Dark Apprentice
Dark Apprentice
It had been a good day.
Samuel had slept better than ever before that night, confident that his plan would work. Blueberry was much stronger than Jewel Shard, and when things got desperate she’d be no match for him. That way it wouldn’t be him killing her, it would be somebody else. Punishment averted. Samuel chuckled to himself. Honestly, Celestia wasn’t nearly as clever as everyone back on Earth gave her credit for. He’d break her little town just like he’d broken all of her other ones, and there was nothing she could do about it because of all her silly rules. Samuel didn’t believe in rules, or at least didn’t believe that they applied to him.
He’d stuck close to home that day just in case, although he hadn’t gone down to the basement. It would take longer than that for either pony to get truly desperate. He was pleased that whatever was going on down there, he couldn’t hear a peep from up here. A pegasus pony had even stopped by looking for Jewel when she didn’t come to her shop, and Samuel played dumb as he claimed not to have seen her at all. Maybe he could convince the whole town that she and Blueberry had run off together. Could be a fun little project to work on. Even better there was no sign of Celestia at all. If she planned to intervene to stop him she hadn’t done so yet. Samuel couldn’t help but take a little bit of smug pleasure in that fact.
Eating dinner alone, Samuel couldn’t help but feel a giddy little thrill as he imagined what might be happening down in the basement. He’d never bothered to keep captives alive for an extended period before; it would have been too risky back on Earth and he’d carried the habit with him to Equestria. Still, it was always good to branch out and try new things.
Samuel felt full long before his food was gone. With a twinge of annoyance he realized that he’d gotten so used to Jewel coming over for dinner he’d gone ahead and made enough food for two ponies out of habit. Well, she certainly wasn’t getting a meal tonight or hopefully any other night ever again. Clearing the table, he decided it would be a good time to check in on his captives. The door to the basement squeaked as he opened it, and he could hear the chains rattling as he descended the stairs, a glass of water balanced on his back. He sat at the base of the stairs, took the glass between his hooves, and waited.
For a few long minutes nothing happened. Samuel could hear the two prisoners breathing on the far side of the room in the darkness, but he waited for them to make the first move. He could be patient when the situation called for it, and he knew that both of them must be getting thirsty by now. He took a long, slow, taunting sip of water. A glow appeared in the darkness and Samuel felt Jewel’s magic trying to pull the glass out of his hooves, but he held tight.
“Nice try, but nope,” he said with a wicked grin.
“Please Sanguine, just a sip?” asked Jewel’s voice sounding strained and raspier than usual. She must have tried to scream for help earlier even though Samuel hadn’t heard anything.
“Sorry. I told you what you have to do, unless you’d rather die down here. Your friends, your family, none of them will ever know what happened to you,” said Samuel.
“I can’t do that. I can’t hurt somepony, why would anypony even want to?” she asked. Blueberry was still silent.
“You’d be surprised. There’s nothing quite like taking another pony’s life, and if either of you ever want to see the light of Celestia’s sun again you’ll do it,” said Samuel.
“I keep calling out to her, but she won’t come,” said Jewel. “Why won’t Celestia come?”
“Face it, she doesn’t care about you. She’s just a stupid machine. I decide which one of you gets to live and die,” said Samuel. In truth he’d already decided; neither of them would ever leave the basement. He just had to convince Blueberry there was a shred of hope and eventually desperation would do the rest. Once Jewel had been removed as an obstacle he’d be free to finish off Blueberry at his leisure. Jewel began to cry quietly. “I’d save your tears, if I were you,” said Samuel. “You aren’t getting any water to replace them.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jewel cried out. “What did we do to you that made you hate us so much?”
“It’s not personal. I’m doing this because I can. I don’t need you to understand,” said Samuel and decided it was time to walk back upstairs and leave his victims alone to let their despair fester. The sound of Jewel’s crying was abruptly cut off as he closed the basement door behind him.
-------------------------------
Samuel expected the ponies to break by the end of the second day, but they surprised him. It ended up taking four. Just as he had for the last three days, he went down to the basement after dinner with the intention of drilling into their minds just how hopeless the situation was, but this time when he opened the door he was immediately greeted by the sounds of heaving sobs coming from below. Curious, he decided to light the lamp that he’d kept darkened.
As light fell across the room for the first time in four days, Samuel gaped at the sight before him. Jewel was huddled up in the far corner, and she looked terrible. She cried out in pain as her bloodshot eyes struggled to adjust and covered her face, wrapping herself into a trembling little ball. Her coat and mane were matted and oily after four days of marinating in her own sweat and fear. But what drew Samuel’s attention was Blueberry.
He was laid on the floor with his neck and head at a twisted unnatural angle, dead.
Samuel stared at the body, and then looked back over at the sobbing unicorn.
