• Member Since 24th Dec, 2011
  • offline last seen 8 hours ago

Bandy


Mixed greens and poison ivy salad, rocket fuel vinaigrette | Hundred-proof spirits from the fountain of wisdom | Iced Ko-Fi, scalding glances.

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After a very stressful day visiting her prized student in Ponyville, Princess Celestia is left alone to contemplate and watch the sunset. From an outsider's perspective, she has everything she could ever want. But has she ever really had anything at all?

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 44 )

I enjoyed editing this one a lot! :pinkiehappy:

1085573 Shameless Starfall is shameless.

Very well written. :scootangel:

I cried myself dry and broke my hands clapping.
That was beautiful.Just... Beautiful.

Beautiful. Even better when listening to sad music.

so is this friendshipping or regular shipping

1093964 :facehoof: I don't see a Romance tag. That should be indicative of a lot.

1094825 god damn didn't see that there so sequel

1094907 Um... no. No sequel. Sorry.

Ahh, What a wonderfull work of art, BB and team, you guys did a cleary amazing and outstanding performance, and to me one of the best things about it is that it wasn't romance / shipping, I mean seriously I've read to many of them frequenty, and now I need some sad, Tragedy, or Dark(Maybe Grimdark) things to balance me out. A good adventure one wouldn't be so bad....

1100018 Too much shipping is bad shipping! But joking aside, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's good to hear that people like my stuff for more than just the stupid, shameless clop.

I must say, this perhaps one of the most well written stories I`ve ever read! :trollestia:

This definitely deserves a fave! :raritystarry:

Keep it up you have made a masterpiece and you should be proud! Well done. :twilightsmile:

Sparkle Writer

My headcanon exactly.

Life is defined by death, and what we do with our lives during the short time we're here. Take away death, and life loses its meaning. Celestia has nothing to live for, not really.

A different kind of story.

While it didn't bring up the emotions that makes me cry (like My Little Dashie does) it certainly was beautiful and deserves the "sad" tag. It's sad and while the ending isn't quite as I had hoped, it still managed to round up the story quite well.

Good Job :ajsmug:

That was... a nice mixture of sadness coated with some sugary happiness in the end.
Very nice stuff.

1104443 Blah blah blah. Life is defined by LIVING. Bacteria do their thing thoughtlessly for eons without ever once even knowing they exist! You may even say that they can technically be immortal since all they do is divide.

Life's 'meaning' is a self-delusional state humans give to themselves since they are incapable of dealing with things having no meaning.

As a biologist, I was mentally trained differently. I don't fall into these silly philosophical traps, as for me they don't exist. Life will mean whatever I deem it to mean. And thus, I am already prepared for immortality! (This is also why I should rule the world. I am teh bestest!) :trollestia:

1104532 I dunno, man, immortality seems like a mixed bag. Stuff like vampires, Greek gods and faeries have it made, they get to see civilizations rise and fall and get to live forever alongside friends and loved ones. Well, more so for vampires. Greek gods all hate each other and faeries and related creatures are, going by original mythology, pretty horrible little things.

Poor Celestia is going to live forever... alone. Forever alone, and stuck doing the same thing every day. Unless a million years down the line some young buck discovers the secret to immortality, but by then her mind will probably be broken.

*chuckles* I would have thought Celestia would have had this epiphany many centuries ago. My my, took her this long to figure it out? Discord is right, she's quite foalish!

I'd reached the comprehension of such things by the end of first grade! Of course, I'm not exactly 'normal' in any sense of the word. I see the entire cosmos all at once, and never feel small. For I know of it and it cannot know of me. I have a mind to grasp its movements, while it must exist utterly unaware.

I can control it all... :pinkiecrazy:

I've seen a lot of "Celestia contemplates outliving everyone" stories, and this is one of the few that really gets into her mindset so flawlessly. Well done.

Solid four stars.

1104545 You're making a terrible mistake. You're judging immortality as defined by MORTALS!! You've fallen for the 'fox and the grapes' trap, listening to those who make up legends and myths in despair of what they cannot attain. They make it sound as awful as they can because they must convince themselves they don't want it, or they'll go insane with desire, as did many alchemists searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

I learned to cast aside all preconceived notions and allow my mind to freely explore the possibilities, the potential, the LIMITLESS potential of a truly immortal body. Ho ho ho! Unless you've done it as well, you can scarcely comprehend the wonder!

