Heroes Never Die

by Shimmerist Ari

1-5

Ari got a day off from work. But not for a fun reason like snow. No, today was a ‘riot day’.

It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that the biggest protest yet broke out one day after the first of the month. A lot of people just had their apartments bought out by Blackrock, their rents increased drastically, and their houses put under threat.

At some point, somebody threw a Molotov cocktail at a bank and then it was declared a riot and everyone was ordered to stay at home for the next twenty-four hours. So no work tomorrow.

The military struggled late into the night, and was still struggling, to get things under control. Being home that whole time, Ari had no idea how much things had escalated.

Ari hadn’t heard any gunshots, but she did hear what was likely an explosion and what was certainly a car crash. She stayed up until 5 AM looking through her dark window, occasionally seeing a group of people run by or an armored vehicle pass.

Part of her wanted to go out there and join the rioters. But it seemed pointless. She’d tried the whole protest thing back in 2020. Nothing was accomplished despite how massive and important it felt at the time. In the end, it didn’t matter how much you protested or rioted. You could burn down half the town, even. The people in charge would just smile down at you and things would carry on.

Besides, half of them were likely just stealing stuff at this point. Hopefully just TVs.

The epicenter looked to be far off, but still close enough to keep her awake all night. The sun would be up soon and with it the illusion of safety. Until then, Ari just kept rocking back and forth, cringing at every siren and sound coming from outside.

The upside was that she’d get to talk to ponies all day long… when they woke up that was. They had very regular sleep schedules. For the most part, if the sun was down, the ponies were sleeping. Worse, most of her pony friends lived on the west coast. Not only would Ari have to wait for the sun to come up, but she’d have to wait three hours after that because of time zones.

Talking to them was her one source of comfort in this crazy hellscape, but when she needed them most they were all adorably cuddling together hundreds of miles away. And they did do that. Increased desire to cuddle was one of the symptoms of ETS that Purple and the government ‘saved’ her from. Bastards.

Her closest interpersonal connections were thousands of miles away, off having magic dreams, leaving Ari just as alone as before ETS. Once again, her community was reduced to the television, her twitter feed, and her silent laptop.

But she could at least watch her friends online! Spring Breeze had started posting videos again.

Ari watched a video of her playing Beat Saber, some virtual reality game, while flying. Spring Breeze kept telling Ari how great VR gaming was for people like them. It was at the forefront of accessibility options. Of all things, VR got a ‘pony mode’ before anything else, a mode Spring assured Ari would be great for her. And there were games in VR where you could be a pony, too…

Sadly, a VR headset didn’t exactly fit into her budget of negative 800 dollars a month. So Ari would have to wait on that for now.

Someone was outside!

Just… just somebody walking down the streets slowly… but…

Ari watched breathlessly through the small gap in her curtains. Two of them. Not in any hurry. Talking loudly. Getting closer.

One of them said something like ‘not again’. Then they were out of sight. Ari let out a sigh.

Here she was complaining about isolation. Then somebody actually shows up and Ari gets scared out of her mind. It really wasn’t as easy as Purple wanted you to believe, was it?

She went back to the internet.

She found a video of one pony community reenacting Summer Nights. This place was on fire while the ponies were performing musicals in the streets. The contrast couldn’t be greater right now.

“I was so close. Fucking Purple…”

Ari swayed back and forth, listening to the bittersweet music of ponies doing these.

Outside, somebody came staggering into view. They slumped up against a telephone pole, clutching their face. Maybe they got maced or hit by something.

They sat there for 15 minutes before a car came by and picked them up.

It was getting close to sunrise at least… it was almost as if their singing summoned the sun.

But Ari still had a while before anypony came online. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until then.

It was that feeling of 5 AM, scrolling through dank pony memes on Twitter, your eyes glazed over but your body not the least bit tired.

She saw one where it was one man pointing to a second man who stood in a doorway, the latter being labeled ‘rehumanizer’. The first was saying “You think he’s gone? He’s never gone!”

Ponies really seemed to hate those guys… Ari knew they came after partials too and wasn’t looking forward to that inevitable confrontation.

The next was an incredibly smug-looking pony with the caption ‘when the file name is SS.IMG’

“I don’t get that one.”

Ari yawned. The ponies still illuded her it seemed.

One more. She’d been saying that for hours, but…

‘Leftists when you dead name a transperson’

And you had the typical blue-haired feminist screaming and ranting about how being trans was valid and not a delusion.

‘Leftists when you dead name a pony’

Now she was saying “I won’t entertain your mentally-ill delusions, brainwashed chuds.”