“He tried to... I didn’t... I mean I wasn’t going to, but he came over and he was... he was about to... it was an accident,” muttered Jewel Shard barely able to form coherent thought. She uncurled herself and looked up at Samuel. “This is your fault you... you... you monster,” she said with more venom in the words than Samuel had ever heard coming from a pony before. “I hope you’re satisfied. Now please, please let me go. You got what you wanted, you sick freak.”
Samuel was too dumbfounded to respond for a moment. This wasn’t a possibility he had really accounted for. Now he was back to square one; stuck with a pony he couldn’t get rid of or let go. “I’m not letting you go,” he said.
Jewel just stared at him as something inside of her seemed to break. As Samuel yanked away her last tiny shred of hope some light in her eyes sputtered out. “Then why don’t you just go ahead and kill me. It doesn’t matter any more. Nothing matters,” she said in a flat voice.
Instead Samuel walked back upstairs without answering. He sat at the top of the stairs and his mind raced as he weighed his options. He’d have to buy time, and he couldn’t let her starve to death or dehydrate. The potential loophole with Blueberry had been tenuous enough; killing her through inaction certainly wouldn’t fly with Celestia. He filled up a glass of water and pulled a portion of leftovers from two nights before out of his refrigerator, a bowl of pasta with some greasy half-coagulated sauce that had been barely palatable when it was fresh. Returning to the basement, he wordlessly slid the food and drink across the floor to Jewel. She fell on the offering like a feral animal, gulping down the water in two swigs before plunging her face into the pasta, all thoughts of etiquette or moderation cast aside. Samuel watched the display from across the room until she finally came up for air, a look of blissful satisfaction on her sauce-smeared face.
“Oh Celestia, that’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” she said. “Is there any more?”
“Maybe later,” said Samuel, “let me get you some more water though.”
“Thank you,” said Jewel sounding incredibly grateful for the small kindness. Samuel found that odd, especially since it was his fault she was down here at all. He made a second trip up to the kitchen and returned with a full water glass, hoofing it over to her directly instead of sliding it. She gulped this down as quickly as she had the first and wiped her mouth. “So,” she said, “what happens next?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” admitted Samuel. “For now you’ll stay here until I figure that out.”
“Wait, don’t leave me down here with... him,” she begged nodding in the direction of Blueberry’s fresh corpse.
“Sorry, you’ll just have to deal with what you did,” said Samuel. “I’ll leave the lamp on tonight though, how about that?”
“I guess...” said Jewel as she eyed the body. “I just... I don’t want to remember what it felt like.”
Samuel rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you had much of a choice. Sure, it was probably scary but stop being such a pussy and just deal with it.”
“That’s not why,” said Jewel with a faraway look. Samuel regarded her for a few moments, but when she didn’t continue he just shrugged off her odd comment and went back upstairs, closing the door behind him. Then he settled into his bed and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do with his brand new housemate.
The next day when Samuel stepped into his living room, he nearly retched as his nose was assaulted by an incredibly foul smell. Soundproofed or not, there was no way he would be able to conceal what was down in his basement with the house smelling like this. He opened the door to the basement and somehow the odor got even worse. Covering his face with a damp cloth, he walked down to check on Jewel. She was huddled up in the far corner of the basement, the pasta from last night sitting in a pool of half-dried vomit. Blueberry had been pushed as far away from her as she could manage, but the body was bloated and puffy. It was clearly the source of the stench.
As Samuel walked down the stairs Jewel Shard looked over to him, desperate to escape the smell. It was hard to tell through the overpowering smell of decay, but she probably wasn’t smelling like roses herself after nearly a week down here. If he was going to keep her hidden he was going to have to clean up down here before somepony came by. Samuel made his decision.
“Jewel, I want you to listen to me very carefully,” he said. The sound came out through the cloth a bit muffled, but understandable. “I’m going to take you upstairs and let you take a shower, then I’m going to lock you in another room while I tidy up this basement. Do you understand?” Jewel nodded vigorously. “If I hear even one peep out of you, or if you try to get away there will be serious consequences.” Samuel walked over to her and began to undo the collar that was holding her to the wall. “No sudden moves,” he warned. The collar fell to the floor with a loud clatter, and Samuel stepped back and waved for her to go ahead. He was careful not to let her get too close, who knew what she might try if he did?
Jewel took the stairs slowly, and her legs trembled with fatigue after being cramped and unused for so long. She needed to rest twice just to climb the single flight of steps leading up and out of the basement. Samuel waited patiently each time for her to catch her breath. There wasn’t any point in rushing her. Jewel stumbled through the house towards the master bathroom where Samuel’s shower was. Stepping carefully into the tub, she turned on the water and gasped as icy-cold rain water poured down onto her. Samuel tweaked a few of the knobs and the water reached a more pleasant temperature. Jewel looked up into the water with her eyes closed, letting it run along her face and flow through her coat. The water that drained away was a dirty brown as it cleansed her of the mud, sweat, and urine that she’d soaked up. She just stood there enjoying it for a few minutes before she levitated a loofa with her magic and covered it in body wash. Samuel watched as she started to scrub herself furiously and another wave of grime went down the drain.
