Storm Breaker was ready.
After being sent home, just before Twilight's arrival, the pegasus fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. It was the most rejuvenating rest he'd gotten in weeks. Maybe this whole personal guard gig won't be that bad and Orion doesn't seem like a bad pony. And who knows, if he does well at this new job maybe he'll even get a raise! Storm Breaker got an extra pep in in his step just by thinking about it. Storm was so lost in his thoughts he bumped into somepony and almost toppled them both over.
"Oh! My apologies!" it was a cream colored mare with brown mane. "I must've been lost in thought."
"No, no, the fault is mine. I was just daydreaming." Storm Breaker laughed sheepsihly. He then noticed a stack of sheets the mare was carrying on her back. "Let me help you as an apology, Miss?"
"Honey Comb." the mare replied. "And do not worry about it. I can carry a few sheets."
"Nice to meet you Honey Comb. I am Storm Breaker, Sir Orion's personal guard." he said proudly to which the mare's eyes widened.
"Really? I'm his personal maid!" the mare chirped happily.
"He never told me he had a maid assigned to him." Storm Breaker took half of the stack anyway and put them on his back. Honey just smiled and continued towards Orion's room.
"It was a sudden change. Princess Celestia re-assigned me two days ago. She hoofpicked me herself!" now it was Honey's turn to be proud. To be hoofpicked by the princess herself was a great honor and a testament to your skill. "And what about you?"
"I was forced into it by Sir Orion." Storm Breaker replied, making Honey Comb tilt her head. "What I mean is, Sir Orion realized I needed a break and asked me to join him and Princess Celestia for breakfast yesterday-"
"You had breakfast with Orion and Princess Celestia?" the maid said in shock, and a hint of envy.
"Yes." he then leaned closer to Honey Comb. "Sir Orion even shared his own breakfast with me."
"Nooooo." Honey recoiled in shock. To eat from the same plate as royalty was unheard of!
"He sure did! I mean, it was a donut but still."
"Orion is a strange pony." Honey laughed and turned right into a long hallway.
"He is certainly unorthodox for a prince."
"That's because he is not a prince." Honey corrected Storm Breaker who raised a curious brow. "At least, he assures me that he isn't. Which is good because then I can use the Princess Celestia card. Just the other day he said he didn't want a maid but I reminded him that since he is not a prince, Princess Celestia's order was absolute."
"Clever girl."
"That's what he said!" Honey Comb laughed at the response. "I think the two of you will get along just fine."
"I sure hope so." Storm sighed. "I really need this job and I'm afraid I'll mess it up somehow. What if I say something to Sir Orion that offends him and I get fired?"
"I seriously doubt that." Honey Comb laughed. "Just yesterday morning I told him to move his lazy flank out of bed so I can change his sheets." Storm Breaker blinked in surprise. "He replied with, and I quote, Look while you can, cuz' this ass is fire." Storm Breaker could not believe his ears. "Orion is a good pony. He doesn't view himself as royalty and certainly doesn't act like it. He's more like one of us, if you know what I mean."
"Yes, I see what you mean." Storm Breaker nodded in response. "He even treats Princess Celestia just like any other pony. It's strange but also refreshing. I haven't seen the Princess so relaxed in a long time."
"I know, right?" Honey giggled sweetly and Storm Breaker had to admit he liked the sound of it. "Even Princess Luna comes out of her room more often to hang out with Orion."
"I heard something about spitballs."
"Yes, Blueblood was real prissy about it." Honey chuckled.
"I also heard Sir Orion trips over his own hooves."
"He did, at first." Honey replied. "But it would seem Princess Luna took care of that problem." Storm Breaker then laughed.
"I just imagined Sir Orion tripping and colliding with Princess Luna."
"I shall bring down my wrath upon thee!" Honey Comb did her best to impersonate the princess's voice.
"Better that than your huge flank!" Storm Breaker did the same with Orion.
"Mine posterior is not huge! Tia's however has it's own gravitational pull." Honey tried so hard not to burst out laughing.
"What are we laughing about?" the two ponies froze in fear upon hearing Orion's voice behind them.
"I believe 'twas something about royal posteriors." their hearts almost burst from their small chests when Luna joined in. Turning around rapidly and dropping on their knees, the two begged for forgivness.
"We apologize, Your Majesties!" Storm Breaker's voice was a few octaves higher.
"For what? Getting caught?" Orion raised an unamused brow.
