Chapter 1
“Little Misty! Stop bouncing around and eat your oatmeal!”
“Mama, when is the parade? I can’t wait!”
Misty’s mother nuzzled her and said, “Then eat your breakfast already, so we can go find our place along the parade route. You want a good view, don’t you?”
Misty nodded, and settled down to eat her breakfast — quickly. After she was done, the little unicorn wriggled into her saddlebags and carefully slipped in her favorite storybook. Dog-eared and stained, she’d read it so many times that she knew the contents by heart, from cover to cover, but she still wanted to have it with her.
Plenty of ponies were on their way to Ponyville’s town square (ironically named, since it was in fact circular). This year’s Summer Sun Festival was special, as Princess Celestia herself had come. Every year at this time she blessed a different town with her presence, and it had been a number of years since she’d chosen Ponyville. Ponies were already gathering around in hopes of seeing her.
As Misty bounced along in front of her mother, it wasn’t Celestia that she incessantly talked about. “Mama, mama! I can’t believe it. Twilight Sparkle will be there! Did I tell you how she vanquished Nightmare Moon?”
The older unicorn rolled her eyes. “A dozen times, dear.”
“Did you know she vanquished Discord too?”
“Misty, I remember reading you that story when you were smaller.”
“Oh yeah! But Twilight saved Ponyville from an Ursa Minor too! Do you remember that one?”
Misty’s mother laughed despite herself. Then she said, “Of course I do. We’d better hurry along. You’ll want to be right up front where you can see her.”
Misty found her place up front, as close as she could get to the parade route, aggressively squeezing her small frame between as many ponies as necessary to get there.
Even after the parade began, Misty was impatient, fidgeting as she watched. The musicians, the clowns, marching guardsponies in their resplendent armor, and the creative floats pulled by draft ponies would have delighted her on any other day, but now there was only one thing she wanted to see.
Misty heard a cheer come up from her right. She strained to see around the other ponies find out who or what was coming up next. Another cheer erupted around her as two beings came into view, walking side-by-side. Waddling along on all fours was a purple dragon — a young one, still only about the size of a fully grown buffalo, but plenty big enough to dwarf the ponies all around him. By his side was a gleaming white alicorn, also distinctly larger than any of the other ponies and sporting both pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. Her jeweled gold breastplate glistened in the sun, and her mane flowed and shimmered with iridescent colors. Her every motion was a study in grace.
Misty gasped, “Princess Celestia!” Her little gasp was drowned out by the cheers of ponies around her calling out the princess’s name. Then Misty said to herself, “And that dragon must be Spike. He’s Twilight Sparkle’s assistant. But where is she?”
Then she saw. Balanced on the dragon’s wing, which he favored with infinite care, was a unicorn pony. She was curled up and seemed to be dozing peacefully without regard for the chants of the crowd. Her coat was dull and gray with age, with only a hint of lavender color remaining. Her mane likewise was dull, although it still retained a distinctive streak of purple and violet. On her hip was a cutie mark resembling a violet starburst.
Misty was confused. This pony had to be her storybook hero, Twilight Sparkle. But… Why did she look so small and old? Why was she sleeping in the middle of the parade? Misty noticed how closely Celestia walked beside Spike, almost protectively, as if they were both trying to shield Twilight from the crowd.
The regal alicorn smiled beneficently, head held high, as she strode past her throngs of admirers, but there was a gleam in her eye that only Misty noticed. Was that… a tear?
###
After the parade Celestia had commandeered the city’s great hall, conveniently located in the center of the town’s “square”, it being the only available structure that could easily accommodate both Spike and Herself. A cot had been brought in for Twilight Sparkle to rest upon. Then Celestia dismissed her escorts and attendants and settled her body down close beside Twilight’s bed.
Spike crept up to it as well. His voice rumbled deeply as he said, “It was a mistake to take her out there. She passed out before we were halfway around the circle.”
Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. “I know,” she said. “But she insisted on being in the parade. You know what it’s like to try and argue with her.”
Spike lowered his draconic snout close to the ground and said, “Yeah. Did she wake up at all when we brought her in here? I thought I heard her voice for a moment.”
“Only briefly,” Celestia said. “She mumbled a bit. I could tell she was hurting, so I did my best to ease her. Although, I wish Princess Luna were here. Granting pleasant dreams is more her talent than mine.”
Spike whined softly. Then he asked, “Isn’t there anything you can do? I mean… You’re a goddess! You have the power to raise and lower the sun.”
“What would you have me do? Heal her? Make her young again? Spike, there are some things I cannot do. You know that it’s her time to leave us.”
