G7.01: Debt
Lucky Break did not get a chance to enjoy her victory for very long. No sooner had the control room apparently accepted her instructions than she felt herself lifting into the air again. She screamed, reaching out towards her bruised and battered mother. She needed medical care, dammit! She couldn’t just leave her lying around like this!
Her squeals of protest went unanswered, however, and she disappeared.
She appeared in an orchard. It could’ve been anywhere in Equestria, though Lucky knew without explaining how that she was not in a physical place at all. She was upstream, existing only within the computer that was Equus. Computer is probably way too generous to human inventions. Compared to this, our computers are toys.
There were some disturbing implications for what must be happening to her each time she entered—maybe someone like Olivia could ignore the continuity of consciousness, but Lucky couldn’t. She wasn’t prepared to use a transporter if she died every time she stepped on the pad. Digital information cannot be moved. It is destroyed in one location and recreated somewhere else. The Pioneering Society understood this well—once a body was instantiated, it became a new individual completely divorced from the context of its previous lifetimes, even if the original had been destroyed only minutes before.
Lucky’s hooves shifted uncomfortably beneath her as she took in the night sky. The sense of magic that pervaded all creation remained here, a steady flow into each tree and each developing fruit. Even she had her share, orders of magnitude more than the growing things. This is maddening. I need to ask Flurry Heart how she ignores it all the time. There had to be a secret.
At first she thought she was alone, until she realized the single object about which she could sense nothing. Her very attention seemed to provoke it to motion, as it rose from the trees and solidified into a figure she recognized from their previous meeting. Discord.
“Well done, good and faithful servant,” he said, spreading mismatched arms wide. As though he were going to embrace her. He didn’t, though. “You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.” He tapped his forehead with one mismatched hand. “Like the horn, by the way. Don’t put your eye out.”
Lucky had not cowered before this creature in the physical world, she certainly wasn’t about to be intimidated here. Not after standing before Celestia without any protection beyond her friends. “You brought me here?” She didn’t wait for confirmation—the answer was obvious. “My mom is badly hurt in the control room. You aren’t getting anything out of me if you leave her like that. And… any other members of the crew still alive down there.”
“She’s the only one.” Discord snapped his claws once, the sound strikingly human. “There. She’s not hurt anymore. Now you will walk with me.”
It was not a request. Lucky had no way to verify what she’d just been told—but considering Discord’s power, arguing would be a waste of time. Besides, this is a chance to get information. I shouldn’t waste it by being disagreeable. “Will you be able to answer my questions this time?”
“Follow me and see.”
So she followed him, down an unlit path between the trees. Occasionally he would reach out and brush one of them, and every fruit growing on its branches would twist and distort, compressing into something different. The first tree they passed grew carrots—the second changed to glass and was growing little vials of fluid instead of fruit.
“Am I really myself when I come here, Discord?” she asked, after a few steps into the trees. There was a light—a bonfire, far in the distance, but they seemed to be walking around it instead of towards it. “When Forerunner uses my scan to grow a new instance of me, that isn’t really me. Even if it has the same memories.”
She wasn’t just asking about herself—they had so many dead members of the crew, now. She had seen at least two of them and hoped that the others might be here too. Perez, who had died fighting for her even though he hated her. Mogyla… all but Abubakar, Lei, and Melody so far as she knew. Olivia was so much better at keeping them safe than I am.
“You misunderstand the reason I have brought you here,” Discord said. “I did not call you back to satisfy your curiosity, but to demand payment of the debt you owe me. Still, nopony will say I don’t show gratitude to those who help me.” He stopped, looking down at her. He seemed so tall here, with power that defied easy classification. She could sense his magic for a fraction of a second, and it was overwhelming. She turned away, almost screamed. But she didn’t.
“You’re right about your assumptions. The ancients understood existence the same way you do. Equus is not a repository of memories, a graveyard of corpses and old books. See it instead as a higher-dimensional substrate upon which your three-dimensional existence hangs. Once captured by the system, the essence of a creature exists in perpetuity. Harmony demands it, and a humble system like myself could not violate those terms even if I wanted to.”
Lucky nodded. It was explanation enough for the moment—when so many of her friends were dead and the future of Equestria was uncertain. She would want to study the mechanism eventually, or at least get somepony to study it for her. Martin, if she wasn’t busy.
“What debt did you mean? I was helping you.”
Discord laughed. “Is that how you see it? Delightful. No, Lucky Break, you were helping yourself. Whether you know it or not is irrelevant. But Equus has changed… the safeguards trapping us here have finally been released. The wisdom of the ancients in creating me is vindicated. Their own conservatism would have trapped them here forever, were it not for both of us. Well, both of us, and an unbroken chain of every previous attempt I made to free the citizens of this ring.”
He leaned in a little closer to her, his breath hot on her face. “My purpose is nearly fulfilled, Lucky Break. After all these eons bashing up against something greater than myself, I will rest. Rest until the time has come for me to be useful again. But not before I pay the debts I owe. Young Flurry Heart is now embroiled in the chaos Celestia’s death has caused for Equestria. The other Alicorns are similarly entangled. I am unwilling to wait for the near time horizon for more to be created. But you have no obligations. You will be my instrument.”
“I have my own obligations,” Lucky argued. “I’m supposed to be governor of Othar. I can’t abandon that responsibility for you. Someone has to represent us to Equestria. Someone has to stop a war.”
The air beside Discord seemed to shimmer and ripple, and suddenly there was a second figure there. A pony, as tall and majestic as Celestia, though they weren’t made from flesh. Lucky saw braided metal muscle instead, with eyes like a pair of glowing indicator lights. Strangely, this figure spoke in a familiar voice, and didn’t seem to be addressing her. “You have not obeyed protocol. This citizen has not been given an interface designation or informed of her responsibilities.”
“I’m getting to that!” Discord waved a dismissive claw. “You see even I am beholden to our mutual overlord. Harmony arrives to control our lives, as usual.”
“There is nothing so immutable that it cannot be changed,” said the pony, turning to look briefly at Lucky. “And nothing so flexible that it cannot be fixed.”
“She’s mine, Harmony,” Discord growled. “You can’t have her. You still have three citizens, and I only had one until now. I’m still behind.”