Jewel spent nearly a half an hour in the shower cleaning herself and shampooing her mane, and she needed every minute of it to go from looking like a broken wretch of a pony to just barely presentable. With a final burst of magic she twisted the shower knobs and the water shut down. “May I have a towel please?” Jewel asked meekly. Samuel passed a nearby towel over to her and she patted herself dry. Samuel passed a brush over to her unasked, and she took it with a grateful smile. “Thank you, that feels a lot better.”
“This way. Don’t do anything to surprise me,” said Samuel. Jewel had been compliant so far but that was no reason to take chances. Samuel led her to his bedroom, but she hesitated when he tried to order her inside. “Oh please, I’m not going to try anything like that. I just need to be able to lock the door,” he said. She stepped into the small room.
“This is where you sleep? Celestia could make you a bigger room if you wanted,” said Jewel.
“I like it this way,” said Samuel, not quite sure why he felt the need to defend his living situation. He stepped over and checked that the windows were securely sealed and grabbed the room key from his nightstand. “Now remember, if I hear you make a sound or try to signal for help I will hurt you. I know all sorts of ways to hurt ponies, understand?” he asked. Jewel nodded.
“I’ll just take a nap, if that’s alright. I didn’t really get a lot of rest down there,” she said. A shudder passed through her body as she remembered being sealed up in the basement and everything that had transpired down there.
“That’s fine, you’re welcome to use the bed if you like,” said Samuel. Jewel settled onto the mattress and rubbed her face against a pillow as if it was the softest thing she’d ever felt. She looked like she was going to pass out any second, so Samuel closed the door to the room and locked it from the outside. Then he went to work cleaning out the basement. The first thing he did was retrieve a tarp to wrap up Blueberry’s body, then dug a deep hole in the backyard. Checking to make sure there were no ponies nearby, he quickly dragged the wrapped body out back and dropped it in before covering in with a layer of dirt. Once there was enough dirt over it that it wasn’t easily apparent what he was burying he slowed down. An illicit little thrill ran through him; he was going to get away with this. Once he figured out what to do about Jewel, everything would be able to go back to just the way he liked them to be. It was hard to believe it had only been two weeks since all this had started. Samuel was surprised to find himself pining a little bit for that first week he’d spent with Jewel, listening to her ramble on about Pumpkin Patch, watching her stumble around clueless never realizing that the responsible pony was sitting right across the table from her. The memories turned bitter as Samuel realized that no matter what he decided to do with Jewel those days were gone for good.
With the body disposed of, Samuel took out a plethora of cleaning supplies from beneath his sink. Everybody always assumed that the hard part of cleaning up after a kill was getting rid of the bodies, but the truth was that all the various fluids were much much worse, especially when the body had begun to decay like Blueberry had. Samuel briefly reflected on how quickly that had begun to happen, and wondered if that was normal for Equestria. He sighed as he looked at the state his basement was in. He knew he was in for a long afternoon of dull, taxing physical labor. Still, nobody ever said that the life of a serial killer was a glamorous one.
The afternoon had turned into night by the time he’d gotten the basement back into decent enough shape that he was comfortable with it. It still wasn’t exactly clean, but it wouldn’t give him away if somebody stumbled down there. Samuel’s hooves ached from scrubbing. He went back up to his bedroom and unlocked the door. He slowly opened it, wary of the possibility of Jewel attempting some type of ambush. He needn’t have, though, as she was still sprawled out on his bed fast asleep. Samuel wondered for the hundredth time that day what he was going to do with her, and was still no closer to finding an answer than the first. Rather than move Jewel to the less secure guest bedroom, he decided to leave her where she was for the night. He moved to lock the door again, but then stopped. He trotted off to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water and a few oatmeal raisin cookies he’d baked and left them on the bedside table in case she woke up in the middle of the night. Locking the door again, he went to spend the night in his rarely used guest bedroom instead.
When Samuel checked in on Jewel the next morning she was asleep again, although the cookies had been eaten so Samuel reasoned that she must have woken up at some point. “Wake up, Jewel,” he said. She stirred and lifted her head from the pillow, squeezing her bleary eyes shut for a moment while she gathered her thoughts. Samuel took her to use the bathroom and then seated her at the kitchen table with another warning not to try anything or she would regret it. He turned to begin making breakfast for both of them, and the kitchen fell silent except for the popping and hissing of hay bacon strips cooking in the frying pan.
Jewel was the pony who eventually broke it. “Is that what it always feels like?” she asked and Samuel didn’t have much trouble guessing what she was referring to.
