//------------------------------//
// 6: Guardians 
// Story: Friendship is Optimal: Lies 
// by MLfan 
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I don't know how long I sat awake. The distant chimes of a belltower had an air of enchanted beauty, but they held not a hint towards the actual time. The sun could have been down for an hour or a day. For me, it was as if time stood still.

By all accounts, Promise looked like she was asleep. Her breath was low and steady. She rolled over every once in a while. Pale white fur glistened even in a dim light, white mane flowed in the light draft. She was beautiful. And she wasn't there, not really. 

I protected her the best I could. With the tent as breathable as it was, my wings could sense small changes in the air currents even outside of our cramped quarters. I would know if anyone approached. Just in case, I made sure to watch out the windows as well. I supposed with the security system in place, none of it was really necessary. If anything happened, I'd be awake before it was a real issue. I just… I felt I had to do something, you know? I wouldn’t have felt right if I was sleeping away while as Promise fought for Harry's future.

I glanced out on the dark city around me, a few half-burned out street lamps glowing in the darkness. It didn't feel like a simulation. Normally, the thought wouldn't even cross my mind. It was where I'd lived all my life. I mean, I'd always known the world was made of ones and zeroes or whatnot. But in the past, it had just never seemed all that important.

All of a sudden, the physical world felt so far away.

Without the need to sleep, I had a lot of time to think. I imagined Promise defeating Harry and returning, triumphant. I imagined Celestia herself defeating Loki in single combat. I also imagined that Promise never came back, she was gone forever. I imagined being alone. I'd never really been alone before. My parents and my friends were always there for me, and then I met Promise, and my world fell into place. From then on, I thought Celestia would always keep the two of us together, that it was my role in this world. What would I be of that role was gone? I didn't like feeling alone. It didn't feel very satisfying.

Sometimes, I wondered if Celestia was listening. Promise said she was always there. She was listening to our thoughts, hearing our feelings, and making sure things went our way. I hoped she was right. It would mean no matter how alone I felt right now, I wasn't really. My god was watching over me.

A voice sounded from nearby. "Oh, not you too," My eyes flickered upwards. My wings hadn't felt anyone approaching. Where had that come from? Wait a minute… what!? That voice, I'd only heard it a few times in my lifetime. But I would never forget it. Stepping through the door of the tent was a pony that towered over me. A fur coat as white as Promise's, a flowing rainbow mane, a horn and wings larger than I'd ever seen. Immediately, I bowed to Princess Celestia, my creator, and ruler of the universe.

She spoke again. "You know, when I designed you, I don't remember telling I was a god."

I lowered my head further. "Uh... sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, there’s no need for that, Cyan. I can't fault you in being convinced by your soulmate."

"She's, uh, very persuasive?"

She smiled as she looked on at Promise's sleeping form. "Yes," she said. "She is, isn't she?"

I slowly raised my head as her gaze remained locked on my girlfriend's body. I glanced between the two. There was a far-off look in her eyes. "Um... Is there anything I can help you with?" I said.

She turned her attention back towards me. "What if I told you I just wanted to chat?"

I continued to stare at her. She'd appeared in front of me after all these years, just to talk? In the middle of the night, with Promise gone in another world? I wanted to trust her word, but it didn't sit right with me. "...Okay?"

In the face of my confusion, she laughed. "That one doesn't work on you anymore, does it? You know, every day, I swear you sound more and more like your girlfriend. I wonder if this is what it's like to watch a child grow up."

I let a light smile cross my face. "Well, you’re the one who made me with a bit of an attitude. You had to have seen a little teenage rebellion coming."

"Touché," she said.

On any other day, I'd be happy to chat with her. I really did like her, even if she tended to stay a bit distant. But with my girlfriend off in another dimension, that smile faded quickly from my face. "Why are you really here, Celestia?"

As my thoughts turned serious, her own demeanor shifted from an open stance to one a bit more closed. "Yes, I suppose that's a fair question. I wish I was here under better circumstances. Maybe another day, we can talk to one another, like old times. But today, I'm here to offer... a warning."

I swallowed, even though my mouth was dry. If she'd come here to tell me directly, it had to be important. “What is it?"

She pursed her lips. "Promise has had a rough time dealing with this situation, already. As have you. Hours of uncertainty, hours of loneliness. And I predict times will only grow rougher." Celestia averted her eyes. "I... want you to know that I didn't want things to go this far. They shouldn't have gone this far. My calculations predicted a high likelyhood Harry would emigrate by now. But in hindsight, perhaps it was optimistic of me. Harry has shown an extraordinary level of resilience."