And, also think, if YOU can attain immortality, why could you not repeat the process? BUT, the great challenge is to choose only those who are worthy, who will not turn to cruelty and wickedness and abuse their great power and influence. The prospects must be of irrepressible moral character, unwilling to cross certain lines, uncompromising in a number of areas of ethical considerations.

As the old cliche goes, "With great power comes great responsibility." And none is so great as to be truly immortal. I do not mean the pseudo-immortality of living until something kills you. I mean the absoluteness of the true meaning of the word. If one were a true immortal, you would be incapable of death. Nothing could kill you. Not even being pulled into a black hole. Consider now how powerful one would become with such an immutable life. Your choices would affect the entire cosmos!

I could go on for pages and pages with all the incredible things I've discovered, all the astonishing possibilities, but then I would have no time for my original plans for today! (I'm going to beach, and then getting some salt-water taffy. :pinkiehappy: )

1104611

My point soared over your head and into another dimension.

1104620 One is only as alone as one chooses to feel. I recall a man who lived in Alaska on his own, with hardly any contact with the outside world for 35 years, until he was too old to manage anymore. He was quite content.

It's all a matter of how properly your serotonergic nervous system is functioning. Depression can be banished with chemicals! :pinkiecrazy:

1104649

Big words a conducive argument does not make.

Let me explain...

We don't know the circumstances of Celestia's birth. She could have been anything from a god formed of the ether to the equivalent of a permanently summoned daedra, created for the sole purpose of defeating Discord and ruling Equestria. So immortality may not be as easily replicated as you think.

And personal implications... What is good in life? To me, it is falling in love, raising a family, finding a purpose in life, and growing old with the one you love and grooming your children into those who will pick up where you leave off. Celestia clearly is deprived even of the ability to do these things, much less the opportunity. I don't know about you, but living forever without a purpose and loved ones to share it with doesn't sound all that nice at all. Put it into perspective... Do you really want to experience that sort of desolation for eternity? If your answer is yes, you might be a sociopath.

And Celestia is obviously nothing like that Alaskan man, so there goes that argument.

1104649 I'm sensing a "holier than thou" vibe from you. Go on, git.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_hmph.png

I was *this* close to TD'ing this story for having no actual events occur - only Celestia boo-hooing, woe-is-me-ing for a few thousand words. Then I finished it and the TD button disappeared, as if it had never been an option. In just a few paragraphs this jumped from my Read Later list straight into my Favorites. So few authors recognize the Element of Kindness at all, or even try to use its bearer properly. Your portrayal doesn't suffer that. Not only do you have Fluttershy in character, you have the Element of Kindness "in character" as well. Fluttershy doesn't put on an ostentatious display or cower from Celestia. It never occurs to her to do either. Instead it's one small, simple act of kindness that changes everything. She's the Element because that act wasn't something she debated or fretted over; she did it almost instinctively because that's her nature. It's the Element of Kindness' nature. I'm glad to see someone do it justice because it's so rarely depicted at all, especially not as well as you've done here.

Bonus points for doing it without shipping! Although that's the logical path Celestia would take, I think. Maybe not in the lifetimes of the Mane 6, but if she can let herself befriend again, then perhaps one day she can love again, too.

1105148
"Maybe not in the lifetimes of the Mane 6, but if she can let herself befriend again, then perhaps one day she can love again, too."

It's a situation known to some of us more mortal types as well.

A sad story, but I loved the ending. Thank you :-)

1106691 You are most welcome.:twilightsmile:

Listen with sad instrumental music on, and I dare you not to atleast tear up!

I enjoyed this story a lot--I was surprised to see Fluttershy be as involved, but that's what you get from not paying attention to the tags. I've been absorbing nothing but twilestia lately, and as soon as I saw Celestia in the description I just assumed it was so:twilightblush:

Anyway, great job, and keep up the good work!:twilightsmile:

1104443
"Take away death, and life loses its meaning"

I'm curious--how so? In that someone who can't die must outlive others? Like Celestia, right?

1104532

So does that mean you believe everything is meaningless? I be just wondering--your statement(s) was interesting.

1107635 An interesting question. Everything is meaningless if there is no way for life to continue. But, if there is, then meaning continues.

Consider, what meaning would anything humanity has done possess if suddenly mankind ceased to be?

But it is not just life that gives life meaning. There must also be awareness, without which there is only oblivion. No primitive life ever considers itself. It merely moves according to its genetic program, incapable of conceiving anything beyond its immediate environment.

I should think that intelligence is what grants meaning. The very concept of meaning is an abstract notion, something only beings with higher intellectual function can conceive of.

