Hidden Horrors
"You can back out," Sunset said. "All of you. You can just leave now. Go on with your lives, not... not know what's here."
The other teenagers gave her a series of flat looks.
"Speaking as the one who is, semiregularly, possessed by Magic when things get out of control," Twilight said as she calmly adjusted her glasses, "I'd like to know if whatever's going on here could affect me in any way whatsoever."
"And speakin' as yer friends," Applejack added wryly, "Ah think if'n whatever's in there has got yer heart in a twist, we should know what's goin' on too. Mister Discord does, right?"
"Mister Discord, Celestia... the president..." Sunset wrung her hands. "Adults, guys. They're all... they needed to know. But that doesn't mean you do."
"So, is this a secret because you're ashamed of it, because people would panic if they knew, because the more people know the more dangerous it is, or because we're going to be exploring the dark side of human psychology?" Pinkie asked.
Sunset winced. "...all of the above."
"Ooooooo. Yeah, hmm. No, you don't get to carry this burden alone."
That got a laugh out of Sunset. "I'm not! I'm not, I swear. Like I said, there are people on the need-to-know list, and that actually does include psychiatrists, guys, I do have people I can talk about this with--"
"Are they your friends?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
Sunset bit her lip. "...they... maybe. They might... become friends."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Okay, look. I'm awesome, so--"
"Rainbow," Sunset said flatly.
"What? I am!"
Sunset looked around. "Anyone mind if I cast a truth spell on Rainbow? False bravado is not allowed inside."
"What?!" Rainbow held up her hands, even as the others all murmured their agreement. "I don't do false bravado!"
"This is for your own good, Rainbow. If you're coming in, you're getting the spell."
"But--"
"That's the condition."
"....Only if everybody else has to too!"
Rarity frowned. "This spell... it's not 'forced to speak the truth in blunt terms,' is it?"
"More like 'cannot tell a lie,'" Sunset assured her. "And it does let you pick your words."
"Oh, good. In that case I'm alright with it."
"Remember everybody," Pinkie said, "if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all!"
Sunset gave her a wry smirk. "Then you'll be very quiet through this whole trip." She rose her hand, letting a light descend on all of them. "That's going to last for the next ten minutes, or until I decide to dispel it."
"You cast it on yourself," Twilight noted.
"Yes. Because... because I want you to know, for certain, that what I'm saying is something I absolutely believe: I don't want you knowing about this. I'm worried you'll have nightmares for weeks. Or worse. What's in here isn't... isn't..." She frowned. "Okay, some of it is pretty, in an aesthetic sense, but from a moral standpoint it's very distasteful. Huh. Might have made the spell a little specific there..."
"At this point, I'm honestly more irritated that you're hiding this than I am worried I might be traumatized," Twilight deadpanned.
"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "Let's get this crazy-train moving!"
Sunset frowned pointedly.
"Wow. That sounded rude, didn't it." Rainbow shrugged. "I'm... I'm... okay, why can't I say it?"
"Because you don't feel regret and just want to assure Sunset you didn't mean to be rude?" Pinkie suggested.
"Yeah, if'n this is how it is, Ah'd be more comfortable if you toned down the strength there." Applejack nodded to Sunset.
"Alright." Shutting her eyes, Sunset concentrated for a moment or two. "It should be good now. Rainbow's right, though. If you're all absolutely sure I can't convince you to turn around..."
"Nope. We pooled our resources to figure out what's got you so stressed, and all evidence says it's in that warehouse."
"...Let me just signal the guards." Sunset pulled out her phone, tapping the screen. "And... I want you all to know, if there was any other way, I'd take it. Right off the bat."
She led them, somberly, to the gates of wire and barb, nodding to the armored men standing on either side as they slowly swung open. The rumble of air conditioners, and the clip of patrolling boots, spoke of a well-maintained and well-guarded facility, though warning signs in multiple languages were scattered about the walls and demanding that any intruders turned back. A few cards on ribbons floated from a guardpost, landing in Sunset's hand; she passed her palm over them, before handing them out to her friends.
Rarity glanced up from hers. "So, what do these let us access?"
"They say you're with me for the day, and beyond that you aren't allowed to wander. Stay close." Sunset pointed at Pinkie and Twilight. "That means you two as well. Understand?"
"Of course!" Pinkie nodded vigerously. "I won't let you down!"
"I know how to... mostly control my curiosity." Twilight frowned. "This spell is a bit annoying."
"A bit annoying." Sunset nodded. "Magic can be that way."