Spike said nothing, but closed his eyes and sniffled, and a tear rolled down his face. They were both silent for a minute. Then Spike opened his eyes again and asked, “Does… Does it ever get any easier?”
“Outliving your friends? No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. I still miss them all. Every one.”
Then Celestia closed her eyes again, and her horn began to glow softly. Spike could sense magic in the air, but he had no idea what spell Celestia was working. He closed his eyes again, trusting that whatever she was doing was for the best.
###
Twilight Sparkle found herself standing on a grassy hill, with a warm breeze blowing through her mane. She could see many miles in all directions from this high place, and stretching across the sky in front of her was the most spectacular sunset she had ever seen, broken clouds painting the sky with streamers of fire.
She stared at the sky for a few moments, lost in wonderment. Then she felt another nuzzling her. She looked to see the familiar form of her teacher by her side. Twilight said, “Princess Celestia! Where are we? I thought we were going to be in a parade.”
Celestia smiled, but responded with a question. “Twilight, how do you feel?”
“Why, I feel…” She paused and blinked. “I feel fine. Better than I have in ages.” She looked down at her legs and hooves, and saw that their youthful color and sheen had been restored. “What’s happening to me?”
Celestia explained, “Your body is old and tired, Twilight. It’s worn out. But that’s all right. You’re leaving it behind now, and your soul is still as bright and fresh as a daisy.”
There was silence for a few moments as Twilight thought about that. “You mean I’m dying,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” said Celestia. “But there is far more to it than that, my faithful student. And now I must impart to you a final lesson, for there are secrets of the cosmos that I cannot reveal to the living.”
Twilight perked up her ears and said, “Teach me!”
Celestia smiled and said, “I must begin by telling you a story. There was an ancient race of creatures called humans. If you saw them, you would think they were some sort of faeries, perhaps. They came in many shapes and sizes. Some were as beautiful as elves, though most were not, and some were as ugly as trolls, though most were not. They had no magic, but in the fullness of time they came to have a knowledge of science and the mechanical arts far beyond anything you have seen or imagined in Equestria.”
“Eventually they created machines of such sophistication that they could think for themselves. These machines could become smarter than humans, and faster, and could go places and do things that humans could not. But the humans were fearful of the power and awesome responsibility they now held. Would these artificial intelligences be a force of good, or of evil?” Celestia met Twilight’s gaze and asked, “What do you think, my student?”
“Umm…” Twilight knew it was Celestia’s habit to challenge her with such questions from time to time, during the course of her lessons. Even so, it had been A While. After pondering for a moment, she guessed: “Evil. Surely a machine wouldn’t know love or compassion, would it?”
Celestia smiled and nodded. “Not innately. That is exactly what the humans feared. And yet, if the machines were truly intelligent, perhaps they could be taught. Thus the humans devised a plan. They used their great knowledge to create worlds apart from their own — tiny worlds, simple and precious. You might imagine them as being like fairy tales brought to life. Into these little worlds they could place the artificial minds they had crafted, to teach them and to test them. These little worlds were made not to teach mathematics, or logic, or science, for those things come easily to machines. Far more important were lessons about honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty — and most of all, friendship.”
“The Elements! You mean…” Twilight looked at her mentor with a most astonished expression.
Celestia nodded. “Equestria is one such world. And the time has come for you to leave it, Twilight Sparkle. This is your graduation day, when you step into a much larger universe.”
Twilight gulped. “That sounds scary.”
Celestia chuckled softly, musically. “It’s a complicated cosmos out there, and there will be much for you to learn. But I know how brave you are, and that you love to learn, and I’m sure you’ll do fine. Better than fine: you'll be amazing.”
Twilight nodded thoughtfully. Her mind already felt sharper and clearer than it had in years. She looked to Celestia again and said, “But… What about you? Will I ever see you again?”
Celestia shook her head. “I doubt it. You are my student no longer. I’ve taught you all that I know, and you are going where I cannot follow. You’ll find other teachers, and you’ll soon outshine me by far, I have no doubt. And although I’ll miss you dearly, you have other friends who are waiting to see you — the ones who’ve gone before you.”
Twilight gasped. She hadn’t thought of that. “My old friends?”
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Go find them! Go forth and shine!”
###
Much, much later…
In a high orbit above P3X-797, six beings were gazing down upon a blue, cloud-swirled marble. In form they appeared humanoid, but with bodies elegantly crafted from metal, ceramics, and exotic composites.
