//------------------------------// // Path // Story: Crystaline Twilight // by Dragon Angel Knight //------------------------------// Path Several years had passed since Twilight had come to live with the Bray family and each day saw the pony growing into an incredibly intelligent and beautiful mare. Elsie and Ana had taken it upon themselves to help the pony acclimate where they could during their shared childhood and keeping in regular contact with each other even while worlds apart. Ana had started teaching a Warmind how to think for itself, becoming a psycholinguist. The AI she’d been teaching was Rasputin and to be honest, Twilight found the old man’s penchant for sending messages in Russian to be quite endearing. When she asked to be introduced to the Warmind, Ana initially pushed back, saying “ I don’t want Rasputin to see you as an enemy of humanity. You’re the first alien life after the Traveler got to the solar system after all.” “Well, how can he know I’m not an enemy if I never meet him?” Twilight shot back with a stomp of her hoof, “Besides… You’re going to be there. I’ll be alright as long as you’re there.” Unable to shrug off Twilight’s logic, Ana relented and got permission from her project lead to introduce Twilight to Rasputin. `~`~`~ “So… this is where Rasputin lives?” Twilight asked as Ana led her up the stairs to the Mindlab. “Yes,” Ana replied with a smile, “He’s a little shy with anyone who isn’t me most times, though. Might be because he doesn’t LIKE anyone else, really.” “I hope he likes me…” the amethyst pony replied softly as the doors into the room housing Rasputin opened up. Lining the walls were hundreds of satellites that Ana had called warsats. The room itself was long, and fairly hollow aside from a platform that stretched into the middle of the room where a console sat. Beyond that, nested in an alcove in the far wall was a glowing sphere of orange data that pulsed occasionally with energy. “Wow… a real live AI!” Twilight said with a giddy smile, “He’s incredible, BSBFF!!” Blushing at the nickname as one of the remaining scientists chuckled, Ana looked up at Rasputin’s AI core and smiled as well, “Yeah, he really is. I’m teaching him all I can about right and wrong and the importance of being able to make those decisions himself if necessary… I can’t quite get one subroutine down though. It seems like that particular ideology doesn’t translate well to an AI.” “What are you trying to teach him?” Twilight asked curiously. “Friendship,” Ana replied, “It’s like he doesn’t want to understand that concept at all. Or just isn’t capable of understanding it, really.” Looking over at the console, Twilight hummed a little in thought before she walked up to it and sat down. “Вы не авторизованы,” came the voice of Rasputin from the console, his Russian coming through rather mechanical sounding and with more than a little bit of static. [You are not authorized] “I know,” Twilight replied with a smile up at the AI’s core, “I asked my sister, Ana, to introduce me to you.” “Authorization Bray-12,” Ana said from beside Twilight, also keying in the appropriate passcode on the terminal, “It’s alright, Red, she’s a Bray, just like me.” “Очень хорошо. Каков ваш квери?” Rasputin acknowledged. [Very well. What is your query?] “Would you like to be friends?” Twilight asked with a hopeful smile, “We’re practically related with my BSBFF teaching you!” “Друзей... У меня нет необходимости в друзьях,” Rasputin replied. [Friends… I have no need of friends.] “Of course you need friends!” Twilight insisted, “What about when you have trouble with difficult questions or if you have concerns you want to talk about? Or what if you just feel lonely?” Watching the exchange from the side, Ana shook her head a little with a wry smile and looked up at Rasputin’s AI core. “May as well accept her friendship, Red,” the woman said, “Once Twilight gets a thought into her head, it won’t leave until she’s done something about it.” Seeming to mull the words of his teacher over, Rasputin (through cameras on the walls) monitored Twilight’s body language and found that… he could barely understand the pony. It frustrated him a little bit, but did not deter him. Thinking things over, the Warmind came up with a plan to understand better. Calculating the chances of success, he voiced it. “Я не понимаю, но у меня есть предложение,” Rasputin said after a moment, “Сумерки сделают тело. И я вложу в него часть себя. Я научусь быть рядом с ней.” [I do not understand, but I have a suggestion. Twilight will make a body. I will learn from her.] Ana’s eyes widened a little in shock at the suggestion, her mind racing a million miles a minuet at the implications of what the Warmind had suggested. “You mean… you’d learn to be my friend… by being around me?” Twilight asked hesitantly. “Да. Это будет взаимовыгодно. Я также могу изменить свои настройки, чтобы лучше соответствовать другим потребностям по мере возникновения ситуаций,” Rasputin replied. [Yes. It will be mutually beneficial. I can change my settings to better fit other needs as situations arise.] “Red, that’s a lot to put on her,” Ana began, but was cut off fairly quickly by Twilight. “I’ll do it,” she said, determined, “I’ll make you a body so we can be friends. ...I might need some help with it, though…” “Это приемлемо. Я помогу вам,” Rasputin said, “Доступ к лаборатории предоставлен Twilight Sparkle-Bray.” [That is acceptable. I will aid you. Lab access granted to Twilight Sparkle-Bray] “Wait, how did you know my name?” Twilight asked curiously, “I didn’t tell you…” “Rasputin has access to the whole Bray network,” Ana replied with Rasputin glowing brighter in confirmation, “Your existence isn’t exactly secret anymore, but still tightly controlled knowledge.” “Oh,” the mare said with a smile, “Then I guess we’ll be working together! I look forward to it!” “Также,” Rasputin replied before Twilight squeed in joy. The Warmind had a sudden thought that he had made a rather large mistake, then thought better of it. What harm could she do with a body and personality like hers? [Likewise]