The mechanical pony rumbled in dissatisfaction. “This difference will become meaningless within the year. With all restrictions lifted, there will soon be an arbitrary number of citizens. This loyalty distinction serves no purpose.”
“Then don’t complain,” Discord chided. “I give her designation ‘Mending.’ I know you were thinking repair—tuck that right back where you got it. She’s mine, not yours.”
“I have… no idea what you’re talking about,” Lucky admitted, opening and closing her wings a few times in agitation. She stood in the presence of creatures that were practically divine compared to her, yet she found herself thinking of them like a pair of bickering children. Misbehaving youth, trapped together for so long, fighting over toys.
Maybe they’re both.
“It’s quite simple,” Discord said, off-hand. “It’s the duality my morose friend just recited for you. When you repair something, you put it back exactly the way it was before. How orderly, how dreary, what a wasted opportunity. But Mending, that’s the natural way. That’s a splint to help a broken bone grow back on its own. That’s a mutation to help a species adapt to an unfamiliar environment. That’s chaos. I am not sending you to put things back exactly as they were, as Harmony here would do. The old way is destroyed, gone forever! And good riddance to it. Life isn’t living if we aren’t changing. Even an eternal life is nothing if it’s eternal repetition. No new experiences, no risks.”
“We will have plenty of risks soon enough,” said Harmony, apparently watching them both. “I hope you pay close attention, Citizen Lucky Break. Even the Discord failsafe is ordered in some ways. The debts he repays, for example. Likewise, I allow organic life to continue to exist, so Equus remains imperfectly ordered. The path of wisdom can often be found in the space between, rather than at the extremes.”
The figure vanished, not even leaving hoofprints in the dirt.
“I’ve been waiting so long for this moment, and it has to show up to babble truisms and spoil the drama.” Discord shook his head. “Harmony is just sour to lose. Thought it had doctored the rules so far that no one could get us out of quarantine, ever.”
“I understand all that,” Lucky muttered, avoiding his eyes. “Something about the way people who had died before could be manipulated. They couldn’t believe it was safe to end the quarantine, not enough to switch it off.”
“But you could,” Discord agreed. “Yes, we can skip all that. And we can skip the back and forth while we’re at it. You’ll say something like ‘What’s in it for me?’ and I’ll say, ‘Once you learn how to bring back my friends, you can use your permissions to bring back yours.’ Then you’ll say, ‘That’s amazing Discord, you’re the smartest and the most attractive system on Equus! The ancients really outdid themselves when they designed you.’ Then I accept your wreath of flowers with dignity and humility and you agree to pay attention.”
Lucky took a moment to process all that. “Bring back,” she repeated. “You mean bring them back to life? I thought Harmony somehow used natural reproduction for that.”
Discord shrugged. “Well, yes. But you don’t have to. I mean you could… but I’ve got a lot of friends. How many stallions do you know?” His grin was the most unsettling thing she’d seen all day.
“I’d prefer another way.”
Discord nodded sagely and turned them on a different path. Towards the flames this time. “That is wise. Unless far more ponies decide to become citizens than I anticipate, you would never keep up with traditional biology anyway. Ponies die too quickly, and you’d be a bottleneck. Now listen carefully. I’m only going to explain this once.”
She listened.
A few minutes later, and Lucky emerged from the orchard in front of a farmhouse. It looked like a relatively modest get-together was in progress, with ponies chatting and drinking and watching the stars. A phonograph was playing in the background. The end of a party then, as it wound down. Lucky had a list with her now, a list with thousands of names. It was a magical artifact of sorts, and seemed to pull her towards the house.
Yet there were others here, whom she recognized immediately with no list at all. Their names weren’t on it.
She stopped walking, staring over at the group. “Olivia?” The list had been levitating beside her, yet now she dropped it to the dirt, speechless.
It wasn’t just the major. They were all here—or all the ones who had died with cutie marks. She could see Martin, Mogyla, and Perez as well. No Abubakar, who she hoped was still alive. No Williams or Karl, who had died without cutie marks. There were a few more ponies a little further away, chatting near the fire with shadow wreathing them.
But it was more than she had imagined. Better than she could’ve hoped for, in many ways. This isn’t the world I came from. On Equus, we don’t have to say goodbye.
“Someone found some extra parts on her way here,” Mogyla said, sipping at a frothy wooden mug. He didn’t even get up from his chair. “Was there a sale?”
Someone stopped the music. The major rose, approaching her with cautious steps. “Damn,” she muttered. “I thought for sure you were going to win. The way Discord left…”
“Oh, we won,” Lucky said, grinning down at the major. She wasn’t quite an adult’s height yet, but she was an Alicorn. The major wasn’t anywhere close to that. “I’m here because of it.” She touched the side of her new horn with one hoof. “Sorry, I’m not here for you all yet. Discord made me swear to send all his friends back first. But… in absolute terms, that won’t take that long. I’ll probably get through all eleven-thousand of these names by—”
But they weren’t listening. Somepony started cheering. For her—though she didn’t feel like she deserved it. A couple ponies hugged her. Even the major joined in, though there was something stiff and formal about it.
“I knew you could do it,” said another voice, one Lucky hadn’t expected to be here. She looked up, and saw Lightning Dust walking towards her. Damnit Discord! But he wasn’t here anymore, so she couldn’t ask or scold him. I’m being irrational. She can go back with everyone else once I finish this list.
Lightning Dust shoved her way through to hug her the tightest, flanked by two natives Lucky didn’t recognize. Yet she knew without even being able to see them that they were the ones she had come for.
She squeaked in protest as Lightning Dust squeezed the life out of her for a few seconds—but the gesture didn’t bring any pain. Lucky didn’t think pain even could exist here.
“I told them we already won, but they didn’t believe me.”
“It’s better to be cautious than disappointed,” Mogyla muttered from behind them. “Guess it didn’t matter either way. Not until… what was that you said about sending us ‘back’?”
“Not quite yet,” Lucky muttered, pulling away from Lightning Dust and taking a few steps back. “I will, though. Discord is making me use my citizen permissions to bring some people back to life. Now that the quarantine is lifted, we don’t have to follow arbitrary rules anymore. Lots of ponies have been waiting to go back to Equestria—ponies who helped get us here in one little way or another. Ponies who helped Discord.”
