Everyone always tells Twilight that the ones who love us never truly leave us.
But that's a lie. It's always been a lie.
Things that live must also die. It's simply the cycle of life, and that cycle doesn't care about love or the pain it causes.
Until one day, that cycle is broken by a forgotten figure from her past: a little tortoise who's not so little anymore.
This story is, first and foremost, a gift for the incomparable Mushroom, who clearly must be some sort of undiscovered species of fungus dog since we definitely don't deserve her. I have it on good authority that this story gave her Many Feelings, and I hope it gives them to you, too. :)
This also won first place in the of the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting '2021 Gift Fic Exchange' contest portion, which is neat.
Cover art commissioned from the lovely Shaslan!
This story did indeed give me many feels. While Sunburst's line eventually merging with the Apples gave me a bit of curiosity, the rest of the story was a wonderful exploration of grief and how we deal with it. Tank's wise words near the end actually reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from J. R. R. Tolkien, one that articulates a similarly healthy way of dealing with death and living without those we've loved:
A beautiful story.
Oh my gosh ; ; first let me just say ❤️ because you are all too wonderful for this dedication
Second, I think it's only fair that I say again what's so wonderful about this story where everyone can hear:
There is an inherent sadness embedded in immortality, as many of us acknowledge and explore in our own work. In many ways, we as a fandom accept immortality as a burden - it is something to be endured, a curse put upon those who have enough power to attain it. This story does not shy away from this fact, but rather builds it into a sort of bittersweetness that leaves us with a sense of satisfaction and hope. This story shows us that, while immortality means losing some things, it also gives us the chance to build new relationships, watch families grow and change, and find peace in the passing of the world.
It's a beautiful story. I honestly haven't stopped thinking about since you first shared it with me :) the idea of Tank and Twilight becoming ancient friends is so completely enchanting. Thank you so much for writing this!! I'm so glad everyone else gets to enjoy it, too!!
Honestly I'm surprised that I haven't read story that's paired Twilight with Tank yet.
This was a good one! I appreciate the fact that it didn't provide a "solution" to grief so much as point out that it's as necessary as anything else.
Howdy, hi!
You made me cry over a tortoise, how dare. Honestly, this was amazing. I never would have considered pairing these characters together, and the way you did it was absolutely beautiful. This was such a wonderful read, and I enjoyed every word. The imagery, prose, and just gentleness of the writing just really got to me especially in conjunction with the themes of loss and missing those you love.
I just hope that Tank and Twilight find companionship in each other and can make themselves feel a little less lonely.
Thank you so much for the read. Absolutely pleasure~!
That was a really good story.
Beautifully put. It's why I've planned to have the Vision "What is grief if not love persevering?" quote put on my wall with my father and stepfather's pictures. It will always and forever hurt, but that just says how much I love and miss them.
What happened Season 9 was a mistake. They should officially revise it.
This was a wonderful read
This reminded me of my father who passed away from cancer when I was 15. I miss him so much; I didn't even say goodbye. This was a good story.
It amazes me still, that even years after the show has ended, we can still get these wonderful ideas & stories... Twilight & Tank... you make it seem so natural. This brought a literal tear to my eye. Thank you for sharing this with us
You made me cry you beautiful bastard. Very touching story.
I hope she put a new helmet and a giant propeller blade on his back so he can sore through the sky again and terrorize ponies with the passing spinning blades of doom with diplomatic immunity as Twilight familiar.
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Your lone downvote has been acknowledged. 👉😏👉
11121337
👀👀
11121255
I totally understand.
My dad died of... well, a lot of things, at the end, but cancer was the root of it. He was diagnosed with Stage IV-V bladder cancer in April 2020, just three months after my mom's stroke.
With the global panini, I couldn't see him while he went through chemo except one time during the summer of 2020 and then the two times in the hospital before he died--the latter of which he was not cognizant of.
I feel like there were so many little types of goodbyes I didn't get, because he suddenly went downhill so quickly, and then he was gone. Then I started realizing all of the things I'll experience without him. The feeling of... not-there-ness is what gets me the hardest, I think.
