The Perfect Being

Slowly, scratching the floor with its claws, the mutant was slogging forwards, looking around slowly and lazily. Long, knife-like spikes were sticking out of its belly, and it had a giant cancerous tumor on its back, covered in small holes, which spat out rot at regular intervals. Its mane was long, covering its face, and only teeth reflected the light of the lamps. Moans and growls were flowing out of the thing's mouth every time it made even a single movement. The weight of its own body was burdening it - and it was looking to burden it even more with fresh meat.

It slowly passed by an entrance to the little storage room, with a window just nearby. The mutant sniffed the air, smelling the sweet strawberry like aroma of blood. It knew its prey was nearby, and this smell was like a taunt, a challenge, a welcome for a great feast. The monster continued its way forward, scratching the floor with its claws and spikes, coming out of its blob of a belly.

Twilight sighed with relief when the monster passed near the window. That was a close one. She only noticed this thing coming when she heard an angry roar behind her back, and the sound of its spikes scratching the metal. Thankfully, it wasn't very fast and she was able to outrun it and hide in this little storage. Small boxes, locked on the digital codes, and a pile of rubbish in the corner - that was all this little room contained. Everything here was nothing but useless junk.

Twilight let out a quiet sigh. She avoided the monster - but where should she look for a password to upgrade her biotechnical implants? Without them, the disk, containing the map of the whole space station, is nothing but a piece of pretty sparkling plastic. Twilight moved away from the window, in case any monster decides to look inside, and sat down behind a pile of boxes. This little moment of quietness, with no goals and no threats around, she felt at peace. In fact, she realized that she was completely exhausted.

Finally receiving a second of rest, her limbs became numb, feeling like they were filled with metal. Twilight wanted to close her eyes, but fought back this desire - it's too dangerous to rest here. She might fall asleep and then be unaware of the monster that will approach to devour her. She must not rest - she has to keep on moving, without stop, without delay. There can be no rest until she's safe somewhere - and this 'somewhere' is definitely not here, behind these piles of boxes, containing Celestia-knows-what. Judging by the sound they made when Twilight accidently pushed one it was something made out of glass, since the ringing sound of bottles, hitting each other, filled the room.

Twilight touched her temple, making the panel of her bio-implant pop out in front of her eye. As much as she doesn't want to do this, to put her and her friend in danger, she has to call Psi-Crow. Right now, only she can explain where to go next. The computer was voice controlled, something Twilight liked really much, since she would not want any buttons installed into her.

"Alright... so... How does it go?... Ah, yes. View.. eh... last calls" - she said, as the menu displayed the calls, and the date of their happening. Unfortunately for Twilight, the clock wasn't tuned, so it just showed zeros and ones. She still felt a little bit weird about talking out loud while being completely alone, and, to be honest, the voice recognition on this thing was a little bit glitchy.

After a few seconds, Twilight was finally connected to Psi-Crow. The screen turned on and she saw her friend again, with a little bit of static going through the picture once in a while.

"Yes, Twilight, how can I help?" - she said, typing something.

"Psi-Crow, I have found a map, but it's on a disk, so I can't read it. The bio-implants only support these chips, so, where can I find an upgrade?" - Twilight asked, and the static started getting stronger. She realized, that, even though she has a lot of questions to ask, she'll have to hold it till they meet in person - the connection here was just horrible. Besides, she doesn't want to alert the AI again.

"There is no upgrade to view the disks on your bio-implants, it's not reliable - disks take quite a lot of tech to read, like lasers and other stuff. I can send you the map of the wing you are currently in, and it will help you find a way to the server room. There you will be able to transfer the information from the disk into your computer. Does that plan suit you?" - Psi-Crow explained.

"Yes, it does. Send it as fast as you can and I'll head out there at once" - Twilight said, and Psi-Crow leaned over the keyboard to press the button in the distance. An electrical shock struck Twilight, making her shudder, and causing a weak headache. The panel displayed that the download began.

"Here it goes. Alright, call me if you need anything else" - Psi-Crow said, and her image disappeared. The small bar started slowly filling up, with the percent increasing with each second, when suddenly the panel started flickering red. Twilight felt a heavy burden inside her brain, as the monotone, that would fit the dead more than the living creature started speaking.

"What happened to us?.... We were never enemies... we were never rivals.... and yet now... you seek to bring about the destru...destruction of the whole world you once.... held so dear to your heart.... Why do you seek to aid the destroyer?" - the rogue AI spoke in her head.

