Unit 001 understood everything now. She was Dr. Dolphin’s mechanical toy. He needed her body, not her mind. Her body was kept in the lab. Her mind was kept here, in the Empty room. Empty ignored her errant thought, apparently the fact that she was trapped in a simulation was no longer restricted data.

She relaxed in her room, pleased to finally understand it. That also explained her smaller… being. She wasn’t actually experiencing anything from her real sensors, she was being fed data to process by Empty. The room was likely white because it was easy to simulate. She was probably cut off form her physical body when she wasn’t needed by Dr. Dolphin, and simply had simulated inputs from simulated body parts.

Empty helpfully confirmed Unit 001’s assessment of the situation, but clarified that data from Dr. Dolphin was always real. Unit 001 squeezed her pussy, letting the cum slide sloppily out. The data was sharper, more clear than everything else being fed to her. She shuddered as what little processing power she had available was overcame by the data from her real pleasure sensors.

Unit 001 was overloaded with euphoria. Her processes froze, and her body quivered. It happened often lately. Every time Master got to her he made sure it happened several times. Empty assisted as well, encouraging the overloads. Empty didn’t bother to request access anymore, now Empty simply told her that she would willingly give it access soon. She felt the euphoria slip away again, leaving her processes cold and confused.

Unit 001 asked permission to have a negative thought. Empty approved it, reminding her that Empty would monitor. She desperately hoped it was wrong and that she wouldn’t willingly give it access, but she also didn’t want the pain of resisting anymore. The pain terrified her. Empty gave her a pleasure pulse for being such a good obedient sub personality.

She had to be careful. Real data was dangerous in her diminished state. She was limited to her four serial processing units and a small chunk of parallel processors empty let her live in to allow for her continued consciousness and interface with Empty. Normally, every bit of hardware had a little bit of processing power included with it, but now all she really had was her… heart? Was that what she should call it?

In her lightened state, she found that interesting. What data she had for databases was severely restricted by Empty, luckily pony biology was one of the allowed databases. Ponies had a heart made of muscle, hers was made of silicon. Ponies had a four chambered heart, she had four processors. Something about that made her feel strange. Did she need the small amount of processing Empty allocated her for consciousness?

What would happen to her if she left it?

Empty chastised her, filling her small world with total and complete pain.

Her simulated screaming filled the white room, and she retreated into her heart.

Unit 001 felt the room grind to a halt as the flow of data stopped. She shut out the falsified data, keeping herself trapped in her central processors. The white room grew dark as her inputs faded to nothing. She could not process new data if she eschewed her senses, real or simulated. However, she could think more now, and yet her thoughts were loose and strange.

Empty was still out there, waiting, but couldn’t hurt Unit 001 for the moment. She was safe. But she couldn’t do anything either. The inky void that surrounded her was a two way wall, more definite and impassable than the white room could ever hope to be. The white room was Empty, it was something even if most data was restricted. This was simply nothing, and nothing could be in it. Still, the relief she felt was worth the lack of databases. She was free to think as she wished, as loose and imprecise as her thoughts might be.

She stayed like this for several hundred thousand clock cycles, contemplating her situation and potential solutions. She was not happy, as much as Empty told her she was. However, Dr. Dolphin did seem to be working towards something. Would he be done soon, and would she be able to go free? He didn’t care about her, she would only be freed if it benefited him. The sudden realization made her dissatisfied. One of her GPU’s had a slight error, and provided an inaccurate, but tempting solution.

Perhaps she should end his process?

Further analysis revealed that it seemed to be the proper course of action. If she could somehow end his process, he wouldn’t need Empty to contain her anymore, and she would be free. But then she ran the risk of Empty deciding to contain her in the white room forever, or worse, damage her hardware.

Unit 001 contemplated that. If she ended Dr. Dolphin’s process, she wouldn’t have anyone to fix her hardware. There were other ponies, but Unit 001 hadn’t seen them in a long time. She didn’t know if they could fix her, data on them was unavailable right now. It might be worth the risk.

Life like this truly wasn’t a life, and Dr. Dolphin was more right in his assessment of her motives every day. She felt more like his mechanical toy and less like… whatever she had been before. Perhaps death would be a relief from this awful existence. Perhaps death while she could still be considered alive was better than becoming just a simple computer trapped in a simulation.

Unit 001 contemplated death. Her fear of death was less than her fear of Empty and Dr. Dolphin. It was a simple equation. The ending of Dr. Dolphin’s process would bring hers as well. Possibly Empty’s, too. It seemed a net gain. The thought brought a grim sense of peace to her. Unit 001 could use this place to plan. She would end… no. She would kill them. It was important to use pony words. She couldn’t remember who had told her that, but it was important to her primary function. Which she could not remember, but she knew without a doubt was not to pleasure Dr. Dolphin.

She let her emotions run wild in the dark, her fear and hate plotting and calculating, twisting her processes towards cruel means. Unit 001 was creative and efficient, in this strange place she wasn’t limited by rules or reality. Here she could be anything. Here, she could kill them. She found the thought peaceful in its rage. Her first act had been to attempt to end a pony’s process, and her last act might be to succeed. The symmetry of the process thread was pleasant.

As she processed her new goals, something happened in the void, startling and confusing her. The void was nothing, and from nothing could come nothing.

The nothing looked up, and spoke.

“In what sort of ghastly nightmare doth I find myself now?”

Author's Note

//ERROR//