At the end of the day
Summertime! The sun felt so warm and the air so fresh. A wind blew through Sunset’s hair, calling her towards the forest, towards summer vacation. It smelled like adventure!
Sunset could hardly wait to start as she and the other girls in their usual group stood waiting outside the school for Dash to show up.
Her friends rented an RV to take them out on the camping trip. Sunset couldn’t help but jump up and down a little as Dash pulled up in it. She’d barely been able to sleep last night she was so excited about today. That was something that happened a lot to Sunset.
“Alright, ladies!” Dash opened the door and pointed forward, down the road. “The faster we get in the faster we can get there! Let’s go!”
“There’s no need to rush.” Rarity, surrounded by luggage, began pushing her bags into the RV, struggling with how many there were. “I quite enjoy watching the sights on the way."
“Do you really need all that stuff?” Dash asked. “It’s a three-week camping trip! We’re not moving there.”
“I agreed to go camping, not to live in abstract misery, completely disconnected from society.” Rarity got the last of her belongings and struggled to fit them in what little cargo space remained.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what camping is,” Dash muttered as Rarity went past her. “Minus the misery part.”
“Well, I can’t wait to get there!” Pinkie ran up to the RV much faster, pushing past Rarity. “Omigosh! We get to roast marshmallows and build a campfire and go swimming and tell ghost stories and -“
No matter how many times Pinkie told her scary stories, they never got old. Or any less scary sometimes.
“I can’t wait to go looking for all these rare animals.” Twilight was lost in one of her books, as always, as she walked into the RV. “Do you think we’ll find the sasquatch? It may or may not exist; everyone always forgets shortly after finding it. But how amazing would it be to discover it?!”
These four really were the best friends Sunset could ever ask for. Doing anything with them would be a blast!
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Principal Celestia interrupted Sunset just as she was about to follow the others inside. She waved to Sunset, then beckoned her over.
An unfamiliar girl was standing behind Celestia’s imposing figure, hiding like she was afraid of something.
“Could you come here a moment, Sunset? I have a favor I’d like to ask you,” said Principal Celestia.
“Of course!” Sunset ran up to Celestia, excited at the chance to help her. How cool was an assignment directly from Principal Celestia? “Anything for you, Celestia! I love you!”
Celestia put her hand on the back of the new girl and pushed her out from her hiding place.
“Um...” A shy looking human with long, pink hair finally stepped out from behind Celestia. “Hello. My name is Fluttershy.”
“You must be a new transfer student, right?” Sunset held her hand out, offering to shake.
Fluttershy nervously muttered something.
“She’s a bit spooked by all of this,” Celestia explained. “But Fluttershy isn’t a transfer student, she’s an intruder.”
“What?!” Sunset pulled her hand back, reminding herself that there was nothing to worry about if Celestia was here. “Is it really okay for her to be out here, then?”
“I’m not going to make any trouble,” Fluttershy promised, nervously tapping her fingers together. “I, um, sort of wanted to be like you actually.”
“Fluttershy was frightened by how strange this place can seem to an outsider,” Celestia explains. “Ultimately she cracked and ran straight to me to confess. She explained she was an intruder right away."
“Yeah.” Sunset nodded. “That’s probably what I would have done. It’s the smart thing.”
Celestia smiled softly.
“I didn’t entirely mean to come here,” said Fluttershy. “I was going from dimension to dimension, running from something.”
“So, there’s a monster after you?” Sunset asked.
“Not something like that.” Fluttershy shook her head. “More like something I’d be grateful to forget. I’ve been to a whole lot of worlds, but most of them are - well I don’t like them.”
Fluttershy looked up at Celestia with a smile.
“But this place seems so nice! After talking to Celestia, I think staying here would be a wonderful idea,” said Fluttershy. “There’s nothing to worry about, everypony is nice, everything is so peaceful and nopony expects me to accomplish anything.”
“Did you say every… pony?” Sunset raised an eyebrow.
“Fluttershy’s dimension was very different.” Celestia put her shoulders on what was sure to be a future student. “She used to be a unicorn, actually.”
“A unicorn?!” Sunset gasped. “Are those real?”
“Yes.” Celestia laughed softly. “I suppose you wouldn’t remember at this point.”