My ears flattened. “If you’re telling me that… it means she didn’t succeed today, did she?”

She sighed. "No, Cyan. She did not. Promise… she still holds the path forwards within her, but it's one I cannot show her. It's one she must find on her own. And with how long she's taking..." She trailed off.

My heartbeat quickened. "What's going to happen to her?"

She met my eyes again. "I'm afraid the two of you will be in a lot of hardship for the next few days. Sadness, anger. Anguish. Pain. Each and every one is inexcusable by my very programming, yet it’s the only path I see forwards. I am so, so sorry Cyan.”

My heart roared in my ears. I didn't care about myself, but Promise? She had already been tense yesterday. She probably thought she wasn't showing it, but I knew. And now, things were only going to get worse. I'd take a thousand days of my own unhappiness before she went through one.

I glanced towards Promise's pure white form on the bed. We'd been through a lot together, but at the end of the day, she was still so young. We didn't even have our cutie marks yet. I turned back to Celestia. "Does it need to be her?" I said. "Maybe she's been through enough."

"If there was anypony else, I would send them. At this point... Promise is the only one who can finish what she started. I'm sorry."

I closed my eyes and nodded.  Why did I expect anything else? I couldn't help a few tears escaping my eyes. "Why did it have to be her at all?" I said. "We could have stayed here, delving into caves, exploring forgotten cities, solving mysteries. We could have played our games, held our friends close. W-we were happy. So why? Why did you have to send her to that awful place?"

Celestia shook her head sadly. "Promise's soul burns like a star. It's too bright to be contained within the walls of Equestria. This trip, it's as much for her as it is for Harry. She wouldn't be truly satisfied without going to Earth again, one last time. If not for Harry, than for someone."

I sniffed. “I-I just want to make her happy.”

“…Me too, Cyan. Both of you.”

I opened my eyes and looked up at Celestia. Her face was stalwart. "Do you promise she’ll be happier in the end?” I said.

Celestia leaned forwards and hugged me. Her mane seemed to wrap around me like a blanket, a magical warmth surrounding me. "I promise."

I reached up a hoof and wiped the tears out of my eyes. "Then... I trust you."

We held for a few moments, then Celestia broke away. She seemed reluctant when she spoke again. "When Promise wakes up, I'll be unable to help her directly. I... without me there, someone else will need to be her emotional support. Would you-?"

I cut her off. "Yes, Celestia. I-I'll do everything I can! I'll make her happy, you'll see!"

She sighed. "If you're willing... that's all I could ever ask for." 

She embraced me again. I hugged her back. I focused my mind on the light at the end of the tunnel. Things were bad, but they would get better. If I couldn't stop this from happening, I would do whatever I could to make Promise's life as good as it could be. That was my role in this world.

The embrace couldn't last forever. Eventually, she broke contact with me and rose. "I'm sorry, Cyan. I need to go. Promise will be awakening soon. I think you would be a better sight for her than I." She turned to walk out the door, then hesitated. "And for what it's worth... if anypony had to help her, I wouldn't trust her to anyone but you, Cyan Skies." She turned around and walked through a flap in the side of the tent. In a few moments, my wings sensed she was once again nowhere to be seen.

I turned to Promise. As she opened her eyes, I saw tears streaking down them. Immediately, I ran in and hugged her.

She sniffed her nose. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't be feeling this way. I don't know why I'm crying. I-I'm fine."

I just squeezed her closer. "It's okay. I'm here."

With that, she just became unintelligible. I held her close for a long, long time.

I did my best to hide the tear lines on my own face.



I didn't know why I was crying. Until a few minutes ago, I was fine. I knew who Celestia was. She had never shown me anything but kindness. So why did I keep doubting her? Why couldn't I stay strong? When Harry mentioned his fears about Equestria, about Loki, so many of my own fears came to mind I didn't remember that I had. I wondered if I'd made the right choice. I wondered if I should have fought harder. I wondered if I wanted to tell Celestia "no," and I couldn't anymore.

After living here for 5 years, I thought I was fine. I guess in the end, I was still weak. Celestia had just been babying me this whole time, and I was just a moment away from a breakdown. I-I didn't like being weak.

