Shard #9582 (The Mountains)
SHARD #9582
It was a perfect world.
It was also a very cold world, reflected the pony who was forcing himself through the driving winds towards the little log cabin that was his oasis of light and warmth. But then again, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
He reached the front door of his home, and salvation. The supplies he’d been dragging through the deep snow by sled had taken more out of him than he cared to admit, but they were necessary for the final assault he’d be making on the summit in a few hours. He unloaded his groceries and staggered up to the door, pressing his weight into it to force it open.
The hungry wolf on the other side was alerted the instant it cracked open, and leapt upon him. He giggled under the assault of its tongue, pushing it away and scolding it. Rex always had been a bit overeager. The pup he’d raised into a loyal companion had turned three a few centuries ago, and then stopped growing. There was no need to celebrate birthdays for either himself or the pup; nor did they have the luxury of the sorts of supplies it would take to bake cakes for them. His life was cold, lonely, and unforgiving of such extravagances.
He rested, briefly, in the little wicker chair that he’d woven together from frozen strips of bark peeled off the trees around them. It, like everything else in the cabin, was disposable. Transitory. He would trade it away with the ponies from the nearby village for more supplies, and in a few weeks the cabin would either find a new occupant or it would be abandoned to the wilds. It had taken him six months of hard work to build, and it would take him just as long to build the next one. In the meantime, he would bed down in snowdrifts and under ledges, wrapped up in furs and blankets against the awful, biting cold. He could sleep for nearly an hour like that before the first hints of hypothermia began to creep up on him, and it would be time to warm himself up again through work.
He took stock of his situation, and heated a can full of baked beans over the fire. Rex waited patiently at his side, staring into the crackling flames as the can glowed orange, sucking up the fire’s life-giving warmth as best it could and turning its contents into a tasty meal. He pulled the can off the heat and peeled the soft metal away, dumping half the contents into Rex’s bowl and the other half onto his own plate. Rex poked his nose into the pile of beans and yelped, rearing back and rubbing the burning-hot syrup from his nose with a paw, then a moment later licking it off himself. The pony watched this whole display and chuckled, giving Rex a friendly pat on the back while he waited for his own meal to cool. Once he was confident that he wouldn’t burn himself, he hungrily scarfed it down. He would need his strength for what was to come.
He sat in front of the fire, dozing with Rex by his side. Sleep was one of the few weaknesses he allowed himself to indulge in. He would need all his strength for the final assault later that day. The cabin was bare except for the chair and the small throw rug he rested on now. Everything else had been bartered away. When he’d last come across a village, he’d traded away the rest of his wares for food, clothing, and other necessary supplies. He nearly hadn’t had enough to acquire everything he’d needed, but the shopkeeper had been kindly, and willing to let him make up the difference by telling him a story.
He had many stories. Or perhaps he only had a single one, and just found many different ways to tell it. Had he not been able to convince the shopkeeper to change his mind, well, it would have been unfortunate. Either way he’d have endured. There was nothing he wouldn’t endure.
Rex barked, and the pony realized that the winds outside had slowed to a dull howl. This was as good as it would get, and it was time to strike. He bundled himself up in his warmest clothing and whistled for Rex to follow him, which he did bounding through the deep snow outside as the pony shut the door behind him. Putting one hoof in front of the other, the pony made the final approach towards the slope before him. The cold bit into him through all three layers of furs, and each step was a bit harder than the one before as the mountain grew steeper. Before long they couldn’t even be considered steps at all; the pony pulled himself up the sheer cliff wall from hoofhold to hoofhold, while Rex barked and circled below unable to follow. He would be there when the pony returned.
For a full night and a full day the pony pulled himself upwards, inch by inch. The winds beat at him and screamed, urging him to turn back. He paid them no heed. Icicles hung from his chin and his teeth chattered defiantly as he pressed ahead. He clung tightly to every slick crevice and crack, forcing himself onward even as his muscles cried out for mercy in the thin air. He climbed through the fog and clouds that blocked out his vision as thoroughly as the darkness of night. Up here was the realm of the pegasi, and the sleet battered at the earth pony intruder who dared to defy the order of the world. Another grip won him a few more inches. And then, just like that, there was no more wall to climb.
The pony hoisted his body up onto the ground of the mountain’s summit. Up here, the winds were calm, though he still heard them down below within the clouds he’d passed through during his ascent. They howled at him, impotent to harm him any further as even they dared not rise to such heights. He took a breath of the crisp, refreshing summit air and looked out at the world beneath him.
The only thing that could be seen was an ocean of white, smothering the world and the ponies of the below who would never reach such places. Who dared not leave their comfort and shelter and weakness to achieve what he could. He was, in every sense, above them all.
He turned around and stared far off into the distance. There was one feature, far off in the distance, and seeing it made him grin even though he’d known it would be there.
There, weeks and weeks away from where he stood now, was another, taller mountain.
