• Member Since 14th Jun, 2012
  • offline last seen 57 minutes ago

Seer


E

Twilight is taking tea, just like she used to with the princess. She's the princess' faithful student actually. Did you know that?


Winner of the 4th Panic Fiction contest for the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Group. Originally conceived and written in half an hour. This version here has undergone some very slight refinement.
The prompt was 'What's That Smell?'.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 51 )

How dare you make me cry, you fiend.

Goddang, this was beautifully simple and utterly heartbreaking. Amazing job.

Too familiar.

You know, I was expecting the story to be about Celestia passing away and Twilight been on denial based on the description, the is worse, and by worse I mean sadder

SPEEDWRITING GANG REPRESENT

You know, I when I first read this story I was just not expecting the absolute brick it would throw at me, and boy did that brick hurt. Probably one of my favorite speedwrites so far; the dialogue and themes are just so real. Keep it up :twilightsmile:

Very tragic and all too real, but it doesn't dwell on it. Well done, Seer.

I loved how much I was torn up by this.

About 9 or so years ago my grandfather on my mother's side passed away from a particularly nasty progressive disease called Lewy-Body Dementia and Parkinson's. At first we all thought it was merely Alzheimers little things like misplaced items or going into a room but forgetting why, but it quickly got worse until he couldn't do anything on his own and a small infection at the hospital did him in. I have gotten over it by now, and I've actually noticed I barely remember him beyond a few vague recollections and stories that others have told me. This was very tough to read as I remembered some of my own experiences all those years ago having to watch the man who played such a big part of my childhood becoming a husk of a human.

Dear The Seer,


Ok as much as I would just love love love to review this to my hearts content and delve into great detail with this...

AAAAUUUGHHH MY HEART!!!

I have nothing to say to this! I mean, what is there to be said about this!? Alzheimer's is super serious and when it's characterized as this, it hurts. And it's not because it's Twilight, it's because it's someone forgetting those they had close relations with. Because they just have their mind like a broken record, repeating things until it just reverts back a bit only for it to repeat again.

Because they're not there anymore.

It's because the fact that Twilight simply wasn't there anymore is what really got me. I had never experienced being next to a family member with Alzheimer's, but I have experienced what it's like to lose someone close to me. And when it's Alzheimer's, it's worse, because that person is still there, still alive, but it's not the same person you used to know. They forgot almost everything they knew and that... That hurts. Usually my reviews are logical with facts and logic and analysis and stuff but this... I just can't. I... I need to blow my nose... Just take your favorite.. And keep making people feel...

Sincerely, ImUnoriginal

Question: Can alicorns develop Alzheimer's, given that they don't age naturally?

I think this would better fit Rarity.

Huk

Sad, moving, and unexpected... Nicely done :pinkiesad2:

Damn, I hope that if that happens to me, someone will put me out of my misery :applejackunsure:.

I've requested medically assisted suicide if I ever forget my family.

But... as tragic as everything here is, does anyone else feel touched that despite everything, she still clearly remembers her Princess?

Altzheimer's and aging in general is evil.

Good thing by the looks of it we're going to annihilate those in a few decades.

https://www.sens.org/about-us/general-faq/

9948673
I can support this message

My Aunt has Altzheimer's.

She was a nurse for over 20 years, and the most heart breaking thing I heard her say was when she was after being put into assisted living, she started crying and said "I always wanted to be a nurse..."

Alzheimer's...

The thing that makes you forget those you love. A horrid fate.

She's the princess' faithful student actually. Did you know that?

Doesn't everyone already know that?

9949052
You didn't read the story did you?

9948898
My great aunt got it. She became really aggressive towards men. Me in particular. Blaming me for everything, yelling at me, insulting me. I started to hate her for a little while before she passed. Now I think back and remember how she used to be the one who would listen to me ramble about how I learned something, how this works or that works. She would honestly listen and engage.