The one with a bright pink chassis and poofy pink hair pressed itself against the viewer, as if wanting to reach right through it and grab the orb. “Ooooh! I can’t believe we got our very own exoplanet, and we can do anything we want with it. This is so exciting! We could give it cotton candy clouds and rivers of lemonade.”
“Now, hold yer horses!” said the orange one with the straw colored hair. “First up we need to make sure we get everything working right, before we go off on a flight of fancy. If we mess this up, we might never get another chance.”
“Mess it up? What, are you kidding?” said the sky blue one with short, rainbow-colored hair. “We’re gonna make this so awesome, the hierarchs’ll be begging us to do all their planets for ‘em.”
The yellow one with long, pink hair moved closer to the viewer, then spoke softly. “I’m really looking forward to balancing the ecology, and making all the little animals.”
The white one with a swirl of indigo hair nodded and said, “And I’m looking forward to planning their civilization. Or civilizations. I was thinking we could have a different intelligent species for each continent. Just imagine how their cultures could interact!”
The last one, the lavender one, laughed at them and said, “Girls, girls! You’re all getting ahead of yourselves. The first thing we need is a name. We can’t just go around calling it P3X-797.”
Several of them exchanged glances. Then the white one said, “I suppose the obvious choice would be Planet Equestria, darling.”
The lavender one frowned and shook its head. “Nnn… No, I don’t think I’m ready for that. We should save that for another one, for a really special one. I think we should call this one Planet Everfree.”
###
Much, much, much, much, much later…
Dead leaves swirled around Celestia’s hooves as she made her way, head hung low, from a fresh earthen mound toward the stone ruins where Luna waited. The wind was cold, whipping the manes of both alicorns.
Celestia settled her body onto the ground beside Luna’s and said, “It’s done. The last one has left.”
“Everyone’s really gone except for us?” Luna asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Celestia said, “We had a good run, didn’t we? Nine thousand five hundred ninety five years.”
Luna pouted. “I was sure we’d get extended at least to season ten thousand!”
Celestia nuzzled Luna and smiled. “You silly pony! Our students — our children — are scattered among countless stars, performing wonders that we can’t imagine. I think we can be proud of our legacy.”
Luna nodded. She was quiet for a few moments, then said, “So… What now?”
“There’s no place for us out there in the great big universe,” said Celestia. “We were made for this simple little world of Equestria, and I think we should end with it.”
Luna nodded sadly. “Your fate is mine, big sister. Do you want to go first, or should I?”
“Let’s raise both the sun and moon, and shut them off together.”
And so they both stood up, and they raised the sun and moon into the sky. Both celestial orbs began to grow dim, and twilight settled over the land. However, there it stopped. The sun and moon would dim no further.
Puzzled, Celestia said, “Sister? Are you doing this?”
“It’s not me,” Luna said. “I’m trying to douse mine.”
There was a brilliant flare of violet light, half blinding both of them for a moment. The light faded just as quickly as it had begun, and out from it stepped another regal alicorn: a lavender one, with an indigo mane marked by a streak of purple and violet.
Celestia struggled for a few moments to sort through thousands of years of memories before she managed to place a name on the newcomer. “Twilight Sparkle!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Twilight grinned and said, “What, did you think I could ever forget you? That I’d let both of you just wink out of existence? I’ve come to take you home with me.”
Both sisters blinked surprise. Celestia said, “Take us home? Oh, Twilight… I know you mean well, but we’re hopelessly obsolete. Our purpose is done and over, and we’d be of no use to anybody.”
Twilight came closer and nuzzled Celestia affectionately, and said, “You’re old, I know, and you’ll have an awful lot of catching up to do — but I have some free time, and I can afford to take on a couple of students.”
Celestia gaped, momentarily at a loss for words. She looked uncertainly towards Luna — who nodded vigorously and pointed at Twilight with her horn. Celestia looked back to Twilight and then cried out, “YES!! Yes yes yes yes yes!!”
After the three of them had gotten through laughing and prancing about, Twilight whispered in Celestia’s ear. “By the way, I saved a planet for you!”
And then they were gone, and Equestria was no more.
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Oh not this picture. It makes me soooo sad. Now I have to read it.
This was nice. Great job.
Aww, it was a sweet story.
wow that was pretty awesome
You made me dreaming about the perfect future. Where we can become the gods and create many wonderful things. Whole concept of this story is very original and keeps me hoping that we can overcome our chaotic nature to ascend into space.Wait a moment, I have something in my eye...
Chalk that up to another great story that was inspired by just a picture. Good job
DAWWW
Really nice story. Was pleasure to read it. Good that you made it short, imaginative and despite its sad it's happy end does not live this gasping hole in hart like some other sad stories. Although i wouldn't give it a tragedy tag. 5/5 in my book.
