//------------------------------//
// A Chat With Dad 
// Story: Just Be Happy 
// by NuclearPony 
//------------------------------//

Part 1

"Hey kiddo. What are these cutie mark things supposed to be?"

Devin tilted his head to the side to spot the pair of cowboy boots that indicated his dad’s presence. Laying underneath the truck like this he couldn't see anything besides the boots, but didn't have too to imagine the look of confusion on his dad’s face over trying to grasp the rules behind a magical land of talking ponies originating from a cartoon that had first aired back when he was still working on oil rigs in the freezing arctic ocean.

"Hey Dad. Kind of depends who you ask, you want my personal head cannon?"

"Your personal what now?"

Devin grinned, realizing he hadn't talked pony with anyone in over a year. "Well from a practical stand point, cutie marks are something that happens to ponies when they're young. They coincide with a moment of self realization and are supposed to be indicative of that ponies future destiny; for example the colt who got a bee hive cutie mark might expect to grow up to raise bees for a living."

"Oh. Is that all there is to it?"

"Depends on how you define destiny. I think the biggest mistake a lot of people make when thinking of cutie marks is they get these ideas about their ultimate destiny. To my mind cutie marks are a lot like a moral compass than a map of the rest of your life. Hmm, how to put this..." He tapped his chin contemplatively with an oily wrench.

"Try thinking of a song, that always works for your brother." The brother who has already uploaded along with everyone else in the family. Some people like to speak of the folks who have uploaded in past tense but not Devin and his dad.

Devin laid his head back on grass and thought for a moment before humming a line from a recent... now old song. Its not like a whole lot of new material had come out recently. "I don't know where the journey will end, but I know where to start."

"I see. And new immigrants get these how?"

Easy answer there. "Celestia picks it for you, along with a new name. From what I gather she does this based on what she learns of you from your prior interactions with her over stuff like the pony pad."

There was silence for a bit as his dad thought before asking. "And you ain't ever owned one of those? Even though you were one of them Brony guys?"

"Still am a Brony. And nah I ain't ever had one. Friends all wanted me to get one to play with them, but I kinda took a look at how good that thing was doing at beating Turing tests and getting to know people, and that combined with the nature of what an optimizer is set all these alarm bells ringing in my head."

"Alarm bells?"

Devin nodded in the limited space below the truck, blowing out a breath between his teeth as he once again thought about what he had been able to discern about the AI called Celestia. "Yeah. As a technocrat, I was definitely looking forward to AI and the singularity, but I'm still enough of a redneck to also recognize this whole uploading thing as what it is."

"And what’s that?"

He went silent for a bit. "Dad I'm not trying to talk yah out of uploading, I know you got cancer and I whole heartedly approve of you going through with this finally. Lord knows it’s been weird watching this towns population get smaller and smaller, to the point where some days it feels like were the last two people in the world."

"Ah, just spit it out already kid, don't sugar coat it." His dad growled.

Devin replied abruptly with no softness in his voice. "Celestia can make you happy. Like, just ludicrously insane amounts of happy. She was designed to satisfy your values and seemingly she can do that to a degree that I doubt even god could accomplish."

"...But?"

"But to do this she pretty much controls the world you live in once you upload. To an extent she even controls your mind. Dad, you aren't in charge of your happiness or your direction in life anymore once you upload. She is. There can be joy and safety, but no independence in a world with a perfect god, she owns your destiny."

Silence stretched out.

After a few minutes his dad leaned down on one knee to look under the truck and speak face to face with his son. "Does that bother you? Not being in control?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Devin took a deep breath, saying what they both knew he was going to say. "Its why ah ain't following you guys yet. It’s why I've got to keep you and the rest of my family and friends waiting and wondering if I might die and never follow you at all. I've got a life to live while its still within my own power to decide how I live it."

"But you will upload some day? When do you think that will be?"

Devin grinned wide and replied in a jaunty fashion. "When I'm older and I'm wiser. When I've done all I want to do, instead of having it done for me. When I've sailed the Arctic and explored the Saharan. When I've read all the books and gotten tired of building stuff with my own hands. When I'm damn good and ready."