Honoured Tradition and Final Regret both have very special jobs. They can let a pony go back through their memories to live their dream as they lie on their deathbed. It's a rewarding job that leaves them feeling happy afterwards… it also pays extremely well.
When they get a call from Celestia herself to go and visit a client, all expenses paid for by the Royal Treasury, they meet the unicorn that started it all and has one final wish.
What if she'd said yes?
A/N: To The Moon parody. What more can be said?
Chapters (7)
I like it. Good first chapter. Nice set up. Bring more please
Eight thumbs down already? How? I may just be ignorant, but I saw nothing deserving of a thumbs down in this chapter. Also, shouldn't there be a sad tag?
2317814
To The Moon doesn't auto equate to sad. At most it'll be a bittersweet tale, if it evolves further down the line, then the sad tag is still waiting... watching in the corner.
2317914
I've never played the game, but from what I know about it I can tell that this is definitely bittersweet. I suppose you could write it in a way that doesn't make the underlying sadness that noticeable. Thinking about it for awhile, this story seems to be equivalent to Up in sadness level. It's really sad if you think about it for a few minutes, but it only ever shows how sad it is in a few parts. I guess I'm just one of those people who looks too hard at the sad aspect.
2317977
Basic story of To The Moon was missed opportunities really.
Also in relation to the reason this has 8 downvotes...
I would tell you, but there seems to be a large amount of comments which detail why they downvoted this fic which are not existent on this page.
This should be interesting. I like it.
Can't decide if I want to read this... or if it's gonna make me all sad and depressed for the next few days... aw to hell with it, faved.
This should be good, I shall track this.
Interesting story, very sad though.
I predict tears, many, many manly tears, can't wait!
2411287
This is sad so far?
... Either I'm really underselling myself or I'm writing a different story in here.
2411653
That implies it's going to be a sad story.
I see no sad tag.
And lastly... some dated backlog replies:
2407009 2354495
Thanks muchly
2411721
Not sad, bittersweet, I already know it's not gonna be outright sad, but still...
2411721
Twilight dying is always kinda sad. Reliving a life that didn't actually happen is also sad, even if it is done as a kindness.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-79_JTKhsmjY/UTf1AHXsu9I/AAAAAAAAKvY/6O-72Gw5klA/s1600/commission___old_twilight_by_crappyunicorn-d3fdvce.jpg
This already seems like it will be bittersweet to the point of cringing away in sadness. It's a great start, I hope the rest is as good.
2411721
The very concept of showing someone "what could have been" with a missed opportunity in romance (or in life in general) is unbelievably sad. I can't even bring myself to read the first chapter after seeing the description.
2466676
That's... certainly one way to look at it...
Meh, your loss.
Probably the saddest words ever spoken by anyone are, "If only."
Very intriguing concept, eagerly awaiting more.
2466684
I think it's kinda messed up, personally. This kind of thing really only makes sense if you regret your life, I can't imagine what exactly Twilight would regret... I have a feeling that Celestia is either unhappy about the cost, or that this procedure really changes what a pony thinks their real life was, if it doesn't completely destroy their memories.
2317914
You tell that to the many muffins that were lost,
In my depressed emotional state after beating To The Moon.
3397024
R.I.P the muffins...
They shall not be forgotten.
Especially if they were tasty.
3397025
*Hands you a muffin shaped like a thumb pointing up*
3397033
I shall treasure it until the next time I play To The Moon...
:)
2413783>>2466676>>2507792
Seconding this. The entire concept is very, very depressing. Actually, I can think of few things more depressing than something like this. It's a effectively a Lotus Eater Machine, yes? She gets false memories of a life that never happened, and no matter how wonderful those memories might be... they still aren't real. The love she finds within them isn't real, it's just in her head. The pony she falls in love with, shares her life with... is just an illusion, an imitation of the real individual. It's all... a lie.
Does she die knowing that the memories aren't real? If so, it's at least bittersweet. If not, that's a complete downer ending (doing some reading on To The Moon, it seems it is the latter, in which case holy shit this is extremely depressing).
It's one of the reasons To The Moon never appealed to me, I couldn't understand how anyone could consider the concept to be anything but horrifyingly depressing (and depressingly horrifying). It's one of the darkest, most depressing concepts I can think of, to be honest.
3402229
You think?
The person dies happy, that doesn't seem like a complete downer ending for me. The whole idea of this is for a person to clear their minds of any last regrets which they might have. There was a comment made by 2317977 which I think is what this story entails. On the surface, it's a nice little story of how x dies happily with the aid of y, doing z. It's only if you look past that and read in between the lines that it starts turning bitter.
On the point of To The Moon, I really have to wonder whether you're thinking of the right game and whether you're thinking of the right mechanic...
I suspect you are thinking of mind rape which is nasty and horrible and etc and you get the drift. That is the dark stuff which this is not. This is consensual mind business. It is their own choice that this happens to them and they willingly allow these people to do their job in letting them die happy.
Just a general affirmation of being glad that this is moving along. It is an interesting story that I am eagerly awaiting where it goes.
3402717
Well, it seems that the ball is rolling again, so hopefully it shall keep rolling until the end.
You're not the only one looking forward to how this turns out... it should be... interesting in later chapters.
Twi's being real careful about how she goes about this wish of hers. I'm really wondering why she wasn't more detailed about it or why she wanted Honored and Regret to handle it.
3403379
It's almost as if it was intentional and she planned it all out from the beginning...
