Brony(eeds) a coffee... http://ko-fi.com/crystalmoose
[invalid integer] years after the events of the show, one pony wanders the decrepit streets of Canterlot, with only her memories for company.
Warning: contains Sweetie Bot!
Primary Cast: Sweetie Belle
Secondary Cast: Twilight, Discord, Celestia, Rarity, Spike, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo
Page generated in 0.485 seconds
Total duration
1,001 users online
2,123,093 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The tears...
The MANLY tears...
3741820
Finally got to the end of it, eh?
Sad sequel to a comedy? Very strange, but I suppose there's no rule against it.
This sounds similar to the setting of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and I'm not sure I want to read something that sad.
3758652
This idea actually predates I, Sweetie (and MLP) by about seven years. It was originally a non-pony fic that I was never satisfied with.
Like I said in my comment on I, Sweetie, massive mood whiplash.
And I am terrible, despite loving the concepts of A.I. and S.I... I have never watched A.I. Though I will admit, it does bear some unintentional heavy resemblance to Bicentennial Man (which I loved, despite it's universal panning!)
3758674
I can deal with sad in general, but a setting in which all of my favorite characters are long-dead (which I'm not entirely certain this is, since I haven't read it, but that's what it sounds like in the description) is just too much for me, hah.
Bicentennial Man was the one where the A.I. robot fell in love with a woman and slowly, over time, replaced his various parts with more and more realistic and Robin Williams-like components, right? Talk about bittersweet endings. I haven't seen that movie in foreeeever.
And that's okay, I've never seen I, Robot.
I do recommend A.I., though.
3758791
Yeah, you are spot on with what the story is about... it does have a sweet ending, but it is long, long, long, long past the events of the show.
Basically long enough for the sun to have begun moving into its Red Giant phase, or the beginnings of it.
Well that made me cry like a baby. Congrazzles on that.
Having lost my Grandfather only a few years ago... this is particularly poignant for me. I hope that, when my time comes, I will be granted the serenity to simply drift off to sleep, only to awaken with friends and family past around me, ready to greet me on the other side.
Thank you for writing this... it is simply beautiful. Many people do not understand what a... gift... death can be. The idea of living forever, of seeing those you care about wither and die... to see the end of life... so many people wish they could "be young forever", but I wonder if they actually know just what they are wishing for.
Sniff
:mecry: i will alwas rember this ending. It starts so sad but sweetie was alwas loved and it brings a family of love at the end it so awsome!
:discord:
(\hug.
Hug/)
So sad ans sooooo sweet! It brought a tear to my eye.
The sad....it be gloriuos.
i love the ending, kinda 'you don't need to be flesh and blood to have a soul'
how old is sweetie about? 160 billion years?
4289241
You know I tried to work out the math, but I gave up in the end.
I assumed that the Equestrian sun was a G-type main sequence star, probably about midway through it's life cycle during the shows events (why, because I modeled it after Sol); so she'd probably be somewhere between four and five billion years old, when their sun would move into their red giant stage of it's life. Probably closer to the four billion, but close enough that life on Equestria is pretty much fucked.
Also, when I first wrote the story, I thought 13 billion before our sun went became a red giant, so there might be some incongruities in the story surrounding it. But I think I covered my ass pretty well by using the [integer to big] cop-out.
This fic is sad, but beautiful and Sweetie finally got her happy ending.
Twilight didn't know how to code up arbitrary-precision arithmetic? Shenanigans! Get the brooms!
The feels, man! The feels!
That was a touching tale.
I did laugh once, at your authors note at the end about a theoretical sequel. Just the idea of making a sequel to this is funny enough.
4449760
Someone once wanted me to write Sweetie Bot's tale of the afterlife.
I kid you not.
4449769
That actually sounds like a great story... Think you could still do that?
4589340
Nope. This one is 100% done and dusted.
The reason I don't want to do a sequel is that I feel it cheapens the message and impact of this one, especially the final line.
The story was an examination of her life, and the question "Do I have a soul?" (or atleast that was how it was intended), and the final line can be interpreted as yes (though it could also be interpreted as one last hallucination before the end, given she was prone to hallucinations throughout the story)
Adventures in the afterlife are just not necessary.
I shouldn't read stories like this when I'm at work. It's hard trying not to cry when the story is well writen like this. You are awesome.
This is a powerful piece of literature. A masterpiece. I only regret reading it after watching the Bicentennial Man. Dose anyone know an over the counter anti-depressent?
4869235
I am so glad to find out I am not the only one who loves that movie.
Holy fuckbuckets.
You're the one who wrote this story?
Oh my God! That is insane!
Damn!
Can't believe I didn't recognize you immediately.
4899526
Haha, yes... yes I am the author of this one
I didn't even cry for Past Sins! My Little Dashie was irritating to me!
WHY AM I CRYING AT THIS?!?!
[REVIEW] Break out the kleenex, boys...
