By the year 2238, two-thirds of humanity have become "ponies', living in an online virtual reality paradise where everything they could ask for is theirs to have at a moment's notice. It is a world of freedom, where all biological needs are eliminated and you can live forever doing whatever it is that pleases you.
But for some, Equestria can seem less a paradise and more a prison, an artificial and manufactured place where nothing is real and everything is a simulated lie to make you feel comfortable. Perhaps, even the feelings of the mare sitting next to you holding your hoof. How could you ever be sure even your own feelings are truly yours if you're just a program stored on a server?
Does living in Equestria mean Twilight Sparkle has to choose between her heart and her soul?
Entry for 2021 "Friendship is Optimal" contest. Pre-read by TheAlbinocorn, RTStephens, and FanOfMostEverything
What is the measure of a person? Is it the mind, or something more? Who are we, and what makes us… us?
This was a wonderful, unexpected surprise to find this morning in my feed. Thank you Drakey.
Lovely exploration of the soul, the heart, and the mind. I'm glad my feedback helped you reach this level of polish. Thank you for this, and best of luck in the judging.
Another job well done.
Does the fact that original 'canon' CelestAI is pretty much a benevolent Elder God for humanity make the personal choices matter more or less? The path the race is set on is immutable; your choices really only concern yourself and people you connect with. Not really that dissimilar to irl, but there's absolutely no traces of 'we should'. It does offer a certain freedom I think.
Questionable? Uploading just copies the experiences, it shouldn't be enough to transfer the 'you' into the system. The new individual, formed out of your memories, would certainly believe that they're legit, and the old you would probably be conventionally dead and off to oblivion, or whatever else the next step normally would be. Uploading really is closer to sanctioned mass suicide than anything else (which, for the record, I have absolutely no problem with, I think it should be a thing)
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Oh great, now I'm having SOMA flashbacks.
This is both heartwarming, alarming, confusing, and sweet.
I bloody love it.
Now all I ask is a epilogue where Twilight gets uploaded and gets to live with Sunset finally
Of course...What happens when there's nobody left alive to run things?
Reminds me of The Pendragon Chronicles, and what happened to Veelox...
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While it didn't come up in the story, there were measures in place that declared a minimum number of people (I didn't put a precise number on it before this detail was excised, but I was going to mention it would be 10% of the current world populace; that's rather high, but even 5% would still be at least tens if not hundreds of millions) would remain living as humans, to ensure continuity of humanity as a biological race. Not to mention that as the story demonstrates, some people have no intention to ever upload and they will not be forced to. There would also be an option for those that upload to have their DNA and sperm/eggs preserved, either to create a genetic copy of their original form to "download" into at some future point technology is able to do this, and/or they could allow these materials to be used to repopulate the human race if this was deemed necessary. As to the specific purpose of maintaining Equestria, there's always robots.
But I didn't flesh out these ideas much, they were only ever background info characters would mention in passing and would not be important to the main narrative.
Good to see more authors I follow write stories in this setting.
I watched an and last year called Expelled from Paradise that explores themes similar to this mixed with bit of Elysium. It's a hell of a concept and given the way climate change is heading this may become reality some day. Still, I adore the back and forth between these two. That desire to find a soulmate no matter where they are in the universe. Beautiful.
Couldn't Celestia simulate an Equestria Girls spin-off for those who wish to stay human and still be under her control?
Well hot damn this is a fresh take. I am just delighted with what you've done here. :D
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Thank you.
Hello! Have a review. I don't read much Optimalverse fic, but I was very satisfied by both character writing and world-building here. Have a like and a fave!
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Thank you, glad you liked it! Although, you're slightly mistaken - this is only inspired by the idea of FiO for the contest, I've never read FiO and know very little about it.
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Whoops, thank you for the correction! I've slightly edited the review to better reflect that. Either way, it was a satisfying read.
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Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)
And ftr, a lane push is a terminology in MOBA games - the AI units typically attack from your base to the opponent's along pre-set "lanes", and are balanced such that they're on equal footing against each other and when they fight at the mid-point between bases, they'll mostly all die. It's up to the players to fight alongside them to push the enemy waves back and make ground towards their base