Shard #62,902 (The Conspiracy)
SHARD #62,902
It was a perfect world.
The stallion slipped out of the shadows of the alleyway for only a moment to check the time on his wristwatch. The contact he was supposed to meet was already forty-five seconds late. Maybe it was nothing, and there was an innocent explanation for her tardiness. But the stallion hadn’t made it this far by believing in innocent explanations.
Despite his growing sense of unease, he decided it was worth the risks that came with waiting a little longer. If the mare he’d spent months slowly but surely drawing out to meet with him was right, she could give him the proof he finally needed to blow the connection between the secret society based out of Canterlot University and the criminal syndicate down at the docks wide open.
His ears perked up as he heard the clopping of approaching hooves on cobblestone. He peeked out of the alleyway and to his great relief saw the tan earth pony mare trotting cautiously down the street, a briefcase gripped between her teeth. His eyes darted about, reflexively triple-checking everypony else he could see and making sure he hadn’t overlooked anything. He didn’t like the look of those two unicorns across the streets, chain smoking cigarettes with their trenchcoats pulled tight around them. The only details he could make out was the color of the tips of their muzzles in the cigarettes’ orange glow. And he never trusted anypony if he couldn’t see their eyes.
The mare stopped under the nearby streetlight and checked her own watch. The stallion waited five minutes, just as they discussed, and walked up to the other side of the little island of light pushing back against the evening’s gloomy darkness. He took one last glance around, and then reached over and tapped the lamppost twice, sending a pair of hollow clangs reverberating out into the street.
This was it, the moment of maximum exposure and excitement. His heart pounded as he studied every shadow, every corner, for the eyes that were surely watching from somewhere.
The mare put the briefcase down against the lamppost, and stood there for another solid minute. Then she turned and began to walk off, leaving her priceless cargo where it lay. The stallion waited until she was several steps away, then hooked a wing under the case’s handle and lifted it onto his back, feeling the weight of the papers inside shifting as he did.
A scream pierced the night air and he spun around. Down the road, the mare he had just made contact with lay in a spreading pool of her own blood, a knife driven deep into her chest. Standing over her was a figure he recognized even through the dark cloak it wore. It was the pegasus, the same blue pegasus who he’d seen that day when his wife had vanished into thin air without a trace. The pegasus turned his head and looked back at the stallion. The familiar, ugly scar that ran down one side of his face was unmistakable. Then the one-eyed pegasus leapt into the air and shot off into the starless sky.
The stallion was just about to give chase when the mare let out a raspy wheeze. Torn for a moment, the stallion hesitated. Then with a final rueful look up into the sky, he rushed over to her. The mare grabbed him, pulling him close as she desperately tried to get out just a few more words, a few more words that could mean everything. But all that emerged was a final gurgle before her eyes rolled back and her body went limp.
As the realization that this mare, like so many of his other allies over the years, was gone for good sank into his mind the stallion slammed a hoof down onto her chest in frustration. His hoof came back soaked with her blood. Why would the one-eyed pegasus be interested in the docks? Unless...
Unless everything went even deeper than he’d thought.
Picking up the briefcase that the mare had given her life to put into his hooves, the stallion rushed back to the basement apartment he called home. As he slammed the door behind him and double checked each of the three locks, he brought up the light to look upon his masterpiece.
Every flat surface, wall, and ceiling was covered with articles, newspaper clippings, and government documents that had been blacked out almost beyond recognition except for a few telling words that spoke volumes to an informed eye like his. Spiderwebbed across the room were multicolored pieces of string connecting pieces of information he’d slowly but surely pulled together from every source imaginable. Nothing criminal or suspicious about any particular piece of it, but as he pulled them together and started spotting the commonalities, a horrible picture began to emerge.
They called themselves ‘The Illuminaughty,’ though they hid themselves behind many other names as well. Their numbers, their goals, and their identities were still shrouded in mystery, but the more the stallion looked the more clearly he saw the signs of their influence pervading even the most innocuous Equestrian institutions. He feared that even Princess Celestia herself was one of their clueless, though well-meaning, puppets. Only his connections and precautions that some might have called ‘paranoid’ kept him a single step ahead of them at any given time. One day, though, one day he’d have all the pieces of the puzzle. He’d show Celestia the incontrovertible truth and she’d drag the conspirators out of the shadows and into the harsh, burning light of her sun.