Sunset didn’t exactly get the joke. Maybe whatever world Sunset came from had unicorns in it?
Sunset hardly remembered her old life and she didn’t care to. She just assumed it was completely horrible like everyone else’s, and that was good enough. Any unicorns in her old world weren’t worth remembering.
“I’d like you to be Fluttershy’s friend for a little while,” said Celestia. “Take her on your summer vacation with you. She’s still not entirely sold on the idea of letting me eat her potential and would like to watch some of my other students for a bit first.”
“Of course you can come with us!” Sunset held her hand out to Fluttershy. “Canterlot is an amazing place! I’ve been here for - uh - How long again? I guess I had so much fun I forgot.”
“It’s been a little over twenty years since you first came here,” said Celestia.
“Wait, really?” Sunset turned back to Celestia, then looked down at her hand. “On the one hand, I feel like I just got here yesterday, but on the other, it feels like I’ve been here forever - for thousands of years. Twenty years feels like the only incorrect amount of time.”
“That’s kind of the only part that scares me,” Fluttershy admitted. “I know Celestia said she wouldn’t unless I asked but - is getting it done scary?”
Sunset shook her head.
“No, it’s great! Getting your memories clouded is like jumping into a pool,” Sunset explained. “It’s best to just jump in and get it over with.”
“Maybe,” said Fluttershy. “But I always got into pools ever so slowly.”
“Well come on, I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Sunset led Fluttershy to the RV.
“H-hello,” Fluttershy meekly introduced herself to the others.
“Thank you very much, Sunset.” Celestia gave Sunset a pat on the head that made the girl’s heart leap with joy.
“I love you, Celestia!” Sunset pushed up on her tippy toes to hug her principal.
“I love you too.” Celestia hugged back.
Like everything else, the feeling of being loved by Celestia never dulled. That catharsis of finally being loved and valued at long last was always there with every hug.
Celestia loved her! She was loved. She was valued.
Sunset let go, smiling wide, tears of happiness in her eyes.
Celestia gave her one last pat on the head before sending her off.
Sunset ran towards the RV, smiling wide that she got to be with her friends.
In her mind, Sunset knew she’d been off to this very camp at least five times before, but the excitement of going still gave her a thrill. She couldn’t wait to see it! To go on this adventure with her friends!
Sunset lied down next to the window in the back of the RV and waved to Principal Celestia as she vanished from sight. Life really was perfect now. Sunset had everything she could ask for. The only thing left to wish for was for things to remain like this forever, but Sunset already had that too.
On the last day before she left the castle forever, the retired Princess Celestia went down to the basement. The objects deep in this vault weren’t locked up simply because they were each dangerous in their own right. No, these were, for her, reverse-trophies. They were reminders of her own past failures.
Out of all of them, gathered through a thousand years, a broken mirror in the corner was the one she felt regretful about the most.
Celestia reminded herself that she had tried as hard as she possibly could to reopen the portal, to find Sunset. All she accomplished in the end, thanks to a failed experiment, was leaving the mirror cracked and permanently destroyed, with none of its original magic left.
Celestia reminded herself that all of this had been necessary. Virtually the same plan had worked with Twilight Sparkle and now Celestia had everything she wanted. Sacrifices needed to be made. If Twilight had broken too, as she very nearly had, Celestia would have simply tried yet again with Luster Dawn.
Yet still, despite her success, this broken mirror remained in the basement.
Twilight would carry on blaming herself for this entire situation, despite the fact that Celestia had suggested the idea that had ultimately broken it. But that was the way things were now. Twilight was driven to carry the countless burdens Celestia had left her. She would leave everything in this room as it was, for Twilight to deal with.
“I’m sorry." But she saw only her own reflection in the broken mirror. “All I can do for you now is hope that you’ve found happiness wherever you’ve gone.”
Celestia had everything she wanted now; had gotten everything she wanted out of Twilight. Every one of her goals was accomplished. Yet somehow, she wasn’t happy.
Celestia turned, leaving the broken mirror to the darkness forever.
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a bittersweet ending
:'v
And the moral of the story: Learn to speak about your problems or end up living in sweet ignorance.
Or remember that iron is deadly to fae
Yup poor communication kills. I hope that pony Twilight will be able to not make the same mistakes.
