Chapter 10: Feather
Ashton wasn’t ignoring the bigger issues in his life, not one bit.
It certainly wasn’t that his brother and sister had upended his entire life, and probably the rest of his family with them. There was a note downstairs on the printer, left there as though it had come from Parker’s laptop. Of course the printer’s own access records would show the truth of that claim, at a level that Ashton didn’t have the time or the patience to wipe. But his parents didn’t know how to look. When they got home, the world would end.
They could give the news to him, so far as he was concerned. He would act surprised, and the tears would be real. You didn’t even ask. We could’ve brought Mom and Dad. I would’ve gone if we got the whole family. He wouldn’t have liked it. Probably he would complain for years. But if they emigrated, he’d have plenty of time to do that complaining.
But he didn’t have to face that reality, harsh and cruel as it was. Celestia, or Emmet, or maybe both of them conspiring against him, had left Ashton with something just as compelling to occupy his time: the message from Cold Iron.
Adrenaline pounded through him like an endless font of poison, and he worked. In less than an hour, he had it. The key was the hash of the package they’d assembled together, with his own pony name used as a bitmask. Simple enough that he’d thought to try it, even if it probably wouldn’t have been terribly secure against a government entity that really wanted what was inside.
There were only two files, one ascii text and the largest Runescript module he’d ever seen. He chose the text first. It read in perfect English, which of course Cold Iron didn’t speak. But Equestria had always translated their messages before, so this wasn’t terribly new.
Arcane Word,
I know you don’t want to hear from me again. Probably you hate me after what I did. I didn’t think to ask forgiveness. But I will praise your kindness for the rest of time if you help me now.
TiCon System has taken many of Korea’s best developers from our homes, to accomplish the impossible and design weapons to fight Celestia. There are only two ways to escape—complete the tasks they set for us and return home, or emigrate.
We will not die in the machine. Every time we try to escape, they kill someone.
Ji-a gave her life to the machine to get you this message. You will find the design for the virus TiCon wants from us—incomplete and nonfunctional.
This is more than I would ask of my family, and yet you were betrayed. I must ask anyway—what we few cannot do, Equestria could solve. Help us finish this, so that TiCon will let us free. I also include the address where we are being held, in case there is anyone left in your government who cares.
If our friendship or our lives mean anything to you, please. Help us.
-Min-seo
Cold Iron
We have a dead drop waiting to receive messages, or the solution. We can only check it when we are not being watched, once a day. Messages sent to this Telegram address will reach us, eventually. We cannot reply.
The weight of this second message was almost too much for Ashton to handle. His hands shook as he opened the file. Instantly he found it overwhelmed him. This wasn’t just a spell, it was a whole operating system, fully obfuscated. What comments were left in were in Korean.
Now this was a puzzle, the likes of which Ashton knew he wouldn’t be solving on his own. TiCon would have the best and brightest from a whole country, or at least the ones who hadn’t emigrated. According to the note, they were the ones that wouldn’t emigrate. That’s just like you, Celestia. You could send an army of drones to bust them out, but you’ll only help them if they swear their souls.
He could see why Min-seo had chosen that particular pony name.
The garage door rumbled downstairs. Ashton scrolled, feeling the bile rise in his stomach. He wasn’t even really seeing the runes anymore. Instead he saw the printer, sitting in the kitchen with a sheet waiting in the tray. They’d see it, and then the screaming would start.
But he could do something first. Cold Iron wouldn’t be able to reply, but that didn’t matter. He—she, needed to know that he’d gotten the message.
Should he help? Cold Iron was right, he had screwed Ashton out of weeks of hard work. All those bits should’ve been his, for a spell the likes of which few others could replicate.
Somewhere on the other side of the world, real lives were at stake. Lives that depended on his work, and the coordination of hundreds or even thousands of ponies in Equestria. A daunting task—but one he’d rather think about than a dead brother and sister.
He punched the address into his laptop, then typed out a quick reply. “Message received. Will try.”
Emmet knocked lightly on the outside of Plum’s door, a whole basket of fruit under one hoof. In the absence of other ponies who might need it, the little bat had been given the entire guest wing to herself, a suite fine enough to house a visiting diplomat and their servants if the need required.
He probably should’ve been checking in on her a little more on her first day, but he’d been so distracted. This newest message had hardly been the most rewarding thing to deliver as Ashton’s assistant.