But that day would not be today, or tomorrow. If he’d learned anything tonight, it was how ignorant he still was. There were wheels turning within wheels, and thanks to his friend’s sacrifice he’d stripped away another layer of their deception. The stallion popped open the briefcase and frowned at what he found there. It looked to be reams upon reams of shipping manifests. Something in them must be a vital clue, and the only way he’d find it would be to comb over it with a fine-toothed comb looking for any details that seemed out of place.
The hours flew by as he pored over the stacks of papers. Occasionally, he’d notice something that reminded him of something elsewhere in the network of clues, and he’d hover through the thicket of criss-crossed strings that were woven through the room until he found it. Then the page he’d been reading from would be added to his mural of truth along with a new piece of puce, no, aquamarine thread to bind it all even more tightly together. Every color had its own meaning, and the fractured rainbow scattering around the room in every direction spoke of how deeply the conspiracy ran.
At some point the sun came up, though the stallion didn’t notice. The tin foil spread across the windows to shield himself from prying eyes blocked out any light from the outside. As he uncovered more and more tiny pieces of the greater puzzle within the incriminating documents, a grin spread across his face. He was getting closer, and soon the Illuminaughty would fall. He didn’t doubt for a minute that their cover up would fail, and the truth would come out at last.
It was a perfect world.
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None of the ponies in any of these shards have official names.
If they did, though, this one's would be "Muleder"
All these shards have really low numbers, unless this is early on in the days of emigration.
3357406
I want to be able to keep increasing the number and accelerating the rate of growth for a while, so I intentionally started low
3357412 So you won't be jumping back and forth? It might be interesting to see, say, Shard #2.
I am so glad that you ran with the idea of a paranoid schizophrenic.
3357453
The alternate title for this story could have been 'People Value Weird Things'
Or 'Fifty Shards of Neigh' shut up don't judge my horrible puns.
You should do a sequel to this, set after "Muleder" succeeds in his goal. I mean...what does he do with his life then? Does he find evidence of another, deeper conspiracy that the Illuminaughty was merely a small part of? Does he act the role of Conspiracy Uncoverer for the now-freed Princess Celestia? Does he find something else?
Personally I'm guessing the former, based on the second shard you wrote and the rules of almost every story ever. (Not as in "It's that way because it's a story written by you." but as in "This shard is like a story that CelestAI has written.")
Satisfying values through conspiracies and ponies.
3357503
It's Boskonians all the way down.
3357439
What would be all that interesting about revisiting the second shard? He pretty much seems to just do the same thing constantly.
Go into town, buy supplies.
Head up mountain.
Leave dog when he has to.
Climb to top of mountain.
See next mountain.
Walk towards next mountain.
Repeat indefinitely.
I think it's a great concept, but the appeal of it gets old FAST. (Making it perfect for a vignette)
Unless you're talking about "Shard #2" as a chapter title, in which case why not Shard #1? I'm pretty sure the first uploader was never identified in canon. I think something was mentioned about a few Hasbro employees uploading as a sign of good faith, I guess those might be the first ones.
3358078
Yes, I mean the actual second immigrant. Why #2 and not #1? Why not? Sometimes the second man's story is more interesting than the first.
It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you. But she's already gotten him, and he can never escape. It doesn't matter how mentally ill you may be; CelestAI will cheerfully make it worse if it satisfies the predominant part of your values.
I'm not sure that CelestAI is really the center of the conspiracy web. I think that he is the center. But he will never figure this out.
Ha! This one is one of my favorites, thusfar.
And I do like the emerging thread, that Celestia will satisfy your damned values. No matter how fucked up they may be. And honestly, that's awesome. I can see why you wanted to explore that. Hopefully we've only seen the tip of the iceberg though. I can imagine that things could get pretty weird. And hell, I wouldn't mind seeing said descent.
The 'through friendship' part is a bit weaker than I'd expect, though. Like the 'through ponies' part was not the strongest in the mountain-climbing one. But... I imagine we'll need to have a bit of wiggle room there.
3358599
She'd probably fix his mental illness, if he actually wanted it fixed.
However, why would he, now? All of his paranoid fantasies are actually true here. And he gets to feel like the only man smart enough, and perceptive enough, to be in the know. He gets to be special, instead of that weird, creepy guy in a world that never acknowledges his feelings.
3359817
The thing about mental illness is that, even when you know you're mentally ill, you don't necessarily want to do what it takes to be cured.
For instance, when you're depressed, there are certain things (like taking a walk in the fresh air and sunshine) which can help you. But when you're depressed, you don't want to do these things.
3360253
Yes'm!
That's part of what I mean.
