Twilight struggles to find meaning in the universe, which most ponies call 'the Library'.
Inspired by The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges.
Proofreading by RaylanKrios.
Chapters (1)
- Member Since 7th Jun, 2012
- offline last seen Yesterday
ocalhoun
I am not contained between my hat and my boots.
ocalhoun
Joined 7th Jun, 2012 ·
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Instafave
and no typos
4906708
Nice!
You should read "The Library of Discord" by Chinchillax. I can't link it because I'm on my phone, but it's a really cool story.
4933826
I've seen that one, actually.
I think I was looking to see if anyone else on fimfic made a similar story.
As I've said before with this one... you blew my mind with it, ocalhoun...
4935971
Goal achieved!
This is terrible and terrifying. The idea will haunt my dreams. Borges would approve, I think.
There seems to be nothing more terrifying than everything.
4940422
Couldn't ask for better praise than that!
Lovely vignette, though only nominally related to ponies.
Also, a hexagon with two walls makes a corner.
4949692
Indeed it does.
Did I mess that up?
I haven't been very good at counting things in my stories lately.
4949785
Sort of, one of the three closed faces referred to needs to be a ceiling, not a wall. Offhand I think you said three walls, I'd have to double-check. I got what you meant, though.
(checks)
Nope, you said "three missing openings". That's a corner alright. All good
ok, it is Less Magic. Probably Twilight can divide those hexagons into triangles, texture them and then assemble an origami. 'cause observing things is one thing, but Twilight should be creative. But idk.
4950428
Phew. Good.
4951024
Triangles it is!
Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.
4954689
I submitted it yesterday, actually.
I have no word to describe the -------ness of this literature.
I can only assure you that the number of dashes is arbitrary, and that the adjective is positive.
No one ever looks at the suggestions on my user page, but this piece of art shall be displayed there anyway.
4957297
Thanks! I guess it's fitting to have a compliment as mysterious as the Library itself.
What's the point?
4971329
"What's the point?" is the point.
(Wow, such deep.)
4972775
No, "What's the point?" was the point, then you tossed ponies into the mix, gave the protagonist a clearly defined personal mission, and made the whole thing as explicitly an afterlife scenario as you could short of flat-out stating "this is the afterlife". Now there's just no point at all that I can see. Why did you write this?
4976959
Fine: I'll spell it out.
The Library is a simplified version of the real universe, in that it appears infinitely vast and infinitely meaningless. Twilight's struggle to find meaning in it is a parallel to our own struggle to find meaning in our lives.
Thus, the central question of the story is, 'What's the point?' ... or perhaps, 'Is there a point?'
I could claim meaningless silliness and say the story doesn't need a message... but this is actually one of the most meaningful stories I've ever written.
(Though it is largely based on previous work: try reading the story linked in the description.)
4978069
I did. And "largely based" is a very charitable way of putting it. The Borges story is precisely what I meant by "was the point" in my second comment. You've accurately described what the original work was about, but not why you felt it was necessary to rewrite it entirely with pastel cartoon horses and the jarringly needless addition of Twilight's deathbed memory. Can you honestly not see how this single fact utterly demolishes the meaning you seem to have meant to preserve? This is no longer a mortal's desperate attempt to understand the infinite, but a mere pastime for an immortal soul. What's the point in a story about searching for meaning when agelessness guarantees its eventual success? Why rearrange the facts to create that inevitability but then leave it unexplored? What's the point?
While I'm at it, why would you give the narrator a concrete identity at all? How are we seriously supposed to believe that her finding the "Book of Destiny" is just a freak occurrence with no inherent cosmic significance when she's Twilight freakin' Sparkle?
4978228
Okay, now you're reading too much into it.
I just liked that story, and decided to make my own version of it.
(And of course it has a somewhat different theme; that's part of what makes it different... which is admittedly not much.)
It has ponies because that's the medium in which I write right now.
...and sorry about earlier. I had thought you missed the point of it, but it appears you're actually very astute. My mistake for confusing questioning the point and missing the point.
This is being added to my to-read list purely by virtue of the following facts:
1. You know who Borges is.
2. I like the Library of Babel.
3. I just read another of your stories and it entertained me.
Seriously, I don't often meet people who would know about Borges, and one of his other stories gave me inspiration for a writing project a year or two back.
