Chapter Thirty
Solar Spark wasn't really feeling it right then. In fact, he could say that this was downright annoying.
"Where the heck are they?" he asked as he furrowed his brow. It was a sentiment he was sure Renown Frame shared, although she didn't look quite as irritated as he did. She was definitely confused though, and held the look of such on her face as the two stared down the trail of the mountain, waiting expectantly.
"They were right behind us a few seconds ago," he continued, "and there's only one trail up and down this mountain. There's no way they got lost, is there?"
"I have no idea," Frame shrugged. "Maybe those two–"
“Sweet Celestia, give us a second!” a voice called up the mountain, huffing and puffing. A few seconds later, the two rounded the bend, bringing both mares traveling with them into Solar Spark’s and Renown Frame’s view.
“We’re not built for this like you guys are,” Soft Step said, stopping for a moment to catch her breath. The mare beside her, Careful Calling, kept her steady, holding her with her hooves and lighting up her horn as though to catch her from falling just in case her grasp on her gave way. She looked just as tired as her companion.
“We should’ve asked Celestia to give us some stamina, before this,” Solar Spark heard her say to Soft Step before she called up the mountain. “Give us a few minutes. We’re right behind you.”
“It’s gonna take another twenty minutes for you two to get up here with us!” he called back. “We should be halfway down again by now!”
“You can teleport up to us if you’re having a hard time,” Frame spoke up. “Or Sparky and I can do it for you if you’re too tired. It’s not any trouble.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Soft Step spoke up again, getting back on her own hooves and starting to move again. “We’ll be there in a little while.” A few moments later, she and Careful Calling rounded the next corner and disappeared off again.
“How much do you wanna bet those two are gonna take another hour?” Solar Spark asked. He got a smile and a giggle from Renown Frame in response.
“It’ll be fine,” she smiled kindly, just as she always did, making any frustration he had completely evaporate into nothing. She stood close and wrapped her hooves around him, leaning into his neck as she pointed her yellow eyes into his purple ones. They seemed even more vibrant than the gray ones she had a while ago.
“That just means I get to spend more time up here with you alone. The other two times we climbed up here, it was night, so it's neat seeing it with you in the daytime now.”
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, unable to be annoyed even if he tried with her holding him close like she was. “Although it’s not gonna be very nice when it starts to rain, soon,” he continued. “I scheduled it so that we’d get back to the cottage just before it started, after Soft Step and C.C. got on the train back to their house. I was gonna cuddle up with you while it did.”
“That sounds romantic,” she said, and then considered the thought. “Yeah, it wouldn’t be very nice getting drenched in the rain up here,” she finished a moment later. “You’re right on that.”
“I know I am. And it’s gonna rain before we get there at this rate, and we’ll either be caught in it or have to teleport.”
“That’s true, but also imagine the adventure it would be if we were caught in it,” she said. “It would definitely be an experience– not a very good one, mind you, but an experience we would share, certainly.”
“We will have to share it at this rate,” he said. “Those two are taking forever.”
He was just complaining to complain now, and he knew it. It was nice being here like this. He sat on his haunches where he was, Frame sitting down at the same time, without letting him go. The two stared out at the wide scene around them, and Solar Spark leaned into the gray coated mare next to him as he did. This was nice, he decided. A nice gray day on a mountain top, with cool wind in their coats, being held close by the pony he could safely say was his best friend– this was what it was all about. It felt so incredibly perfect.
“We should plan a trip somewhere,” he said casually. “I don’t know where, but somewhere. Places where we can explore things and learn about history and stuff.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Frame agreed. “Somewhere exotic though. Like, a place that’s all desert or ice caps or something like that. New, interesting places.”
“Maybe someplace that’s a little bit dangerous or challenging to navigate? Something we’d have to learn how to do to get through it.”
“Yeah, something like that. That’d be nice.”
“Yeah.”
Their friends that were behind them finally caught up with them after a long while of waiting, and laid on their backs behind them to rest. No one said much, not until they were interrupted by a flash of lightning and a loud peal of thunder. It was then when Soft Step and Careful Calling bid the two goodbye, lighting up their horns and disappearing just a minute or so later.
They weren’t followed though. Instead, Solar Spark and Renown Frame walked all the way down the mountain on the path to their little cottage in the storm, where a hot fire was already burning, waiting for them to come back and dry their soaking wet coats.