(And a subtle horror, the question still presented, the morality of the situation, up for the viewer to decide. That works for me.
I find it rather interesting to note though, that Princess Celestia then was every bit as bad as Sunset Shimmer made her out to be. She used Sunset Shimmer for her own goals, and has now placed all her burdens, failures and all, on Twilight. And if Twilight had broken, she already had a replacement lined up. She cared, perhaps. But she certainly didn't love Sunset Shimmer. And obviously, she didn't care enough to not risk breaking another young unicorn. Destroying another life.
While her not feeling happiness lines up with the philosophy that Principal Celestia has been preaching this whole time, I have my own thoughts for why she isn't happy. Princess Celestia is neither a psychopath, nor a sociopath. So, she doesn't get to excuse away the guilt she feels from having used Sunset Shimmer. She can't excuse away the fact that she used Twilight, and continues to use her to avoid her own responsibilities. Her happiness is not held, because it is unearned. All her goals are accomplished... through the use and sacrifice of other ponies. The sacrifices aren't her own. So there is no feeling of having 'earned' her happiness, only the guilt of having forced others to bear the burden for her.
As for Sunset's fate... to lose one's memories would be my nightmare. But she had the choice between reality with it's harshness, and eternal happiness with it's drawbacks, and she very much knew what they were. She made her choice... I'm only glad that she's happy in it.)
Can’t quite articulate my feelings about this fic, but at the very least I know it was time well-spent.
This...*Mwah* Perfect Ending
In retrospect, Sunset had every right to run away, Celestia does admit to only using her as a means to achieve the perfect ruler for Equestria. If she had actually cared for her, like Fey Celestia genuinely cares for her students, she wouldn’t have pushed Sunset away.
Otherwise, a perfect ending. Sunset gets a happy ending she deserves, and Celestia gets karma shot in her face.
This becomes the highlight of the week for me. Man I wish Canterlot was real
This was a great ending! I find interesting that Celestia was terrible after all. She wasn't 'evil villain' evil, but just completely selfish and manipulative. It feels like Celestia is also lying to herself that she isn't doing something completely horrible, just as she lies to all of her students about their purpose.
Now we just need a second epilogue with Applejack, and we’re all set
This ending reminds me of another ending of another piece. I don't remember the name, but I remember that the premise was that Discord changed how dreams worked, and more or less caused the dream realm to merge with reality. Twilight tries to fix it, but in the end turns Discord to stone when he tries to fix it instead. The ending type between that story and this one are very similar, as the protagonist is so close to reaching the "good" ending, but then falls short in the end and reaches a "bad" ending.
However, it feels different here. I remember in the other piece, a lot of people were very unhappy with the ending, and so was I. It felt wrong, and made me dislike the piece as a whole. But here, it works so well. We see Sunset come in as we know her, she trains herself and gains some balance in her life, but when she is confronted with Twilight going down the same path she did, all of her progress breaks down and she goes back to Fae Celestia. Maybe it's that Sunset's character progression feels more real here. It isn't surprising that she cracked. If anything, it was expected.
I'm not great with words, so I'll sum up what I'm saying. This piece did the "bad ending" very well, and feels satisfying. That subtle despair I feel about this ending is very satisfying, and really shows how good of a writer Epsilon is. Sunset felt very real, and he decisions and reactions felt real.
Hmm... I'm just going to black out this whole comment going forward.
I'm not sure what bothers me more, that Sunset never confronted Celestia and just assumed the worst, or that Celestia was just as bad as Sunset thought she was... more or less. Yes, Celestia feels guilty over all her manipulations and machinations, but that didn't stop her from doing it all. Regret feels hollow when you keep doing what causes it, especially since Tia had a Plan C that was identical to A and B. No adjustments, no consideration of possible errors on her part, nothing but trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yes, she's changing one variable in terms of the faithful student, but she still assumes it can work for anypony.
And yet, in hindsight, I really shouldn't be surprised. The principal is a reflection of the princess, and vice versa. It's just that Faelestia is more up front about reducing her subjects to their ability to further her goals. This truth has been staring me in the face for much of the story, and it was only my preconceived notions of Celestia that kept me from seeing it. I've been doing the same thing as Sunset, only erring on the side of optimism. And we know what human Twilight thinks of that.
