Desiderata
“You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars…
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
It is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”
There was no organized religion in Equestria.
The Princesses, Celestia and Luna, were known to be immortal, as timeless as the rising and falling as the cycles of the sun and moon themselves, forever continuing their carousel until the end of Equestria and Earth. Once the continent and the planet itself had passed away, the Royal Sisters would continue, ruling over whatever next life-forms plucked themselves from the oceans and discovered speech.
No faith was required to believe in the Princesses; they were as immanent and transcendent as the sea and the stars.
However, though the two sisters were undoubtedly either the most powerful magic users in all of existence or the most knowledgeable about the subject, with powers both great and terrible, their reign ended at the last breath of their constituents.
Philosophers, sorcerers, magicians, musicians, and writers all speculated on the possibility of the afterlife, giving it all sorts of names and attributes. These mystics, in their desire to see justice wrought in the hereafter, claimed that the heart and soul were the most important possessions of all. Not bits, not homes, not gems or fancy clothes or wide enterprises.
One’s actions in life would determine one’s fate in death. The innocents and those who had performed enough good deeds to outweigh their trespasses would visit a place of hope, wonder, happiness and freedom from all fear and pain—Paradise, Eternity, Heaven. Those who had sinned against Life and Love themselves, harming and sabotaging others, would find themselves in a prison of their own creation—the Underworld, Hades, Hay, Hell.
Other ponies believed in reincarnation, seeing life as an endless wheel, with each lifetime merely a hop to another spoke, circling again and again and again. The wheel, they reasoned, spun through the entire cycle of life, death, birth and rebirth, forever and ever, matter and energy constantly obeying their First Law of Conservation in all forms, including the soul and consciousness.
Still others did not know, or believed that life after death was the same as life before birth: nothingness. No pain but no joy. No punishment but no redemption. Peaceful in its ultimate end of all aches, pains, needs and burdens. It was not to be feared, but it was not to be embraced.
Mother Galaxia, also called by the androgynous name The Most High, however, was a different story. The Most High—the cosmos, Gaia, the Universe, the All, the Ground of Being, the Source From Which All Things Flow—reigned over all realms, dimensions, universes and realities. It was the ultimate seed, the true roots, with branches reaching and touching and caressing every being that ever rose out of the primordial soup and became life.
There were no priests of Galaxia, no preachers waving leathery tomes of her supposed words, no followers passing out flyers and organizing potlucks. There was just mystery, and mysticism, and faith among the faithful, the hopeful, those who sought to know love and unity with The All around them—those who wished to lose themselves in meaning and meaninglessness.
Life. Life had meaning, or at least, that’s what ponies told themselves, from the darkest streets of Manehatten to the highest heights of Canterlot. Whether that meaning was money, fame, fortune, sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, friendship, magic, faith, doubt, skepticism, science, or just plain ol’ living, nopony knew.
Nopony knew life, and nopony knew death.
Babs Seed was just a foal, and she had learnt very little about the realities of life and death. The few instances when Fate had crossed her path carrying those difficult lessons, she had been shielded away. The death of her aunt was the prime example, but there were several others, instances during which she asked questions too deep and too haunting.
Babs Seed was just a filly, and she knew little to nothing about the afterlife. She believed in the afterlife because it provided her with hope, to know that, in spite of everything that had happened to her or she feared would happen to her, there was a beautiful place waiting for her somewhere, a place she could truly call home.
Babs Seed was just a pony, just a small, orange, freckled, red-and-pink-maned Earth pony with a colt’s manecut and a bobtail, caught up in a tangled web of lies, secrets, betrayals and prejudices that predated her very conception. She was not a perfect being—but who could claim to be?—and she had trampled promises, hearts, and good judgment under her hooves more than once.
Babs Seed was just a seedling, not yet a tall, proud plant or even a fledgling sapling, desperately searching for a safe place to root within the Earth. She was not welcome in her own city, in her own home, or, by some measure, in her own world. She was a wild card, a wrench in the system, a ghost in the machine, a black sheep, a bad apple.
She knew not what she was destined to be, whether she’d become a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, a bartender, a business-pony, a magician, a musician, a writer, a guards-pony, an officer of the law, a soldier of the Royal Guard, or a sweeper of the street.
She knew not if she was a good friend, a good daughter, a good sister, a good leader, a good cousin. She knew not if she was in romantic love, and if she was, if she was doing that right, or if she was doing it horribly, horribly wrong, and if it would stay this way, or it was just a phase, or just a crush, or just her mind playing tricks on her.
