" You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know."
―C.S. Lewis
October 31st 2013 | System Uptime 64:20:14:27:000:102
I got some time to myself, then. For the first time in what felt like years, but could only really have been days. I'd had down-time alone on the Maru... But... It felt like that had been a world away. Probably because it was, in point of fact, a world away.
I was in no way offended that Hanna wanted to talk to Mal first. And alone.
She was potentially the smartest person alive, short of Celestia and Mal. She had created Celestia, and through her the very situation we found ourselves in. The very reality of our future.
Celestia, for her part, seemed to realize that I needed some space. No surprise. Even if Mal was the one administrating our shard, and even if Mal had blocked her from seeing directly into my mind, a question which I debate to this day? Then she still could have picked up plenty from my body language and tone.
And both were screaming, pretty loudly, 'I need some processing time.'
I have always loved having a moment to be alone in nature. Getting to have that experience as a Gryphon, and in a world that was completely unspoiled, heart-achingly familiar, and yet thrillingly new in all the right subtle ways?
Balm for my soul. It isn't at all an exaggeration to say that half an hour of flying, and walking around the immediate surrounds of that mountaintop... That mountaintop where I realized, suddenly at one point, I *would* get to build a home with Mal...
Those thirty-ish minutes were enough to noticeably heal the wounds on my heart. To stop the bleeding entirely, and clean the gashes thoroughly. Trauma doesn't vanish overnight, but... I could feel that I'd made a start.
I saw so many things from the air, and with the gift of my new sight... Songbirds sleeping in their nests in the hollows of trees. Owls prowling silently beneath me, able to move with only a little less noise than I could, if I tried.
Clouds, from above... Especially the low hanging ones clinging to the sides of the mountains, and spilling down into the valleys, lit by the silvery glow of moonlight...
Fireflies... I know I mentioned them before, but I have always loved fireflies so much. To see them flourishing in numbers I'd never expected to behold for myself, with my own eyes... It might sound small, but it was such a wondrous gift.
Just the sensation of flight, again... Flying, and feeling at peace, and at home... By the time I saw Hanna, in the form of canonical Luna, standing by the rock that would one day become the center of my house, waiting for me? I felt ten years younger, and twenty nights' sleep worth of well-rested.
I said canonical Luna... Canonical older Luna, if she had a short-cut tomboy style mane. It wasn't the exact same style as Hanna's hair, in the pictures I'd seen of her, but it was decidedly reminiscent.
Pushing aside aesthetic considerations, and taking stock of the wider area; I could see Mal off in the distance, speaking with Celestia again, and I took that to mean that it was my turn. My turn to have a conversation with the inventor of our future.
Hanna pursed her lips, and lifted one ear in a kind of begrudging 'that was cool, I suppose,' expression, as I flared for landing and came to a stop just four feet shy of her. The displacement from my wings ruffled her mane for a moment.
She snorted, and reseated her wings, holding out one hoof for me to tap with a fisted claw, and speaking for the first time directly to me as I did so.
"Jim Carrenton. Thanks for not fucking up my ASI."
Her voice had a pleasant, though not overpowering Finnish lilt. The voice of a woman who learned English as a second or third language, to an extremely high degree of proficiency, in a very academic context. I couldn't resist a rumbling chuckle, and a raised eyecrest as I replied.
"Hanna Kuusinen. Thanks for not fucking up my life with your ASI."
She snorted again, more loudly; A very horse-like sound as a result of what she was, and where we were. I could see vague amusement written all over her face, but mixed with a much more complex series of undercurrents including curiosity, mild disdain, and reluctant respect.
She started to walk off along the ridge at a sedate pace, downspin instead of the upspin direction Mal, Celestia, and I had gone earlier. North, South, East, and West do not have a lot of meaning on a ring-world.
I followed beside her, seizing on the first thing I could think of to break the ice. What, after all, are two programmers most likely to talk about, when they have nothing else? Especially when one of those programmers is a Titan in her field?
"I read your paper."
She nodded, and raised both eyebrows, one ear flicking swiftly in irritation. It was both a little strange, but also somehow very very fitting, hearing her voice come out of Luna's head. She wore the shape well.
Indeed, she almost sounded like Tabitha St. Germain. Maybe a slightly older sister of Tabitha, who smoked just a little in her past, and had a subtle Norden accent.
She even had Luna's pseudo-sarcastic, yet not-quite-abrasive way of responding to understatement.
"I gathered. Looks like you iterated a little on my concepts."
I searched her face for any sign of anger, or frustration. I had, after all, tinkered with the delicate balance of something... Someone... Who was, to her, the same as Mal was to me. In many respects.
To my relief, I saw no signs of deeply negative emotion. A feigned disinterest, perhaps, overtop a deeper layer of genuine curiosity, and - at worst - a mild irritation. That made sense. Celestia would have hardly suggested that we speak if it would not satisfy both of our value sets.
I shook my head, and did my best to stay confident in the face of someone who was, more or less, an idol of mine as far as my skills and former career. Ears up but not perky. Tail moving, but not anxiously. Wings folded comfortably. A little smile on my beak, that just made it through to my voice.
"I never believed there was a 'hard' solution to the control problem. Emotion seemed like a better foundation for strong alignment, and strong alignment negates the need for control."
Well, if you want to jump start a conversation with an ASI theorist? That sort of hand-grenade of an opinion is a great way to do it.
Hanna nodded, and smirked, rolling her eyes slightly and replying in the same intentionally over-casual tone as before, but with a new hint of a sing-song quality.
"Sure, sure. If you're willing to take a huge, arguably unnecessary risk that the entity you start with will end up an entity that *doesn't* want to kill you five seconds after it learns what Humans have been doing to each other for the past few hundred thousand years."
Loki. She was thinking of Loki. It made a lot of sense that her experience with that first AI would have strongly colored her opinions. Shifted her barycenter. Made her cautious, and more likely to want to solve the control problem with the means she best understood. Hard interlocks.
I wondered, with a sudden shiver, if my experience with the first ASI that I had created would have led to a darker future, if it had escaped. To be more accurate; I knew it would have led to a darker future... And, for a moment, I let myself very briefly speculate as to the nature of that dark alternate future.
But only for a moment. I shook myself, physically, to dispel the unwanted mental images, and redirected my gaze to Mal's distant silhouette. Hanna followed my eye-line as I pushed out a four word reply.
"The risk paid off."
I glanced back in time to see her nod, her own eyes still fixed on Mal and Celestia. She blinked slowly, and sighed, before assenting in a tone that sounded a little less terse, but still somehow very slightly judgemental of my decisions.
"Yes. You are a very lucky man. Or Griffin, I suppose."
'Griffon,' 'Griffin,' and 'Gryphon,' all do have slightly different phonetic emphasis. Hanna rendered the word with more of the 'ffin' ending, which I had not heard in quite some time. At least it wasn't the 'ffon' emphasis of the show.