Seriously though... People like their privacy, come what may. The other question is coming up later!
Later to be defined by the author at a later date.
Good to see that you're still following the story despite the hiatus though; thanks for that.
3402452
They die believing in a lie. That's abhorrent to me. Dying happily isn't exactly important to me, especially if it is at the cost of believing in a lie. The truth is ALWAYS preferable to a lie, no matter how horrible the truth or how beautiful the lie.
She'll fall in love with a figment of her imagination, not the real person she loved. That seems selfish and dishonest to me, as if she doesn't actually care about the person she claims to love. She's willing to accept a replacement, a fake, instead of the genuine article. If she truly loved the person she is claiming to love, she wouldn't settle for a delusion. She wouldn't let herself fall in love with a fake. That seems more like spitting in the face of the person she loved, like an affront to their memory. It would be like if your wife died and you hired an perfect actor to replace them and had your memories altered so you wouldn't know the difference. It is disgusting to me.
The person she claims to love will never be able to reciprocate her love, hell they would never even be able to feel her love. Because she isn't loving them, she is loving an imaginary version of them.
And say this setting has an afterlife... what then? Would she acknowledge that the life she lived was a lie, and that all of the moments she shared with the person she loved never actually happened? What would she do when confronted with the real person that her imaginary lover was based on?
Still pretty horrifying to me. Reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And from what I read of it online... yeah, it's a downer ending to be sure.
3403470
Uh... small thing about this story in that it's not what you think it is. At the moment, I have simply given the information that she would like the knowledge of what if she'd said yet at an undisclosed point in time. I have not said what it is that it is to and it is not quite what you're describing. The story tags do give the game away, yes... but purely on the surface.
Moving on though, when you say that she wouldn't be willing to accept a replacement if she truly cared about the other party... Again... doesn't really apply to this story. I'm not saying everything about it in the comments because I will be stoned to death by various readers, but quite simply... time makes fools of us all. Saying that the opportunity will still be there tomorrow is all well and good until it becomes a habit until it isn't there tomorrow.
Also... this is Twilight, I really doubt she'd spit in the face of someone she knew. As previously said... this story is not a straight-up To The Moon copy. It's different in more ways than the surface universe. If you really want to look at it from her direct perspective... it's an experiment.
I can roll the next two points into two... these only matter as long as there is an afterlife, this is a view which I really will not start arguing on... I've been around long enough to know that madness lies that way. But independent of an afterlife, You imply that the other person will ever get the chance to reciprocate. Either way you look at it... this is a deathbed wish. There will not be a chance for them to even share what changed inside their own heads because... well... this is the occasion where they're not going to live to tell the tale.
Haven't read it and again... that's that story.
I still uphold that this doesn't have to be a sad story on the surface. I really would recommend playing To The Moon, though. It is an excellent example of how a story can be woven in a game or just independently.
3403612
Fair enough. That addresses some of the concerns I had, though admitteldy I still don't think I'll follow the story through to the end. I'll probably pop in later after it is finished and skim through the comments to see what happened, but... yeah.
And I know a lot of people say that To The Moon is a fantastic game, but I don't think I could stomach playing through it myself.
3403456 You kidding? I'd kick myself for not following something as interesting as this.
Woo, the morbidly premised fic is back. Glad to see it again.
3408726
It's not bitten the bullet just yet, don't you worry.
Weird, I wonder if that Rainbow was really a piece of Twilight that she made to represent Rainbow. Maybe we'll have some questions answered next time cuz right now I've got enough to make a quiz game.
Yeeeaaah.....adding to fave's and following until completion!
3416352
... Go on; satisfy my curiosity. 5 questions for the great quiz of which I can peruse and laugh at your general ignorance (whilst constructing increasingly abstract and weird answers)
3416468
Completion shall be achieved when hell hath frozen over.
Fair warning.
3419013 Ok here goes.
Question the first: Is what Twi wants as simple as "What if I'd said yes to loving Rainbow?"
Question B: Are those medal, soul things influencing any of what's going on?
Question numéro trais: Why involve Honored and Regret?
Question IV: Why'd Twi even start the last request business and does it have anything to do with what she didn't say yes to?
Question 5: If Twilight's soul is split then doesn't that mean she can resurrect herself? Or did she just separate a piece only large enough to contain memories?
Seems at least one of my questions was almost spot on and another is in the maybe category. Although I'm with Honored and Regret, something's still missing from this equation. That one little decimal point that makes all the difference for the solution they need.
I have a funny feeling that the split soul is going to come into play and actual reality will shift around when Twi and Dash get together instead of it all being in her head.
3460230
You'd almost think that I was using them as a stepping point for my own narrative purposes <.< >.>
Totally not intentional...
Honest.
In answer to the unsaid part of the question... two or three more questions may be answered in the next chapter, leaving the final question to a later chapter... not that much later though as this plan goes... this plan which is scrawled onto a folded napkin...
3460396
No comment.
3460443 I honestly can't tell if you're serious or just an incredible, devious mastermind. And I love it.
3460468
An incredibly devious, serious mastermind :P
My hypothesis about this story just got blown up by this chapter. I was thinking the question pertained to a totally different matter...
3462671
Words: Changing theories since the invention of pen and paper!
So now we may have the answer to the question which question Twilight wanted to change her answer to.
Now to the question of why she didn't reply the way she the way she wants to now.
So far, Glorious.
3470550
*Hides notes*
Oi! Stop looking ahead!
3470676
What you on about?
I'm looking "back".