Agile Trace feigned a sulking attitude as Stellar Composition laughed loudly. They both had drinks in hand, and talked a bit louder than usual due to the level of noise in the building. They weren’t going to hear each other at all if they spoke softly.
“You’re gonna lose all of your chips at the rate you’re going, Agile,” Stellar told her. “You need to quit while you’re ahead. Err, behind, I guess, since you’re losing bits.”
“Yeah, that’s right, pity the poor loser,” Agile said facetiously. “Next thing you know, I’m gonna lose my apartment, and my marefriend will leave me, and my life is gonna go on a dangerous downward spiral that can only be cured by getting that one big win, and/or by rising through the ranks and becoming the manager of a local thrift store before starting my own small business.”
“Or by literally just asking Celestia for bits if you care that much, since there’s unlimited resources here.” Stellar paused for a moment, then finished, “You don’t even have a rent to pay.”
“Look, just let me wallow in my own misfortune,” she said. “It’s funnier this way.”
“Ah, of course. My bad. What were you saying?”
“It’s all on the line right here,” she said again, pausing to take a few gulps of her drink. Then she shook her head and set herself in the scene again. “I took out a second mortgage on my apartment to come here today, and this is when I make it big. Right here at the blackjack table.”
“I’m sure your landlord is gonna be angry when she hears about the mortgage on your apartment,” was Stellar Flare’s comment, the mare looking like she was resisting the urge to laugh for now.
“Oh she will, and you can bet I’ll hear it,” Agile confirmed with a smile of her own. “And worse than that, if I lose all of the rent money at this table, my marefriend is gonna break up with me forever.”
“Unless of course you win,” the gray mare played along. “Then I’d be legally obligated to love you forever and marry you on the spot, right?”
“That’s right, you’re getting it now, Stellar,” Agile said, pushing the rest of her chips in the center of the table. “That’s why I’m going all in. This is for love, and for having a place to live. Hit me, dealer.”
The pony did as requested, and the gamble was over before it began. He revealed blackjack, and took Agile Trace’s cards and chips. Both she and Stellar Composition blinked at the sight in surprise.
“Oh. Well… fuck. That’s a bit anticlimactic. But don’t think you can leave me anyway, cause if you do, it means you only loved me for my money.”
That got Steller bursting with laughter, enough that she hit the table with her hoof a few times to calm herself down. Agile laughed, too, happy the mare next to her was enjoying this.
“Did you plan for that to happen?” her marefriend asked when she got a second to breathe. “Because let me tell you, if you did, you have a second talent in either being a comedian, or becoming an actor. Or both, potentially. That should not have been as funny as you made it.”
“I definitely didn’t, but imagine if I did. You’d be pretty impressed with that, wouldn't you?”
“I absolutely would be. But what are you gonna do now that you have no money?” she asked. “Take out a third mortgage on your apartment?”
“Absolutely, and the drinks here are free, so it’s not like I have to go anywhere. And I’m also gonna continue my habit of not paying rent since my landlord never charges me. I’ve got the hookups on that. I know the pony who runs this town. I’m pretty sure she’s in love with me.”
“Yeah? You think she is?” Stellar asked, then leaned down to kiss Agile a couple of times. Both smiled and stared into each other’ eyes, both ponies’ brown eyes reflecting off of each other. But only for a moment it was.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she is,” Agile smiled. Both had confident looks on their faces, something Agile liked seeing. Not a hint of shyness could be felt coming off the gray mare.
“Anyway, now that I’m out of chips– and money– what do you wanna do next? A movie?”
“A movie sounds nice,” Stellar agreed. She fluttered her eyelashes at her, and then continued, “After that, we can head back to your place so I can see for myself just how much the mare who runs this town likes you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll see.”
“We need to all hang out together,” Stellar Composition told Renown Frame. “All four of us. It’s been a little while since we have. Something fun like ice skating, or even just walking around and talking. I haven’t seen him in a long time.”
“Mhm, you’re right,” Frame agreed. “It has been a little while since we all got together, or that I’ve even seen her at all. But it’s only been a few weeks since we’ve talked together, right?” she asked. “You didn’t have blue highlights in your hair before, did you?”
“I didn’t,” the mare smiled. “I got this done just last week. How do they look?”
“They look good! They match well with Agile! It’s honestly kind of adorable!”