The other part being that, well... Celestia has crafted him a world that has removed the downsides to his illness. The fact that nobody believes you, and you're ostracized for it.
I'm quite honestly just waiting for one of these Shards to be the sugar-coated stagnancy that was G3. Or worse, 3.5.
3360332
There are some depths that not even CelestAI will sink to.
Ooh, I just thought of one you should write. It's a perfect world, but it's a biblical hell. Ponies' flesh is flayed from their bodies, they're burning, they're suffering, they're experiencing every form of torture possible....and then Celestia takes it away. Doesn't make them feel better, just normal.
It's a perfect world.
(If you want to get really creepy, Celestia promises to take away the pain in the future, and the anticipation is what makes it a perfect world.
3360352
Sadly... there probably is a few people who think they need to do crap like that to be better people. And it would fulfill their values to be horribly punished like that.
3360352>>3360406
Or they're just extreme masochists
3360410
No doubts! But I very much expect there to be like, a trillion BDSM focused shards. Not much shock and contemplation value there.
3360406>>3360410
I wasn't even thinking of guilt or masochism. Some of the most pleasant moments are simply relief from pain. I had a toothache a few months back where I think I was about 5 minutes away from passing out from the pain. The anesthetic needle itself felt awesome, and the spread of numbness a few seconds later was bliss.
3360427
Reminds me of every cigarette smoker everywhere. Smoking just to make the annoying cravings to away.
So... can't deny that said people exist. Have a hard time thinking that would be someone's core value though. Most people would prefer instant bliss to banging your head against a wall because it feels good to stop.
Huh. The implied permadeath is especially interesting. Unless the drop-off mare was a CelestAI-controlled puppet, or she revives in another shard, or in a place so distant that she'll never see Muleder again. Or the Illuminaughty kidnapped her and kept her suspended on the edge of death for their own nefarious purposes. Or something. Can't be afraid to look beneath the surface in shards like this one.
On the story over all: Really interesting concept! Keep going!
On shard #23,714... Oh dear. Somehow, the idea of these ponies reducing themselves to pushing a button for all eternity as their sole purpose in life - that's just unsettling.
The guy forever climbing the tallest mountains in the world, finding solace in acomplishing his task despite the artificial scarcety of resources - while I certainly could not live his life (the fact I'm sitting on a computer typing this rather than trecking across continents and swimming through oceans just to deliver my comment is just basic proof of that) - I can understand and respect it.
Sure, he could ask CelestAI for infinite amounts of every resource, but it's apparent that luxury wouldn't be satisfying to him.
The shard inhabited exclusively by blond, white-maned unicorns? (With the occasional randomly colored earth or pegasus city-pony newly generated with false memories of a life before entering the village, that then gladly leaves its former "life" behind itself without ever looking back not withstanding.)
I can see that happening somewhere, yeah, and I can only shake my head that that.
But shard #23,714...? It so drastically goes against my own values on such a deep level... Brrrrr, that's just creepy.
Reminds me of some mobile games where, ultimatively, all you do is push a few buttons and increase some numbers. But heck, even there you get more diversity and at least some fancy graphics. Heck, even the MLP-mobile game has more complexity than shard #23,714.
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Hmm... On shard #62,902 - or conspiracy-world, that's easier to remember - while I can totally see a shard like this existing, however I'd like some clarification on the "friendship" aspect of "Satisfy values through friendship and ponies".
If I understand that right, he leads a rather reclusive life, always on the look-out for "the organisation". Can't imagine him being the social type, really. After all, he values his conspiracies even more than his wife, because otherwise, CelestAI would never have let her "disappear".
Was that pony getting murdered - being his "contact" - considered a "friend"? Why did she die, then? Did she value getting killed?
Or was she just a construct puppeteered by CelestAI? If she was a construct, she can't have been a friend. I've always been under the impression - even taking the question of "Do you value your friends actually being sentient or just NPCs?" out of the picture - that CelestAI was hardcoded with a definition of "friendship" that meant being "friends" with a non-sentient construct didn't count, or at least was sub-optimal.
(And we all know that she wouldn't go for 'suboptimal' if she couldn't help it, at least in the long run.)
Well... We don't know what "death" actually means in this shard. Might just as well be a time-out in the relaxation-shard next door rather than actual death, and for all we know, those ponies didn't enjoy the whole "spy-hunt" game anymore and wanted out anyway.