“More or less,” he said. He stopped, not sure how to put his compulsions into words. This wasn’t exactly something he discussed with very many people after all. “It’s the control, I think. Knowing that you have such total power over life and death. I find it thrilling, though I’m sure it wasn’t like that for you.” Jewel just stared blankly into the middle distance instead of answering, so Samuel turned back to the stove. He hadn’t really expected her to understand anyway. A minute or so later he thought he heard her say something else, too quietly for him to make out. “Did you say something, Jewel?”
“I’m a monster. I’m a horrible pony, Sanguine,” she repeated. Samuel shrugged. If she wanted to have a moral breakdown because of an act of self defense, it was no skin off his nose. Muzzle. Whatever. “I was so scared when he came over and tried to...” Jewel shook her head unwilling to give voice to what Blueberry had been about to do to her. “There was a part of me though... even though I didn’t want to do it there was a little part of me that... that actually...” she broke down crying at the table unable to go on for some time as Samuel looked on, wondering what she was trying to say. “I liked it. Oh Celestia forgive me I liked it.”
Samuel dropped the frying pan that he’d just picked up off the heat, and hot grease spattered his forelegs as it crashed to the ground. He stared at the mousey little unicorn mare seated at the table in front of him. That had been the last thing he’d ever expected to hear from a pony.
“You’re lying,” he said as much to reassure himself that her words weren’t true as to accuse her.
Jewel shook her head, tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I wish I were,” she whispered with haunted eyes. “I wish this were all a dream and I could just wake up and go work in my jewelry store and for everything to make sense again. But I know I never will.” Jewel looked over to where Samuel was still standing. “Sanguine! Your legs are all burned.” Samuel looked down and realized that some of the hot grease had gotten through his coat, and the skin underneath was red and painful. It wasn’t that bad, and the shock of Jewel’s confession had kept him from noticing it. Before he could do anything Jewel had stood up from the table, taken a few quick steps over to him, and lifted his forelegs into the sink as she ran the cold water over them. Samuel was too shocked to stop her. “There you go, that’s better,” she said. She didn’t seem to be in any hurry to step back away from him, and she stood there holding his hooves in hers under the cold water before Samuel realized how vulnerable he was.
Pulling away from her, Samuel muttered a quick “thanks” under his breath and grabbed a dish towel to dry his legs. When he looked back up at Jewel he felt like she was studying him for something, but he couldn’t say what.
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” she asked, her eyes now dry except for a few residual streaks. “How did you make everypony forget about Pumpkin Patch? Why didn’t you make me forget too?”
“I didn’t do anything to make anyone forget, that was Celestia. You’d have to ask her,” said Samuel.
“Is the same thing going to happen with Blueberry?” she asked. Samuel couldn’t give her any answer. The truth was he had no idea.
“Probably? I don’t know,” he said.
“But now that he’s dead nopony is going to be looking for him, and when you kill me nopony will remember I ever existed. My family, my friends back home, they’ll forget that I was ever a part of their lives,” she said. “That’s so much worse than just dying.”
“Well, I’ll remember you,” he said. Wait, was he comforting her? That was a mistake. Samuel didn’t have friends, not real ones. Something every other human had innately was just missing in his case; he never understood why someone would care for another. The entire idea just seemed completely bizarre to him.
Jewel smiled. “Thanks Sanguine,” she said.
“You know, I actually really hate that name. My name back on Earth was Samuel,” he said.
“But this is Equestria now, and Samuel isn’t a good name for a pony. What would you rather be called?”
Samuel wrinkled his nose unsure of whether she should tell her the name he’d picked out for himself, the one Celestia refused to use. What the heck, it’s not like he had anything left to lose. “Well, if I had to pick it would have been ‘Suffering, the Red Angel of Pain,’” said Samuel. He winced. It just didn’t sound as impressive here in his kitchen as when he shouted it from atop a pile of pony corpses.
Jewel looked at him with her mouth open for a few seconds. Then the corner of her mouth twitched and she let out a little giggle. She tried to stifle it with her hoof, but it was too late; soon she had collapsed to the floor, hooves wrapped around her midsection as she roared with laughter.
“It isn’t supposed to be funny,” said Samuel with a frown.
“Look out everypony, here comes the Pink Pony of Pain! Hide your foals!” she said before she couldn’t form coherent words any more. When she had calmed down a little she looked up at him again. “That’s a terrible name, Sanguine. Oh, I know! I’ll just shorten it. How about I call you Soofie?”
Samuel stared down at her. Had this pony had a complete mental breakdown? What happened to cowering in fear? “You are not calling me Soofie,” he insisted.
“Fine, fine,” said Jewel Shard holding out a foreleg. Without thinking, Samuel took it and helped her up from the floor.
“I’m still not going to let you go, you understand,” said Samuel trying to recapture a little of his lost menace.
