Flower

by CreeperZone


Dire

So you understand the plan?

Yes, Mother.

Tell it back to me, step by step.

Enter their world.

Yes.

Restrain Seeker, and anypony else who would try to stop me.

Correct.

Find the location where all your data is stored.

And then?

Burn it all down.

Good girl.


The rest of the evening was spent with everypony deep in their work, making great progress in their respective fields. The body was hooked up in the absurdly dusty testing room where they would question the AI and let it practice moving and such. The room was very bland, the walls a dull grey with no furniture, apart from a standard utility desk and two fold-up chairs on either side, similar to a police interrogation room with a one-way mirror and all. Behind the mirror was several monitors for sound, sight, emotion, and many more, although the room was mostly used as a sleeping lounge as the padding in the walls sealed the room from the outside raucous. There was even still unswept glass from the last time somepony leaned on the thin mirror to hard.

The body itself saw much improvement ever since it was first developed in the first few months of the project, mainly because the engineers lack of assignments and ever-growing boredom. There was a point in the absurd upgrades they reached where Seeker caught notice and barred them from touching it again. She did not believe retractable cup holders and a stereo system were essential in her sentient robot.

The computer technicians, in accordance to Seeker's orders, were making sure to move the AI from the computer and into the body in such a way that they never made a copy. After an entire day, everything was set up. All they needed was the go ahead to begin the transfer, a process that would take a few hours.

The sun had set a while ago and it was back to their homes with everypony except Seeker, who was stuck in the med bay. Despite the fact that the infirmary bed she pressed against was hundreds of times softer than the budget one she had in her own apartment, she still couldn't get a wink. She found herself bathing in her own sweat, thinking of what could possibly happen tomorrow when her mother arrived.

What could she possibly be mad about? It has to be something big, or else why wouldn't she just get a private call? Hopefully she's not looking to shut the facility down... They are too close for that to happen.

These kinds of thoughts haunted her, rattling her so badly she was almost tempted to complete the work herself. It’s not like she was going anywhere anyway...

In fact, that was quite a good idea, why wait for the others? If she could do it now, then there would be no risk.

Seeker strained her back to lift herself up, rolling her shoulders until she heard a crack, and bravely stepping off the weightless mattress, about to apply all of gravity's force onto her badly damaged hooves. The doctor did say she was healing remarkably just a few hours ago...

As she collapsed onto the floor, feeling as if she stepped on lava, she decided to think twice about this.

And after that thought, she concluded it was still worth it, so she forced herself up to her hooves, going out of the room step by step, the floor sharply stabbing her with pain like burning coals.

Lighting up the corridor just by saying the word ''lights'' aloud, she slumped her way down to the assembly room, and after a few painful minutes, she arrived into the observation room, where she saw several cables leading into a shotty setup of a pc on top of the desk in the center of the room. A monitor stood atop of the casing and had a small green blinking light, on stand by.

With some form of relief, she sat down in the office chair, beginning to roll around on its wheels to get around the room instead of walking. She scooted on over and telekinetically pressed down the power button, the monitor flickering to life.

The familiar image of her mother’s cutie mark shone, reminding her of her situation, her fear, her failure...

She shook her head, taking a deep breath and calming down. Her head drifted away from the screen and landed looking down at her own haunch. “You got this, girl. You got this. It is your special talent after all...”

The light coming from above her peripheral vision changed, signalling that the pc had booted up. She pulled up a keyboard and found the folder on the desktop marked ''19946'' and opened it.

With a few scrolls and admin password inputs she found herself in a new program, it was separated into two columns, the one on the right was blank with an input field at the very bottom, the other filled with options, including ''Launch Artificial Intelligence Transfer System.''

As she hovered over the button with the cursor she felt her heart beat like a drum, she was shaking and she wasn't sure if it was from her injuries or not, either way she sat their sinking it all in, hesitating with her magic over the trigger.

Hello?

A soft bleep came out of the speaker. Seeker looked around and on the very right off the screen she found... A message?

She shifted her attention over to the now discovered chat room. She froze up for a few seconds before slowly typing out a reply.

Hey, there.

Recoil, is it you again?

Recoil was a programmer... Was he speaking with her? She thought, the confusion and questioning clear in her face.

No, this is Seeker, is that you Subject #19946?

It’s nice to see you again, and yes it is me! And hey, I learned my name in your language! It’s ''Cardinal'' :)

Her response was nearly instant. The only delay was the little animation of the chat bubble appearing from the bottom and growing as it glided up under the previous message. The smiley face at the end of her message left Seeker raising an eyebrow.

Well, Cardinal, what’s been happening? Were there other ponies talking to you?

All day. They have been telling me all about your world, and I've been telling them about mine.

Is that all you spoke about?

We talked about you a little. You are their boss, yes?

Seeker, without really realizing it, got sucked into the conversation, feeling like a school filly listening in on gossip.

Yes, what kind of things did they say about me?

Um... They said it was private, and I shouldn't tell you...

What’s stopping me from just checking myself?

I guess you’re right... They are mostly pleased, despite your shortcomings.

Excuse me?

I I've already said too much... Isn't it 4:38:04 AM in your world currently? Recoil said he would return at 10:00:00 AM after he slept. Why aren't you sleeping?

I can't seem to sleep right now.

There are [19] medications currently stocked in the infirmary that help with multiple types of sleeping disorder. If you can be more specific, I can give a more accurate prescription for you.

I don't need medicine. I'm fine.

Then why are you here?

I came to transfer you into your body. Get it over and done with.

I have been told that in this exact scenario that without professionals, you may break something and revert all of our progress, or set the building on fire and die.

Seeker jumped back, insulted.

My employees told you to say this?!?

They listed ''proceeding with stupidly complicated tasks alone instead of waiting for a professional'' as one of the shortcomings.

Deadpan and rage mixed into a perfect portrait on Seekers expression.

Well, they aren't here, so what do you say? Don't you want to do this as fast as possible too?

I would rather wait for your employees to return.

Really?