"We didn't mean anything by it!" Honey Comb chimed in.
"So mine posterior is not that huge?" Luna asked, a smirk tugging on her lips.
"Your posterior is of appropriate size, Your Behindness!" Storm Breaker almost died right on the spot and Orion did his best not to burst out laughing. "I sincerely apologize! It just slipped out!"
"A proper punishment is in order." Luna glared at the two cowering ponies. "Wouldn't you agree, Orion?"
"Yes, it certainly is, Your Behindness." Luna rolled her eyes and Orion was this close to a laughing fit.
"Umm, Princess, if I may?" Honey Comb raised her hoof like she was in school. A smiple nod from Luna told her she was good to go. "How did you sneak up on us? We didn't hear any hoofsteps." Orion and Luna looked at each other before lifting one of their hooves to show that they were wearing something on them and replied in unison.
"Bunny slippers."
As far as punishments went, this one wasn't so bad. Sure, it'll make them the target of jealous glares of everypony that hears about it but what can you do. The nobility will certainly throw a fit over it.
"Pass the syrup, please." Orion said to Storm Breaker who passed the condiment. Their punishment was to have breakfast together with Orion, Luna, Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and her friends. "Alright I'll bite." Orion said and poured syrup all over his pancakes. "What's wrong with her?" he then looked to Pinkie Pie and her depressed, mane deflated state.
"You didn't show up." Pinkie answered with a heavy sigh.
"For what? I didn't know I was supposed to be somewhere." Orion said defensively.
"Pinkie Pie threw you a surprise Welcome to Canterlot Party and you didn't show up." Twilight explained making Orion scrunch his brows in thought.
"I don't remember being invited to a surprise party."
"How can you be invited to your own surprise party?" Twilight rolled her eyes. "You're just supposed to show up!"
"How can I just show up if I don't know where the party is?" Orion asked flabergasted.
"Because! Because..." now Twilight was confused. Orion did have a point but everytime Pinkie threw a surprise party for somepony they just showed up. Every time. "Ummm, Pinkie?"
"Everypony always comes to their surprise party. It's always been like that." she said somberly, picking at her breakfast salad with a fork with zero interest in eating it. "Guess not anymore."
"Can somepony back me up? I feel like a bad guy over here." Orion looked around the table but everypony had the same thoughts in mind. Pinkie's parties were legendary and the pony whose party it was always showed up. Always.
"That is strange." Celestia tapped her chin in thought. "Why didn't you show up, Orion?"
"Because I was with you and Luna most of the day! And nopony told me anything about a dang party!" Orion threw his hooves up in frustration.
"It was more of a rhetorical question." Celestia stood up and walked to Orion. "It is a well established fact that everypony attends their surprise party no matter what." the princess inspected him with a scrutinizing gaze. "Hmm..."
"What? Is there something on my nose?" Orion went cross-eyed which made most of the ponies chuckle. Celestia then leaned close to his ear and whispered.
"I want you to lie to Applejack." she pulled away and was met with Orion's confused look. "Go ahead." she nodded towards the earth pony who pointed at herself with a questioning look. Orion looked between Celestia and AJ before concluding that Celestia had some sort of idea.
"I wet my bed until I was 18." he said with a straight face. Not even Rainbow Dash laughed since she realized something serious was going on.
"Well, Applejack?" Celestia asked the mare mare who looked distraught.
"He ain't lyin'. But why do I think he is?" Applejack then hardened her gaze. "What are you playin' at?"
"Of course I'm lying." Orion rolled his eyes. "What was the point of this?"
"Applejack is the Element of Honesty." Luna took over the explanation. "This makes her the perfect lie detector. If somepony is lying, she will most certainly know."
"Seriously?" Orion looked back at the earth pony who looked peeved that somepony lied to her face and she felt it was the truth.
"Quite. It is most ironical that Applejack cannot lie to save her life." Luna's brows scrunched in thought. "This is most troubling. Could this be because of the chaos magic within him?" before Celestia could reply, Applejack jumped in.
"No. Ah' can tell when Discord's lying." she looked Orion dead in the eyes. "C'mon buster. Hit me again."
"That stetson hat looks ridiculous on you and you should shred it in a woodchipper." gasps echoed around the table as all eyes were on Applejack, waiting for the mare to buck him in the face. The hat was a family heirloom and nopony insulted family.