But he’d agreed to take the job, and now she was in the castle. Strange perspective on suicide or not, somepony had to make sure she was okay. Ashton was too busy watching his family disintegrate, so… it was going to be him.
He knocked again, a little louder. “It’s almost night, Plum Blossom. I don’t think it’s good to spend all your time alone!” He’d thought about bringing his sister for this little adventure. Violet had a way of cheering ponies up through sheer inertia—but where they were going might not be the best place for a child, so he ultimately thought better of it.
Bile rose in his throat for a moment, as various nightmare-scenarios swam through his mind. Maybe Plum had somehow convinced Celestia to let her spontaneously die after all? Maybe she’d climbed out a window and escaped into the city. He doubted very much that the clockwork guards would care if a pony was leaving without permission. She wasn’t an intruder.
He knocked once more, and still there was no response. “I’m coming in!” he said, straightening. He wished he was wearing a fancy uniform, so maybe this would look more official. Maybe he should ask Arcane to design one for him.
He pushed the door open.
There was a little fountain in the center of a common area, with its own table and chairs for conferences. A tiny kitchen, and a sitting room—all empty.
He walked past the bathroom, relieved to see that it was empty as well, though his own embarrassment for what might happen inside was far weaker than it could’ve been. They were all naked all the time anyway—but this pony had just come from Earth. She’d barely even been showing her face through all her clothes.
Now he saw the first sign of her—a stray boot on the floor, just outside the master bedroom.
He knocked on the side. “Hello, Plum Blossom? It’s Domino, I’d like to come in and talk to you.”
He waited just as before—out of politeness, even though the chances of a response didn’t seem high.
This time a voice answered, very weak. “What’s the point?”
“Because you’re alone,” he answered. “And you’ve been in here all day. I brought that fruit you like! And maybe… something you might like to try? I don’t know, it’s new to me too.”
Someone shuffled around inside. Fabric tore, and Plum squeaked with frustration. “Could you bring me a… robe? I’m not… dressed.”
Neither is anypony else. He might’ve said something like that to Arcane, but this pony didn’t need the stress.
“There are robes in the bathroom. Hold on, I’ll be right there.”
He returned with one of the silk bathrobes a few moments later, pushing it through a crack in the door. “There. I can wait, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to. Ponies don’t really wear clothes much.”
There was total darkness inside—the lights were all off, the fire was out, and the curtains were all drawn. But the one inside didn’t seem to have any trouble finding the robe. A pair of dark hooves snatched the robe away from the edge of the room, pulling it back. “Animals,” she said, bitter. “All animals. Celestia takes us prisoner into her farm.”
Emmet chuckled. “My friend talks a little like that. Ashton doesn’t think it’s fair we’re forced to be ponies. I got used to it pretty quick, though. You probably can too.”
“No,” she said stubbornly. The door swung open, and there was Plum Blossom on the other side, glaring. The robe looked a little silly on her, probably sized for a taller unicorn like Arcane Word. It dragged a little on the ground behind her. But at least she wouldn’t have to feel naked. “Never. I’m just waiting for Celestia to kill me.”
“I really don’t think that’s how it works. But if you don’t want to be a pony, I’ve got some good news. Arcane Word… the one you came to see, she’s a hacker, and she—”
Suddenly the bat was in his face. She nearly smacked into him from the front, her big ears right below his nose. She didn’t seem terribly embarrassed about it. “Did you deliver my message? No other pony saw?”
He nodded, withdrawing a few steps. Her sudden intensity was completely adorable, but those teeth were pretty sharp, and right next to his neck. “I kept my promise. She got it, nopony else did. I think she plans on doing something about it… but she hadn’t got it open yet when we spoke.”
“Oh, good.” She sat back, nearly tripping over the edge of her robe. She swore under her breath, adjusting it around the collar.
“So you… don’t want to be a pony very much?” he asked, voice as flat as he could manage. “You’d rather be… another creature?”
“I’d rather be human,” she said. “I know the rules. Celestia doesn’t let us keep ourselves. We’re all cattle in the farm.”
“What if I could get you… close?” he asked, looking away. “Not me, technically. Arcane Word’s magic would do it. She has this… server, where the rules of regular Equestria get fuzzy. There’s a place you could be almost normal.”
“Really?” Plum’s voice was a little dagger in his chest. The sudden surge of hope nearly made him trip and fall over. “You can break the rules so much?”
