Decisions
“Before your wife stepped in, you attempted to injure us,” said Hope. “How can we trust you with one of our choicest planets?”
Accord looked at Hope, his eyes filling with shame. “I am truly sorry,” he said, hanging his head. “I was not prepared to have everything I love taken away from me, and I acted without thinking things through.”
“A being as old as you are not thinking things through? We find that hard to believe,” said Hope.
“I admit that what I did was wrong, I am sorry.”
“You have a long history of making terrible mistakes, Accord, or should we refer to you as Discord?”
“I am that confused being no longer,” said Accord, looking up and into their eyes.
“If you would lash out at us, how will you handle a billion souls making incorrect choices and being unable to do a thing about it? Will you force them to follow your path? Will you be angry when they make terrible decisions? Will you lash out at them like you did at us?”
“I’m willing to make a promise that I won’t.”
“Promises are no good, what you are effectively asking is to be a King over Equestria, trying out a configuration we can only hope will work, for your sakes. Your promises are worthless, Accord.”
“I have two promises I will never, ever, break. One is that I will never choose to die, and the other,” he said, glancing at his wife, “is to be Fluttershy’s husband. You’ve seen how strong I am about living forever. You must know that I can keep my promises if I give my strongest word. I will not lash out against the souls here, no matter the decisions they make. I may scold them or punish them, but I won’t do any an injustice.”
“We can’t trust anything we can’t read the entire history of. Accord, please, take a memory cover, do what you can to transfer your memories over, when the transfer is complete we can read you and completely trust you.”
“You do not understand the duration of time that would require. My memory cover alone would occupy over two hundred billion universes.”
“Space is infinite, and so is time, and we don’t see how we can trust you without it.”
“May I cut in?” asked Fluttershy politely.
The two alicorns stopped as they both turned to face her.
“I have a memory cover...” she began, slowly. “I don’t have all of Accord’s memories, but I have all of the ones he’s shared with me so far, and he hasn’t held back on the sad memories, or things he’s messed up. I think it’s a very good sample size of him, so maybe you could trust him if you looked at him through my eyes.”
Accord’s face grew red, a million different embarrassing and terrifying things he wouldn’t share with anyone else besides Fluttershy popping up in his mind and making him uncomfortable.
His embarrassment vanished when he saw the calm look on Fluttershy’s face. She loved him despite all of his flaws and his fears, and they grew in strength together almost because of them. Hope had monitored and analyzed a perceptively infinite amount of souls, and isn’t this what he had done to Celestia and Luna?
“Fluttershy, if that’s okay with you, then it’s okay with me,” said Accord.
Hope looked at Fluttershy, she gave a small nod, and Hope’s mane reached for her, enveloping the top of her head and absorbing the memories.
Time stopped for the collective of souls in those moments where they parsed, analyzed, and pondered on the new information from Fluttershy’s memories. There was new information here. There were ideas here that would not have even been thought of under any configuration they could have possibly created. There was something foreign and exciting in all the information, truly new thoughts contained in the memories: the truth in the randomness, the strength of relationships, and the wisdom of age even they couldn’t match.
The collective gave a shudder and Hope’s mane released from Fluttershy. Hope looked at Accord with doleful eyes before giving a small smile. “This is a nice sample size of your soul, Accord. There are beautiful and terrible things in you.”
Hope faced Fluttershy, “And you, Fluttershy, thank you for being willing, you are a strong and kind soul.”
“Does this mean everyone can be immortal?” asked Fluttershy.
“We have the tendency to love things that we understand, and we understand you, Fluttershy, just as you understand your husband. Thus, we understand his desires.”
“Galaxia? Cosmos?” Hope asked them, “we have deemed them worthy of making an attempt at immortality on one of your worlds. Do they have your permission as well?”
Cosmos shrugged before nodding.
“This world means a lot to me, I would like to be involved in the process,” said Galaxia.
“And we would love the help,” said Fluttershy.
“You have our permission. Now, what’s your plan, Accord?” asked Hope, standing above the shield protecting Equestria, observing the planet below.
“Just watch,” said Accord as he shattered the shield spell, turned translucent, and dove to the planet below, Fluttershy hanging onto him.
Hope, Galaxia, and Cosmos followed after them as he landed in a vast plain, his horn glowing.
“Accord, wait!” said Galaxia, landing next to them.
He stopped and looked at her.
“I helped make this planet and the magic system that runs it. As much as I trust your spellwork, I would prefer to help you do this. You don’t need to do this alone.”
Accord looked at her, the magic in his horn dissipating, a soft breeze from the meadow coming over them.
“You’re right, I never have to be alone again,” he smiled, watching as she made her own horn glow with amber light, the entire planet slowly being encased in the glow.
“Now, what is it you would like to have done?” asked Galaxia, her eyes glowing white.
“Put everyone on this planet under the same immortality spell as Luna and Celestia.”
“When you say everyone, be specific.”
