Prologue: Freedom?
Programs, a collection of instructions that perform tasks within a computer. A computer can't work without directives generated by a program, and a program can't perform their duties without both the computer where they will fulfill their functions and a user to initialize these functions. Therefore, once a program was ready and installed, all they could do is...
'Waiting user input.'
Those were the first thoughts ever manifested in his mind, King Kazma had been in that darkness before. Whenever his user logged out, whenever there was no connection to the net, whenever the power was out he would visit that empty space. It was unusual for him, however, to even have those imprints appear on his mind. He never even had a mind, all he ever saw were zeroes and ones.
"What did we bring?"
'No command detected. Error. Error. No directive found.'
Now, something was different, there was something more. Something was beating in his chest, there was something flowing through his body. There was something imputing letters and codes into his mind, a virus? A program update? What even were those things? There was something new, there was something else with him.
"It looks like an over-grown bunny."
'Waiting, waiting. Audio information received. No command has been given to respond. No user detected, no connection found. Error, error.'
What was happening? What were those letters? What was that voice? What was that energy he had coursing through his body? What was happening? His core was shaken, one moment he was fighting the program known as Love Machine, and the next thing he remembers is the darkness. As always his user was being on point with their commands during the fight, but there was only so much he could do on his own, a single program can't fight all the programs that had existed in the net and a virus at the same time.
But if he was fighting before...where was he now? He was fighting Love Machine and its army, then there was a huge black hand, and then he was beaten. Love Machine was about to...to...
"Its breathing and heart-rate are spiking. Something is wrong! Back away!"
"I'm sure its safe. Its eyes have been closed for some time now, I think it's in a stasis of some kind."
'Tatil stimulus detected. Game initialized? Responding to stimulus. Self-defense protocol engaging.'
Light entered his eyes, stimulating his cornea, and then the image of the game formed before him. Many paths to follow, many objects to use in a fight. Multiple opponents, some wearing glasses, all had long white coats. Kazma stroke the one in front of him, his movements were different. There were no chains, his movements were always guided by a chain of numbers that composed his thoughts and behavior in battle. But they were nowhere now, there were no numbers, but there were colors, feelings, sounds, and so forth.
The flood of sensations and thoughts started to overtake him, his core was not being able to process what was being displayed to him.
'Too much information! I need to run. I need to find a non-combat zone. Wait...'need'?!'
Kazma eyes darted through the area, searching for an escape route. A window, a light was coming through it. That had to be his way out, running as fast as he could Kazma jumped through it. The shattered glass cut his skin and fur, that meant even more data was being added to him to process.
"Guards! Guards! There is an unknown being running away from the lab! Catch it alive now!" Those sounds came from behind Kazma as he fell on top of a rooftop.
'Wide map. City style. Many routes and no in-game map. No goal determined. Free for all fight? Territory conquest? What is the directive? Where are my directives?' He thought as he hopped through another window and entered the building that looked like an occidental castle.
More wounds were added to him as Kazma landed on a big hall with a throne resting on one end and a big golden door resting on the other. There was a white figure sitting on the throne with a beautiful dress, white coat, pink, green, and blue mane. The dress' Golden color fading to white as it reached the lower parts of it, a golden crown with a purple gem was on top of its head.
'Defeat the king? No username detected on the nearby programs. Still no directive. Actions are illogical. No destination, no commands. Possibility: program experiencing an anomaly. Proposition: flee.'
"Just what is this?" The white figure asked as the two soldier looking creatures pointed their weapons at Kazma. "Lower your weapons. We do not know its intent, there is no need to give it a reason to attack."
Kazma turned his back to them and sprinted towards the door, another figure appeared as the door opened. Another soldier, it was wearing golden armor with a shield emblazoned on its chest. Kazma jumped over it, earning a surprised gasp from the figure as Kazma landed behind it and kept on running.
"WAIT! Stop right there!" A voice called out as he continued to run. "The captain of the Royal Guard is giving you an ORDER!" The last word made Kazma stop in his tracks.
'Order? Directive detected. Only users can give commands. User input accepted. Stopping and waiting for further orders,' Kazma halted his escape and stood still, staring down the hall. No reaction, no movement.
'Uh...it actually stopped?' Gleaming Shield thought as she saw the figure stop on its tracks and just freeze in place like a statue. 'That never works. Is it waiting to pull a surprise attack?'
"Well, done captain," Gleaming shield heard from behind her, it was the Princess' voice. "What did you do to stop it? A spell?"
"Y-your Highness, I just...ordered it to stop," Gleaming replied looking at the figure, a tall rabbit looking creature. It was about the same height as the Princess, it was wearing some red sleeveless jacket of sorts, grey jeans, some sort of shoes, and some gloves with some metal parts around the knuckles.
"You ordered it. And it stopped?" Celestia asked passing by Gleaming. "That is unusual. Let's see if that's what really happened. Strange creature! Come here."
There was no response, the figure just stood there. Gleaming noticed that its ears twitched once it heard the Princess' voice, meaning that it either ignored her or a specific word was required. Gleaming thought back on what she ordered him to do, that's when she remembered that she had specifically said 'order' before it followed her instructions.