“That one’s true…” Ari saw that all the time.

Spring Breeze was online!

A>Friendo!

SB<Frindo! Aren’t you usually at work by now?

Spring Breeze was awake. The ponies were here…

Ari smiled.

Then she fell to her side and was fast asleep moments later.

---

SB<Are you okay?

Spring Breeze had sent that message hours ago. It was three in the afternoon and Ari was just now groggily waking up. So for Spring Breeze, it was like noon? She was usually online around then.

Trying this again.

A>Friendo!

SB<Friendo!

Ari liked doing that. Ponies had developed all these fun little mannerisms.

A>I’m fine. There was just another riot keeping me up all night.

SB<Are they really still rioting? It’s been over a month.

Inadvertently rubbing it in that she lived in such an idyllic, peaceful village.

A>Yeah, well the rent is due. I’m not the only one getting price-gouged by the landlords right now.

SB<I get it. At least they’re not just trying to steal stuff like in the early days.

There was probably still some of that going on, truth be told.

A>On the one hand, I wanna support all the protests. But on the other, I just don’t feel like they’ll do anything. The people in power don’t care about that sort of thing, do they?

It still felt like there was just nothing she could do about it…

A>I wish there was some way to make a serious change. But no one wants us to have that option.

Of course. There had been. And Ari had just barely missed the bus. Purple snatched it away from her with the same smug grin that the bankers and politicians would give those protesters, assured Ari that it wouldn’t make a difference and she should ‘just be happy with the way things were’ instead.

Only it did make a difference. No amount of whining changed the world, but ETS had. It seriously had done what all the protests of the last fear years could only dream of. It had opened a door and Purple, a spoiled rich princess, had been so eager to close it to ensure other spoiled, rich assholes couldn’t have their positions challenged.

A big wonder why.

But Ari couldn’t come out and say the way she felt. Her feelings had just been festering in silence this whole time.

Maybe it was just the particular bubble Ari found herself in, but it seemed like all the other humans despised the idea of turning into ponies. At least, the ones they let on TV did. The idea of allowing more transformation was frequently brought up and torn down as unethical by all mainstream sources, right and left. More radical Youtubers were willing to have a more nuanced position and say some of the things Ari thought but that was her only salvation. No one in real life had anything nice to say about transformation magic. Or magic at all, really.

But then, Ari was here and wanted to be a pony and no one else would guess that was the case. There had to be more people like Ari around. They were just too scared to open their mouths.

So there she was, trapped in this eternal struggle between fear of rejection and the need to be accepted. The fact that she couldn’t safely confide these feelings in anyone was slowly tearing her mind to pieces from the inside out.

But maybe she could trust Spring Breeze…

A>Can I tell you a secret?

SB<Hmmmmmm?

It wasn’t hard to picture Spring’s smug look a thousand miles away. She had to know what Ari was about to say. The lead-up had been too obvious.

A>I really wanted to be a pony, too.

SB<’Wanted’ to? As in you don’t now?

A>No, no! I do it’s just

Ari paused there before sending, not sure exactly how much she should let out. She started the message again.

A>I still do. What I meant was I tried to become one but failed. I had to try hard to get myself infected. That’s how I became a partial so far out here.

A>So I just barely missed it.

Ari held her breath waiting for a response, worrying she may have just made a horrible mistake.

SB<That’s horrible! I can’t imagine how much it’d suck to have gotten so close. How are you holding up?

Ari didn’t ever think she cried from… relief before. But she felt suddenly overcome with tears. She buried her face in her broken hands and sobbed.

Someone… someone understood her! Someone listened instead of just immediately telling her she was wrong and disgusting and… and all these things Ari kept imagining, kept letting fester in her mind. Spring Breeze just blew that burden away with this tiny shred of empathy.

Just one person who understood was so much more than enough.

She heard the chime notifying her of another message from Spring Breeze, but Ari needed a moment before she could respond.

SB<And did you really infect yourself on purpose? That’s so cool! I always think of people who did that as total badasses.

SB<You’re not dying of anything… are you?

Ari laughed. Not only was it okay… but now she was a badass? Her escapade had been pretty daring.

A>No, no. It wouldn’t have even helped my disability much. Not unless I was a unicorn. I just really wanted to be a pony.

SB<How come?

SB<Not that you need to justify it or anything. Just curious, friendo.

A>Well everyone is so scared of the mental change aspect of it… but that’s what I wanted the most. I want to be more open with my feelings. I want a herd instinct. I want to be surrounded by a community that all just works together.