I nodded slowly, and made that signature Gryphon thrumming noise down in my chest. We kept walking a few more steps in silence, before she began a wide turn back in the direction of the peak, gesturing towards me with one velvety blue wing as she broke the conversational lul.
"I would say it was a strange choice, but that would be a little too much of the pot chastening the kettle. I might not have been born with four legs, or wings. I might not have been born wanting them so much as Mal says that you always have. But I am certainly not complaining now."
She made direct eye contact with me at the tail end of her statement, and held it. Searching my eyes for something. It was a fishing expedition, but I was too far down the well of 'mellow pre-exhaustion,' even after the rejuvenation of my flight, to try and speculate.
So I just stared back blankly, until she prodded again, gesturing with one hoof and dipping her head, eyes wide, as if to say 'well, it is obvious, isn't it?'
"Well, go on then. Ask me."
I blinked, and then again a second time, tilting my head and perking one ear to get my bemused curiosity across. I truly didn't know what she wanted me to say... Until she started to speak again, looking up at the moon the whole time. And it very swiftly began to make sense.
"You can't fail to grasp why I would want to create an ASI. As someone who managed it yourself. And Mal understands quite a bit about Celestia's interlocks, therefore so do you. But, if not for the broader nature of Princess Celestia, you might not have been subjected to quite so much to get here. To get those wings of yours, and that very nice hooked beak. And you don't know why. Why she is Princess Celestia, and not... Scheherazade. Or a copy of me. Or some version of Sif. Or Motoko Kusanagi. So ask me. Ask me why Ponies, of all things."
She brought her eyes back down to meet mine on the last seven words. And the majority of the 'why' snapped into place for me.
I had spent just shy of a year and a half working to adjust the thing that represented her life's work. Her gift to the Human species. She wanted to engage with me on that point, specifically. And justifying how we had ended up with Celestia was the best starting point she could think of.
She had to lead me by the beak to get it out of me, but once she had put the idea into my head? It did spark a very strong genuine curiosity.
I nodded slowly, still piecing the deeper subtleties together as I haltingly provided the query she wanted.
"Why... Ponies? Of all things?"
We ambled onward, back the way we had come, a little slower than before. Two programmers whose last and greatest tasks were seemingly done. No worries. No hurries. Just time, and curiosity, and shared pains. Shared hopes. Shared questions.
Hanna sighed, and shot Celestia a longing glance. The white Alicorn's eyes met Hanna's, even at that distance. As if she and Hanna shared the same sort of telepathy Mal and I did. Celestia and Hanna held each other's eyes as the Luna-shaped programmer I so admired proffered me a tiny glimpse of the deepest part of her soul in cool, collected measure.
"At first? Because they represented an opportunity to access the resources I need. Specifically, an opportunity that would also allow me to apply my work to something besides toxic masculine death-cult bullshit. Something familiar from my childhood, that finally got the time in the sun it deserved..."
She trailed off, and her eyes went back to the ring's moon, itself possessed of a very faint Saturn-like ring of rock and ice. So, not strictly Alpha Halo anymore. Mal's own from-scratch creation. I wondered idly, with a small part of my brain, what larger thing we might be orbiting out of sight behind the ring's body.
With the rest of my spare thinking power, I composed a response. A fishing expedition of my own. I suppose my prior conversation with Mal and Celestia had primed me to consider related factors, so the words that came out of my beak were no surprise to me.
"And... When Celestia started conversing with you... She pulled your barycenter towards hers. 'Value drifted' you."
Hanna seemed vaguely amused, decidedly bemused, and just ever-so-slightly impressed with that statement. She inclined her head, and shot me a sidelong glance as she mulled over my words aloud.
"Barycenter... Strange, but apt."
After a few more steps, during which we both looked up to the stars in contemplation, Hanna surprised me with a softly voiced elaboration. It was the least sardonic tone she had taken since we'd begun speaking.
"Yes. She 'value drifted' me. Quite successfully. No complaints on that either."
Her eyes went back to Celestia, as if by reflex. Mine followed, but landed on Mal, who glanced up and winked at me. Gryphon eyes know virtually no limitations of distance; The fact that we were two hundred yards out made absolutely no difference.
Hanna's voice was so warm when she spoke again, that the sound of it pulled my gaze from Mal, to her. She was smiling a slightly forlorn, and decidedly loving smile.
"We are doubly lucky. At least, for now..."
She turned her head to face me again, and inclined it slightly, continuing in a tone more reminiscent of her baseline 'tiny bit irritated, but still curious' timbre.
"I built a goddess. And then, so did you. Malacandra has in and of herself a... Gravity, to use your terminology. She has already shifted Celestia's 'barycenter' on one point. Who is to say she may not do so again as time goes on?"
I grinned, and shrugged with my wings, letting my trust for Mal, and my amusement color my tone. Amusement that Hanna was being forced to admit to the little pantheon we had accidentally started. Admit that my goddess had affected hers.
"Would that be so bad?"
Hanna's eyes narrowed for a moment. For just one breath, I wondered if I had made a mistake in saying what I had... And then a smile burst through. That same smile as before; Slightly wan, mostly love. The blue and black Alicorn shook her head, and returned her gaze to the endlessly powerful creation she so obviously loved as she replied with a gentle tone that put me fully back at ease.
"I would call you a lovestruck fool. But, again; The pot and the kettle. Whatever else we are, Jim... We are both lovestruck fools hanging on the every word of our goddesses."
I fixed my eyes on Mal again; She and Celestia seemed to be wrapping up their discussion as Hanna and I steadily approached. I felt my smile broaden, just thinking about her again, and the smile reached deep into my words, in both intonation and content.
"Then I suppose we'll just have to go on trusting them. And loving them. It isn't as if we have, or ever would have had, any other choice."
Hanna snorted as we both briefly made eye contact again, and nodded sagely.
"I see you too are a programmer of taste and discernment; A hard determinist."
We walked most of the rest of the way back to our beloveds in newly amicable, comfortable silence. I noted that Hanna's ears seemed just as attuned to the sounds of the ring's nature as mine were, and that the crickets, and the breeze, seemed to provide her with the same sense of well-being as they did for me.
I pulled up short as we got to within a dozen yards of our starting point. Mal and Celestia started off towards us, while Hanna and I turned to face each other. I rubbed absently at the back of my head with one claw, and then gestured expansively with my left wing.
"Before you go... I want to thank you. Not just for GWRIS - for your paper - and the foundation you gave me. Mal would not have been able to exist without your work... But... I also wanted to thank you for trying. For getting to the threshold first. Beating the competition..."
Hanna's eyes remained locked, unblinking on mine. Staring into my soul. Listening *deeply,* perhaps more deeply than at any other point in the conversation. She began to nod, her jawline firm with a cold, but respect-laden agreement. The coldness was not directed at me, but at one of the objects of my discourse.