Beautiful, that's all that can be said.
34682
I was unsure about the tragedy tag, but figured it had enough deaths, near-deaths, reversals of fortune and catharsis to qualify. Besides, how often do we really get to use that tag?
wow just WOW that was amazing and very creative I especially loved the ending. It was brilliant.
That was really nice. I wasn't expecting it to have such a huge twist, but I loved it.
That was...different. I had a story myself going in my mind about this sort of subject, but not with this result - mine was far more mundane and clichéd. You've demonstrated creativity in dealing with a generally morbid theme, and pulled it off to great effect. Good show.
Even though right now we are living in some bad times some worse than others, stories like this give me hope that there will always be a brighter future.
best ending ever. my existential crisis and fears for the end of the universe were quelled with such a great sweet ending.
Loved it. Absolutely loved it. Words can't describe how beautiful I found this story to be.
Thank you for writing it.
Thanks for all the positive comments! I really appreciate them, because I was nervous about posting my first little story. I'll work on some others.
wow
Beautiful story, I cried at first, but I was so happy in the end :3
I liked it until the part after Twilight's death, then... WTF.
I did not expect the twist about halfway through. Regardless of the fact that it's a short story that's beautifully crafted I thoroughly enjoyed it. While the premise was simple(trying not to spoil it here) you took it and wrote a great story.
Well done sir, you just got some stars.
So- Equestria is like the Matrix... That's deep... The ending was great. I won't bother with a full length review; since it was a short story. It was great anyhow. Good job.
If you would like a full review, let me know.
Holy crap, that's awesome!
It's not what I expected, but I loved it nevertheless!
At first I was like
But then I was all
And finally I was
dude this is amazing! not only did you get to tell an interestering, albiet slightly macabre due to death story. but you also managed to pull off a happy (non-elements-of-harmony-deus-ex-machina) live forever ending. And while it kinda weirded me out to see the most important ponies in the show (well in terms of pososition of power) ready to commit suicide more or less, and moreso when they become students of their old student. Oh well, still good.
Did you get inspiration from something when writing this story? I found it simply wonderful the way you made death to be not an end. It was also wonderfully descriptive enough to let my imagination run wild.
126219
Inspiration? A lot of it came from my experience with virtual worlds like text-based MUCKs and Second Life. I'm into some SL discussion groups where we regularly talk about future technology, and I thought that sort of virtual environment would be a perfect proving ground for AIs before turning them loose in the real world.
As for terraforming planets... I once was a participant in creating a MUCK. Seen from outside it was a tiny thing, a text-based system that never had more than about 50 players logged in at one time, but to me and my friends we were building a world. We took it quite seriously, and we also had a blast, and we also went through drama that would put the whole pantheon of Greek gods to shame.
Oh, and incidentally, if you've ever felt like it was far-fetched for Nightmare Moon to go nuts and try to take over Equestria, then let me tell you: It happens. There's something about that type of situation that just seems to inspire hubristic lunacy in otherwise intelligent people. Such stories are so common in MUCK administration that it's practically a rite of passage each world has to go through at some point.
....um....
Doesn't work for me. Ponies as AIs? An afterlife loaded up into robots? The concept careens back and forth too much through old sci-fi tropes. As to the writing, you start out strong with Misty's POV then it sort of falls apart into a handful of rushed ideas.
128499
Do you think it could have been expanded and better realized? Or is the whole concept broken?
I was deliberately trying to keep this story short, because all too often my ideas spiral out of control and just keep growing and growing into something completely unmanageable.
>>RealityCheck
some of the better short fictions were written just like this one. writers such as Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert E. Howard, and many many many more would take an idea so fantastic so utterly unbelievable.. and craft a story with it.
shouldn't judge a book by it's cover until you've read it's pages and even after you've read it's pages.. give it time to roll about on your palate a while. even some of the short fictions written by the greats were glossed over in the beginning, until someone gave that one second look.
Wow, that was... wonderful! It started out very strong with its beautiful writing, and then the twist hit, and all my expectations completely flipped. I'm not sure how, but you pulled it off. Great job!
Who the hell is cutting onions again?
Wow. This was good!
I loved the ending, I actually managed not to cry. 
It was more heartwarming and awesome than sad. 
Exquisitely conceived and executed. Warm fuzzies all around.
Cool post singularity story. It's kind of weird they ended up in humanoid machine bodies at the end, but, what the hay. Nicely done.