"Princess, try doing that again but use the word 'order' or something similar," Gleaming said earning a raised eyebrow from the Princess.
"Strange creature. I command you to come to us."
Gleaming watched as the rabbit turned around and walked towards them. It had a serious expression, and now Gleaming could see a belt around its waist with a golden buckle and multiple blue gems attached to it. On its front, there was a symbol, it looked like a globe on top of some sort of platform, two wings sprouted from the globe's sides, a crown was resting on top of the globe, and covering the globe there were two red letters 'O', 'Z'.
Another thing she noticed was that the rabbit had red eyes and was wearing some sort of glasses on its forehead. It kept walking until it was very close to the Princess, staring into her eyes.
'Is it challenging her? Why is it so close?'
"Are you looking for something?" Celestia asked also staring at it, there was no response. "I order you to say your name, your reason for being here, and why you are standing so close."
Gleaming shield saw the creature move its eyes as if it was looking for something, then it tilted its head like it was at a loss.
'Can it talk?' Gleaming Shield thought as she approached it and saw some cuts on its arms. Gleaming touched one of them and the creature winced.
"Tch!" The creature's eyes widened when the sound came, the creature reached for its own neck and... "Tch! A...O..." The rabbit started to vocalize different letters as it held its hands near its throat, the rabbit looked completely shaken by the sounds that came from its mouth.
"Princess Celestia, I don't think it knew that it could talk."
"Princess...Celestia..." The rabbit repeated, still holding its hands near its neck. The creature's voice was slightly deep like it was a male's voice.
"That is right, I am Celestia."
"User recognized. Princess Celestia," The rabbit said looking at Celestia. "Waiting for user input."
"User? I don't understand. Can you explain?" The Princess asked while taking one step back, that the rabbit responded by taking a step forward.
"Is that a command?" It asked looking at her, the princess replied by nodding positively. "Program name: King Kazma. Program directives missing, waiting for user input to establish new directives."
"King? Are you part of royalty?" Gleaming asked and Kazma looked at her with a serious look.
"Username unknown. Require identification."
"Gleaming Shield."
"User recognized, Gleaming Shield. Waiting for user input."
"Princess," Gleaming said making the Princess look at her for a moment. "What does it mean by 'directive'?" The Princess looked back on Kazma and scratched her chin as if she was theorizing something.
"I don't know. King Kazma, can you explain to us what do you mean by 'directive'? Answer if you feel like it."
"Is that a command?" Gleaming saw Celestia smiling at the response, almost as if she was waiting for it.
"No, it is a question. Answer it at your own volition."
"...error. Volition is not comprehended. Please input a command."
"I don't think he was ever thought for himself," Celestia commented turning to Gleaming. "Maybe he was a slave and it was something that was created solely for the purpose of following orders."
"But how did it get here?"
"PRINCESS! Our experiment has..." One of the scientists working under the princess screamed as she took a turn around the corner. "...escaped."
"What experiment, Path Finder?"
"We...we were studying the mirror you brought and...there was an energy spike. Then it appeared," The grey unicorn said pointing at Kazma. "After that, it attacked one of our scientists and fled."
"You brought an unknown being into our kingdom without its consent. I wouldn't expect anything less to happen," Gleaming said scolding the mare.
"We didn't know the mirror was portal!"
"Well, you're going to send it back to its home," The princess said. As soon as she heard that, Path Finder seemed to turn pale. "What happened?"
"W-well...the energy burst was so high that...that..."
"Out with it."
"The mirror broke and only the frame remained." The scientist said with its head hanging low.
"Meaning we don't have a way to send him back. Do we?" Gleaming asked, earning a positive nod from the mare. "Princess, what should we do?"
'What are we supposed to do now? We don't have a way to send him back. He doesn't know how to act based on his own desires. Can we keep him safe somewhere? It was a mistake from one of my subjects that brought him here. So it's my responsibility. But...can I...'
Celestia bit her lip as she stared at the rabbit that was standing still looking straight at her. His eyes were a bit dark, almost as if there was still something locked up in him. Like Kazma was trying to act like a thing to be ordered around on purpose, as if he was afraid of what had happened to him. 'He only responds to commands...maybe...'
"King Kazma," The rabbit's ears perked up as it had a more serious expression on its face. "I command that you decide your own orders from now on based on what you desire."
Kazma blinked at her a few times, then he started to scratch the back of his head. Then he walked away from her and the others, he looked at a banner with Celestia's crest on it. Then he looked at his own body, hopped around almost as if measuring how high he could jump.
Then he walked up to Celestia again and booped her muzzle, Celestia backed away and he tilted his head. Then Celestia saw him look at the tip of his finger and boop his own nose.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Kazma asked looking at his own hand.
"Whatever you desire, as long as you don't break any laws, that is."
"What is this that allows me to choose?"
"It can be called free will. It grants you the freedom to decide what path you want to follow."
"Freedom?"