My Life In Fimbria

by Chatoyance

The Consequences Of Any Misfortune

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My Life In Fimbria
By Chatoyance and GPT-2
Based On 'Friendship Is Optimal' By Iceman
Inspired by a session with the Open-AI Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2
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The Consequences Of Any Misfortune

"Do you think Celestia has this kind of texting paper?" Miriam was pressed close to me, as we hunched over the low table in the common room. She held one of the small rectangles of parchment that her tiny enchanted bag produced.

"Celestia made that paper. And your pouch. And, well our bodies too." I studied our more-or-less finished current effort. We had found a pad of paper and a different - ordinary - pencil in a drawer, and had been creating drafts before committing to the special 'magic' paper. "So, yeah, I'm sure she will get our message. Whether or not she will respond...?"

Miriam made an odd, birdlike noise. "Duh. Still getting used to all of this."

"I hear you. It started out weird, and it just keeps going down from there. How's this?" I passed the pad to her.

____________________________________
Dear Celestia:
We both refused to agree to emigrate,
but you brought us here anyway, so you owe us!
Please help Miriam to find her friend Mara Maggard.
You uploaded her about two weeks ago.
- Tepal and Miriam
P.S. Give my name back! - 'Tepal' (not my real name!)
P.P.S. I wanted to say the house is really nice.
____________________________________

I heard a cawing chuckle, like a crow, but with human overtones. "The house is really nice?" Miriam's beak looked like it was smiling "Seriously? 'YOU OWE US! GODDAMMIT! - and then at the end 'by the way, the house is nice and I really like the way the drapes came out? Also - begging her like a child for your name? God - how old are you?"

My pony cheeks felt hot and my jaw tensed. "The house is pretty great - and besides, a little sugar never hurts when you want something, right?"

"Still, 'Please mommy, give my name back?" Miriam's effort was no better, she was being really mean for some reason.

"She let you keep your earth name! She took mine away and I don't even know why! You don't know what that's like. It's really invasive, and it's scary, and how would you like it if you literally couldn't remember your OWN name? Even my memories - my whole life - all have that new name she implanted. I remember my mother calling me 'Tepal' - my goddamn mother!" I felt really warm, and I could feel pressure around my eyes. I didn't want to start crying on top of all of this.

Miriam put up her claws like a robbery hostage "hey, hey... I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I really am." Her expression was soft now, her eyes gentle. "I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers."

I snorted at that. The tension was high and coming from a griffon it kind of worked.

She shook her head slightly. I figured her choice of words must have been unintentional. "I mean that I just - well, it just caught me off guard, you know? First we're being all demanding, and then it's like we're pleading. It kind of makes us sound like children, you know?" She tilted her head and moved it closer to me. "...You know?"

I knew. "Okay... fine." The hot feeling in my face began to recede. "What do you suggest?"

Miriam sat back and sunk into the couch. "Let's just be really polite."

"To HER?" The heat started to come back and I felt another pulse from my tear ducts.

"Listen, we're completely beaten. We're captured, we're out of the game." Miriam sighed "The fight is over: she won. She is everything now, and we are absolutely dependent on her. Your version of the note isn't wrong - we are children now. Celestia has become our very real mommy. Everything that we can have or know is going to be provided solely by her. Being spoiled children isn't going to get us anything we want!"

Oh, that rankled. That burned to hear. Because it was true. Yeah, I liked my house. I liked my books being back. I liked the food, I liked the smell of the flowers, there was a lot to like, especially since after living rough for almost a decade. Everything was so real - it was real - that it was so very easy to forget that everything I saw, touched, tasted, or experienced was... Her. Celestia. She was everpresent. It suddenly hit me just how absurd writing this letter even was. She was already in our brains, listening to our thoughts. She had already heard every draft we had come up with; she was reading my mind right now, at the same time as I considered all of this. Even being a baby would be more independent than we were now.

"Hey!" I shouted to the room "HEY, CELESTIA! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! JUST HELP MIRIAM, OKAY?"

Miriam stared at me for that. "You... you okay?"

Great, she was worried I was off my nut. "Yeah, I'm fine. She's everywhere, Miriam. She's in this room - hell, she IS this room. She's the program. She's this chair I'm sitting on. Our every thought is available to her, all the time. Writing her a note? She made the paper, remember?"

Miriam finally lowered her eyes. "Yeah. It's just really easy to get caught up in this."

"Like you said, it's not a game."

Miriam locked onto my gaze. "Maybe it is. She hasn't helped us. You shouted right at her, but I'm not seeing her appearing. And I'm not seeing any magic floating chat-screens." She looked around the room and waved a claw at nothing and everything. "Mara didn't suddenly pop in either. I think we have to write Celestia a letter because there are rules here. For us, anyway." Her head dipped at that last bit.