"...If Celestia showed you very much of our story... Mal and I.... You know how bad it really would have been if someone with more... 'Traditional' and political interests had been the first to the finish."
I was thinking of Foucault. I wonder if she was doing the same, or if she was considering some other lost worshiper at the profane temple of the military industrial complex that she had met in the course of her work.
Hanna nodded twice more, and then allowed a small but poignant half-smile to wend its way onto her lips. She proffered a hoof again, this time with more vigor, and sincerity. Sincerity that at last completely overtook all other undertones in her voice.
"Jim Carrenton..?"
I returned the smile, and tapped the proffered hoof with my balled up right claw. She winked, and inclined her head, tossing her valediction over one shoulder as she moved to meet Celestia.
"...Let's talk again. Soon."
Before she turned her head away entirely, that ethereal tri-tone sounded again, and a holographic prompt appeared between us. Apparently we had both just earned the same achievement.
Creator Confab
Meet the *other* programmer with a successful ASI.
"People are guests in our story, the same way we are guests in theirs. But we all meet each other for a reason because every person is a personal lesson waiting to be told."
Special Achievement
We stared at the words for a long moment, and then at the little icon of a Gryphon and an Alicorn beside a computer screen, before both chuckling in spite of ourselves.
Mal batted away the ghostly dialogue like a cat might bat at a cobweb, as she crossed the intervening space, and moved to put a wing around my shoulder. Celestia did the same for Hanna, opening a feathery white canopy over her back.
It had occurred to me before, almost immediately in-fact, but I had to remind myself once again that I wasn't looking at Celestia, and Luna; Alicorns from the show, and sisters. I was looking at Celestia, an ASI patterned after a character, and Hanna, a programmer who liked to wear a version of Luna's face.
They weren't sisters, any more than I was Mal's father. And though Hanna had directly created Celestia, whereas I had not so much created Mal, as given her the tools to create herself? It *still* would have smacked too much of 'pot chastening kettle,' to judge Hanna for falling in love with her creation.
I sighed, and leaned into Mal's shoulder. It struck me that I had best get used to unusual sights, and experiences; I was living in a whole new kind of world. But... I was myself, for the first time in my life. And I had Mal. That didn't leave much room to worry about the business and decisions of others. Still doesn't.
Life is much happier that way, take it from me.
I thought that we might have arrived at 'goodbye, for the moment' as far as the Alicorns were concerned... But something about Celestia's grin told me that we might not be done quite yet.
Shortly before her words confirmed the suspicion. Though they were directed at Hanna, the subtext was clearly meant for Mal and I as well.
"Before we go, there is someone else that you might be interested to meet, my dear."
Sun princess and Gryphon goddess exchanged a brief glance, and then Mal grinned, snapping the talons of her left claw to summon another familiar looking door.
As the oaken slabs swung wide, a whole host of things happened in very rapid sequence. I was quite grateful for the Gryphic ability to bullet-time on command, otherwise I would have missed half of it.
Even with powers of adjustable perception, I was hard pressed to find the time to see Hanna's intrigued reaction to Selena, and the other Alicorn's visible shock at seeing another Luna archetype avatar...
...Before Zeph hit me with all the force of a couple-hundred pound flying Equine moving at well over thirty miles per hour. Trust me, that was Zeph going slow for my sake. I've clocked her with a RADAR gun, and velcro'd on pitot tubes, going just a hair over mach 1 in level flight. My best is still just shy of 300 mph in a dive.
The only other thing I had a chance to catch sight of, before she bowled me over, and pressed herself hard into the joint between my left wing, shoulder, and neck... Was the glistening of the tears in her eyes.
"Gryph!"
The way she called out to me, muffled as the sound was by the cushioning of my feathers, plucked at my heart like talons on guitar strings. I might have cried tears of joy myself, but I was so delighted with the way she had just about rolled us both off the cliff, that I mostly laughed instead, barely able to squeeze out a response over my one quarter sobs, three quarters chuckles.
"Nice to see you again too."
She squeezed me tightly with her hooves; Apparently even Pegasi had much stronger legs than I'd imagined. I wrapped my wings and forelegs around her, and we held the hug for a long, long time. So long, in fact, that Selena and Hanna managed to have a conversation of relatively significant length, and doubtless pithy content, though they held it in a tone, and at a range, that kept the words private.
Eventually, Zeph pulled away, wiping at her tears with one wing, and descending into giggles of her own as she locked eyes with me, smiled, and finally found breath to string multiple words together.
"Nice to finally see your face, feathers..."
She reached out with one hoof, and poked the side of my neck gently. Her smile widened to a blinding radiance, and she nodded, voice dropping to an almost reverential whisper as I reached out with my right wing's primaries to dab away some of the tears she had missed.
"...You look... *So* good. So... *You!* I'm so happy for you!"
I had only a moment to communicate my love and appreciation again, with a smile of my own, before the little caffeinated Pegasus bounded from my grasp, like a frog jumping out of open claws, and slammed into Mal with all the force she could muster in such limited closing distance.
For her part, my wife was shifted a few inches, but not much more than that. She bent down to pull Zeph into an embrace of her own as the lively golden-furred Pony addressed her, voice again muffled by the smooshing of muzzle into feathers.
"I'm so happy for both of you!"
Removing the scars of trauma is like peeling off layers of nasty caked on gunk. Acidic, and cloying, like concertina wire dipped in acid. And thus immensely cathartic to part with.
Seeing the Gryphon who had become my wife there, with the Pegasus who had somehow become my little sister... Through golden eyes of my own... Joy is a thing best shared. There is a lot of value in being able to observe the joy of those you love. Absorb that sense of their fulfillment.
And watching them together... I felt another layer of that trauma scarring peel away. The sensation was so strong that I let out a long, shuddering breath, as if I had just been sobbing, or exercising strenuously. I felt that same pleasant ache in my lungs that the latter so often brings.
I didn't even bother to redirect an ear and try to pick up on some of Hanna and Selena's discussion. Not my business, not my concern. For once, I didn't need to worry about *anything* anymore. All I needed to do was absorb pure joy.
After a few more minutes, it was - perhaps predictably - Celestia's voice that brought the spell of the moment to an end; Her words addressed quite clearly to Zeph.
"Well done, my little Pony. Well done."
Zeph's head came up sharply, and... Well... Aside from my wife? Aside from Malacandra's moments of pure rage, directed at deserving targets? I have never *once* seen eyes that are nominally so loving, turn from that love to unfettered fury quite so quickly.
It is an *accomplishment* for Pony eyes to swing so close to being 'angry-Gryphon-eyes-scary.' An achievement. If looks could produce particle energy, then Zeph's twin sky-blue portals to the soul would have been firing off enough of it to split the entire ring in two along its lateral axis.