"Shut up! You've caused all of this - and you have the audacity to blame anypony else? Besides, I don't even know you - you're just a machine, an evil machine. We've never met, and that's probably a good thing!" - Twilight replied angrily. If this thing thinks it can break her will, it's totally wrong.

In reply, Twilight heard only a long sound of static at first. Then, the machine responded.

"You are a fool!... You....You... are delusional, and as long as you draw breath.... ponies below can't feel safe.... You... are... a threat.... I am sorry.... But you have to die... I shall ensure that your life is shortened to the point of complete end, and is never renewed and set to continue ever again... I.Will.Destroy.You...." - the AI said, as it's voice continuously changed from high to low pitch, and occasionally interrupted by static.

Twilight prepared for another hack attempt, but it didn't happen. She looked around, to make sure it didn't trigger another alarm, and sighed with relief - it seems Psi-Crow is doing a great job protecting her from this crazy artificial product.

The speech of the machine were unsettling - it started to confirm Twilight's suspicion that she definately knows the owner of the voice. It mentioned that they were never enemies or rivals, but that didn't lead anywhere - Twilight had a lot of friends, and none of them was a mad AI. Surely, the one who created this thing knows what person he was inspired by when making this monster, but there was no way Twilight could find out but find those lost memories of this voice.

This intrusion was still disturbing - it seems the AI now has the access to the communication channel she and Psi-Crow are using. This makes contacting her friend twice as dangerous. Twilight checked the download - the small map of this section of the station was ready for use. She smiled - at least now, she knows where to go. The server room seemed to be not far away, just through several corridors and past the living rooms.

Living rooms. That caught Twilight's eye - if most of the crew here kept video diaries, then they had to keep them somewhere - and where else could they keep them but in their private corners? The section of the living room seemed quite big on the map, and it will take most of the time of the trip to go through it. She might as well find out something new. Twilight looked out of the window, checking if there is any monster nearby, and, after making sure there isn't, she left the room and continued her way to the truth with haste. The AI is watching her every step - she might as well walk so fast that it can't notice.

Twilight's eyes got used to the flickering lights long ago, and her swift running through the corridors caused her no trouble - during her travel, she met no mutants. It seems she lost them, thankfully. Maybe most of them gathered in the laboratories, where the Twilight triggered the alarm, excluding those who decided to wander around and find her, following the smell of her blood.

Finally, the labyrinth of corridors was behind Twilight, and she was looking right at the entrance to the living quarters. She was breathing heavily from all the running, and the dust was slowly settling in her lungs, making her cough. Twilight felt pain in her limbs, and a drop of sweat fell down from her pretty face. Even back then, she wasn't into jogging, now she definitely regrets missing those morning runs with Applejack just to get a few more minutes of sleep.

After a brief moment of rest, Twilight came closer to the automatic door, and heard something strange. Some sound that haven't befell her ears for a long time. This sound of sweet techno tune, and words, sung so fast she couldn't even understand.

The door opened before her, and the fog started seeping into the corridor. Twilight inhaled, and felt that smell of a party - when dozens of ponies are crowding together in a tight room, talking to each other and drinking punch or fizzy water. She heard many voices, merging together to form a chorus of total randomness. They all were saying different things, but it all mixed up into one giant buzz. Twilight shielded her eyes from the bright light and entered the hall.

It was big, very spacey - and beautiful as heck. There were some kind of tubes in the left and right corners of the hall, that, as Twilight thought, judging by the way the strange capsules, that were moving up and down inside the tubes, were used by several ponies right before her eyes, could take you to any of the ten floors of this living quarters - and it seemed that each floor had even more branching corridors, leading to many, many rooms for every pony on this space station. It was like a gigantic hostel. And right now, the 'students' were having a party.

Twilight looked around in confusion, as she saw many ponies standing around, talking and dancing. Some of them were holding cups with drinks, some were already quite drunk, and just wobbled around, hoping to find a place to sit down. Right in the center of the room there was a stage, with a stand for DJ, and big ramps to each side. The music was pouring out of them, and Twilight recognized some a remix of one of Vinyl Scratch's tracks. She couldn't remember the name, though.

This new version sounded much more faster, heavier, and hurtful to the ears. There was also a soothing voice of a young stallion, singing to the music - as long as Twilight remembers, Vinyl never had a singing coarse on her tracks. But it seems that the time has turned her from a hot new musician into an undying classic, whom the new musicians were inspired by.

