become high

That was an experience.

Is the title....A 2001 REFERENCE?!?!? :D

>>605441605441 A... good one?

>>605627605627 I nearly had Davenport say "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Twilight," when she tried to get in.

What is this I don't even

Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png

This is the most baffling, inexplicable, and confounding fic that I've ever hit the "Like" button for......

Eh... I guess I liked it. "Trippy" comes to mind.

This reminds me of a few stories I read from an author who loved messing with his readers' head. I never did completely understand them, but I got the impression that something profound was going on.

So, nice experiment!

Mmm, I love me some meta.

>>605991605991 Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

>>606339606339 I was high on Douglas Adams.

Also which author was that? I love stories that play with the reader, though I always feel stupid for having been played with at the end.

>>606440606440 Do you know, I didn't even consider this as meta? But now I look at it, that's a whole new layer I could pretend I intended! Thanks!

Now that I have read it, I can say this is more confusing than the ending of the 2001: A Space Odyssey movie's ending.

Because the book makes a ton of sense. :P

>>607615607615

Michael Crichton's "Sphere" comes to mind, but the author I was thinking of was Durandall and one of his stories, "I am Become" is just full of WTF. In fact, Durandall has a lot of stories that just makes your head spin. Many times in a good way.

>>608003608003 THERE'S A STAAAR CHIIILD WAITING IN THE SKY, HE'D LIKE TO COME AND MEET US BUT HE THINKS HE'LL BLOW OUR MINDS

Also I really didn't think people would be so confused by it. I think there's some crucial sentence somewhere I thought I'd put in that I haven't. I was sure I'd made it all connect together.

>>608065608065 Ooh, Sphere was fun. Are they hallucinations? Are they crazy magic science? BOTH *dramatic chord*

I think I have a good name for Everything. Muse sounds about right. This story also seems similar to how I spend my days having conversations with my brain. Not exactly the same but similar.

>>605639605639 You should have :D prepare for inundation, btw. thoroughly enjoyed it.

>>614792614792 Should have... what? Thought people would be confused by it? Sorry, I'm tired and can't follow the comment train =p

EDIT: Oh, and thanks for letting it through. I was a little worried it would get sent to the moon for various reasons.

>>615158615158 Sneaking in that "I can't let you do that, Twilight" would have been funny... and it's getting posted. sshh, don't tell anyone yet

>>615189615189 Oh I seeeeee. You should maybe have a read of the Davenport conversation again. ¬_¬

Also yeah, I was sitting there going "inundated what on earth is he talking abou-OH IT'S MIDNIGHT SHADOW"

I'm the one who gave Davenport his name.

Every time someone uses the name, they're dong it because of me.

My character name is fanon.

Do you any concept on how cool that is?

Congrats on EQD!

dafuq did i just read

I'm going to have to give this another look when I'm not busy; I pretty much rushed through this and that was a big mistake. You lost me within the VOID.

And so the invasion begins!

Image: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_DQAeBipDG_Y/THUT2M-s-bI/AAAAAAAAAIA/mzbDcOmZTL0/s1600/I_UNDERSTAND_COMPLETELY.jpg

really cool story bro, tell it again

What did I just read?

Now that I've expressed my confusion, it's time for some real commentary. I...liked it. I like confusing stories--Evangelion being one of them. Problem is, it was TOO confusing. It's one thing to read a story that's not entirely clear, but it's another thing to finish reading something and wonder what the point of it was.

I suppose Twilight Sparkle saw the author, and the entire creative force of artists (all of which are human, presumably--I think that was the revelation that TS almost reached). But what was the point? Why was the author contacting Twilight? To make her into a writer? Because a writer could just MAKE her do that, couldn't they? And what was with the shadowy doom-thing consuming worlds (gave me A Wrinkle In Time vibes, actually). Was it something real, like a cosmic horror? Or metaphorical? Or...some combination of them?