(crossposted here)
For those who may (or may not) have followed me all the way back during the halcion days of The BunnyCast will know that I've always been a staunch proponent of fanfiction, whether it be obscure gender-fluid anime martial artists (which was my obsession at the time), divergent timelines from a popular-yet-somehow-still-obscure-webcomic, to Star Trek to Xena to...well, you get the point. So it's no surprise that I advocate that fanfiction is NOT the festering heap of Intellectual Property Infringement that some
complete and total bleeding moronsotherwise clueless yet well meaning people say it is. Indeed, I consider it to be the Ultimate Test of a Writer. It takes real dedication to the art of what you are doing to write a good and engaging story for an audience that may appreciate you, but can NEVER pay you (mostly due to intellectual property laws, but in some cases it's people who read fanfics because they don't have money). This allows the author TOTAL creative freedom and limitless playgrounds to put their characters in.Honestly, at this point I'm starting to think that ANY idiot can get a publishing deal if they write something bland and uncreative enough. (I'm looking at YOU Stephanie Meyer!!!)
So what comes next may not seem to be much of a surprise coming from me, other than the fact that I am trying to cut down on the foul language more that my daughter has gotten to the "repeat what the adults are saying" age.
To those who think that fanfiction can never equal or exceed a published work? FUCK OFF!
Of course, I'm kinda preaching to the choir on this one... ;)
So what has me feeling so strongly on the matter all of a sudden?
SweetieBot has become something of an odd fan favorite, the love and appreciation of the character even eclipsing the fan-series she came from, Friendship is Witchcraft. (Which I have heard from Jim Butcher himself say was, and I quote, "Seriously weird, man!") Various fan art and stories have come and gone, and while there's some that are cute and some that are funny and some that are touching...for this one, you're gonna want to avoid it if you have a heart condition. And maybe if you're pregnant. Or if you're going to be operating heavy machinery later.
Silicon and Fur: A Remembrance of Equestria is not the longest, not the most epic, not the deepest, not the...ANYTHING fic you've ever read. It won't leave you laughing at any point (well, maybe at one point...but by Celestia the laughter will be bitter-sweet!), you won't be stirred by any epic battles with evil...
In fact, there's really not much to this story at all.
OK, so for the next bit imma gonna have to throw out a big SPOILER ALERT. That's because without a SPOILER ALERT, I can't really talk about this story and give it the review it deserves. So for those who like SPOILER ALERT to keep you from having your story spoiled, I'm going to say go read it now (read the prequel first) and cue up the Sigur Ross and keep a case of facial tissue handy, 'cause this one packs a whollop!
OK, SPOILER ALERT over, are they gone?
...
*waits*
...
OK, good, now let's talk about them behind their back! Oh, wait, review! Right!
This is a VERY short story, in fact the entire contents can be summed up as follows: SweetieBot walks through a dilapidated Canterlot Castle while she hallucinates. However, as with any good story, the summary doesn't do the thing justice. The "hallucinations" are SweetieBot's processes replaying with creative modification her memories of the ponies (and other) she watched grow old and die. Considering that enough time has passed for the entire pony RACE to have died by the time the story starts, and indeed very likely ALL sentient life on the planet, I think ANYONE, even a robot, would be entitled to a little hallucination or three just to keep from going TRULY starkers.
What the story all comes down to is the choice that SweetieBot makes. While one can say she started the story with the choice already having been made, allow me some meta commentary for a bit:
Death is not something any of us take lightly. To put it simply, even those of use who are believers in an "afterlife" are going into the whole "death" thing just as blindly and, when we're completely honest with ourselves, just as terrified of it as everyone else. Facing such an event at ANY point in life is...horrible, but then to be at a point where one must CHOOSE to die, for whatever reason, requires levels of courage that are so insanely high that most people can't even fathom it. Rather like if you went to your average ER nurse who's moderately good at managing her less-than-adequate paycheck and asked her to help balance the U.S. national debt. The numbers are too big, the impact too massive, she'd just...not be able to even START to grasp it.
So taking a look at Death's nominal opposite, Life. Life must grow, or it ceases to be life. We must always be learning, doing, acting and reacting in order to be considered Alive. (Don't understand? Watch Shaun of the Dead. Hell, even the trailer makes my point for me) Without that continual growth, we're dead, whether we have a pulse or not.
So back to SweetieBot. There she is, BILLIONS of years after even the last other immortal bites it...quite literal eons of being the last sentient thing on a planet with no spaceport or access to a well travelled hyperspace bypass (and the last towel have LONG since gone, so it'd be a wash anyway) having done all that she can, experienced all that can be experienced, and now doing exactly NOTHING new...she realizes that to continue being Alive, she must Die.
And THAT, dear reader, pays lie to SweetieBot's telling Discord that she can't come up with a paradox without him.
The problem, of course, is that she not only must rely on the blind faith a regular pony must have in the same situation, she doesn't even have the confidence that, once her circuits shut off for the final time, that there will ever be a point where she ever wakes up again.
And that is truly terrifying.
And yet, she goes on, she faces her fear, makes her choice a final time, and...well...
I cried.