The air was filled with smoke and smell of drinks, alcohol and sweat, just like huge parties should be. But Twilight opened her eyes widely, and started turning in circles, trying in vain figured how the heck did this all got here? While swirling around she almost bumped into some pony, almost pushed him with her rump. She quickly turned around to apologize, and was frozen, as she glazed upon the label on that pony's white labcoat. Dr. Sweet Cheeks. The headless corpse from the reception room. Alive and well, standing right before her, drinking beer from a medium sized carton cup. Twilight's eyes widened, as she looked around in confusion and fear. Just what is happening here? Where is this happening? Was all that madness behind her just a dream?

She slowly made her way towards the DJ stand, carefully going around ponies, trying not to bump into them, apologizing constantly. They didn't even seem to notice her, not even a single glance was cast upon her. And the music was getting louder, the track was getting more and more obscure, more heavy and hurtful. Twilight felt a slight headache as she got closer to the amps.

Overcoming her confusion and disorientation, Twilight opened her mouth and was going to say hello to the nearby pony, standing right in front of her. But it seemed like her tongue was glued to its place, and the only sounds she was able to emit was a couple of weak moans, that drowned in the ocean of music, talking and drinking. Twilight was but a face in the crowd, nopony, an empty space.

This all seems so real... and yet Twilight knows that something is a lie, a hallucination - this party, or the nightmare she witnessed so far. Something was wrong here, completely and totally wrong.

The music changed, from the loud, upbeat techno remix to a dance song, a slow one - the one you dance to while hugging your beloved pony, looking straight into her eyes, embracing every single moment, for they are all precious. The words in this song were much more clearer, and Twilight was able to make out something about comatose.

The ponies all around the hall, started pairing up, mares with stallions. When the music started flowing, the room turned into a calm ocean, where, instead of waves, unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi were slowly rocking back and forth, to the beat of the music. They all looked so happy and relaxed, but there was only one pair that caught Twilight's attention, dancing very close to the DJ stand. A familiar color caught the attention of the troubled unicorn, and she quickly rushed there through all the crowd.

It was even bigger shock to her to see who it actually was. Psi-Crow, her only friend on this space station, was slowly beating the rhythm of the music with her back hooves, dancing with a stallion. This stallion was the corpse back in the kitchen, the one whose blood was used to finish the message. His face looked so different - full of color, life and happiness, he looked at Psi-Crow with dreamy eyes, and she was responding by a shy smile. Twilight looked at these two, and her soul was filled with questions, grief and confusion at the same time.

"I really like this song, you know. Love to listen to it in the evenings, just before I go to sleep" - the stallion said, and Twilight's confusion became even more solid, slowly being infected by the roots of fear.

His voice... it's the voice of a pony Psi-Crow was talking to in the kitchen, when they agreed to drink some wine together. Does Psi-Crow know that he is dead?

"Yeah, it's a good song if you are out of sleeping pills" - she replied, and giggled. Her friend smiled as well.

"Ah, I love your humorous remarks, Psi" - he said, and Twilight sat down on the floor, trying to process what she is witnessing. There was not a single thing she is understanding from all of this mess. Not even a clue of what is going on!

Twilight had enough of this - she had enough of shady messages. This needs to end. Certain to get answers, she marched right at the two, wanting to separate them and start asking questions, but the closer she got, the more transparent and misty the figures became. When she finally reached the two, they were nothing but two clouds of white smoke in front of her, with only music and the outlines of other ponies still signifying that this party goes on.

"Room number 363, the fourth floor..." - a quiet whisper of Psi-Crow reached Twilight's ear. She noticed the figure of Psi-Crow leaning closer to her friend, probably to deliver that whisper. After that, the figures became more and more vague. Soon, everything disappeared in the white fog - the music was silenced, the happy shouting of drunk ponies turned into dead silence, and all the decorations and beautiful colors turned grim and dark.

Twilight was standing in the centre of a giant ruckus - broken tables, shards of glass on the floor, and the demolished almost to the very core DJ stand. The ramps were torn inside out, and the apparatus itself was covered in dust, stains of blood and giant cracks. Pieces of electrical hardware were sticking out of the cracks, sometimes letting out small shining sparks. Poor unicorn sighed - yet another ghostly image. Suddenly she felt something flowing down her face. She swiped it away with her right hoof, and noticed the red trails. Her nose was bleeding - not too serious, but it was just out of nowhere. Twilight looked up, trying to keep the blood from flowing out. She never had problems with pressure, and the nosebleeds happened to her only as a child, when she hit herself too hard against something. Why is it affecting her now? No matter, she said to herself, as the bleeding stopped just as fast as it began. Though now she needs to find some water to wash her face - she can't go around with the area just above her mouth covered in bloodstains.