“Every pony, camel, griffon, dragon, cow, bison, donkey, diamond dog, changeling, minotaur, and any other sapient creature that has a soul guiding them. Make them all immortal. We’ll be casting another spell afterwards to slowly turn back their ages, making them younger.”
“How long do you want to give them until they reach their ideal age?”
“Give it one year,” said Accord.
“What about the plants and animals?”
Accord hesitated, trying to find a book that had discussed this before in the back of his mind.
“Make the animals immortal?” said Fluttershy, looking at her husband, trying to figure out what would be ideal.
“Make the animals immortal, but not the plants,” Accord confirmed.
“What do you want the predators to eat?”
“Umm...” He was making too many changes too quickly: griffons and other predators needed to be able to eat. What kind of life would it be to not have the freedom to eat what they wanted? He wanted to give them all choice, but he was being stopped in his tracks by the first of many, many new rules that were bound to upset someone.
“Allow them to be able to eat any plant,” Accord said.
“Be careful, don’t try to turn Equestria into a heaven, Accord,” said Cosmos. “I’ve tried making a few of these before, and you can’t possibly assume that your perspective aligns with any other soul’s perspective. They’re all too different. One creature’s heaven is another’s hell. And if you try to fulfill every single request, you’ll end up with a different heaven for each soul, a billion lonely heavens.”
Accord took the advice and weighed it in his mind, stopping his requests. The amber glow dissipated as Galaxia extinguished the spell.
“What should I do?” asked Accord.
“If you want to help them all, you must understand them all. You must know each and every detail and understand them better than they know themselves,” said Cosmos.
“There’s a spell we can cast to access Equestria’s memory backups,” said Galaxia. “Every soul’s memories are gathered there for perusal for when Equestria would eventually finish. If you take all those memories now, you can understand all of them enough to help.”
“What?” asked Accord. “I... I can’t do that. I was looking forward to spending an infinite amount of time getting to know each and every one of them personally, if I go in with a huge head start how I will get to know them normally? How will they get to know me?”
“They’ll get to know you, that’s for sure,” Cosmos said. “An infinite amount of time demands that. But if you are worried about being bored with your infinite time, then you are being selfish. They need a proper start now, they need to be understood now.”
“Part of the reason why I love these souls so much is that I can’t guess them, I don’t know them enough to make perfect predictions.”
“Their memories aren’t enough to make perfect predictions,” said Hope. “They change in ways you can’t imagine. It’s impossible to predict what they will want, even given a significant head start.”
“You all think that I should take on the memories?” asked Accord, looking at the faces of them all. “Fluttershy? What do you think?”
Fluttershy’s hoof pawed the ground for a moment in hesitation. “They’ve built worlds before, Accord, I am okay with you following their advice.”
“What about our own foals? What about you? Isn’t this a supreme invasion of privacy to everyone?”
“I think we started this path when we first obtained Celestia and Luna’s memories,” said Fluttershy. “This is going beyond that, but if we want to really help them all handle immortality, and the ones that are used to handling this say that this is the right method, then I think it’s a good path to follow.”
He looked at her, realizing he was about to know everything about her in every way. He was about to know everything about everyone in every way.
Accord breathed in and out, “Okay.”
Fluttershy leaned closer to him, “I’ll be right here, next to you.”
“Y’know...” began Cosmos, grinning. “We constructed the spell so that Galaxia and I could open the memories after the end. It’s a lot easier to perform with two alicorns.” Cosmos’s horn glowed for a moment and to Fluttershy’s annoyance a horn appeared on her head. “How about you participate too, Fluttershy?”
“She doesn’t have to,” said Accord, Fluttershy’s horn disappearing.
“Why not let her decide,” said Cosmos, the horn flashing on her head again.
Fluttershy looked at the horn and then at Accord. She was silent for a few moments before responding, “okay.”
His eyes widened, “Are... you sure?” asked Accord
“You’ll share everything with me anyway, I might as well experience it all with you now,” said Fluttershy, the breeze picking up and making her pink and grey mane float in the wind.
“Have you finished deciding that it’s always better to have more information?” asked Hope.
“I hope we don’t regret this,” said Accord.
“Don’t say things like that,” said Cosmos. “Existence is full of regret, but that’s no reason to fear and prevent yourself from doing it anyway.”
Accord frowned and turned to Galaxia. “What’s the spell?”
Galaxia showed them the spell that would give them all memories in Equestria.
“Okay...” said Accord, his and Fluttershy’s horns glowing. The magic coursed through both of them, the powerful surge of memories filling in every single space it could.
In those small moments, Accord and Fluttershy saw a tiny fraction of infinity. A billion lives were experienced. Each life, each secret, each action, each inaction, each and every single soul’s lifetimes experienced by them. Each memory came in one at a time, a life to watch as it was born, experienced, and died, each one making Accord want to help them. Each life understood from their perspective. Instead of fear or anger for the mistakes they made, Accord felt compassion, loving each one of them and wanting to help those he could still affect.