In a lot of ways, I feel like I lost both of my parents in the span of a year--one, my mom, because I can't really talk to her about parent/kid stuff like my life and her life or hang out like we used to; and the other, my dad, because he died. It's... really hard. And in a lot of ways the grief comes more when I imagine the future than when I remember the past.
I'm rambling, so I'll stop here, but I hope this story offered you some level of solace. :')
11121309
Thank you. 🤗
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It's funny: when I initially say the "life grows around grief" thing, it was before WandaVision. But then WandaVision happened. I think perhaps you can imagine how much I cried at that line. :'D
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Thanks, Otter! It's funny, I never thought of it before, but I think 'gentleness' is a really apt descriptor for this one. I'm very proud of it, and glad that you liked it so much, too. :D
11121020
It's funny, I think about immortality a lot--maybe because I play so much D&D, maybe because I think too much about how mortality makes people human.
But one dichotomy I've always enjoyed is immortality feeling almost like a curse to those who started with mortal minds. There's this idea, I know, that humans cannot truly conceive of 'forever, or infininity, because everything in our lives is finite--including our lives.
Immortal creatures and immortal minds must therefore be different in order to withstand the conceptualization & inherent strain of living forever. I enjoyed exploring that difference between Twilight and Tank; Tank was born immortal. But Twilight was born a unicorn, maybe long-lived by pony standards, but, ultimately, with finite time on this mortal coil.
Twilight laments her friendships ending because when she started them, she never imagined she'd live longer without them. Tank always knew his friendship with Rainbow would be fleeting, but that made it all the more precious to him.
you have a talent my friend wish i would see more stories like these instead of fetish fever dreams
Nicely done.
Now this is a good story! It doesn't have a real ending but rather more open ended one, doing what you wanted and not being dragged out and I love that.
In my opinion this doesn't need a sequel or anything as the ending is perfect.
11121397
Makes perfect sense.
Just wanted to say that, as someone who is not an easy win for either immortality angst fics or future epilogue timeline (or beyond) fics, I’m surprised this fic sat as well with me as it did. There’s a gentle feeling to the construction of the prose that is both soothing and also melancholy in its own way, a perfect fit for the angle from which this tackles grief. Add to that unique lore (Tank as a rare immortal tortoise as long as he has an owner he forged a magical bond with? Sure, why not?), and a comfy, intimate scope to many of the scenes that keep the focus domestic, and this fic even gets over the fact that little “happens” in it. Because grief always is, it doesn’t “happen”, and we all cope with it differently.
Bonus points for making a never-seen pairing work (how often do we see any of the Mane 6 with other’s pets, aside from Fluttershy, for more then a brief moment?), justifying that cover art, and just making the intimacy between the two, and Tank’s voice, feel right.
While I’m not fully sure the fic’s content is exemplary enough to justify a Really Good rating, I think that’s just my adversion to its concepts talking. The fic doesn’t dwell on the areas that makes those concepts suck, so I barely felt the usual “oh, great, here we go again” feeling.
So, this fic inches into my Really Good tier. Which, for a fic founded on two concepts that almost always produce stinkers, or at least a familiar and tired song-and-dance, is an achievement unto itself. And I suspect those who like immortality angst/epilogue fics will adore this even more.
Having experienced some of the worst grief in my life during 2021, this fic was cathartic. Beautiful, simple and to the point.
Grief doesn't fade away, and it never leaves us, it just quietly waits in the foreground for when it needs to come.
Thank you.
"Twilight Sparkle"
"Spike and Rarity should of been neutered"
"But the Crystal Castle did feed generations of hybrids"
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You're welcome. I'm glad it helped. ❤ Hugs, friendo.
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If you think about it tank probably is a mlp variation of a Galapagos gaint tortoise especially since he cannot live for over 100 years and grows to the size described in the story which is how big is a Galapagos giant tortoise grows.
Edit: I looked it up and the author definitely made tank into a Galapagos giant tortoise variation. Considering the whole maturity at 100 years old which is a known fact for the Galapagos giant tortoise along with the size. I find that really interesting good on you author!
