III

I sent my love
to my sweetheart in
a little brown box
the next morning I
recived a little package
my box marked
"return to sender"

How sad.

-Ink M. Blot

Perhaps the most distressing concept brought about by this is tragedy6.

Tragedy, by definition is "an event [or events] causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe." Of course, we may skim off the obvious from this entire series of events and leave with that. That is an entirely predictable and valid course of action. Even persons with an uncountable stake in this may simply like to leave well enough alone, or rather, "be content that we have our answers, and not ask any more questions."7

However, to those of us with a pervasive, curious nature, and perhaps those of us with a rather untamable thirst for answers, may find this to barely be a drop in the bucket compared to what this all really tells us as a whole. Yes, the logs of the late Princess Twilight Sparkle are of course filled our aforementioned definition of tragedy, but further dissemination may lead to grander findings.

Tragedy is four-dimensional. It takes up physical space that we can measure using finely-tuned instruments and strict units, but it also takes up a sense of Time. This is where we derive our meanings that go beyond the confines the physical and classical sciences can even hope to comprehend. Space8 gives us the where, the who, the what, and quite possibly the why. Time, on the other hand, gives us the infinitely more important when. Not just the when of the tragedy, but the whens of before and after. This has, of course been turned over and over by countless others, with even Time Turner chiming in with "let us not forget the whens of the whats, [...] these precious little moments are when we get a glimpse of us at our rawest, most vulnerable."9

Obviously, Time is of great importance to these events, as Twilight's logs show us at their fullest extent, our perceptions and assumptions of Time can often be morbidly wrong. However, all of us at Times neglect what Time really means. To put it bluntly, Time is where we can derive the figurative segment of Tragedy. Everything that physics, chemistry, mathematics, genetics, topology, acoustics, memetics, and everything in between can't tell us, our innate metaphysical presence in this universe helps uncover.

Memory.

This is the crux of our perception of Time. Just as a freight train may roar past us faster than we can think, Time continues to churn through us at even our most oblivious. And yet, we still have this ability to "pull the moments we find important from this roaring stream, placing them into a setting more fitting, and keeping them tightly kept in place, always to look back on."10 Perhaps we have control over what we remember, perhaps we don't. Maybe still, we merely 'steer the boat' and we really pull what we like, but no control over the specifics.

An unknown ancient poet likewise stated very eloquently his thoughts on Memory:

Had I all the Time in the world
Then I would oft lose part of myself
Every second
Every minute
Every Eon
Eventually lost for I could not count them
My mind is only large enough for one lifeTime
Forsooth, I see only one outcome for the infinitely experienced.
Loss of everything they thought they could hold dear
As Time goes on, we gain, we lose, but we always hold onto
Enough Time, though
Everything is lost
Everything stays
Nothing stays
And I am left with embers to cradle, but no ashes to remember them by

Regardless, the logs would cease to function appropriately without memory. Twilight's main motivations for writing is even stated as "so I don't forget why I'm doing this... for them..."11 These motivations end horribly disfigured by year 2, but even the memory of these motivations seemingly surface ominously: "I know. I know why, I just don't care anymore. I can't care... it's too hard anymore." Memory seems to be the last thing that may hold Twilight to her sanity as she enters year 3.

What even really is Memory to us? Psychologist Dr. Dream Searcher ventures a guess.

"Memory is a razor-thin cord, it holds the mind to the past, which in turn, allows a grip on the present. After all, how can we truly know about now without knowing what gave rise to it?"12

So it seems Memory is our way of designing a framework for which we may understand and observe Time itself. Or perhaps, as some put it, quite the opposite.

"Memory it what keeps us from having to truly face Time. It protects us from the untempered schism that forcibly divides the past and future. It squeezes us into a single point at the center, and allows us to coexist with Time, without having to truly explain it. As we evolved, our perceptions sharpened to potentially dangerous extents. Time is vast, complicated, and worst of all, unpredicated on us at the center of our world. We, with our egocentric societies, as peaceful as we can be, still, at the best of Times, care about ourselves. An over-powerful force that exacts its toll without even a second glance at our whims, would scare us to death (which, in it of itself, is one of Time's responsibilities). Memory helps dilute our perspective, and change Time from this omnipresent dynamism to a clock with a crudely drawn face that explains seconds and minutes to foals."13

Even if we cannot agree, we must concede that Memory and Time are intrinsically linked in some way, evidenced not just by Twilight's logs, but by history itself. Or perhaps, the lack thereof.

Considered fringe science by most, and "conspiracy" by those less inclined to formal debate, Last Thursdayism regardless can give us an interesting perspective on Memory.

"Last Thursdayism is a philosophy in which proponents claim that the entire universe, us, the gods, the stars, everything, were not created billions of years ago, or even thousands. They claim that everything was brought into its current state, all at once, last Thursday. Everything we've done, everything we've written, everything we've said, eaten, built, destroyed, laughed at, cried with, all of it, if occurring before last Thursday, is false. Fake recalling that were brought into being just as much as anything else. Everything we remember is an illusion, and the universe has been around for at most, a single week."14

Supporters like to say that since technically we can't disprove any of it (as any evidence could simply be a manifestation of said sudden appearance), is must be true, or at least have some validity. Ignoring the obvious Ad Ignorantum and taking everything with a grain of salt, we can use this as a lens to tactfully examine Memory as a whole.

What if Twilight's plight really did never happen? What if she never existed, and we woke up one day, fresh as the universe, and the first thing our new little society discovered organically was Tragedy? Not fire, not the steam engine, not math or science, nor language or even the moon. Where would this truly put our society as a whole? Our first real Memory of the death of somepony who we didn't even see with our own eyes? Of an entire false tragic accident? Of somepony who never truly existed?

Now this, is a positively terrifying thought...15

Footnotes:
6Ironically, this chapter goes little into the tragedy in specifics. This topic is more carefully considered in Chapter V
7Rarity, in her article "How Little We Know" in The Daily Hoof, v. 132, 1005, p. 7-8
8A subject more thoughtfully examined in Chapter IX
9Time Turner, M.Sc., On Time, and Loneliness (Ponyville: Ponyville Publication, 1002), p. 215
10Stacked Deck, Marshmallows at the Thanksgiving Dinner Table (Manehatten: Random House, 1001), p. 46
11Stated in the 4th log publicly released
12Dream Searcher, Ph.D., "Memory Lane" in Psychologist's Digest, v. 32, 1002, p. 17-18
13Mr. Minute, Thank You For Wasting My Time (Fillydelphia: The Invisible Pen, 1001), p. 396
14International Encyclopedia of Philosophies (Manehatten: McColt, 997), p.762
15See The Art of Being Afraid (Manehatten: McColt, 1003) and the subsequent I Don't Want To Die Anymore (Manehatten: McColt, 1004) for more information. Both written under the pen-name "R."

Author's Note

-DATA CORRUPTED-

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