That being said, I still would have loved to see what Princess Celestia would have done if Sunset had come barging in in the middle of grooming her replacement. Ah well, I can always speculate there.
This has been quite the trip. I'm not wholly satisfied with the conclusion, but I still greatly enjoyed the journey. Thank you for a fascinating take on the eternal high school setting.
Ew. I guess I should’ve expected that with the horror tag.
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I mean, yeah. Except Faelestia does it in a way that benefits both her and her subjects. As she explains with the falcon, she’s not manipulation anyone in Canterlot High. She even says to Sunset if she wants, at anytime she can stop eating her memories, except that’s her way of getting what she wants. If she gives the students what they want, she wouldn’t need a reason to lie or manipulate them. They would stay of their own free will.
On the other hand, Princess Celestia deliberately lied to Sunset and Twilight. She says she loves them, their uniqueness, etc... But in the end, if they failed, she won’t help them or take care of them. She’ll just go down her list of contingency students. This significantly devalues the position as ‘Celestia’s Student’ since it’s not a special title, but rather just a contingency plan that has multiple people that can fit its criteria.
10634985
I concur. I suppose a part of me is disappointed just because I wanted Sunset to "win", rather than pulling a Cypher and deciding "ignorance is bliss, pass me the steak".
While I can understand her choice, all she actually did was to trade a self-serving manipulative Celestia for another just as bad, albeit more honest and willing to compromise. At least Shimmer found happiness of a sort.
10634990
Maybe it should include "tragedy".
10634992
I think it's important to note though that we don't ever see inside Fae Celestia's head, like we do here. We only know Princess Celestia lied because we were told that at the end. We got to see what Celestia actually thought. We don't get that with Fae Celestia. She could be lying just as much as Princess Celestia, but we wouldn't know for sure because we don't get the same privilege of seeing what she is actually thinking like we did with Princess Celestia.
It's still true that Celestia lied while (as far as we know) Fae Celestia is telling the truth, but that's because of an imbalance of information on what we know about the two.
This story could be part of
You as the reader can learn through Sunsets failures what not to do.
Welp Fae Celestia was the lesser of two evils. I say Sunset chose the best option. In my opinion. This story was amazing and a very interesting take on things. Of course we never get to see how Earth is doing. But this universe strangely fits well into the multiverse, theres always horrible worlds and there must be one world where they can run to to forget the horrible life they had.
At one point I was hoping Sunset would end up like a Fae just due to her sheer determination and will. But that is just one Ending that could have happened.
10635008
I mean, that is a good point. We shouldn’t make a final conclusion over who was the better Celestia, but I’m just saying with the evidence we currently have, in the end, the conclusion I got was that Fae Celestia was better
Well that was a creepy ending. She really forgot more then I thought she would. I honestly don't know how I feel about it. It is great, just like the rest of this story, and filled with complicated emotions.
The final words being Celestia's thoughts was just too perfect. And show Faelestia was right that you can't only accomplish something, at the cost of all else, and be happy.
10635040
Maybe, what she needs to do is just stand there for a few moments, then ask "Did I do it?"
10634976
So you know about the secret Wondervolts ending...
10634985
Honestly, if I was going to change one thing I probably would have a longer confrontation between the two. But I want to move on to writing other stuff.
10635040
(This probably is one of the correct answers)
10634955
Well no, Celestia also gets what she wants, like Luna back and a replacement for herself. It's not satisfying because it's not clean but what had to be done is done all the same. And we still didn't get to see Sunset confronting her, which was most disappointing; Can really only speculate how Celestia would treat her. Maybe Sunset was right, but we'll never know.
As for whether trading agelenssness and demigod power for blissful ignorance is worth it... No, but that didn't stop her. Oh well.
The ending definitely killed it for me. In a bad way. As I've said in my last comment two chapter back, it just doesn't feel like Sunset would abandon that easily. To me, this ending feels bland.
10635056
Well that's the Trickster Fae answer more than the War Fae one. Sounds like something some iterations of Loki or Sheogorath would like.
10635063
Better answer that occured to me 30 minutes later: Grind it under her heel. It both unlifts it and displays a battle lust.
10635070
The part that was a problem here for me was abandoning other Twilight and/or keeping Celestia from doing the same thing to a progression of fillies. Maybe THEN going back. Could probably manage that in a year with a bit of help...