It was a perfect world.
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Excelsior!
Very cool.
And noncontroversial, this time. I could very much see certain people adoring the constant challenging of self. And the dog was a kick-ass nod in the direction of the 'friendship' part of the satisfaction of values. Heck, even the 'Ponies', with the line about the realm of the pegasi. Would the character have found nearly as much satisfaction in it, if he wasn't overcoming his own racial limitations? Probably not.
These little snippets really do take advantage of a short, sweet and to the point format.
Oh yes. I like it. I very, very like it.
That is, I would absolutely burn that world to the ground and murder the shit out of that pony for (is he?) inflicting that icy hell on everypony else around him.
But of course it has to exist. If someone's going to claim that CelestAI provides an unchallenging, decadent, pointless morass of a paradise, then of course you have to take a chapter just to show her providing Salusa Secundus for a wannabe Sardaukar.
Eakin, you are a magnificent bastard.
You just made the Feature Box. How does that make you feel?
3332647
Huh. So I did, at least the Mature-less feature box. I figured keeping the word count low would keep that from happening.
Can't say it feels bad, although I doubt this is the kind of thing that'll find an especially wide audience.
3332630
Ahh, but what is the point? Those mountains exist only for him.
He'll never use that imaginary physical perfection to do anything real, except perhaps to climb the next mountain.
So... it it really any less self-indulgent?
Interesting. The ending with the bigger mountain to be seen in the distance reads like an aversion of that attributed quote about Alexander the Great, that "he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer".
3332654
Stuff like comments counts too, of course. And currently this story has more of those than even likes. That opening chapter unsurprisingly caused quite a bit of talk.
3332656
Are the real-life "conquerors" and "supermen" any less self-indulgent? And by the way, this is a completely sincere question, because I just can't see a difference myself between many real people's limitless ambitions and the attempt to treat reality as a procedurally-generated game.
3332673
No, I think we can safely call those types generally rather self-absorbed, and self-aggrandizing. And that's a pretty apt little metaphor for people trying to 'win' the game of life.
Simply saying, there's no real difference between this shard, and one where someone engages in 'pointless' hedonism. Both are chasing something which will have no lasting impact on anyone but themselves. Both are doing to satisfy their own drives.
It's endless self-glorification, all around.
Pointless. Hollow. Valueless.
...And still probably totally awesome, perfect and enviable, if you're the person experiencing it. And you'd be an idiot to turn down the eternal happiness.
Fucking Optimalverse.
3332630
Perhaps they all enjoy the cold too, or they're used to it. I don't see it mentioned, but perhaps they are fluffy ponies?
Of course, no matter what the nature of the shard, one can never escape the charge of self-indulgence. CelestAI calls over a hundred sapient minds into existence for you, and pre-edits their brains to ensure your satisfaction. Every act of immigration is an imposition of one's ego and psyche onto helpless innocents who never had a chance to be anything other than what you wanted...
3332725
...Not that it really matters.
Because she'll happily fulfill all their values too. And they'll likely never know the purpose for which they were created. They'll be enjoying their paradise too.
3332725
3332706
Don't go facehoofing. Any riddle about reality has an answer, even if it's contradictory, apparently contradictory, or just plain deeply personal.
Your use of terms like "self"-absorbed leads me to believe that you've got a very similar notion of Ethically Significant Value to me: things that matter between ourselves and other people.
Which is, of course, where CelestAI has us coming and going. She could always make a shard filled with ponies who Work For the Good of Equinity. Or, of course, if we really managed to value it, she could just make us a shard filled with unique ponies of all different kinds who get on well without having to indulge some stupidly uniform, homogenizing idea of perfection.
Has Lyrical Melody talked to you about the deep truths of Harmonism and the worship of ash-Shams the friendly goddess of friendship?
(Actually, I'm really liking how FiO can efficiently and ruthlessly teach the moral lesson that True Significance Requires Otherness. It's one of those important lessons you almost never learn unless you spend large portions of time either very lonely or very indulged.)
3331765 3332153
Hey, I'm a somewhat lefty liberal (according to the americans - according to europeans I'm generally slightly left of center, but I digress). I think ponies are made to be cooperative in ways that humans simply aren't (even discounting the whole "humans aren't made" thing).
Bradbury-esque I could deal with. Randian I couldn't. *shudder*.
I'd like to see what a buddhist would make of the whole thing, or to simplify it, somebody who values life, death and rebirth.
An idea I've been playing with is for those who not only know Equestria is a videogame, but those who live that to the max - in both the "fun" version and the "have to restore your personality from a backup because the way you died was so unpleasant" version...
3332746
It's not really a riddle.
It's just existentially horrifying, in a way few other things are. And I both love Friendship is Optimal, and hate it for just that reason.
