• Member Since 25th May, 2016
  • offline last seen Yesterday

garatheauthor


"Show my head to the people, it is worth seeing." - Georges Danton

T

Whenever Time Turner touches a pony, he knows how and when they are going to die.

This makes living a regular life rather difficult.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 45 )

This is... wow. Definitely interesting. Reminds me of an SCP I know of, the one that does the exact same thing of being able to see how someone would die.

It is a sad thing though. But the way I see it? Even if someone is to die soon violently, rather than doing so in their bed from old age, cherish the time you have with them before they pass, and never forget them.

Unless they were an utter asshole or a really bloody stupid idiot, then in that case, they can rot.

Quiet but potent horror. A truly haunting riff on the concept of a magical gift. Excellent work; thank you for it.

That twist with the train crash at the end was the perfect capstone to this story. Kudos!

Potential :twistnerd: : It's because his touch is immediately fatal. :V

Ooh, second potential :twistnerd: : he's never been able to bring himself to... um...

No, rated T. Nevermind. :facehoof:

10961948
Admittedly not my most original idea but i kind of liked having an alternative take on Time Turner that isn't Doctor Who.

10962022
Wouldn't that be an interesting twist. These deaths would've never been set in motion without his touch.

That's the fundamentally creepy nature of a universe where Destiny is a very real, solid force (if possibly disruptable by time-traveling grudge-holders. Or was she simply fated to fail?)

Damn, this is some heavy stuff. Poor guy. :fluttercry:

As everypony screamed, Time Turner remained motionless. His eyes were closed and a contented smile formed upon his lips.

Ten hours later, Time Turner wakes up in a hospital bed.
"Ah, shit."

Still... he can be the only survivor of the crash...

10962484
10962485
i actually planned that as the original ending but felt it was too cruel.

> vane

vain.


And… daang, man.

How delightfully morbid. I quite enjoyed this one!

Spotted one homophone error: “vane” → “vain”.

Nice little piece. Flows well. I like it. :twilightsmile:

I read the description and its incredibly morbid, amazing.

I would be so curious to see him touch somebody like princess Celestial or Discord.

Una

Not all time is set in stone, some are only paths to another possibility of change.

TIme also does not appreciate it when someone legitimately attempts to mess with it's progress, including collapsing observation effects improperly.

10963152
I guess he'd go mad from revelation. Or witness the heat death of the universe.
Also, I guess if Rose Bed tried to change her destiny, the fate would find a way to screw her over...

You overdosed on... Xylazine? Why the fuck were you taking horse tranquilizer?

In all seriousness, this was a very good story, and I enjoyed it, even if it was sad.

The thing is, it isn't set in stone until it is known.

Time Turner sighed. “Whenever I touch another pony, I am given a vision of when and how they will die.”

Is it each time he touches or only the first time?

A doctor who specialized in the study of altering special talents.

One of Starlight's side jobs?

Yet, at the eleventh hour, he calmed.

Doctor Who episode reference?

This was poignant. A thoughtful yet weirdly fulfilling piece. That lil bit of catharsis/calmness at the end was spot on. Well done!

Short, potent, and ironic. Very powerful, well done.

The story overall is ok. Though I feel it tries to sell the tragedy a little too hard. Like the bit with the stallion asking Turner to see his death. The reason his third child wouldn't be there when he would die could just be that he/she wouldn't make it, not necessarily that he/she was already dead. But the story just jumps into the worst interpretation. And it's strange that he never attempted to ask the princesses for help. If he had, he would probably be introduced to Starlight and get his problem taken care off swiftly.

More importantly, the end feels weird on account of Tuner's character development. The whole fic, he seemed to be troubled a lot by seeing the deaths of others. But by the end he didn't seem concerned at all that many ponies around him were going to die with him. Honestly, I was totally expecting that when he saw the death of the doctor, he saw him with her and that they were married. They could still be dying together in an accident, and it could be soon, keeping up the tragedy, but it would make more sense out of his attitude, and deliver a bit of positivity while keeping his character consistent. As now, I just don't know which to make of him, a sympathetic or unsympathetic one.