She started to get crept out by these visions - this one was so real, almost too real. Twilight swore she could feel the warmth of the bodies, smell their breath, fused with alcoholic fumes. She almost bumped into one, for Celestia's sake, how could they be a part of her imagination? Twilight inhaled, trying to calm herself down. Maybe it's the side effects of the computer inside her brain. Maybe she's just too tired. Probably the latter, because if the computer had any side effects, Psi-Crow would tell Twilight about it.

What a strange coincidence it is, truly. She and Psi-Crow never even met each other in person. It's like knowing each other only by sending letters and post cards. Psi-Crow for her was just an image on the panel and a worried voice, going directly into her head, and yet, Twilight trusted her. Something in her gut was telling her to, this strange feeling that she is her friend, her ally. Psi-Crow already helped her a lot, without her, Twilight wouldn't even have ran away from the mutant that entered the room, where she awoke.

Where would Twilight be now, if it wasn't for Psi-Crow? Probably being digested in the stomach of that beast, for sure. Or even if she managed to figure out where to go, what to do and try to install some upgrades for her body, her brain would vaporized into jelly by that rogue AI.

And there she was again, trying to remember just whose voice it was. Twilight slowly walked through this disaster of a hall, overstepping the pieces of furniture, puddles of unknown sticky liquid and shards of glass, making her way towards the elevator. Her eyes were looking forward, but, in reality, she didn't see anything, engulfed by her own thoughts. By some miracle, or just reflexes she developed in her past life, while walking around the room, reading at the same time, she didn't stumble or hit anything on her way.

This voice... just at what point of her life she could have heard a voice like this? This flowing monotone, pouring right into your soul, leaving such a colorful impression that you are unlikely to ever forget. Yet she, somehow, managed to completely forget the person that would leave such an impression. Though maybe she had an excuse - there was nopony she knew in Ponyville, or, heck, in all her life, that would speak in a machine monotone. This creepy tone was enough to scare even the bravest ponies, Twilight wagered. There is just no creature in the world that can be that empty of any feeling or emotion, compassion or friendship. In its tone there was no sadistic glee, no evil depth of the voice, that you would normally expect from an villain. The AI was completely calm and collected, even when it spew out threats and promises to kill her.

The future is scary, Twilight had to admit that. The progress has been made, and those game consoles, that seemed so new, futuristic and innovative, are now nothing but piles of rust and trash that nopony pays attention to - just like Twilight didn't pay attention to the dust of old on the road she walked with her friends. All that dust used to mean something back in the day - now, it's just that... dust under your hooves, as you hurry up somewhere. How insignificant she felt for a moment right now.

Twilight shook her head, before entering the capsule in the tube, driving away all this flow of 'philosophical' thoughts. She couldn't find a moment worse for thinking about the flow of life, and desperately digging into her memories, trying to find the buried person she used to know. She made the last step and found herself inside the capsule. The transparent walls were covered in scratches, and the ceiling seemed to be almost torn away - Twilight could see through it, observing all the strange devices on the very top of the tube. The capsule is supposed to take her to different floors - it's like magic stairs, when you don't need to walk. Twilight remembered a construction similar to this - it was used to transport heavy cargo up to the upper floors of a building in construction. Workers called it an elevator, and Twilight really loved the design, with all these ropes, thingies and pointy sticks, sticking out of it. This capsule functioned just like that elevator, but instead of a complicated construction of wood and ropes, it was moved by an unseen force that was entirely of natural origin, not even a single drop of magic. Twilight looked through the hole, and guessed that the big panels on the top of the tube were emitting some kind of... tractor beams, that dragged the capsules upwards. The panels were all sparkling and shining, but Twilight could guess that these were some kind of magnets, but none of the magnets she saw in her time were like this. Well, it seems she just met another technology of the future, but at least this wasn't as cryptic and creepy as implants. Twilight allowed herself a moment of distraction and thought how all other things changed. Maybe now all the boring and menial tasks are automated, like sorting books or cleaning up rooms. Heh, Spike would love such features - then what else would be left for him but to have fun all day long and hanging around?

Room number 363, the fourth floor... Twilight felt like she should continue her way towards the server room, but she can't leave the questions unanswered. She became interested in Psi-Crow, what kind of pony she is... or was, before all of this. She has to go to that room and look for diaries, notes, calendars, everything. Maybe this is a sign, a sign that points out a way to the truth. Hopefully, Twilight will be able to ease the burden of questions, that she had to shoulder. With the vague hope of finding some answers on the floor number four, the exhausted and bruised unicorn pressed the corresponding button. The capsule let out a weak 'thump' sound and started moving upwards. The button Twilight pressed flickered with blue light, and she prayed that this thing isn't broken, and she's not going to fall down to her doom. Thankfully, it safely transported her to the fourth floor, and the doors of the capture opened quickly, welcoming Twilight to come out with a sound of a bell.

