• Member Since 29th Sep, 2011
  • offline last seen Nov 7th, 2018

Ponydora Prancypants


okay now kiss!

E
Source

I think that I shall never see
A home as lovely as my tree.
In its trunk I made my nest
With all things that I love best.
Books to read all night and day,
Rooms to learn and space to play;
But no more growing, no more fun;
No more soaking up the sun;
Nevermore to drink sweet rain;
Or to greet the Spring again.
There is no power or decree;
No magic spell to save my tree.

Cover art by The-Paper-Pony. Used with permission.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 60 )

Wow - that was fantastic. Great read. Thanks.

well that was... Huh... That was... Painful. And chilling.

I read this out loud, with all of the appropriate pauses and emotions, just to savor the feelings and intent behind the words. The monotome and at times emotionless voice I used served to just magnify an already encapsulating story.

I still weep for BookTree.
You have made it no easier.


Bravo.

Well, I think the best way to sum up this story is with a single word: surreal. I've heard of having a a hundred thoughts rushing your head, but this one-shot probably describes it the best. To be honest, I was left confused and lost most of the time and had to re-read more than just a few sections just to get a grasp on what was going on, but I'm certain this was intentional. Overall, superb detail of what was going on in Twilight's head. I enjoyed it.

Also, could you tell me how in the world you are able to write a scene like this? This must take some sort of mind set that just boggles my head.

A nice look at Twilight's last look around her former home cataloging everything she's about to lose forever, and realizing the one thing she HAS to save. Also glad you realized like I did, Smarty Pants is one of Twilight's few precious treasures that IS safe, cause Big Mac still has her.

Beautiful piece.

This was breathtaking and heartbreaking. An excellent addition to the collection of eulogies for the Library.

The scoundrels on my overdue list are now heroes.

I love that line so much.

Excellent job! Frantic and broken and sad, it captures the enormity of the event and the flash in which it all happened, combined with some clever commentary on the plot as well. Nicely done... I'm so glad you put this one out!

After reading Que Sera, Sera, I'm not sure I dare read another sadfic by you, good sir.

Comment posted by BronyMaster64 deleted May 14th, 2014

I remained stoic, until

The scoundrels on my overdue list are now heroes.

That shook me. Then the last line squeezed a tear out of both eyes.
You've condensed the power of Que Sera, Sera into a 1,200 word miracle.

Congrats on a new follower. Me.

:applecry:

I think the library tree is my favorite house in any fiction, ever. It's full of knowledge, has mysterious panels hidden in it's shelves. It looks gorgeous. It feels warm.

And the memories. It's the home where Twilight met her friends. Where she learned so many lessons about the world. Where she became something more.

And it's a tree. It's alive like few houses are, or ever will be. It's more than just a home, it's a friend.

This story is a beautiful homage to it. Thank you for writing this.

Count me in as another that loved the overdue list line.

Excellent story, Prancy.

Poetic, poignant and powerful.

I, too, will mourn for the tree. :fluttershysad:

Damnit. And here I had just today reachieved some form of balance about this show.

Let's just say that I am more upset than I have any right to be about the pretend destruction of a Flash asset. I guess what bothers me is that Ponyville has clearly been destroyed and rebuilt, virtually in toto, time and time again. It's become a running gag in the fandom. To suggest that they're not going to regrow the library (it must be within the realm of mystic possibility) as they have reconstructed every other building that has ever been destroyed is not a statement of practicality, it's a clear statement that the characters blithely prefer their new Rainbow Power Magic Friendship Castle over that drab old tree any day. Everyone writing a fic like this knows that's not unilaterally the case. And I can't get it to reconcile.

This screed is utterly tangential to the topic of your quite wonderful story of Twilight very credibly thin-slicing four years of her life in the few seconds left before disaster. Excellently done.

Yet again, Ponydora, you fail to disappoint.

#savetree :rainbowwild:

4390167 I would have believed they were going to restore the tree, except that they elected to make the new castle resemble some kind of rainbow crystal oak, which sprung from a giant crystal acorn, which tells me that it is meant to be the "New Tree." A shame. Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Headcanon accepted. I love the idea of an ancient tree filled with lost knowledge, and has been there for 1500 years. But now... merely a smoking memory. A graveyard of knowledge.

Time to figure out a way to honor it.

4389891

I was a big fan of the treebrary too. It was one of those things that made Twilight and her story special. Thanks for reading!

4389646

Thank you for the kind words!

Twilight's stream of consciousness during the destruction of the library? I love it! :raritystarry:

My favorite bits:

Take me home. Country roads.