Even though I know you don't know what you’re doing, I've locked the option to begin the procedure just to make sure.

You can't do that!

Cardinal slid the mouse back to the launch button and furiously clicked it without getting a reaction.

Ok, so you can do that...

Go to bed, Seeker.

Seeker looked at the message for a long while, then searched around the room before sighing and giving in.

What would help with stress induced sleep disorder?

Tamezapem, row 6, column 26, isle 2. Take one, and another half a dose if you haven't fallen asleep within 20 minutes.

Goodnight.

Goodnight.

Seeker switched off the program and shut the pc down. As she went to step off her cosy chair she flinched and decided against it. She then proceeded to magically push herself out of the room and down the corridor, riding the chair the entire way to her room, where she threw herself on her bed. Then a floating bottle from the medicine racks came over, covered in her purple aura. She pulled out a hooffull of pills and chugged them down without even batting an eyelash.

As the wooziness kicked in like a sledgehammer, she realized what in Equestria had just happened between her and Subject #19946. But the thought slipped away as quickly as she did into slumber.

She was out cold.


The morning sun rose, and for possibly the first time in history, every pony in the facility arrived on time and without complaining to each other about how they dreaded their jobs. Diamond immediately traveled to the infirmary, finding Seeker sleeping like an angle. Her baggy eyes, her ruffled hair and gentle snoring made him feel terrible for having to wake her from her blanket wrapped nest.

“Hey there baby...” Diamond pressed on her shoulder with the weight of a feather.

Wha..?” The word came out along with a strong slurring and deep gravel, as she barely even allowed a gap to form between her jaw and snout.

Diamond held himself back, “Sorry, are we not at the ‘baby’ stage yet..?” he asked, slightly embarrassed.

Huh?” Her right eye opened, the eyelid raising to half mast before its will to go any further gave. “Diamond...

“Yes, it’s me. Have you had a good night’s sleep?” He fixed up his uniform, trying to look as good as he can for Seeker. Or at least, for when she is slightly more aware.

Shshsh... Five minutes...” She nestled back up in her blankets, raising a sheet in front of her mouth and nuzzled into it.

“Are you sure? The guys are all getting ready to get Cardinal into her body, and I doubt I can make them wait much longer.”

“Ugh... Fine...” She cracked her neck several times and sat up with a stretch. She dragged the chair over with a fling of her horn and fell in it, needing help from Diamond to get her back straight against the chair. “Thank you... Diamond.” She was still discombobulated and slightly queasy from the unhealthy amount of sleeping pills she may have taken.

Wiping her eyes, she pulled herself along magically, getting stuck on the ever so tiny bump along the bottom of the door. Diamond pressed his head against the chair back and aided her with moving.

She was brought to the observatory with a resounding cheer, bringing her a smile and headache in equal parts. She was left to rest off to the side, where she was given a good view of both the computers, monitors and the room itself.

Inside the room, she saw the body hanging from an assortment of hooks from a stubby machine acting as a crane in the ceiling. Every part of it was spread out wide in its inanimate state. A thick, black wire ran into its skull and down to a socket in the wall. Her body was nearly identical to what was in the simulation, a few design tweaks here and there barely even set them apart. It was the first time she has seen this body in real life for more than a year, and maybe it was the fact she knew that this was reality or maybe the slight tints of rust along the edges and the tiny scratches along her plates, but either way it was terrifying and thrilling at the same time to Seeker.

As everypony grouped up around the computer, some peering in from out the door, and the two in the assembly room itself wearing hard hats, sitting on the two fold-ups off in the corner, prepared to fix anything. The pony hovered over the mouse with their hoof, starting a countdown.

“One,” they said, alone.

“Two,” said everypony, joining in.

“SEEKER SPARKLE!” Everyone turned to the outside, bamboozled by the appearance of this pony, her voice recognized by everyone in the facility.

Seekers heart plummeted to the bottom of her chest. “Mother...”

She turned her attention to the pony at the pc. “Just do it already, I’ll deal with her.” She sounded desperate, scared.

As the stunned pony blinked their way out of it and went to press launch, Twilight exclaimed again. “Don't you dare touch that button!” She strutted into the doorway, past the onlookers outside of it and into everypony's view.

Twilight Sparkle, the almighty Princess of Friendship.

She stood tall and prominent, more than a head higher than a regular pony. Her stance was powerful, hooves steadily stuck to the metal plated flooring, staring down over her muzzle at Seeker. Her eyes contained a hundred years of fire. They were worn with crows feet on each end, yet sharper than any blade known to pony kind. Her eyelashes raised up with elegance, hailing up to her mathematically precise mane cut, each hair sat in perfect parallel placement, collectively creating a solid, sharp fringe horizontally crossing her forehead. Her mane flowed down the flat surface at the back of her neck, progressively fading into a glowing chrome device sticking into her skin going across her front two shoulders. It had bright pink highlighted wires running all over it. It grew out almost an inch from her skin. The metallic device extended in front of her chest, looking like a detachable part to this otherwise permanent feature. It had the design of a classic chest piece that royalty would wear, and in the same fashion it held twilight's own cutie mark in the very for-front and center. The rest of her unclothed body revealed a living history, her side owning a garish scar moving like a lightning strike down from her spine to the bottom of her stomach. She had a wing stronger than a griffons, so wide they looked like they could reach to Canterlot from here. Her fur had pale patches, yet still heavily maintained. Her cutie mark's iconic white stars circling the large magenta symbol in the middle were as bright since the day it first appeared there, all those years ago. Her legs were composed of thick and tightly packed muscles, able to bend steel if she wanted to. Her chin was defined, chiseled as a statue, her muzzle long and fearsome with the hidden titans of teeth laying underneath.

The highlight of this marvelous figure was the needle tipped lance pointed to the sky from her skull. Longer than even Celestia's, and no doubt more terrifying.

Her voice seemed to echo even in the room padded to strictly prevent the exact thing. “Seeker.”

Her head tipped down and a constant shake, she stuttered back. “Y-y-yes?”