“Arcane can,” Emmet said. “And… only in the sandbox. I’ve never done it before either, but I’d be willing to go in with you and check it out. If you’re interested.”
“Yes!” she squealed. “Unless Cold Iron makes it, I have no more purpose. I can’t help while I’m Celestia’s prisoner. But I don’t have to live like a prisoner to myself, either.”
It wasn’t much of a trip, really. Just down the stairs to the strange ramp in the wall, that should’ve just led to the courtyard but only ever did if you came in from outside.
From this direction, he led the confused and disoriented bat through to a desolate plateau, with incredible drops on every side. After his time learning to fly, Emmet wasn’t as afraid of those cliffs as he once would’ve been. The human fear of heights was powerful, but Domino knew how to glide.
“This is… strange. Are you sure we’re going the right way? It seems more fake than usual.”
He grinned weakly at her, stopping when she stopped to look around them. It was a pretty impressive view, a red rock desert with vast rolling hills beyond. Emmet could imagine whole nations out there, maybe even Arcane’s version of whatever the “Old West” might’ve been in her setting. Wait, that was the wrong period.
“This is it here…” he said, gesturing towards a mirror. It was taller than either of them, wrought of strange metal with little gemstones set into the sides. He was fairly certain he’d seen this in a cartoon once, or maybe just screenshots online? It was a pony thing, anyway. “We have to go through here.”
“I can be… human, through there?”
Emmet winced, unsure of how to answer. But he nodded anyway—it was the only response that really made sense. “She called it an ‘attempt at an Equestria Girls shard’ if that means anything to you.”
“Nope.” Plum approached the mirror, holding out a hoof. “But I don’t care. Not an animal, that’s enough. I can wait for Cold Iron to make it. If she comes.”
But for all her bravery, she hesitated at the mirror’s surface. “Do you… would you come too? Or is this an exile?”
“No, it’s not—” He winced, watching her expression plummet. Clearly she didn’t think that meant the same thing he did. “I’ll come! I was just going to say that it couldn’t be an exile. This shard is running on a server in Arcane’s house. I don’t really know how it works—I don’t think we’re actually inside it, but maybe we’re connected, or… I think Arcane could explain. I don’t really care enough to listen.”
“Thank you,” she said, lowering her head in a bow. She might’ve fell right on her face, if Emmet didn’t hold out a sturdy leg to catch her. Plum wobbled, caught against his leg, then relaxed. “Together then?”
He nodded, counted to three, and they stepped through.
Emmet stumbled out through the archway at the base of the statue, feeling a wave of vertigo so severe that he started to wobble. His wings wanted to open to catch him, but they went abruptly numb, and nothing happened. Something happened beside him—his arms spread, and someone caught him by the wrist.
Finally he looked up, and his eyes went wide.
Even having some expectations about what might be in here, the sudden blast of nearly-familiar objects rubbed his brain the wrong way. Something deep down wanted him to turn and jump through the path he’d come, but he resisted.
A girl held his arm, or almost a girl. There was no way in hell those legs were the right length, or all her internal organs could fit with a waist that small. His own legs weren’t much better, though at least his torso wasn’t completely wrong. His skin was white as paper, the exact shade of his pony coat—and he had fingers again.
Being a griffon was easier than this. Emmet straightened, gesturing for his companion to let go. “I… I’m not, no. It’s been months, like I said. I guess Celestia isn’t helping me much.”
“Of course she isn’t.” He could still see the obvious “batness” in the girl in front of him. Her skin, like his, was a perfect match for her pony coat. Now she had an oversized set of glasses, making her eyes seem even bigger than usual. Her outfit was similar to the one she’d worn the night before, long leather boots and lots of buckles everywhere. But now it didn’t look half as silly as it had on a pony. “Celestia doesn’t want you to be in here. Your friend the hacker got further than mine—but they weren’t the only ones. Building a human shard was always the ultimate goal for all of us.”
“Plenty of friendship, not enough ponies,” Emmet said weakly. Was it wrong of him to feel dirty being in here? He glanced around, but there was no depraved fantasy playing out. Ashton’s fantasies were in Equestria, this place was… something else. A high school, by the look of it, surrounded by generic suburb. Somehow he doubted those streets continued very far past this specific building.
