Thirty-Minute Pony Stories

by Silvernis

328: That Long, Endless Road

328: THAT LONG, ENDLESS ROAD

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What does my cutie mark mean? Well, what do you think an hourglass means? Punctuality, of course. You can count on Minuette to be there on time, every time.

Actually . . . wait. I . . . I want to tell you the truth today. It’s not punctuality. It’s not clock making, either. That’s what I told you it was last week, but you don’t remember that. And it’s not cooking eggs. It’s actually a lot simpler than you think, and a lot more complicated, too.

It’s time.

Time is my special talent. I don’t just mean being punctual. I mean actual time. I can slow it down, stop it, even rewind it. Heh, you always look at me like that. I’m telling the truth, really. Time is my special talent. Would you like me to show you? Here, take my hoof, and don’t let go. Ready?

It’s okay. Open your eyes and look around. See? I can stop time. Right now, everypony else in the world is just . . . frozen, I guess you can say. Well, almost everypony else. We’re still not sure if the princesses are affected the same way, but—

What? Oh, yes. We. I’m not the only pony who can do this. There are several of us. We call ourselves the Hourglass Society, heh heh. I’m sure you’ve seen Time Turner around town. He’s a good friend of mine, and . . .

No. I’m telling you the truth today. He’s . . . he’s sort of my probation officer.

Please don’t look at me like that.

It’s hard. Living like this, I mean. Once you realize just how powerful these abilities are and start seeing what you can do with them, it’s hard to think like a normal pony. You know you’re supposed to pay for your coffee and your doughnut, but after a while, it’s tempting to just stop time, take what you want, and then unstop it without anypony being the wiser. And that’s just the little things. Being able to reverse time means you can basically do whatever you want without worrying about consequences, and when you’re sad or lonely or angry or just don’t care anymore . . .

I’ve done things I’m not proud of. We all have moments, but . . . I’ve done things to other ponies. With other ponies. They don’t remember it now, and it’s like nothing ever happened, but I did. That’s why Time Turner is here. He . . . keeps an eye on me. Helps me.

Please don’t look at me like that. I’m trying to be good. Honestly, I am.

I . . . I shouldn’t have done this. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I keep doing this to you. I just . . . need somepony else to talk to sometimes. I’m sorry. I’ll go now. I’ll rewind this.

Please don’t look at me like that.

Author's Note:

This was terribly rushed, but it still provided an interesting opportunity to practice with some themes/ideas I'd like to turn into a longer fic centered around Minuette, because (1) she's adorable, and (2) she's far cooler as a chronomancer than as a dentist.

Comments

[Drakkith]

Not bad. I'll give it a thumbs up.

[Silvernis]

2473689
Thank you kindly.

[crusnikjab]

you should expand on this Idea.

[Silvernis]

2474722
I'd very much like to -- we need more Minuette fics! I'm tossing around a few ideas at the moment, so we'll see what happens.

[Arteries]

But time powers would make her the bestest dentist. You get an appointment, she travels back to last Tuesday, kicks down the door, "Stop shovin' in those gummi bears you big fat! Fifty bits, please."

Sounds like a fun idea though. As long as you kept the time thing from devolving into a gimmick, you could do lotsa coolstuff.

[Silvernis]

2478704
I was half-thinking of doing something where Minuette is a former "secret agent" from Celestia's temporal security team (sort of James Bond meets Akemi Homura) who gets pressed back into service to deal with a Crisis of Impending Doom, but the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded.

At the moment, I think I'd like to do something that focuses more on the ethical and psychological issues that would come with having the ability to manipulate time. How do you deal with having that kind of potentially world-altering power? Are there rules to using it? If so, who sets them? Is it okay to rewind and restart an event so you can change the outcome? Is it abusing your power if you stop time whenever you want to cross the street but don't want to wait for the light to change? Who polices your time manipulation? Do you feel isolated from other people/ponies? Etc., etc., etc.

[Arteries]

There's not much inherently wrong with the timecop idea, but tailoring an involved antagonistic situation to a story's devices while exploring them can get messy, and comic book-ish. In the bad way. Learning about the rigors of screwing with time through Minuette's own faults on the job would be neat, but it depends more on what the primary focus is: Minuette, or timefun.

Then comes the mechanics. Many of the regulations and personal reactions to such an ability will come from establishing its natural limits. What sustains an event? What are the consequences? How long does it last? Can duration be increased or decreased? (Based on what?) How is an event perceived by the chronomancer? (How many senses, to what extent?) How is occupied space affected during an event? Is chronomancer interaction with occupied space during an event possible? Does this affect the event, during or afterwards? (How so?) What are the anomalies? (And that doesn't just have to mean 'plot device'.) Blahblah. Don't be afraid to play with details like these either.

Only other thing I could consider would be the setting. You can draw lots of implications about the presence of time magic in canon from how it's treated in 'It's About Time', specifically from Twilight's involvement. I don't think anyone's gonna bug you about "retconning the histories" to begin with, but it may give you an idea of where you want to set your standards anyway.

[Silvernis]

2482884
Yeah, "comic book-ish in a bad way" was pretty much my overriding concern with the time cop thing.

I've got the rudimentary time manipulation mechanics worked out in my head. The way I figure it, the chronomancers are basically immune to time, which is why they can operate outside of it and control it, and also why they can't affect each other with their powers. I'm thinking it might be interesting if each chronomancer pony has a slightly different time ability. Minuette can freeze and reverse time; Time Turner/Dr. Hooves can travel forward and backward through time; Master (that random hourglass pony from Canterlot) can do . . . something else, I dunno yet. Maybe see memories. I'm still not sure how the princesses fit in, if they're immune, too, etc.

In terms of setting and structure, I'm thinking I could open with Minnie in present Ponvyille, then go into an episodic series of flashback chapters that explore how she learned about her abilities, and the aforementioned ethical and psychological questions she's struggled with over the years. She's probably traveled a lot, so each flashback might be set in a different place. Maybe.