She led them toward the large warehouse in the center of the fenced off region, and stopped in front of a pair of massive doors with the faded image of an airplane. The girls looked around, noticing a squad of guards around them; notably, they faced inward, toward the building itself.
"I assume you've heard stories of people getting bursts of superhuman strength," Sunset mentioned suddenly. "Adrenaline rush in times of danger or anger, doing things that would be impossible, pushing themselves beyond their limit."
The doors slowly slid open.
"And I'm sure you've noticed that magic can be affected by the emotions of the caster."
"Wait, hold on." Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "I think I know where this is going..."
"I think I do too," Rarity murmured. "Sunset, have you... have you been capturing people?"
The doors jolted to a stop. Sunset's shoulders sagged, for a moment or two.
Then she straightened and walked in.
"Equestrian magic," she began as the others followed her, "is fundamentally resonance based. It factors into our biology, our society, our culture; you have to convince what already exists that it wants to act in certain ways. When a foal is in the womb, their developing magic field affects their body; you almost never hear of transgenderism or transtribalism because, well, it's your own magic that shaped your body, into as comfortable a vessel for your soul as you could have. We're not as well equipped to handle actual genetic problems, though. And mental magic, it's... a part of the mind has to want to be affected by the spell, or the spell won't take, so doctors use it in place of a number of drugs."
The girls jumped as the doors groaned to life again.
"Of course, as with drugs, it's possible to overdose and end up going off the deep end. A lot of old dark artifacts are emotional amplifiers. A lot of dark spells..." Sunset shut her eyes. "A lot of dark magic, really, is about losing yourself to the resonance. Of love, or of hate. Surprise or fear. Joy or sorrow. When you let one dominate, your magic becomes more powerful, but it also takes... certain shapes."
And with a massive clang, the doors were shut again.
Twilight looked around the well-lit warehouse, at the various chambers set up and monitored by scientists and guards. "...What about Earth magic? It's different, right?"
"Oh, yes. It's not resonance based." Sunset shook her head. "I don't know what it is, exactly, I'm still figuring it out, but... Earth magic seems to impose the caster's will more easily, and have more resistance from that which exists. But that's not the problem here."
Fluttershy squeaked. "What... what is the problem?"
"There wasn't magic before." Pinkie's voice was flat. "Or at least, not obviously. We could let our emotions run wild without thinking of the consequences."
"Or emotionally abuse each other." Sunset led them to one chamber, gesturing at a small screen. "This man, he's from Tauros."
There was a sharp intake of breath.
"Yeah. Minotaur aspect. I don't know if he was a psychopath before, or if his magic warped his hatred into a physical force... He was part of an ethnic minority, oppressed by the government, and he made a sword that cut through anything. Numerous terrorist attacks. Didn't work like he planned, Tirek actually used his actions as 'evidence' that magic needed to be controlled by the government..."
"Wait, Ah remember that." Applejack frowned. "That was way back before Tirek became tha monster we all feared. Didn't half a dozen people die...?"
"Yeah. His actions led to Tirek taking power, and then..." Sunset sighed. "Even with that, he wouldn't have been put here, but after Tirek was deposed I found him running around, killing people and screaming... he was a threat that couldn't be talked down. So I bought this place and negotiated a deal with the government."
Twilight took a breath. "I remember... I was talking with Lemon Zest, and she said you helped Sour Sweet when her magic was influenced by her... schizophrenia. Why couldn't--"
"Schizophrenia," Sunset said calmly, "is an imbalance in the brain. It's chemical, it's diagnosed, it... yes, I helped her. Because, well, I knew what could help. I couldn't cure her, but I could affect her magic so it wouldn't be as violent in the future, and I could spread the knowledge around. This?" She pointed at the chamber. "This is hatred. No chemicals, no brain imbalances, purely in the mind. I can't help him. I don't know how."
"...He's not the worst here," Rainbow said, her voice unusually somber. "Is he?"
"No." Sunset shook her head. "The worst I've encountered... she's in a cement chamber, thirty feet below us."
Fluttershy bit her fingernails. "Why?"
"...Abuse victim. A seven year old abuse victim. Physical, psychological... sexual... I'm not telling you where I found her, only that she was being trained to be... used. She got the unicorn aspect, she saw my message and... it took seven months for her to realize what she had." Sunset shook her head. "Her magic... when I noticed it flare, I transported there instantly, and it was already Tartarus. I barely managed to contain it. She's a walking Chernobull, leaking radiation like a sieve, and that's on top of the dark fire..."
