This is a story about failure.
Believe me, it's not a very nice story. Failure can bring out the worst in everyone, especially when it comes at the expense of someone's life. Especially when that someone goes by the name of Twilight Sparkle.
This is a story about love and desire, about trust and forgiveness. This is a story about shame and despair, about regret and guilt beyond compare.
This is a story about Flash Sentry.
This is a work of an author exploring and experimenting with metaphors through character dynamics amid heavy subject matters. The reader is encouraged to take their time and read between the lines, as well as give a little feedback about the story and such in general.
All rights of cover art go to Mewball
Chapters (15)
Interesting.
...Okay...
I'm interested and confused.
You are a brillant writer!
... I need to Now what is happening
What does Mamihlapinatapai mean?
6866975, 6872372 and 6867028,
Everything will be explained really soon, since this story's leeching my attention away from the other stories I'm working on.
Just wanna know: what do you think happened? I know that's asking a lot, seeing as I'm withholding a lot of information back, but I'd love to hear your side of the story.
6872343
Thank you for that!
I've read some of your stories and I'd say you're pretty good as well! Keep up the good work!
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alumniroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/tumblr_lhavwdHWw01qb8j7oo1_500.jpg
From the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego. One of the hardest words to translate.
6874225 Flash's sarcasm got Twilight hurt. Problems in Yakyakingstan. That are my guestes. Flash would never hurt her.
I think this maybe my new favorite story. The pairing brought my attention, but I staying for the well crafted story and engaging mystery. This is how do you a good story and I am proud to follow and favorite this. And look forward to reading the next chapter.
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Glad to hear that! Also, thanks for the watch, by the way!
Please Flash... I hope he didn't tried anything bad
Need more
Noooo! He can't die! No way! Please don't let him die:
How do you pronounce Mamihlapinatapai?
Awwww... About time Flash opened up. His hard guy mask was going to bring him trouble. Can't wait for the next chapter
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Lol, can't help you there
Oh my god please finish this ;_; I've always wanted to write a story called Mamihlapinatapai and now I don't have to!
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Fancy meeting you here!
Just have to slowly weed out the heavier stuff now that everything is in place, so it may probably take longer than I would like it to be, but I'll definitely finish it soon.
Also, now I'm curious as to what you might write in your version.
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That's the thing, I could never come up with an idea.
The note in my workfile just says (said ;_;) "Mamihlapinatapai" and gave the definition in case I forgot it.
Did they just?
Flash...
Oh man, this chapter somehow so heartwarming yet... So hurtful....
7148242
Glad to hear that!
Took some time and a couple of drafts when trying to balance between both ends, especially the final part.
Personally found it hard to write those kind of sequences, especially after Twilight's head hit the bar
Those ponies who wanted to kill them.. Should burn in hell. Good chapter
might not be?
Painful, that. Important to remember, I suppose, but that's going to hurt for a long time. And I just mean the actual events, not the feelings and knowledge of what is just short of absolute failure. I mean technically he saved both their lives. I doubt either of them would have survived that. -- Still disappointed that pony magic can't regrow limbs, although perfect regeneration/magical healing would be a little too convenient.
Anyway, the story feels kinda disjointed. I mean, I guess it's supposed to be at some level, but that it's still kinda mucky. In particular trying to keep track of where the story is in time is pretty hard. Not only that, but it could use work in other areas in my opinion. I'm not quite sure if I could really point it out, but the flow of the story is a little rough.
Stuff like this:
Ought to be:
Maybe it's FimFic's fault, but you don't need a line break/newline there at all.
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Ironically, having to live with having done such things is probably a worse punishment, unless they are actually and literally insane.
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It can go both ways, though might be not infers a more definite negative 'not' over might not be. It's the sort of balance that I would reckon Flash Sentry was looking for to counter what Twilight said previously:
"That might be it."
It might be not, you know?
Yeah, it was supposed to be hard to keep track of the timeline of this story.
I originally wanted to put in something to help guide the reader, though I thought it'll be more interesting to withhold the information of it instead. I believed that with what Flash had to go through, most of the events in his memory would not include the context of time, with some of the events negating the presence of it entirely. His scorn towards the passing of time was one of the things I was subtly trying to imply throughout the story, up until Entry #8 when he mentions about what a cruel bastard it was.
As for that part, that is unfortunately a writing habit of mine.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Also, thanks for faving the story!!
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Lost your comment 'cause I had to pull back the chapter after I found out that I uploaded the wrong, unfinished document.
Yeah, I'll probably write out the timeline of all that happened, though I'm considering on whether to integrate it at the very last chapter or just separate it entirely.
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I'm in favor of something separate, it would just be nice to get my head around the whole thing. I'd rather have the story in linear order myself, but since flashbacks (ha ha ha...) seem to be a central delivery vehicle that would be unreasonable.
so twilight is pregnant...
I knew it! It was his son all along!
..... WHAT?!?!
the fuck is going on!
flash please get seen twilight soon!
So... Flash must have more trust issues Thanks to all that happened... You know What buddy? You need to get a vacation to sleep and rest.
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Funnily enough, that's actually what I intended to put a little snippet of in the next chapter.