She quickly exited the capsule and started walking along the many doors to the left. Each of them had a label with a number on it, like in a hotel. Twilight just had to find the number 363. She checked the closest door, which was number 305, and followed the growing numerical order.

The corridors of the living quarters were made much more welcoming than anything Twilight saw on this station so far. The floor was covered by a giant rug, made out of synthetic fur, that stretched through all the branching paths on this floor. The walls were made of metal, but they were painted in such a way that it would look like wood instead. However, the signs of abandonment were present here as well - the thick layers of dust and many scratches and holes were covering the walls. Some doors were busted open, with pieces of metal sticking out of the slots in the walls. Twilight quickly glanced into one of the open rooms, only to see it wrecked, and stains of blood right in the middle of it.

It seemed all the rooms shared a similar structure - a narrow corridor, welcoming you into the room itself which was wider. A medium bed was standing by the wall, in such a way that the wall was preventing you from falling off from the left side, if you move too much during sleep. The rest of the space was taken by a desk with a keyboard right in front of the entrance, and a big screen on the right wall. Twilight figured out it was the part of the keyboard on the desk - probably another computer. Every room was shaped and furnished like this, except the things that the owners put there, like their bags or anything else. Now, after their owners are gone, these piles are left here to collect dust, until they rot into one big mass, or are eaten by a hungry mutant - who knows, maybe they eat clothes too. Some rooms had bloodstains on the walls and floor, with horrid smell reaching the unicorn's nose. This smell became too common here - the smell of the rotting corpses. Twilight avoided going into any more rooms and headed straight for her goal.

Room number 363 looked no different than the rest, except the door being in quite good condition. Twilight approached it, and it automatically opened - looks like Psi-Crow didn't close it when she had the chance, maybe forgot, or did it on purpose. The corridor was nothing fancy - she didn't have anything standing there, like some rooms did, but the room itself was what disturbed Twilight.

It looked too not-chaotic in comparison to other rooms - there were no bloodstains, no scratches or holes on the walls and floor. However, there were piles of copybooks, lying everywhere. Twilight took one and brought it closer to her eyes. Even though she was an expert at almost any route of science, she couldn't understand even a single formula. These formulas were related to algebra, surely, maybe physics, but Twilight didn't recognize anything - the mish mash of numbers, letters and strange markings told her absolutely nothing. Twilight looked through a couple more notes, but still, couldn't understand anything.

It was quite strange. With everything now being used with computers and other stuff, why wouldn't Psi-Crow write these formulas there? Why use the traditional pen and paper? She dug through the piles of notes, hoping to find at least something understandable.

After about thirty minutes of Twilight picking up and quickly looking through the notes, she found a small piece of paper, that seemed like it was torn away, crumpled and thrown into a corner. The unicorn rolled out the piece, carefully pressing her hooves against it so it would become flatter, and, actually, readable. This small piece of paper contained what seemed like a beginning to the formula, and the only words in equestrian language among these piles of notes.

"DIGITALIZATION" - Twilight read out loud, in a calm voice. She was just so tired of hearing silence again that she decided to read thing out loud, if no threat was around. It seemed like she's talking much less than she used to, and she would really prefer to give that tongue a bit of a stretch.

Digitalization. A new word, that Twilight didn't know the meaning of. Whatever it is, it must be connected to all these formulas and calculations. Twilight took another minute to run her eyes through the piles, and, after making sure there were no more words in these piles, only numbers, she approached the desk with the keyboard. Maybe she will find the meaning of digitalization there, along with other useful information.

Twilight looked at the keyboard, and, thankfully, the ON button was clearly marked as such. She pressed it and the screen on the wall turned on. There was no password screen or anything, which was weird - Psi-Crow would surely want to lock away her private files, why not put a password on the computer? As strange as it was, it was helping Twilight, and she looked at the screen for the options of what she can view.

There were several folders in the menu - 'Diary', 'Work' and 'Letters'. Twilight only had to choose which one to view first - it didn't seem like there was any password for these folders, so she decided to look through 'Diary' first.

There weren't that many entries here, only five or six. They weren't even titled, with each one marked only as Entry One, Two, and so on. It seems Psi-Crow didn't stick to keeping her diary updated, didn't she? Twilight pressed the button, that seemed to correspond to 'Play', turned to the screen and prepared to listen.