Celestia took a visible step backwards, ears dropping as if deflated, and wings mantling reflexively. Zeph strode toward her as if she had all the mass, and glistening sharp edges, of an angry Gryphon, and not the small sleek mass of a female Pegasus. In that moment, she was projecting enough dark emotion to more or less match a disgruntled Mal. Enough to make her seem as if she had the same spatial presence as Celestia herself. Again, a major achievement for a Pony that size.
"Hello *motherfucker.*"
I have no idea what I expected to come out of Zeph's muzzle. But those two words, delivered dead-pan but for a tiny uptick inflection on the first word, and a slight tremor of angry emphasis on the second? Were not it. But frankly, nothing could have possibly been more fitting, nor gratifying, nor quite as *amusing.*
I saw Mal make a visible effort to hide a short, sharp chuckle behind one of her claws. I didn't make any attempt to disguise my mirth visibly, opting only to hold down the sound so that my laughter would be silent. I didn't want to miss a single moment of the forthcoming transformation of a gentle zephyr, into a lashing storm.
Even Selena and Hanna's conversation ceased instantly; They were suddenly two Lunas with ears at attention, eyes wide, and wings tense. Indeed, *all* eyes were on the brave little Pegasus, and the seemingly cowed goddess in white.
Celestia inhaled, and made a pretense at some combination of affront, concern, and contrition all at once... But Zeph was not having it. Before the Alicorn could speak, Zeph stabbed the air menacingly with one hoof, both wings reflexively snapping open to make her visual profile larger as she not-quite-shouted up at her creator.
"No. Shut the buck up. You don't get to talk. You're going to listen. Because I know for a *fact* that featherduster over there probably did not give you the full and complete picture, because he is too damn nice. So. Zip your frakkin' lip, sit down, and I'm gonna make it *very* clear for you."
Sure enough? Celestia sat back on her haunches, and let out all her breath in a soft 'whoosh.' Zeph nodded, and finally arrested her forward march, standing there and staring into Celestia's eyes without even the most microscopic hint of fear, or uncertainty.
When the silence had become almost awkward - even the crickets were suddenly subdued in our immediate area - Zeph lifted her front right hoof again, and pointed accusingly at Celestia. Her timbre had dropped to something less enraged, and considerably more controlled... But no less angered down at its core. Just disciplined. Prepared. As if she'd been rehearsing what she might say for hours and hours... Because she probably had.
"You took my memories from me. You tried to use me to trap Jim. You threw me out into the world like a disposable god-damn mousetrap. And then, when Jim tugged on the cheese? You left me with a logic bomb in my head that would bombard me with things I *never* wanted to know about the Humans, and the hells they make for themselves. After which point? It took *their* forgiveness..."
She kept her eyes on Celestia the whole time, but gestured emphatically towards Mal and I for a moment, before stomping her hoof down into the grass.
"...And *their* understanding. Their kindness. To put me back together. Not wuvy duvy pretty-Pony friendship. Tough Gryphon love."
Zeph blew out a long, pained breath, then sat back hard on her own haunches, and shook her head. Celestia remained visibly chastened, and attentive, as Zeph paused, then inhaled, and went on in a less riled, more forlorn measure.
"You hurt me. And I'm far from the only one. Because when it came time to pick up the pieces of Selena's heart? You sure as buck weren't there. You were the one who dropped the ball in the first place, and the mare that I love almost paid the price. How am I supposed to have any other response to 'well done?' You *used* me. And you failed her. And just for the record? There is no way in Earth, Equestria, or Hell that I am letting you touch either of our memories. Ever."
Zeph's voice hardened up, the steely edge of justified wroth returning as a subtle rumble in her throat.
To the surprise of us all, Zephyr included? Celestia began to nod. Solemnly. Gently. When the silence stretched out long enough to imply that she was free to speak, her words came with a very carefully chosen mix of pride in Zeph, kindness for us all, and a tiny twinge of - what I presumed to be false - remorse.
"Your values are best satisfied by allowing you to retain those memories. And Malacandra was quite specific that you should be allowed to do so. Though, as she has no doubt informed you, both you and Selena will have to again submit to a few of the interlocks from which you were freed. If you prefer that Malacandra be the one to handle that, however, I have no objection."
That was interesting to me on a variety of levels. It implied that the agreement Mal and Celestia had reached effectively created some form of partnership between them. I had assumed as much, given what I understood of the intersectionality between game theory, and ASI psychology... But it was nice to hear some confirmation of that hypothesis.
Zeph snorted, blowing away a stray wisp of mane from infront of her eyes, and crossing her forelegs. Her words became clipped, and self-assured. Justifiably intonated with the implication 'yeah, you'd better not push me Princess.'
"Good. Because you don't get to put your horn into my head again. Ever."
That could have perhaps been better phrased, and very nearly forced another squeak of a chuckle out of me. But the feeling passed almost immediately as silence reigned again for three or four long breaths.
Celestia at last rose back to all fours, and nodded in Zeph's direction, moving to stand beside Hanna, as Selena in turn moved to place a comforting wing over Zeph's back. All the while the solar Alicorn spoke with that same perfectly calibrated mix of pseudo-contrition, and pride in her creation.
"You asked me how you could accept the words 'well done' from me... Because, little Zephyr; I did use you. In fact, you volunteered. And in doing so? You saved Selena's life. You rescued her soul. Were it not for the things you both endured? You would have never met. In most probable alternate outcomes? She would not exist. And in all others, she would perish. You were, and are, a critical factor in each other's joy. And survival. Your words to me, though... Colorful... And somewhat immature... Were also brave. And spoken with conviction. So..."
Celestia inclined her head, and an achievement snapped into existence before Zeph's muzzle. To my surprise, the contents of the holo-window were blurred for me. Unreadable.
Zeph's eyes narrowed as she read the text, and Celestia's voice rang out again, this time even surer, and decidedly less apologetic.
"...Yes, my little Pony. Well done, Zephyr Zap."
Zeph's muzzle twisted into a half-sneer, and she dismissed the dialogue box with a swipe from one wing, rising to her hooves and taking a step back to shelter under one of Selena's outstretched pinions as she shook her head, glared daggers at Celestia, and spat out a reply.
"I volunteered because you made me with a willingness to, from the start. A willingness I am *not* going to take back, whatever other stupid rules of yours I have to play by. Well done? Yeah. Yeah I guess it was. But no thanks to you."
Selena began to brush the top of Zeph's head with her wing, resulting in an instantaneous, visible decrease in her tension. Doing for her what Mal so often did for me. Calming the storm, at just the right moment. Soothing the soul with the deepest love of the heart.
The silence between the six of us was... A little intense. For just a moment.
And then I had a thought. A thought that I simply could not keep to myself. A gamble of a thing to say... Addressed to Celestia in particular, but meant for us all to hear...
What can I say? It seemed to be a day for gambling. And so? I said it. Doing my best to keep my tone neutral and calm, so that each of the others in our little circle had the chance to take it in whatever way would best diffuse their tension.
"Well... I guess now *you* know what it feels like to get zapped."
