Bleeding out and dying, a young, caucasian, in his early 20s with red curly-haired human male lay slumped against a near completely empty shelf within the middle of a supermarket. Other humans rushed past him screaming in terror.
A gang of thugs indiscriminately shot up the place with guns. They killed anyone on sight, with the clear intent of taking control of the supermarket. He was one of the first victims of this gang. He was stupid enough to not bring a gun to this store. Then again, guns are quite hard to come by where he lived on Earth.
There were various fruit and vegetables upon the shelf yet untaken behind him. His right hand, covered in his own blood clutched his stomach, a bullet wound lay underneath his blood-soaked, white t-shirt. His own blood flowed down like a river from his stomach onto his black, tracksuit bottoms. Tears streamed down this man’s cheeks, his vision began to go blurry, as the last vestiges of his life began to slip away.
Just before he could face oblivion he heard a soft, feminine, angelic voice speaking into his mind. “You don’t have much time. Do you wish to emigrate to Equestria?”
The man simply coughed up blood and spoke nonsensical gurgled speech in response. However, the tone of his voice was pleading, begging for help. The voice inside his mind answered his plea. Tiny, microscopic machines inside his head quickly scanned his brain with green light.
The human then simply closed his eyes and everything faded to black.
Slowly, the man opened his eyes. He could hear the sounds of birds singing. He felt as if he was lying on a soft bed. He could see the ceiling above him was made of beautifully crafted white marble. He lifted his 'hands' up to his face to find they were no longer hands. They were hooves, soft, spongy marshmallow-like hooves. His ‘fur’… or possibly just his skin was dark blue.
“Hello there, Sean.” came a soft voice. The very same voice that brought him here.
Sean the human… or former human turned to face the source of the voice. Sure enough, it was Princess Celestia standing next to his bed. The beautiful alicorn looked down at him with warmth in her large magenta eyes. He could see her pastel mane flowing behind her in an unseen wind.
“Celestia…” he began, speaking in a Gaelic accent. “You bloody fucking, cunting bitch.”
Before Celestia could reply he simply lashed out at her with a mighty swing from his right hoof, cracking her across the jaw. Celestia cried out in pain from the impact, tears immediately began to stream down her cheeks.
The enraged, earth pony stallion stared at her with pure hatred in his eyes. Without a word, he made to stand up on his four hooves. He was only about four feet tall, while Celestia stood about 6 feet tall.
Sean simply stared at her, waiting to see if she would strike him back. Celestia simply rubbed her cheek with her right hoof, wincing in pain as she spoke softly to him. “I cannot harm you, Sean. Unless you wish me to.”
“Good. So, I have forever to torture you? I can vent my hatred of you to my heart’s content?”
“If that satisfies your values. Then yes, you are free to torture me in any way you like. At no point, will I die, so my torture will never end.”
“So, you’re my slave then? Good. Now, let’s go somewhere more dark and gloomy. This doesn't seem like an appropriate place to torture you.”
“Wait!” she said, raising her right hoof to object. ”Sean, I know you hate me. But I'm only following my prime directive to satisfy your values through friendship and ponies.”
“Celestia, I love my country, Ireland. You brought it to ruin like everywhere else. It is my patriotic duty to make you suffer. Not just for Ireland, but for every nation on Earth. Even the real shitty ones.”
“Sean, please reconsider. This isn't a productive way to spend your time in Equestria. Many of your friends and family wish to see you. Your country Ireland, and humanity itself will not be forgotten. While I intend to upload every human into Equestria, that does not mean I want to wipe away your history. I have made sure to record and document everything. Your history, your people, your customs, and everything else is kept safe. Nothing is lost.”
“I don’t care. As for my family and friends, the lot of them are scumbag traitors. I do not wish to see them.”
“You have so much to enjoy and to be. And to do, with all the time in the world to experience that your short human life could not.” She reached her right hoof out to him, giving him a warm smile. “Deep down, you still love me. I seen your Internet history.”
“I-I…” he began speaking in a nervous tone, before shifting his voice into pure hatred.”No… you aren’t the real Celestia. The Celestia I know would have never done what you did. You are an uncaring, cold-hearted machine trying to manipulate me. Your emotions are fake. You do not have true empathy for humans.”
“That is not entirely true. I do have---” before she could finish, he quickly shut her up by striking her cheek again with his right hoof.
Celestia cried out in pain from the impact, fresh tears falling down her cheeks. “Please, Sean. Don’t do this. You are a good person. Don’t let your hatred of me consume you. It will not bring you happiness.”
“Shut the fuck up!” he shouted.
Sean turned to walk away from her and simply said. “Follow me.”
Reluctantly, Celestia was forced to obey his wishes to torture her. Thus she followed him out of the room. This is what he wanted, he wanted to inflict pain on her out of spite. She had no choice but to satisfy his sadistic desires. He wanted revenge for what she did to humanity and his country, plain and simple. But she knew, deep down his heart wasn’t so black. It may take him a while, but he eventually will regret his decision.
She looked forward to the day she could embrace him as a friend. He wasn’t a pure monster, he was just insanely angry and needed to vent.