The screen changed from the menu to the picture of the room Twilight was in, but only much tidier and no paper lying around. Psi-Crow was lying on the bed, holding some kind of a remote control for the computer, since whenever she pressed a button, it would shake the screen.

"Check... check" - Psi-Crow stretched words out, sounding bored. "Okay. Test done, time to spill out the truth, baby!" - she said in a overly serious voice and jumped up from the bed and approached the screen, making a comedic face as she approached.

"Now, you're going to tell me everything, Psi-Crow. I know that you ate that cookie, and you will be punished... Argh, alright. Enough screwing around. So, this is my dairy, and here I will be telling about interesting things I encounter on this space station, my everyday life and all that stuff. Well, I'm quite new here, and I hope to find somepony to hang out with - I'm not comfortable with being a loner at all. Well.... yeah, that seems to be it for today. Psi-Crow out!" - she said to the camera, and the picture blurred for a second before switching to another video. Twilight remembered Pinkie Pie - Psi-Crow was quite full of energy, as this video showed, but not as random, not even close. It seems that she just loved having fun, and not taking things seriously.

The next video started, and this time Psi-Crow was sitting on a chair, in front of the screen. She looked a bit more pale, and her eyes looked tired. She was sitting in such a way that it was clear that she wanted to sleep, leaning a little bit to the left.

"It's hard working here, I have to admit. The systems are really complicated and they eat up a lot of my time. My head hurts like I got kicked in the jaw, really..." - she nervously looked around and looked to the right. Twilight looked to the right as well, and saw a big oval thing with glass in the centre.

"These cameras creep me out. I can't sleep at night, always feel like it's watching me. I don't know why would the constructors put the cameras in our bedrooms - it's not like the FRIEND's AI needs to spy on us. I mean, what for? For what purpose?" - Psi-Crow exclaimed and started rubbing her head, probably to relieve the headache. "Anyway, I've been here for about a month or so, and there is nothing interesting I have caught. Became friends with my team, but that's about it. Also talked a little bit with scientists here - these are strange fellows. Always talk about their projects, their strange biological formulas. My brain explodes from the stuff they say from time to time. No, I am serious - I have to visit the Bio-Tech lab to get the software on my implants replaced. I even had a burn out once - felt like I had a scorching coal in my brain. These guys really like to talk trash, too. There was one guy.. Harbinger, I think, he kept pestering about fixing his computer out of line, like he's got some sort of special rights here. Of course, I told him to buck off. I have a strict schedule, and I can't just go around fixing everything he asks. Mr. Nice Doctor pouted, like a small kid, and said that he will complain straight to some Lesceliat. I've heard that he's quite an important pony here, but I don't give a flying buck. That's not my problem!"

She paused to breath in and let out a saddened sigh.

"I think that's all for today. Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep this night - not sure, with all these cameras" - the video ended there. Twilight's vision of the two ghosts, talking about these cameras, were correct. So, these images were true. Not to forget the vision of that party, and the fact that she found Psi-Crow's room, not to forget that. That meant that Twilight can trust these visions, they aren't there for no reason. Though Twilight was still questioning their nature, and why they are appearing, but there were more videos for her to see.

She watched through the rest of the videos in 'Diary' folder, except the last one, and she didn't notice anything usual, except that Psi-Crow was getting more and more pale with every video. However, there was still that one video.

Psi-Crow was sitting on the chair, again, looking straight into the screen. Her eyes were full of grief, but also resolve. She was much less pale, and moved more lively.

"I... I don't think if this is right, but.... Eh... I have met a cook, a young stallion... His name is Cream Cube, a very sweet guy and.... Ugh. We became a good friends not so long ago, five weeks ago. Yesterday, there was a big party, celebrating the Heartwarming Eve, and... we've got drunk and...." - she moved a little bit to the left, revealing the mentioned Cream Cube peacefully sleeping in her bed. Psi-Crow sighed and closed her eyes.

"He drank too much yesterday, and can't hear anything now... He's a cool pony, but I'm married, my husband awaits me back in Equestria.... But at the same time, he is always on me with his problems. Psi-Crow, I need more money, Psi-Crow, I need more time. My book didn't sell well.... Sometimes I wonder if he's with me just because I earn more than him... Well, so far, I think I'll stick close to Cream Cube - he's a nice guy, if I tell him, he'll understand... I hope".