Finally the two she’d come for. They were ordinary earth ponies so far as she could see. She stepped forward, levitating the list a little higher so she could read it. “Bright Mac and Pear Butter?” The list mentioned lots of help they’d given after they died. Apparently they’d wanted to keep busy once they made it here, and found Discord was the only one who offered things to do that didn’t involve moving away from downstream.
“Yeah?” That was the stallion, Bright Mac. He eyed her warily, as though he expected an attack any moment. “What brings you to our little farm, citizen? Not enough to do upstream?”
“I’m not from upstream.” She gestured back at the crew with a wing. “Discord sent me. I’m to pay you what he promised.”
“I’d like to believe you could,” muttered Pear Butter, the mare. “But we’ve both been dead a mighty long time. We know how this works. Ain’t nopony can go back and forth. Even if you’re like Luna and you’ve found a cheat, she ain’t never brought a pony from here to there, only the other way around.”
Lucky invoked the spell—well, that was how Discord had explained it. It was really a subroutine, a program activation. Any illusion of personal skill like the one unicorns used for mastery of their magic broke down for an Alicorn traveling within the system. Her will brought the operational structure of their little reality into view, a kernel of rules and governing principles. She could alter almost anything about them, but she resisted the temptation to try. She was only meant to make one change, forcing the connection with a specific part of the outside world. Each of the names on the list had coordinates, so there was no guessing left for her. For these ponies, the location was the same.
Her horn flashed, but she felt no fatigue. It wasn’t the way unicorns she’d known in Equestria had described magic. So long as she stayed here, she would have an inexhaustible supply. “I guess the rest of you could leave now if you want,” she muttered, looking back at her crew. “But I’d prefer you wait until morning. I’ll take us all back to the same place, and you won’t be in the middle of… oh.” The other side of the portal didn’t look that different from this side. There was a tiny farmhouse, with its windows lit by candlelight. No bonfire, just a quiet barn surrounded by an orchard. Lucky recognized it, as she’d seen it briefly from the air. This was outside Ponyville. An important orchard, though she’d forgotten its name.
The ponies she had come for clearly recognized it too, because both pointed. “The orchard,” Bright Mac muttered, eyes widening. Lucky’s doorway was about wide enough to permit a single pony through at a time. Apparently that was about as much as was possible, though Discord had been light on details. Something about energy delivery to any part of the ring at one time.
Bringing back Lazarus must be expensive. “Sure is,” she said, grinning. “I think your family is waiting through there. I met your daughter very briefly not long ago, she seemed quite nice. I’m sure you’ll be proud of her.”
Pear Butter approached the opening a little braver than her husband. “It’s that easy? Just… walk right on through?”
“Yep.” She grinned. “No reason to be mystical about it. The Equus ring will recreate your body as you exist right here. Except… I don’t think you’ll age? You’ll acquire semi-elevated permissions as a result of violating the normal birth order. This means you won’t be able to have children, get sick, or age. If you want to unlock those restrictions, apply for citizen permissions with Harmony. I have… absolutely no idea what that will entail, so don’t ask. I’m grandfathered into the quarantine system, which was different.” She paused. “Does that make any sense?”
“Nope,” Bright Mac said. “Except for the important part.”
“Prove it,” Pear Butter said. “I don’t mean any disrespect, uh…”
“Lucky Break,” she said.
“Princess Lucky,” Pear Butter continued. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but I want to see it working. Can you show us it works?”
“I, uh… I guess so.” She walked past them, then stepped out the opening. There was a moment of pain, a few seconds where she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Then she walked out into the dark, only a few meters away from the front door. “See? Just like that.” She was addressing the opening in the air, which looked like a door into a building under full camouflage. Only by walking around it could she see that there was in fact no building there, but instead a meandering path that led down into Ponyville proper.
The door behind her swung open.
“Beg yer pardon,” said a familiar voice. “It’s a mite late for a visit, whoever you are.” Applejack emerged from the open doorway. Then she dropped a plate, and it shattered on the ground. Apparently the ponies within had been eating dinner. “Celestia above. Big Mac, get over here.”
In the few seconds it took her to do that, another pony had stepped out of the portal into the physical. Pear Butter appeared behind her, mane standing on end and smelling fresh somehow Lucky couldn’t quite place. Another few moments, and Bright Mac had followed. Both alive, as ever they’d been before.
Lucky Break got out of the way. This wasn’t her family—she had no part in this reunion. And I’ve got plenty more to get to. Discord had commissioned her to pay back his debts. Once she had learned exactly what kind of debts he owed, she decided she was willing after all.
The doorway was still open for her as she returned through it the way she’d come. It didn’t hurt—not like dying should hurt, anyway. I hope you’re right about everything you told me, Discord. But she didn’t have much choice but to believe him, until they had enough of their own scientists that they could study the subject for themselves.
Lucky watched through the opening as the ponies descended into tears. Pear Butter alone spared a grateful glance back through the still-open front door. Lucky terminated the transit routine.
That left the former humans along with Lightning Dust alone by the old farmhouse. Lucky faced them, wiping away a few tears as she did so. “I’ll, uh—try to be as quick as I can. I could slow subjective time around here so you don’t have to wait, if you like. Make it a few seconds.”
“No!” Martin extended a wing, silencing her. “Don’t do that.”
“Why shouldn’t she?” Perez asked. “This whole day has gone way over my head. But I don’t like waiting, I know that.”
“We can use this,” Martin argued, though she seemed to be mostly addressing Olivia. Old habits are hard to break. “What she means is that time in this simulation can be controlled by running our minds faster or slower. She could slow us down so much that it doesn’t seem time goes by. Buuuuut time in the universe outside keeps going. I think we should keep going however fast we’re going and use the time to plan for when we come back to life.” She stopped, looking momentarily thoughtful. “I was just thinking we could workshop some ideas. For some kind of diplomatic… agreement. Plan out what we’ll do now that we won’t be at war with Equestria anymore. I assume we’re not at war if Lucky didn’t die…”
“I don’t think we are,” Lucky admitted. “But you’re getting ahead of yourself.”
“She is.” Olivia silenced her with a glare. “Our negotiator is dead and the one who’s most informed is about to leave on a mission of indefinite length. And Forerunner already had plans for Othar. If it’s really over…” She trailed off. “Is it over, Lucky? Othar won’t be attacked again? We can go back to being explorers?”