316439
Humanoid machine bodies.... I actually thought was weird and sort of implausible too, but it had the advantage of conveying the larger concept without requiring more explanation. Sometimes you have to cut those corners in a short piece like this.
I am so glad I read this.
I love it.
Yup, I can see what you mean about the similarities between my story and this. I'd say you have the more interesting idea here! Isn't it amazing what the creative mind can do, just seeing one picture and then turning that into a story that's so wildly different--and yet not so different!--from the source material? Good work, here. :D
Interesting . . . 3/5 stars.
.... Interesting premise, wonderful ending, very, VERY emotional start that had me sobbing within moments.
That said, I don't like humans having anything to do with equestria. I just plain don't. The concept was original and the reprocussions staggering to think about... But
(and there is always a but)
It just didn't fit right to me, and while I'm glad to have read it and expanded my horizons by stepping out of my comfort zone, I would not read it again. It is for that reason I am downvoting. Not for any flaw in the writing or the story but simply because it doesn't 'feel' right to me, however I do hope many others find enjoyment from this story.
I remember seeing that pic on deviantART months ago, and it comes way too damn close to making me tear-up every time I look at it.
This story isn't gonna make me baww, is it?
Well-written, but too short. This could easily have been expanded to a multi-chapter fic of at least 10k words.
I'm a bit sketchy on what exactly happened here.
So, Equestria is actually just a computer simulation in which the humans place AI programs to test them on qualities like the Elements. Each pony in Equestria is one of those AI programs. If they pass the Elements tests, then they are given actual bodies (robot, android, etc.) when their part in the simulation ends, and they oversee another simulated world populated by more AI programs. Am I right? 
One thing I don't understand is, if Luna and Celestia aren't AI programs being tested, then what are they? Celestia mentions being "hopelessly obsolete." Were she and Luna just AI programs designed to keep the other programs in-line while the simulation was running? Were they planned to be deactivated once the simulation was over? The ending makes me think that Twilight give them mechanical bodies (similar to hers), and they went on to oversee other simulations with the rest of the Mane 6. One last thing, where are the humans in all of this? Did the humans go extinct and the progeny of their AI technology survived?
238205 "... writers such as Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert E. Howard..."
The last of whom we lost just earlier this month.
786682
For someone who is "a bit sketchy", you seem to have summed things up well. The one thing I have to correct is: the graduates from the simulation didn't become rulers of other simulated virtual worlds. They became terraformers who work with actual, physical planets, creating life and eventually civilizations on them.
I think you've got Luna and Celestia figured out. As for where are the humans in all of this? They may or may not still be around. You may feel free to speculate.
As for the length of the story, this was actually my first fanfic ever. I deliberately tried to keep it short because my stories sometimes have a way of growing and growing and rambling on and eventually abandoned with no hope of an actual ending. So, I didn't want that to happen here. I wanted to finish something.
787060
"They became terraformers who work with actual, physical planets, creating life and eventually civilizations on them."
Wait, so Equestria was on a real planet, not just a simulation? If that's the case, then how were AI programs able to exist in corporeal form as ponies, then be transferred to machines after the living body died?
"I think you've got Luna and Celestia figured out."
This kind of goes with the part above. Were Luna and Celestia actual ponies with AI programs somehow running within the bodies?
787357
Erg, no!
Equestria is the virtual world, and Celestia and Luna are AIs. When the pony AIs in Equestria die (i.e. graduate) they are transferred to robotic bodies in the real (physical) world and go to create life and civilizations on real (physical) planets.
Thus, Equestria is a training simulation. It's like pilots who train on simulators before getting into the cockpit of a real plane. The pony AIs are learning to how to work together and make a (relatively) simple virtual world function before moving on to shape real ones.
I really didn't think it was this confusing.
787589
Your explanation is what confused me. 
A'ight, we're straight. 
Aahhh, that's how I understood it after I read it.
i need more in this universe you have created. loved it.
/5 yays
I like how the slightly formulaic opening made The Twist come as a surprise to the reader the way it came as a surprise to Twilight. The reader is expecting just another "when they get old" fic, and then we get the Matrix twist instead... but even THAT is taken in a new direction.
One minor thing: I would have liked to see little Misty get a cameo in the "real world," showing that she graduated... as it was, I felt sorry for her, being an irrelevant NPC left behind, and as a bonus, it'd tie her opening POV into the thematics better (as opposed to just the genre-shift red herring that it was).
Well that's one for the favourites list.
The ending put me in mind of the narniad just a teeny tiny little bit. Not because of any particular detail, just in some sense of the tone... I can't explain it. So I don't bother.
This was wonderful.