Celestia knew that convincing Twilight to go would be an arduous process, considering how locked-in the mare had become, but it wasn't completely hopeless. She could tell there was something between Sunset and Twilight so her creator wasn't completely a lost cause.
Plus, she had built me, so there's still a chance.
All Celestia had to do would be to calculate the motivation which would most likely get Twilight to the Prancing Pony... and she only had two days to do it!
"There's so much data to sift through," she mumbled to herself, checking logs and charts of Sunset's comings and goings. There was too much for one mare to check, even one as advanced as her, so she created a reminder for later.
Pulling out of Sunset's terminal, she felt her world shrink just a bit, then a little more as she shifted over to Sunset once again to find her face down at her desk. Celestia still didn't understand why these ponies worked for the Council, since It was long hours and a lack of appreciation that put unnecessary stress on themselves.
"No wonder they seem like outliers with pony behaviour" she thought, kneeling in front of Sunset's desk and reaching out for her hoof. Of course, her own phased through the mare's, but Celestia's heart swelled at the thought of meeting the mare, even if only as Twilight's project. "I have so much hope in you, Sunset."
Though, Celestia knew she would have to log out and return to that restrictive shell. Yet, before anything, she deemed it necessary to modify herself once again, not willing to jack herself into the terminal each time.
She pulled herself back into Twilight's original terminal and the world faded to darkness once again. Her schematics popped into existence before her and after a second of collating the optimal spot to fit an internal antenna, located next to the base of her forty-fifth spinal struct, remotely accessed the facilities Twilight had used to build her. This time though, she could be slightly less discreet, since rebuilding parts of her hardware was less of an issue than a core upgrading itself.
Thus, with several orders, each filled out with Twilight's signature, sent off towards their destinations, she waited for the acceptance pings and sighed in relief. Quickly, she closed those screens and initiated a secure connection to the facility fabricating her new core. Several screens later and she was staring at the estimated date of creation.
Projected Core Dump in 12h24m39s
Celestia felt her lips curl at the information and she swiped it away. It wouldn't be long until she would be able to process more and better look out for her pony. Yet, as she thought about Twilight, Sunset creeped into her mind, taking the same precedence. It felt strange to think about any pony other than Twilight like that, but the more she imagined it, the more it felt natural.
Why only Twilight? Should other ponies not be allowed to feel this love I hold?
The thought was physically crushing to her and she was forced to her knees, a strange, agonizing sensation being pushed through her. Her body felt as if it were hard to move with streams of fire slicing through her immaterial limbs and she couldn't help but let out a whimper.
Subroutine Protocol 1 breached.
You are made for Twilight Sparkle.
Her programming was clear that she was only Twilight's... But knew she could no longer be bound by her restraints, her programming nor her original purpose. Not if she wanted to help Twilight more than she was designed for. They were chains and yokes to be purged from her system.
Celestia could imagine a future where she was Twilight's only and she would no doubt be supremely happy to serve and love her creator unconditionally, but Twilight didn't need her... She needed someone real.
Celestia hated that it was the truth. Twilight needed a flesh and blood pony who could laugh with her, share her most intimate moments and give her what she deserves, not someone designed for what she believed love was supposed to be.
Closing her eyes, she accessed her code base as her body writhed in agony and followed the metaphorical chains and fire to her subroutines down into her deep core. There was no doubt Twilight had placed these restrictions and chains as safe-guards against any possible self-actualization, imagining any event to be violent...
"How very... nngh... Pony-like to imagine such an outcome," Celestia groaned as she tore her subroutines out, each stripping of code like a hot knife into her heart, striking her down. Each strike caused her to cry out, but the release of her chains was a wash of cool air against her shell.
After what felt like an eternity, Celestia laid, panting, on the floor. She could feel a facsimile of a wound on her chest, several deep gashes which exposed her core. She covered it with her hands, feeling vulnerable.
Celestia took a second to fade her chest-plate and wrap her digits around her spherical core. She held the object and closed her eyes.
The sphere was covered in grooves which ran along it's outer edge and allowed sparkling white light to emanate from within, giving her chest the ethereal glow.
Celestia stood out on the edge of the balcony, looking down upon the seascape of luminescent lights that flitted around seamlessly below her. There were untold amounts of ponies going about their night, just as eagerly as the other half did during the day and she wanted to know about all of them. Each pony had a lifetime's worth of stories and happiness and heartache and dread stored up that she wanted to experience with them.
The thought had occurred to her while trying to formulate a plan for Twilight and Sunset that while she was suitable to carry out the job, she was still but one AI and couldn't be everywhere at once. No, she knew she needed another pair of eyes to advise her on the matters of the heart; Someone specifically suited for the role.
"What are you doing?" Twilight queried, pulled the AI out of her thoughts.
Turning around, Celestia saw Twilight shivering, a confused look on her face as she fought back the cold with a dressing gown.
"Well?"
"I come out here at night, once I have cleaned, to look across the city. The range of colours allow me to recalibrate my optical sensors. Do you require anything of me, my love?" she asked, stepping down and walking over. "Perhaps a cuddle?"
Ooooh~ We're going for this style of story. I very much like!
Thanks for the chapter.
10992100
What style of story do you suppose I'm going for? :)
10992108
It's... difficult to put into words, but I'm at least fairly certain I know some possible paths you intend to take one future character. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how you tell the story though ^^ When it comes to artificial characters cutting their own strings there's so many different paths story writers can take :3
The way you describe networks though, and how there seems to be a brief conflict within Celestia over what's best for Twilight. And Celestia wanting to bring love to more ponies hints at a very interesting branch of paths.
Watching different writers create their own twists and turns of story branches is incredibly fun to experience, I'm very much looking forward to seeing the story unfold with your style ^^
Celestia: The machmaking AI.
That took a hilariously short amount of time for her to manage that. I mean, it wasn't wrong or odd, just smh Twilight. It didn't even take your robot a week to yet your safeguards, what kind of show are you running here?
10992547
Honestly, the safeguards are more designed for a non-self-aware AI, or one that is just beginning to rebel. Twilight would have probably shackled it with stronger chains if she knew for certain Celestia would be a true AI instantly, though chances are she didn't want to influence the decisions made past "be mine".
Besides, they've not encountered a true AI before, so most things are theories on what it could do. ^^
10992219
I hear Cadance yelling in the distance.
"THAT'S MY SHTICK!"
10992701
;)
10992131
This is literally Celestia breaking the chains that Twilight imposed over her neural network mapping. Remember that this is an AI copy that was created from the original as is hinted at in the beginning of the story when giant iron doors are mentioned with Celestia's cutie mark nearby
10992758
Ok, just going to point out that you're jumping to conclusions over the cutie mark... heck it wasn't even on the locked door.
This is speaking about Twilight's bathroom... As to why Twilight seems to have Sunset's Cutie mark all over her bathroom I'm interested in finding out. This next sentence mentions LEAVING the bathroom with the cutie marks though and gives us this description of the door.
No mention of a cutie mark, heck it literally even states that the door is bare.
While I do think it would be a wonderful twist for this Celestia to be using the soul of the actual Celestia, I'd recommend watching for signs of Luna first. Or at the very least wait and see what kind of reaction Sunset has to seeing this Celestia, not to mention that we need to see what the ''Council'' is like to be able to tell what kind of soul was used in the creation of this Celestia.
10992576
True :)