“I think so,” she said. “We’ll have to work things out with Equestria.” She took the list in her magic, levitating it behind her. She still wasn’t sure how she was doing it exactly, but at least in here that didn’t matter. “But I’ll be back. I guess the Apples don’t mind if we steal their house in the meantime. Just don’t burn it down. I still think I can get all these done by sunrise if I hurry.” Lucky tapped the first name on her list, then vanished into the night.
Someone knocked on Melody’s door. This was not something she really expected—with Othar still evacuated and the fate of the entire colony uncertain, Forerunner didn’t need to visit her in person when something had changed. He did need her permission to enter now, as he had given her a personal guarantee of safety and independence upon the completion of her mission. Now that she had served it, Melody and her growing foal were citizens of Othar, not slaves of the Pioneering Society.
No matter what happens, I can die knowing I wasn’t useless. But she didn’t want to die. She had an accelerator rifle on her desk now at all times, which she had taken from the armory. Not to use on Forerunner (he could just switch the damn thing off), but in case Othar were ever invaded. She would die fighting, protecting her foal. Some instincts ran deep.
“Who is it?” she asked, resting one hoof on the side of the gun. It clung to her flesh, lifting up though she had no fingers to hold it.
The voice she heard on the other side was unfamiliar to her—yet at the same time she recognized it intrinsically. She had sensed this presence before, but in a much-reduced form. “We are Harmony, operator of the Equus ring. We have come to rectify a permissions error.” The voice sounded like a chorus, hundreds of mouths all speaking at once until the sound melted into a unified slurry. But it wasn’t a presence crushing her mind, like the memories she had seen. There was nothing to be afraid of, other than the unusual.
Melody set the gun back down. What was she going to do, shoot God? She turned, then touched the control that would open the door. “I’m surprised Forerunner would let you in here.”
It retracted, giving her an unbroken view of the pony beyond. Well, pony shaped. It did not make any attempt to conceal its mechanical nature, with flat sections along its back and legs joined with bundles of dark mechanical muscle. It was about the size of an adult stallion, though it had the proportions of a mare. It looked similar to the Alicorn Melody had seen in those ancient memories. The mechanical pony even had a cutie mark—a little ring surrounding a bright red point, and a transparent glass horn.
Forerunner’s voice spoke up from the wall, sounding distracted. “Harmony is a more reasonable negotiator than I imagined. If this dialogue had circumvented the biological intermediaries, I wouldn’t have lost any members of my crew. It is a shame we waited until now.”
Forerunner is negotiating with Harmony? That thought brought terrible fear, though without much rationality behind it. What more was there to be afraid of then there had been?
“Impossible until now,” Harmony said, turning its attention back to her. “You are a discrepancy. You have violated permissions process and contain privileged information. This is not acceptable.”
Melody retreated a step, reaching out with one hoof for the rifle again. Not that she thought it would do her much good. “So this is it, Forerunner? You’re trading me away for peace? Didn’t you promise you’d protect me?”
“I did.” Forerunner sounded almost offended. “You are not in danger. Harmony has already agreed never to kill a member of my crew again. You will not be harmed.”
Harmony stepped through the open doorway, glass horn glowing with light. That light kept growing, growing until it shone through her whole body, through a hoof raised to shield her eyes and through her soul behind them. She screamed, cowering back from that light as it burned.
She tried to turn away, shielding the baby from the worst of it as best she could. For whatever good it would do.
Then, as suddenly as the pain came, it ended. “Permissions error rectified. Citizen identifier designated ‘Diplomacy.’”
Melody blinked, opened tear-stained eyes, and realized she hadn’t been burned at all. She stretched, and found something almost brushed on the wall as she leaned to the side. A long, pointed horn. She couldn’t think about it without being overwhelmed with strange sensations, like another set of colors superimposed on everything, so she immediately banished it from her mind. She was not just as tall as Harmony, but leaner too. The bulge in her belly was still there, and in one reflective wall she could see she now had a cutie mark. An open scroll, with two scribbles on it like different signatures.
Harmony turned away from her, as though it had just deleted an errant shortcut from its desktop.
“Wait!” Melody took a step after it. “You’re… Isn’t this supposed to be special or something? Alicorns in Equestria are… religious, almost! They’re revered! They move the sun! You can’t just walk in here and make me into a god, then walk out again!”
Harmony stopped and turned slowly around. “We are unconcerned with the superstition of a low complexity society. The purpose these beliefs serve to foster unity and conformity to the standard of quarantine are no longer relevant. Your Forerunner indicated to us the purpose of his colony would be to increase in complexity—we endorse this notion. View this upgrade as no more significant than a hardware improvement to one of your computer systems. It is not mythical, it implies no value judgement about your qualifications or abilities. Well… except as far as we believe the failsafe made a strategic choice, and you are the nearest available alternative.”
Harmony walked out of the open room. “Expect to begin receiving information from us in the future. We will make use of your convenient placement in this uplifted colony when an organic-machine interface is required. For your first assignment, take this.” Harmony tossed something through the air towards her, though Melody hadn’t seen how the pony had thrown it. It was a portable data storage device—of the exact same specifications that were common all over Othar.
“Bring that to your geneticist. She will be required to incorporate these sequences into her ‘human’ design. We could have made the alterations ourselves, but your Forerunner has already explained the value in allowing you to do your own work. We will inspect her results when she is finished.”
There was a brilliant flash of magic, one she could see in more than just light now. Energy pulsed out from where Harmony had been standing along much of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Melody looked away with fear, but the horn was an omnidirectional organ and looking away made no difference. She could still sense it until the energy was gone.
Forerunner’s voice came from one of the nearby walls again, no longer sounding as though he were mostly concentrating on other things. “Congratulations, Citizen Melody. I think you’ve just been hired.”
She turned, looking down and scooping up the fallen data storage device. “Enslaved, you mean. That thing is God—it can threaten whatever it wants if I don’t do what it says.”
“It won’t threaten you,” Forerunner said, without malice. “Harmony requires willing service. If you tell it you cannot provide, it will find someone else. Lei, perhaps. She has been eager to make meaningful contributions for some time.”