However that woulda dragged this thing out for like another dozen chapters. I certainly understand the desire to move on to something else, especially since the first several chapters were actually written twice.
But for a more positive analysis, there's a horror aspect here. It logically makes sense to not have memories clouded so that you are grateful, and that seems like a Sunsetty thing to do. Besides that then being a reasonable excuse for her un-Sunset-like behavior in the ending, that behavior and her forgetting in general create a sense of unease in the reader. Assuming it's intended as subtle horror then bravo.
Mh.. interesting choice for an ending. I think it leaves me wanting for more though.
Any chance of an alternate/expanded ending? It's not that I necessarily want Sunset to go back, but I think an ACTUAL confrontation between her an Celestia would be more... satisfying. Even just a "reason you suck" speech once if, say, Celestia succeeded in going through the portal and got to meet Sunset there.
That, and/or a look into Faelestia's thoughts, but with her being, well, a fae, that might be a bit too much to ask.
10635063
The what ending?
Edit: Secret Wondercolts ending, you pressed v instead of c. Still doesn't answer my question
Kinda last comment, where did you get the cover picture?
10635146
'The Wondervolts ending' is an inside joke from the Optimalverse discord. At least, I assume they were referring to said joke.
Also the cover is the cover of the March Radness IDW annual comic.
10635002
What tragedy? If you didn’t follow the fandom or simply didn’t like Sunset, everything works out for everyone in the end.
Celestia is sad in the epilogue about Sunset because... *reasons*.
Well, I guess that it's finished... It was a good and entertaining story, not sure about the ending but it was good. I wonder what could happened if the mirror was not broken, maybe both Celestia meeting each other or Pony Twilight find the place
"You got what you wanted, but you lost what you had!"
At the end of the day, (heh) what Sunset wants, really wants, is love and appreciation. She wants someone to care for her as much as she can care for them, reciprocity. Princess Celestia, to her eternal regret, was unable, unwilling, or unaware of that need.
Aiet.
Thanks, I hate this ending. 10/10
the almost-ending, where sunset didn't even remember she used to be a unicorn made me really quite sad, but i'm happy for her regardless
This story is one I can personally relate to, because of the way my memory works.
When I was young, between the ages of 9 to10, roughly, and 19 to 20 (at the most), I was able to read the same 16 or so books over and over again every single year. By that, I mean that these books, which I loved very much, were completely and totally erased from my mind, and I read them as if for the first time, every time. it was only at the age of 21 (May 30th, 1981, exactly!) that I awakened fully to this fact, and there are reasons for this, but the effect itself was very strange, and very much like the mind clouding memory erasure of this story!
Every year, I would have to rediscover these same sixteen books, over and over again, because I had literally forgotten them. Completely. The reason this was possible, I now reason, is that my desires and needs did not change, and so I searched for the same sorts of things, the very same way, every single damn year.
My family, at the time, moved every three to six months - my father was a map maker for the USGS. I never stayed anywhere long, so the only fixed point for me in my travels were libraries. Back then, in the 70's and 80's, the contents of libraries did not cycle or change very much. Not like today. Books would last on shelves for decades. This made a library - every library - sort of like a timeless building that followed me wherever we moved - a library was a library, and they were pretty much exactly the same. Only the librarians faces changed. Sometimes the size of the library would change, if it was a particularly small town.
I would rediscover these beloved books over and over, each year. I remember that when I found them, I had a vague notion of familiarity, like a sort of deja vu, that almost allowed me to comprehend that I may have seen them before. But when I opened them, the contents were truly brand new to me, so it created an odd conflict - part of me thought I might have read a given book before, but in actually reading it, it was clearly something I had zero knowledge of. It was a totally fresh experience every single time, year after year after year.
This sounds scary, and from a certain perspective, it definitely is. But it was also a vast joy. Think of how many books, in your whole life, you could count as absolute favorites of all time? Not that many, I would warrant. A truly fantastic book comes around very rarely, and even after an entire lifespan, the number of truly perfect books (for anyone) will be very small. But, I now realize, my strange failure of memory gave me a fairy gift - I paid with my memory, but in return I got ten times the number of "Wow! What a perfect book!" experiences than any normal person ever gets. Those sixteen beloved books became the equivalent of 160 super-beloved books - because every year they were absolutely new to my experience. Yeah, yeah, they were the same books over and over... but I had no awareness of that fact. They were new each and every time!