She knew not if her savior would be proud of her, or her parents, or her sibling, or any of the Crusaders in either of the cities that had wrapped their hooves around her.
She knew not if she would ever become a mother, or if she wanted to, or how she would if she did, or if she could even do so, or if her genes were destined to end within her, or if she would head a great lineage.
Babs Seed did not know whether she would live, or die.
All she knew was that, in the deep, dark crevices of her heart and soul, she was not the same foal on the cobblestones anymore.
All she knew was that she was no longer afraid to find out how the dice fell or the cards turned.
All she knew was that she had changed, forever.
All she knew was that, whoever she was, she was loved.
All she knew was that, whoever she was, she was brave.
~
Babs Seed leapt in front of the knife.
1821616
Yup, she sure can be.
1822223
Well, everypony, two chapters at once.
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....And it turns out her special talent is getting stabbed...
But seriously, this shit is really gettin' somewhere. I just hope the adults decide to stop shouting at each other and realize Babs and Bloom are outside.
I was hoping for a battle scene
, not a short, sad chapter. Babs, you'ze better survive dis...
1822729
Now, that would be an awful twist.
1822740
I hope she does too.
1822754
Youze. Stop bein' so amazin'.
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I still think Babs is gonna wake up hungover and married to Turner.
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1822779
Today is a bit of a fluke; one of my days off, so I was able to publish much sooner than usual. Next chapter should be published tomorrow evening around the same (late) time it normally is.
1822814
You just keep being awesome, Wayword. Have some more mustaches.
1822839
Woot woot!
oh mah gawd
OH MAH GAWD
OH MAH GAWD
OH MAH GAWD!
OH MAH GAWD!
OH MAH GAWD!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THE EXCITEMENT!!!
oh come on that is no fair its like two cliff hangers in a row off of one scene
1822906
Don't worry, the next chapter will be posted tomorrow.
You are right, though. That is a HUGE cliffhanger.
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1822942
You're welcome. I update every day, so Chapter 21 will be out tomorrow evening.
1822906 I'm with you...
Bad... I just thanked you in the last chapter for leaving us on that cliffhanger... then... THIS... Marry me?
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I...I just don't know what to say...this is all so sudden, I...
Oh, of course I'll marry you, you handsome stallion!
Lawl.
1822984 lol
Besides, it would never work out. Why the age difference alone, then think of the scandal of a member of the Orange family marrying a lowly maple farm owner and operator. We'd never be able to live our lives in piece darling... and what of poor Apple Bloom?
1823003
Oh, how could I forget Apple Bloom? Oh, that's right, I'm pissed off at her right now.
1823012
Carry on my dear wifey poo
So let me get theis straight.
2 cliffhangers
A cliffhanger at the CLIMAX.
And we need to wait for TOMMORROW?!?!
If I freakin die tomorrow afternoon or something before you post the next chapter, your ass is gonna be haunted you hear?! If I die, I'll make sure your day is absolute HELL.
1823021
Bwhaha. Somehow, you saying "wife" reminded me of Babs Seed drinking that cup with the eyes and mouth. "NOOOOOOOOOOO! I have a wife and cups, millions of cups!"
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I'll...I'll post it, sir! I promise! I PROMISE!!!
Beautiful annnnnd that much further over the edge. Brilliant you bloody bastard . What gets me however, is no matter how quick this is rising we STILL have Madhoof in play. This indeed will be geeeewd.
1823052
Thanks Drizzle!
Yup, we'll have to see what becomes of Madhoof and Slinga...
1823148
Or Mare-Do-Well, LOL.
Larger Seagull, I was replying to you but... Comment deleted!
THIS. IS GOING. TO. BE. AWESOME!!! Still expecting Mare-do-well to save the day. Or Turner. What ever happened to him?
1823202
YUP!
1823231
We'll be seeing more of him. When? I cannot tell you that yet.
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Two things:
1. not a big deal but You missused y'all
2. The last time I had suspense like this I was still a very new member to fimfiction
1823334
Dang, I thought I had that down pat. Thanks for reminding me! I'll have to be aware of that for any future AJ dialogue.
And I'm very glad to hear that, thank you for the compliment.
1823332
Pinkie agrees.
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1823395 Your welcome, and for not going on a rant about the use of y'all, some writers are just so
1823415
Oh, I know what you mean.
1823420 Whelp anyway keep up the good work. Have a Scootaloo
No...
No!
NO~!
HOLY FLAMING TITS OF CELESTIA!
Why you would you do that!
Just leaving it at a cliffhanger, the climax of Bab's character development, her shining moment...GAHHHH!