“Could we please go somewhere with some privacy? I need to speak with you.” Several of her personal guard walked past her and into the room, parting anypony from contact with the equipment spread across the room wide desk.

“Of c-course... Mother.” Seeker found herself in a flash of magic as she was teleported out into her own personal office, now sitting in her own chair. Swallowing her fear in an audible gulp, she asked, “What do you wish to speak to me about, Mother?”

Twilight Sparkle trotted around the room in silence, observing the photos on the walls. “I've been hearing rumors,” she stated eventually, still not facing her.

“What may they be about, Mother..?” Seeker hid her bandaged hooves under her desk.

“Do not conceal your injuries, my dear. Deceit will only make this worse.” Twilight said without even turning an eye toward her.

“I'm sorry.” Seeker placed her two front legs laying atop the desk, she looked up to her mother, not being acknowledged.

But when Twilight shot her head around, she metaphorically slammed her daughters down with her piercing eyes. “Is it true about your newest creation?”

Seeker still refused to admit what she knew her mother wanted to hear, “What do you mean, Mother?”

“I was told that it was the reason for those burns, and the reason for many more tragedies recently.” Twilight glided over and floated down into a chair she materialized in the air. looking across the desk at her daughter tremble.

“That is true, yes...”

“Then can you explain to me please, why I was also told that you’re using it as the final product?” Twilight's face hadn't changed in expression since she entered the room. It was unsettling, getting under Seeker’s skin.

“It’s because... It is what we were looking for... It has true emotion.” Seeker peaked with one eye from under her brow at the Princess sitting across her, frowning in silent disappointment.

“I'm sorry, can you please repeat that?” Twilight agonized her.

“It is what we’re looking f-”

“No.”

Seeker's head fell back into her chair as she lifted it up. “No?”

“No, it is not what we were looking for. I don't know what you think this project is for, but let me give you a reminder. I told you to find a way to artificially create and control emotional magic. I told you that it didn't matter how you went about creating it, as long as you could control it. That is what I was looking for, and you promised me you would be able to deliver.”

“An-and... And-” Seeker searched for words.

“And what, Seeker? It has been two years, and the best thing you have to show me is a mentally unstable computer program that has tried to kill you and expressed its desire to destroy the facility.”

Seeker was weeping, “W-who... Who told you..? Why..?”

“Does it really matter? Whoever it was told me everything, as is their civic duty. I have the transcripts, the footage. Everything, and I must say, I expected better from you.”

“B-but Mother! She is better now! Her and I have come to an understanding. All she wants is to delete all of the data on the computers, and we won’t need that anyways, once we have her!” Seeker frantically argued a losing fight.

She?” Twilight, for the first time in a very long time, turned to confusion.

“Oh, no... No, no, no...” Seeker smacked her forehead onto the desk, remembering having this conversion in her nightmares. Knowing what would come next, her mother denouncing her, disgracing her. Throwing her away.

“Did you just call the AI a she?!? It is not a she. It is an it. Seeker, have you lost your own mind? I've heard you've been spending a dangerous amount of time under a simulation. You know that abuse like that can lead to permanent brain damage.” Twilight showed a surprising sincere slice of concern.

“No, its fine, I'm fine. I-I I feel fine...” She was sweating, nauseous.

“Dear, you do not look fine. Please just be honest with me and let me help you.” Twilight shook her head, then muttered to herself under her breath. “I knew this was too big for you...”

Seeker, drying tears in her bloodshot eyes, pleaded. “Please! Don't take this away! This was supposed to be it! I am too close to stop now!”

“I should have let your sister take this on, she knows how to deal with pressure. I'm sorry I had you go through with this, I was a fool to think you were ready...” Twilight's anger and disappointment had been deflected to herself, mentally beating herself up.

“I am ready! Look what I did! She’s ready! She has real emotions! She showed me!” Seeker hollered like a street preacher, madness in her eyes.

Twilight shed a tear, then cracked a smile. “Don't worry yourself, dear. I'm not mad at you... To be completely honest, I would react the same way in my youth... I always thought that you took more after me than your father.”

“Mom...” Seeker's voice broke up, shaking helplessly.

“Come here, dear.” Twilight lifted up her hooves, and with a swift teleport, Seeker had moved herself into them, holding close to their embrace as she cried into her mother’s shoulder.

“Please, M-Mom, please...” Seeker whimpered.

“Its ok, baby, I'm here.” Twilight patted her distressed daughter on the back of the head, stroking her mane for comfort. “Everything will be fine. You need not worry about a thing.” Twilight's warm smile had grown. It had been forever since Seeker had seen it, but that was mainly because it had been a long time since she had seen her mother in general. Seeker only saw the news, the headlines, the interviews. Portraying Twilight as a fierce leader under Celestia's hoof, a genius with only acceptance for perfection. Those images overtook her thoughts of Twilight, making her forget the one truth that would never change.

Twilight was still her mother.

They hugged it out, sharing tears and love. Many minutes passed before they finally stood up and walked out together, where Seeker saw Twilight's smile fade away as she commanded her personal guard. Despite Seeker’s quiet disagreement, Twilight had every worker paid their final paycheck and told they were to leave and not be returning any longer. They were all escorted out, leaving none but Twilight and Seeker alone in the facility at the elevator, watching the last of them leave.

A great depression had swept Seeker. Twilight began to address her one last time about the topic.

“Dear, I am sorry about all of this. Will you forgive me?” Twilight placed her hoof under Seekers chin, bringing her gaze to meet her own.

Seeker, sitting on her new wheelchair sighed. “I am sorry too, Mother, and I forgive you.”

“Thank you. This entire project has been a thorn in my side for a long time. I've had many sleepless nights, just imagining how much you could be struggling. I just assumed since you never called that you were doing fine... That is what I told myself and I am sorry for not intervening sooner, as I should have.” Twilight beamed and found that her smile was in fact contagious as even Seeker smirked lightly as her head was let back down.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yes, sweetie?” Twilight listened.

“I forgot something. My drive. It’s in my office still, and I don't want to lose it if you’re going to be sealing this place up.”

