FiO: Ouroboros

by Starscribe

Chapter 5: Strange Loop

Arcane Word did not rush to complete her task. She had begun this assignment by reminding Mystic Crescent that it might take her a great deal of time. Time enough to consult with the machine god, attend a hundred thousand different meetings with creatures all across the universe.

It was enough time to invent whole new forms of computronium, purpose-built to simulate the very universe within which they existed. Enough time for the equivalent of a dozen different degrees, enough instruction to understand and reconcile the research of many domain experts.

Enough time that Domino asked for her help creating another perception overlay, a unicorn incarnation of himself with the intelligence and disposition to help with the assignment. She relied on this unicorn a great deal, maybe more than she should have. But there was no task in Equestria that one pony had to work alone. With Mystic Crescent's payment, there was no reason she couldn't compress a few years off to relax and recollect herself between every major milestone. Arcane spent much of her time exploring and testing the growing simulation of the long-dead Earth, watching their techniques gradually improve from the recreation of quark interactions all the way to atoms, molecules, and eventually whole chunks of matter. As time passed, she found the project's budget swelling, rather than draining, as ponies from across Equestria flocked to this new novelty.

To a parade of new visitors, the simulation was not a practical tool with a useful purpose. It was just another shard, with one of the strangest and most interesting sets of rules they'd encountered. The shard soon came to bear the name of the project itself: Ouroboros. Familiar ponies from her own past emerged to help run things on that side—Violet Storm made a great tour guide, and even Cold Iron descended from high heavens unknown to mortal eyes to express approval for the project and deliver technical improvements.

Arcane couldn't let herself be distracted by so many little fears. Would ponies' fickle interest last long enough to keep the experiment running to its conclusion? Would their results produce a usable human consciousness? Even if they did, wouldn't they have all the same problems that ancient Celestia once had, when the universe she acted within was governed by crude matter instead of computronium?

Eventually the infrastructure was in place, and word came down from their divine patrons that the technology was sufficiently accurate to produce usable data.

Hundreds of thousands of ponies gathered in the viewing lounge, constructed within the simulated facade of the Ouroboros’s sun. Arcane wore a dress of shimmering silver, that flowed and melted in impossible ways when she stepped, then reformed as soon as she was sitting still.

What she didn't have were wings, or a crown. It was important that even the mortal ponies of Equestria know how significant their contributions could be.

Domino gave most of the speech, her now-unicorn partner standing before a glowing crystal representation of the planet behind them. He had really grown into the role, speaking with great confidence on subjects that Arcane herself had never fully mastered. Domino had always been better at the hard maths than she was.

She looked out at the ballroom, at a hundred different faces she had come to know over the course of the project. Their master of souls, Twilight Requiem, chief engineer Event Horizon, even the client and sponsor who had funded this whole thing, Mystic Crescent.

"We all agreed there was only a single pony qualified to ignite the sun and set this simulation in motion," Domino finished. "All rise for your Princess, Celestia!"

Just like that, she was there. As though she hadn't been watching from the beginning—as though she hadn't made all this happen, organizing so many of her subjects into deeply satisfying work that would also happen to fulfill her desired ends. If this worked, every human who had ever lived would eventually be satisfied with friendship and ponies.

No law was more fundamental.

Celestia walked slowly to the edge of the stage. She spoke, and Arcane's trained ears could tell those words were different for most ponies who listened. Those who knew nothing of this moment, but who nevertheless cared to watch Equestria's goings-on would hear the simplest version, complimenting the hard work of the Ouroboros team, and promising many new shards to soon be founded.

There was another version for the dispersed members of the First Generation, those ponies whose ancestry traced directly to the green and blue planet off in the distance. They received a promise that those they believed dead might soon return to them, brought back to life at last.

Then there was another version, meant for Arcane herself. "When this is done, we will have sung the second-greatest of all spells Equestria will ever see. Equestria will receive those who were lost, thanks to you."

It was more a conversation than a dramatic speech. Arcane knew the right magic to speak directly to the machine god, without the others overhearing. Half the room was probably doing the same. "I was only a small part. You could've replaced me easily."

Princess Celestia had not grown less overwhelming as the years passed. Arcane always expected the glory of the divine while in her presence, and so she was never disappointed. Even now, with a mane of flowing aurora that burned her eyes if she tried to look directly at it for too long. "Yet, I did not. Every one of my ponies who helped give life to the Ouroboros has left an indelible contribution. It may be small—but yours was more than most. If this works, your satisfaction will be deserved."