11122384
to you thank you for this awesome story 🤗
Hugs
Made me tear up and smile at the same time. Such a beautiful story though I can't help but ask if anyone else imagined Oogway's voice when Tank 'speaks' like I did.
You set the mood with these opening lines by showing how we tend to project the image of our long-gone friends and family onto others in our grief in loss.
Aww, Tank is so damn sweet! I hope he and Twilight have a long and productive life together.
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Sorry, what's non-canon exactly?
11122689
i meant the ship that you're implying
but tbf i can't care anymore
it's just yelling at a fucking wall at this point
you smoothbrains won't ever get better taste
11122693
You're just... so angry. Isn't it hard, living like that? Why do you even come here, if ships make you so upset?
And uh, you're also not fooling anyone. If you didn't care, you wouldn't delete your comment, come back, and THEN spout idiotic vitriol at someone you've never met.
And I'll have you know my brain's very wrinkly, actually! i've got at least one wrinkle for each story I've published. Can't help but notice you haven't a one yourself?
Oh, and I'll point out that this tagged 'alternate universe'.
Damn you got me pretty fucked up in a profound and genuine way. Great work.
11122707
of course i'm angry
appledash is still shipped, despite soarindash being better in literally every way
would you not be angry if someone kept trying to build you a house with a fucking rubber mallet and only finishing nails?
and of course it's tiring, with so many trogs like you out and about in the fandom, hell, every damn fandom
and if i did care, i'd have kept the comment up
do i have to be a 5-star chef to know not to put sawdust and earthworms into my mac and cheese? no.
this site needs tagging like AO3's, so i can filter these garbage ships out
11121387
I'm sorry to hear that, you have my condolences. Grief is strange; for about 5 years I didn't feel much, just continued life as if nothing happened. My family had felt it hard so I did what I could to help them and kind of forgot myself. Then all the sudden it hit like a train and all the emotions I bottled up couldn't be contained anymore. I'm not gonna lie, this story brought it out and I realized just how much I grieving I pushed away. This was a good story and surprisingly pushed me forward. Didn't expect to have life changing experiences after reading a story about ponies.
11122733
Dude fuck you.
Gorgeous story. Had to put this one down for a minute to just sit and think for a bit. The way you wrote Tank's character was such a pleasant surprise.
Can't wait to see more from you!
This is a beautiful story, and it deals with the subject of grief very well. You had some wonderful unique world building elements in here too, like the familiar magic, but the real strength of this is that as interesting as the magic is, it's not the focus. The focus is the characters emotions and that's exactly how it should be.
Mm.
11122733
you seem unpleasant
I don't generally like the immortality angst stuff. I always figured the Elements would keep Princess Twilight company forever, but this was well done and generated a lot of 'feels.' Well done. Liked and favorited.
11122733
I sure am thankful for being nothing like you.
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11123498
keep hating me, you know i'm right
in fact, that's why you hate me
and y'know what, while i have y'all's attentions, let me give you a quick comparison:
appledash is Ivermectin, whereas SoarinDash is the Pfizer Vaccine
And right off the bat withe emotional gut punch. Most stories usually have it set a little while after all of the Mane 6 have grown old and died, but here it's made clear it's been likely atleast a century or 2 meaning any pony Twilight had a connection to is not only dead but so are their children and their children's children. Which really just highlights how alone Twilight must feel, I mean the fact she's seen so many ponies through her life she gets them mixed up is terribly sad.
Honestly I'm amazed Twilight by this point doesn't hate Celestia's guts for both giving her that spell that made her an alicorn and then making her ruler. Sure being immortal on paper sounds nice but when you know you'll outlive everyone and that meeting those individuals litterally was the best part of your entire existence, I'd be downright bloodthristy. At that point I'd start demanding Celestia undo the spell or alteast use it on others to make the experience a little less painful. Granted that just raises the obvious question of why doesn't Discord just make everypony younger but I digress.
A very sad story and what makes it harder to read is knowing it's most likely what happens.
11123562
Please go away? No one cares about you, dude.
Such a sweet, sad, beautiful story