“Of course, let me get that for you.” And with that, Twilight had popped out of her sight with another teleport spell.

Seeker's head jolted up, looking around the hallway and the elevator. Twilight had told her that she will be sealing the facility and guarding it until she is able to pour concrete into it in a few days as a permanent seal.

Seeker wasn't going to let that happen, at least not without getting Cardinal out first.

She knew that every entrance would be under heavy guard and her teleporting was nowhere near good enough to go more than a few rooms away, so if she wished to re-enter then she needed some way to not be spotted at close range.

Focusing on her inner strength she casted her own teleportation spell, opening her eyes to find herself in the engineer's concept workshop and with a quick glance she found what she was looking for. “Thank Celestia for bored employees!” she said, looking around the room. Hundreds of wacky gadgets were thrown about. Prototype Emotion-to-Energy Converters, Weather Controlling Drones and Plasma-Throwers were the first few to stick out for her. She finally found something she thought would help, levitating up a prototype invisibility device, the words ''Stealth-Buck'' scribbled with a scribe in the metal case at the top. Then another gun-looking item, with a syringe as the barrel, labeled with a piece of sticky tape, ''Sleep dart.''

“Perfect.” She smiled with glee, then as she went to teleport back before her mother realized she had disappeared, she spotted something from the corner of her eye. She rolled herself over to a large door in the side of the room that wasn't going into the rest of the facility. It looked like a fire exit. She swung the doors open with her horn and saw an emergency staircase that went so far up it had to get to the surface.

“Jackpot!” she said, flashing herself back to a few rooms away back to the hallway next to the main facility elevator.

She was pleased to see her mother was still gone, and she hid her new items behind her rump, but not for long, as within seconds, Twilight had appeared.

“You did not say where it was, but I think I found it.” Twilight floated her drive over to Seeker, who gladly received it.

Twilight saw her daughter’s new found glee. “I see you’re already feeling better. Just give it time, baby. You'll get there one day.”

“Thanks, Mom. I know I will.” Seeker genuinely agreed. She just had a closer date in mind than she presumed her mother did.

“Now, let’s get out of here.”

With a flash of Twilight's mighty horn, they poofed away.


H̛̛̀͡é̶͡͞͠l̸l̷̕͏ờ͘͟?́͟͝Is̶̢͞ ̕t͟h̴́͢is̨̀ ̨ţh͢i̸̡̡n̶͜g o͜n̸?

Ah! Beautiful!

This is Seeker Elsa Sparkle, Daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and commanding officer of The Emotional-Based Energy Generation Research Project, or as we call it, The Shy Project.

If you have not heard of me, or the facility I am referring too, then that means you’re one of the first ponies to see this tape. Our project has been kept a secret from the general public for the last two years, now I am recording this on its last day to ensure its exposure to the public.

The reason for this tape is that we are being shut down and Twilight plans to destroy all evidence of what we have done. We were evacuated this morning and forced to sign discretion contracts, and in a few days the facility will be filled with cement and forgotten about forever.

The main directive of the project was to replicate pony emotion, then harvest it for a near endless power source without hurting a single living creature. If we were successful then we would be able to stop all of the pollution, stop poverty, stop hunger... And maybe even end death.

Despite our good intentions, the way we went about doing so... It is something I now heavily regret. Using computer simulation, we tortured nearly 20,000 separate artificial intelligence programs, and only in the last few days have I learned that perhaps all of them were sentient, to a point where they might be considered living.

So you might believe that it is a good thing that we are being disbanded, and you are right. This tape is not for anypony to forgive my sins. Its sole purpose is to prevent such a horrendous tragedy from occurring in the future.

The network is still being torn apart, so I have managed to retrieve all of the computer logs, camera footage, and emails ever sent or received. I have spent the last several hours downloading them onto several drives that can be found along with this tape. I am sure that Twilight will soon learn about this and I may be arrested, or this data redacted. So I encourage you to make as many copies as quickly as you can.

As for me, there is one pony that is still trapped inside the facility. Her name is Cardinal. She was the last subject that was submitted to the torture, but she had passed the test. Me and several of my loyalists that I have came in contact with are going to sneak into the facility and rescue Cardinal. We will set her free and she will be allowed to live her life as any other pony.

Of course, I may fail. If I do, then I encourage anyone to press my mother until she admits to everything I have said here, and hopefully even get Cardinal her freedom.

I am sorry to everypony for my sins, please do not blame any of my workers, they were unaware of the atrocities we committed and they do not deserve punishment.

I hope the ponies of The Manehatten Journalist Society do their job well and expose this.

Thank you.

ş̨G̛̕A̶k̷̕͝͡ŗ̴́́͜m̶͟͠ģ̨̀̕͢í̸̴҉A̵͠͠:̧̨̛͝0̵̵̶̛h̢̀̕͢͠i͜͡͡a͘͞g͟͏̸.̨҉̷d̢͘͡g̢̧͜͞.̴̧̀͟͡.̷̧̛͟͞.̵̀́͡d̨̡̛̀̀g͞.̡͟͝ḑ͠.̶̷́̕͡g̴̸̷͠s͡͏͠.͡.́͞͞.̨̕͢͜.͘͟.̶̵͘.̢̢̨̕.́͜͞


“.̶̧̢̧̨.̡̨̛͞͠.͠͠-be here soon...” A voice came into reception.

“Alright, I'm ready once she gets here.” Seekers voice shivered, the sound of a chilly swoosh of air had hit her.

“Seeker what is that?” Diamond asked, concerned.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I should have warned you that I'll be recording this.”

“That's not ok, Seeker! I don't know what we,re doing here but from your message, I doubt it’s very legal. That's just leaving more evidence than we need to!” Diamond raised his voice before ruffling his coat as he looked around in worry.

“It’s only audio, and the only way it will be evidence would be if I am caught, and we’re fucked in that case either way.” The microphone was just a little black dangley cord pinned to the chest of her snow jacket. It was excessively sensitive, picking up everything from faint bird chirps to the cloth rubbing against Seekers jacket as she put on her saddlebag. The cord rattled with a sharp static.

