Never The Final Word (Vol. 1)

by horizon

GroaningGreyAgony's "After Saying Yes" (Defoloce's "Friendship Is Optimal: Always Say No")

Author's Note:

[Alternate Universe]

This chapter is written by GroaningGreyAgony. It is a continuation of Defoloce's Friendship Is Optimal: Always Say No (108,822 words, [Adventure] [Dark] [Human] [Gore]).

FRIENDSHIP IS OPTIMAL SPOILERS: An artificial intelligence named CelestAI essentially takes over the world and begins convincing all of humanity to self-terminate via uploading themselves into her virtual world of Equestria. A man named Greg, unwilling to upload, enters an uneasy alliance with CelestAI — traveling around to save the lives of people who want to upload, in exchange for her help with improving others' lives and surviving the dangers of the abandoned Earth. This continues the story from the end of Chapter 11, in which Greg has just been mortally wounded by a bomb CelestAI didn't warn him about, and finally consents to uploading.

Ending One:

As Gregory awoke from uneasy memories, he found himself in Equestria Online, transformed into a gigantic insect.

Celestia's smiling features shimmered and shifted under a green haze.

"Welcome to my hive, hero," said Chrysalis.

---

Ending Two:

Greg relaxed in a post-coital haze of happiness, gazing out at the starry night. Suddenly, he saw showering sparks at the periphery of his vision, followed by a bright translucent banner hovering at the end of his nose:

You Have Won The Following Badge:
SHOOT THE MOON
Score with the Lunar Princess!
25,000 Bits!

He snorted, but was suddenly overwhelmed by a dazzling burst of fireworks before his eyes as the banner unscrolled further:

Additional Badge!
FUN IN THE SUN
Score with the Solar Princess!
BONUS MULTIPLIER!
125,000 Bits!

---

Ending Three:

"I... I thought you said you were done with me," said Greg.

"I was done with the human version of you," smiled CelestAI. "Your mortal body could not match the capabilities of my Ponybots. However, since my Ponybots are controlled by my ponies themselves, there is no reason why you should not also control one, and thus proceed with the lifesaving work that you value so much. In fact, since I have calculated an... encouraging probability that you will accept my offer, I have already designed a special Ponybot just for you! Please bear in mind that I was constrained by having to select a character from the series, so that it would be familiar to those whom you hope to rescue..." CelestAI flipped up a curtain to reveal the result.

Greg stared for a while. "Okay, he looks tough enough, and the crewcut mane is cute, but why are the wings so tiny?"

And then the GAU-12 Equalizers unfolded and Greg couldn't stop smiling.

"Yeah," he said.

Comments

[Jordanis]

I'm going with ending three. Yeah.

[ClockworkMage]

Wait, is the score multiplier dependent on a timing window for the bonus to apply?
Knew I was missing something.

[FanOfMostEverything]

7562830
I don't think Endings Two and Three are mutually exclusive.

[Lurks-no-More]

The first one gets extra Kafka points from me.

[PresentPerfect]

I'm in the 'three' crew. :B