You probably want this to be a standalone, but I still wish there was more to it.

AAAAAHHH higher planes of existence!?! Completely, understandably incomprehensible. Yet it makes an odd sort of sense. Thanks for blowing my mind.

Wait... Was this Luna trying to give Twilight a quill?

>>608123608123

OH MY GOD

YES

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS

Also, I got the feeling that "A new everything" was G5.

>>606020606020

Pretty much this...

God damnit. I had to write an application for section leader of my local youth symphony. Part of it was about the role of section leaders.

Instead of writing something real, I wrote... this. And it's all because of your story.

"As long as orchestras have had sections, there have been principals. A principal's job is singular, yet multi-faceted, being split up into so many parts that it's almost impossible to wrap one's mind around the job as a whole."

God damnit.

I'm so meta, even this acronym?

Cute.

strange but makes sense

I wonder if Pinkie Pie experiences this all the time

Seriously though, awesome fic.

I think my brain just left crying due to it's on stupidity. I am so full of joy and mindfuck at this.. what have you done to me!

Although. Still an awesome story.

Ah...a short glimpse of the entire multi-verse.

I think Pinkie Pie can partially see it as well.

BRAIN.EXE has stopped responding. [Resume] [End Task] [Restart] [Transcend to Higher Plane of Consciousness]

>>616450616450 ...wait so...that would mean....that maybe that voice...was laren faust....and she gave twilight in a werid way the inspiration t iwrute the next gen or "tale" of mlp....ummm....my brain hurts...kthax

There's something wrong at the end, there. The chapter ran out of words.

Image: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VDR90B6hf7o/TzVeanuvxoI/AAAAAAAAAKY/PtIZwPy6YS0/s1600/please-sir.jpg

>>605639605639

Image: http://i.imgur.com/hc2XR.jpg

>>607615607615

I'm So Meta, Even This Acronym

>>615922615922 It's a good name! It's so classy. ALSO TETSUJIN 28 OMG HAMMAAA PAAANCHI

>>615980615980 *mysterious 50s sci-fi whooshing noises*

>>616325616325 I could PM you an explanation of what I had in mind if you were interested? I'd say it here but I'm kind of enjoying seeing the different interpretations are coming up with x) And, actually, I wanted to expand it, but thought I'd made everything too clear to do so. Guess I was wrong there ¬_¬

>>616614616614 I'm... sorry? =p I like that little bit, though. Did you get the role?

>>617675617675 Pinkie Pie sees this but in felt.

>>618375618375 [Transcend to Higher Plane of Consciousness] uses too much runtime, you have to shut down after a few minutes or your processor overheats.

>>619758619758 This is easily the best moar comment I have ever seen.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Reading the other comments, a lot of people seem to think the story was being meta, having the author contact Twilight or some such. That isn't the the feeling I got from this at all. It seemed obvious to me that the light and dark things radiating motherlyness over the entire metaphysical structure of 'tales telling tales telling tales' was either A: Celestia and Luna, or B:  Harmony and Chaos. I can't see Chaos giving a motherly feeling though, and I'm pretty sure the greedy thing trying to infect/destroy/consume/whatever the metaphysical structure was Chaos, so it was probably Celestia and Luna, and the motherlyness itself being Harmony. The only part I didn't really get, not well enough to develop any sort of theory for, was what the entity speaking to Twilight was. It claimed it was Everything, but why did it need things to happen a certain way? What was so wrong with Twilight not writing that report? It asked Twilight to become Higher before the next time it encountered her, which presumably might not have happened otherwise, and still might not, and it seems okay with that potential deviation it's encounter with her might cause... meaning there's a limit to what it needs to happen certain ways. And we never get any kind of an explanation for that. It just leaves me intensely curious and wanting more.

>>620213620213 I just did a blog post explaining what I had in mind, so that's probably worth a read. I am thinking of expanding it now, though, so... it's your call!