She gripped the screen, leaning over. "The worst bit. The worst bit is that most of these people are victims. Victims of extreme situations, reacting with extreme emotions, and the magic is... running out of their control. What you've seen, what's hit the news, that's nothing to what I have here, but if I just... if I just kill them... it's not their fault, not entirely. They've lost control. And I'm not sure what to do with them."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then, Twilight coughed. "You helped Sour Sweet."
"Yes."
"You... seem to have scientists studying these people."
"Mostly mister Discord's folks, though I did vet them."
"I think," Twilight said slowly, "that what you're doing here.... it's the best you can do. Secure them, so that they don't cause any more trouble. Contain them, so they can be studied. Protect them, so they can be helped. So long as everyone involved agrees these are people... I think this is the least of all evils."
"...I know. But..." Sunset looked up. "I just... wish I could do more."
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Masterweaver · 4.1k words · 128 7 · 3.2k views
- Masterweaver · 9.4k words · 290 15 · 4k views
- ArtieStroke · 17k words · 162 4 · 2.8k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 6.3k words · 462 16 · 8.3k views
- Masterweaver · 22k words · 125 3 · 2.5k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 3.4k words · 191 6 · 3.5k views
- Masterweaver · 18k words · 129 8 · 3k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 6.7k words · 402 8 · 5.8k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.152 seconds
Total duration
955 users online
1,247,606 hits today, 2,205,040 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I CAME UP WITH THIS CONCEPT AND WROTE THIS WHOLE THING IN FOUR HOURS.
FomE, are you sufficiently horrified?
I've read 120 Days of Blueblood. It takes more than this to horrify me.
The continued growth of the Oversaturated World as a story collection hinges on countermanding the implicit "sunshine and rainbows" ending of the original story and finding new and exciting problems for the characters to contend with in this world. I'd say you nailed a big one. Establishing a blend of Arkham and an SCP containment facility to deal with magical dangers to themselves and others makes perfect sense, as does the existence of those dangers to begin with. A shame this world's Dinky Doo will have a magic enhancing talent rather than a neutralizing one, but she's needed elsewhere anyway.
Now all the place needs is a name. Tartarus is probably too obvious and definitely sends the wrong message.
In any case, 'tis canon, good Weaver.
7758703
The government calls it "Magical Study Facility 97." Those who work there call it Sunset's Mercy.
7758645
SMILE, SMILE, SMILE.
I seriously get a Hunter: the Vigil - Slashers vibe from this, (although I don't remember the Name of VASCU's prison complex of the top of my head) it's awesome, that kind of darkness that comes from human nature, mixed with the hope of maybe, just maybe, doing this will one day make the world a better place for these people.
The little girl did she get revenge on those that ...hurt her?
7758703
there's seven billion people to deal wth, who have a perspective you can observe. Frankly, I think it's getting kind of annoying the number of people trying to make this world worse ff than after the end of the original story
7758774
True, we will need to make sure the pendulum doesn't swing too far the other way. Striking a balance can be tricky.
7758735 Either vaporized or died shortly after thanks to lethal radiation poisoning.
An interesting concept, and also yet another thing that makes it feel more and more alien to come back to little humorous vignettes about heartsongs and copyright infringement. One wonders how dark the human world will grow...
Wow, I'm... Actually speechless here. This is some heavy stuff right here and to be frank it excites a kind of morbid part of me (probably the same part that held my interest in FO:E) and at the same time I'm worry what kind of dark implications this has opened up for future works.
7758645 maybe Chrysalis could help?
Professor of biology and social sciences, has mind-writing abilities, she was probably going to be someone's Lady of War, might as well be Sunset's.
After reading this, I had to reread parts of Then Goes The Neighbourhood to understand how this would be a sequel.
I still wouldn't call it a direct sequel. It instead appears to be a story that any direct sequel will also rely on.
Brilliant!
hmm.....grab their soul and place it into another body?
I ask you all to consider, which is the more terrifying?
That a facility like MSF 97 exists, or that there are problems in the world that God can't fix?
7759539 I'd have to consider the facility more terrifying, since we've already grown up in a world where the second one is true. The unfamiliar is scarier.
7759539
Number 2, because it means the local deity never grasped the theory of digital uploading; Sunset can already de-corporalize and recoporalize herself to negate mood swings and interrupt mental loops, if she understood that action in the conceptual form of uploading to fresh flesh she could apply it to these victims to interrupt their current magical flare and emotional state and let them reboot in a factory fresh clone.