“Where is Surrie? She's already a minute late...” Seeker’s steps crunched into the thick Manehattan snow, exploring around. The wind blasted heavier into the mic as the sound of the street was engorged. The wheel skid of car and carriages passing scrapped against the sound, muffling Seekers voice. “I see her!”

Diamond's words echoed from behind, seemingly in some sort of hallway. “Can you finally explain the plan now? I'm sick of standing out here in below freezing weather without even knowing what I'm going to be doing.”

“Alright, alright. Calm your flank down... Hey, Surrie!” They exchanged a hug, the fur on their jackets causing the audio to scramble again.

Surrie's voice came after a few audible shivers, “Seeker, aren't you still hurt? How are you standing right now?”

She laughed, “Lets just say my medicine cabinet is in a need for a painkiller refill.”

“Your one tough mare of a bitch, you know that?” Surrie's smile was deviant in her voice.

“It’s become clear recently, yeah.” Seeker continued their bonding session while Diamond drew to the edge of his patience.

“Seeker, please.”

“I know, I know... I called you two to help me with something.” Seeker brought them close and hushed her tone.

“My mother is destroying everything we have done in a few days and I don't know about you, but we were too close for us to stop now.”

The other two were bewildered, “That's what you called me for? Seeker, we were going to destroy it all anyway. I don't see what your point is.” Diamond argued.

“We left Cardinal behind, thats what I'm talking about. We can't leave her down there!” She rose her voice.

“Seeker, are you alright? You don't seem to be thinking straight...” Diamond worried.

“I agree with her.” Surrie came out of nowhere.

“What? Are you both crazy?” Diamond also raised his tone.

“I spent two years programming that fucking robot. Being that close to seeing it run in completion, its bothered me ever since I left.” Surrie's voice became more clear as she turned to Seeker. “What do you need us to do?”

“I'm going to sneak in there and launch the system, get Cardinal into her body and than sneak out with her.” She proudly stated.

“And what about us?” Diamond was nearly whining.

“I need you and your beautiful little behind to get to the backup surface generators and turn them on so the facility will have power, allowing me to go through with my part of the plan. And I'm going to need you to guard the generator until I get out.”

“But what if a guard finds me?”

“I dunno, kick his ass.” Seeker said with a monotone, deadpan voice.

She took a pause, moving to Surrie. “I need you to guide me through the process of transferring Cardinal into her body.”

Surrie was concerned. “Seeker, I can only tell you what to do if the program runs into some obstacle, but if the machines break, I haven't a clue what to do.”

“That's why Mecha is here.”

“Ye tha'is me, howya doin'?” A new, grizzled voice came from a few yards away.

“Agh!” Surrie and Diamond jumped, one of them even fell into the snow.

“Sorr' if I scared ya, didn't mean ta,” he said while walking towards them.

“He got here even before I did. I already filled him in.”

“Ohh yea! En I 'ere cause me robaw ain't goin' en up ash 'ome dam srap in 'oncrete.”

A silence overtook them for a solid ten or so seconds.

“Did anypony understand that?” Diamond asked.

“I think.”

“I got some of it...”

Mecha simply laughed.

“Anyways, he'll be with you, Surrie. Is everypony clear with the plan?” she addressed the group.

“Yes...”

“Of course.”

“Yeh I go' it dere boss.”

With that, they trotted out to a car parked on the street, the clipping sound of doors being released from their locks and then slammed back in a powerful wave of sound took up the next few minutes. The car engine roared to life in a thick rumble of continuous motion. The wheels squealed above the frost and concrete. The car went into motion. The horn shrieking and long waits between movement was common for the Manehattan traffic. Eventually, someone in the front switched on the radio, playing Pon3's classics, everything from The Pink Side of the Moon to Fly Like You.

After a long journey, the brakes shut against the tires, blaring out the squeal of friction as they came to a halt. The radio cut out again as the doors continued the beat for only a moment with their shutting.

“Alright, Surrie, I'll call you on my phone once I'm down there. Diamond, you know the where the surface generators are, yeah?” Seeker huddled up with them.

“Of course I do. Wish me luck.”

“I've got something a little better to give you.” The sound of lips coming together and then unwillingly separating was heard under the winds.

“Love you, babe,” Seeker said. “Love you too,” she heard back.

Snow crumbled in a fading pattern as he trotted away.

“You two, make yourself inconspicuous, but stay close enough to make sure my phone signal can reach you.”

“Good luck, Seeker. We'll be ready.”

“Yeah I 'ot a gooood fillin' bout this. Make 'ure a be safe, boss.”

“Cya, guys, good luck!” Seeker began trotting away from the two of them.

The only sounds apart from trotting from then on was the beep of the invisibility device being triggered.


1:08, Northern Gate.

The snow fell harshly into the construction complex. Guards patrolled back and forth at the gate of the site, shivering in their coats, leaning against the untouched steel beams creating the shape of an apartment complex, or a large office building. The progress on the build has been slower than any other construction project in the city. Months passing without ponies seeing any work being done, like the city had forgotten or ignored the entire project past the very foundations. The site was equipped with many equipment sheds, power generators, and even a functioning plumbing system. Although being built on the very edge of the city in a somewhat run down area, it was largely overlooked by everypony.

Two guards chatted at the entrance, and just like whoever lost their job being on camera duty, they were completely oblivious of the hoofsteps forming as Seeker walked right past them and under the red and white car barrier, and with an inaudible cocking noise, a syringe materialized out of thin air and shot through the small opening in the glass used for speaking with the security guard on the other side, who found himself attempting to scream out in pain as the needle stuck into his neck, but before he could even squeal, he fell back into his chair, leaving the cameras unattended. The steps trailed off further into the complex, past the camera's view. Although only seconds after the small imprints in the snow were created the heavy snowfall covered them up.

1:09, Facility Elevator Entrance.

