if you don't mind..." Twilight enquired, "I'll just put the kettle on for some tea."

Twilight meandered into the kitchen, and I sat in the room he had dwelled for years, yet minutes. Soon she returned, levitating a pink frilly kettle and two matching tea cups. Slowly she poured the brown liquid into the china and levitated it to me, which I accepted.

"Any sugar?"

"No, thank you, I prefer mine without."

"Very well."

We sat, silent for a few minutes as Twilight sipped and silently pondered.

In the background an antique clock ticked rhythmically, echoing against the hard wood interior.

"I have more questions for you, Clockwork."

"Ask away," I reply.

"You speak of the inherent meaning of life itself, but what of that we feel within life? What of our emotions? Our dreams?"

"The concept still applies. All of our emotions have their opposites. We would not know of joy without sorrow, or dreams without failure."

"I see."

She sips her tea again, eyes briefly closing.

*Tick-tock*

"So what of fear?"

"Hm?"

"Well, we all feel fear. Whether it is rational or irrational is largely dependent, but it resides within us all. It only seems to weaken us, and without it, we would live in a fearless world, this seems ideal, does it not?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I set down my tea. The necessity of fear, surely it exists for a reason? After all, everything has a reason, right?

*tick-tock*

"Twilight, when you kissed me, were you afraid?"

"I don't know about afraid, maybe nervous..."

"Not at all afraid? Not afraid of rejection or disgust?"

"Well...maybe a little..." Twilight paused, glancing down into her steaming tea, "but had I been fearless, I wouldn't have felt that way!"

"Exactly. You would have no fear of my rejection. It would mean nothing to you. It would be harmless. And what would that mean?"

"Well by that logic, that it didn't mean anything..." Twilight replied skeptically.

"Exactly. Fear lets us know what is precious, and drives us to not lose it, to fight to keep what little grasp we have."

"So then what made me kiss you?"

I meet her eyes.

*Tick-Tock*

"Courage."

"Then what would you say is the difference between fearlessness and courage?"

"Fearlessness is the absence of fear, its void. Courage is knowing fear, and acting in spite of it. You spoke that fear seems to weaken us, but I would argue that it makes us stronger. By overcoming that which we fear, we learn to better ourselves, to conquer."

"So you're saying fear is a necessary evil?"

"Not even that it is evil. But we must know our fear. It is there to protect us, to guard us, to warn us. However, we must learn to live in equilibrium with it, to know when it is needed, and when we must fight it. Fear is our partner, guiding us, yet sometimes, holding us back. It is up to us to know when it attempts to help, and when it attempts to deceive. We can never submit fully to our fears, because they will hold us in a room that is safe, yet lonely and dark. We must know it, and know it well, for sometimes a moment will come where the difference is unknown, and we must decide if we can trust our fear or not."

"How can we make that decision? Our fear, as you state, is a part of us, we'd be fighting with ourselves."

"Precisely. When you have come to this crossroads, you will know it, because courage is no longer an option. Now you must simply weigh two fears, as they will contradict the other."

"I don't understand...how can our fears be contradictory?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, her skepticism clearly rising.

*Tick-Tock*

"One will fear pain, the other will fear sorrow. This is when you must ask yourself which you fear more, and your decision will become clear." I supply.

"But when will these contradictions arise? When will our fears battle so fiercely?"

"They have for you before."

"When?"

"You are a wielder of an element of harmony, yes? One of the few that dared to challenge Nightmare Moon during her short reign?"

"Yes..."

"It took a lot of fear to fight that battle."

"You mean courage."

"No, I mean fear. You were afraid of Nightmare Moon, were you not? That she may hurt or even kill you?"

"Yes, of course. But I still fought anyway, I acted in spite of fear."

"No Twilight, in this case you were simply more afraid of something else."

"So I was more afraid of the sorrow. The sorrow of letting my teacher, my friends, everyone down?"

"Yes. Your fear of sorrow won. But this fear has a name...

Bravery."

"So bravery and courage fundamentally different?"