Fuck this disease. Fuck it so hard. I miss her. How she was. She was such a nice woman who's abusive husband had turned her anger towards men and the disease turned that anger to him against me and shrouded my thoughts of her.

Christ this hurts too much.

ROBCakeran53
Moderator

To think, this was all inspired and brought to life by the return of my athletes foot.

Not what I expected, but beautifully sad and realistic.
Memory loss is painful on so many levels, and this captured a lot of that feeling in a very short story.

9949655
See what you're responsible for, Rob? :raritycry:

Where's all the JoJo references?

Anyone has a source for that cover picture? This style of painting is really interesting.

*Sniffles badly from this*

How dare you make me feel.

Damn. Why do I suffer through this.

Reminds me of In Memory Of...

EIn Memory Of
Dear Princess Celestia, I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. Things seem to be falling through the cracks lately. Spike thinks I should go see the doctor, but...
Obselescence · 7.2k words  ·  3,519  46 · 44k views

Oh wow. I've actually been in this scenario before. My father's mother couldn't remember my name toward the end, it hurt. But she knew my face, she said. This is a powerful story, and I haven't even bothered to wipe my eyes or blow my nose before I commented.

9948673
9948751
so, no natural order shit? i don't like early death, but I think the population is growing a bit fast for too many people to be growing older than 90. At least not until we can colonize another planet, or the ocean. Even what housing does exist, it's near impossible to get a job long enough for access. My grandpa elbowed my repeatedly in the head to try and leave and go to a home that didn't exist. Day after day, for a year. Explain it, he'd be sad about the stuff he didn't know and that he hurt me and my sister, but he hospitalized the Hospice nurse. Didn't care about that guy at all, even if informed.

If old people died of at 80, that would give them the time to get to know the future generations, leave a lasting, loving impression on the youth, and leave more housing for those willing to not abuse the gift. And we might have time to invest some kind of apartment building in space.

10021192
Housing really isn't the problem. Current population problems rise from inefficiency and bad bureaucracy. If you optimise those Earth can easily support at least 20 billion people.

10021383
those won't be fixed due to humanity being idiots. I'm trying to think about what is possible, and complain about that so i can feel good when i see steps to fix it even i did nothing for anybody.

Good story, and very effective at depicting Twilight and Spike in this situation. It was sad seeing her forget even her friends.

Do very touching and sad. Spike taking care of Twilight as she slowly slips away just shows how much he loves her!

Wonderful writing! Have an up vote and a favorite!

I've never had the misfortune of seeing someone I love and care about suffer from Alzheimer's, watching their memories become muddled and some forgotten entirely, and with my own Asperger's, I can't really empathise very well.
So I might not have gotten the full punch to the gut that others got from this.
But I still copped a light jab, her brief return to lucidity, and it quickly fading to nothingness again...
Spike's obvious strain at keeping a happy facade up, just so he can keep being her number one assistant, and quite possibly.. her only still living relation.

Here's a question no one's asking... how long has he been doing this?
She's obviously quite elderly, he's pained, but somewhat stoic, and Twilight can recall the events of Look before you sleep to a degree... has she been suffering from early onset dementia, and the medication has been slowing the degradation of her brain to the point where she made it to old age, and he's been doing this for decades, or did it only develop in her later years, and he's only been at it for a few years?

9948093
Answer: we don't know that alicorns don't age. All we know is that Celestia, specifically, is over a thousand years old. What that says about any other alicorn is up for debate.

10053593 Uhm... and Luna. Luna is also over a thousand.

If they do age, it's at a glacial pace. And since we see no sign that Celly and Loony are aging, the simplest conclusion is that they don't age.

Anything else falls into this mode: "The absence of evidence that something is true cannot be confirmation of it."

It's like saying, "We have no physical evidence that xenomorphs exist, therefore it's possible they do!" That's logically false on its face.