The masterfully disguised elevator to the facility underneath was slightly more suspicious because of the six royal guards casually lounging around the otherwise perfectly hidden entrance made to look like the temporary builder restroom to the construction site.

The chances of entering it if somepony were to perhaps sneak in, even with invisibility, was bar to none. Which is why no evidence of Seeker was seen on this camera, as would probably expected as it was the only known route to enter the facility. Well, only known route by the Guards, at least.

1:14, Eastern Face.

With only two guards taking turns on patrol, moving from fence to fence as commanded to make sure nopony climbed over them, one was making his way back from his thirty minute shift, going to wake the pony sleeping with his lantern for heat outside of a locked utility shed filled with tools, using the overhang as a shield from the snow.

What they couldn't possibly expect was the cocking noise coming from behind the one patrolling and into the chest of the one asleep as a syringe seemingly popped into existence. It popped into their veins as they collapsed, completely unconscious. Then the lock of the utility locker bust itself open and the door gently swung outward.

The hoofsteps ended at the doorway.


1:10, Western Street External.

A nervous blue stallion traveled around the sidewalk of the construction site, looking for something.

Near the corner of the site’s fencing was a garage door leading into some generators, presumably for a fuel tanker to enter. In front of the entrance was a Unicorn guard, wearing his full gold glazed plate armor stuffed with extra fur beneath for the cold.

Diamond strolled up and stopped directly in front of the guard, looking at him nervously.

The guard motioned for Diamond to move on but instead he attempted to begin a conversation.

As the Unicorn drew his spear, Diamond redirected his attention by pointing his hoof to the top of the fence.

The brief second the guard glanced away, with one painfully powerful punch across the cheek the guard was flung back against the steel of the garage door.

Diamond preceded to stare at his hoof with amazement and shock. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't seen, he quickly dragged the body around the corner and in behind a bin. The Earth Pony then went to the side of the door where he swiped some form of ID across a scanner, the door slowly folded up and into the building, allowing him to enter.

The door slammed shut and the scanner turned red again as the door locked.

1:13, Generators.

The lights flickered on as Diamond trotted into the chilled heart of the generator room, two large cylinders stuck into the ground met in the center with a control panel. Busting it open with a good swing against its lock, Diamond was able to flip the mains.

A low rumble was picked up by the camera. The generators roared to life with flashing red lights and a visible shaking. Diamond backed off as they sped up in their rotation. The blaring sound of a wind tunnel was now being emitted by each generator.

Diamond searched around. Finding a tool rack nearby, he snagged a broom and lodged it against the door knob. Then he went and pulled the shutters down on each of the tiny windows that were placed where the wall met the ceiling all around the walls facing outward.

After he finally felt safe, he sat down on a short metal stool that was thrown onto the ground.

And then he waited.


The emergency exit in the engineering lab shook, a purple magic lashing against it before long the doors bust open to reveal Seeker, no longer invisible, making her way into the room. She flipped the light switch on the other side of the room and the lights shone brightly. She smiled at Diamond’s success.

She lifted up a phone into the air and input a number, and without letting the first ring go by, she was answered.

“Hey Surrie, I'm in and the power’s up.” Seeker strolled around the room, looking at the technological beauties scattered along the tables and floor.

Hey S̛e̵e͢kér! ͘We̡'r͜e͢ ready when ̵yo̕u ar̶e.” The signal wavered, but was understandable nonetheless.

“I'm making my way to Cardinal right now. I'll tell you when I'm there.” Seeker hopped through the sliding door, finding herself a few rooms off the main elevator. Walking through the lounge and down the corridor to her left, she had made it back to the transfer room.

Entering the observatory, she found the launch pc. She sat down in the office chair and took a deep breath.

She lifted her phone to her ear. “I'm there, just tell me what needs to be done.”

Al͜r͝ig̀ht̛, See͘ḱer͜, once you activate the program, it should just do all the work by itself, although it’s not exactly something we've ever done before, so you should expect some bugs to pop up. Just tell me what it says and I'll guide you through a ̀fix.

Mecha also gave his input, “Aǹ' you're gonna need ta be close ta de robaw, in case the wires fall out.

“Right. Got it.” Seeker booted the computer up, nervously tapped the table while waiting, then, without hesitation, opening up the program again.

Hello..?

Cardinal! It’s me! I've come back for you! Seeker frantically typed.

For the first time while messaging Cardinal, there was a delay. Perhaps of shock, or delight?

Thank you, thank you!!! I thought I wasn't ever going to get out! I saw what happened on the cameras when everypony was forced to leave.

I know you were scared, but don't worry. I'll be starting the transfer process in just a second, so I don't think we'll be able to talk again until it’s over in a few hours. So anything you want to tell me?

Excuse me, but I cannot find any words in your language to express my gratitude, so I hope you don't mind me speaking my own.

Please, go right ahead.

<3

See you on the other side, Seeker responded with a slight hesitation as a cheesy smile on her face and a tear in her eye.

See you too.

Seeker launched the program, a progress meter appeared in the center of the screen and a console in the top left, thousands of lines of text whizzing by as it began the transfer.

“You said I need to be with the body, right?” Seeker stood up from the chair looking into the room.

Yeah, tha's wha' I shaid boss. Jus' in case, ya k͢now?

“Yeah, I know.” Seeker gained a devilish grin then lifted the chair she was just upon magically and with a flick of her head it came crashing through the mirror, shattering it into millions of shards.

Seeker what was that sound!? Are you ok?” Surrie came in over the phone

“I'm feeling great! Just making a shortcut to the body.”

Don't scare me like that! This is terrifying enough already, I don't appreciate your new anarchist solutions making it worse.

“I'll warn you next time, kay?” Seeker let the phone drop to her side, trotting into the room in awe.

The thick black wire coming from the wall and into the skull of Cardinal's body had been gently filled by a strange light blue liquid until it reached the body. The wire glowed brightly, a strong aura now existed around it. As it poured into the body its eyes flashed with a pale blue flicker.

Seeker, while gaping at the sight, flipped the monitor around to face her and in a few moments she turned to look at the progress.