"They are used interchangeably, but incorrectly so. A firefighter who charges into a burning building to save a life is courageous. A mother who charges in to save her foal is brave. The firefighter has no fear of NOT charging into the building, or if he does it is very little. But the mother is terrified, terrified of the sorrow of losing her foal. This fear is far greater than pain, or even death, so she acts."

"So what would a fearless pony do?"

"They would watch the building burn. But nopony is truly fearless, they would be useless. No fear of failure means no motivation. No fear of death means no desire to live. Fear must exist, but in harmony."

*Tick-Tock*

"So the meaning of fear is..."

"To remind us...

to never be fearless,

only courageous,

or brave."

Author's Note:

So this chapter was clearly a little different from the others, as it included no gaps, and force-fed you some of my personal philosophical shenanigans. The story will likely continue these discussions for a few more chapters, but I promise it's going somewhere. The past chapters have been to give you an insight into Clockwork's soul, a confused young stallion. The next few chapters will allow you into his mind, an old, wise philosopher. If anypony has any topics they really want to see me tackle, feel free to throw them into the comments, and I'll try to make a chapter, or at least a snippet, of what Clockwork would make of them. Thanks!

Comments

[brohoof envy]

Ho sh*t. First to read it! Updates while I read the last chapter. Hot *amn!

[pyronet000]

This is an interesting view of fear and courage.

[monkeyXtypewriter]

I read this chapter. Then read it again. And again. And decided, for the first time since leaving school 3 months ago and floundering about, that I'd make a decision. It's scary, ya know; all I've ever known was school, and to be just thrown out into the world so suddenly was jarring.

Thank you for the push I needed.

[71NYL-5CR4TCH]

4099799
I'm glad my writing had a positive influence on you! That is truly the biggest accomplishment I could have hoped for

[MrAskAPirate]

Reminds me of Soul Eater,

[71NYL-5CR4TCH]

4099864
You, sir, are a keen observer. The Word is Bravery.

[wille179]

Featureless plane of disembodied dialogue. You could seriously tell us what they are doing, their expressions, their body language, etc. instead, you give me a thousand words of philospphy that could have been said by anyone.

[PiMan]

I'm not sure if it was your intention, but I see plenty of times in this chapter where Clockwork is slipping into the gaps to think for a while, despite your author note saying there were no gaps here. I interpret every "*Tick-Tock*" as a gap that Clockwork has stepped into.

[Ephraim Blue]

Where was the ticking coming from?

[71NYL-5CR4TCH]

4101004
The antique clock.

[-Brutus]

4099822 Aye. You did good!

[Super Trampoline]

I like this, but i would give it another run through, as it has some some typos here and there. Still, very good. Some really interesting stuff to think about: I never really thought about the connection between fear, courage, and bravery.

[Leonzilla]

Now this chapter ideas were nowhere near as complex as the last one.

"They would watch the building burn. But nopony is truly fearless, they would be useless. No fear of failure means no motivation. No fear of death means no desire to live. Fear must exist, but in harmony."

*Tick-Tock*

One thing, Fearless ponies do not mean ponies that do not have motivation, only means that they don't have that form of motivation.
Also no motivation does not necessarily means being useless, as a pony may act for other reasons like habit, or just deciding to act without any expectations of the outcome.

4100591 That's exactly what I thought too.

The story will likely continue these discussions for a few more chapters, but I promise it's going somewhere.

Basically Clockwork finding out that there is more meaning than he originally thought, am I right?

4100278 nah, this was cooler without those biased and predictable reactions.

3878514 just thought i would remind you of this.

~Leonzilla

[LuigiSonic57]

Woah. This resonates with me so much. I believe that life is a lot about contrasts and finding balance between opposing forces (chaos and harmony, etc.). I've also seen some of the stuff about fear and courage elsewhere, but I can't remember exactly where. Anyways, glad to see someone out there shares my philosophies!

I've really been loving this story so much! It was an arduous wait, but now triple update!

[the host]

*sigh* Philosophy.

[Aenbr]

Hot Damn.

[werewolf435]

3878514 Nother reminder of this.

[The Watcher 509]

That was an extremely amazing chapter. As well as it being very enlightening and... thought-provoking.