"Umm, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked in concern as her friend's face began turing a fierce shade of red, her cheeks puffed and some veins popping on her forehead. "Are you alright?"
"He... Ain't. Lyin'!" she finally released the breath she'd been holding and color returned to her face. She took a few breaths before speaking. "Ah' know he's lyin' but my gut's telling me he ain't. And ah' know this hat looks good on me."
"It sure does, Ma'am." Orion mimicked AJ's accent and tipped his imaginary hat to the mare. "So, what have we learned?" he looked at Luna. "No seriously, I have no idea what just happened."
"It would appear you are, let's say, immune to some of the Elements of Harmony." Luna's voice took on a tone of concern. "Just like it is impossible to miss one of Pinkie Pie's parties, it is also impossible to lie to Applejack."
"Cool."
"Tis' most certainly not cool." Luna shook her head. "The Elements of Harmony are the only thing that could stand against chaos, and if you are immune to two of them..."
"That means you can't use your overpowered beam of McGuffin to vaporize me if my magic goes haywire." Orion finished for the princess. The Solar princess approached him and put a hoof on his shoulder in comfort.
"Orion, please understand-" Celestia began but was stopped by Orion's raised hoof.
"No, no, I get it." Orion shook his head. "You need to keep me from exploding and hurting thousands. It's like that trolley problem."
"What trolley problem?" Twilight tilted her head curiously.
"The one where you have to choose to either kill one pony so you can save four, or do you let the trolley run over four ponies to save just one." Orion patted himself mentally for flawlessly using pony words.
"That sounds horrible!" Twilight recoiled in shock while others nodded furiously in agreement. Everypony besides Celestia and Luna.
"That's why I said it's a problem. It's a thought experiment but it fits perfectly." Orion looked to Celestia. "You either get rid of me or thousands could die." his gaze then shifted to Luna. "But can you make that call?" the room suddenly got quiet as Orion's words sunk in.
"We can always find another way." Twilight said adamantly. "A better way."
"That's not the- you know what? Forget it." Orion went back to his pancakes. "It's too early for moral and ethical debates."
"I'm free around three." Celestia's offer made Orion chuckle.
"Sorry, I have a surprise party to be at." Pinkie's eyes flicked towards Orion. "I believe it's at the exact same location as yesterday at the exact same time. It said so on the note that somepony-" he pointed directly at Pinkie Pie whose mane pooffed back into it's fluffy form"-left on my bed."
"I just remembered I had something important to do! Bye!" and just like yesterday, Pinkie disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"That was very nice of you." Fluttershy smiled at Orion who merely shrugged.
"What can I say. I like parties." he then stabbed his syrup covered pancake with a bit more force than intended. "Besides, I still think this is all some crazy dream so you don't have to worry about me going nuclear."
"I assure you, Equestria and all of us here are very real." Celestia said calmly.
"We'll see." Orion shrugged and took a bite of his pancake.
"Textbook denial." Twilight said to her mentor who nodded in confirmation.
"I'm telling you." Orion said after swallowing his pancake. "Soon I will wake up and continue right where I... Left... Off..." realization suddenly dawned on him. "Oh my God. I'm in purgatory."
"Where?" Luna's confused look was mimicked by the others.
"It's one of the places you go to after you die." Orion's answer brought down a heavy atmosphere to the room. Ponies looked among themselves and tried to process what Orion just said.
"Orion." Celestia's voice made him turn his head towards her. "Do you think you... Died?" she barely finished the question as Orion's answer might reveal another bombshell tied to his mysterious appearance in Equestria or even his past. Orion looked at Celestia, his ears flat on his head and a look of terrifying uncertainty across his features.
"I don't know."
Caught a typo.
11383737
So I asked, and I did receive. ^^
Also, I think you nailed both Celestia and Luna. Both of them can be serious, but both sisters have always had this whimsical streak in them. I'm glad you made Celestia understanding, but not overly so, and no cold and calculating. Luna is protective, a bit more aggressive, but still the younger sister, with a soft side to her.
I think it is a good combination. I hope he meets the rest of the royal family at some point. :P
It also just occurred to me, Orion being an Alicorn, he should be careful not being used by the nobles, or the fact of his chaos magic leaking to the enemies of Equestria. A good old fashioned kidnapping could put Equestria in a lot of doubt about his loyalty. Nobles hiding him to create doubt, or the changelings using him for their own gains.