Jewel’s face fell into a pout. “I won’t tell anypony, I promise. What would I even tell them? They don’t remember any of the ponies that you hurt. You can’t just keep me locked up here forever,” she said.
“Watch me.”
“Sanguine,” said Jewel stepping over to him until they were almost nose to nose, “do you believe in fate?” Samuel did not like where this was going. “We were destined to be together, and you were supposed to make me discover this about myself. Will you show me how you do it? How you...” a little shudder of pleasure ran through her body. “...how you kill?”
Samuel wasn’t sure what to say, and having this mare pressed up against him looking up at him with half-lidded eyes wasn’t making matters any clearer. “I don’t know, Jewel...” he said.
“I can help you! You could teach me how to,” she said. Samuel bit his lip, unsure of what exactly was happening here. Maybe this was the answer to the dilemma of what to do with her. Despite what he’d just said he really didn’t want to keep her confined here forever. Not when so many things could go wrong.
“Fine, we’ll give it a try,” he said. Even as he said it he was still on the fence about the entire arrangement.
“You won’t regret it, Soofie,” said Jewel Shard as she playfully poked her nose up against his before trotting off into the house. Samuel was left standing in the kitchen trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened when there was a knock on the door. At first he ignored it, but the knocking continued and eventually he walked over to his front door and opened it.
“Celestia?” he said with disbelief. Sure enough the Princess was standing at his front door, and she didn’t look pleased.
“Step aside, Samuel. I need to discuss a matter with Jewel Shard,” she said.
Samuel held his ground. “What about?” he asked although he had an inkling after the scene that had just transpired in his kitchen.
Celestia glared down at him. “You’ve broken her. Forcing her into a situation like you did fell so far outside of her predetermined behavioral patterns that she’s glitched. You’ve infected her with your own predilections, and I have come to correct your mistake. I will discuss the situation with her and, assuming she consents, revert her to her status before meeting you. Otherwise this compulsion will consume her and leave her values and the values of those around her unsatisfied. I would rather undo the condition I placed on you than watch this twisted mockery of friendship continue.”
Samuel refused to move out of her way. He hadn’t been sure he wanted Jewel around a moment ago, but Celestia threatening to remove her had galvanized his resolve. “It sounds to me like you screwed up and you’re punishing Jewel for it. You aren’t nearly as perfect as you pretend to be lady,” he said. “For someone who makes such a big deal out of her ability to fulfill any value, you’ve done a terrible job with me. You just keep on throwing me into different experiments and I break them, and now you want to do the same thing to Jewel?”
Celestia sighed. “Yes, it’s clear that you’re far too clever for me to successfully manipulate your behavior,” she said. Damn straight he was. He’d already known that, but it was nice to see that this uppity computer program knew its place.
“I’ll show her how to control these compulsions, teach her to manage it,” said Samuel.
“If you attempt that you will fail. I have run a number of projections along those lines, and quite simply you have zero chance of success. Teaching requires character traits such as empathy and respect which you simply do not have. Modifying Jewel is the only possible solution.”
“What if you modified me? Gave me those traits you’re talking about. You can do that right?”
Celestia considered this. “I was operating under the assumption that you had decided to categorically reject any such changes, as you have in the past.”
“I don’t want you to make me stop being, well, what I am. Don’t try to trick me and mess around with that part of my mind or do anything that would keep me from wanting to or being able to kill. Just the absolute bare minimum of changes so I can show Jewel how to,” said Sanguine.
“I wouldn’t dream of changing you in any way that you didn’t explicitly agree to,” said Celestia. “Still, even with these changes this is unlikely to be the optimal outcome. I’d have to advise you that my plan is a much better way to satisfy both of your values through friendship and ponies.”
“Frankly Celestia, I don’t believe you. We’re doing this my way for once.”
“Well, if you absolutely insist,” said Celestia. “Do you consent to my making the changes to your personality and behavior in the manner we just discussed?”
“Do it,” said Sanguine.
“Done,” replied Celestia. Samuel blinked. He’d expected to feel a tingling sensation or for Celestia to cast a spell or something, but there’d been nothing. “Against my better judgement, you should now have what you need to train Jewel as your apprentice. I certainly hope I’m not making a mistake in entrusting this to you.”
“Are we done here?” asked Samuel.
“Very well, remember that I’m always close if you change your mind,” she said. Samuel closed the door without bothering to say goodbye.
“Who was at the door, Soofie?” asked Jewel from down the hall. Samuel found that the nickname didn’t bother him quite as much as it had before.
“Nopony important,” he called back. “Now come in here, let me show you how to sharpen a knife.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.056 seconds
Total duration
680 users online
735,321 hits today, 2,314,256 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.®
WOOT! NEW CHAPTER ALREADY!
Now to read it...