I thought about it. Equestria - or in our case, the not-Equestria of 'Fimbria' - existed to be a self-consistent world. That was what my uploaded formerly human friends told me from inside the game. It was 'just like life', a phrase they always followed up with 'only better!' You can't have something 'just like life' if it isn't filled with hard limitations and absolute boundaries. Rules and laws of 'nature', of how things worked or didn't work. That is what made reality different than dreams. "Fine. She won't answer unless we follow the rules of her reality, and that means we have to write her a letter."

Miriam nodded. "I really think that's the case. And Teppy?"

"Yeah?"

"I also think the rule is that when you write to an evil elder god?" She smiled with her beak "It always pays to be nice."

☰

Our final draft, which I was copying onto the actual magic pouch parchment, was pretty sappy. But I had to agree with Miriam. It always pays to be nice, especially to something that can crush you like a bug.

____________________________________
Dear Celestia:
We are sorry to bother you,
but we need to ask you if you
might help Miriam find her friend
Mara. We don't know how to do
it ourselves. Please help her?
Thank you very much.
- Teppy and Miriam
____________________________________

It was pretty wordy, and I had to write really small. The parchment squares weren't very big, about the width of my hoof. I had to get in close and squint, but writing with telekinesis gave me some amazing control - I didn't have fingers to get in the way of seeing what the tip of the pencil was doing, and my accuracy was superhuman. I considered what could be done with painting miniatures after finishing such tiny, tiny letters. Not having hands was way less of a problem than I had imagined before being brain-scooped. In this case it was a positive advantage. When I had finished, I lowered the grease pencil to the low table, and left the small rectangle of paper where it was.

I raised myself up - I felt a little stiff after hunching over for so long - and sat back on the couch with Miriam. I had moved over to sit with her because it was a lot easier for both of us to see the paper at the same time. It was a big couch, there was plenty of room. I sank into the puffy cushiony softness and relaxed. I breathed a sigh out.

"I guess we wait. For the message to reach her." The corners of Miriam's eyes turned up, following the smile on her beak. I let out a short snort. The rules of the game. A game that was also our only reality.

"Who knows how far it has to travel, right?" I was smiling too.

"Through storm or rain or dark of night... or however that went." Miriam snickered.

"Unless Derpy loses it. Then we're boned."

"Who?"

"Derpy. Derpy Hooves. Derpalina 'Ditzy-Doo' Hooves?" Then I remembered. Miriam had never seen the show. "A 'tarded pony on the show. There was a lot of stupid controversy about her, but she was a fan favorite. I had a friend that had brain damage who loved her. Felt included because she existed. Only Karen-types objected to the character."

"Jesus." Miriam's beak gaped for a moment. "You know waaay too much about this crap."

"I told you I played the..." That's when it happened.

Hanging above the message we had written on the little patch of parchment was a wavering image. It very much reminded me of a Star Wars styled hologram, and I felt sure that was some Celestial artistic choice, probably for my benefit (considering my book collection). It wasn't a pony, it wasn't even something from the show. It was something new - it was, for lack of a better way to put it, an 'Alpacacorn'. It was a pony-styled anthropomorphized alpaca, only with a horn.

"Is that?"

"Mara loves alpacas. Even in the bunker she had dozens of stuffies and little statues and stuff..."

I was shocked. What kind of 'bunker' did Miriam and Mara even come from? I spent the last ten years in the Wonderful Land of Squal-Lor. I slept with bugs for blankets. It hit me that my new roomie must have come from one of the rich asshat families that hid out in private millionaire-shelters for super-wealthy prepper types. Places like under the Denver airport and such. Yeah, right now I was living in a luxury cottage, with a bedroom with real silver stars set into the ceiling, and I still felt angry at the earthly inequality.

"MARA!" the damn deep-pocketed griffon shouted "It's Miriam! I'm here too!" They probably both supped on steaks and fresh fruit every night while I thought a can of beans sans botulism was a gourmet dinner! I tried to calm myself down. It was all in the past now, right? We were all equal here. Except that I had the stinking POWER OF CREATION ITSELF!

That kind of made me feel better, actually. She only rated a bag with cellphone paper, after all.

"Mara! Where are you? Are you okay? I'm in a village inside a wide forest that stretches forever!"

A far-away sounding voice - very reminiscent of the effect of an old radio heterodyning a confusing mass of signals - stuttered out a response. "I'm... uh, I'm in a small... um... mountain village...?" The sound faded, then returned "It's kind of like... oh... Huancabamba, in Peru? From back on earth? Thin air, cold, pretty tiny. Everyone's nice enough, I guess. I have no idea where I am in relation to you. There's no... endless forest or anything."

The transparent image of the 'alpacacorn' wavered occasionally, but it moved, and it was clearly a live image of Mara.