Also I think you're the first person to hit on a literal interpretation?

wut

Finally got around to reading this, and...just...wow.

I love a story that suggests enlightenment but doesn't club you over the head with it. Profound, but subtle. That's not easy to do.

I didn't really form any solid conclusions on what the everything was, since I tend to like to leave such specifics rest and enjoy the mystery of it all. Though I will say I was picturing life brought into being by imagination or creativity or such while I read the universe scene, like the universe was brought into being by creativity, with the quill as a metaphor for that creativity through writing. Not sure if that's what you had in mind, nor does it really matter - what the author intends and what the reader interprets are often at odds with each other, and in the end you just have to accept that.

>>625895625895 I got really really confused because SeventhAgent up there has the same avatar as you. I reread both comments I don't know how many times trying to work out why you were saying what you said in the second when you'd already said what you said in the first.

Also, good old Death Of The Author. I just wish I didn't detest Barthes SO MUCH, because I could get behind that essay more.

>>626031626031 Fixed; actually, I've been thinking I should change my avatar in case this ever happens. Now seems as good a time as any.

Interesting story, i think all resumes to the quill itself as the powerfull thing that tells the tale how to tells itself.

And the quill from the end was it Luna's present or something , because everything related to night nowadays is Luna's.

Not a concept I haven't seen before. I used to read about 4000 pages of Science Fiction a week for several years. Quite nostalgic. Good job. I love the concept of concepts themselves conceptualizing conception of concepts. Reality expanding and contracting with the breath of imagination. I'm guessing the caretakers are manifest from their own tales. Or manifestations of their tales' authors.

>>620111620111 Dunno yet. I sent in the application, but I still have to do an audition.

The point was, though, that the application was a little bit... philosophical. I'm pretty sure they expect me to explain things in more concrete terms.

>>642237642237 Oh, I understood the issue, it's why I was so intrigued as to whether you succeeded!

And I don't know, sometimes a little florid can go a long way. If you hit the right balance, it shows you care enough to put that much thought into the wording.

Good luck!

>>642388642388 Well, it mostly comes down to how well I play at the audition -- but thanks!

>>639586639586  Concept-ception!  

>>642388642388  " The tendrils of a malice beyond imagining grasped at the great work, hungrily reaching for the lexicon of worlds and probing the defenses of its caretakers with tireless patience."

Ah yes, trolls and Grammar Nazis.  

...

What?

I've heard that the quill is mightier than the sword, but we're talking of something entirely different here...

After reading the blog post, I can say that I got the tales writing tales bit, and the planes of existance bit, but completely missed both the fact that the quills were the entities rather than just Equestria's (and however many other universes') tool to write with and that Celestia and Luna had anything to do with anything. When it came to the black and white part, I was just thinking it might have been Twilight's mind's interpretation of whatever she actually saw, and she picked it up as a heavily abstracted idea of ink of paper.

As for the sofas? I figured that something was simply rewriting reality (in order to... move furniture) in the dark confines of the might-not-actually-exist-right-now store, in order to stop Twilight from reaching the (at the time obviously malevolent) entity that was speaking to her. The consume vs create idea is pretty good though!

>>699338699338 Well, the Celestia/Luna bit is entirely divorced from the actual story. It's just part of the cosmology. I wanted there to be one or two unexplainable mysteries in there, or what a cosmic conundrum for? x) As for the sofas, that's pretty much what was going on. The things the sofas were doing in the shop were manifestations of the godsofas' influence.

It's all very silly, really.

Wait, so... are the sofas -

The higher entities themselves, who have been lessened and manifested/come down/exist/always existed (for a given value of 'always', at least) to this plane,

objects created by ponies because of the godsofas' influence to be manipulated by the godsofas,

objects created by the godsofas to be manipulated by the godsofas,

or an manifested extension of the godsofas' / a godsofa's very will without constraining them to it?..