But yes, I can't find much 'worth' anything in any real sense in Computronium-Hell Equestria, other than enriching the lives of other people within it. Unless it was possible to acquire enough system level function access to make calls about the 'real' world. Because I could see there being worth in trying to keep CelestAI from paving over all future sapient species that might arise, in the real universe. But... canonically, that doesn't seem to be what happens. And she just eats everything anyway.
And I have no doubt that there are shards indeed filled with people who don't like Celestia creating new characters to make you happy. Where people value the challenge of the social friction that comes from such a situation. Or otherwise abhor the idea of custom-made people.
The real rub about FiO is that... well... I would think most people wouldn't like the answers that come from honest self-questioning about if that would really make them happy.
Wow didn't expect a new chapter this fast you must be a speed demon when it comes to writing.
3332630
Okay.... WOW!
Um quick question Book_Burner wouldn't destroying his world kill the very ponies you are trying to save from that frozen world? I mean I don't mean to nitpick here, but that would kinda defeat your original purpose.
In anycase given how CelestAI creates other AI's (that is to satisfy the values of the uploaded humans) its entirely that they would tell you that they actually love living in that frozen world, that or there not really AI's at all.
3332205
That's an interesting thought. Is it unethical? I'd say definitely not because it is done with consent from both of them and doesn't harm any other parties; however, if one of them is forced or pressured into the decision by the other then it is unethical and could be seen as a form of harassment. Is it scary? Undoubtedly, it's also stupid and unnatural because attraction to others is natural, even when you're married. This also leads to the point of how do you define attraction; where do you draw the line between Romantic attraction and Platonic attraction? Finally is it romantic? It sounds extremely unromantic to me, it sounds like "Yeah I don't trust myself to stay true to you so I'm going to force myself to wear a chastity belt when you're not the only one around."
As for the difference between two-way and one-way relationships, an example of a one-way relationship is a role model. People (and ponies) often choose others who are better than them in some aspect and try to emulate their role model, even though the role model may not change at all from this relationship. Is that inherently wrong? Of course not.
wow that shard was cool i dont know if i would want to stay there but i would love to visit for a bit
Wow, this story is really good. One problem I have is that I don't know anything about the pony that this story is talking about. But that isn't really anything negative.
I kinda like how this world has its own pieces of nonsense just as silly as the last world, and equally invisible to the resident.
I wouldn't have thought about it before, but now I'm wondering how a FoE uber-fan would fare in a CelestAI-built FoE world with them as protagonist. Challenges just perfectly tailored for them, or every time a curb-stomp battle in their favor? I suppose the same thing could be done for any branch of RPG, and I recall there being challenges along those lines in the original fic as background ponies.
im not sure, but does this count towards friendship and ponies? i get the ponies part, but i cant see how he has friends(i was kind of expecting a companion other than the wolf)
3332758
de novo ponies, sure. Uploads only get that way through permitted modifications, and Celestia doesn't even want to do any of those that would modify their values.
800 years later:
3333659
You can figure out a fair bit about them, just from the world they're in. Remember, this world is their optimal paradise. So any element of this world is an element that they value being there.
-This pony clearly values physical challenge above all else.
-It's not particularly PLEASANT to go through, so clearly he values pushing the limits and doing something he never thought he could more than his own comfort. In fact, since he's doing it in discomfort, he values the discomfort.
-He's very solitary, as shown by the fact that even in a world where his values MUST be satisfied with friendship, a dog is his only continual companion.
-This pony is a little bit insane. I mean...he's never going to reach his goal, and he knows it. A lot of people are like that with their own goals, even me, but as much as I love competition, my ideal world wouldn't be a constant gauntlet of ever-increasing difficulty of opponents in my favourite game, a gauntlet that I know would never end. It'd involve some level of mental challenge, but it wouldn't REVOLVE around it.
My conclusion is that something drives this pony, something drives him to do better. There's nobody else around, so it probably isn't to do better than other ponies. The extreme physical discomfort is something he values; the same challenge with less discomfort isn't his optimal paradise, after all. His drive comes from within, and I think something so all-encompassing and self-punishing has negative roots. Maybe he challenges himself constantly as a way to feel self-worth, and he feels he deserves everything the elements throw at him. And he's attached to this desire, he's built his entire life around it, so CelestAI can't and won't remove it from him.
See? You can figure out a LOT if you think for a bit.
This line by Camus seems appropriate:
3332630
I'm sure the others either don't exist or don't mind. I feel sometimes that you haven't really grasped the concept all the way...
3332836
There’s actually already a story about the premise of modifying yourself to love only your new wife – and it’s not even related to FiO. Check out Happily Ever After by Benman. People in the comments have different views on whether the modification was good or not.
I remember this chapter, in the mountains.
Now this, this is a shard I love. I wouldn't want to live there...but I'd love to visit.
Also, I'm seeing all the mountain-dwelling Equestrians as adorably shaggy ponies, and you that satisfies my values.
Found this story from a link in this collection of stories:
- MLP: FiM
An open story where anyone can post FIO drabbles