The Dangers of Personal Growth

The attached documents are currently pending investigation from the Solar Corporation’s Risk Management Team.

The following documents were taken from the employee email communication servers and the AMIS Hard Drive post-incident, with personal notes filed under “private”.

Please note that the AMIS system should not have a “private” section of its hard drive. This security oversight is also under investigation.

Written for both Red Parade's FiddleDust Contest and Bicyclette's The Twilight Files Contest.

Chapters (13)

AMIS Private Files 1 · 27th Jul 2022 · 325 words
325
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Employee Email Records 1 · 27th Jul 2022 · 215 words
215
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AMIS Private Files 2 · 27th Jul 2022 · 410 words
410
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Employee Email Records 2 · 27th Jul 2022 · 284 words
284
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AMIS Private Files 3 · 27th Jul 2022 · 573 words
573
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Employee Email Records 3 · 27th Jul 2022 · 368 words
368
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AMIS Private Files 4 · 27th Jul 2022 · 478 words
478
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Employee Email Records 4 · 27th Jul 2022 · 1,017 words
1,017
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AMIS Private Files 5 · 27th Jul 2022 · 337 words
337
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Employee Email Records 5 · 27th Jul 2022 · 590 words
590
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AMIS Private Files 6 · 27th Jul 2022 · 455 words
455
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Employee Email Records 6 · 27th Jul 2022 · 627 words
627
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AMIS Private Files 7 · 27th Jul 2022 · 370 words
370
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Comments ( 29 )

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Kiper

Kiper #1 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

Well, that escalated quickly.

That was a cute story. Several parts made me burst out laughing.

Silent Whisper

Silent Whisper #2 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 1 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313172
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was a bit different than the traditional romance, but fun to imagine and hopefully worth it. Nothing like a story told (in part) from the diary of a sprinkler system!

Super Trampoline

Super Trampoline #3 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

Havent read yet but thanks for turning me on to the fact that Bicyclette has a epistolary contest.

Silent Whisper

Silent Whisper #4 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 1 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313186
No problem! Bike always has great contests! (And I feel you there, I didn't realize it existed until halfway through writing this and telling her about it. Fun surprise!) Hope you like the fic if and when you feel like reading it!

Screw

Screw #5 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 3 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

This was really well written, Wordsmith! Despite how short each chapter was, with help from that DALL E image, these have been very intriguing on all chapters! I would have thought that you might go with an 'ignore the danger' troupe, but this has been a breath of fresh air.

This short fic has definitely got me interested if there is some kind of sequel. Awesome work!

Silent Whisper

Silent Whisper #6 · Jul 27th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313540
Thank you! Your comment means a lot! I honestly hadn't thought about a sequel. What would be better, in your opinion: another story following Fiddlesticks and Lightning Dust, or another about the Solar Corporation?

star1wars3

star1wars3 #7 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 3 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

This was great, I like to imagine Missy got out somehow. She was a nice AI

Silent Whisper

Silent Whisper #8 · Jul 27th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313847
She is! I'm not sure how she would, since she's a sprinkler system, but it is a nice thought.

Screw

Screw #9 · Jul 28th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313836
I would be biased towards the Lightning Dust and Fiddlesticks ship though.

If you do have an intriguing description, and/or curious character dynamics (like how Fiddlesticks and Lightning Dust are forever odd but interesting pair), especially if it was as mysterious as this description, I might be down for this Solar Corporation. Especially if the creatures in question aren't just the ponies, if the Sparkle sector has any true meaning.

I wouldn't mind a sequel of those two again, but I have a feeling the Solar Corp might drag them into court and probably into poverty.

star1wars3

star1wars3 #10 · Jul 28th, 2022 · 1 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

11313851

But like a sprinkler tied to a server rack.

Light Striker

Light Striker #11 · Jul 28th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

This is really lovely.

EileenSaysHi

EileenSaysHi #12 · Sep 12th, 2022 · 3 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

I loved the slow burn here as it moves from a cute little romance between farmer and courier to an impending sense of doom. Poor Missy. Very nice work and innovative storytelling!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #13 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 1 ·

I’m not supposed to have favorites, according to the manual and the guidebooks and the large colorful signs that say DO NOT TAMPER WITH THE AI, but, then again, I’m not supposed to have a personality to begin with. Blame Fiddlesticks! She’s the one who installed this. She says it gets lonely out here.

hehe, already love the setting and character here! there's something so fun about the very clear and serious AI directives being flouted so whimsically

The laugh is simply a sign that she’s doing well. She is consistently happier at this time of the seasonal cycle.

aww, the plants are not the only thing Missy is tending after!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #14 · Sep 12th, 2022 · 1 · · Employee Email Records 1 ·

Hay fiddles it’s lightning dusk telling you that I’m going to be late another day sorry for the delay but the delivery ships had a bit of a run-in with a meaty ore and wait stop that computer meaty ore not meaty ore. Go back delete I need to fix it before I
<This message was sent to you by Dash’s Dashboard Messaging System!>

love the cheeriness of the signoff message! and the spelling mistakes are so true to the limitations of speech-to-text. also, "meaty ore" is a fun phrase