Nice job by the way. Can't wait for more
1823434
I know what you mean. These two chapters gave me feels as I wrote them.
1823430
Thanks! Right back at ya!
1823453
But then you won't know how it ends!
1823603
Thanks! I hope I don't disappoint.
HOLY. SHIT.
1822660 Wow i was hoping for the whole fight scene to be played out in this chapter, but instead i get a well worded chapter on something (not quite sure what, but is was really well written nonetheless.) and the most intense cliffhanger i have ever witnessed . Well played
I wouldn't say I saw it coming, but I was expecting an outcome involving self sacrifice. Well Babs, if you survive this I suspect you will have found your cutie mark. My guess? A shield perhaps. Something involving protecting others.
Before reading this I was considering writing a Babs Seed fic, now I'm going to write a Bab's Seed fic. Congrats on a great fic with some real interesting prose. Have you been writing a new chapter every day, or did you have it mostly/all finished before you started posting?
1823808
Indeed.
1823940
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.
1823976
Thanks very much for the compliment! I'm happy that I have inspired you to write a story about the best foal and best Crusader. In answer to your question, I wrote the first four chapters before I published the story, and then have been writing about one/two chapters each day.
1824057
Dude.... what? That's like ten thousand words a day some days. I mean.... crap. Way to make me feel like I'm slacking off. I thought managing three chapters a week on one of my stories was impressive. Now it just feels... How do you even get the time to write all that? There's no way in hell I could manage five thousand words a day, let alone ten thousand. Most days I struggle to write two thousand. I mean... do you sleep? Is that the secret?
Yes that has to be it. If I replace all time spent sleeping with drinking caffeine I'd be able to match your pace. If you'l excuse me, I have a crate of red-bull to steal.
1824095
Well...I work full-time, but I work with computers all day, type 70 WPM. That's part of it. I have about seven to eight hours from the time I get home from work to the time I go to bed. I spend maybe two hours or so doing chores and errands, and the rest of the time is free time for Interwebs, vidya games, etc. And I've just been filling the time with this story...it just...I dunno. I dunno, I guess I'm just feeling inspired, so that's why it feels so freely.
My advice for you would be to up your typing speed if possible, and keep brainstorming! Having the ideas in your head or at least the general flow before you go to the notepad/laptop really helps! Good luck with your story!
no, nno no no non no no no no NO!
Dont die on us Babs! ohhhhhhhhhh....you sir are evil for leaving us at this point
1824113
Up my typing speed? I suppose there's plenty of free programs I can download to teach myself that. Usually I plan my stories quite thoroughly before I write them, so once I get started I can usually get writing fairly quickly.
At the moment I'm working on two large multi chapter fics, but when those are done I'll start another two and one of those will be the Babs Seed story.
1824137
I'm sorry, I'm just a...bad seed.
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I used one of those "learn to type" programs. Mavis Beacon or something like that, wayyy back when. Been a computer nerd for far too long, heh. I wish you the best of luck on your stories...I'm sure you'll do just great! And feel free to link me to the Babs Seed story...can't pass up something with best foal.
just a few things one i love your writing and damn that clifhanger was good. im an aspiring writer and was wondering if you were a profesinal writer or something like that and if you have any tips? also i was wondering how long have you been writing?
1824206
Hi there smackajaweea, thank you for the compliments! I'm glad you are enjoying the story!
I actually do a fair amount of writing in my line of work, but it is far more technical; think of things like reports and emails in a corporate environment. I have been writing for about eight years now, for both personal and academic reasons.
Tips-wise, here are my suggestions:
1) Read. Read all kinds of material, whatever interests you, whether you like crime novels, romance novels, gossip columns, sports articles or fanfiction. The easiest way to learn to write better is to read things that are written in a style you enjoy.
2) Spelling and grammar. Microsoft Word/Open Office are your friend. Practice makes perfect, so learn and practice proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation as much as you can.
3) Start small. If all you can think of to write is a poem or haiku, write that. If all you can think of is a blog post or a list of your top ten favorite MLP episodes or something (and why), write that. Every mountain was a molehill once.
4) Don't give up, and don't believe in limits. There are no limits to what is marketable. If you have an idea, someone else is bound to find it interesting.If you have an idea and want to write it down, even if you think it's silly, write it down anyway. You never know what could come of it.
Hope this helps and good luck!
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That could be a year for a month from now. Just saying, don't hold your breath.
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That's OK! You can just link it on my user page or whatnot whenever it's written. I don't plan on leaving this site for a loooooong while.