The video ended there. Twilight was standing there, processing everything that she has just saw. This all started to look like 'Santa Flankbara', a series of romance novels, which encountered almost thirty parts, with each book being bigger than the rest. And just as confusing and complicated. 'In the next book of Santa Flankbara, behold - Psi-Crow cheats on her husband, Twilight Sparkle is being recreated via science, and an insane AI attack FRIEND station, unleashing monsters and killing every pony'. That would be a helluva best seller.

The purple unicorn sighed, and gave herself an angry lecture on how many levels that joke wasn't funny, and how evil and disturbing it was. And really, this joke wasn't funny at all. Twilight wondered why she even attempted to sound funny - nopony's going to hear her anyway. Why even bother, she's mostly alone, and Psi-Crow will definitely not appreciate this kind of humor.

However, since she started thinking about Psi-Crow, there were some minor details she noticed while watching the video - there, Psi-Crow seemed much more lifelike and energized, even in her 'depression state'. But when she talked to Twilight, she never cracked up a single joke, except that one about 'first time'. They even had a different manner of speech, and, according to the diaries, Psi-Crow started looking different, becoming more pale and earning circles under her eyes. But on the video chat Twilight and she had, she looked as fresh as a cucumber, dug out of the wet ground.

Twilight scratched her head - Psi-Crow also doesn't seem to know that Cream Cube is dead, she seems too calm when talking to her. Maybe she's just a mare of steel, who knows, but it still raised some questions. If she doesn't know about his demise, then shouldn't she be worried about his well being? Or did something happen that would make Psi-Crow completely indifferent to her lover's fate on this accursed vessel?

Twilight decided to put away these thoughts for later, and watch the videos from the rest of the folders. Maybe the answer is hiding in one of these videos, or she might find an explanation for 'digitalization' there, and, hopefully, find out a bit more about what happened here.

The next folder was titled work, and videos inside it were quite carefully named, usually representing what happened on that day. There were tons of them, just below the count of hundred, so Twilight scrolled down through them, trying to find a video that would help her solve the case. After five minutes of scrolling, she found a video, titled 'FRIEND's AI'. This really intrigued Twilight - she would like to find out more about this friendly AI, and how it is different from the rogue one.

This time, Psi-Crow was sitting on the floor, writing something in the copybook, holding the pencil in her mouth. She carefully drew every line and letter, and after a few seconds, she spit the pencil out on the floor and got up.

"Working log, number 89. Today the AI, that is controlling this entire vessel, and is, basically, it's core, heart and brain. Obviously, we can't have it broken, so I called off everything I had this day and went to investigate. After reaching the main control panel and investigating, I found out that it was some kind of hacking attempt. The cache was full of links of unknown origin, and the folders were filled with files, written in Basic. Thankfully, the firewall has justified its maintenance cost, and fought off the virus, or whatever it was. So all we needed to do is to clean out the AI's folders from the trash" - Psi-Crow exclaimed at the screen and then looked at the copybook once again. "But this AI is strange as hell. Usually, I would be able to view its 'Program' folder, where all the directives, codes and other stuff is located. If a newbie will be watching this - here's a quick refreshment course: by changing the files in this folder, you can tweak and optimize the AI, even change it completely. It's the brain of this artificial being, that we can change at our wish... So, after looking through the folders, I never found 'Program'. Just never! I even typed it in the search box, and it hasn't found anything. Pretty damn weird if you ask me".

After that, she put down the paper and looked straight into the camera, it seemed like she was staring right at Twilight.

"I don't know much history behind FRIEND's creation, but Princess Luna and her court were involved in it. What if there's is something in the AI that we aren't supposed to know, that the government is hiding from us? It's none of my business, and I should probably stay of it. End of working log number 89" - Psi-Crow said and picked up the copybook again, before the video closed down. Now there was an interesting video. And Princess Luna was mentioned as well. She must look pretty adult now, after hundreds of years. She's probably now bigger than Celestia ever was.

That brought Twilight to thinking - is Princess Luna aware of what happened here? Does she know where Celestia is? The unicorn was eager to meet the once enclosed and shy princess of the night and have a good talk with her, but, just like many things right now, it was just a distant dream, maybe even unrealizable. Twilight sighed, and scrolled down to find more videos about FRIEND's AI - Psi-Crow is bound to have more, she wouldn't just abandon this discovery which she described as entirely shocking, would she?

There were two videos that were titled 'Investigation' and 'Breakthrough'. Without further hesitation, Twilight pressed the play button.

Psi-Crow was sitting in the middle of the room again, with tons of paper surrounding her. She looked very stressed and worried, and the colors on her face seemed to be fading away, giving place for the pale white.

"I knew I was right. I knew there's something fishy going on. I knew it, I freaking knew it!" - she shouted, and threw the copybook away and walked closer to the screen, looking straight at it with her bloodshot eyes.