5067504
Yay, literature for the win!
I am writing this review because I took part in the Tag-a-long's book club #FebFIMFanFicLove fic exchange, for more details go here
Let me start off by stating that i did not read the book this was crossed over with, That being said I felt that it didn't matter.
The story it told was superb as a standalone story. To say that my mind was blown is an understatement, It portrayed an insight that I never heard of before and to be honest it is one I can fully get behind.
the writing itself was amazing, descriptive yet not tedious. It is also not biased and that is something I really appreciate.
It reminds me a bit of Dante Alighieri's Divine comedy series, one of my favourite series.
The ending had me wanting for more yet left me satisfied with no unresolved issues but with room for imagination.
Overall this is one of the best stories i have read on this site and it deserves more love than it has gotten.
5590461
Glad you enjoyed it so much! ^.^
Haha, another Library of Babel fic! I only found out about this because of the event that 5590461 and I both took part in, and I'm really glad I did,
Kinda makes me want to dust off that paper I wrote about it back in college and turn it into a pony fic... hmm...
5593537
Can never have enough of 'em! ^.^
I have a thing for you.
i.imgur.com/GizVyc0.png
Enjoy.
5893293
Ooh... does that mean there's a review somewhere I can read?
5895547 Hmm? Yes, over here.
Somewhere near the bottom at this point.
5896804
Found it! ^.^
And it's pretty flattering, thank you!
5897521 You're welcome. I try to do the best I can.
This review is brought to you on behalf of the group: Authors Helping Authors
Name of Story: Twilight's Library
Grammar Score: 10/10
Pros: I'm not familiar with the material that this one-shot is drawing from, so I went into this with no expectations whatsoever. What you've got here is an intriguing 'what-if?' scenario concerning how Twilight would cope with this particular, unique scenario. There's not a whole lot to say since it's such a brief look into her mind, but at the same time, given how long she'd been there, her behavior and state of mind seemed very true to her character on the whole. The handling of abstract principles as well, particularly the mathematics, was very impressive, something you rarely find in fanfiction. At first it seemed like this might be some post-apocalyptic landscape, but as the fic went on the tone became more somber and it became apparent that it was more a purgatorial setting than some place that suffered a great calamity. Overall, while this fic is extremely inscrutable, it is not so to the point of absurdity. There is clearly an order to be found in Twilight's circumstances, a mystery to be unraveled, and simply learning and knowing that made this read seem worthwhile.
Cons: When I started the fic, it wasn't until I got about halfway through that I really saw any reason for Twilight to be the main character. It seemed like it could've just as easily been any other OC pony in the main role, so that perplexed me just a bit. Once she started referencing her past, it made more sense, but before then it didn't particularly. It didn't irk me or anything, just seemed unnecessary for Twilight to be the star until her past started factoring in. Other than that, given how short this fic is, I have no other complaints.
Notes: Reiterating again that I am not familiar in the slightest with the source material you crossed over with MLP here, I am very impressed with how you managed to put together such an intriguing fic that could draw even someone like me into it despite having no background or experience with the series it's based on. As it stands, it probably suffices as a satisfactory read as a one-shot alone, but if you were to ever continue with this, I certainly would not object.
Enjoy your review! Please help me out by looking at my story: Batmare Begins. NOTE: I'm not asking you to read the whole story, given how much I had to read for this review. Just read whatever you feel you need to in order to review my fic, be it the whole fic thus far or just the first chapter, it's your call. Have a nice day!
6009121
I did enjoy it.
It may be a while before I can do a return review, but I'll try to get to it.
6009310
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and no rush, believe me, I no how crazy RL can be.
Very interesting indeed, makes you think a lot.
7398529
Heh, yeah. This is one of my favorites.
I don't know, I feel like the story is so abstract I just personally had no idea what she was talking about most of the time. Personal problem, I guess. I think it's written intelligently and the characterization of Twilight in the future is really cool though!
8172899
I'm just impressed that someone came back to read it!
This story is dark yet intriguing. Just like Twilight. I too am curious of the mysteries of this place.
9307647
Good! ^.^ I guess that's a lot of what I was going for.