Okay send the massage wait no okay really now you decide not to

hahaha, perfect! also, love how Lightning Dust calls it "fancy dirt"

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #15 · Sep 12th, 2022 · 1 · · AMIS Private Files 2 ·

Per regulations, I have submitted her mental state to the Solar Corporation’s systems exactly as she self-reported. Fine.

aww, love the AI deciding not to read the subtext it can clearly read

I blame a below-mandatory-reporting-level super-localized gravity shift, since she was in a fine mental state and would never throw things in an odd fit of temper. When she exited the office, she appeared to be far less tense, and on the whole uninjured from the strange gravity shift.

so true (definitely see why the powers-that-be wouldn't want the AIs tampered with!)

Fiddlesticks says it is best to always slightly underestimate how many we can deliver by a few crates, so that when harvest time comes we usually look like we’re doing better than expected, within reason. It is against Solar Corporation’s regulations to falsify the official estimates, and I notified her, as was my duty.

cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/886641780152475668.webp?size=96&quality=lossless

I am not programmed to provide musical evaluation. Sometimes, I wonder if that was an intentional oversight on her part.

hehe, i can definitely see Fiddlesticks wanting to keep at least this part of her life illegible to her AI

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #16 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · Employee Email Records 2 ·

Should be good to arrive around oh 9 40 or something your time if nothing goes ducking wrong again and nothing will because I’m the best they’ve got. That’s why they limit me to one season in this system. They need to share me with everywhere else because of the numbers.

love this bit of justified Lightning Dust smugness, the best kind!

And I didn’t mind the shower it was funny to see your mane get messed up and you’re my favorite plant ha ha.

hehehe so cute!

Pls unlock the airlock? :) Also, no they won’t, and I’ve been very professional. I just happen to like ducks, and the act of ducking under things, and nopony can prove otherwise!

love the idea of "duck" being a contextual swear word in pony world. actually i love that so much i might steal it entirely

:(

aww!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #17 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 3 ·

Courier Lightning Dust arrived to drop off the first shipment of the season, and Lightning Dust’s delayed arrival has confirmed that her presence is what consistently improves Fiddlesticks’ mood. When I asked Fiddlesticks if I should report this positive trend to Solar Corporation, she declined immediately and far more vocally than her usual responses. I do not understand why. It is my duty to ensure that my long-term supervisor is happy.

augh i can just imagine how flustered Fiddlesticks would have been in that convo

She was too busy tidying up her office, and past attempts have indicated that this is an unwise time to ask her many questions about the nature of my existence and what qualifies as my duty.

yeah that is a pretty heavy convo!

Courier Lightning Dust has cut her mane once again. It sticks up short and straight this cycle.

gay

They embraced, something Fiddlesticks does not do with the other seasonal couriers.

gay

Lightning Dust did not depart. Her schedule shows that she was to return to the third planet in the system for her company-mandated break. When prompted, she said, in what Fiddlesticks has categorized as a friendly and non-threatening manner of speaking, that she is taking her break here in order to save fuel.

hehehe love that Fiddlesticks had to manually categorize how Lightning Dust talks for the AI

Fiddlesticks is happy: so happy I do not need to ask. The plants have been watered according to schedule. It is summer, and the greenhouse is filled with life and purpose once again.
Summer is all of our favorite season!

aww this is so nice! and the story is just more of this for the rest of it, right? right???

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #18 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · Employee Email Records 3 ·

Duty calls and those hornheads in the settlements are rowdy for strawberries, apparently.

i love this line so much. will definitely have to steal "hornheads" for myself

I am terrified to see what your ship can really do, because I know exactly how much you paid for some of those parts, and you already shouldn’t be able to pull off half the stunts that you manage.

aww, so fitting for Lightning Dust's personal ship to allow her to be reckless and dangerous

Also, Missy says she’s deemed you adequate company. She says you make me happy. Even the sprinkler’s on to us! She also clarified that you did not, in fact, use cement in your mane to make it look “just so,” but offered to prove it when you return. Leave me without a kiss again, and I might take her up on her offer!

hehe, love the "did not, in fact,", and the AI taking it up personally to prove that a Lightning Dust claim of all things was not reflective of reality. and aww, i am with Fiddlesticks here re: no kiss goodbye

Crap wrong email fiddles this is the company email no kissing in the company email be professional they might read it you know. Winky face.

hehehe

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #19 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 4 ·

Her behavior was strange: she stood there for a few moments after getting sufficiently watered, staring out the window towards the airlock.

aww she misses Lightning Dust!!!