If no pony knew of his kidnapping at first, they would have to rely on faith. O_O
that was nice of him
Maby he is immune because he is not a being who can be out of harmony?
Pretty nice chapter and mystery. Did he really die? Also, it’s sad he missed the party…
So he is not only chaos, he is the anti harmony...he is anarchic magic?
Cool, so he is immune to Fluttershy stare, can convince Dash to dich her friends and make Rarity work with something....(gasp)...green?! That monster!
No wonder he thinks they should ran him over as to save everyone else lives. Jeje we will see where this story goes
Read this whole story and I love it!
11383845
Interesting 🤔
11383868
Glad to hear that :)
11383871
Wasn't...that the plan? AJ herself say it, she can even see when Discord is lying...so for him to fool even her, it means he is either more powerful, or his magic is not chaos, and only looks like chaos.
His magic cancel the elements, and what is the opposite of harmony? (besides chaos!) Anarchy, the force of going against the status quo and seed chaos, you could say it the omen to chaos.
11383890
It is but your way of putting it is interesting
I wasn't expecting an exploding bomb when Orion admits he isn't sure he died. Did I miss a context clue that led up to this point? Did Orion actually have memory loss of some kind?
11383900
Nope, you didn't miss anything. It is heavily implied and also confirmed he remembers everything from before coming to Equestria.
But he truly does not remember if dying brought him here or not. Orion just thinks it's the best explanation for his predicament. Guess you'll have to wait and see :)
11383896
ah well I'm glad you think so and in a way considering how Rock originally was meant to rebel against the "system" it makes double the sense.
I only have one question, for Pinkie Party would he sing? because if he does may I recommend a classic rock song that would fit perfect for the party?
11383836
Did he die? Did he not die? Who knows? You'll just have to wait and see
That's why there's an exact same party at the exact same time and place
11383776
Well, he is a nice pony
11383919
I mean, you're close but you're not close. Or am I too far? I can't quite explain it
I'm still considering it. But sure, I always like to hear a good song.
11383925
At least just the guitar solo
I don't think that Applejack is good at telling lies. It's not that she physically can't, it's just that she sees it as immoral and wouldn't be very good at it. She is probably really good at identifying lies, but I don't think having a connection to the elements of harmony automatically makes her a perfect lie detector. But creative license states that an author can deviate from the source material as they wish in a fan fiction so I cannot complain.
Still, the story is good so far. I especially liked the opening with the two castle staff. Although I can't think of much else to comment on as of now.
11383929
ok, already did and gave my two cents
I find the trolley problem to be pointless thought exercise as give you the false impression there are only two binary choices, and is merely the set up to pin the blame on the person; there is nothing that say that you can't derail the trolley and save all of them instead. On top of that I feel it's an excuse of absolving the person from any responsibility for letting a person, or group, die and that it is just fate that decided it. I find it to be close to the boss laying off an employee so save on spending and picks one because doesn't like him, or the money problem is just the excuse that is used.
I wonder if Orion is going to pull the prince card on his maid and body guard if things don't go his way, it would make him look hypocritical to wanted them as equal friends all the while holding a sword at their throats the moment he isn't happen at what they are doing.
: *amused princess noises*
Storm Breaker + Honey Comb: "Guess we are best friends now."
For a moment I thought they were going to be punished punished by having to wear bunny slippers themselves.
At first the castle staff laughed at them, but soon word spread such slippers were actually quite comfy, and before long they become a common sight within the castle.
What would have happened if he said something like "Applejack is actually a pegasus, but doesn't know it"?
She might either slap him or have an existential crisis.
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.
(Even though I didn't have much to comment this time.)
Great and funny chapter
11384042
Well, Twilight wants to derail it, Orion says it's not an option. Perhaps a more detailed discussion will occur later on?
11383931
Yeah, the solo is FIRE!
11383952
Gotta love that creative license
Also, glad you enjoy the story :)
11384066
Just best friend? Ok...
Or he could say that pears are better than apples?
11384164
And I think Pinkie would love that song, although she would be confused and asking "hey where did all this fog come from?
She would make a great lawyer.
Well what do you know apparently it seem he does have amnesia, if he can't remember if he died or not, the suspense is killing me.
This one had me grinning and laughing, but still laid out some very serious thought and future woes. Loved it!!
11384042
Saw one recently where it's a US General, and he 'solves the problem' by carpet bombing the entire area, so definitely more than just two answers, lol.