The two twins laughed– well, they looked a little less like twins now, what Stellar’s highlights and brown eyes and Frame’s yellow eyes to go along with her unicorn horn. But twins they were still, ones who helped each other share experiences that they couldn’t have as just a single pony. It was a bit scary for each to think about the fact that the other knew exactly how they thought, but both imagined that with enough time, even that would start to pass as they grew in different ways.
It was more scary to think about the pony each was before, doubly so when they considered the existentialism that Renown Composition might not actually exist anymore, in spite of Celestia’s assurances that one of them was indeed the original. If it was a true fifty-fifty split, then…
Did Sheila even exist anymore?
But neither went down that route of thinking today, performing what was becoming a ritual ceremony of sitting in one of the two’s homes and talking through their experiences. While one spoke, the other would lean back and close their eyes and let the movie play in their head, and vice versa for the other. It wasn’t a long, continuous stream. It was interrupted by both mares with different memories, and just chatting in general. It was like a visit to a close friend, or a relative. A relative that always brought the existential question of whether or not you were who you thought you were and knew every intimate detail of your life sans the past few years, but still. It was always a great time, and a day both looked forward to, even beginning the day after they saw each other.
It left both feeling a little sad though, seeing what they were missing out on, but any sadness they had was always replaced with the satisfaction that their twin was getting the experiences they couldn’t have, and that their friends were being provided with what just one pony couldn’t. Neither could have everything they wanted– that was an inevitably of life– but this was very close, in the opinion of both ponies. As close as they were going to get, in fact, without an outright lie, anyway. As twisted as this was, that was a bridge that wouldn’t be crossed, for the sake of their friends. This was already a very long leap.
It was already utterly horrifying if they thought about it too deeply.
But as twisted as it was, this was… good. How Princess Celestia had managed to come up with such an elaborate solution to a complex problem– one she probably saw before any of the three ever even uploaded– neither knew. Neither was sure they really cared. What mattered was that they could be with the ponies they held close, and share experiences with them that would last a lifetime or longer.
It was perfect.
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The ending was every bit as satisfying as I expected.
Great story.
Look at this one sick trick CelestAI devised to satisfy the most literal interpretation of late 20th century Western sexual law! I wonder what she will do when a more complicated case comes in!
[Jealousy seems to me an adaptation to the malthusian hellhole we live in, not a true value that should be satisfied. Related is Scott Alexander's recent article on mental illnesses vs maladaptive preferences]
Nice! They make cute couples!
11643836
About that distributed consciousness…
- MLP: FiM
- Random
If you want to be friends with everypony, you have to commit. With dark magic.11654847
I would guess far better than you do. I am a literal shapeshifter, after all.
I also understand human relationships including polyamoric ones, psychology, storytelling and logical plot construction intimately and personally, through life experience on all fronts - which is why I made the comments I did.
I'm sorry you didn't understand them.
11809593
Jealousy is driven by possessiveness, derived from animalistic mate domination. Jealousy is the feeling that comes from fearing the loss of exclusive access and control over a mate. It is why male animals battle each other to eliminate competition and to secure - exclusive - mating access, and sometimes kill offspring generated by a previous male. It is why female animals will sometimes chase away rivals.
A mutually equal (not a harem, not a male surrounded by females, not any single individual dominating) polyamory cannot exist without conquering jealousy. It demands overcoming primal drives in order for a group relationship to last.
How I know this: Background in medical biochem, part of a 40-year long enduring polyamoric equal group marriage, some study in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo).
Been slowly working my way through this for the last few weeks and finally finished :) Great stuff! It's the existential horror romance I didn't know I needed.
This is a nice story showing both the potential and threat of ASI (Artificial SuperIntelligence):
CelestAI is an inbetween-entity; it could have been much worse or it could have been much better. IceMan states that CelestAI is an ASI mostly aligned, but with serious alignment flaws. The whole point of FiO (Friendship is Optimal) is to demonstrate that we must get AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) right the 1st time because if we do not, it will upgrade itself into ASI within an year, and we shall be be at the mercy of a misaligned AIGod.
11809773
This possessiveness can turn deadly, as Sarah McLachlan discovered that possession can be deadly when a fans talked her:
Unfortunately, death resulted (his). It could have been worse, I. E. murder/suicide.
Jealousy is very destructive. It leads to much death and suffering. Humanity could learn much from you are your spouses.