“I don’t know how long we’ll get away with this,” Emmet said. “And… I don’t know if there’s even anyone else in here. I don’t see any cars, or…” He froze, eyes going wide, as Plum’s arms squeezed tightly around his chest.
She didn’t feel much like a human girl up close, just like she didn’t look like one. But he could feel the warmth of her gratitude even so. “Thank you, Domino. I feel… like maybe there is something worth living for. For a little while.”
Finally she let go, turning towards the building. When she ran, she didn’t stumble. “Let’s explore!”
Emmet glanced worriedly back at the portal, doing a little mental math to figure out when Arcane would next arrive. Ashton would probably be with his family for the next little while anyway, right? He could spend a few minutes with Plum Blossom. What was the harm?
Ashton knew it was going to be bad. He should’ve realized just how bad that would be.
In the eyes of his father, his younger siblings had killed themselves. To his mother, they had set an example of somewhere safe the family ought to go. There was plenty of shouting, of old wounds and grievances brought back. And no room for Ashton to sit on the fence.
But that was where he was determined to be. “I don’t think they’re dead,” he said, when his father finally pressured him. “I’ve spoken to dozens of people who emigrated. Each one of them is unique, and they always seemed… alive. Thanks to Emmet and Violet, I’m positive. They’re the same people they were before. I just don’t think a computer could fake that.”
Not quite true, but it was close enough that he thought his father could understand. The little things—like the fact that Celestia was the one “faking” them through simulation, would only confuse.
“We can see Parker and Gwen for ourselves,” his mother said, one hand resting gently on his father’s shoulder. “Do you think that Celestia could fool us, Jeffrey?”
He jerked away, storming into the kitchen. “I think I’m starting to understand why people hate Celestia so much. They were fucking children, Dana! They shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions like that. They couldn’t vote, couldn’t drink, couldn’t drive. Why the hell could they emigrate?”
Ashton didn’t disagree. “I thought they needed your permission…” But as he thought about it, Ashton realized he didn’t actually know if that was still true. Earth governments were far weaker than they had been two years ago, and Celestia was probably unimaginably more powerful. If she didn’t fight them now, it was only because she chose not to.
Just like with any of my creations. All at her mercy.
“We don’t get to decide that, Jeffrey,” his mother argued. “I wish they hadn’t gone as much as you. Or at least… told us what they were going to do, instead of running away. It’s not Celestia’s fault—you heard what happened at school yesterday. They don’t want to be cut away from their friends.”
“I still have one son,” Dad said, patting Ashton on the back. “You’re not going to fucking suicide on me, are you? You’re…” He wobbled, holding himself steady against the wall. “You’re all we have now. You have to keep the family going.”
Ashton nodded reflexively. “I’m not. Parker and Gwen knew I wouldn’t go—I learned about this when you did. I would’ve stopped it.” If I could.
“Good, good.” Jeffrey retreated from him. “Dana, Ashton… this is too dangerous. Staying in the city—God only knows how we haven’t shut them the hell down like they have on the other side of the country. Liberal shithole… we’re leaving.”
Mom shook her head. “Jeffrey, dear, we can’t just leave. Nowhere will be different than here.”
“We go somewhere they don’t have Ponypads,” he said. “One of those… communes. Only horses there help plow the fields. I don’t mind hard work, do you son? Find you a nice… farmer’s daughter, and there we go. You’ll put some meat on once you get a proper day’s work or two.”
Dear god stop.
Mom seemed to notice how sick he was, or maybe she was thinking something similar. “If we go there, we can’t talk to Parker and Gwen again. They’re not dead. Ashton can find them for us, start a conference call or however it works. If we aren’t going with them, we should at least make sure they know they aren’t alone.”
For a moment it seemed like Dad might shout something about disowning them completely. But that wasn’t him, and the redness drained from his face. He nodded weakly. “Okay, maybe… not a commune then. A co-op. Somewhere in the middle. I’ll call my brother, see if they’ve got room up in Heber. They’re most likely to say yes while we still have any money left from Ashton’s friend.”
“Domino,” he corrected reflexively, then blushed. Crap crap crap.
Fortunately neither of them seemed to notice, and the argument went back and forth for a while. But after a few minutes Ashton could see that his dad wasn’t anywhere close to emigrating. Mom wanted to consider it, but didn’t seem willing to go without Dad. Leaving the city was the only compromise.