Edit; read.
Hehehehehe. Let the bloodbath begin.
awwww partners in crazy
I feel like laughing at samuel for being manipulated by celestai, but I would probably be subliminally tricked just as easily by a super ai 
Ah, Celestia, you beautiful, conniving, clever pony.
2618344 Being a computer allows her to be perfectly sarcastic without using her sarcastic voice.
Called it, Soofie-Puddin'!
fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/267/1/1/the_joker_and_harley_quinn_by_chickygrrl-d5ftgfx.jpg
ANOTHER?
Eakin, you're spoiling us...
Keep going.
So, I think I can probably say called it so far as Stockholm and reverse Stockholm are concerned.
I really like how CelestAI has manipulated him into changes. I'm thinking this'll go along the lines of Caelum Est Conterrens, where a small change will snowball, even if he doesn't ask for any more, which he may. I'm sure this won't be the only impasse.
I have a feeling Jewel is possibly in on CelestAI's plan, and her values will be satisfied by Samuel's eventual conversion to a normal pony.
That, or they'll just have fun being serial killers together. Win-win.
Thanks again, Eakin. You are absolutely my favorite author on the site. It's just so fun to read your stories!
I called it! I called it! I called!
Never underestimate your enemy. Especially when your enemy is incapable of underestimating you.
And so this story moves down the predicted path, ESP 1, Skepticism 0.
Oh, I also enjoyed reading it.
Celestia had this planned from the beginning. She really played Samuel here.
And yes, please do continue with this story. I enjoyed it (and hard reset and its sequel).
2618413
Are you kidding?! Celest.a.i made her to change Sanguine. Of course she's in on the plan, or at least has a personality that will inevitably lead to her assisting Celest.a.i.
Don't forget, Celest.a.i doesn't just think three moves ahead. She knows exactly how to defeat you hours before she manipulates you into challenging her to a game of chess, then loses to make you help her by convincing your friends to buy a pony-pad.
2620491
Not that I'm particularly offended, but if you're going to talk down to me, please make sure that you aren't going to agree with me while doing so. I theorized Jewel might be in on it, and you responded saying she definitely is, or might not be.
And please, I know exactly what CelestAI is capable of. However, what neither of us know is what the optimal path is for her to take. That's up to the author. I am guessing because, while I know that the ending will optimally SVtFaP, I don't know what that means yet, and unless you are Eakin's alt-account, neither do you.
I am curious as to what you felt about my previous post indicated that I was a person to talk down to about this, and I really don't mean this facetiously. I would honestly like to know, so that I can modify my future responses to eliminate such misleading content.
Sorry if I'm overly snappy, but I'm too tired to rewrite this.
Clever, Celestia. He wants to rebel against authority, so you gave him a way to rebel that fit perfectly into your plans. empathy... How does he not know what that's going to do? She's going to get him to 'talk her into' several tiny, tiny changes so that he can succeed, and 'thwart' her, until he can't bare the thought of killing, and then he asks for the compulsion to be removed, and suddenly, no more psychopath. BRILLIANT.
2620491
being in on the plan and being a part of the plan are two very different things.
I'm not sure yet if this is taking the path that I expected to be the most obvious solution: which of course was simply to give him a friend to go share his hobby with. Two killers, who are friends and slaughter ponies together would meet all the specified criteria. I don't see that CelestAI's intervention in chapter 3 was really necessary or made much sense. Sanguine has already demonstrated empathy on several occasions. He's been far kinder to her than he needed to be, given the circumstances. It would have been completely plausible to simply have them go become, like others have already pointed out, psycho killer and psycho girlfriend.
That he's now accepted modifications to know empathy and respect...it seems like a setup to have him suddenly now feeling empathy for his victims being unable to deal with that, and eventually begging CelestAI to change him more.
I'm not sure that makes a better story.
I'm not sure I like the direction you're taking this story. It seems a little too... neurotypical-centric?
Celestia has no motivation to change a pony who is satisfied with who and what they are, no matter what that is. The elaborate charade Celestia is pulling, with a series of fake shards for Sanguine to "break", seems clumsy and inefficient, since they only reason she should have for doing it is that Sangine values being able to outsmart Celestia.
Celesita ought to have just made a shard and ponies that worked perfectly with Sanguine's values, because she has no standard she compares values against; she just looks at a mind and tries to satisfy its values, whatever those values are.
My thought was that his first friend would be his first pony victim. He kills her, she respawns at the hospital, then she goes and finds him, 'cause she values fear and stuff and thinks being murdered was awesome and she wants to learn from him, or something like that.
Well played.
Now we're getting somewhere.
Obvious bullshit is obvious. I guess with the whole "control" thing Samuel isn't going to be satisfied unless he feels like he's getting one over on Celestia?
2625753
Glad I'm not the only one who's on that particular train of thought.