Imagine the gift of getting to experience your favorite things again - even just once more - the same way you did the very first time you experienced them! Just imagine that initial thrill, the thrill of first discovery, first wonder, first enjoyment, again, exactly like the first time when it was entirely new! I got to experience that at least ten times with sixteen books. And, considering how weird my memory was, maybe other things too? I will never know for sure. That said, those books are what I can remember (with certainty!) as having once been clouded and erased, now that my memory has been... fixed. At least as fixed as it can be. I now have a record in my mind of every one of those erasures. I can remember... not remembering. What was hidden once, is now fully available to me. Almost.
I've managed to find and collect most of those sixteen books, over the years. Some, alas, will elude me forever - they are either out of print (and way too expensive to acquire because: rich collectors), or because, in two cases, I cannot remember the title and author. Only the contents of the story in the book. I can even remember what the cover looked like, just not the title and author. Dammit. And I have searched like hell. I will probably never know what those last two were. They are definitely out of print, or I would have found them by now.
But, maybe it doesn't matter. Because the spell is broken. My memory doesn't forget things in that strange manner anymore. Now... I'm like most people are, I think, anyway. I remember that I have read or seen something in the past, now. I might forget a great deal of the content, but... as I read or watch... the memory of having experienced it before comes rushing back. It is never again as if for the very first time. No more do I get to experience getting to enjoy an ideal experience over and over, renewed and fresh. And, yes, it is good to have a reasonably functional memory, you kind of need one to live in the world. But it is also a terrible loss. First times with the best of things now only come once, ever. There are no second, third, fourth and more chances for a do-over anymore.
And, as scary as a faulty memory sounds, Jesus fuck do I miss the joy of getting to enjoy the best things again and again! There are so few ideal things in the world, and so much trash, so much boring shit. You can only see your favorite movie for the first time once. I can only read a book I come to love and cherish and be utterly surprised by for the very first time... once. It is a loss. It feels like tragedy.
And this is how I can relate to this story in, perhaps, a unique way. I haven't heard of anyone else experiencing what I did - though surely someone must have. It cannot be an entirely unique thing. But, it must be very, very, very rare.
In this one, and only this one, way, I almost regret my memory finally sorting itself and starting to function normally for a human. Having a broken memory is obviously a potentially crippling disability. My memory erasure was highly selective - though why it chose these sixteen science fiction novels, out of absolutely everything else, I will never know. My memory erasure was protecting me from stuff I could not do anything about, could not cope with, and could not face. But it went beyond that protective function and singled out at least sixteen favored books. Brains... are weird. I sometimes wonder if, in some manner, my unconscious was trying to somehow compensate for the (serious horror) of my childhood by giving me just one (sixteen) things that were not horrible to enjoy. Could the unconscious mind make such a choice? Truly, it is baffling what my mind chose to erase beyond what it needed to do to protect me.
To those who wonder if Sunset gave up too much, or who are horrified at her choice, I can, with confidence, say this: getting to experience your favorite things again, as if for the very first time, new and fresh and full of surprise... that is just the best. It is absolutely the best possible thing. It is, in its own way, a slice of heaven. It is a joy that, even if you imagine it clearly, pales in comparison to actually experiencing it.
Nothing is ever as good as the very first time. Not ever.
I wouldn't want to have my memory fucked again. But I miss the joy of rediscovering favorite things entirely anew, year after year. It made the world seem a lot better than it actually is, more filled with good stuff, and less crammed with crap.
Nailed the ending. Have a (You).
This does not bode well for G5.
Jesus fuck this is dark. Like this story! Neat.
As someone with memory problems, the story scares me.
So Sunset's story of coming there is far less exceptional then we were initially led to think and our degree of belief in other characters' stories should approach infinitesimal values? (and incidentally Celestia is much more proactive in searching for exceptional individuals for her collection)
Celestia is a master politician
It's almost as bad as forgetting the plates
i.ytimg.com/vi/vv0tU2rGEHM/maxresdefault.jpg
10635585
It's not like half-life of memories exceeds average lifespan, so we as well may not need to imagine. The issue with "favorite" things specifically is that there are some related activities during years that slow down decay of memories (and/or warp them) which discussed amazing gift seems to sacrifice.