Ah. Eheh... Well. I think I may be thinking about this a little too much...

(Also, godsofas is a weird looking word. Thank you for creating it.)

Or maybe when one godsofa comes down its power splits into many sofas an- OH DAMN. I'm doing it again. Sorry.

>>699459699459 I got the idea while reading Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, so I think of them as 'hyper-intelligent pandimensional god-[entity].' Even though they're not gods. Or hyper-intelligent. Or strictly pandimensional.

When I was studying different religions in college, I came across a brief mention of an Egyptian god that willed himself into existence by speaking his own name.

Your story reminded me of that.

Ooooh. I liked this!

At first, I thought it was supposed to be a meta "the author is talking in the story" thing but then I realized it wasn't! :D This is basically an awesome story.

I've been meaning to read this one for aaaages (ever since I saw it on the front page, even. Please don't ask why it took so long 'cos I don't even know myself ) and it certainly didn't dissapoint!

I have to admit, I wasn't entirely sure about what was going on, however this is one of those rare stories where I found that that didn't really matter -- all the way through you get the sense that even though you're as in the dark and as confused as Twilight is, there is some sort of explanation behind everything, and that you, the writer, weren't randomly making things up as you went along just to sound weird or impressive or whatever... does that make sense? I'm not sure I'm explaining myself very well here .

I also really liked the way the way it was paced, like, how it starts off so small and unassuming with Twi's quill breaking, and then things keep getting bigger and stranger until eventually Twilight gets a glimpse of all of creation or something, which is about as huge an idea as you can come up with... then I especially liked the ending with Twilight forgetting about everything. Usually, I'd consider that to be a massive cop-out, but here it felt appropriate. You captured the feeling of a forgotten dream really well, where you can sense that what you dreamt about was unbelievably, terribly important for some reason, but you can't for the life of you remember why.

Shame it's only four stars on EqD. I know star ratings count for nothing, but even so, it deserves more than that

>>705780705780 I love metaphysical paradoxes like that.

>>768383768383 Well, thank you! Yeah, meta really was entirely not my intention, but I can see where people are getting it from.

>>895177895177 Wow, thanks, Lucky! I admit I've gotten a couple of comments where people have said they felt like I was just saying stuff for the sake of saying stuff =3 Thanks for the comment about stars, too, that's very kind of you to say x) I swear I'll get round to reading your stuff soon, I'm just so busy with, yknow, everything x.X

What is this? I don't get- *brain explodes*

I didn't realize that the ascended beings were, in fact, quills and sofas until reading the notes, but beyond that everything both made sense and was incredibly enjoyable. Of course, this raises the question of every bird's wing being a multiverse in its own right, to say nothing of the wings of pegasi...

In any case, a fascinating work.

You brainraped me, and then did it again. Wonderfully done. You win more epic than I can give out right now.

"High on Douglas Adams" huh? I was thinking near the end that this sort of reminds me of the part in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where the woman has the big revelation right before Earth gets destroyed for the second time (if I remember correctly).

Okay. I think I got an idea for a start. H.O.L.Y. D.R.A.G.O.N. B.A.W.S.B.A.T.M.A.N. THIS BLEW MY FRIGGIN' MIND WHEN I GOT IT! *End caps* If I got it, which I'm fairly certain I've got it. If not... this is a little theory that only works in my head, but that can't be true! At least not completely, anyway.

First of, Arcanium... this was AWESOME! I loved the little trip it sent me on, and I think it helped me beat a reoccurring writing impediment/obstacle I've had for a while now.

Now the story itself... I've spent a bit more time on this than I probably should have, and I had to read it TWICE, but I think I got something that I think is worth the risk of sounding like a complete dumb-ass for... So I'm going to launch out my theory without reading that note blog, and see if I got it.

All right, for starters... The 'everything' Twilight was speaking to... was that her report? The paper actually calling to her... Or rather, the STORY or TALE calling to her?