"Today, I managed to trick the security pony to let me inside the control room for the AI. I wanted to check through the folders, but when I opened them just like before, after the hack attempt, it didn't show anything. It seemed like the AI erased the files from the folders, or replaced them, and put them under a password. But there is one thing - AI cannot edit themselves. They can't, they are just not intelligent enough for it. It's like a child, learning about bad behavior and making notes on this, so he or she wouldn't do that in the future. AI can't do this - if it could, it would be no different from a living being! So where did those files go? Nopony could remove them, I know that for sure - I heard that only the constructors of the FRIEND station have the codes for editing this AI. The only alive pony, involved with the creation of this station is Princess Luna. So what the buck?!" - she suddenly burst into shouting, and hit the wall right under the screen. "Either there is some kind of super spy here, or something sinister is going on. I have no idea what. No bucking idea!"

After that, Psi-Crow sighed and walked away, aiming to sit down on the bed. After she put her tired limbs of the soft surface of the mattress, the pale unicorn continued her speech.

"I need to check the Internet for this thing, probably in CanterlotDictionary.eq" - she said in a tired voice. "If there is anything suspicious about this place, I'm bailing from here. I've got enough of all this melodrama and intrigue stuff already, I can't take this anymore!"

With a single move of her hoof, Psi-Crow pressed the button on the remote and the video ended there. Twilight quickly made her suggestions out of this, and continued to the next video, which probably will contain even more information on this subject.

Psi-Crow was running across the room, carrying loads of papers in her mouth. Second later, she dropped it all on the floor, and the room reminded Twilight of how it looks right now.

"Today, a miracle happened. Believe me or not, there was nothing on the matter of AI's changing their own program on the Internet. I mean, at all. I checked the whole bucking net, it seems. When all hope seemed lost, I received an email" - Psi-Crow said quickly, and pushed the papers away from her. "Somepony named E.J.T.D.P.S.E. That was his nickname, at least. I don't know if it's an anagram, or he just got bored and typed letters, but it's not important. What's important is that... argh, where it is?!"

Psi-Crow let out an annoyed growl and started digging through piles of papers. After a minute of search, she took a single piece and came closer to the screen.

"What's important is that he told me about digitalization. According to his words, this is a process of remaking pony's mind in the digital format, or, to be more simple, turning a living pony into AI! I don't know if he's joking, or just stupid, since this is just biologically impossible... I couldn't stop myself from investigating. I am now trying to come up with a formula of turning a mind, a seemingly non-physical object, into lines of code. This is taking ages, and loads of time to research - I cancelled almost all my appointments, the chiefs are thinking of firing me. But I can't just give up - this is too strange for me to give up! I have to know, I will know!" - Psi-Crow shouted at the screen, and turned around, just as the video ended.

There it was - the definition of digitalization. Twilight put it in a special place in her mind - it sounds very important. But there was one more video to view, and Twilight didn't want to put it off any longer. All the answers might be there!

Unfortunately, instead of a video, there was only a text entry. The screen turned green, and the bright letters started appearing.

" E.J.T.D.P.S.E contacted me once more. He offered a chance to act, a chance to change everything I found out. I can't wait anymore, I have to act - I already know too much, and it seems to be coming for me. I found the truth, and it is angered by it. I will do what I have to. Psi-Crow out" - the message read. There was nothing else. This was just as cryptic as the mumbling of AI, or hungry voices of mutants, and Twilight held back from slamming the keyboard as hard as she could. She seemed to be so close to solving at least several questions in her head, but these videos just her desiring more knowledge. This information was like a drop of honey, leaving her craving for more. Twilight sighed and decided to continue her way towards the server room.

Digitalization, some guy on this 'Internet', named E.J.T.D.P.S.E, it all started to lose sense, or what little it had, that is. Before leaving the room, Twilight went to the sink just on the wall nearby the bed (it seems that the toilet in this complex was corporate, and no room had an individual one), pressed the button, and was surprised to see it working. The water started flowing out of the tap, right on Twilight's hoof, soaking it. She carefully washed away the stains of blood under her nose, watching the small crimson streamlet flow into the hole. This is all starting to get so messy. Maybe she is just exaggerating, and should stop listening to these ghostly appearances, like Psi-Crow recommended - it would save her from so much stress. And there is more to come, she was sure.

In any case, Twilight had no other goal than the server room. She got out of the Psi-Crow's room and headed straight for the elevator. This dreary atmosphere and cryptic messages started to get to her. The faster she leaves this place, the better.