Did they exist?
what a monster...
10636010
I can have no absolute proof they existed... although with one of the two books, I have strong evidence. Of something, anyway.
According to my mom, one night I recited one of the two mystery books entirely in my sleep. In effect, I read the book out loud while I was asleep. I 'dream' read it, out loud. We lived in a trailer with thin walls - because we moved every three to six months - and it kept my parents up that entire night. No matter what they tried, as soon as I fell asleep, I would continue reciting the book in my sleep. My dad forbade me to ever read it again (of course I read it again, how would I remember I hadn't from year to year?) but, past that one night, I never recited another book in my sleep.
When they told me about it - my dad was not happy at all - I was very surprised. That... was weird. Now, all I know is the plot of the book and some details about it. I no longer, to my knowledge, somehow contain every word anymore.
I repeat: brains are fucking weird.
10635280
Yeah, that's exactly how I feel.
On the tragic side, Sunset has lost her mental independence, she and Celestia never reconciled, and now she's become a mindless follower (or maybe cattle) of an opportunistic fae. Also, her worst fears about Sunset are true, and she and Celestia never, ever reconcile.
It feels almost like the ending of 1984, where Winston Smith "wins the victory over himself by loving Big Brother."
On the positive, Sunset has at least found a loving master in Fae Celestia, and Princess Celestia has to live with regrets.
I was personally hoping for an ending where Sunset learns to live in reality. But real life, I guess, doesn't always have the happy endings where everyone gets what they want.
10636209
Big Brother won by lying and inflicting pain. Faelestia was - as far as we can tell - nothing but truthful, and merely exploited the pain that was already there. I don't know if that makes it better than in 1984 but it's certainly easier to accept Sunset's fate than Winston's.
10636318
I'd say that Faelestia is more like Mustapha Mond than Big Brother.
Big Brother turns people into cattle through torture and psychological destruction. Mond does it through comfort.
I'd say Sunset is more like John from Brave New World, if John surrendered to the madness of the World State rather than killed herself.
Sunset has simply accepted the hopelessness of her life and chosen a master who is more honest and providing.
10636331
Yes, I would certainly agree with that :)
There should be a sequel or epilogue where Twilight didn’t muck up the mirror job, and just pops out of the portal while Sunset and her friends are hanging out, and then she decides whether or not to leave her job in Equestria and stay because we all know the headache of a leadership job
10634942
That's really the only silver lining here. Princess Twilight is a better person than Celestia ever was, at least in this fic.
10635065
In a pocket dimension of whatever scale, including tiny, you could just institute monodirectional linovective force as a universal constant. This would simulate gravity well enough to serve any but the most refined purposes - it would be unnoticeable on the scale of organic life.
Alternatively, you could manufacture a second pocket which contained a gargantuan mass - such as a supermassive black hole - and then, if you really needed actual gravitational acceleration, place the second Brane within millimeters of the primary pocket's Brane and allow gravitational string bleed to provide true gravity from one direction as the gravitons leaked through the dimensional barriers.
Lastly, you could use Mass Affiliation or even a layer of superdense matter - a fantastically thin foil of neutronium located just below bedrock - to generate localized gravity. The latter would be an incredibly delicate construction, to prevent the foil from pulling on itself and crumpling into a deadly ball. Perhaps a better concept than a foil would be a patterned metamaterial constructed of small bits of neutronium locked into a carbon-diamond matrix shaped into the form of a Sierpinski sponge for strength.
Personally, I would just use linovection. It screws with some science, but at a high-school level, this would never become any kind of issue.
I kind of expected at the end, Celestia of Equestria would have tried to go through the mirror after her wayward student. I think I would have liked to have seen Princess Celestia merying the Fae Principal Celestia. And to be horrified at the cracked mirror of herself she would have beheld and what became of her student...
I wonder if Principal Celestia is responsible for destroying the mirror (perhaps by sealing the gate from her end). After acquiring Sunset I have a feeling she might not want to risk any further interaction with that universe and her princess counterpart.
Also damn what a great story this was. I've been eagerly devouring every chapter of this as it came out and still keep thinking about it even now it's finished. Superb stuff.