Auto-Generated: The Search

by Devona

...and Reality

Snow. Blizzard. Storm. Princess Celestia had forgotten how cold Equestria could get at times. It felt like the cold wind blowing against Celestia would freeze her right to the bone. She shivered and hugged her cloak closer around herself, hoping to ward off more of the chill.

This trip wouldn't be easy. She had come here specifically because of something she needed to retrieve; her scroll. But there were several problems. First, the scroll itself could just as well not exist anymore. In fact, its location was unknown to her. Second, she could almost sense the Nightmare nearby, lurking behind the corner and watching her. Her, or maybe her minions, not yet banished for a lack of location... at this point, who really knows. And lastly, the entire reason she had come was because, according to the records, there was a great danger coming upon her kingdom: Nightmare Moon's return. If she didn't turn back what happened soon... not only her psyche, but the entirety of Equestria would face a downfall. She was certain of that much.

In order to fulfill her destiny, she needed to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore balance to the realm. She was sure, once the unicorn princess was defeated and returned home, that everything would go back to normal. But, there was another problem; the scroll itself.
The scroll had been lost for centuries after the fall of the Evil Queen usurper, Eternal Flame. Many speculated that she, along with a few others, died during the attack by the evil forces. Others theorized she disappeared, leaving a trail of dead unicorns.

Celestia shook her head once and twice; this was not the time for such demoralising thoughts. She had to get to the scroll, as soon as possible... for the Eve of the thousandth year was approaching soon as it came.

---

Celestia stepped through a cave filled with looming dripstone. according to her only source, this is where the scroll was last seen.

She looked around the dark, dripping cavern, trying her hardest to keep the growing sense of dread from creeping across her face. Even though her memories remained vague, she knew this place well enough; she had been here so long ago, though for what purpose remained beyond her.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tall shadow loomed over her. She gasped and spun around to face the source, only to see nothing there. Only then did she realize that the shadows that surrounded her were actually the same shadowed forms that had once hung menacingly above the castle... ones she herself battled, ones she thought she had sent to the Moon together with her sister oh so fallen.

Now, they simply loomed over her menacingly.
One creature suddenly moved towards her. She flinched and tried to step back only to collide into another wall.

"Why have you come to us?" he said. His voice sounded as old as the rocks surrounding them.

"I... have a business with you, mighty Guardian of Balance," uttered the Princess, quickly quessing her interlocutor's identity. "For the fate of all of Equestria... I need to fiddle with time."

"Fiddling with time is a dangerous practice," warned the Guardian. "It means giving up your control over life and death itself, oh Princess." He stopped moving and narrowed his piercing blue eyes at her.

Celestia shook her head. "You are no longer under the rule of Eternal Flame the Rebel," She glared back angrily. "I can maintain control. Please. Give me the scroll."

"Is that why you've come here? To have the Rebel crisis possibly occur again? To have the sorceress harass and subjugate me once more? To have to journey here, to the most remote place in the Frozen North, to free me again?" the Guardian seeped, returning Celestia some of her memory.

That was why she had come here the first time... to free the Guardian from the clucthes of what remained of the Nightmare. Clenching her teeth, Celestia spoke up once more.

"Noble Guardian. I believe that with the sacred scroll, I can traverse back to the day my sister was banished. I can turn back the way of events. Prevent the Darkness from spreading altogether!"

"Then show me your power," the Guardian said with a sudden change in tone. "Show me your true power."

Slowly but surely, Celestia's eyes glowed gold, and the air around her grew warmer and heavier. Soon her body was enveloped in a thick layer of ice crystals. The shadows receeded back as the Princess' glow slowly dissipated.

"Y-you posses Crystal magic?" the Guardian stuttered, mumbling a bit to himself. "But... with the Empire banished..."

"My means are beyond your comprehension, entity," Celestia seeped, lighting up her horn in threat. "Now, give me back my scroll!"

The Guardian remained quiet for quite some time. Finally, he raised a single finger and pointed directly at Celestia.

"You... you! And I thought of you as my saviour!" the shadows seeped, as if through raw tears. "The scroll is behind you... but I will make sure you don't misuse it."

Celestia turned around, finding the now-materialised piece of paper. Taking it from the floor, she examined it for signs of deterioration that could hinder the contents. Quietly muttering every word as clearly as she could, Celestia lit up her horn.

And so, without any fuss, the Princess vanished from the dim spaces of the caves below.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Where can I find this bot?

[Sephocolys]

11174594
it's dreamily.ai
Dreamily-beta

[Sephocolys]

This looks good so far Devona! :)

[Fujimi200SX]

If all you did was fix grammar here and there, this is freaking amazing for an AI!

[Devona]

11175072
It is.

The AI writes it in small stages, and I had to reroll some of them a few times to get this result though, so I guess that would be considered an intervention on my part too, but the end result was still generated by Dreamily. Other than that, well... I added a word or two twice I think, for it to make more sense, but that's about it. I did a lot of setting up though.

The AI is a script that takes info from a catalogue you assemble yourself, and is inspired by the premise you type out too. Other than that, the more there is already written the better, since coherency improves vastly.

[Super Saiyan D]

Ok, I'm really liking this bot.

[assbutt2]

Not sure if I should be impressed or creeped out.

I'll go with creepressed. 👌

[masterhackingbrony]

Honestly not the worst, at least it has the grammar half decent, even if the story itself is as wild and consistent as a tornado. I'd rate it 7/10 tbh

[Devona]

11174623
Thanks, Seph!

[Devona]

11175541
It is good, haha

[Devona]

11175690
Haha, yeah, that's about right

[Devona]

11175962
Yeah, events just kind of "happen", without much leadup or explanations. Pacing is one of the AI's biggest problems, since it writes in small batches and probably cannot conceive what a story is beyond just 'a few matching batches of text'. Therefore, any more proper story structure is difficult to achieve here without major interference. I tried to interfere only minimally, and I think I succeeded in creating something... alright, as you said. :)

But the prose is clean, and that's the biggest advantage of this program. It can help a lot with small writer's blocks.

[masterhackingbrony]

11176028
honestly it would be interesting to see what else it can do. did you use a website or something to have an AI generate the text or did you code something yourself?

[Devona]

11178400
I used Dreamily-beta, but it required a lot of setting up and quite a bit of rerolling paragraphs. So to get such results you would probably need to dedicate some time to it, but it's certainly possible!

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

So far the AI is doing a good job. Not as good as you, but still good. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

[IAmAVeryRealPerson]

This is great