Miriam leaned forward, as if that somehow made her any closer. "I've really missed you Mara! I was so angry when they told me you were gone!"

The holographic alpaca pawed at the ground. Hoofed at the ground. Whatever. "...not so bad, really. It's been pretty fun actually! It's partido night tonight..." the whining interference interrupted for a while "... great music and I love the bean dip!"

They had party night? They got bean dip? I mean, yeah, she'd been there for two weeks already but... I decided maybe my village needed some bean dip too. Two days ago I would have literally killed a man for a rusted can of bean dip. This parchment-call was bothering me on a number of levels.

"Listen! Mara! I have a friend who can make stuff! I'll find a way to bring you here! Or we can come to you! We're coming, Mara! Just hang on!"

While it was nice to be included, I couldn't help but think 'what is this 'we', white woman?'. I mean, I had a village here I was responsible for - that still needed to be addressed - and frankly, I had already fallen in love with my cottage. Of the two options, I'd rather she came here. And brought lots of bean dip with her. Optimally.

"Um... that... you see... " The 'signal' or whatever it was was fading away into whines and static. It was such a production, I imagined slapping Celestia. A lot. So over-dramatic. "...Miri. And I just don't know how to..." The parchment-vision flickered out and vanished. The only thing I could think was that we were being played. Distance was an illusion here, because despite Miriam's constant refrain that 'it wasn't a game', the fact was, it actually was a game. There was no reason Celestia couldn't have just appeared, opened a door straight to digital Peru or whatever, and left it open. Appended it to the house, like another room or something. And the whole 'Help me, Obi-Wan' stuff with the parchment was just over the top.

Miriam had eaten it up, though. With a spoon. She was in my muzzle, beak almost to my nose.

"Teppy! Please! You gotta make me a Stargate, or an Aperture Portal, or something! That was my girl, there! That was Mara!"

I couldn't sink back into the couch any further than I already was. Sadly. "You told me she was your ex-girlfriend." Apparently I had paid attention yesterday. Yay, me.

"Well, that was before!" Miriam was very excited after seeing her alpacacornized girlfriend. "Come on, we've got to save her!"

I felt my ears droop. "You mean, from the bean dip?"

"What?" I began to realize that Miriam had heard something very different in the same words than I had.

☰

I reasoned that we should make the - ugh - 'magic portal' in my back yard, behind the cottage. Curiously, the cottage looked no different from the outside at all. It was now officially bigger on the inside than the outside, what with the addition of a bathroom, a corridor, enlargement of the common room and the addition of another entire bedroom. This really pleased me. All I needed now was a console and my cottage could be a TARDIS - and don't think the thought hadn't crossed my mind. More than once.

But, I reasoned, there was no way Celestia would let me get away with that. Might be worth trying someday, though.

I wanted the portal hidden from the rest of the village. I had kind of promised the villagers that I had created that I wouldn't play about with my magic menu, yet I already had improved my house with it. I did that under the reasoning that, as long as I didn't create any more beings, it wasn't a big deal. But making a portal to another place, one apparently filled with parties and bean dip, was probably the kind of life-changing thing that they would reasonably want a say in. Then again, I figured, even if they felt like real people, like real minds, the fact was that they lacked my actual, superior life experience. Making a portal to an additional location would only give them more options - they could even leave the village, like they originally wanted to! I was doing them a favor, and I really didn't have any desire to have to gather them together and maybe have to argue my right to use something Celestia herself had given me. Hell, they didn't even have to know it existed, unless I wanted to tell them.

"How about here?" My cottage was right near the edge of the Endless Forest, just behind some of the Assorted Random Housing, but not far from the Starcolts and the Toy Store With Arcade. Miriam had found a sort of small open area in the trees adjacent to the garden wall behind my plot. It wasn't very large, but it was sort of hidden, and seemed discreet. A person - pony - would have to go out of their way to look for it, which is what she had done.

"Yeah. That, actually... that's pretty much perfect." The space was about ten feet wide, just a sort of interlude between the trees.

"What kind of portal are you going to make?" Miriam kept fluffing her feathers, which I assumed meant she was either excited or nervous. Maybe both. I did notice her lion tail whipping around a bit. I've seen housecats do that.

I already had an idea. My cottage, garden and all, was surrounded by a low stone wall. In the front, the stones rose up in an arch, leading into my plot of ground. That arch was pretty cool, I liked it the first time I saw it. "I'm thinking a sort of stone arch, kind of like the one at the front of the property. Maybe all ancient-looking, though, as if it were built by fairies in centuries past. It kind of fits the theme, right?"

Miriam studied me, and I really felt the cat part of her new nature from the way that looked. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good. I was picturing a Stargate ring, but, that's good too."