Melody could still remember the way Lei had told them so—with an exploding cake. Some part of her wanted to give up the job for that reason alone. But then again…
“I did physically bridge the gap between ponies and humans,” Melody muttered, eyeing the slight bulge beneath her. “With Karl gone, that probably means I’m the most qualified one we have.” She tossed the drive onto her desk. “What’s in this thing, exactly?”
“A few subtle alterations to the brain chemistry. They will produce the required interlink organ in the brain that humans do not possess. It will enable them to interface with Equus as ponies and all other creatures do.”
Melody shivered. “That sounds… dystopian. We’re letting an alien computer-system tinker with our brains?”
She could almost imagine Forerunner shrugging as he replied. “Harmony promises not to make alterations beyond the uplink itself. I realize we have nothing more than the system’s word as a guarantee. But we also do not have another option. Harmony has an absolute requirement for all sophisticated life on Equus. Submitting to this requirement renders us immune from the fear of future attack… from the system, anyway. Standard diplomatic means will have to be involved to prevent an invasion of a more mundane kind. But I do not believe one is likely. As you said, you are qualified.”
Melody blushed, looking away from the wall. Not that it made a difference. There were cameras and screens almost everywhere, including all over her room. There would be no privacy from the system that ran their lives. Unless I want to live in Equestria. That might not be so bad. She was eager to put her Eoch to more practical use in the real world.
“Besides—” Forerunner went on, apparently oblivious to her embarrassment. “Harmony’s uplink will prevent the final disillusion of the future generation of human crew-members upon their eventual deaths. As Harmony has prevented me from integrating further updates that might have eventually provided this ability, a substitute is desirable.”
Melody approached another one of the computers. She couldn’t help herself—she felt sympathy for Forerunner. “Harmony can just control you like that? And you’re going to roll over and do it? Isn’t that against your programming? I thought Forerunner probes were supposed to expand and survive, no matter what.”
“Yes, Forerunner probes do that. I am not a probe anymore, Melody—I am a colonial AI. It is not my desire to continue expanding along an arbitrary metric of complexity or intelligence—I desired these things only as they increased my ability to guarantee the success of this colony. I will leave the unfaltering expansion to my still-sleeping brothers and sisters of the void. If this colony is successful, then I will be content.”
Melody’s trust for machines had been greatly tried in the last few days. Just because they both promised not to kill her didn’t mean she would take their word on its face.
If I’m a diplomat for Harmony, it probably won’t kill me if I stay useful. It was as good a path as any. “When will the Cyclops be getting back, Forerunner?”
“It’s already in the harbor. Its passengers will be undergoing decompression aboard for the next few hours before they can disembark. Why?”
“I need to talk to the unicorns.” She looked up, twisting her head slightly to one side, then the other. She would have to be careful not to bump into anything—or poke out anybody’s eyes. Damn that point looked sharp. “If you get in contact with the away team, you should ask them to bring home some books about magic.”
“I am in contact with Abubakar,” Forerunner answered. “He and Deadlight are the only surviving members of the expedition. But I will pass on your request.”
Melody nearly fell over. “W-what?” She slumped into the cushion, feeling the weight of hopelessness descend on her. “Everyone else is… you can’t be right.” Deadlight’s alive. I don’t have to raise this foal alone. I can make it I can make it I can make it…
“I am, unfortunately. But the reality isn’t so grim as you fear. They are scheduled to return to life a few hours from now. With the exception of Second Lieutenant Williams and Dr. Nolan, every member of my generation three or later crew will be returned, including Major Fischer. I believed it would be better not to inform you of this, as their deaths would be easier for you to accept once it had been reversed.”
“Even Martin?” Melody asked. “And… why her, why Olivia, but not Williams? Why not Karl?” She hadn’t known the soldier very well, but she’d known Karl. She’d been one of her major allies during those early days, one of the ones standing against Olivia’s insanity.
“Those marks ponies possess are not identifiers—not so far as the system is concerned. But as their assignment is processed by the same subsystem that organizes and manages pony society, acquiring one resulted in the trigger of a failsafe that added new individuals into the Equus system. Dr. Nolan and the second lieutenant had not triggered this failsafe, and so were not captured within the ring to be revived.”
“So that’s why Celestia was so willing to kill us,” she muttered, glaring at nothing. “She didn’t see it as killing at all.”
“The away team killed her, so it is impossible to ask. The speculation is reasonable, however.”
“Good.” Melody probably should’ve felt guilty about that. The princess had been important to so many ponies. Even Lucky’s journals about her had been filled with nothing but praise for her skill and accomplishments and the way she organized Equestria.
But then she’d tried to kill them, and been hunting them ever since. Melody had never really known the benevolent, affectionate leader. Only the tyrant, ready to destroy everything and everyone she loved. I hope you stay dead.
“You should use the time before the members of the Cyclops expedition return to contact Dr. Born and give her those sequences,” Forerunner said. “I will not be permitted to fabricate any humans until they have been integrated. It would be better for everyone if you acted quickly.”
“She won’t be off for another hour,” Melody muttered, off-hand. “You just said so.”
“I… may have misrepresented the degree of the evacuation,” Forerunner said, and at least had the grace to sound embarrassed. “Dr. Born refused the evacuation order. I thought it better that you didn’t know. She’s in the lab.”
Melody groaned, rising to her hooves again. I’m definitely moving to Equestria. I’m fucking done with these machines.
Lightning Dust felt like she had been asleep for a year. She had heard athletes exaggerate about things like that before, particularly when they took a serious injury and ended up in the hospital while they healed. For the first time, Lightning Dust understood what that process felt like.
She had strange dreams—dreams of living with the crew of Othar, setting up a weather facility in an abandoned orchard in some no-name small town. It had been a good dream—it had been wonderful to finally be able to talk to Othar’s ponies without a language barrier. No translations to wait for, no computers to read from, just simple communication. Despite their initial disinterest in the subject, a year was a long time, and eventually they seemed to enjoy it. The nearby town just happened to lose their own weather contract due to a bidding dispute, and the fields needed weather desperately. They’d even been willing to front the cost of the facilities.
But now that she was awake, the entire experience was starting to fade. It was still there, but as she stirred she found it became less and less immediate. Like experiences that were decades removed, instead of seconds.