- Yup, I'm old. :ajbemused:

He gave me a new copy of The Astronomical Astronomer’s Almanac to All Things Astronomy. Well, a new old copy. It’s been out of print for ages. He tracked it down, because of course he did. I can see it, shelved in its proper place. Catalogued.

- There are stories with tens, or even hundreds, of thousand of words, that don't do the Spike/Twilight dynamic as well as this. :moustache:

The scoundrels on my overdue list are now heroes.

- :eeyup:

Alas poor tree, we hardly knew ye. :fluttercry::pinkiesad2:

4389689 described it best. It really is hard to believe that in real time, this story is really just a few seconds long, if that. That makes the thoughts running through Twilight's head all the more powerful. :pinkiesad2:

However, as strong as it is, the ending could've been stronger. I never really got the sense that Twilight's despair was turning into rage. She was still as methodical and calculating as she was throughout the rest of the story. Instead of thinking "this is what I have to do now," I feel that her thought process should've been more along the lines of "My name is Twilight Sparkle. You killed my house. Prepare to die." Or is that just me? :unsuresweetie:

Either way, that's pretty much my only real contention with this wonderful peek into Twilight's mind. A marvelous tribute to Golden Oak Library indeed. :ajsleepy:

the Old Unicorn words ala, meaning wing, and cornu, a horn.

I know Corne means Horn in french, but isnt Alicorn supposed to be All in one + Unicorn? xD

The spelling has inexplicably morphed to match that of the completely separate word for the substance comprising the core of a unicorn’s horn

This is not the kind of information you get in a dictionary. Y'know, saving space because its a super heavy bigass book?

Je suis la princesse des pigeons.

So, incase anypony somehow could not guess what it means, "I am the princess of pigeons."
Yes, Twi, damn right you are. Looking trough a telescope for that..

Wow what an intresting story. :twilightsmile::twilightsmile: The ryming in it was grate. good work.

Wow. That was heartbreakingly beautiful and I just cannot believe that you put a single moment into a short story. Good sir, you have one hell of a vocabulary and I sort of wish I knew half as many words as you do. I've been reading your stories for a long time and you have never seized to amaze me. :raritystarry:

I wasn't expecting another story from you today but it really cheered me up knowing that there was something new for me to read by one of my favourite authors. :raritywink:

The Golden Oaks Library was a major part of the show and when it was just blown up I was torn. I could not believe that it was actually gone. But I think that by reading this little gem, I've come to terms with its absence and even though the new castle is not nearly as iconic as Twilight's home, at least someone wrote a story that entered the mind of the pony of whom dearly loved it. :twilightsmile:

Thank you so much for writing this and I hope to see more amazing things from you in the future. :pinkiehappy:

- Crystal Secret

I wish I wish I wish ...

Oooh, look at that reference... never has it been more appropriate! :raritywink:

I'm not even spazzing about the tree but this is excellent. Superb job as always, Ponydora.
s6.postimg.org/dd47s96ap/Pirate_Approved.jpg

4390225 .....I feel like all of us are missing something obvious about the new "tree"....I can't figure out what.... I'll edit this if I figure it out.

EDIT: I...think I figured it out....The new tree is roughly in the same area as the Golden Oaks Library....The Library is almost always depicted in the town square, and the rainbow that took the box to the site of the new tree seemed to land directly in the town square, and you see homes in the background, so Ponyville may be a little bigger than we originally thought...which would explain the less populated area on the new site...so...Did the new castle use the Library's Roots to decide where to grow?

4391552 I think you're the first one to call that out. :twilightsmile: Thanks!

Ow ow ow! :raritydespair: Right in the feels!! A terrible sliver of time, decompressed into beautiful cognizance. You have inspired me!

Alas, poor treebrary! We knew it, Celestia. A fallow of infinite lore, of most excellent fiction. It hath borne us in its trunk a thousand times; and now, how abhorred on our television it is! My feels well at it. Here hung those branches 'pon which Dash has landed I know not how oft. Where be your lab now? Your friendships? Your books? Your Bearers of Harmony, who were wont to meet for merriment and more?

A wonderful eulogy to the most iconic stucture in the show. I have to say though that I like the new treehouse. I feel that its a fitting tribute to what was lost because Twilight's new castle could have been anywhere and looked like anything, but that chest chose to go to where the treehouse once was and build a new one. It's definitely a symbol of Twilight becoming more secure in her princesshood.

Well, I was feeling better about the tree being gone...