7602502 To be honest... I think he should first get back to his old self as much as he can before facing Twilight.
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It'll pretty much be like that, though there's no way both of them would ever go back to their old selves after what happened.
I should be writing that segment out by the final chapter, Entry #14.
7614659 This story can't end so short...
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Yeah, there's a lot of things that the English language just couldn't accurately describe, which is something that's gonna be delved into in the epilogue.
Thanks for the fave, by the way!
Glad to know you're liking it! (I think)
love and sad!
My god
A beautiful ending indeed
Thanks for this roller coaster of emotions I've be reading this since day one and every month since then I was waiting for new chapters now that this amazing story is over a question to both me and you
What's Next?
Well the long wait is finally over and I can say with absolute certainty that this is a story which hits every branch on the tree of writing as it falls to completion. Grade A stuff my friend as well as congratulations on finishing this beast it will always hold a place on my shelf and in my heart.
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Well, I've listed the stuff I'm currently working on at my user page.
There's Feyspeak, which is a small adventure story involving a magician and a filly. The language is much heavier on that one, which is out of my comfort zone. The identities of both of them won't be revealed until the final chapters, though I can assure it'll finish faster than this story did.
Then there's Velleity, which is a one-shot involving Soarin' and Rainbow Dash. This was one of the intended routes that Mamihlapinatapai was supposed to go through, but I thought of taking it out and making it a separate story instead. It's premise is much darker, so if you like that sort of stuff, then be on the lookout.
Lastly, there's Postulations For Four, a more lighthearted one-shot currently in the works. It has a lot science and magic stuff involved in it, but it'll mainly boil down to the relationship between the four OCs: a physicist, a mage, a mathematician and a philosopher. That will come a little later, thanks to all the research I have to do about it.
There's also my other stories that I've already published, though many of those are incomplete as of yet. I would try to get back into it soon enough
Glad you really enjoyed this story! I hope you would like everything else that I have in store!
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I'm glad to hear you say that.
Also, thanks for the follow! I'll try my best not to disappoint!
need a squeal!
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I think you meant sequel.
I'm not planning on doing one, if that's what you're asking. Don't really wanna add anything else redundant that I already have (and there are a couple).
I'm open to side stories though, if anything else, though I have nothing that would inspire me to write one at the moment. You can also check out an upcoming one-shot, Velleity, which is a darker take on this story.
Thanks for reading!
Too much star-crossed lovers and general hapless Flash honestly. As a whole story, it's worth something, but I don't see why it has to remain essentially unresolved.
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All three were, at the very least, subconscious decisions I made, based on the direction I wanted the story to go, as mentioned in my recent blog post.
Their portrayal as star-crossed lovers was my reaction from my examination of Flash Sentry's position within the fandom as time passed, beginning with overwhelming hatred and ending with a neutral, sometimes begrudging acceptance. That portrayal ended later on in the linear timeline of the story, when it shifted to different themes based on the ideas of misinformation and withholding of information, among other ideas.
Flash's haplessness, apart from it being my attempt of differentiating this Flash Sentry from those in other stories, was something that I think many of us would behave as well had we been thrust into that position. It's overwhelmingly common in the story, but I do believe that was the point: for it to be so overwhelming that he himself gets sick of it and decides to do something for it. You'd want him to do something to better himself and in certain parts, he finally does. It's the closest I could get to a Nietzschean approach (Übermensch, in particular; here's hoping I did it right) with cathartic intent, and I think that idea of nihilism and the resulting hope from it was something we needed today. That there was nowhere else to go but up.
As for leaving it unresolved, I'd pose this question: why should it have a conclusive ending instead? Personally, I felt that if I ended it on a conclusive note, it would disregard the readers themselves from the themes of fear and uncertainty prevalent throughout the entirety of the story. The narrative might go full circle, but the story still keeps going. They themselves would be left not knowing what they have in store and we wouldn't either, and we would never know if it would it be a cycle, or if it would be different this time. Of course, I could give it a conclusion and many would think that their story still continues, though I felt it would lack the amplitude of uncertainty I desired.
Also, thanks for adding it into your top favorites! Really means a lot for me to take your time to read and critique about it too! Really like the stuff you're dishing out!
I've got to say, this is easily one of the best fics I've ever read.
I was somewhat apprehensive going into it, mainly because of the tags- Dark, Sad, Tragedy, and Gore all in one.
But in the end, it did not disappoint.
This story is filled with wonderful characterization and kept me at the edge of my seat all throughout. It's the perfect blend of romance and thriller.
If I were to rate this, I'd give it a solid 10/10. Plus bonus points for being one of the better Flash Sentry stories out there.
Just one question: what language is the title in? Is it an existing one, or did you make it up for this story?
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Glad to hear that you liked the story!
All the words used in the list were from other languages and aren't easily translated into English.
Madrugada - Spanish
Forelsket and Hyggelig - Danish
Nunchi - Korean
Pochemuchka - Russian
Mamihlapinatapai itself comes from a language used by the indigenous Yaghan people inhabiting the isles of Tierra del Fuego in the country of Chile. It is also considered as one of the hardest words to translate in the entire world.