And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So

by Ditherer the Fussbudget

CODA

“Come out of there, you silly filly!” Twilight said, nudging the mirror. It was tall, especially for her. Sunset was only four months older than her, but she was already using grown-up magic. In a few weeks, they'd both be Celestia's students, and then it'd be a proper race.

“What? Who said that?” Sunset asked, looking around and feigning confusion.

“I did! Over here!”

“Who’s there? All I can see is this mirror,” Sunset pulled a face of mock horror “...Are you my reflection? Am I the reflection?!”

“No, Sunset, we’re both real, and it’s almost time for lunch.”

“But every mirror has a whole world inside it, nameless spirit! How could we both be real?”

Twilight giggled. “It’s a one-way mirror, you goofball. Come on, I’m getting hungry!”

Sunset dropped the act and slumped. “Already? Fine.” Her horn sparked with magic while she closed her eyes, and then the mirror disappeared in a towering puff of orange smoke.

Then they trotted, side by side, towards reality.

Comments

[Anstca]

I liked it, not sure I really got it. But I think I did, that ether means I'm not as dumb as I thought I was or I'm dumber then I thought I was. The was I intruded it was the first few chapters were the two sides of the same story, The portal has stopped working for reasons unknown and Twilight and Sunset try to figure out whats going on. Then reality shifts and we start following the same story but with a different Twilight and Sunset, that makes me think multiverse and this is how there counterparts acted. But your disruption makes my think I'm wrong I admit I didn't know a lot about philosophy but it could also be the fact that reality is based an perception and and everyone sees things different. But maybe that's the point it can be however you want it to be, or most likely I'm just way overthinking this.

[kul]

Im confused, but it was briliantly written.. Loving it

[Mellow]

7222786 This is an extremely long and was written stream of consciousness style, you don't have to read whatever my addled mind has typed below but I can't really summarize it. I can only hope that you are patient.

I can't really say I completely understood it either (still liked it though? I think?). The mentions of other Sunsets, Twilights and Equestrias more or less confirm that we are working with a multiverse kind of scenario here.

It seems to me that people from the different realities are disappearing, leaving one individual in each one or rather that new realities are being created, isolating specific individuals for some purpose. Why this may or may not happen sadly eludes me. The second theory (that there are new realities created) is especially prominent in my mind due to the magical barrier that the first Sunset encountered when she ventured too far. Whatever is causing this though seems to spread much like an infection through this multiverse, possibly using the various trans-dimensional gates as vectors to propagate itself and also tries to separate the different realities that it has created (evident by Twilight and Sunset's brief non-encounter).

Additionally Celestia's words in the second to last chapter lead me to believe that she has experienced this phenomenon before (I mean this exact phenomenon with Twilight and Sunset). I cannot say I completely understand how that can be but she seems to wish for a world were both Sunset and Twilight are saved.

The entire story seems to focus on the idea of barriers; physical barriers, communication barriers, even barriers in the sense of a challenge to be overcome (shown by that one Sunset working tirelessly to bring that other Twilight back). I may not know what this might signify but (the very aptly named Coda) final chapter ends with Sunset erasing such a barrier (the mirror) between her and Twilight and

Then they trotted, side by side, towards reality.

This could allude to the entire scenario being some sort of roleplay between filly Twilight and filly Sunset (although geez those are some dark thoughts for a couple of children or that someone has fixed whatever the problem was.

There is a theory out there called Eternalism. It suggests that each moment in time exist in and of itself. The story may be alluding to the 'fracturing' of this moment in time, the ideas of these two little kids, the thought of them being apart and separated by some great divide, splintering into many different possibilities/fantasies/dreams each creating a "micro-universe" that plays that dream out in its entirety (albeit not exactly the kids thoughts but rather the potential behind them. The "what could have been") in the span of that moment. After all if we are to believe in Eternalism, every moment that passes is a different reality and even as I am typing this, a different me has written and is writing (at this instance in time) everything preceding this. I have already died in one such reality and I am also in the process of dying (something that has been mentioned throughout the story by various characters).

Of course this is all just speculation, I really cannot be sure and it turned out a lot longer and a lot stream-of-consciousness than what I was originally planning to write. I am glad that the story made me think so much about this (for the record I don't know if I'm dumber than I thought or not as dumb as I thought either), even if that wasn't its original intent.

Although I would love to know what Fussbudget thought when writing it.

[Ditherer the Fussbudget]

7222786
7224794

I don't want to offer any definite answers because this story's meant to be severely open to interpretation (I've had great experiences where I've given someone a story I've left open to interpretation and then they've thrown out these beautifully elegant explanations for it all that I'd never have thought of), but what motivated me while I wrote it was one of my favorite books, Jim Mortimore's Campaign, a rejected Doctor Who novel that starts with the universe blinking out of existence and then gets freakier from there. I borrowed a lot of its plot and themes, but I aimed lower than it did in terms of style and complexity. If you liked this story, I really recommend it.

For "A Tiresome Dream", I wanted to show a bunch of different Sunsets and Twilights living lives in meaningless or cruel worlds that contradicted the other chapters, where the possibilities branch out like a Choose Your Own Adventure story, but none of them conclusively bring Sunset and Twilight together in one place, and none of them provide a concrete explanation for what's going on. The ending's meant to be a heartwarming cutaway to another version of these events that turned out better and/or proof that Celestia breaking the portal didn't actually solve the problem, with it left up to the reader whether this is subtly horrifying or totally heartwarming.

Also, thanks for reading, I really appreciate it. And I'd never heard of eternalism before. I used to be huge into time travel stories, and I'm surprised nobody did anything with it.

[Mellow]

7230278 Actually, there is a story on fimfiction that touches on Eternalism. It isn't exactly Eternalism per se, but the story uses time mechanics very similar to those described in the theory. It is also an extremely well written story that I feel is under appreciated on the site. The story is called Feedback and I highly recommend reading it, especially if you are interested in time travel and alternate universes.

[NicLove]

Before I read it, what is the Dark and Horror tags for ?
And how bad does it get ?