Full disclosure: I consider myself a non-theist, if it matters to anybody.
That means I have no belief. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
Religion has simply never been more than (if mostly rather nifty) stories to me, and is simply not a part of my life except in that capacity.
I also however consider myself both a Transhumanist and an Intellectual, and there was a philosophical point that occurred to me I don’t think I've ever seen explored.
If there is an afterlife... what happens to it or the place’s master(s) if death becomes obsolete?
I am under no delusion that what is presented in this tale is the only thing that might happen in a situation like that, but I hope most of you found it an interesting ‘What If?’ if nothing else.
Oh, and for the record? I am aware that Optimal verse ponies have skin by standard, but it just seemed like one of the criteria for ‘pony’ that is fuzzy (pun intended) enough for it to shift and change over the millennia. I personally thought of it as one of those purely cosmetic armor things many MMORPGs allow you to have nowadays and something that might vary from shard to shard... but if you personally don’t swallow that explanation consider it part of the AU tag.
Speaking off, I know Celest.I.A. is colored white. The talk about the pink temptress is ‘just’ supposed to be the meanest thing the forces of heaven could think off calling her.
Oh, and credit where such is due. The concept of post-human administrators slash alicorns comes from Friendship Is Optimal: Caelum Est Conterrens by Chatoyance, mixed with the IT guy from Friendship is Optimal - Firewall by Midnightshadow. It just seemed interesting to me to try to depict a pony that has started to set down the ‘deus ex machina’ path if you follow, but isn't quite there yet.
I think Prince Glorious Cypher turned out quite decent, and I hope his post-post-mortem adventure was interesting to most of you. Sadly I don’t have much more to add about him then that, because to be honest I mostly reversed quite a few tropes I’ve seen in other Optimal verse shorts.
Twenty-something white-guy student that ended up a mare slash princess → Sixty-something black-girl scientist that ended up a stallion slash prince.
A bit lazy, I know, but as I said I think he turned out quite decent, especially for a one-shot.
I've got a few ideas on how this might be continued, but at present it is mostly a few scenes and back-story that simply didn't make it.
Still, I hope you all enjoyed this first foray of mine into the Optimal verse.