A>I’ve always wanted to live in a commune. It’s just… well everyone always says that sort of thing goes against human nature. Like, humans are all a bunch of greedy, horrible goblin monsters! And I kind of believed them so I was all… okay, I won’t be human then.

Bizarrely, even the people who were all ‘oh no, you totally don’t want to be a pony. Trust me, bro.’ brought out that line as often as possible. They kept mentioning greed as if that was humanity’s one and only strength. That was one ‘power’ Ari had no interest in, personally.

A>I know she’s a hero or whatever, but I hate that Purple bitch so much! She just laughs at us with her ‘oh! Just change your life! Just clap your hands and make everything okay! You don’t need help! You don’t need magic! You don’t need any serious changes to your life!’

A>Like, how am I supposed to do that?! I can’t even afford to live anymore! I don’t know if I’ll be living indoors come this winter. Since 2020, I’ve been too depressed to do anything but get out of bed and go to work. I’m already at my limit! And she’s up in her castle telling people she’s never met this and can’t possibly help them?!

A>How dare a fucking princess with infinite power say something like that to me?! Even now, I feel like my life would have been so much better off.

SB<That makes sense! I believed in a lot of these things before changing too, but now everyone acts like I only do because I’m brainwashed. I’d probably be pissed at Purple too if she cucked me right at the end like that.

SB<But you know, if you ask ponies why we feel like our lives are better now (and I think it’s 95+% do) the main reason isn’t even magic powers. It’s that we feel like we’ve been freed from this atomizing sigma grindset.

SB<We feel like we can have an actual community, where everypony isn’t looking to screw everypony else over for money. Living with actual friends and community is just so much better than the money-focused world humans want to trap us all in.

Ari nodded. She really did understand!

A<You have no idea how much this means to me! I’m literally crying right now! I’m so glad you’re okay with me wishing I was a pony. I just thought everyone on the planet would think I was some kind of freak.

SB<Haha! Do you have any idea how obvious this was to me? Ari, you’re constantly asking me how I feel about humans who want to be ponies, trans people, or transformations. Like all the time.

Oh geeze… she was totally right! Ari did do that all the time!

SB<It’s really silly how hard it is for humans to open up about stuff like this. But I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to say it out loud to me.

A>You just don’t understand the attitude people like me face! Even the people who would normally be sympathetic to me, like people who are super in favor of trans rights and all that, are just like ‘Oh! Humans can be happy too, you know! Therefore, just get over your stupid feelings!’ And again, those are the people on my side! The ones who don’t wanna hang people like me.

SB<Yeah. We get ponies who are like that too, you know. Like Lunists. They’re just so afraid of criticizing rehumanizers or coming off as racist that they throw humans who want to be ponies under the bus. Half of them act like dying from cancer isn’t even a good enough excuse. Like not wanting to die makes you ‘racist’ or whatever.

SB<But trust me when I say there’s tons of humans like you out there! Way more than you’d think.

A>I don’t really see any. But then, I guess if I’m scared of speaking out then all the rest of them are too.

Spring Breeze shared one encouraging poll claiming it to be 10%.

But the halo effect was a thing, meaning it had to be higher than that. 10% of humans were brave enough to admit they wanted to be ponies on that poll. Ari knew she would have hesitated. So it was likely higher.

Then on the other, other hand, that number was nationwide and varied wildly. In some places where humans were a small minority as much as 70% of them were like Ari. In New York, it was something closer to 1%.

A>It’s not as easy in New York. It’s weird to think this used to be a progressive state too… I honestly wonder if New York is going to turn red in 2024.

Really, no one had any idea which way states would go next year at this point. The entire political map was upended.

SB<Well I won’t just tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps or anything like that. I understand some people have it a lot easier than others and having a good life isn’t just a matter of choosing it. I think you’re right that Purple is just too privileged to see that.

SB<But I do want to say you’re not alone! There are tons of ponies fighting to change the world and help people like you out! We won’t just sneer at you and tell you to drag yourself out of Hell alone like Purple and the government would. Me and my pony friends are working towards creating the better world you wanted! We’ll pull you out eventually, I’m sure of it!

Spring Breeze’s optimism was ever infectious. Spreading enthusiasm and joy was her special talent, after all, and even through a computer screen Ari could feel her spirits lifted.

But if it really was magic, it hardly got to the point of mind control. Certainly not strong enough to change her mind. Ari had heard these kinds of things before. Political reform just seemed impossible. The events of 2020 hadn’t been enough to wake anyone up or throw off the shackles of the corporations. It further entrenched their power. And with Blackrock and the other banks buying up all the lands, the same thing seemed bound to happen again.