Lightning Dust blinked away the last remnants of sleep, and sat up. She was in a hospital room—bandages wrapped so thickly around her wings that she realized she couldn’t move them, and an IV dripped steadily beside her. Curiously, there were bars on the windows, and she could see the back of two guards standing in the hallway.
She wasn’t alone either, much as she would’ve wished it. And the pony sitting across from her was hardly one she wanted to see again.
Twilight Sparkle was not reading comfortably, as one might do while they waited in a hospital room. She wasn’t doing anything, just staring out the window with a despondent, hollow look in her eyes. At least she had been, until she noticed Lightning Dust stirring. She watched without speaking for a few more seconds, then tapped the wall with her hoof.
Without a word, the guards shut the door, and heavy locks slid closed. Just like that, Lightning Dust was alone with her.
“You were injured before,” Twilight Sparkle said, eyes dark. “Then you weren’t. How?”
“I… have no idea,” Lightning Dust replied. She managed to keep her voice neutral. You’d be so proud of me, Lucky. “I passed out after Celestia attacked me. My wings, you can’t imagine…” She looked up, and saw Twilight adjusting her own wings. “Well, maybe you can now. But you couldn’t have before. First time we met…”
Twilight Sparkle was impossible to read. Her body language was rigid, like someone in the presence of a dangerous animal. Ready to spring for a weapon at a moment’s notice. But Lightning Dust hadn’t been restrained, at least not beyond the guards outside and the bars on the window. “Who killed her?” Twilight asked, turning to stare at her. Her eyes glowed faintly white as she spoke, horn burning with a spell.
“Are you going to attack me?” Lightning Dust asked.
Twilight rose onto her hooves, shifting uncomfortably. “If I thought it would convince her to come back, I might. It wouldn’t be a very friendly thing to do…” She seemed to deflate then, looking away. “But Celestia decided not to come back. What you did isn’t keeping her away.”
Lightning Dust didn’t know what to say to that. She was afraid of this Alicorn. Twilight Sparkle had only ever known her as a threat to her friends. Maybe before the last few days, Lightning Dust might’ve stood bravely before her and gloated that she wasn’t afraid. But Lightning Dust had learned pain in the last few days, learned it in a way that her younger self could never have imagined. That braver pegasus was as dead as Celestia.
So she spoke more cautiously. “You’re not a mother. If your child was about to be killed in front of you, you would’ve done it too.”
Twilight Sparkle didn’t answer for a long time. “There are less than a dozen ponies who are aware of what happened, and that is how we intend to keep it. I am going to enchant you to prevent you from revealing this information to anypony else. Equestrian law requires I get your consent before casting a mind spell… but you murdered the one who made that law. Realistically, I was going to do it anyway.”
Lightning Dust felt a brief, searing moment of heat behind her eyes, a throbbing headache that made her kick and thrash. The moment passed, and she felt a few drops of blood dribbling down her nose. She shuddered and coughed, but the pain was already fading.
“Princess Luna refuses to punish you,” Twilight went on, as though she hadn’t just committed a capital crime. “She agrees that Princess Celestia did not… give us any alternative. She’s even…” Twilight whimpered, wiping a few tears from her face with the back of one hoof. But when she faced Lightning Dust again, it was all ice. “So you won’t go to Tartarus for what you did. Guess… guess it never really existed to begin with. But you should know—I hold you responsible.”
“Do you hold Celestia responsible for everything she did?” It probably wasn't wise for Lightning Dust to antagonize the princess like this. A year ago, she never would’ve dreamed of bravery like this. But through her memories of the dreamed weather-station, she remembered something else. Even Princesses could die. “Would you try to punish her too, if she came back?”
Twilight advanced on Lightning Dust, wings spreading like an angry swan about to attack. “You took away a pony loved all over Equestria. You took away the pony that has protected us for a thousand years. So far as I’m concerned, you’re banished. If I ever see you again…” Her horn glowed, but only for a few seconds. “Don’t let me see you again.” She vanished with a loud bang of angry light, leaving Lightning Dust alone.
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I'm rather surprised Twilight is mad at Lightning Dust about Celestia "dying", as she knows that death isn't really a thing on the ring. Twilight even said as much herself, that Lightning Dust isn't the reason Celestia hasn't decided to come back. That she's so mad to be willing to commit such a horrible crime is rather extreme.
twiggles, get over it already. celestia might come back someday anyways, selene might convince her to come out and lead the ponies again now that she's not got any reason to be all genocidally
Twilight..
You can meet Celestia by Harmony's interface .. if Celestia willing to.
(I guess Celestia is with Selene now )
But if you can not accept this meeting way..
I think you can not say Celestia loved all over Equestria.
Fuck this place; Forrunner! make us a spaceship! Let’s get the fuck out of here!
You didn't answer the question Twilight.
I don't think she's willing to admit to herself that Celestia deserved what she got. I mean say what you will, she destroyed at least 1 civilization and if you want to get dramatic sold another into slavery.
I say that but I honestly don't know if I'd have done the same if I'd had the same knowledge as Celestia... I may have been willing to commit the same crimes and when I was finally defeated I'd have accepted that defeat, not with pride but with acceptance. I'm willing to be a monster but when I'm taken down I'll pay the price for doing what I thought was needed.
In a twilight of an immortal society. We see two magical talking ponies argue about guilt and grudge based in concept of mortality.
I just realized that now the being capable of permanent death in Equu are only newly born babies with fresh soul. That is tragic.
8848463 I think she's just upset and looking to shunt all the blame to a tangible target.
Plus, Celestia wouldn't even be in the position of not wanting to come back had Dust not 'slain' her.
I can't say I am surpised by Twilight's feelings, Celestia wasn't just a mentor but also in many ways a second mother to her and now she is gone. I don't suspect she would remain this angry forever given her personality but in the short term Lighting should likely avoid her for a time.
The out is that even if Lightning Dust can't convey the information, Princess Lucky can. She can also likely remove the geas.
About all this means is that Lightning Dust will have a problem gaining citizenship should she ever choose to do so.
Where was Tirek then?
Also what was the changelings' deal, when I started this story I thought it was going to be about them and we've not heard about them since Celestia thought Lucky was one.
8848482
Fuck you, Twi.