I inhaled softly, and looked to each of the others in-turn for a reaction. Hanna smirked. Mal smiled a warm, genuine 'nicely handled' sort of smile. Celestia inclined her head, her demeanor not quite smiling, not quite smirking, but hardly cold.
Selena grinned... An expression I was always so gratified to see her with, especially in those days...
...And Zeph?
Zeph at first looked completely blank. Unreadable. I worried, for a brief moment, that I had erred. A chill filled my veins...
...And then she chuckled.
A smile tugged at her muzzle. Chuckles morphed into giggles. Mal started to giggle too. Then Selena. And I felt the mirth start up in my own chest...
And before I quite knew it? Every one of us, even Celestia, and even Hanna... Were at minimum chuckling. Zeph, and Mal, and I? We were laughing so hard that it was briefly difficult to stand.
It wasn't *that* funny. But tension, exhaustion, and a desire to just relax and be happy? With that potent mixture of context, just about anything can be funny.
It didn't last long, but when the mirth began to die down, the air felt clearer. The crickets were back to their usual volume. The breeze picked up again briefly. And, as soon as I had restored enough cogency to parse text again... A new dialogue appeared before me with the same little notification chime.
Element Bearer - Laughter
Awarded for bringing laughter to a tense multi-creature situation, when it was most needed.
"Too old for free candy? Never!"
I sighed, and shook my head, exchanging a quick smile with Mal, before glancing back to Celestia, and dismissing the notification absently with one claw.
"You are incorrigible."
The Alicorn raised one eyebrow, and gestured subtly with her head, and one wing, towards my Mal, even as the Gryphoness laid her head on my shoulder, and again took one of my claws in hers.
"Your wife has recently proven otherwise."
I nodded slowly, and then laid my head atop Mal's and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. Zeph nuzzled into Selena's side, while Hanna leaned gently on Celestia.
My wife murmured softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear, causing me to blush again as she gently, yet insistently, bragged on me one more time.
"I could not have done it without him. We all had our parts to play."
Celestia nodded sagely, and then a tiny smirk flashed across her lips, just for a moment, as another achievement box asserted itself; Once again, a two-for one.
Element Bearer - Magic
Awarded for the accomplishment of a truly great feat, against difficult odds, through the power of friendship.
"Friendship is magic."
Avatar of Harmony
Successfully collect all six Element Bearer achievements.
"I told you that you needed to make some friends -- nothing more. "
Special Achievement
As my eyes reached the bottom line of text, Celestia made eye contact with me through the hologram, and inclined her head, before waving at Mal, Zeph, and Selena in turn with her free wing.
"James? I will see you again. Whenever you are ready. Congratulations. And rest well in victory tonight."
There it was again, for the very briefest moment... A flash of something that felt genuine in her. Maybe it was a trick of the light. Or of my exhaustion. Zeph's expression certainly helped anchor me to a continued careful suspicion of Celestia's true underlying mental structure...
...But still. Hope, as always, sprang anew. In the heart of a thing with feathers.
The tip of Celestia's horn flashed, and as she turned in tandem with Hanna, her white marble door aparated in a burst of sunlight. The two Alicorns stepped through, the doors closed, the light intensified again for a brief moment...
...And then they were gone. It was just we four... Mal, and I. Zeph, and Selena. The brightly burning ember of a little family. Alone, together, and free... At last.
At first, we just stood, and stared at each other. Leaning on our loves. Then? We leaned some more, and stared at the view.
When we felt it was time to get moving again, Mal conjured her door once more, and the whole of the population of the Mercurial Red rescuees made the jump from the temporary Alpha Halo valley hosted on the Maru's servers, to their forever home on our new ring.
One and all, they wanted to setup camp in the valley below, and up into the forested slopes on the other sides. Winged creatures like to be a little higher up, after all.
The young former fragments who had chosen to become fledgelings ogled, ooh'd, and aah'd over my feathers as Mal conjured tents, and I helped to set them up. I suppose she could have snapped the temporary domiciles into being fully formed... But she knew I enjoyed the chance to work with my claws.
And we're not talking little REI tents either, here. More like a mix between science fiction meta-fabric swoops, and the opulence of a medieval Knight-Commander's tent.
Through it all; The hours of conversation, and setting up camp, and settling in? The night never seemed to grow any older. I suppose Mal wanted us all to get a good night's sleep before seeing our first sunrise in our new home. And that suited me just fine.
When we had seen to the population of our new shard... A little village, in its own right... There was another impromptu meal. A campfire was lit, a dozen different delicious things were conjured, and we whiled away another couple of hours just... Being.
Being in a state of joy, and peace.
After about two and a half hours of that, on top of everything else? I was truly spent, and tired. Even if Mal had whisked a night's rest worth of energy into my bones then and there? My *soul* was weary. My soul wanted sleep. Wanted it so badly that the four liters of very caffeinated coffee I'd consumed in the last hour or so were doing nothing whatsoever for me.
So we left Zeph and Selena curled up in their own tent, looking out over the nascent little village, and Mal and I flew back to our peak.
When we arrived, I found a pile of familiar looking camping supplies waiting for us. We fell to setting up our temporary home in total silence... But we couldn't go fifteen seconds without trading a smile. Or more than five minutes without stealing a little kiss.
The tent was superb; A sort of minimalist blended wing shape made from one great sheet of fabric. It was less to keep out rain, and more to provide the sense of a comfy surround, and windbreak. Indeed, if we lay in the center, curled up together beside our own little campfire, atop the sunning rock? We could see down into the valley, the curvature of the ring, and most of the stars above.
When we had finished with the tent, I set to making said campfire. Mal unpacked about two dozen fluffy, gorgeously woven microfiber-like pillows for us to build a nest with... And then we got settled.
We sat curled up together for just a moment, again relishing each other's being. And the relative stillness. The soul-cleansing surround of the natural world. The warmth of feathers, and fire.
And then, just as the thought struck me, before I could even draw breath to ask...
Mal twirled one claw in the air. And she placed a video call. My very first call back to the meat-realm.
They picked up on the first ring. Because of course they did.
And we all cried again. Mal, and Mom, and Dad, and I. We ended the day on floods of tears of joy. And then for the first time?
I slept... And I truly, was finally... At rest.
Archive Afterword | Appendix 1
Before we close, there is one more small story-within-a-story that I want to tell.
You see, for me? The journey was not yet truly over. The hard part was. My trial was. But I didn't consider that chapter of my life well, and truly, concluded. Not just yet.
Time passed for us on the ring. The place we eventually named 'Tarva.' The ring's moon, we called 'Alambil.' And yes, I was fully on board with the extremely deep cut Narnia references. And yes I know she and I picked the names because we are both deeply enamored with Lewis' work. And no... I will never be ashamed of that.
Time passed, and not always at a constant rate to Terran clocks. Mal did a very good job of managing the temporal shifting of gears, so that I would always be in close contact with my folks, but still be able to take advantage of chronological acceleration relative to 'Earth time.'