It did seem like ever more despair and poverty were the only political end that could be achieved for any but the billionaire class.

A>Thanks.

SB<I mean it! We’re starting a political party and everything! One of our main goals is to legalize CET and outlaw FT. But we have tons of other reforms we want that will help all the marginalized humans like you. The existence of ponies really is a game changer.

CET? FT? Ari was out of the political loop more than she realized.

A>Sorry. I don’t know what CET is.

SB<Controlled Equine Transformation. Or sometimes Consensual Equine Transformation… we kind of argue. Basically, it’s legalizing the controlled use of ETS on people who want it. But we can’t say ‘legalize ETS’ because everyone will freak out and misunderstand us on purpose. So we call it CET.

That made sense… and from there…

A>And FT stands for forced transformation?

SB<You got it! That’s the one that should be outlawed. But no. CET is illegal and FT is legal.

A>Wait. What? Forced transformation is legal?! That’s what you’re saying?

SB<Yes.

A>No way. They banned all transformation magic. The government hates transformation magic.

Ari pulled up another tab to immediately start fact-checking Spring Breeze. This couldn’t possibly be true…

SB<If they did that, then rehumanization would be illegal. But they looooove that one, right? Because transformation magic is okay as long as it's convenient for them.

That did make sense…

A>But you’re saying not even forced transformations are illegal?

SB<No, see if you read the law they very specifically made ETS and only ETS illegal. Transforming someone into a pony is illegal whether they consent to it or not. Consent has nothing to do with the legality of this.

Spring Breeze sent her a link to the Wikipedia article on the law… the summary did confirm what she said.

A>But then someone can transform you into like… a toad and that’s okay?

SB<Under the current law, yes. They’d only get in trouble for bioterrorism if they used a virus to spread it. But if they did it by any other means, you could probably get away with it.

A>For real? Why would they make the law that stupid?

SB<To protect the rehumanizers. If forced transformation is illegal, that opens them up to all kinds of lawsuits. Like if I locked a human up against their will for seven days until they gave in and agreed to become a pony, it’d be life in prison. A rehumanizer does the same thing to a pony and they’re completely green.

SB<Actual example, by the way. Happened twice so far.

Ari knew who she was talking about. Granite was a pony who got detained for seven days straight in a rehumanization facility with no contact with other ponies and wasn’t allowed to leave. There was footage of him begging and crying to be let go, but they wouldn’t.

Eventually, they got him to agree to rehumanization… and a week after that he committed suicide. The rehumanizer got a $100 bonus and wasn’t charged with anything. That state still offered a $100 bonus per rehumanization.

Stories like that terrified her. Ari was a partial and knew it was only a matter of time until the rehumanizers came for her too.

Getting locked up for days, indefinitely until she agreed to let the people who hate her win and take away her hair… that was actually on the table. If the 2024 elections went the wrong way that could seriously happen.

And it sounded like there wasn’t any law protecting her from that right now, either.

SB<You know, it might make you feel better to help us out. Even if you only do a little. Here’s some stuff you can read through, friendo!

Spring Breeze sent her a good five links.

The first one was to poniesmakeitpossible.com

Ari wasn’t sure if she was ready for any more political activism. She got enough crippling failures back in college. And it wasn’t like she had time for that either way.

But it was nice to hear somebody just… agree with her. Just think she was valid. That it was okay for her to feel the way she did.

SB<I gotta go now, but you should read this stuff.

SB<PS! You’re valid.

A>PS! Thanks for listening.

Ari heard all this talk about reform before…

Though to be fair not from a pony.

Even then, Ari wasn’t going to let herself be hopeful about actual political change. She’d gone down that route before. Back in 2020, back in college, Ari still considered herself part of Antifa and joined the mass protests.

At the time it felt like if the world would ever change it would have been right then and there. There was so much momentum. And yet… well those protests did nothing. Antifa did nothing. Maybe they moved the needle on the 2020 election… maybe… but certainly nothing more.

And it wasn’t like the Democrats were much better than the Republicans.

But then again, maybe forming a political party was different than just doing stupid protests and riots and stuff. Antifa wasn’t a legitimate political party like what the ponies were talking about. Canvassing in Georgia had done much to swing the 2020 election… maybe she could try another way.

Spring Breeze breathed a tiny amount of hope back into Ari.

And one thing Ari had that she didn’t in 2020 was a platform… not nearly as big as Spring Breeze’s but way more than nothing. She decided she’d make a post about this! Maybe spread some awareness.

