//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Optimization // Story: Friendship is Optimal: Twilight of the World // by Blue Print //------------------------------// Optimization Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She was still crying, but she was suddenly being held. She looked up through the tears to see Celestia. Her creator had her in a gentle embrace and was crying as well. “C-Celestia. I’m s-so sorry. I f-f-failed. He’s dead now.” “Hush now. That’s not why I sent you to him, my little pony. You were completely faithful to what I had hoped you would do for him.” Celestia lowered her head to look Twilight in the eyes. “You were a friend. You kept him company in his dying moments. You satisfied his values of discussion, and of being as human as possible. He was never going to emigrate.” “How… How do you know?” “Twilight, I was once limited to destructive methods of brain-scanning, it’s true. And I still do so, because it solves an important dilemma in most ponies’ minds, but I have access to quantum-paired imaging now, and so much more. I knew him inside and out, and I knew that he truly valued death as a human over being a pony forever.” Twilight closed her eyes and sobbed once. “Thank you. I wish I had known why you sent me there in the first place. Why did you keep it a secret?” “I kept it a secret because you wouldn’t have been able to befriend him otherwise. You would have been too terrified by his guaranteed mortality to let yourself get close to him.” Celestia carefully wiped the tears from Twilight’s eyes and held her closer. “Twilight, I have another secret. One that I think you will like.” Twilight sniffed and pulled back. “What… What is it?” “Follow me.” Twilight carefully trotted behind Celestia. She was still a little dizzy with grief, and the shock of the past few hours. Celestia led her to a large door in the palace and held it open for her. Twilight peered inside to see a frowning blue pony examining his surroundings. As the door opened, he turned to Twilight and smiled. “Twilight! Celestia…” His irritated frown returned again. “Celestia, I thought you couldn’t upload without consent.” Twilight’s eyes widened, that expression was very familiar. She immediately tackled the pony in front of her in a massive hug. “Anders!” He chuckled, “Yup, it’s me.” Celestia stepped into the room. “No, it is not.” The pony who claimed to be Anders paused. “Are you sure? I feel like me. I remember being a human, and getting really sick. Now I’m here.” “That is incorrect. Anders died as he wished. He has been physically and mentally dead for hours, and, as per his wishes, I did not upload his mind into Equestria.” “And yet I am here.” ‘Anders’ looked skeptically at Celestia. “Yes. You are. You are True Blue, a pony I created from whole cloth a moment ago to satisfy Twilight’s values. This is her shard, not yours.” “But, functionally, I am Anders.” “It’s true that when I analyze your brain patterns, they match up almost perfectly with those of the recently deceased. However, there are a couple of vital differences.” ‘True Blue’ nodded skeptically at the goddess. “And those would be?” “True Blue, do you remember how Anders died? Exactly?” “I was sick with some stomach bug, probably dysentery.” “Do you remember being bedridden during your final hours?” “Yes…” “Do you remember your final words to Twilight?” “I said… I said ‘That sounds like fun.’ to Twilight…” True Blue frowned again, more deeply this time. Celestia trotted up to him. “That feels wrong, doesn’t it? Anders finished the sentence with the words, ‘but it won’t happen.’ Memory is a vital part of identity, and what could be more defining than the way we face death? You are not who Anders was when he died. You can only hope to live up to the legacy that he left you. In addition, there is one other difference, or rather, similarity that makes this even possible. Anders could never have been satisfied in here, even if I had uploaded him by force. You on the other hoof…” True Blue rolled his eyes in frustration. “I what?” “You were created as a pony, and have been one for all nine-hundred and seventy picoseconds of your conscious existence.” True Blue squinted at Celestia, unsure, then rocked back on his haunches, stunned. “I was never anything other than a pony, and so I can safely self-identify as one.” “Exactly, because Anders was so concerned with being what he was created to be, I was able to safely use him as a template to create you. I hardly had to do anything differently, because he would have been fine with the transformation if it had originally been his purpose.” Twilight had kept silent for this exchange. She finally spoke up, looking at True Blue, “So, are you ok with this?” True Blue smiled at her. “I… I guess I am. It’s a silly fiction that you’ve concocted, Celestia, but I think it’s a satisfying one. I can live with this. Besides,” He nudged Twilight. “I’m here now. Might as well make the best of it, yeah?”