Let me explain this a bit. Thanks in no small part to my past, I usually don't cry for...well, nearly anything. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've cried in the past decade. Much has been made in the Brony community over the tear-jerking effects of stories like Past Sins (a personal favorite) and My Little Dashie (...no comment), but I read these stories and...well...I didn't cry. Yes, Past Sins was incredibly TOUCHING and IMHO is one of the best stories this community has ever put out and HASBRO WHY HAVEN'T YOU MADE THIS STORY CANON GNARARARARRRR!!!
ponytime.net/wp-content/uploads/mlfw8968-548597_512024965495130_956259811_n.jpg
*ahem* My point is, I didn't cry at Past Sins or, really, any of the points where Bronies tend to cry at their favorite beloved fanfics.
This one pulled the tears out of me like a pre-teen girl learning her favorite boy-band was breaking up.
And I'm not too proud to admit it!
----
Oh, and one final nitpick...the author's sense of what will withstand the rigors of time is...well, I'll call it "WALL-E" on a scale of "Nailed it" to "Movie Science." (See Life After People for reference)
Why I insist in reading too sad stories
very good
I don't know what to say, but this story has given me a good cry, and I thank you for writing it. It's definitely earned an upvote and a fav.
... wow.
That, was incredible.
Thank you for writing this.
Eloquently written and executed, sir. Not only do you really encapsulate the last "living" being trope well, but you also manage to incorporate the often hard to consider "am I a real person" (or in this case, pony) trope as well. I especially enjoyed how you gave each of her simulated memories a vivid persona based on her interactions with her and it was an especially nice touch with Chrysalis and her postmortem embodiment's pleading for Sweetie for finally let her go instead of living on in a digital limbo that would have tormented the poor thing further. Bravo, good sir. Bravo.
A beautiful story about the unchanging nature of love, loss and hope and the ultimate nature of immortality in a mortal universe.
I love this
, Well written and it hit me right in the feels. 
So they just left her to slowly wear out on a dead planet in a dead universe? -_-
While the grammar and sentence structure are well done, and the presentation is direct and to the point, and it gives you the urge to keep reading....
I don't really see the POINT of this story.
Story telling is art, art is life, this is watching a final flame flicker out and die. All it does is make me free depressed.
Ya know, the Last Unicorn, spoken of in the opening song of the movie of the same name, was meant to be an warm assurance disguised as a lament that, even all else had ended, the last unicorn would remain, happy and beautiful.
This feels like a faded, lifeless imitation of that.
This reminds me of a piece of fanart I saw. It was Equestria Girls, but had the events of the film be a fantasy of the girls, RD was in a wheel chair, Fluttershy was a street walker, AJ was a solider, etc. This feels like depressing for depressing sake.
The imagine I have here, is a child, growing wrinkles, and creaking bones, and dying of old age without growing up. We're left the impression that in spite of all their knowledge, magic, and being to cross other universes, ponies didn't reach the stars.
Me and my love for sad stories gonna read this tomorrow. I hope I will be satisfied as many others.
6533212 One of my favorite things to do is watch a flame die out. While watching a fire I will stay with it until it gives its last gasp.
6535170
You must love Dark Souls.
6535632
No one loves Datk Souls, theyre just closet masochists
God damn, I really have to stop reading stories like this before someone decides to ask why they heard me crying at 2am
I can only imagine how that conversation would go...
Anyway, this story pretty much took my feelings and stabbed me through the chest with them, it is a brilliant take on the classic 'Last Man/Equine on Earth' kind of story. I absolutely loved it, even if it did leave me depressed as hell cx
I would like to point out that [integer too large] would have to be at least 18.4 trillion years. The sun will last at most 10 billion, but more likely 5.8 billion years. So the sun would have long died and probably even cooled into a galactic diamond after more than 18.4 trillion years. I assume that the swelling of the sun is it becoming a red giant. I suppose that it could be argued that celestia's Magic has kept it alive for so long, but that would be a bad story telling mechanic. Anyways, I'm just being nitpicky. It's a good story so far. Keep it up.
6544767
Depends entirely on the bitsize of the integer. Also... it's fiction.
If the integer size is 32 bit, then she could record roughly 4.2 billion years. Assuming that her dates are recorded as each section of the date as seperate integers, and not as, say, x days from genesis, as current pcs record them. If, as in my mind, that was how she was recording dates, then she could only record 4.2 billion DAYS, which is far less than the life of a main sequence star in the middle of its stellar life.
Admittedly, I fudged aome things for the sake of narrative, but I based the year and date thing on my understanding of how pcs store dates... though this may have changed in the 15 years it has been since i have done any real programming.
So many undefined objects previously. Does she just delete memories as she goes?
6546415
It actually comes down to data storage construction. Chrysalis was a special case, she requested deletion. The others basically came down to her records being lost over time as more and more data errors happened (due to degradation of the storage hardware), and over time, those memories can no longer be read, as they are corrupted beyond repair.
Oh god.
Thank you for this, I suppose.
6533204
they might not have realized shed have lasted this long. It would make sense to assume shed break down rabidly without anyone there to repair her. that fact she's lasted so long her own memory cant even tally the years is a very cruel set of probability.
this is a very depressing story.
this is one of the saddest things I've read and yet that ending was one of the happiest I've ever read as well. with just two lines you made me smile while I was crying. this is truly a work of art in my opinion. the amount of emotions that plays out from such short chapters.