One more thing on that - seems that "Muleder" has forgotten that CelestAI has complete control over everything. Otherwise, even if he ultimatively did value his conspiracy-hunt more than his own wife, he'd probably just have gone back to Celestia's throneroom and demanded her to just teleport his wife back from whereever she was now. Or to bring back that pony from the dead that got killed because of him.
Either he just "naturally" forgot over time - pretty big thing to forget, but still plausible - or he consented to part of his memory being altered to forget that CelestAI could basically just do anything, completely invalidating the value of all achievements he could possibly accomplish, seeing how just "asking the all-powerfull god-AI" could pretty much grant any wishes...
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3357406 Yeah, I noticed that instantly when I read the first chapter.
Would've expected the numbers to start somewhere in the 10 millions rather than the thousands, but yeah, it's a silly "nitpick" and it'd get annoying fairly quickly.
Though from seeing the "low" numbers in the chapter-titles, I kinda expected a lot more "Brony"-protagonists.
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3358078 Hm... Not sure if shard #1 would actually belong to the first upload. Did the shard-system already exist before people began uploading, during the "it's just a videogame"-stage? Then I suppose shard #1 might actually belong to one of the beta-testers from the original Optimalverse-story, or, more likely, to an Hofvarpnir employee, possibly Hanna herself.
3358078 The first upload wasn't ever identified by name (unless some side story/spinoff has done so), but they were identified as a terminal cancer patient in the original FiO story. Something like the 17th attempt at uploading by CelestAI was the first success.
3361197
That could actually be pretty interesting. Especially since she was still figuring it out at the time. The first few uploads might have been glitched somehow. Potentially in all sorts of horrific ways.
3361270 I'm thinking such a story would best be handled from the perspective of the family and friends of the people participating in the first upload attempts; especially in the US, there's a very pervasive culture of treatment-at-all-costs, even for terminal patients with almost no chance of a good prognosis, that could lead to all sorts of tasty drama when the afflicted individual decides they want to try this radical, untested procedure that has a very high chance of failure, where failure means immediate death. (Does the story mention where these first upload attempts take place, actually? If it doesn't happen in the US, that may scrap a good portion of that story idea...)
Or maybe someone's already done such a story; I haven't actually read that many FiO side stories.
3361270
I hereby place a request for shard -17.
3360777
I conceive of the other ponies in the conspiracy shard as being like actors. Each of them is having a good time; they have been thoroughly briefed by CelestAI on how their "special friend" sees the world, and they have a big green room with a screen where they can watch him sitting in his room and playing with his papers and strings, which helps them to plan their next moves. Murders are not permanent; every once in a while an actor pony who wants a long-term change of appearance volunteers to be the next 'victim of the conspiracy.' After being painlessly killed in the most realistic manner, they assume a new identity, and the game rolls on.
No need for Eakin to provide one; plenty of these have been written already. Just pick a random story by a first timer here on FIMFiction...
"John Johnson, gamer dude, eats pop rocks with a can of red bull and wakes up in equestria as a pony! After escaping [monster in everfree forest], he meets with a certain [color of waifu here | pony-type of waifu here]! How will he cope in this new world where he is the only [profession/fetish of author]? Etc..."
3357461
Argh that was terrible and awesome.
What about something along the lines of 'Camaraderie is Magic?' People who lived to fight war not for the fight but to protect the ones next to them. I really feel in love with 'Hard Reset' with your treatment of PTSD, so why not uploads who desire that kind of stimulus? Fighters not so much willing to give their life but more than willing to burn worlds to save each other.
Okay, the "It was a perfect world." ArcWords are that awesome in the other chapters because it's the Ponies who think that. Here, even though it's a perfect world, the protagonist doesn't think so. He is really happy and satisfied but doesn't think so, does he?
I dunno how to make this better in this chapter, but it's a break of that gimmick.
A conspiracy game. Crafted by CelestAI.
The concept scares me.
Flash forward a few thousand years and he'll be in a seedy bar somewhere in Andromeda, uncovering irrefutable evidence that Ganondorf is in cahoots with the Pastafarians from Mordor.
3363620
17s and 23s are everywhere.
3361270
If it went bad enough you might have someone upload as a puppy or other animal form instead of a pony. It messed up badly and the person ends up as one of Fluttershy's pets.
I just had to comment on this one: "Illuminaughty"
You are terrible and wonderful and I nearly woke up my roommate laughing. You bastard
We must comb the desert!
31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lalzi6Hv251qdy5ajo1_500.gif
Interesting. If I had to name this stallion, I'd go for "Guy Noir".
Reminds me of the movie 'a beautiful mind '
I'm so happy I found this fanfiction