Thanks a lot.:fluttercry:

Crap. I love this.:pinkiesad2:

NTL

The most fascinating thing about this story is that in takes place in mere seconds.

Powerful and beautiful.

Great work, thank you!

Glorious. Thank you, Ponydora. :ajsleepy:

Isn't it odd that it's left to us to illuminate the real depths of these characters, when their 'realities' can't and won't?

This is beautiful :) Great job.

Now my coworkers are making fun at me for tearing up.

Thanks, Ponydora.

Anyone losing their house would be furious and/or despairing, but Twilight, with her analytical mind, doesn't just know she lost everything. She knows *everything* she lost.

Caught a little Billy Joel in there, and that moment was the most bittersweet for me. Made me laugh that it was there to begin with, but sad because she's listing things that she'll never see again. Ever.

Although Smarty Pants is hiding out at the Acres. Also I think there's a moment in the show that shows Fluttershy having all the Gala Dresses in her closet at her cottage. But that's stupid because losing it in this story hurts in the best possible way.

So many references in this though. I doubt I noticed them all. Excuse me, princess.

Time to shoot first, and ask questions later. Like a Princess.

And right after I read Gone Too Far, too. Where Celestia gets upset at Twi for doing just that.

But of all this story, "A new plan: get the owl, and get out." is what's going to stay with me. When everything in your house is important, and you can only get one thing, you need to decide what irreplaceable thing is the most irreplaceable. What you can't live without. Rare books? Sentimental outfits? Groundbreaking research? No. Get the owl, and get out.

I would have never thought such a heavy subject could be done so beautifully. Impressive, heartbreaking, and eloquent are the words that come to mind.

Description: Nice use of Kilmer's poem there.:twilightsmile: Too many people don't respect how deep Trees is.

As for the story: :pinkiesad2::fluttershysad::raritydespair::fluttercry::applecry: I'm blubbering like a fool. Thank you for such wonderful writing, but curse you for the blue feelings! (Pop Quiz: Does anyone know the quote I've just altered and utterly bastardized? History buffs should get it.)

That hurt to read. That hurt to read very badly....:fluttercry:

Do you take pleasure in my computer shorting out because of my tears?

*reads description*
*looks at tags*
*reads random comments*
... D:flutterrage:MMIT I DON'T WANNA SAD RIGHT NOW :fluttershysad:
I'll be back for you :twilightangry2:

I'm in awe of your prose and poetical talents. I should stop writing, there's no way I can ever attain this level of deep.

:ajbemused:Just a good story of life.
Twilights life :facehoof:

Your story is a subtle knife, sliding so sweetly into ours hearts, leaving a wound most grievous, and most welcome.

It's not difficult to write a 'story'
It is difficult to write one well
It is difficult to write introspection and desperate thought well

This is an example of writing a character's desperate thought into a moment that becomes a story of its own. The fact that you accomplished this with poise and without resorting to campy "and then" moments is remarkable.

It is a true shame that most people will gloss over this in favor of other stories for they shall miss a truly exceptional work.

4390810
Thanks for the translation. I had wondered about that.

In a similar vein: I believe that "damareotypes" would be the ponified plural of "daguerreotype".

Is "I wish I wish I wish" a reference to a unicorn from an earlier generation who used her magic with those words? Google-fu reveals a song by someone named "R Kelly" but I doubt that is the reference.

This is but one of MANY reasons why I despise... no, BEYOND DESPISE the Season 4 finale. In my opinion, the entirety of the S4 finale left me bitter and empty, wrought with feelings beyond anger and hate, too indescribable. In my opinion, the Season 4 finale in its entirety, not just this scene, but all of it, was the WORST cartoon episode in the history of cartoons... EVER.

5435868
I had thought that you of all people would appreciate to its fullest a tribute to the Golden Oaks Library. This window into Twilight's mind shows what a special place it was through the eyes of the one who knew it best. We see how something that can be taken for granted is really so much more to us and we only see it when we stand to lose it. It's also a lesson about what's most important in life.

Get the owl, and get out.

I think that's a wonderful lesson to learn and it was portrayed here beautifully. Also, this story added an even deeper emotional impact to that scene for me. I re-watched it immediately after finishing this and the amount of time was little more than seven seconds. Those are now the most intense seven seconds of the entire show for me, topping when Celestia cried while banishing Luna. :fluttershysad:
I hope you can see where I'm coming from on this. :twilightsmile:

5489861 From my point of view, there are just some things you don't fuck around with. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who despises this "choice".

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