Some months have passed since the destruction of the Memory Stone. Wallflower Blush has entered a new school year, her last at CHS, and so far, things have been looking up. Talking to people is getting easier, and she even has a few friends to her name.
But dealing with social repercussions is still a thing that Wallflower has struggled with all her life. Making a few connections is all well and good, but what about deeper connections? What about one-on-one bonding? What about dating? With the shield of the Memory Stone gone, how can Wallflower find a safe way to experience consequences?
Luckily, her first date with Moondancer is certain to give her some much-needed education on the subject. Even if it takes a few more first dates than normal.
An entry for both May Pairings 2024 (other entries here) and Science Fiction Contest III (other entries here). Pre-read by Dewdrops on the Grass and The Sleepless Beholder. Sex tag applied for crude references only.
Featured 13-15 May 2024!
Come on Wallflower... Dating advice from Trixie, really?
Twilight's got a lot of work ahead of her. Eventually she's going to have to program in Wallflower's home (or perhaps Moondancer's), a wedding, honeymoon, etc... At that point, just create a creative mode and allow them to build whatever they want using the tools she provides so she can pour her focus into learning more about Moondancer.
That was a fun read! Nice work.
Ooh, that was emotional. I was initially thinking that Wallflower had a crush on Moondancer and Twilight had made the simulation to help her work up the guts to date her for real. I didn't expect it to delve into human-AI romance. Still, that story was enough to almost make me a Moondancer/Wallflower shipper.
Wonderful work capturing Wallflower's two steps forward and one step back, and the work she takes to rectify that when it's (very loudly) pointed out. Great character study for both, and a wholly believable romance. Thank you for it and besto f luck in the judging of both contests.
Dunno what goobers are hitting the downvote on this genius story. When I preread for it, I had forgotten entirely it was a dual contest entry, so the whole simulation angle caught me entirely off guard in the best way possible. And that ending, absolutely all of it was practically made for someone like me. Person falling in love with a sapient AI? Count me all the way in, every time.
Well done, Eileen, and best of luck in both contests.
This might be one of the most brilliant things I've read on this site. Extremely well done. I'm going to have to carve out room in my Top 10.
Alright, I read this one. Spoilered some story details because I don't want to ruin the fic for others. There's your warning, for people who haven't read the fic yet.
I had a very different reaction compared to everyone else. This is... disturbing. Not negatively towards the story you put out, mind you, this is extremely well-written and well-presented. Maybe it's because I have watched a lot of how AI is being more and more incorporated into dating applications, and how many people feel reliant on its uses to the point of feeling emotionally distant from their partners when they finally meet 'the one' as a result. It's, jarring, to me. And this fic further accentuates that.
I feel like the romance here sets a precedent of a false hope for Wallflower Blush, and even in the end, that relationship is just fake and not with someone real like Moondancer. I think it's cool that you used this AI test realm to show us how this relationship somewhat ended up being cute, but it took a lot of the same vehicles of what a relationship would go through in just a short amount of time. Wallflower experienced this so quickly and it's... just astonishing she isn't depressed afterwards. Not to mention that ending further makes me, the reader, down atrocious knowing that the character basically played Sims 3 but had a romantic interaction with someone they cannot have outside that realm.
I could go on about this, and I think that's what makes this story really great. A thought provoker for sure. You probably didn't intend for how I interpreted this fic, but damn. Going to go stare at my wall for a while. Thanks for that, Eileen.
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Just to clarify one thing in your take that I’m uncertain about, there is no human Moondancer implied in this story; the digital Moonie isn’t based on a specific person. She is the EqG counterpart of pony Moondancer (in this story’s setting, anyway) in the same vein that Tirek in EqG is a game character and Discord is a plush toy, but Sci-Twi wasn’t deliberately replicating the pony.
Aside from that, I’m fully on board with anyone taking a darker read on the story; it so befits Wally, doesn’t it? Did she truly find something more in the the digital girl that is actively telling her she’s not human, or is she just finding more ways to cheat…
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I knew I was missing a detail that was important. Went back and edited my comment because I realized that Moondancer wasn't really in EQG at all in the first place. Legit had to go back to the characters page just to make sure there wasn't a Moondancer character in it and I wasn't mixing up canon. Turns out I wasn't mixing it up, I just completely imagined Moondancer being in EQG. Brain fart of the day goes to me.
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Damn. Dayum, that is some high praise considering the talent we have on this site. Thank you very much!
11903994
There's an extra layer, if you choose to see it, although it isn't deep. It's that these characters are all fictional.
Human, pony, AI; these are all just one author's representation of a unconventional relationship. One author's representation of a relatively advanced AI.
So while Wallflower contemplates what life and love are, we contemplate what Eileen may think about life and love.
This is of course true for almost all stories, but most stories don't also touch on what it means to be alive.
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You're welcome. :) Well done!
Not going to lie. I enjoyed reading this, but it did poke directly at something that's been filling me with a fair bit of dread of late: AI replacing actual human to human interactions / relationships.
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11903994
Your trepidation is understandable, given that learned language models that have been misnamed "AIs" have become so prominent lately. But, if it helps, this story is much more in the classical vein of science fiction type AIs, which is to say, an actual intelligence with thought and purpose behind it, not just a series of regurgitated responses that acts more like a child's plaything than anything with any reason or logic.
Or if I were to use a different comparison in terms of named characters, this is more akin to Data or EDI than anything we currently have. At least, that's how I took it, and continue to take it.
I totally get where you're coming from though.
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Yeah. I mean the fic really reminded me of "Hang the DJ", a Black Mirror episode that experiments with the idea provided here, but with a different presentation. The twist was similar too, if you haven't seen it before.
Charming character work, and a good sci-fi concept that resonates with current fears about the long-term impact of AI. Well done!
An interesting concept and very well executed.
Oh, your Wallflower is a wonderful character here. And sometimes I do find it scary that it is so easy to convince ourselves that something real is fake, or that something fake is real.