This particular ignorance of Sunset terrifies me more because it highlights her conceptual limitations are preventing her from exercising her full godhood administrative rights.
Or to pit it a different way, it is terrifying in the same way it is terrifying to discover your lead database programmer can't grasp how to a simple FizzBuzz script.
http://wiki.c2.com/?FizzBuzzTest
7759174 Implications nothing.
It's stated everything flat out. To summarize what we learned here: There are insane people in the world. They now have magic that follows their emotions and will. Their insane emotions and will. This causes Bad Things that Sunset has set up, presumably several, facilities to Secure, Contain, and Protect the cause/victims of.
So we have people in custody for their own protection, as well as the protection of others, and victims who can't help but become monsters for no fault of their own. I, personally, appreciate the fact that this setting has darkness that can't just be solved as if by, aheh, magic. No easy hand-wave explanation, no convenient Deus Ex Machina.
Not enough stories that aren't written for the sake of morbidity even give a nod to the shadows they naturally spawn.
7759674
Well yeah I mean it's pretty well laid out here in explicit terms for this story- by implications I mean what OTHER authors will do with this knowledge now. Authorial butterfly effect ripples? I am very tired and I can't think of a better phrase/metaphor.
7759688 Possibilities, then.
But you should embrace the darkness as well as the light.
There's good eating on stories that are plump with drama and despair. Hope and happiness are usually brightest, there, too.
Now I'm hungry again, and I just ate. Awww.
7759692
Hey, like I said in my first comment- part of me is morbidly curious to see what comes of this, too. Plus, with writing the super-hero fic here this gives me a lot more material to work with for future plot ideas.
7759696 At least you're offering up a light snack, I guess. Not too heavy on cliches, though, I hope. They can be somewhat fattening.
I do look forward to seeing what you do with stuff like this, though.
7758858
Compare, say, an Estee blog post about corporate loyalty programs to an international news page. The Oversaturated World, like the real one, is a surreal blend of lighthearted antics and dark implications. Reality cares nothing for thematic consistency.
7759503 7759539 7759635
The problem there is that Sunset disassembling and reassembling her own body is like taking off a shirt and putting on a clean one, because her human-level self is basically a finger puppet she uses to keep herself from assuming the same complacent, "It'll all work out in the end" attitude as certain other Spirits of Harmony. With anyone else, body and soul are much more intrinsically tied. Sunset has never attempted magic that directly interacts with souls, and experimenting with live test subjects to make sure she could perform the transfer is completely abhorrent to her. It could be argued that it's the philosophical transporter problem, but someone intrinsically tied to concept of Kindness won't disintegrate people just to make sure she can put them back together.
And, of course, there's the issue that flickering people in and out of existence would do nothing to address the traumatic past experiences that put them in MSF 97 in the first place. Erasing that much of their experiences doesn't border on brainwashing and mental mutilation; it's in the capital city. Sunset ascended specifically so nothing in this world could magically impinge on free will. She's had to perform enough hypocrisy in that regard as it is.
7759791
I understand your points. Fair enough.
My FizzBuzz comparison still holds though.
I'm confused. When has that happened... More than
oncethrice-ish? There was in Then Goes The Neighborhood when she thought of Rarity and Pinkie as Generosity and Laughter... And some bit in Group Precipitation... Or are those Noodle Incidents or currently unexplored?7758712
What are Facilities 1 to 96??
What is Chenobull Girl's trigger for her... 'mental issues' I guess would be the phrase? Or does she have Power Incontinence? ... She needs a better name? "Chenobull Girl" just sounds like she's totally defined by her condition, 'cause she doesn't have any other names.
She doesn't need to eat or anything?
7758703
Does Pony!Dinky have her Mark yet?
***
I thought this was gonna relate to SMILE / FROWN.
I hate you.
7760233
I'm going to say that this iteration of pony Dinky does not yet have her cutie mark.
This.This is good.
Oh boy, I liked this. It does make sense that the magic would affect others outside just a few people, some of them not exactly trustworthy with them. Given, in all honesty I probably abuse them but that's me. This facility seems horrible having seen SCP games and articles and places like Arkham Asylum but as bad as it is, this is the safest place for these subjects, for themselves and humanity.
Well, that truth spell was interesting. Do you have any specifics on what it blocks and how it works?
I wonder if the existence of such a place could be deduced from previous magic knowledge? Possibly not, as we were lacking the Magical Emotional Resonance idea, that is now canon?
How many occupants of Sunset's Mercy are there? ... Well, at least they're getting help.