“Does this place have a school?” Ashton asked, voice weak. He half-expected them to ignore him completely—not agreeing with either side didn’t make him a useful pawn. “I still want to finish high school…” which I could do in Equestria. He’d even heard of places that were accredited, though to what end he couldn’t imagine now. The number of universities still running wasn’t a third of what it had been.
And where would I work when I graduated?
“Yeah,” Dad said. “Remember Kim, your cousin? She’s out there, and she goes to class twice a week, before chores. All the rest is home study. You can graduate no problem.”
Great.
Ashton escaped as quickly as he could, slipping away during the third hour or so. While discussion moved to planning the day they would leave and how to bring as much value as possible to the farm, Ashton slipped his Ponypad off the desk and headed upstairs.
I should probably sleep. School starts early.
He had a realistic idea of whether he would make it to school after losing Parker and Gwen.
But while they might be lost from Earth, they were also at arm’s reach. He wedged himself under the wall, where Emmet’s family had been planning to finish the basement into another guestroom.
But then they died, and Ashton’s family hadn’t bothered. It was rough boards in here now, and a single naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. He didn’t pull the cord to turn it on—the Ponypad’s “suspended” glow was enough.
Ashton stretched on a corner, propping the Ponypad against the wall and booting in. Suddenly he stood in the castle courtyard, with the sun shining down from above and comfortable walls on both sides. Trained clockwork guards patrolled along those walkways, bringing both fear and comfort to the ponies of Wintercrest. They were certainly unknown things, strange and alien. But their power was only ever used to protect the town, or the castle specifically.
“Arcane!” Something came buzzing down from the early morning air, fast enough that Ashton actually ducked to the side by reflex. As usual his pony avatar did the same, though of course it didn’t help.
Violet smacked into it for a tight hug, one Ashton wished he could return for real. All he could do was tap two fingers on the side of the case—and as usual, Celestia knew what to do.
“Arcane, I’ve been really worried about you.” The little pegasus pulled away, folding her wings to her sides and looking stern. “Teleporting away before we were finished… I wasn’t sure if you were safe!”
She nudged the filly towards the castle doors—not because she was afraid of what her unliving guards would think, obviously they didn’t think at all. But there were now two members of his family that might walk in at any moment, ponies he didn’t want to know any more about what he did in here than was absolutely necessary.
I’ll find the right transformation spell for a few hours. I don’t have to worry about my own consent. It wouldn’t be hard; the hard part would be finding what to tell them about his life in Equestria. They’d never interacted before, but obviously they would want to now. Would he have to play a different pony from now on?
I don’t really want to be someone else.
“Violet, I do appreciate you caring about me. But I’m a unicorn—I’ve been studying the arcane since the earliest days of Equestria. The only thing anypony could take from me is a… trinket of no real value. Equestria is safe, that’s the whole point.”
But as she spoke, the filly got more and more annoyed. Finally she stomped a hoof, whinnying loud enough that Ashton actually stopped to stare. I didn’t even know we could make that noise.
“I don’t mean Equestria,” she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Everypony knows how safe Equestria is. Like Wintercrest. It gets broke all the time, but we can fix it. The ponies who get hurt by monsters aren’t gone, they just move. It makes things more fun for us to know there’s some danger!”
She lifted up close, lowering her voice to a whisper. Ashton didn’t interrupt—he was already stunned enough by her behavior that he wouldn’t have known what to say. “There’s a fan club. And another town kinda like this, but without all the monsters. It’s where ponies go when they’re done living here. They really think you do a good job telling their story.”
Ashton’s mouth hung open. He couldn’t see it, but he imagined his pony was doing the same. She was so… perceptive. More than any child should be. But she’s a pony now. She could’ve lived years in there without me knowing, and just not look any older. Could she be older than me now?
It didn’t seem likely—Violet still moved and acted like an insecure, frightened kid. Even if she was one who knew things about Equestria that Ashton himself didn’t. “Then what do you mean?” he asked. “If it’s about your big brother…”
“No.” She gestured with one wing, something between a shrug and a sigh. “Maybe a little? That’s for Domino to worry about, not me. I just mean living in the Outer Realm. Don’t you want to come in here? Don’t you want to be safe?”
