The Precipice

by GMSeskii

Rating: teen
Tags: Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 1267

If a friend asked you to tell them the meaning of the universe, what would you say?

If a friend asked you to tell them the meaning of the universe, what would you say?

Twilight has to answer that question.

-GM, master of a new tone.

Published 2016-12-13 14:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-13 14:20:01 UTC

The Question

Twilight Sparkle walked amongst the stars. She felt the magical breezes of the cosmos whipping through her twinkling mane. She paid the euphoric feeling little attention though - now was not the time to allow herself to get lost in the universe.

She continued her trek, face set. She was not sure what she was going to find, but she knew it was important. This kind of summons was not to be taken lightly.

Twilight began to slow as she approached her destination. A Star rose into her field of view, the form of a pony visible in the brilliant light.

“Starlight…?” Twilight said, unsure.

“Ah, so here we are, at the precipice once again.” Starlight said.

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“All those many years ago, you convinced me to stop, to turn back on my ways, and accept your hoof in friendship.” She paused for a moment. “I want you to try and do it again.”

Twilight paused. “Why? You aren’t-”

“What is the purpose?”

“...Of what?”

“Everything.” Starlight gestured with a hoof. “Time. Space. Thought. Emotion. Stars. Ponies. Magic. What does it mean? What is the point?”

Twilight gulped. That wasn’t an easy question. It was the kind of question many spent their lifetimes trying to answer. Twilight herself was among them - and she wasn’t sure she had a satisfactory response.

“The universe… It is full of beauty, full of dreams, and-”

“Subjective.” Starlight said. “All Subjective.”

Twilight sighed. “What… Do you mean Starlight?”

“You cite beauty. But beauty is nothing but a concept dreamed up by sapient minds. It doesn’t really exist. THe same for dreams - nothing but goals we set for ourselves that are meaningless in the end.”

“What’s meaningless about that which we create? Goals and dreams drive us forward, beauty gives us joy-

“What is joy?” Starlight questioned. “An imbalance of chemicals in our brains triggered by an external input that in and of itself means nothing. It’s just a predictable reaction.

Twilight shook her head. “What happened to you Starlight?”

“I thought. About everything. For a long, long time. I looked at everything that is, was, and will be. And I saw no rhyme or reason. No point to existence. No purpose to continuation. Everything is defined, predetermined.” She gestured to the cosmos. “All of this - every bit and molecule - means nothing in the end.”

“How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“I looked at others. I saw them striving for various things - money, joy, success, the happiness of others. Then they died. They were remembered for a time, and then forgotten, their influence negligible. Then the town they were apart of eventually crumbled. Their civilization. Their race. Their planet… And eventually the universe itself will decay into nothing, erasing all influence anything and anyone ever had. Nothing remains of us in the end.”

Twilight sighed. “It is true that everything will decay. Even I will, eventually. It’s unavoidable.”

“Then why continue existing?” Starlight asked. “What’s the point? We are nothing special! We are just a random collection of particles that thinks it’s important! We are nothing special, we are nothing unique! There is nothing new under the sun!”

“Exist for your friends! And yourself!” Twilight yelled back. “You can make a meaning!”

“Oh, so eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die?”

“That’s not-”

“That’s a delusion! Happiness and joy - delusions! Everything we think - delusional!”

Twilight stamped her hoof. “What about what you’re thinking now? Is that a delusion?”

“Probably!” Starlight yelled. “But it doesn’t matter - it was just destined to happen! From the moment the universe began everything was set for this to occur - there’s nothing you or I can do to change that! We think we make choices - but we do not!”

“Things being predictable does not remove our free will!” Twilight fixed Starlight with her gaze. “It’s just that no matter what, we would make the same decisions in the same circumstances.”

Starlight made a ‘tch’ noise. “You’re in denial. You don’t want to believe.”

“Who would!?” Twilight wailed. “Without free will, without purpose, without drive - we cannot function!”

“And there’s the cruel joke.” Starlight said. “We are keyed to feel, to care about what amounts to nothing.”

“Do I mean nothing to you?”

“Y-” Starlight paused. “I… No. But I’m delusional-”

“No, you’re not.” Twilight affirmed. “You are being real. Giving yourself meaning.”

“Self-defined meaning is nothing. It has to be external.”

Twilight sighed. “How you really distorted yourself that much?”

“I’ve just found the truth-”

“What about Sunburst?”

“What does that have to-”

“Think about him. Think about when you met him. When you lost him. When you found him again.”

“I don’t see how-”

“When he died.” Twilight pushed.

Starlight tensed. “What-”

“Was that right?”

“There is no-”

Twilight stamped her hoof. “You’re avoiding the question. Was it right for him to die?”

“It… I thought it was wrong and I..”

“Are you really willing to let him go completely? The way you are talking, you will have to accept that his death meant nothing. You will have to accept that nothing he ever did had any meaning to anyone - even you. You will have to dishonor his memory.” Twilight pointed right at Starlight. “And the same goes for Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Trixie, Discord, Thorax…”

Starlight glared, her eyes watering. “I… I am a slave to my-”

“Starlight.” Twilight said. “You can’t live like that. You have to find meaning.”

“I’ve looked the entirety of existence up and down Twilight!” Starlight cried. “I’ve discovered I can’t prove that my body exists! I can’t say that emotions are real! I can’t find a reason for anything in this world…”

“Science and philosophy aren’t everything Starlight.” Twilight said. “Deep inside us, we know there’s a right and a wrong. We know there’s a meaning to things.”

Starlight was silent.

“We know death is wrong. That an end to one’s existence is wrong. We know these things. Why would we have them? Why would we be utterly convinced they are true? You, even in all this turmoil, can’t go back on what is wrong. You can’t rescind it - even with all your knowledge and thought.”

“But what does that mean?”

“That maybe, just maybe, there is something beyond what we can see and reason. Souls? Another plane of existence? Perhaps. The fact is, there might be more. I believe there is - it is where the magic of friendship comes from. Not the rainbow deal lasers and powerful magics, I mean the real magic of friendship, the connections and feelings that tie us together and give us strength, morals, joy, beauty, values, and dreams. You can say it’s all just chemicals, but deep inside myself I know it’s more than that.”

Twilight looked down at Starlight. “...Isn’t it worth holding onto? The idea that there is more than what we can see and reason - the idea that there is a purpose.”

“...There might not be.” Starlight said through her tears.

“But there might be.” Twilight said. “There is no way to be sure.”

Twilight held out her hoof. “Come back to me Starlight. Take a chance. Make the leap. Because either everything is pointless, or it isn’t. The choice of which to believe is yours to make”

Starlight hesitated, glancing back at the brilliant Star before them. Then she let out a long breath of air. “I… I suppose I wanted you to convince me…” She said. She held out her hoof and clasped Twilight’s.

“I’m glad you did.” Twilight said. “Now…” She looked far into the distance. “Let’s go home.”