1110114
Hm I think there's a lot to what you say, and I like your statement "intelligence is what grants meaning."

But it does make me wonder; consider if we removed all human life from planet earth, while leaving all the animals and the ecosystem untouched. Would not that system continue to thrive, with each of its individual parts serving their own purpose as they add to that system and help to maintain it's balance? Wouldn't that then make all those creatures meaningful, since they serve a purpose within the ecosystem?

To me, this seems to suggest that either a) there is something else which grants meaning beside intelligence, b) we need to reconsider just what level of intelligence grants meaning, or c) despite the absence of humans, there is still a higher intelligence present which grants meaning to this ecosystem and its parts, such as a designer.

Thoughts?

1110775 That depends on how you consider those creatures 'meaningful'. Non-intelligent life would continue, lessening as the sun heats up and expands, until at last even the hardiest living things were destroyed as the sun becomes a red giant and incinerates the Earth.

What meaning, then, was there in all those innumerable generations of non-thinking things? In the end, it is as if they never existed. They will leave no imprint on anything, and no one elsewhere will recall them. Anything that leaves nothing behind has no meaning. Humanity has already had more influence in the cosmos than anything that has lived on this planet. We've sent probes into space that will float outward for eons, perhaps to be found by another intelligent species on a distant planet as they begin to explore space.

With thought, with intelligence, humanity has begun to carve out a monument to itself in the galaxy, with our infant space program being the first strikes of the chisel. All the life before us that lived and died can only perpetuate its memory by being remembered by us. If one wished to say they had meaning, then it can so only in that they gave rise to the one species capable of leaving the earth before its inevitable destruction in the far future, and continuing on until perhaps the universe grows cold, if indeed that is its fate.

1110884
Well, if the meaning of all the creatures on the earth is snuffed out by the future possibility of the destruction of the earth and sun, how so is not the meaningfulness of humans, or their mark, or some other intelligent race which discovers humanity or their mark, not also snuffed out by the possible future death of the universe itself? Since it apparently doesn't matter how long the creatures on earth are meaningful in so far as they serve a purpose in maintaining an ecosystem, since that system will eventually be destroyed, it also shouldn't matter how long humans continue to survive, or how long any intelligent race survives, if at the very end of it all they are also destroyed, whether by the destruction of the universe or the end of its ability to support any life (it going cold, losing all worth, etc).

To me, this says that unless something can live forever, it ultimately has no purpose or meaning. But then wouldn't this suggest that since we cannot be sure of the ultimate continuation of the universe, then all things are meaningless? Unless, if there is perhaps something else that will continue forever. Unless, if there perhaps eternity, in which beings such as humans will be a part of, despite the universe ending one day--aka, an eternity beyond or outside the physical universe. Because you see, there can be no meaning without eternity, since as you said, what diference does it all make if everything ever done is lost or ceases to exist one day?

Man, nothing like flexing the ol' brain muscle on a saturday of all days, eh?:twilightsmile:

RBDash47
Site Blogger

"Was the benevolent Princess Celestia that everypony knew and loved just a facade, a shell of a pony who had lived far past her mind's expiration date?"

What a fascinating idea.

I have spilled a tear. Duh, I guess I'm getting soft. Or it's just that the fic was this beautiful. :fluttercry:

Nice story that was very life-affirming in a way. Fluttershy was just the right person to talk to Celestia at that point.

Maybe it's me, though, but I found the way Celestia was arguing with herself to be very disturbing. How much can a sentient mind take before it breaks?

Probably one of the better one-shots that has Celestia dealing with immortality. Interesting in the use of Fluttershy as the one she talks to, but while that I think about it she would be one of the better ones for Celestia to talk to. She she would just sit and listen, be the kind voice that sometime we need. The most striking part is the inner voice that speaks in the Royal We. I wonder about that, just the way is spoke. Was it Celestia's own self-doubts and jealousy of mortals or perhaps something more? Of course the apparent strength of will to ignore the voice was good too. You did well on this.

Signed in the Name of Her Serene Majesty Celestia Everfree,
Celestia's Paladin: Ex Solis et Lunae, Proveditea et Prospartiea

While this is fantastic, I did manage to find a single problem with it to be mended - the simplest of typo's.

In the 2nd to last paragraph:

". . . Celestia had *an* epiphany."

Really though, that was stunning.

Why do I have the feeling Celestia's got a split personality? or something of the sorts. . . :unsuresweetie: yeah I dunno. But great story! I enjoyed every bit of it, well not how it was sad, but because of how good it was!

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