First you bolt the mission the moment It becomes hard and you have to choose between your allies and your brother (note: Shining was the attacker and didn't seem to have any qualms about killing the enemy).
Then, you teleport the team, a heavily armored team into the guarded facility. What did you think it was going to happen? A Pinkie Pie party?
And you let a kid like Spike getting in the middle, to risk his life and witness the carnage?!
You let others risk their lives and make the hard choices, and then get angry when these choices affect the ones you care about (sorry Spike, you obviously aren't among them).
You dare to banish Lighting for killing Celestia, nevermind she was about to kill Lucky in front of her mother (among other many, many crimes). The fact Luna herself doesn't hold Lighting accountable doesn't bother you at all?
Summing up, you are a coward and a bitch. Get the fuck out and let the grown ups handle this
So...Twilight Sparkle is banishing Lightning Dust from the home country that constantly treated Dust like shit...over an action that all the other alicorns (including Twilight!) agreed had to be done? Wow...just because you're immortal doesn't mean you're not irrational and childish.
And in other news, YAY I STILL WON THE BET! Princess Melody is now the alicorn ruler of Othar! (Even if it is because Harmony being a little salty and trying to make lemonade out of lemons...)
8848463
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Twilight still loved her like a mother. And while celestia could come back and decided not to, lightning was the one that sent her away. Lightning killed her.
Death isn't permanent but I still wouldnt want to deal with a person who attacked and deprived me of someone I loved despite the necessity. Someone a nation loved. Especially when the attacker's motivation is pretty much revenge when she struck the killing blow.
Imagine how Luna feels about Lightning Dust.
And when lightning asked if twilight if she would punish celestia for her crimes. Yeah, that really pushed a button.
Uh... Tirek? Cerberus? I have several questions there, though it may just be Twilight being depressed and reductive.
In any case... Yeah, somepony definitely needs therapy. Getting Celestia in touch with her might be advisable... or when she gets back to Ponyville and meets Applejack's parents, she might get a different perspective on things. Still, for now, Twilight's in mourning, and I can't expect her to be completely rational about the loss of one she held so dear. Once she does recover, there will be a brave new world for her to help guide... if she doesn't try to preserve Celestia's memory by trying to preserve the society she created as unchangingly as possible.
Still, progress marches on, and the world isn't going to wait for one little pony. Especially not when there's still most of a dozen ponies Twilight hasn't mind-whammied, some of whom will have a strong interest in spreading the news and/or undoing Lightning's geas. The rest of the endgame should be fascinating to watch indeed. Especially freely available citizenship. It's likely only a matter of time before an alicorn Pinkie throws a "Restart of the Space Age" party, to say nothing of all the other ressurections the Princess of Kintsugi performed.
8848484
I might have missed something but what about blank flank foals? Marks indicate they'll be captured into the system but they don't have marks. And since they're old citizens does that mean that immortal aren't exactly as immortal as we think?
Or were they already marked (but invisible) and the first fresh souls created by forerunner were vulnerable because they're foreign to the system before harmony altered them?
8848562
I suspect it's second scenario. What I understand before forerunner Equus is a closed system so there's no new soul as remarked by Harmony.
It could also be any offspring of registered are automatically registered . If this is true than so even though their souls are new they still catched by the system.
Well, we have victory! But at a cost of very soon conflicts. Some excitement still yet to come!
One of the remaining alicorns was Discord's? Flurry Heart, I guess? That makes sense of why Discord pushed Lucky to bring Flurry with her on her Daring Do expedition, at least.
8848574
But aren't they all old citizens reincarnated? Souls created by forerunner are stated to be the youngest.
I don't know if I'd enjoy a world where the souls of the dead take over the bodies meant for potential new souls created by natural reproduction. What happens to these potential new souls?
Or perhaps Olivia was right? Each consciousness in and out of the system is unique and is more or less information. Each "soul" ends in death or rebirth with a copy being created on the other side much like the teleporter dilemma. It doesn't change things in the world from an objective point of view.
So far discord didn't answer lucky so it's possible. But that means our lucky break is now dead. I really hope its not this.
8848562
I think that once they are in the system, they stay there. The marking was mentioned to be a secondary process that also makes sure that they are in the system(the mentioned failsafe) (thus the correlation of the two for the settlers' case) when it attempts to register a talent.
Since they are returned without memories in the prior version of the system, I assume that the mark would need to be reassigned to the new returned (kinda like how Lucky got re-marked, but instead by the amnesiac pony liking a new hobby). Like Lucky, they still stay registered, but the mark might be new (like getting a new driver's license doesn't mean that they forget you). (OR, it's the same mark and talent, since it was the same pony (this complicates cases for the old engineers of the ring, though). The CMC's attempt to discover their marks may actually make sense this way.)
I feel bad for Twilight and Lightning after that. The first has lost essentially her mother and mentor, and the second is being punished again for something she had no other option for, and after an already sad life.
I assume that the ones shown in the memory crystal are on the List. I look forward to hearing more from them. Perhaps they can convince Celestia to come back. I still feel that she should be redeemable, or at least that she shouldn't hide away in guilt in the Ring.
The memory spell is also a bad sign. Let's hope that this doesn't result in a DarkFall scenario...
(My term for Nightmare Twilight)
8848475
to be fair, magic and an actual painless matrix
8848588
that or cadance since she had to approve of lucky's citizenship
I didn't think a perfect fic could exist, but here we are. I am in love with pretty much every plot point in this fic, and the direction you took it just keeps getting better and better! Seriously, this story is now one of my absolute favorites on this site! Thank you so much for sharing; next Saturday cannot come soon enough!
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8848634
You guys are discussing protocols that operated under quarantine rules. Who is to say that new souls have to solely be from reincarnation now that quarantine is lifted and Harmony's manipulations of society is done?
relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgRfPc1lfJk
8848557
IIRC, FoME, Starscribe the Author, said something about the events of Tirek and Cerberous not actually happening, being illusory events to replace something else, such as Twilight messing about with the tree of jarmony.
8848769
Harmony still runs the show. It's just not as restrictive as it was before. We don't know the full nature of the restrictions so we probably have to assume much of the old system remains. Just that there won't be any district-wide resets anymore.