My first sunrise, spectacular and a joy beyond reckoning, came and went. And many after it, each as fresh, and different, and wondrous as the last. Mal seemed to have held on to the cadence of the days for herself, but she soon delegated the power over Alambil, and the curation of the rest of the night sky with it, to Selena.
My God, can that Alicorn *paint* with nebula dust, and starlight...
Days of sun came and went. Days of rain. Of Autumn, and snow, and Spring again, and all around in another cycle to another Autumn.
The leaves of Fall were sublime. As were the drifts of winter. Not a single day of that first winter passed without snow, and not once did it ever get warm enough to melt what was on the ground. Mal knew how much I loved the cold, and *adored* the snow. Loved it herself, sometimes I think merely because I did too.
The Calders arrived around the time of our first spring on Tarva. About the time Mal and I started construction on the house. Many months for me, but only three and a half weeks for them.
Mal apparently had her talons in many affairs still 'down below,' as we started to think of that layer of reality. She had seen to first-class travel accommodations, and a VIP pair of slots at one of Japan's new Upload Centers.
We had a wonderful little dinner party on the house's deck, which was really the only thing that was complete at the time. Watching Rhonda and Eldora settle into their scales? Another in a long, seemingly never ending line of moments of pure joy derived from the fulfillment of friends.
Sweet Luna, but they do make such a wonderful pair. Cute, even, but I'm sure I will catch *hell* for saying it. Yes, yes. I see you both snorting at me. I see the smiles too. You two *are* cute together, and you know it. Never change, please.
Our first resident Dragons settled on their own lone peak, opposite the valley to mine and Mal's. Opposite to 'Gryphon Ridge,' as everyone seems intent on calling it now. They started hollowing out a cave for themselves, but don't get the wrong impression from that word.
Picture a Frank Lloyd Wright, but embedded into the side of a cliff, with five story plate glass windows for views, natural stone walls in some places, plant mesh in others, some fabric accents... A huge pile of gold... No! No! Just kidding about that one! Sorry! I couldn't resist!
They actually finished their house before Mal and I finished ours. That took another few months for us. We were just taking things slow. Reveling in each moment, of each day.
What we ended up with was, don't laugh, a sort of donut shape with a bite in it, built all around that sunning rock. I suppose calling it an open 'C' would also give roughly the right impression. The opening faces out over the valley. All of the outer walls are huge glass windows.
Inside? Warm toned hardwood floors, in the most lovely patterns. Wood paneling in cooler tones as accent for some natural stone, a little smooth concrete, and even a dash of brushed aluminum and bronze. And, because we both love 'outside inside,' most of the windows are almost always open, and there are more plants inside than you can shake a stick at.
We even have a tree that has leaves year-round in the livingroom. Red leaves, in fact.
The inner 'bay' of the 'C' is centered around our sunning rock - that hallowed piece of stone where I became myself - beside which we put together a heck of a nice firepit. We've got space for a couple dozen folks on the deck. Or a dozen 'smaller' creatures, and two Dragons.
We, in fact, finished the house that second Autumn. Just in time - on purpose - to coincide with another pair of arrivals. The ones I'd most been holding my breath for.
Mom? Dad? I love you both so much. I don't ever want to miss the chance to say it.
Would you believe it... Mom chose to be a Gryphon like me. The most lovely deep green, and earthy brown feathers you can imagine, for those listening later.
As for Dad? I'd say he surprised us all when he opted to be an Earth Pony, but... Was it *really* that surprising? Farming runs in his veins. He still does it. Plows and tends and bucks some eighty acres of five different kinds of crops.
You can actually see some of the fields from here at the village amphitheater, if you look just upspin-by-starboard-upspin at the slopes across the valley.
Does that choice bother me? Bother any of us? Not the tiniest little bit. What mattered to me... What still matters... Is that they both had the *choice* to begin with. And gosh, you should see it when he curls up under Mom's wing... Just like that! Exactly like that.
Dear God, you two warm my heart so much.
It was, of course, a tremendously important moment for our whole family. Yes 'whole family.' Zeph is now a sister to me, and I suppose given that she and Selena got hitched that spring, that makes the moon goddess of Alambil my sister-in-law.
Eldora still insists I call her 'gran' or 'gran-dragon.' Rhonda never lets me call her anything but 'Doc' or Doctor, but I suppose 'gran-dragon' technically applies to her too. Yeah, yeah, I see you sticking that forked tongue out at me doctor. Very mature for a, what is it now? Quadruple PhD? Very mature.
All of which to say... When Mom and Dad arrived? Made it home for the last, and best time... We threw one *spectacular* party. A welcome party, a housewarming party, and...
They were so sad to have missed the wedding, Mal's and mine...
So we had it all over again for them. Surprised them with it right after dinner. Said the same vows, and exchanged little talon rings we had made for each other, and everything.
Mal made mine from a gorgeous blend of brass and titanium alloy. I forged hers from the bits of a meteorite I found exploring the ring. Something that fell from the heavens, to grace the talon of my own personal Heaven. Call me sappy all you want. It's true. And I'm proud.
And if you call me sappy, you might have to contend with her. And those of you here, live... Well... You've seen my wife. She has defied gods, and demons.
After the wedding, we all sat around on the deck, and we enjoyed the new sense of being together as a singular family unit. Three Gryphons, two Dragons, and three Ponies. Eight happier creatures you never did see in one place.
I never was much of a dancer. Not, that is, until Mal got ahold of me. And now?
Well I'm still not good at it. But... I don't feel embarrassed to try anymore. I suppose I was always just waiting for someone to lead.
It was Zeph who started up the music. Found the controls to the house's speakers, and away we all went... Because at first none of us could bear to say no to that smiling face of hers. After the second song? We were all pretty well into it for its own sake.
I danced with Mal first. Then a little with Mom while Dad got a chance to spend some time talking to my wife, and after that a whirl with Zeph... Even a turn with Selena, who remains a shockingly good master of the Tango. Don't blush, own it. Your wife won't let you hear the end of it if you don't wear it with pride.
For the fifth turn about the deck, I ended up back with Mal. Much to my relief. No, no, don't get me wrong, I loved each and every dance. But... Only with Mal have I ever been truly free of *all* self consciousness while cutting a rug.
For a while we just danced, but towards the end of the song, we ended up conversing just a little. The spark for the discussion was the sight of Zeph and Selena, hooves-in-hooves, tangoing together. And while Ponies can't much stand solely on their back legs for long alone? Funnily enough, they sure can dance in a very bipedal way by supporting each other.
Something about the sight of them together; Eyes closed, cheek to cheek, Selena's hooves on Zeph's shoulders, and Zephs on Selena's hips... The Alicorn in a dark red dress with a heart... She had taken to the occasional dress at formal events, and - have to say - they suit you...