10053918
Luna spend a thousand years imprisoned in the moon. It's open to debate whether or not she even had a corporeal existence during that time. So, whatever her chronological age, it can't be taken as a given that she's physically over a thousand. Now it's true she hasn't visibly aged since her return. But, since the rest of the cast hasn't either, that doesn't prove anything.

Without Luna, you're back to Celestia as your sole example of alicorn longevity. And the logical fallacy you're committing here is a classic one: a) Celestia is long-lived, b) Celestia is an alicorn, c) therefore Celestia is long-lived because she's an alicorn. But that simply doesn't follow. There are a number of plausible explanations for Celestia's longevity aside from her alicornhood: her connection to the elements, her connection to the sun, the fact that she's the only pony to ever wield all six elements simultaneously.

Furthermore, without identifying the specific mechanism of Celestia's longevity, you can't even necessarily conclude that she would be immune to Alzheimer's—much less that any other alicorn should be.

10021383
10021192
The problem is capitalism. Socialism is the answer.

10054290
Maybe when we got some proper automation and AI going. Not going to end well with current systems. Corruption in general is the problem. Capitalism would work just fine if corporations obeyed regulations and practiced sustainability instead of excessive greed, trying to drain all systems from all of their worth with unethical practices which causes their collapse.

Ethical capitalism would be an interesting sight. Employees would also get to benefit from the profits instead of the few people on top getting tens of millions in bonuses while the people at the bottom can barely afford living.

10054310
Right but capitalism naturally trends towards the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Reforms are always washed away overtime. Look at what Teddy Roosevelt put in place. Washed away. Look at what FDR put in place. Washed Away. Look at what Lyndon Johnson (fuck his escalation of Vietnam but) put in place. Washed away. Obama? Washed away, and he turned out to be a neoliberal anyway.

If you have 15 minutes, here's a really good essay about dual power, which as a libertarian socialist I believe offers us our best shot at turning things around. https://dsa-lsc.org/2018/12/31/dual-power-a-strategy-to-build-socialism-in-our-time/

10054335
Things washing away are because of corruption. If people just would stick and obey regulations and didn't hamstring and avoid them you can have a capitalist model that doesn't suck the life out of anything.

And no, no form of socialism is going to work without a state. You want a corruption-free state that makes just laws and regulations that protect everyone and the environment. Without a state you can't just expect everyone to play nice, as the current corruption shows.

10054259 Twilight already blew up. We can make an argument that she's already dead, but was reborn in a new body as Pony Jeebus.

I'm just defaulting with the evidence WE ACTUALLY HAVE, since the canon is so loose with pretty much everything else. Speculation is just that.

Heck, even the characters themselves were taken aback when Flurryheart was born, so even THEY had no idea what the hell was going on! :rainbowlaugh:

We'd need to experiment on an alicorn to be certain of anything... :pinkiecrazy:

10055257
10054259
I hate to stifle the discussion here but I feel like I should let you guys know Twilight is stated as being a unicorn in this story
I don't tend to write her as an alicorn.

10055262 Oh, so she's still just an inferior small horse. *flaps away on his 6 sephiracorn wings* :trollestia:

10055257

Twilight already blew up.

Wow, talk about a non sequitur. We were discussing Celestia and Luna's longevity. Twilight has nothing to do with it. If you think she does, the onus is on you to explain how.

I'm just defaulting with the evidence WE ACTUALLY HAVE,

But you aren't defaulting to the evidence we have now. You're taking the evidence we have, drawing an inference, and then treating that inference as though it were a fact—and demanding that others do the same. I'm not the one speculating here.

10055262
Thanks for pointing that out, I'd overlooked it.

9949052
I assume you are a person who makes comments before even reading stories?

Reminds me of the end to the Mitchell and Webb Look, the final sketch being about how Sherlock Holmes has Alzheimer's and Watson is visiting. Absolutely heartbreaking

Ouch. That hurt. Good work.

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