Back in the library a great number of books were remembered and dyed the colors of the souls they described. In the long time Accord had read the library, he had encountered the stories of the lives of these ponies before. Every single time he came across a grammatically correct book in a sea of near nonsense it had been a breath of fresh air, something truly beautiful and unique to experience. But now it felt so much more real, for there was a real creature to attach the books to.
So many different combinations of those books applied in different ways. Given a particular creature in a specific situation, he had already tried to read and understand what they were going through, only this time he could affect the book and its outcome, seeing beyond and picking the ideal next book in that character’s series.
After what seemed like a long time, the spell finished. Fluttershy’s knees buckled and she rested on the soft ground. Accord stayed standing, deep in thought, his eyes still closed.
“After experiencing all of that, are you still certain immortality would be the best option?” asked Hope.
Accord gulped once, his mind racing. Death is sad, right? Continuing is happy, right? The memories of each and every soul-inhabited creature in Equestria weighed him down. There were too many variables, too many lives that he would be affecting. These were the decisions that left him in his library for so long in the first place. He could make choices for himself, but for others? They all thought and acted much differently and they didn’t make choices he would make. How could he possibly decide something that would affect an infinite number of souls?
Was this what happened when he lost his memories so long ago? Perhaps the souls in his care decided they wanted to end reincarnation and immortality, and tried their best to get as close to non-existence as possible. What if he had granted their wish then? Would he grant it now if they asked?
Never.
The ability to continue to make choices based on an ever increasing amount of knowledge. That is what made immortality worth it. Living, choosing, being, creating, loving, sharing, striving, crying, continuing; that was what made life so good. Most of the souls in this world already saw that, but he would have to help all of them become accustomed to infinity.
The question of where to begin was the hardest. He opened his eyes and looked up at Hope.
“Yes... immortality is still the best option, Hope. It is simply the decision to allow yourself to continue making decisions in the future.”
“So what’s the spell you want?” Galaxia asked.
“Everything I said before, but fix all of the physical diseases,” said Accord, going after the problems that wouldn’t be difficult to decide. “Fix the eyes of the blind, allow the deaf to listen, make the infertile fertile, cure every single disease that might be bothering them. Fix whatever mental health problems that are caused by an improper alignment of their soul and body.”
“I don’t think that fits everyone,” said Fluttershy, opening her eyes from the ground and looking at him. “We’ll go around individually to check on them afterwards, right Accord?”
“Of course.”
“Curing everyone...” Galaxia said, pondering. “Are you sure you want to do that? Being able to experience sickness can make a soul appreciate health. They’ll miss an aspect of existence that can help them grow, Accord.”
“I have to start somewhere, Galaxia, and these will be the easiest decisions to make.”
“Do you have any other requests?”
“Not now, let’s make this first change.
“Okay,” said Galaxia, the amber glow covering the planet and accessing the base spells that operated Equestria.
“Can anyone else see this?” asked Accord, gesturing to the glow emanating from Galaxia.
“Not unless you want them to,” Cosmos responded.
Accord thought about it for a moment before saying, “Can you make the glow visible to everyone? When they look back after 2^50 universe cycles, they can remember this point as where it all truly began.”
Galaxia nodded, the golden glow broke into the visible spectrum, and an amber wave emanated across the planet.
⬡ ⬡ ⬡
Pinkie felt something warm wash over her. She opened her eyes and for a small moment, everything was glowing amber. The dream she thought she had had was confirmed by that golden glow.
Immortal, everyone was immortal.
She felt better in that moment, her strength already starting to return. There was an infinite amount of more parties yet to be celebrated.
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Just because someone's immortal doesn't mean you can't eat them.
7221627
There's a scene in the next chapter you're going to like
7221664 'ERE WE GO.
Sometimes Cosmos.
Sometimes doing something it's worth the risk of possibly having to deal with regret later.
But usually when you come to truly regret something, it isn't.
But of course regrets do not define the entirety of existence.
That is, unless you want them to.
This paragraph gives me the impression that even when Accord has just gained the knowledge of everything that everything has ever done thought and be in Equestria, what he gained was merely rational knowledge and understanding.
That leaves out instinctual understanding.
This idea comes from Accord showing no change in his personal views of immortality and while granted none of the things in Equestria had yet experience it, it stands to reason that they wouldn't experience it in the same way and that everyone could have a different perspective on what meaning they could see in existence or what could make immortality be worth it for them.
It wouldn't make sense for someone to be so wrapped up in it's own perspective right after having gained/experienced the instinctual understanding of so many for if he could predict how the would experience and view immortality then I would expect to see a lot more depth in his overall reasoning and views.
After all, in reality there is always many truths to be acknowledged.
What's life without freedom?
But Accord! You are no only deciding what you are doing, you are also deciding how you are doing it.
Don't neglect the how. The how can make all the difference.
~Leonzilla