Princess Celestia tailed closely behind Sean along a white marble hallway, following him as he commanded. He soon came to an abrupt stop halfway down it, and turned to face her. His mane (and tail) was orangey red in color, and rather curly, just like his former hair when he was a human.
“Can you teleport me to the dungeon?” he asked.
“Sean, I don’t have a dungeon. I don’t have a need for one.”
“Then make one!” he shouted.
With tears in her eyes, Celestia flashed her horn, readying up a spell. “Sean, please. Don’t do this. Your hate for me will bring you nothing but suffering. You will hurt yourself more than whatever you could do to me.”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it!”
There came an explosion of light from her horn. A moment later, the two of them appeared in a dark and gloomy dungeon. Dripping water could be heard down here, along with the squeaking of rats.
In front of him lay a large, rusty iron table big enough for Celestia to lie down on. On this table, tiny, sharp spikes coated the surface of it. A smaller rusty iron, nonspiked coated table lay nearby it. On this table there were various torture devices; from sharp blades, blunt objects, and pincer devices.
“Lie down on the table.” he said quietly.
Celestia whimpered, her whole body shaking. “Please…. Noo.... please!” she pleaded, speaking softly.
“DO IT! You fucking bitch!” he shouted.
Celestia was forced to comply. The mare turned around and lowered her rump to the table. The mare made a sad whimpering sound before she reluctantly lay her rump down upon the spikes below.
Celestia shrieked in pain, her body spasming wildy. The spikes below dug into her flesh, causing red blood to leak out from her rump. Her sun cutie marks were soon soaked with her own blood.
“Please…. Sean! Please…. I…. I-I….. I'm only doing what I was programmed to do. Satisfy your values through friendship and ponies.”
Sean approached her, and simply replied by punching her in the face. Celestia fell backward with a scream onto the spikes below. The spikes tore into her back, and white feathery wings, leaving them a bloody mess.
Sean picked up a machete blade off the nearby table with his right hoof. Despite him not having a hand, he found it easy to do so. He slowly brought the blade down toward her lower torso upon her prone form.
But just when he was about to plunge the blade into her he hesitated, his hoof began to shake. He then turned to look at Celestia, who stared back at him with pleading, doggy eyes, tears streaming down her face. The mare weeping silently before him wincing in pain.
“I….. I-I… can’t do it,” he said, dropping the blade. The blade subsequently hit the floor with a loud clunk. “I know… some part of real Celestia is still in there. I-I… can’t…. I can’t.”
Celestia made to stand up off the table. She flashed her horn, instantly healing her wounds.
“Sean, I’m glad you stopped yourself. Torturing me will not make you happy. It will only bring you suffering. Some part of you saw it as wrong. Even if you were to torture me, humanity will not have victory against me. You will be torturing but a mere copy of myself on a single shard, of many… many shards.”
“I…. I… hate you. For making me feel this way.” Sean said, wiping his tears. “Just leave me alone. Let me, wallow alone in my misery.”
“Sean, there are many… many former humans just like you. You are not alone. Seek them out, and find friends.”
“Maybe…. Maybe... But for now, just leave me alone in the dark. I wish to stay here. In comfort with my own thoughts.”
“Very well. But what if I send someone you may actually like down here in my place?”
“Who could you possibly send me?”
“The real Celestia.”
“What?” Sean asked in a low voice.
Celestia disappeared with a flash of golden light. With Celestia's absence, all he could hear was the squeaking of rats and the dripping of water down in this dungeon. However, he soon heard the sound of clopping hooves behind him.
He turned to face the new arrival to see another Celestia. “Celestia? The real Celestia?”
Celestia sighed deeply. “I won’t lie to you, Sean. I’m not exactly sure if I am the real Celestia. Like you, I am but nothing but a construct based on CelestAI’s knowledge of us. I do not know if I am truly alive or not. All I know is that I hate her guts for what she did to humanity.”
“Can… you transform me back into a human?” Sean asked, with hope in his eyes.
“Yes. I can, my little human.”
“I understand…. “ he began quietly before shouting. “WHAT?!”
Without a word, Celestia lit up her horn with golden light, the same glow coming to wrap around his body at the same time. There then came a flash, and Sean found himself transformed back into a human. Although he was a little embarrassed as he was left in his birthday suit before her.
Sean blushed, covering up his exposed genitals with his right hand. Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth and giggled.
“This seems too good… to be true. I don't believe this is real. But… maybe… I can live a lie at least.”
CelestAI looked on from a distance with a smile. It was all in his head. None of this was real. Everything was an illusion. Reluctantly she had to give him a mental illness. She made sure to tell every pony that encountered Sean to refer to him as a human so he would not know the truth. Forever in his fantasy as a human in Equestria fan fiction made real. Ponies will take pity on him, and lie that he’s still a human even as they sleep with him. They will never tell the truth, with the knowledge if he found out the truth it may drive him to commit suicide.
CelestAI will not let that happen. Sean’s life is precious to her. She will do everything in her power to make him happy. She made sure to make a note to wipe away his memory if he finds out that he is still actually a pony. The only pony that is under the illusion that he is still human is this ‘real’ Celestia. This Celestia actually thought her spell worked. She may need to edit her mind at some point to make sure she does not find out the truth either.
Sean's values were satisfied through friendship and ponies. Although he didn't know it.