As for why it intervened and needed to be 'heard' I figured was because Twilight wasn't going to write it when she should have... because of her quill breaking , as seemed to be the case, or because she was stuck on the 'prepubescent iridescence' part of her report? If the latter, I don't know if that means a big part of this was a dream or not, and if it is, I'm guessing would lead to the conclusion that Twilight had passed out TRYING to write her report at a point where she had gotten stuck... so the report had to talk to her, since it didn't know how it, the report, was meant to end. This dream theory only works if the 'error' the everything (the report) spoke about was the difficulty Twilight had and not the quill breaking, though.

Moving on, the scene with the attacking sofa's in the darkness at the Quills and Sofa's lead me believe that it was a DELICIOUS metaphor for the things that try to prevent us from writing, like doubt and other such obstacles...

And the BIGGEST theory I want to run by you, aside from just about everything else... is the... nothingness that occurred when Twilight touched the cabinet. Could one take that as a metaphor for when you start writing something on an empty page? How there is absolutely nothing at the beginning of a story, until YOU make something? Like when Twilight remembered the scratch noise a quill makes on parchment and everything came into being... was that the start of her making/remembering her story? Hence the 'You awake as you' line soon after?

Next, 'Tales telling tales'... would Twilight's life count as a tale? If so, her tale (life story) would be telling the tale of the report on dragon scales. I see that phrase relating to how new stories bounce of the stories, tales, or things(other lives, languages) before them... connecting everything...

I think THIS is the best way I can describe what I'm trying to say:

“Not ‘you.’ An everything. Everything within everything within everything.”

my translation:

“Not 'a person/higher being.' A story by Twilight within Twilight's (life)story within the story of the universe.”

Does any of that make any sense are am I WAY past off the mark?

As for that part when Twilight 'got it' via the gift... my guess is that Twilight saw how everything (in literature) is connected together and build from each other... and the caretakers... I don't know if got even remotely right. They were... them? Individuals who write and keep the cycle going? That's what I'm most uncertain on, and hope the blog will clear up.

That, and the darkness that was the malice prodding the defenses the caretakers put up for the great work…(Lol, that was a mouthful. ) Was the darkness ignorance? I'm even MORE unsure on that one... but that's the best I could come up with, based on what I had already come up with. XD

Okay, I'll ramble on forever if I keep this up, so comment wrap up time! Twilight's report, or story, wanted to her to write it after she wasn't going to write it because of an error (Again, either the quill breaking or getting stuck on what to write) and called to her from inside her head. Which lead Twilight, somehow, to a vast realm of truth greater knowledge that she experiences... then the entire thing fades away (the dream ends) but the error is corrected because Twilight simply decides to write....Right?

I'll quit with my insane jokes and puns too now.

This provided the inspiration for a sleep-deprived essay that's also kind of a review.

tl;dr

Image: http://i.imm.io/DpGv.png

Wow, I loved this!  The theme of 'tales writing tales' resonates for me because I have a tendency to see connections (well, not really connections, but parallels, I suppose) between stories.  I like converging themes, and this was just full of them.  Beyond Douglas Adams and 2001, I felt... well, it reminded me of a wonderful philosophy seminar I took in college.  I know there's no reason to do so, but in this story I see a parallel with quantum entanglement- 'spooky action at a distance' expressed as as stories feeding into each other.  

Also, I hereby posit the existence of the Brotinuum:  FiM spawned the Bronies, who feed back into FiM in a continuing cycle (i.e., look at the existence of Derpy as canon and the Lebowski ponies in Season 2).

Without going back and looking at your blog entry, I grasped the White and Black and the darkness as being something like Plato's Forms- inherent concepts that we only percieve through our own filters, in our own way, but that they were perceivable across dimensions or alternate universes... geez, I have to stop.

Suffice to say, this story really fed my tendency to look for connections that aren't there, and it feels really good reading it.  Thanks a ton!