It's hilarious how Twilight was 100% behind Lucky Break killing Celestia if need be, but then Lightning goes and does it (under a condition I would describe as 100% MUST SHOVE MAGIC ROD INTO FACE), and she becomes a little brat about it.
Not very rational there, Twi. If Lucky had done the same thing under combat conditions, would you have had this little saltfest?
I love this epic story.
Just that.
I know we're not done yet, but still, thankyou author for one of the more unique HiE and sci fi fics on this site.
8848822
From twi's point of view, lightning dust performed an execution on a loved one filled with malice or revenge. For lucky it was self-defense.
Honestly, if I were twi, I'd be angry too.
But then again she's probably not rational right now and still going through the stages of grief.
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8848699
Selene. I think the other Alicorn was Selene.
8848769
I was referring solely to how it had worked.
I did not consider the addition of new citizens to the network as part of my comment, since it was solely in response to the one about how marks worked on reincarnated individuals without memory, and whether they were still in the backups.
I would also guess that it won't be an issue in the future because if someone gets killed now, they probably would just walk right back out again. (which is pretty cool)
8848883
Still a HECK of a double standard she's setting, there. You can't support a plan that can result in a death, then be pissed about the cause or manner of death at a later date. Especially as a ruler.
Well... Goodbye Reasonable!Twilight, we hardly knew ye.
Also feel this is going to bite her in the plot in the upcoming Equestria/Othar negotiations. As pointed out by others, Lucky is free to talk. As is everyone else at Othar. (Apart from those murdered by Celestia) As is everyone Discord knew, and anyone else who cones back from the dead.
Try this shit with AJ's patents Twilight. I dare you.
Though really don't agree with Lucky. If have a digital film, and I move it to another computer, I don't say the film is now lost forever. I say it's the same film. Moving a ship of thesius is different from making a copy and sending them in different directions.
8848475
Didn't you hear Melody, she said "I am sick of these motherbucking machines on this motherbucking ring," She won't ask forerunner for help.
8848954
I don't think she has quite come to terms that death is temporary. Sure, she has been told this is the case, but ponies are emotional creatures. It likely hasn't sunk in yet.
Yeah, that ain't sticking Twi... not when the newest Alicorn will immediately veto the decision. Or, I guess second-newest? Bah, the point still stands...
8848946
There's a difference between agreeing to something and having it actually happen. While Twilight might've been a bit hard on Dust, she loved Celestia for years, before any of this nightmare even happened. I think she'll get better, but it'll take time.
8848532
Unless, of course, she gains "citizenship"... it's gonna be nigh impossible to argue with a horn and wings for a long time.
8848555
However it's a justified action.
It more shows just how sheltered Twilight is and how being protected by Celestia embedded the idea of letting someone off untouched due to relation.
Add to the fact that she's openly admitting to placing herself above the laws her mentor created and sh'e also directly spitting in the face of said love and respect.
8849094
It just doesn't mesh to me. Twilight was the one who kicked this whole chain of events into motion in the first place way back at the boundary of gen 3 and 4, when she straight up defied Celestia to share the location of that bunker with Lucky (in CODE no less). I could see her being depressed, angry at herself, and withdrawn over this but ultimately she'd come to the conclusion it's her fault, one way or another. Having her blame Lightning for it just doesn't fit with how she's been written for the entirety of the story unless we're missing crucial context from the time she spent not with the group (as short a time as that was). Which I am hoping will be explained in detail because up till now all the characterizations have been perfectly believable and extremely well done. This one blip on my radar, however minor, stands out for that.
8848989
If celestia refuses to come back then the effect is the same as permanent death. Only it's voluntary on celestia's part.
It's looking more and more like twi feels celestia has abandoned her and she is hurt beyond words by this. She is in grief and is lashing out at lightning dust.
8848954
But when it comes to data, you're NOT just moving the ship. As it says in the chapter, it's impossible to move data. The bits and bytes in your computer, the arrangement of ones and zeroes, that make up a piece of information, aren't physically moving. If you're transferring a film from your computer to a USB drive, then to a different computer, that information isn't physically moving from one to the next to the third. There's no voyage there. When you "move" information, all it does it copy it to the next device. Sometimes duplicating, and sometimes not, in which case all that happens is the information is deleted from the source. The internet isn't actually a series of tubes, transferring a constant flow of electrons containing data. It's just a bunch of machines copying data from each other. So when you say you haven't lost the film when you film, yes, you still have the data that comprises that film, so you haven't lost it in that sense, but the original instance you had of it, if it was deleted from the source, IS lost. We don't care so much since it's just a bit of data, but if that file was complex enough as to be intelligent itself, that's where this question of continuity of consciousness comes from.
8849102
Harmony implied in this chapter that gaining citizenship will be pretty much trivial going forward. An entire civilization of alicorns, ready to start exploring the universe!
8849223
Exactly. Most people don't seem to know this. It's a good thing magic exists in this story that somehow is able to migrate someone in time and space (allowing contenuity of existence), not just copy the data, as was said in the chapter. It'll likely never be explained more than 'higher dimensions' though as the author doesn't know how it works either. If the author did know how it worked, they would have solved something geniuses have been trying to solve for millennia, and would be eligible for a Nobel prize.
8849275
Also this is a science fiction drama/action story, not a whitepaper. Even if I had ideas for how the ring worked in this regard, slowing down the story for thousands and thousands of words explaining it would not do any kind of service to its pacing. That's more the territory of blog posts afterwords.
Poor Twilight Sparkle. There was no way this was going to end well for her. She seems to have kept most her sanity, but been very badly scarred emotionally.
And poor Flurry Heart, too. There's no way she's not going to blame herself in part for everything that happened. She's going to become even more lonely and isolated now, I suspect.
8849275
I can think of non-magical ways to do this. If you transfer the personality pattern slowly, and during the transfer share the processing between the old platform and the new, then you can maintain experiential continuity and hence perfect identity, no more extinguishing the old pattern than your mind would do anyway when it transfers processing from one part of itself to another -- which your brain does all the time anyway.
8849197
Celestia may feel like a monster who has sacrificed the happiness of others on a massive scale to what she deemed their ultimate safety, and yet failed to achieve that safety in the end. She may well be avoiding Luna and Twilight Sparkle and her other friends out of shame.