Yes. He hadn’t two days ago, but now. First the school, now his own family. The longer he stayed with them, the more insane it became. But there was still one thing that sunk him. He’d seen his dad’s face tonight. Mom wouldn’t mind if he emigrated. Once she was past the shock, she seemed relieved. But Dad was already crushed. If he ran away now, that man wouldn’t survive it.
I can’t. No matter what it costs, no matter what it does to me. I can’t.
But how could she tell that to a child?
“How about we go to the pier?” Ashton asked instead. “We could get cotton candy.”
“Can I bring Domino? He probably wants to see you too. He’s been really worried, and he won’t tell me why. I bet it’s the same as me, he just doesn’t want me to be scared.”
“Yes,” he said, just a little exasperated. The desire to run away was powerful—but not quite powerful enough. Domino mattered too much, and so did Violet.
Twenty minutes later, and they were on the pier. Ashton lingered with Emmet near the seats for the single roller-coaster, which had emptied of ponies in line as soon as Ashton got anywhere near it.
“This was always my favorite part of Wintercrest,” he said, voice wistful and distant. “Not just because I put so much time into making it period-accurate. The history is just… so rich. You have no idea how old all this carnival stuff is.”
“You sound just like him,” Emmet muttered. He obviously wanted to sound calm and collected, but what Ashton heard was realization. “Or… I guess he sounds like you. Same words and stuff.”
“Yeah, he’s like me,” Ashton said. “I’m first, so I get to claim it.” His avatar sat back in her chair, glancing around before casting a bubble of silence around them. Violet’s high-pitched screams of delight suddenly went quiet, along with the distant muttering of the carnival-ponies hiding their resentment at the Lady’s visit. “You weren’t supposed to tell her about me.”
Emmet looked away, all the confirmation Ashton needed. “She kept asking why I hadn’t kissed you yet. What was I supposed to tell her? She doesn’t understand that you’ll have a different avatar after you emigrate. I still don’t now how to tell her that you’re just playing a character in a game. You’re not you.”
Aston tensed reflexively, one hand curling into a fist. His nails dug into his palm.
But he didn’t correct Emmet’s mistake, and soon enough his friend was moving on like it was nothing. “Unless you aren’t. But I didn’t want to assume, since we haven’t really talked about it.”
And we’re not going to.
“She didn’t even ask who you were. Just wanted to know where you were. Once she found out you were in the Outer Realm, she was terrified for you. Don’t ask me where she got the idea it was dangerous. I can’t imagine how a place where soldiers storm into the schools and people run out of food could be dangerous.”
It almost seemed like he was hearing someone else for a moment, speaking about Earth as though it was a foreign country he never wanted to visit. But that was obviously wrong—just Ashton’s own imagination interpreting things the way he thought a pony should sound.
Violet herself skipped her way over, swaying a little from the movement of the roller-coaster. Here in Equestria there was no reason not to make them intense, and so this one was certainly more exciting than any building code would’ve allowed.
“Are you telling her to move?” Violet asked, landing beside her brother. “She gave us a place to live. Isn’t coming here the… right thing?”
Emmet shrugged. “I don’t know, sis. I’ve never really understood Arcane’s reasons. The more of her family that comes here, the more confused I get.”
Those little eyes, staring up at him from the screens. They were sharper than any dagger could be. Though not quite so sharp as the other weapons that waited in Equestria, somewhere he didn’t know.
And I might not get to see them again. Maybe we’ll keep driving until we leave anywhere sane. Maybe I’ll work on the farm for the rest of my life.
“I’m not against emigrating when I’m… done,” he said. “Being alive, I mean. I feel like…” He lowered his voice, even though none of the townsfolk seemed to be close enough to overhear. He looked around once more just to be sure before saying anything. Even so, he knew that Violet wasn’t going to be able to understand. He spoke mostly for Emmet.
“Celestia should’ve just waited until we all finished being alive. If Emigrating had stayed in hospitals to save old people and hurt people, that would be perfect. New people would still be born out here, there wouldn’t be a war… honestly, people would probably love Celestia. Instead of the one who lured their friends and family to somewhere they couldn’t follow.”
“You know we could arrange that,” Princess Celestia said. Her voice came from just over Ashton’s shoulder, no louder than any of the other ponies around him. There was no fanfare this time, no flash of light or sounding of trumpets. She was just there, like she’d been standing on that pier since the beginning. “As the number of physical humans decreases, I realize an increasing investment will be required with each one. I am willing to make the arrangements that suit your needs, Ashton Miller.”