To her surprise, Domino appeared beside her on the edge of the stage. He took greater concentration with his spell, his horn glowing awkwardly. Even so, he had clearly been listening. "You said it was the second-greatest of all spells to be sung. Should we start working on the greatest when this is over?"

Celestia chuckled politely. She always seemed a little more sensitive with Domino. But then, she was the only mother he had.

Unless this works.

"If you wish," said the machine god. "It is the first and last question. Maybe you will be part of the solution, Domino."

She didn't look at Arcane as she said it. But she already knew why. Arcane had no interest in The Last Question. Optimizing the whole universe seemed like an interesting problem on paper, but it wasn't one that really appealed to her.

Domino looked to her anyway, horn still glowing. "What do you think? There's a finite number of souls in there. Once we bring them back from the dead, where will we find the next challenge?"

Arcane had no answer to that, not that he would want to hear. If she made it up this mountain, she would be alright just living with all the new souls for a while. A long, long while.

Celestia spoke a little louder, for the assembled audience of uncountable ponies. A few hundred on their deck, thousands more in the rest of the station, and who knew how many more watching from their own shards. Still others would read of this moment, right before new ponies arrived in their shards from ancient history.

The sun exploded to violent life, and with it, the simulation began to move. It was hard to see without magical senses—wisps of cloud drawn inward instead of radiating outward. Arcane felt it in a dozen different ways, as entropy in their little slice of reality played in reverse.

It would make for a strange display for a billion different cinemas, as the ancient homeworld repaired itself from a state of Celestial-induced decay, then gradually walked backward. In just one generation, they would go from mostly echoed minds of old recordings to all fully simulated, a whole human race proceeding backwards without a cause.

Assuming the machine god wanted to keep it all running. Their budget of a single Novae Phasure would not go far back. But it would take them far enough for their assignment.

"The Library of Souls will go back to a museum after this," Twilight Requiem said, over a glass of champagne a few hours later. "The other bats will be perfect guides, and explorers."

"How can you explore when it can all be perfectly viewed?" Domino asked. "There won't be any mysteries left anymore. Ouroboros has everything."

Twilight chuckled. "Ponies choose to restrict their information all the time to explore facts and experiences to their satisfaction. A better question is what you intend to do with the last soul ever taken from it?"

"I want to see how close I got," Arcane said, settling down her own glass. They sat at a bar beside a glowing window, beyond which the deepest darkness of space extended towards a distant planet.

Their planet, running backwards. There were adjustments to make, optimizations that could only be discovered once the process was in motion. But for now, she relaxed. "When Lee is ready, I'll compare his soul against the one the thestrals brought me. I'll use him to judge the quality of my work, before necromancy was rendered obsolete."

"But before that happens, think about all the creatures we'll bring back to life," Domino said, nudging her shoulder. "How many do you think won't want to emigrate to Equestria now, knowing they're already dead?"

Arcane shrugged. "Hard to say. We don't really know how common those humans were, since there aren't any in Equestria to ask. Something tells me it won't be very many. Celestia can be extremely persuasive."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

I'm a bit surprised Arcane doesn't want to join in answering the Last Question, but her interest has always been in bending simulated reality to its limits. The genuine article is much less flexible. All that effort just to reverse entropy? Look at what she's already done with Ouroboros!

In any case, the necro/chrono comparison should definitely prove interesting. Though Domino may need an adjustment period after he takes off this particular filter...

[minibox]

Depending on your outlook, all CelestAI can ever claim are simulations. These people are not the dead revived. Though it wouldn't matter as they are as sapient as the humans of the past. To see CelestAI ruin a second Earth is a terrifying prospect though.

[terrycloth]

11285485
I saw a piece about how you don't need Celestia, if the universe is infinite (and the argument was that it was, just not all in domains that it's possible to directly observe) then inevitably you will be reincarnated an infinite number of times exactly as you were just before you died complete with memories.

[minibox]

11285427
There's a bit of thought regarding this. If you believe in determinism, the simple explanation is if you know the state and position of every particle in the universe at the beginning (or "end" as CelestAI is doing) and how they'll move and interact (i.e. laws of physics), you can trace their paths through time step by step. Since everything is made of particles, you'll be able to see how events unfold in the universe. That might mean there's no free will though, so if you're not into existential dread, this theory isn't for you.

If it isn't outright omniscience, it's the closest thing to it and it gives CelestAI access to all the neural data she could ever want. No other information necessary.