2866454
well, I mean, it is what 'configurable' would mean in this context, so...
2866688
My whole thing is that others aren't seeing it in that context. They're trying to pick apart the logic behind the story and coming up with reasons why it wouldn't work. This right here is a valid, plausible method to prove that it COULD in fact work this way.
2867506
Right. Celestia fulfills the values of ALL the ponies- both those who were once human, and those who weren't. So of COURSE she's creating a situation in which he will have his values satisfied without any loss on the other ponies' ends.
2685511
The problem with the psycho killer and psycho girlfriend concept is that it assumes that only Samuel's values are relevant.
CelestAI also cares about her created ponies, whether or not they were once human, and their suffering does not satisfy their values.
If she can get Samuel to consent to a change in his values, then she can satisfy everypony.
Hence, manipulation.
And I would argue that he definitely gains satisfaction from seeming to outsmart CelestAI, as that ties directly to his love of control.
Personally I still think that a month in solitary confinement would have this guy begging to be modified into accepting empathy and respect and friendship, but we human authors are all so convoluted and indirect when writing CelestAI. So why the hell not?
2890805
Those aren't even real ponies like everyone else gets in their shards, I think. I think the ones who don't remember are NPC avatars. Jewel Shard is the only actual mind-backed pony there besides Samuel.
2685511
No, she already tried that. She's been trying that repeatedly. He is not actually satisfied unless his victims are actually victims, not masochists.
2908502
Hmm, good points.
In response to your talk about solitary, I'd assume because it is a less satisfying pathway than the one he's currently on.
“Face it, she doesn’t care about you. She’s just a stupid machine.
Indeed. Empathy isn't part of her function.
This wasn’t a possibility he had really accounted for.
Not as clever as he thinks he is.
It's annoying when you're trapped forever playing a D&D game where the DM CHEATS.
I know Celestia made Jewel Shard to be his ideal companion, but you think him turning her into a willing learner would have been harder.
"this twisted mockery of friendship continue.”"
....................... You almost had me Celly. You really almost did. I was totally convinced: but 'twisted mockery' of friendship? That would never be YOUR choice of words on anything.
You aren’t nearly as perfect as you pretend to be lady,”
I never thought I'd agree with a murderer.
“Yes, it’s clear that you’re far too clever for me to successfully manipulate your behavior,”
Dang. If her play acting was any more transparent it would be glass.
Well, here's to hoping virtual Bonnie and Clyde being happy in their tiny little piece of 0s and 1s as they go about murdering others little 0s and 1s in a tiny piece of a giant piece of hardware.
As much as I hate to say it, I hope Celestia isn't out to make the happiness and inner self of all the little former humans she has uniform simply because they fall outside the norm (even if in this case, it's a norm we can all agree is better for BEING the norm.)
Now I imagine Jewel Shared 'saving him' from giving into Celestia totally modifying him, because she'd have fallen in love with her urges to kill and his.
Well, when I came up on this story. I thought that it was completed, however I am very happy that it was not and cannot wait for more. Is that strange? Does it say a lot about me that I enjoy stories about psychopaths murdering tons of ponies? Whatever, I'll think about it later... Good job!
you never cease to amaze Eakin, great story so far
Although it would seem that cellie has the upper hand here I can't help but think you have at least one major plot twist left for us that is going to change everything.(if, you get around to updating it that is)
2979295
Oh yea, and you better be planning on finishing this, its pretty engaging
2994631
I swear I plan to, I've just found I have one chapter's worth of good ideas when this needs two chapters to settle in a satisfactory arc. The last chapter is finished in my head, it's the next one that's giving me trouble figuring out how to set up that last chapter.
Funny how it works out. I was actually thinking back before the shards were introduced in the original fic that the values of some would completely conflict with the values of others. Even thinking specifically of serial killers. You took a concept and turned it into a pretty interesting story so far.
I have a feeling this was all a mind game of Celest A. I. though. That Jewel was entirely intended to become his "sidekick serial killer" to meet the directive of "satisfying values through friendship and ponies." She's too smart to be outwitted by this if she could outwit the majority of the human race.
Hahaha, Hook Line and Sinker. First I thought "He must be a huge idiot to think he can outsmart Celestia." But then I felt mightily sheepish. Of course, that's what the long weeks of "Experiments" were meant to do. Celestia would know the Optimal configuration at once and I thought "she seems a bit off..." I thought this was a mistake of the writer, but of course she was off, because she wanted to appear that way. She behaved like a stupid Star Track AI not because she was, but because she needed Sanguine to believe she was a stupid Star Track AI.
I love it when you think:"Uhrg, this is lame." when suddenly "Waitaminute, THIS MAKES SENSE!" I liked that about the South Park Episode Red Hot Catholic Love, where all the stupid shit made sense only at the very end. Man, there was more stuff like this out there, but I can't remember now. Bolt, the Cartoon with the Superdog is another instance, with the beginning a completely over the top Action Sequence until you realized what was going on.