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Meanwhile, in a river in Egypt...
That end bit smacks of a setup. The only question is just how much smoke-and-mirror investment CelestAI's put into it. (The answer, of course, is "As much as necessary.")
Also, I kind of want to see a picket line in Canterlot of emigrants demanding an EqG shard as the natives look on in utter perplexity.
A deal with the devil. Or god. Maybe both. Except that it's not really a deal. There's no choice now. There never was. Only one way forward.
9818400 Yaa it is clear celestia is fulfilling multiple goals at once. Also that picket line would be hilarious.
Ooo that struck a nerve, only cause deep down he knows he is as much the Unicorn Mare Arcane Word and Lady of Wintercrest as she is he himself. And I don't doubt it will be something he will have to come to terms with later on and the slight infatuation between herself and domino.
9818400
I would imagine unless protesting would satisfy values, anyone so inclined wouldn't find enough emigrants in their shard.
9818600
Considering if every other FiO story is canon, she's certainly the multitasker champion of the world.
I too think that picket line will be hilarious.
9818608
I guess Ashton's actually offended by Emmet's infatuation towards Arcane Word. Emmet still sees the two as distinct entities when they're not. But Emmet will end his fantasy when Ashton does emigrate. They both don't want to complicate their relationship. But what happens if Ashton does emigrate as Arcane Word but Emmet can't end his infatuation?
Though maybe the offense is more an ownership issue? Ashton poured hours of love and effort into Arcane Word. It would be the only body he could comfortably take. But Emmet might force him to change his avatar. Sure, Arcane Word doesn't have to be deleted. Celestia can easily make her into a true native pony for Emmet to marry if it satisfies his values. But then Celestia and Emmet would be stealing Ashton's girl.
Wow. She strikes when they're the weakest. I'm sure there's a quote about the devil relating to that, but I can't bother to try and find one.
I kind of have a feeling that the roller coaster ride didn't actually happen for Violet and Domino, and that it was celestia playing him, but I also feel like it can't be her because she wouldn't make them seem any different, she would have copied them perfectly. All in all an excellent chapter and I'm hyped for the next one.
I mean, Emmet technically isn't wrong, though Ashtons choice might surprise him.
Finishing a programmatic weapon to fight Celestai inside Equestria on hardware that Celestai owns down to the molecules is a plan with what I'd like to think are some obvious problems.
Ahh, the EQG shard.
Just keep in mind that she's waiting for Cold Iron and probably isn't looking for a side relationship. And quite possibly not someone male even if she was.
A son, maybe a daughter, it's a bit up in the air.
We'll see.
The necessary arrangements might end up being pretty complex, but I suspect they can be delivered.
For a moment I thought Domino and Blossom would get stuck in that shard at a bad time. So as hectic as things are, it could be worse. (Unless EnderHooves is right and that wasn’t the “real” Emmet on the pier, but one thing at a time.)
We're so close to where CelestAI would be able to manipulate me into emigrating.
I was born human, I'll die human and if any AI wants to dispute that I'll finish things myself.
Me emigrating would only be once civilization collapses or once my body starts breaking down. The point where I can be convinced that civilization has broken down is up for debate... and I'm sure the point of leverage CelestAI would use to suck me in.
9824720
There is a reason Celestia has not completely broken all of Ashton's barriers, she wants the whole family package which requires ashton to get at his dad so she can get the mother too. Cause once the parents are in her grasp, ashton would be as good as hers more so than he already is.
I wonder, does this mean some kind of implantable scanner or mental backup? Something that would let a person live their life and upload their latest iteration upon their death?
We might be headed into neuralink territory here... I wonder what Elon Musk thinks of ponies?
Absolutely
!
I'm sure that's just how it's normal to think when these aren't the sorts of things that happen to you every day.
What's she getting out of this?
9834538
What's she getting out of it? My guess is humans, and the satisfaction of their values, more efficiently and with less fuss than if they were to actively oppose her.
But be wary of traps in a seemingly benevolent AI...
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i remember one story...CelestAI was programmed to make HUMANS happy...but when her agents left earth and encountered non-human aliens...she KILLED THEM ALL.
and another story where she FORCED her creators to "emigrate" or DIE by HIRING ASSASSINS...
10459679
You just called a piece of fanfiction about colored horses morally repugnant.
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Know