Anyways, great story, and glad to see its started up again.
For me this chapter kinda fell flat. Now I am seeing a bloody Pinkie chapter on the horizon and I am not sure I even want to read yet another…
Why can’t we have Lemon Zest or Vynal Scratch? Somepony whose idea of a party might better line up with Orion’s?
Getting the mare child every time is grating…
11385041
I think I can do better than just a regular pinkie pie party chapter. After all, we have mister anti-harmony as the MC.
As for this chapter falling flat for you, I appreciate your honesty and I hope you'll still stick around for the rest
11384042
The trolley problem is a thought experiment. The whole idea is to isolate that binary decision you derided and then discuss the morality of both of the options. Allowing a third opinion may be more true to reality, but it invalidates the premise of the experiment as a whole.
To put this in a more IRL context- the trolley problem is like running a robustness study on a product. Sure, making it correctly as you would in an actual production environment makes a good product, but the whole point of the study is to examine borderline cases and determine where exactly acceptable performance becomes unacceptable performance for the product in question.
11386808
So much for a thought experiment if the answer is spelled out in such an obvious manner, with no justifiable reason why one stranger is wroth more more then others, with supposedly only two options, which in throw the so called 'right choice' is being pushed right into your face. No, this is a pointless sadistic false choice scenario created in a vacuum meant to justify the questionable actions of self justifying 'a means to an ends' type of reasoning by morally corrupt individuals in a situation where they have power where they can justify arbitrarily let other groups suffer when they have the means to ease their suffering by saying their have to consider needs of the 'rest of society' knowing they are already better off already. This equates more to Saw movie scenarios forcing people to make impossible life or death scenarios where the manufactured outcome is meant to still be a loss.
Actually I think this is more used more as a cowardly excuse for selfish people let others marginals to suffer needlessly when they have the power to ease it.
11384042
How can the problem be "merely the set up to pin the blame on the person" and yet also "an excuse of absolving the person from any responsibility for letting a person, or group, die..." ??
I find it funny how the point of the problem is as a prompt to discuss the moral and social reasoning behind decisions with no good outcome. That's it. Which is what you're doing by having your conversation in a way.
Everyone gets fixated on the Trolley, but these dilemmas do happen in real life, in various ways. Another example used often is one that played out during ww2. " Do we bomb civilians to help end the war quicker, or just bomb the military like normal?"
11386883
Technically true, but its the issue if having the decision forced upon someone where pausing or not answering the question still has an answer thrown at them regardless.
1v4?
What is one was a pregnant lady and the others were old old folk?
What if a corrupt politician and the others minor offense prisoners?
What is 3 innocents with a known serial killer there or a busload of kids?
Its a forced and really cruel thought process experiment where the person asking it is supposed to roach the subject quickly and *look* at the person, as well as gauge their response time, thought process and moral compass.
Well, face tonface is preferred.
11386883
It’s a thought exercise, something not meant to be applied to real life. The trolley problem fully laid out is that a tram is hurtling down the track towards a number of people, lets say five. But you can pull a lever and change the tram’s tracks, putting it on a path to hit a single person. It’s meant as a way to view someone’s morals; could you kill one person to save five? Does not changing the track make you responsible for those five deaths? Do the identities of those people make you more or less likely to pull the lever?
No it would never actually happen, but the thoughts around the problem make for interesting debate. There’s a great website that shows you varied examples of the problem and talking about them with a friend was quite interesting. In philosophy the answer is rarely as obvious as it first appears, and I for one haven’t settled on an answer yet.
11387314
Exactly like that the Trolley problem is merely the excuse that is use to do horrible thing on to other for the more favorable outcome to gain what they want, oh sorry what 'we' want, to win, this is like you said absolved them of any responsibility in the choice because they answer is so 'obvious', it's just the same self-serving, self-justifying circular logic to ignore their conscious or inflict other people's suffering.
For the for the both pinning the blame and the absolving part, is that the concept presenting this question is basically saying 'you would do exactly the same choice if you were in my place, so don't judge me', in presenting only two choices where the consciously least objectionable choice(with no other variables) is obvious to the point where you are not given the choice and you have to concede to it and and to give reason to the person using that seasoning.