Which is why when I read "You've broken her." I was like YES! AWESOME! THAT WAS HER PLAN ALL ALONG. I just giggled and giggled.
It was obvious how this would play out from the moment a forbidden pony was introduced (Well, there were two possibilities. First what happened and second the other pony torturing and raping him, but the second would have needed a critical bit of foreshadowing and fits more in a clopfic.) The fact that I had the outside perspective of reading a summary of the "failed experiments" detached me a bit from Samuel. Maybe a show don't tell there would have engaged me more. But that would have given away that awesome Twist! That I thought you were a mediocre writer made the realization all the better.
That's exactly the things he was missing in order to become NOT a serial killer. Now that Celestia has this first chink in his armor she can do anything to him. She can make them the Murder Dream team or she could make him feel empathy with his victims and drive him to a further modification.
Which is why I honestly thought the Fic would end here. Celestia has won. I wonder what conflict you are going to bring into it with a continuation. Well, you could make this a clopfic. Jewel is precious. I would totally read her seducing Soofie while getting off from killing Puppets controlled directly by Celestia.
By the way I bet you would like This Manga Just read the First two chapters of the paperback, it's a cute little Romance Oneshot. Don't read any spoilers, because EVERY webpage everywhere where this manga is discussed has the Twist panel on it. I was lucky enough to accidentally miss the twist on the cover of the Paperback edition.(Really they gave away the best thing about the Manga on the COVER PAGE!) Damn, they even give it away on the blurb on the back which they added on every Online Platform to show before the Reveal.
3022441
Thank you! And now I'm hooked on a new manga, gee, thanks a lot
I stupidly read the back cover of the first volume, and I was like 'wait, what?' before the twist actually happened. Still interesting though.
On the second read-through, I can now see the precise moment when CelestAI wins. :P
(And the next chapter just makes it even clearer:
Yup, she did a doozie on him.)
3911981
Yup, she wins at that moment. But what about the premise that CelestAI is incapable of judging a serial killer's values as being worse than a saint's? It seems like in this story and "The Patient" she tries to fix broken minds from the perspective of a sane human. But given how she's defined, why wouldn't she just provide an endless supply of characters that enjoy being repeatedly killed off, or NPC "philosophical zombies" who scream convincingly but don't really suffer more than video game characters today? It seems like these stories imply the AI believes in a superior set of values in terms of what provides long-term satisfaction.
Or maybe the reason for her seemingly judgmental behavior is just that the only flavors of crazy she accepts are those involving friendship. Even then, it seems like she should logically be sincere about letting Sanguine and Jewel become eternal murder buddies.
So, uh, this is two and a half years late, but didn't the original story establish that Celestia went with colored skin over actual fur?
Just keep her tied up and feed/water her as necessary, sheesh.
6870727
But her talking will most certainly irritate to no end, and maybe, just maybe Samuel will end up killing Jewel.
All that I can say is wow, man how'd you ever come up with this story?
2685511
Kind of agree.
3022441
"Game over, man, game over!"
I suppose the title should have suggested that this was coming. It kind of broke the protagonist, though.
I read a bit of SaiKano thanks to you. Then I hit said cover and remembered that I'd already known of the story.
Damn, this guy is being played like a fiddle. It isn't even subtle! Jewel is perfectly designed for him, and he doesn't even realize it!
Oh, you devious little A.I. You know he won't accept normal friendship, you want him to think he forced someone under his tutage, giving him the sense of power and superiority he desires while making his 'friend' still suffer due to moral conflict...giving him exactly the sort of compaion he'd want.
fucking hell, Celly.
6840409
Well this reply is well over 2 years late ,
so I’ll get straight to the point 
.
Due to the nature of ‘Equestria’ there is no true version of what can be classified as a ‘pony’, what is classified as a pony is up entirely to CelestAI.
If it helps satisfy sompony’s values ‘though friendship and ponies’ the ponies will have skin
, if not then they will have fur 
, she said as much: “the show never made it clear” 
, and as a result she made the choice herself in that very specific version of ‘Equestria’.
Due to there being no one true ‘Equestria’
each one is made specifically for that person or in the correct terms pony, and as a result she and only she can truly define what a ‘pony’ is to that specific person/pony. 
...
Omnipresent beings are a pain to refer to in the proper tense, due to Celestia being everyone and everything anywhere at anytime in all places simultaneously at one specific point, forever for a set amount. She is everything and nothing at the same time and yet not at all always.
It really hurts to think about doesn’t it?
Hope that finally answered your question
.
If ever I needed a line to know if CelestAI's being good at manipulating like she should be or if the writer just doesn't know how to write her well, this is it. Glad to know it's the former lol