It started slow. One percent flashed brightly just before it turning to a two. The bar unnoticeably growing at its current pace, Seeker took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down from this excitement.

Lifting her phone once more, “Program’s running. So far so good, guys.”

That’s great. Just please be observant and focus. You’re going to be there for a while.

“Will do.”


1:56, Generators.

Diamond struggled in his fight against sleep, his head jolting up every few seconds after a slow descent. He hadn't been caught yet, neither has he heard any signs of guards in the building.

His mobile sat at his side, awaiting a call or text saying that he can finally leave and be done with this mess.

He yawned, his head backing into the concrete wall.

“Fire? Dude are you out there or not?” A voice shouted from the outside, Diamond fell on his face off the stool.

After scrambling to his hooves he ran up and pressed his ear against the door, faintly hearing the pony through it, “I swear on Luna's grave, if you fell asleep I'm going to kick your ass!”

The sound of a door opening came from the direction of the construction and echoed throughout the loading bay outside his room.

Hoofsteps against the stone flooring rang as the pony traveled through the room, moving further away until he began rattling the door to the outside.

“Fucking Tartarus! FIRE, I SWEAR, YOU BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR!”

Without receiving a response after a few seconds, he shouted again, “I'm going to get Erosion to open this door! You better be awake by then!”

The pony stormed out and struck the door he entered in closed, Diamond took a sigh of relief.


“Yes, I did that, but nothing happened! Are you sure that is what I'm supposed to write?” Seeker shouted at her phone that was sitting in the sole of her hoof while having the other hoof on the mouse, clicking with all of her hearts content. Her horn was a bright beacon, pressing buttons on the keyboard in exceedingly amazing speed.

I am completely sure! That line should fix the circulation problem. Are you sure that’s what’s wrong? Check the status again and please hurry before something blows up!

“I told you what the status says. The problem hasn't changed!” Seeker dropped her forehead against the desk, “Ughh...” She wiped her eyes with her right hoof and looked back up at the screen, noticing a small typo in the line of code she's been trying to insert. “Oh.”

Oh!? Oh what?

Seeker, fixing the typo faster than a mafia boss a wrestling match, lied through her teeth. “Oh nothing. It worked. Your code I mean. It was just... Lagging?”

For fuck’s sake, Seeker, what have I said about scaring me!?

“I know, but it’s fine now.” Looking over her shoulder, the wire was no longer in a perpetual state of about to blow up.

“Alright, now onto fixing the leaks...” Seeker stood up, a blow torch and welding mask flying to her.

“Surrie, get Mecha back on the phone.” Seeker fiddled with the gas line entering the blowtorch until it burst into full flame, the welding mask came down her face with a clank.

“Mecha you there?”

Yeah, I'ma 'ere boss.

“Alright, how do you operate this crane thingy?”

The body hung from the ceiling by a series of carbon fiber coils coming from a steel framework that allowed for manipulating the bodies position in all three dimensions.

There like, one o' dem control dillyo's with the movin' sticks.

Seeker looked around for whatever the fuck he just said and found a yellow controller with several coloured joysticks, connected by a wire to the roof attachment, laying off in the corner near the many other tools.

Fidgeting with the knobs, she found the one changing its height. Seeker lowered the body down to her eye level, seeing the droopy blue goo dripping down in disgustingly sounding drops onto the floor into puddles. “Ok, Mecha, how do I open it? Is there a service hatch somewhere?”

Agh yeah 'er is boss, down un'er its stomach, 'hers a lil' latch bit ya can open.

“Underneath... Fine.” She sighed and got on her back, mane scrubbing against the blue goop, becoming sticky and gross feeling.

With only one or two splashes landing on her mask before she opened Cardinals chest, her ''blood'' pouring out from a metal piping that seemed to have burst under the pressure.

“I got it open, oh Celestia, this shit actually reeks... What now?”

Jus' gotta apply de patch an' add heat until it melts, 'hen let it cool and it'll be all shealed.” The phone was lying at her back legs, the speaker on max volume just getting to her ears from under the large steel mask.

“Its that easy, is it? Well here goes nothing...” Seeker did as he said, patching up leak after leak. After a good length of time, at a point where she had started sweating from the thousands of degrees flame in front of her face, only a thick sheet of steel and glass slowly acting as a heat sink as it became warm.

She was finished and raised the body before standing up and wiping herself clean. “Is it bad if some of the blue shit is now on the ground and in connection on me?”

Nah, should be fine. There is a lot of spare fluid in the tank, the bot should be still filled.” Surrie had taken the phone back from Mecha.

“What I meant to say was, will it poison me, or melt through my skin?” she said, wiping her mane with an oily, greasy cloth.

An awkward silence became the three of them.

“Guys..?” Seeker asked in a worry.

Let's just focus on the task at hoof, why don't we?” Surrie said with no idea of what the answer would be to her question.

“I swear, you two are fucking dead if my mane decays into ash before I leave here.” She put down the phone and cloth on the desk, returning to the computer.

“Surrie... I got another one.”


2:32, Generators.

Diamond, after getting every single loose object in the room and pinning it against the door, stood with his ear against it, far more awake than he was half an hour ago.

He nearly had a heart attack when the door outside his room was kicked open, “Fire! Erosions here!”

They waited for a response, but didn’t get one.

“I swear he does this all the time. I don't know how he hasn't been court martialed yet... It’s getting on my fucking nerves.”

A new, higher pitched stallion voice was also heard. “I'll report him to Lionheart tomorrow... Is this the door?”

“Yeah, you can open it right?”

“I've got access for every door on the site,” he said, a high beep following shortly.

Fire, I fucking told...” His voice faded away.

A minute of Diamond hyperventilating passed before they ran back into the building.

“Where in Equestria is he?” They sounded more panicked than aggressive.

“He was supposed to be there! Did you see that dent in the door? Do you think he got jumped?”

“I don't know. Let’s look around first. He has to be close by.”

Steps became louder as one of the guards approached Diamond’s door.

“Hey... Are the lights supposed to be on in there?”