7758805 You don't have any balance. You have a handful of people, one who thinks he's Alan Moore, piling up dark shit in the corner while a few play with silly putty. You don't got anybody with any conviction on "rainbow detail", so it will degrade and you will lose it.
7760959
Well, if you're volunteering...
For what it's worth, I have two one-shots on the drawing board that should help swing the pendulum back the other way.
7760959
Excuse me, one dark story does NOT make me Alan Moore! I have plenty of lighthearted stories, thankyouverymuch.
Eh. You could've done more with this, to be honest. The descriptions aren't so much restrained as completely absent, which kind of puts a harsh limit on how much horror you can really feel from that situation. They might as well never have entered that facility and be discussing the whole matter in some café somewhere, for all the real difference it makes. I'm told they're in some secret government facility and seeing all kinds of fucked up whatevers, but the story sure doesn't show enough to make me feel that way.
Most of the oversaturated stories feel like they're cut too short at the end. This one more so than the rest that I've read.
7758645 Speaking as the guy with the real life SCP
Cutie Marktattoo on his hip, you've done a good thing.It really is about being the least of all evils.
Does this warehouse have a logo?
This should be the logo
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSL5sG3fGUpZguB99vXFZNfSYMg1qhiT4AVFNHbZCspRkuLUCnMmw
Why is this facility still on Earth, or inside this universe at all, given what it holds? Why not put it somewhere in probability space, or a pocket dimension, or unpopulated parallel dimension? Sunset can't even touch a single woman consumed with angst without ripping the entire surrounding area out of reality, is it really that bright of an idea to keep even more angst filled subjects anywhere near her universe, let alone planet?
She should also consider whether outright killing or deleting a few of these wouldn't be more of a mercy than simply locking them up. Rewrite reality so that little miss rape child doesn't have to undergo satanic gang raping every day just to keep the universe from shattering, what are the powers of a god for if not to rewrite reality as needed? Use the living embodiments of Harmony that are your ethics committee to simply remove other individuals' unwanted powers, and then get a unicorn aspect psychiatrist to wipe away some memories they really, really don't need in life. The worst cases, like sociopathic sadistic murderers, the world would be better off if they never existed, and rearranging their minds would be both merciful and arguably a form of healing of a disease.
Or if some of them have a modicum of control, just a universe-cracking load of angst behind it, let them let off some steam while helping the world out every now and then by handing them over to Celestia for vigilante work. Who knows, maybe a few Ghost Riders, Punishers and Hellboys might be necessary for medium level threats that Sunset can't find time to take care of, like, say, incursions from rogue Winter fey, or evil aliens, or beings that get past Customs. Let the blackest parts of humanity also be its strength, let the rage fuel justice, and let vengeance bring peace.
Lol at pun, given that Twilight is sometimes, Magic.
Dark and thrilling. Nicely done!
Huh, seems I didn't comment when it came out some three years ago. Just re-read it, so I'll do it now.
A sad and dark part of the oversaturated world indeed. Undoubtedly better than the foundation one, even if simply because there has been not enough time yet for the truly terrifying to appear and there's literally God on the good side, but still Earth.
I sincerely hope Sunset never, ever has to deal with a Montauk situation. That'd likely break her, and if there's someone you don't want broken is the very being whose interference your universe needs to continue existing
Eh... the horror I'm seeing here is mostly one that exists in real life.
Psychiatric patents with superpowers need a better facility to contain them. That tracks.
Most of the patients should be allowed visitors(even if only by (video) phone) though... or does people knowing this sort of thing is possible make it more likely it will happen to them? I do believe there is a cultural component to what insanities a person might develop. Like... in certain parts of the world there is problem guys can have about being afraid that their bodies will devour their genitals. Totally NOT a thing in other parts of the world.
Separate facility for those who need to be "disappeared" is probably the way to go? Or IS this that facility?
A certain amount of compassion towards the inmates by the staff who usually interact with them* is the key. Just like one of the key differences between a properly run psychiatric facility and the fictional Arkham. Also note that I take the stance that the victim and/or public feeling "satisfied" should have no place in criminal proceedings. Deterrence, prevention (including shooting the heroic Old Yeller, who now has rabies (and is a dog rather than a human)), and, where possible, making restitution in every way that does NOT fundamentally hinge on the suffering of the wrong-doer.
*Rather than the guards who make sure they don't wreck havoc, who may need to be ready to counter threats without a split second's delay for regret in some or all cases.
...not sure I explained this well. If anyone actually reads this and has any uncertainty (or feels I am off base, especially in an odd way), they should ask questions.