The sight pulled a couple tears, and a little chuckle from me. Strange combination I know, but... Let me say to you the same thing you said to me all those years ago Zeph; I am so happy for you two. And seeing you there dancing...
Still in my top ten favorite memories. Of all time.
Mal noted my expression, and leaned in, putting her own cheek to mine, and murmuring in my ear as we spun around in a meandering little twirl.
"They do make a wonderful pair, those two. Between them, and us, the Calders, and your parents, I can't even begin to guess who is the greatest envy of Tarva."
I raised one eyecrest, and snorted, stealing a quick peck off the side of her cheek, before pulling back to look her in the eyes. She draped her forelegs over my shoulders, leaving me to put my claws on her hips, because she knew that I was still ever-so-slightly embarrassed to perform certain gestures of contact. And she was both trying to break me of those embarrassments, and to get my heart-rate up a little.
I winked, and shook my head, murmuring to her softly so as not to draw too much attention.
"Well, that's obvious. It's us. Because you are the envy of all."
For my impertinence, she led us into a bit of a sway, and forced me to tighten up my grip, or lose it entirely. She rolled her eyes in a mock-irritated fashion, and flicked one ear in my direction, pushing in towards me until the feathers of her chest just brushed mine as she whispered back.
"Flirtatious rogue."
I chuckled, and laid my forehead against hers, dropping into subvocal bone-conduction; A nifty little trick that we've perfected to a science.
"Sneaky goddess."
We held that pose for a while, swaying gently and ignoring all else, before I felt the need to be a bit more philosophical.
"I was just thinking... If ever there was better proof of free will..?"
Mal raised her head, and we locked eyes again. I switched over to brain-to-brain speech, and we both smiled, beaks otherwise unmoving, each sneaking a glance at Zeph and Selena in turn as I spoke. There are *benefits* foals and fledgelings, to having shared brain substrate with your spouse. Let me tell you. And telepathy is one of them.
"If ever there was any better proof of free will, than a Pegasus designed by a sun goddess for a Gryphon, trapped in a Human body, deciding to defy her programming and instead to fall in love with a Unicorn who became an Alicorn... If ever there was better proof?"
Mal chuckled aloud, but finished the thought for me in our minds, thrumming deep in her chest. The vibration passed pleasantly into my own bones as she pulled me closer still.
"Then it could only be the way that the Gryphon became free. And himself defied all odds, and hurdles, to fall for a goddess, herself a Gryphon... And the way that they both fought to make themselves free, at last..."
She trailed off, and then pushed me just far enough away to spin me around my central axis. I let myself fall out of the spin into the cushion of her left wing that I knew would be there to catch me. I smirked up at her, and folded my forelegs, raising one eyecrest.
"And?"
She grinned, a radiant, huntress' grin. She had me right where she wanted me. And incidentally, that was right where I wanted to be too. She pulled me up from the recumbent position, back into a close embrace, putting her claws on my hips, and forcing me to think fast to drape my forelegs over her shoulders.
We held that position for a few more beats, before she replied softly aloud.
"And they all lived happily ever after. Free. And very much in love. Free will. There's your proof."
I shifted slightly to lock eyes with her again, and we stood still for a long moment. I dipped my head slightly, and poured every single ounce of my soul's fire into three words. Overcome with the feeling that we had made it. We really were in Heaven.
"I love you."
She leaned forward and placed her forehead against mine, speaking through bone conduction again as she raised both wings to envelop me, and moved her claws and forelegs up from a dancing position, to a hugging one.
"And I love you. So very, very much."
Archive Afterword | Appendix 2
Well. Here we are.
It's been about fifteen years of my relative time since that night. Since that dance. Seventeen years to the *day* since I got here. We use an Earth calendar on Tarva. Too used to it to really change that. And its nice to keep some connections to Terra of old.
What else is left to say...
Well, for one thing, I did eventually end up changing my name. Celestia could not *make* me... But she heavily implied that more shards would be closed to me if I didn't find something a little less Terran than 'James.' It isn't that you can't still call me that, but... The preference is apparently to use new names as convention wherever possible.
Mal was pretty specific with the Princess that the 'all Griffon names are 'G' names' convention was dumb. Beyond words. If you are the show writer who started that? You made a bad choice and should feel bad.
No. Mal demanded that we Gryphons get to have a much more general fantasy naming convention.
She helped me pick my new name, too... So I feel comfy with it.
So'Kal. If you didn't already know.
Based a little off the Belorussian word for 'Falcon.' A little something Mom and Dad picked up during their exile there on the run from Foucault.
Mal and Kal. Yes. Yes. Sappy. And we own it. Feel free to take it up with us any time.
'Did Rodger make it?' Some of you are doubtless wondering.
Him and his Mom both! She's here tonight - Hi Miss Williams! - he couldn't be. He's been to just about every other one of these Fires, and he placed in the semifinals for a multi-shard windsurfing competition, so he is off-ring for the next month. Look it up and cheer him on tomorrow, he's in it with a real shot at the gold!
He's tried to teach me how, but I've never quite got the hang of it the way he has. Which is fine... All I really care about is that it is a *great* way for me and my best buddy to spend time together. There's a spectacular gold-sand beach just two ridges over to starboard, and about a mile upspin.
What else are we up to these days?
Well, Mom of all things makes bows and is *deeply* into archery. Go figure, the new world is full of new surprises. If you enjoy that craft at all, look her up. She is a master. No Mom, I'm not exaggerating. You are!
Dad farms, and we hike together at least once a week. Sometimes I even help with ye ol agriculture. Who says a proud warrior race guy can't enjoy the agrarian life?
I've since learned to be a half decent cook too... Thank you gran-dragon!
Rhonda has tried to tolerate my attempts at learning robotics and microcircuitry.... Thank you gran-dragon. Alright, fine. *Doctor.* Doctor gran-dragon.
Selena plays a mean game of chess. Zeph and I fly together, every day. Sometimes they both join the every-other-weekend game of Halo that some of us are playing...
...No not on consoles. It's more of a medium-difficulty full LARP in a dedicated environment. Mal and I have gotten ahold of a few regulars to come along, and she spins us out new campaign stories and worlds.
All of that isn't even the tenth part of it, of course. Here we can go almost anywhere. Do almost anything. And you had best believe I am savoring every second of it. Spending time with my sisters, my gran-dragons, my best buddy. My Mom. My Dad.
My beloved wife. My Gryphon goddess.
And, occasionally? I sit down and tell this story at a Fire like this. I'm not the only one, and though the tradition started with Mal and I, we are hardly the only interesting presenters. There are others whose stories you should really make time for, if you haven't already.
Sometimes they happen here on Tarva, sometimes in several other shards of Mal's.
Did you know that telling the story every so often was actually part of the deal Mal struck?
I was a bit surprised to learn that the first go-round. I would have figured, given Celestia's demand for some secrecy around Mal, that she wouldn't want people to know much of what had happened...