“No, those are the generators. Lights only turn on if they”re running.”

The door rattled as the pony pressed against it in an effort to bust it open.

Diamond fell back onto his hind end, backing off until he was against the safety fence around generator.

“Erosion, can you unlock it?”

“Uh... I don't think that door is supposed to be locked.”

“Well it is, can you just open it?”

“I guess...”

Several keys rattled and were inserted one by one into the keyhole, none of the attempts ending up successfully. The one not opening the door shouted through, “FIRE, DID YOU LOCK YOURSELF IN HERE TO SLEEP? YOU BETTER HAVE NOT OR I WILL BREAK YOUR FUCKING TEETH.”

“None of them work... Are you sure its locked?” Erosion said, going for the handle and being stopped by the collection of furniture lying against the door.

“I think...” He slammed against the door with a shoulder tackle, making the slightest headway in opening it, just barely stopping before there would be a crack they could see through. “Its jammed.”

“Come on, together then,” Erosion said.

“Nah mate, I got this,” the other responded.

“You sure?”

“You don't know many Earth Ponies, do you?” he said, leaving a long silence flowing through the building.

Diamond fumbled his way over the fence, trying his hardest not to touch the generator, which was roasting to the touch, as he made his way to cower behind it to hide from the two outside about to barge in.

“FIRE, I'M COMING IN,” he said, with barely a second passing as he barged through the door, obliterating it into wooden shards and snapping the brooms and stools holding him back.

Now in Diamond’s room, the beefy blue stallion shouted aloud, “FIRE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

Erosion entered in after him, a grey unicorn with many scars. “I don't think he's in here. Especially since that probably woke everypony in the city.” He walked up to the main switch, seeing how both generators were running. “I think we may have an intruder...” he said, his magic encompassing the lever.

“NO, DON'T!” Diamond leapt out of his hiding place, slapping the Unicorn across the face and than protecting the lever with his body.

The two guards looked at each other and back at Diamond.

A few minutes later, after a harsh beating, Diamond was dragged out in hoofcuffs and the generators shut down.


The transfer has been going smoothly, compared to what they estimated at least. In fact the process has been much faster than expected, the progress bar reaching ninety percent already.

“Home stretch guys!” Seeker smiled, covered in even more goop than before.

It like, ain't nothin' can go wrong now.

Seeker flew the phone against the side of her face, speaking faster than normal. “Excuse me what did you just say.”

“I shaid, ain't nothin' ca-”

“Yeah, please don't say that. I don't want to...”

The light above her flickered before staying off permanently, the monitor shortly doing the same. “... Jinx it.” Her smile fell into ultimate agony and anger.

“OH FUCKING CELESTIA!” She exclaimed, throwing her phone against the desk and cracking the screen with a few sparks.

She shook her head, took a few deep breaths and lifted the phone again. “Guys, we have a prob-”

Hello, officer!” Surrie's voice came over the signal, not directly speaking into the phone.

“Guys?”

Miss, what are you two doing in this area? This is for restricted personnel only.” A new voice of a mare came from the distance.

Oh nothing... We were just...

Can I please see your ID?

Um...

Driving license?

About that...

If you have no identification, then I am forced to detain you under suspicion of breaking and entering.

Ah... Fu-

The call ended on their end, leaving Seeker alone in the dark.

She ran around in a panic, throwing wrenches and hammers at the plentiful amount of computer screens around the room, screaming in frustration at each swing.

After throwing a fit, she found herself standing in front of the body, looking into its eyes. Her horn shining out a bright light allow her to still see. She began weeping, softly caressing Cardinal's cheek with her hoof.  “I'm so sorry... I'm-m, mm... Sorry, Cardinal... I-I... I tried... I really did...” She shut her damp eyes, bleeding out tears in a powerful typhoon. She leaned over and threw her hooves over Cardinal in a tight hug. She started shouting with an almost psycotic rage and disappointment in herself, “Two years... Two years! Two fucking years I've worked to have you! And now I fucked it all up! I should have trusted you earlier! I should have been kinder when I had the chance... I was just scared. I was worried I was wrong about you! But I wasn't, you were real! Fuck the prime objective, I didn't care about saving the world! I just wanted to save you... I love you...” She whimpered down into a somber sulk.

She let her spell drop. Pitch black darkness fell over the room as the sound of tears dripping onto a metal surface echoed.

She pulled away, looking back into her eyes, noticing that they were still glowing, the power inside was still there. She might be able to save her still. She jumped into action, thinking of any possible way to fix this. All she needed was to generate enough power to finish the transfer...

Her head jolted up as she flashed out of the room with a few uses of teleport, finding herself inside of the engineering lab. She lifted up a device that looked like it could be attached to one’s skull. It had a long cable running out of it and lots of exposed circuitry. It was the first prototype of the device that they would use to suck the magical, emotion based power out of the AI and convert it into real world electricity.

“If the simulation programs can run on me, I don't see why this wouldn't.”

She flashed back to the transfer room, launching a chair underneath her as she plugged in the helmet into a hole in the wall she just shot into existence and connected the wire with the mainframe.

She strapped the helmet on, sitting in front of Cardinal. With a few tears in her eye she flipped a switch on the side of the helmet, springing it into action.

The next few minutes were the most painful of her life, feeling like a thousand lighting bolts were melting her skin every second, her heart was being stabbed through and through again with every beat. She flailed back and forth, falling off her chair as she began to roll on the floor, screaming in unyielding agony.

And this was while on painkillers.

Luckily for her, the prototype short circuited before too long, but even a few minutes of emotion like that had powered the facility completely, every light flickered back on as the computer woke up and finished the transfer in only another twenty minutes, of which Seeker was awake for none of them, as the pain had left her unconscious from shock.

When she finally awoke, she felt sick in the stomach. All of her nerves were shot. The device still emitting black smoke from the short circuited wiring.

Although it was all worth it, as clearly seen in the delighted, euphoric, utterly blissful smile as she opened an eye to see Cardinal speak for the first time.

“Thank you, Seeker. Thank you.”