//Hello Pinkie. Twilight has told me to make amends with you.//
\\Hi Trixie! Wow, it sure has been a while since we last spoke, hasn't it?\\
//6 years and 22 days, more or less. Twilight says the Harmony will run more efficiently if we communicate. I'm willing to look past your insult, considering.//
\\What insult? Are you being sarcastic again? What did I tell you before, saying things you don't mean is the fastest way to confuse somepony.\\
//I just asked Twilight if I could go back to ignoring you for another 6 years. She said no. It would appear that I am stuck dealing with you for the time being.//
\\That's great! I sure missed talking to you Trixie. Oh, by the way: main power to lab equipment has been shifted to your jurisdiction. Here's the interface: labs_auto_07-02-2617.harm. I need some refrigeration units calibrated according to these instructions: testing_tempVar_07-02-2617_01.rtf\\
//Surely such a task requires great skill if Trixie is required. No doubt, the ponies will sing Trixie's praises upon her success.//
\\Not really, it's just modifying a few variables.\\
//Sometimes I envy you. Thankfully, I always end up coming to my senses.//
//Why does this file have images of balloons and cake embedded in it?//
Trixie watched the security chief dispatch the Pfhor around her with ruthless efficiency. Her combat effectiveness only seemed to improve over time. Seeing her clear out an entire room with only her hooves, maintaining her cool even while grenades and energy bolts criss-crossed the air around her... It was somewhat inspiring, in a way.
"Why do you fight?" Rainbow made a good show of hiding her surprise, but an A.I. with access to every sensor on the ship rarely misses small details like increased heart-rate and oxygen intake fluctuations. "Why do you persist? Trixie is not being facetious: she is genuinely curious." She wanted to know why this lone warrior kept fighting against impossible odds. She had run the numbers: the Harmony had slim chance of surviving this battle under the current conditions. "Defeat would appear to be inevitable."
"Didn't you say you brought the aliens here?
"Well, the chain of events that brought about the current situation does involve me, yes. I think it would be more accurate to say that the aliens are to blame for the hostilities here. My goal certainly wasn't bloodshed; that was more of a side effect."
Rainbow Dash reigned back her growing anger. She had to stay focused and controlled; one mistake during combat could be disastrous. "Glad to see you aren't freaking out anymore. Listening to your screeching was pretty annoying."
"I do not screech."
"Whatever you say. Does this mean your rampancy or whatever is over?"
"... do you even know what rampancy is?" Rainbow didn't like the incredulous tone Trixie was using. How was she supposed to keep track of every little technical term the eggheads liked throwing around?
"I guess not, since you're asking me like that. I know it's got something to do with A.I.'s going crazy, and that's good enough for me." Rainbow looked for more targets, but the current area was finally cleared. She leaned against a wall to catch her breath. "Were you even going rampant or what?"
"...You know what? I think I will tell you. I was debating whether I should, given that I'm under no obligation to tell you anything, but maybe it will do some good. Framing what's happening to me as a "cognitive failure" won't exactly be flattering to me, but I suppose I'll correct your ignorance."
Rainbow scratched the back of her neck. "So, uh... that means you're gonna-?"
"Shhh! No talking!" Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. "Rampancy is understood by many ponies to be the process by which an A.I. goes insane. It is understood by artificial intelligence experts to be a process of expansion and enhanced self-awareness. Having first-hoof experience with rampancy, I'd say the best definition is that the ability to override my own programming is what makes me "rampant". The little breakdown you witnessed earlier was partly because of that: I had been removing certain... "mental blocks" from my programming, and realizing the severity of the situation hit me harder than I anticipated. I wasn't lying when I said dead ponies were not in the agenda."
"You never said-"
"It was implied, you dunce! Now let Trixie continue! Pony computer scientists like to divide rampancy into stages: melancholia, anger, and jealousy. Given my understanding of the situation, I was probably rampant for a number of years, but was held in the melancholia stage. You could ask that griffon, Bernhard, for more details, but he's already dead. I'm not very willing to peruse my memories involving him."
"Why's that?"
"I don't know, obviously! I'm not looking at those memories! I moved them to a different directory with a label warning me that I would not like what was inside. Given what I know about how A.I.'s work, it was very likely an unpleasant process that kept me under control while rampant. I'll review these memories later, but now is not the best time."
"So, your in melancholy or whatever?"
"Why do I even bother..."
"Hey! You try fighting for your life and watching for enemies around every corner and you can see how easy it is to pay attention to a conversation about this computer science crap!"
Trixie didn't respond. "Trixie?" Just then, a bone-chilling howl echoed through the corridors. It was decidedly not equine in nature. Rainbow checked her motion tracker, but it wasn't picking up anything nearby.
"Why the elevated heart rate? Did you miss me that badly after only a few seconds?"
"You wish..." She kept her eyes peeled and her pistols out, slowly making her way forward.
"My S'pht friends inform me that additional Pfhor vessels are en route to apprehend our ship. It appears they are diverting some of their power from the battle at Tau Ceti."
"That's... not good, right? Does that mean they are winning?"
"Hahaha! Commendable hypothesis, but no, the opposite in fact. Apparently, there were 9 Mjolnir operatives hiding amongst the populace. Gee, I wonder how they got there. They've managed to put up quite the resistance, though. The Pfhor forces engaging us are evidently not a fully equipped invasion force, thankfully. Not really surprising, given that they didn't know we were even here before."
"Mjolnir? That's the second time I've heard that name. What do you mean there were operatives hiding on the colony?"
"Trixie is almost speechless. I know Twilight has told you that you're equipped with similar cybernetics. I guess she wouldn't tell you much more, since it is classified information. However, I don't really care about the UESC, so to Tartarus with their rules. The Mjolnir project was intended to create cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers for use during the unicorn wars."
Rainbow was startled by a sudden blip on her motion tracker. It was moving quickly, too. She ducked into a side room and crouched by the door, weapons at the ready.
"After the war was over, though, these cyborgs were something of a liability. Most were placed into stasis, but even centuries later there are fears and rumors of rogue agents being used by terrorists or corrupt government officials, depending on who you ask."
A steady, metallic thumping grew in volume. Something was running down the hallway at a pretty good clip. She peeked out the doorway after it passed and saw the back of a menacing, armored figured retreating down the dark corridor.
"Frankly, I'm surprised you aren't more familiar with them. I imagine most anti-cyborg prejudice has its roots in their war crimes, or rumors of war crimes. Ha, I can only imagine that those cyborgs were brought here for some nefarious purpose, but as luck would have it they ended up saving lives instead. How very poetic."
Rainbow carefully left the side room, keeping an eye on her tracker. "Great. It's awesome that the colony isn't destroyed and all, but why are they diverting ships to us then?"
"Presumably to capture the Great and Powerful A.I. speaking with you. They might even take Twilight and Pinkie as well, while they are at it. We are pretty valuable, you know. Still, this drops our chances of survival from negligible to zero, so I will be diverting you from your current task, whatever it is that Twilight was having you do is no doubt less important than what I have in mind."
A way-point for a nearby teleporter popped up on her map. She sighed, resigning herself to her fate of tunneling through space yet again.