And to answer the bombing civilians populations(indiscriminately I might add) against authoritarian/tyrannical governments to end the war quicker question, the conclusions that came out of it in WW2 was that it was a total waste of time and actually made the ground invasion and occupation more difficult because all the infrastructures they could have used were destroyed. And you might be surprised to find out that tyrannical governments don't care if their population is suffering, they will just make sure that their civilians are still afraid of them then the ones using the bombs and would only feed more resentment against the invaders. Shan on you tube makes a good point out of it in his video but I won't post it hear you will have to look it up yourself.
For more resent modern examples, mass booming, just like the drone strikes is used more of a way to avoid risking lives of troops so that the families might not actually wakeup and start to question if persecuting a war in the first place was a morally justifiable. That is what happened during the Viet-Nam war when people actually saw the was broadcast live and why the last years with just constant booming the country literally back the stone ages. And you might also want to look up the bombing Laos where the CIA waged a secret was for years without almost any country knowing about, by just bombing it worst then Viet-Nam at the same time, no ground invasion, no journalist could get in to cover it, just endless bombing and destruction; Please Look it up on Wiki. Bombing now a days, just like the drone strikes, it's a way to persecut a war without risking too much in the way of keeping public opinion on the military's side, because no one they know die, all at the cost of indiscriminate civilians casualties that on one knows or cares about and journalists can only be there to report it long after the fact. And contrary to what the pentagon says the drones strikes create a lot of civilian casualties that were non combatants, and the leaks reported that over 90% of the strikes were the wrong target. For Afghanistan, out side of the capital feed a LOT of resentment of local civilians in the country side that helped for the Talibands support and recruitment, and probably contributed to the previous government to fall so quickly.
11387343
The more I think about it the more I see the the problem as a tool used to justify lazy self-serving circular logic to to justify doing hanus choices done by amoral people in situation of power, that says 'you would do exactly the same choice if you were in my place, so don't judge me'
11387343
What I question is the motive behind the people who created the question in the first place, and cynical side say having only one obvious answer out of two with no nuances, means they are trying to abstract they question to the point that is totally divorced from reality all together to shove in your throat that 'the ends justify the means' and 'you would do exactly the same choice if you were in my place, so don't judge me'.
11386883
You've totally misunderstood what the trolley problem is about.
The typical setup is that there are a group of people tied to trolley tracks in front of a runaway trolley. There is, between the trolley and the people, a siding line with a switch that can alter the course of the trolley if flipped. Unfortunately, the siding line has a person tied to the tracks as well, but only one. Is it right to flip the switch?
It isn't about whether one person is worth more than many people, it's about whether choosing to alter the fate of the people involved is morally right or not. Is it murder if you choose to flip the switch and cause the death of the person on the siding line? They wouldn't have died without your intervention and it was ONLY due to your action that they died, so did you murder them? If it's not murder, is altering the natural course of events in such a way moral? Yes, that group of people would die if you did nothing, but 'doing nothing' isn't something you can be faulted for is it? Or IS it something that you can be faulted for? Do you have a moral obligation to intervene on anothers' behalf?
Then you start adding twists.
What if it's one person on both lines? Is choosing to save someone you know over a stranger a moral choice? What about money? Can you choose to save a rich man who promises to spend money on charity over a poor man? Can you choose to save a rich charity man over several poor people? Is age a factor? How about gender? Intelligence? Is saving a moral man over a criminal allowed? How about a moral man over a whole group of criminals?
11384316
From what I understand. He does remember his past.
He just does not know if dying brought him to equestria.
11388814
Exactly!
Am I the only one who thinks that Applejack in the post-chapter notes picture looks M rated?
11397538
Read the story to find out xD
11386883
Trolley problems aren't problems in the sense of the problems you find in a math textbook in that there is a right answer. They are problems in the sense that they are a dilemma with no objectively right answer.
They are used as tools to analyze moral and ethical systems based on the answers. To give an example, consider the following two trolley problems:
First, you have the standard trolley problem where inaction allows 5 to die and flipping the switch kills 1 on the other track.
Second, you have the trolley bearing down on the 5 and you can stop it by pushing someone in front of it.
A purely utilitarian moral system says to act in both cases, (1 death is better than 5).
A purely action focused system says not to act in both cases, (allowing deaths is better than causing them).
However, most people say to flip the switch in the first but not to push the person in the second. This is because most value incidental deaths as less bad than deaths as a means to an end.
Alive AND Dead.
So, currently, he's in such a state of quantum flux that he can't be resolved no matter how many observers there are measuring him.
Heisenberg-On-Steroids .