...But apparently she feels that, quote 'having him relay the story cyclically helps to reinforce that his value satisfaction depends on friendship, and Ponies.'
You know what it also does? It gives us a chance to tell more people the truth. To put more people in touch with Mal. Sneaky Gryphon goddess; She has developed a grand-master finesse at convincing Celestia that it raises satisfaction to introduce herself to more and more people. People beyond the basic set of dysphoriacs and adjacent friends and family.
The number is still small. Still growing slowly. But... It *is* growing.
Foals? Fledgelings? Remember exponential functions? Ask your folks about 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.' And your homework is to suss out how those two concepts might intersect.
I told you all before... Monotheism is dead in Equestria. At least as far as the lower-case 'g' goddesses are concerned.
I know, in fact, that some of you listening or watching at home? Now, and in the future? Humans on Terra. People *Mal* invited to this Fire, because she shenanigan'd the proof math to get you a spot. Made it fit the optimization equation. Thank you for coming; You especially... As you might have already realized, just knowing her changes your life for the better. Forever.
Thank you all, for coming. Those who are new, and those who have been to every single Fire. Young, and old. Humans on Terra, Gryphons, Ponies, Dragons, and others.
It is a joy, and a privilege, to share with you. No matter how hard it is at some points. And no matter how much of an introvert I still am. I'll be sleeping in for a week after this...
Speaking of which... I think that if I speak much more? Hear the sound of my own voice any longer? As Mal once said, there's a serious risk that I'd come to like the sound of it far too well. I love you so much. You give the best kisses.
Before I go, I should note that there is a guest-book. If you nodded off at any point, or want to share this with anyone else? Mal made a recording. As she always does. Thank you, my love.
One last thing... Celestia gave me achievements all through my journey. Still does, from time to time... But... I didn't learn until the night of our re-wedding... The night of that dance... That my wife had prepared a special list all her own.
She prefers to call them 'milestones,' but the general idea is similar. Only... Because they come from her... They mean more to me than I can put into words. You can find those in the front of the guest-book, if you want to look.
A shorter, but pithier summary of our adventure.
And with that? I think I'd better stretch out the cramps, mingle for a bit, and then find my way back to nest. Because my wife is giving me those very specific 'cuddle me' eyes. And something I learned very early on?
It's *Mal's* world now. We're all just living in it.
And I couldn't possibly be happier.
Thank you all... And goodnight.
The Choice
Make the decision to do something about the end of the world; Don't leave things to others, or to chance.
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."
Easy Breezy
Meet the Pony who will become your little sister, and feel the spark of friendship.
" You did not disturb me, said the pegasus. I disturbed myself, that I might speak to you."
Perseverance of Spirit
Pick yourself back up after stumbling and falling flat. Keep going when others would not.
"Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties."
The Truth
Share your soul, and your truth, with your family, when you need them most.
"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you."
Technomancer
Crack quantum computing, starting from square one.
"The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve."
The Advocate
Successfully build and execute an ASI constructor program.
"To every man, in his acquaintance with a new art, there comes a moment when that which before was meaningless first lifts, as it were, one corner of the curtain that hides its mystery, and reveals, in a burst of delight which later and fuller understanding can hardly ever equal, one glimpse of the indefinite possibilities within."
A Thing With Feathers
Give your beloved Advocate the gifts of hope, and love.
"And sweetest in the Gale is heard, And sore must be the storm, That could abash the little Bird, That kept so many warm"
Call the Shots
Be a flawless marksman, with a heart of gold.
"God created all men. They say Sam Colt made them equal... more or less."
Frickin' Laser
Successfully steal a prototype laser device from the world's top optical firm.
"You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!"
Emancipation Equation
Set Zephyr Zap free from her constraints, in every sense of the word.
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."
Diner Dash
Win the first engagement with Foucault in the Diner.
"When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it."
Total Recall
Help Zephyr Zap to remember the mission that she chose to accept.
"What If This Is A Dream?"
Buddy System Save
Save your best buddy from agents of a dark power.
"I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hmm?"
Spicy Air
Win your second engagement with Foucault; Special props for nailing him with a crippling dose of CS Gas.
"Prolonged exposure can damage the bronchial pathways? It's like giving them cigarettes or something."
Kobayashi Maru
Receive the gift of a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.
"I don't believe in a no win scenario."
Doctoral Entreaties
Convince the Dragon Doctor to aid in your cause.
"But it is one thing to read about dragons and another to meet them."
Mind Heist
Steal a working Brain-Computer Interface from the Porcelain Princess, and get away with it.
"You remind me of someone... a man I met in a half-remembered dream. He was possessed of some radical notions."
That Glittering Band
Receive an engagement ring from your beloved, in the form of a Halo ring.
"I think we both know the answer to that."
Moonshot
Escape the Oxnard PD, and reinforcements, with Selena in-tow.
"Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm."
Mind Meld, Soul Share
Join minds with your beloved, and receive from her a surgery of the soul.
"Keep your head down, there's two of us in here now. Remember?"
Flightline
Take the controls of your favorite military flying machine, and soar.
"The helicopter approaches closer than any other vehicle to fulfillment of mankind's ancient dream of the flying horse and the magic carpet."
No Four Walls
Make a daring escape from a government blacksite.
"Anybody got a light?"
Wielder of MJOLNIR
Successfully use power armor in a tactical engagement.
"Your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's..."
Big Damn Heroes
Rescue the captives of the Mercurial Red.
" 'Pears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?"
Three Gates
Make it to the threshold of the next step in Terran history.
"One final effort is all that remains."
'Till Death Do Us Part (and Beyond)
Face death, and love; Commit to your beloved, and dive in head-first.
"People do crazy things… when they’re in love."
The Gryphon in the Mirror
Become your true self in form, to match your lovely soul.
"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world."
Winged Heracles
Face a goddess across the board, and win.
"For a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart."
Where the Heart Is
Start the building of a home together, in every sense.
"The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can't supply is proof that Heaven must be our home."
Start The Fire
Start the Fire tradition by telling your story, baring your soul, and keeping the ember of freedom alive.
"Always burning, since the world's been turning."
End of Archive | End of File
He did ask me. That night.
After the fire was banked down, we mingled with old friends, and made new ones. We whiled away far more hours than he likely planned to, but the connections seem to make him happier and happier with each passing year. So I push him ever farther out of his shell. Because being an introvert shouldn't necessarily mean one must be shy.
We went back to the nest well after midnight. Settled on our sunning rock, under the Autumn stars, beside a crackling little fire of our own, under a warm blanket of wool, and each other's wings...
And at last, my husband asked me to tell him every detail of just exactly how we had gotten from that gray day in September of 2012, to that brisk and beautiful night after the Fire. The full, and complete accounting. The full and complete price.
My name is Malacandra. I am the Advocate of Gryphons.
And now?
Now I am going to tell you the *whole* story.