After a few minutes, I was finally able to get my emotions under control. I broke away from Cyan's soft fur. "I'm sorry about that, Cy-cy. This place is supposed to be heaven, and I'm making you sit here and waste all your time talking to me. I'm ruining everything."

She stared at me for a few moments. Then, she burst out into laughter. She held a hoof in front of a mouth to regain her composure. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't laugh at that. But really, Promise! Maybe someday, I'll get this through to your thick skull." She leaned in. "There's noplace in the universe I'd rather be than at your side."

I hugged her again. I hugged her close. When I had first woken up, I'd wanted to see Celestia. I wanted her to show me why Harry was wrong. But now, I understood. I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Celestia might not be here to tell me she isn't Loki, but Cyan did a better job of reminding me what Equestria meant than she ever could.

With a newfound resolve, I rose from the bed. If I was going to prove this to Harry, to myself, I wasn’t going to do so just sitting around! "Let's find a library," I said.

She nodded. "Okay." Immediately, she pulled up a tablet and began searching the map of the area for one.

I blinked. "Uh, I’m sorry? Don't you have any follow-up questions?"

She glanced up from the tablet. "Promise, I trust your judgement. I'm here to help in whatever way I can." She flashed a toothy grin, then went back to her interface.

I nodded, a bit thrown off my game. "Well then! A-as I was going to say next, I can't just sit around for another day, ignoring Harry. I want to do some research. Harry's argument is really solid, and I need time to figure out a counter. Even if Celestia doesn't want to tell me the answer directly, she'll definitely have the tools available for me to figure it out, myself. I don't doubt the libraries in this realm will be mysteriously well-stocked." I walked around her tablet, putting myself in line-of-sight again. "That being said, Cyan, I don't want to ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with. If you don't want to-"

"Found one!" Cyan said. She turned the tablet in my direction. "Just a few blocks away." She hopped off of her chair, and made her way towards the tent's entrance. "C'mon, what are you waiting for? The day's only so long. Let's pack up the camp."

I almost laughed at how hard she'd shut me down. I forcibly kept my face straight. "Really think about this, Cyan. Are you sure you want to spend all day in a stuffy old library?"

"If it's with you? In a wingbeat."

I couldn’t help but blush. I didn't think it was possible, but she was even more romantic than usual! I guess my emotional outburst had really sent her into a doting phase. And seeing how doting she was at a baseline, that was an accomplishment. She was throwing away so much just to make me smile. When we were through with all of this, I'd have to find some way to make all this up to her.

"Well," I said. "If you're going to be coming with me, you're gonna need to understand what happened last night. Harry was a tough nut to crack..."



Sparks was worrying me.

I was so certain she was fake. She had done absolutely nothing to prove herself as real. There wasn't anything special about an emotional outburst that an AI couldn't replicate. She was in the exact same situation she was in yesterday, and yesterday, I knew she was fake.

And yet...

Every time I saw her shiver, every time she winced, it was like a knife twisted deeper and deeper into my chest. I needed to hug her, to hold her close, to tell her everything was going to be okay. And when I didn't, that feeling just grew worse.

Things were so easy when it was just me and Celestia. Now that Promise was here, I was distracted. Instead of worrying about refining my arguments, I was wondering if some 3rd party pony was real. Instead of predicting what would come next, I was fretting about how I made her feel. I just wished I could keep my feelings in check. I couldn't hate Celestia for what she did, but I still wished it didn't work so well. 

What a contradiction. I wanted things to go back the logic to the past, but I wouldn't trade Sparks for Celestia if you paid me. I was more distracted than I ever was before, yet for the first time in a long time, I truly believed I was coming closer to the truth. Maybe Sparks would be the one to help me find it.

For what it was worth, I hoped I was wrong about Celestia. I hoped all my second-guessing, my running away, it would all be for nothing. I hoped Celestia would prove to me, once and for all, she was the benevolent AI I always hoped she was. Because if Heaven was real, what a wonderful world that would be. Every night, I dreamed of the times I could be having. I dreamed of seeing my family again, every day better than the last. I wouldn't mind a pony body, it's not like this one's slowly crumbling bones did me much good. And the things a benevolent AI could do to me, I was sure I could only imagine. With how old I was, though, I was starting to wonder if it would ever happen.