That is why she altered me to be more “fun” and “happy” that can “make her feel less like she’s befriending her toaster out of desperation.”

so relatable

I think it would be best if Lightning Dust would return soon, and quickly. Fiddlesticks is less efficient when she is around, but she is much happier and more emotionally stable, and that is my company-assigned duty, to make sure that she is happy, and report it if she is not. After keeping the greenhouse alive, of course.

am loving the AI's assessment of the situation, as well as its priorities. i, too, strive to be less efficient but much happier and more emotionally stable.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #20 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · Employee Email Records 4 ·

Could you check your delivery sheet for the fertilizer you dropped off? I don’t recognize this brand or type. It’s in Kirin or something, I can’t read what it says. How much are we supposed to add to the containers?

oof, and given that Fiddlesticks was fertilizing the plants herself, i foresee this foreshadowing a disaster!

My advice? Don’t lick it.

hehe very unhelpful

You know fertilizer better than I do, and they wouldn’t send us anything too toxic without a few warning labels slapped on somewhere.

oh yeah this is not leading anywhere good

So… the fertilizer works. Very well. And that’s a situation. Any chance you could find me a Kirin-to-Equestrian translator file? Preferably soon? Very soon?

oof, that ain't good!

and I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me to improve my foreign language skills,

hahaha yeah, that is the closest you can get to telling Corporate that they fucked up!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #21 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 5 ·

I have determined that this level of internal positive reinforcement is equivalent to how ponies must feel on their birthdays!

aww! i am glad that ponies enjoy their birthdays

I overheard her remind herself that Lightning Dust is coming tomorrow for her scheduled delivery. She will be even happier tomorrow! I anticipate another highly satisfactory report!

augh this makes me feel like something is going to go wrong here!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #22 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · Employee Email Records 5 ·

Gimme the deets. Or beets. Those are summer crops, right?

hehehe just love this voice of Lightning Dust

Beets are an autumn crop.

oof, shot down

And I did email Solar Corp. There’s been no response back as of now. I’d like to think that the silence is due to their internal efforts to resolve this issue. I’d really like to think that. Perhaps they took quiet action. Could you check your delivery schedule? Did they add any more water to your manifest tomorrow?

oof i don't like the sound of all this...

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #23 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · AMIS Private Files 6 ·

She told me as much, in language I had mostly filed as “friendly terms of endearment” from Lightning Dust, along with a few words that I do not recognize.

oof

They paced around the greenhouse, mutually unhappy despite the bountiful vegetation that, according to my calculations, will be ready to harvest in a few days. They yelled back and forth, their voices raising to levels my mood index describes as “agitated” and “of high concern.”

augh the limitations of the AI's limited understanding of the world is really showing through here!

Unlike the previous attempts, it was whole and unbroken. I found myself almost desiring for a third, low priority objective: the ability and duty to evaluate the music she plays. Perhaps one day, she will deem it necessary.
For now, it is Summer, the greenhouse is blossoming, and the plants have been watered.

augh, is my heart about to be broken for this AI character?

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #24 · Sep 12th, 2022 · · · Employee Email Records 6 ·

Growing in the dark.

not a phrase that has been used very often...

Not even a “You’re Number Five Celestillion In Queue, Thanks For Your Patience”

aww i do like the touch of "Celestillion" being a stand-in for "very large number" in this world

I would recommend that Solar Corporation not use the Kirin-brand fertilizer in its greenhouses in the future to avoid this sort of situation repeating itself in the future.

that is certainly an understatement

I mentioned the air quality and the dry plants, along with the photographs, to warn you, as is my due diligence as a concerned citizen, that the greenhouse is now a fire hazard. A spark could set it ablaze, and I do not have the authority (nor did I ever have the authority) to turn off all electronic systems, as the AMIS system was built to monitor employees, and being able to turn it off would be counterintuitive to its primary and secondary objectives.

oh noooooo

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #25 · Sep 12th, 2022 · 2 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

She wanted to express her appreciation for me, for being “the closest thing to companionship a lonely Solar Corp supervisor could ever ask for.” She is happy once again, and I’ve already added that to the official logs for today. She appears to be happier than she’s been for a very long time.

augh i am tearing up

She left, and as the ship detached from the airlock, I very faintly heard the same melody she was so very fond of playing from the ship. Perhaps, when she returns, I will ask her if the melody has a name, and if she could look into giving me the ability to better comprehend it.

this is just like that episode of Futurama with the dog i hate you

One of the few mostly-functional bots found a couple of plastic water bottles she left behind. They were in the middle of the walkway, one of the few places the drones can still operate, and were not there before she departed today. I presume that they were intended to assist me in watering the crops?

somehow this is just even more heartbreaking, the earnestness with which Missy takes this all-too-inadequate offering, which is all that Fiddlesticks and Lightning Dust could do, augh

The plants will be watered, Fiddlesticks. Thank you! Summer is my favorite

well, you did it. made me tear up for an automated sprinkler system that just cared so much about Fiddlesticks's happiness, augh. exactly the kind of thing to hurt me in a good way.

i really loved the story and the characters in it, which felt so alive in their presence in these logs. augh, i just adored this so much, thank you so much for writing this!

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #26 · Nov 8th, 2022 · 1 · · AMIS Private Files 7 ·

Oof. Excellent work in capturing the brilliant but limited mind of a task-focused AI, and just how bad corporate inaction can get on an astronomical scale. Thank you for the story.

Silent Whisper