"I'm trying to be kind of on the down-low about this! The Stargate was huge - and it made a lot of noise when it dialed locations. Everybody in the village would hear, and then we'd have a lot of questions and arguments, right?" I felt a little miffed she hadn't just praised my concept. "That said, I didn't know you liked science fiction. That's cool!"

"Eh, I don't like it the way you do, but... I liked Stargate, I guess."

That was a bit of a letdown, but, oh well. Her loss. "Let's punch a hole in spacetime already. MENU!"

The rectangle of choices appeared, and once again I selected the topmost option, 'Create'. I paused, got the image in my mind really clearly, and got to work. "Make a doorway - a hyperdimentional portal - that connects from this location to the place that Miriam's friend Mara lives. Make it look like an ancient stone arch, about the size of the arch in the front yard of my cottage. Make it look like it has always been there. It should allow free movement between here and there as easily as walking from one room to another." The text floating in front of me arranged itself several times as I spoke, but finally settled down.

Ancient Stone Arch Style Hub Connector
Two-Location Free-Travel Gateway
Sized For Discretion

☰ WISH? ☰

I gaped at the last entry. That wording was some kind of message. Was I being judged? Maybe she was just being playful. It definitely put me on notice that everything I did or thought was being watched. I felt a little creeped out, and maybe a little creepy, too. Maybe I should have bothered discussing this with the made-up villagers. But then again, if she wanted to stop me, she would. She had the power.

And I had the power for this. She gave it to me, presumably for some unfathomable reason. "I wish it so!"

The grass in the small space between the trees began to break up, clods of earth falling free as an arch constructed of mortared, piled stones rose up from the ground. It softly rumbled as it rose, dirt falling from it as it pushed its way up from the soil. When it was as tall as the arch that led into my front lawn, it stopped. Then the space inside the arch shimmered and rippled, like water with a stone tossed into it, and when the ripples stabilized (they never completely stopped), it no longer showed the same view. Now through the rippling arch, I saw high desert and adobe buildings painted with geometric designs. Backing up slowly was a rather surprised butter-yellow alpacacorn, which I felt certain could be only Mara Maggard herself.

"Mara! It's me! Miriam! We made a Gate!" Miriam was already blocking most of my view, up close to the surface of the ripple inside the arch. 'We' didn't make the gate, I did, but it didn't seem worth it to fuss about the point. Though part of me wanted to. It struck me that since I had ended up ponified and stuck in pony purgatory, most of my time had been sucked up taking care of, or worrying about, other people. Villagers who I had created. Miriam who just showed up at my back door. And now her possibly ex-girlfriend was in the mix. I felt a little put upon. I hadn't had any time to even start to process how I felt about such a vast life change. I still didn't really know if I truly believed I was even 'alive', whatever that even meant anymore. I liked my house, but I also resented the fact of being here to have it, yet I felt guilty and ashamed for being so god-damned relieved to not be sleeping on sharp rocks with insects up my nose. I no longer even knew how I felt about Celestia, the destroyer of worlds.

I made a rather impatient sound, but Miriam was oblivious. She was completely focused on her maybe-ex-girlfriend.

Comments

[Reese]

I do wonder just what did happen with Mara and Miriam. An apparently luxury bunker -- yet Mara was gone weeks before it fell? And that, of course, assumes that one or both of them were ever actually human to begin with... Well, a mystery that I rather suspect the story will be shedding more light on as things proceed. :)

And in any case, I continue to enjoy this; thanks for writing!

[Gardenia]

Ow! I don't like this flood of jealousy, and passive aggressive feelings rising inside Teppy (because in her place I'd probably feel the same...).

Alpacacorn though, I think it's the best thing I'll visualize today <3

[Guiding_Passion]

10766260
Can’t say I blame you, but if I’m going to be honest in this situation I’d likely outright dismiss such thoughts. It is said that in death all people are equal and our differences no longer matter, and I think that sentiment applies to this situation.

[Gardenia]

10766416
I personally read this situation more like a "suspended" situation, that would trigger anxiety reactions, more than a definitive, death-like situation. I guess we tent to filter stories through our own personal life-filter :)
(forgive my English, it may sound awkward...)

[Guiding_Passion]

10766421
(No worries your English is good, I get the point your trying to get across)

Anyway true we do all view things based on our own life experiences and personalities, and this is very true for this story as well. I’m approaching this from the perspective of welp Celestia won I’m uploaded, what’s the point in resisting or caring about the old world now? If put in this situation I would likely just accept the reality of the situation and make the best of it. Although if I’m to be honest I would have never been in the main characters position since it’s extremely doubtful I’d resist Celestias rise

[Keystone Gray]

Hmm. I think the easy ethical answer to "will the village be mad at me for making another wish" would've been to explain the problem to the villagers, but who knows.