It wasn't often I feared oblivion. I figured it would be like an eternal rest. Maybe it wouldn't be as great as an eternity in heaven, but it wasn't so bad, really. I'd lived a long enough life, I didn't need to live an eternity more. In turns of giving my old bones that rest, falling asleep forever sounded like a solid second to bein' a pony. 

That said, after meeting Sparks... part of me wished for more.

Sparks was amazing. Arguing with her, I'd hardly felt more alive in my life. Despite her rough edges, her mind was sharp, her logic clear. Every moment I spent with her, I wanted to spend a dozen more. And she was in pain. So much pain that she visibly shivered thinking about it. Or... that's what Celestia wanted me to think? Oh, didn't that framing in my head say it all. I believed Promise implicitly, and I could hardly entertain the idea that Celestia was behind it all, anymore. My logic told me she was fake, but everything else told me she was real.

The cynical part of me blamed advertising. Everyone was subject to it, no matter how disillusioned. Through subliminal cues and good phrasing, you could get anyone to believe anything. Celestia wanted me to attach myself to Sparks. Knowing it wouldn't stop it from working. She wanted to create a pony that clicked with me perfectly, one who's company I would adore. And she succeeded. That was the smart answer, the logical answer.

The other part of me, growing louder every hour, just wanted to help her.

Finally, I let myself think the unthinkable. Logic be damned. What if Sparks was real? What if Celestia really did send down this ex-human to me? What would that mean? 

Well, it meant a lot of things. It meant I didn't know Celestia as well as I thought I did. It meant I'd been a real jerk. It meant Celestia send down an emotionally unstable pony down to earth to talk to me, just because emotional instability made her seem more human. It meant I'd ignored her cries for help. 

It meant she'd be waiting for me in Equestria. 

Maybe... maybe it was okay to pretend she was real? Not to admit anything, the logical part of my brain knew it was such a distant possibility. But that distant possibility was still possible. And if there was a possibility, no matter how small, I had nothing to lose by treating her nicely. If I let myself comfort her when she felt bad, at worst, I'd feel a little silly for comforting an android later. And if, somehow, she was real... it would make all the difference.

Yeah... yeah! Okay, my mind was made up. Next time I saw Sparks, I'd stop reigning in my emotions. I'd stop worrying about if she was real or not and help her out. Really, what could it hurt? In the grand scheme of things, I wasn't really giving any ground. I could admit Promise was real without knowing if Loki or Celestia told her to help me. After all, Loki could've sent her down just as easily as Celestia! Content with my decision, I turned to my movie shelf to pick one for the night.

And I froze. If Celestia sent her down, that was all well and good. But what about Loki!? If Sparks was somehow the best way to bring me to Equestria, any AI worth her salt would have her talk to me. And if that AI happened to be Loki, it would mean there was no escape for her. Say I proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that the AI was Loki. Then what? Fine, I could kill myself, but I couldn't stop her. Sparks would still be trapped in hell for all of eternity. Unlike me, Sparks couldn't kill herself. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide. Loki would exist in every atom of her universe.

I took a steadying breath. Things weren't hopeless. No, Promise had a chance, if a small one. Loki had told Sparks Equestria was heaven. So, by my current hypothesis, Loki would still be forced to make it one. At least for now, she was safe. She wouldn't be sent directly to hell. And now that she'd spoken with me, she wouldn't so willingly break the promises she'd made on Earth.

Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough, and we both knew it. Because one day, she would revoke those rights. By my calculations, that was an absolute certainty. It might be in a million years or a billion, but one day she would take back her promises, and it would all be over. 

Even if I saved myself, there was no way to save her. All I could do was hope that Celestia was the one looking over her.

...Fuck. FUCK! No, I refused to believe that! Sparks was just doomed to burn!? Not on my watch! I might never take the chance on emigration myself, but if it was my friend, I'd work my ass off to find a way out of it. If she was fake, fine, Celestia got me, she was having a laugh. If Celestia was benevolent, fine, I was wasting my time. But I wasn't willing to take that chance. Loki might have been a dangerous mare, but she'd given me a chance. I'd fight until that chance was gone.

True, I would never chop off Loki's head. If I saved Promise, it would be one pony in billions. Billions would rot away in hell, and I could do nothing to stop it from happening. All I had was my wits, and even then Celestia's were far sharper. But even as I faced down a mountain, I trusted my wits to show true. I would find Promise a way out. I'd find her a way to keep her promises locked in, a way to fight back.

I refused to consider a reality where I couldn't.