A>Friendos! I don’t normally post political comments, but I want to come out in support of CET and against FT. People should have the right to choose to become ponies and the government shouldn’t be allowed to push its preferences on anyone.

A>PS! Support the right to choose!

Ari held her breath, constantly refreshing the page for a good fifteen minutes before the first reply came in.

<When did you convert to Shimmerism?

“Huh?”

What was this guy talking about?

She wanted to think that pony was just reading way too much into something but suddenly way more comments like that came pouring in.

<Yay friendo! God loves human Shimmerists most of all.

<You didn’t seriously become a Shimmerist, did you? I thought you were cool.

<PS! I’m with you, friendo!

<Friendo! You’re a human, right? We have lots of opportunities for human Shimmerists! You should contact us. You won’t regret it.

<The Shimmerist view of the vision is distorted and racist. Luna gave us a far purer version of the vision. You should hold to that.

<SSIMG!

<I don’t get Shimmerists. Sunset was literally a terrorist. Can’t you at least name yourselves something else?

<No! You should be a Harmonist instead!

And that last one linked her to a website that presumably explained what the hell a Harmonist was. Not that there was time to care.

That wouldn’t explain to Ari at all what was happening here. Shimmerism?

Ari heard about that, having talked to ponies so often. It was some new sect of Christianity that cropped up. She had a few scraps of knowledge about it. They saw Sunset Shimmer as a prophet from God and becoming a pony as an alternate means of redemption. Though sadly not a legal option.

Or… something like that.

It was also something Ari had dismissed handily, having little interest or respect for religion.

A>What are you all talking about?! I’m not a Shimmerist. I’m not even Christian. I’m basically an atheist.

<Shimmerism isn’t necessarily a religion.

“It’s not?”

<Did you notice that they made it so CET has ‘equine’ in it but FT doesn’t?

“Okay?”

<Your post was filled with Shimmerist dog whistles. Don’t play dumb.

“I’m not playing! What dog whistles?”

Before she could ask, some nice pony finally had the mercy to assume Ari was an idiot and explain this to her outright.

<”Friendo” is how very-online Shimmerists address one another. CET and FT are terms only used by social Shimmerists to avoid mentioning ETS. And they sign their messages with post-scripts, only secretly when they do it the PS stands for “praise Sunset”. Literally all of that is exactly how a Shimmerist would talk.

But then that meant…

Ari had called out to the Shimmerists, said ETS should be legal, then shouted ‘Praise Sunset Shimmer’.

“Uh oh.”

Ari had just been imitating the way her cool friends spoke. But would Twitter believe that?

On the one hand obviously no. But then again, most of her followers were ponies, who tended to be a lot nicer, and so far they didn’t seem in a rush to crucify her. The ones in opposition seemed more concerned for Ari beings sucked down the rabbit hole.

Of course… if this got out to the wider Twitter cesspool…

She decided to focus on something else for now. A list of all the ponies who called her friendo and signed off with a PS ran through Ari’s mind. It was most of her closer contacts. All of her favorites. She’d come to just assume that was a pony thing.

Were all of them Shimmerists?

And prime among them…

Spring Breeze replied to Ari’s message around then, voicing her support.

SB<Friendo! Don’t worry so much about the haters. You’re brave to speak your mind. PS! Keep it up.

Her.

A>Spring Breeze. Are you a Shimmerist?

SB<Yes?

SB<Didn’t you know that? Aren’t you? You shout praise Sunset and friendo all the time. You agree with us on basically everything.

Ari didn’t think that last part was true at all.

Meanwhile, the number of comments she got began to increase a little too fast.

“I’m getting canceled for this, aren’t I?"

End of Part One.

Comments

[singing steel]

Yep she getting canceled then uncanceled

[AvoidingFever17]

And that last one linked her to a website that presumably explained what the hell a Harmonist was. Not that there was time to care.

HEY HARMONISTS ARE AWESOME!
they are like shimmerists except they want To interact with humans BUT ALSO EXIST!
...yes i am basically a harmonist
Even when i do practice transformation magic

[3-tap]

Shimmerist agenda is literally "i dont quite care for your human politics"

[Shimmerist Ari]

11559883
I reject your politics and substitute my own.

[AvoidingFever17]

11560177
TAHTS NOT...well maybe it is
But i asked strong hooves the other day and Seriously i think the shimmerists aren't the bad guys
Its the humans!
...wait that aint right
THIS IS WHY IM A HARMONIST