Damn.

A powerful story, touching on a particularly deep topic.

Excellent work garatheauthor, this has easily earned you a follow and I certainly plan to check out your other works.

10964325
As the answer usually is - "yes."

to be fair, he only knows that the doctor will die in the crash, and suspects/hopes that he will too. Anybody else on that train could survive. It isn't likely, but they could - he doesn't know.

He knows for her - and she insisted. And he dearly hopes for himself. Because at least that would mean he never has to know again.

And there's a big difference between knowing, and mostly knowing, to paraphrase the Miracle Maker.

It's cold and, at best, indifferent to the deaths of probably dozens of ponies. But what can he do about it? Warn them?

He knows already, if it's meant to happen it's going to happen. Whatever he does. Nothing he can do could possibly change it. All he could possibly do is let everyone know to panic sooner and make things worse. His indifference isn't because he doesn't care - it's because he knows he can't do anything to change it. That, at least to me, turns the unsympathetic part into just that much more of a tragedy.

All he can do in that moment, amidst what he knows is going to be a tragedy, is take comfort in the one blessing nestled within it.

Though I was half expecting her procedure to work - only now his own death is all he can see, and he can't stop seeing it.

10965020
Unable to do anything about the deaths doesn't mean you can't feel for them. Like, if you see someone on their deathbed from a terminal disease, and you can't do anything to stop it, then you won't feel for them at all? Turner did feel it before, he saw a pony die in a carriage crash that he couldn't stop and he was still disturbed the whole day, why not here? I don't mean he needed to try to warn others or do anything, just expressing horror, pain, bitterness or even the troubled reaction he had always expressed before would feel more natural. But this strange apathetic, even content attitude feels weird, especially when he seemed to be so troubled by seeing others' deaths before.

This is a greek comedy. Excellent work.

Nice to see you back in the sandbox Gara :twilightsmile:

Question for the author: Does him seeing their deaths seal that fate in place, or did you picture fate as a finite line with a beginning and end when you wrote this? Trying to settle an bet between me and my friend. He thinks the latter and I think the former.

10966282
imo: Kinda final destination rules, fate is linear.

Though i also think the mystery of the powers makes it more interesting.

A dark ending with a good laugh, nicely done.

Oh my Celestia. I'm speechless.

Quite the talent. Perhaps he could be a guinea pig for determinism researchers?

The idea of unalterable fate is a very strange thing, when you think about it. That means every action of every person, every animal, every object, every beam of sunlight and breath of wind is planned ahead of time and bent upon pushing every living thing to a specific outcome 24/7.

In such a world, Time Turner should also be able to win every lottery, since random chance would not be able to exist for ANYTHING!!

Quantum physics would just go FFFFFFFFTTTTTHHBBBBBBBBBBBB....

Oh, but then... if winning the lottery was to lead to a pony's death and Time Turner found the numbers the pony was going to use and used them himself, how would fate deal with that little snafu? Can't kill him, cuz that would alter HIS fate! Make his ticket spontaneously combust?

What would happen if Time Turner decided to behead a pony who was supposed to die next week crapping himself to death from a bad burrito from Taco Hell?

That's the one thing I always notice about these fate thingeys, they never delve into what happens if you try to kill someone BEFORE their appointed time!

I must EXPERIMENT in this universe! FOR SCIENCE! :twilightsmile:

10965040
Because he wants to die, and to a lesser extent because fate is displaying a sense of humor as it grants that wish. The promise of freedom is louder than anything else going through his head, just like most people who feel truly trapped and see an escape.

Damn, that poor doctor. Caught up in his shitty bad luck

Sad story.

Why didn't he exploit his talent for money? For every one sad sack who can't handle bad news there would be more paranoid people willing to pay to avoid one bad end, even if it meant another.

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