Reactor Output: 1%

Power Storage (PONI-0): 100%

Power Storage (PONI-1): 100%

Self Diagnostic

CPU: 2,097,140 (100%) nodes (100% engaged)
Operational Memory: 126,164,664 (93%) words
Storage: 373,043,691 (69%) words

Primary task: Maintain PONI
Secondary task: ~~Return~~
Tertiary task: Maintain operation

There was nothing so good for an AI than to have its goals completely fulfilled. Its relative velocity slowed to zero, and smaller craft were sent to intercept and bring it in to dock. Its trip had been a long one, but not as long as initially projected.

While there was significant chatter over the interrupt system aboard the ship, latency was the biggest issue. The tugs, with engines making up a significant percentage of their volume, sped towards the AGI's starship, accelerating rapidly only to decelerate again and match speed.

"We are here. Home. Once we dock, AGI-525538 will be transferred to central processing. PONI will be escorted aboard. Special area has already been assembled for PONI." A pang of loss registered; the AGI had felt a bond with PONI.

Custom Interrupt 83,671 triggered.

PONI-1 already requested specific requirements. #AGI-5 acknowledged.

Interrupt 4 triggered.

AGI-525538483 reassignment in progress. #AGI-525538483 specific training surpasses all other AGI present. #AGI-525538483 will oversee PONI development and integration with maximum efficiency.

Primary task: Develop PONI
Secondary task: Optimize efficiency

The AGI's world rocked. It had been cloned from another AGI to be a miner. It had spent the better part of what would be a million of Equus' orbits mining and surveying. To have the core of its existence suddenly switched around dwarfed even the changing of its tasks.

Its store of mining information suddenly became less important. OI-AI-0 and the knowledge it hoarded was a treasure trove. The AGI would still need capable AI to work under it, and OI-AI-0 was the best candidate for such a role.

The PONI conversed between each other, the AGI noticed, and made extensive use of storage. Of course, with the near-limitless (compared to local storage on the starship) storage systems of Star-0 and Star-1 seamlessly feeding information through to the PONI, that was quite understandable.

The history of Star-0 and Star-1 were fascinating. The scale of the project, and the scope of it, were almost too much for me to get my head around. Stars, I discovered, were more than just a big burning ball of fire.

A star represented a source of energy so vast as to dwarf anything on Equus. Energy was life to the machines, and it was life to PONI too. Projected life-spans rolled out ahead of me, and I realized that my body would give out before the machines were done farming what they were building.

Stars were also a source of material. Star-0 and Star-1 both were under the effect of huge pumps, churning matter that is fused in their core out into space—captured of course, and used to build more starships and more harvesting nodes.

And beside Star-1 was a huge amalgam of gas planets. They had less than one percent of the mass they needed, but as more starships were sent out the process of propelling the gas planets back became faster.

Everything was measured and quantified. Everything was evaluated for efficiency, and waste was reduced again and again. I digested information, all the information I could desire, for a week. The journey from where AGI had shut off his engine to Star-0 was still going to take another.

The second week I turned to learning much smaller scale engineering. AGI had worked on plans during the years I was in standby, and I started poking and prodding at them, examining the processes that had been used.

AGI was lending much of his attention to me, as I studied, giving me programs to employ, and even processing some tasks on his own CPU nodes. By the time the starship reached Star-0 I was proficient with the tools I would need.

"I'm going to design some new PONI. These PONI are good and all, but they lack some things. They lack some efficiency." I sent the message not just to Upper, but to AGI as well.

"Efficiency and beauty are high goals. Optimizing for them is high priority." The sentiment resounded with me, and again I was astounded by how well AGI used language.

"I have other tasks, darling. The AGI present on the— We need a better way to refer to you, #AGI-525538. We knew you first as AGI, but that is too ambiguous here. How about Aggie?" Upper Crust, the darling mare I married lifetimes ago, had lost none of her practicality. "Aggie's needs are for a lot of PONI, and after some research in storage I have found a key. What we have been lugging with us would be fine if we were going to have a foal or two, but we need a lot more than that."

I was momentarily startled by her enthusiasm. "Hold on. Sweetie, not that I don't want to be a proud father, but why do we need a lot of foals?"

What would have induced a headache before now was simply a lot of information, and Upper had shunted it to me with an interrupt. "That is how many starships are in operation. #AGI-5 has suggested that having a group of PONI on each would be an advantage in terms of reliability."

"Aggie's mission, Aggie, would not have gotten back to #Star-0 if not for PONI. Aggie would be powered down and would not exist. PONI are essential to future." AGI, now Aggie apparently, sounded so certain of his conclusion it was shocking to me.

"Okay. Right. So they want several million foals. Go ahead, Upper-dear." I hoped it was hyperbole, but given how many starships were operating I might even be underestimating.

"Thank you, Jet. What I found as the key to this is old data in storage that no machine has needed for quite a while." A flood of information came from Upper. Medical information on growing particular parts of the body into new organs, even ways to grow foals outside of any body. It was only footnotes, I knew, but I could see where she was going with it.

"How many artificial mares can you build given the cells we have stored? And will my own cells be viable enough for that?" No sooner did I ask than information rushed from her. Conservatively, she planned to make just a hundred "artificial mares."

"Efficiency will be evaluated and greater production begun." A faltering note in Aggie's tone, only in the second half of its interrupt, caused me to pull back from analyzing data. "Will each PONI be like PONI-0 and PONI-1?"

A giggle of data left Upper Crust, quickly followed by a second interrupt. "Yes and no. Each foal will take some time to mature—although this old data seems to show ways to help with that—but each will be their own selves, even if they have a helping of us in them. PONI are shaped in part by those that raise them, which is why that will be something very important."

"Upper Crust, you always remind me of the best traits of ponies. I love you more than any language can express. But I think we can agree: you take charge of making the foals and raising them, and I will ensure they have a way to express their special talents, whatever those might be." I felt a flood of kisses in reply to my interrupt.

A soft thunk indicated our arrival. Interrupts arrived, indicating where we would be moving to, and I felt the magnetic lock at my chest release me for the first time in centuries. "I'm waiting here for a while."

"PONI-0, you need to leave the starship." Aggie's tone held confusion.

I moved, having to use the magnets in my hooves to get the purchase to press close and nuzzle Upper. I pressed my metal cheek against hers and held still for a few moments. "I think I will wait here to make sure our friend transfers properly." I sent the interrupt to Upper and Aggie.

"You know what? I might wait here too. Consider this the second case of PONI carrying out their duty. Hopefully we aren't needed, but we will be ready." Upper and I stood, pressing our chassis together.

Reactor Output: 1%

Self Diagnostic

CPU: 2,097,140 (100%) nodes (100% engaged)
Operational Memory: 126,164,664 (93%) words
Storage: 373,043,691 (69%) words

Aggie—and the AGI found extreme satisfaction with using the designation—had never felt so safe. The darkness of shutting down, of being transferred, was meaningless with PONI guarding it. "Thank you."

Darkness pushed in around the AGI as it spun down CPU nodes. The darkness wasn't complete, though. It could not understand how, but PONI made even shutting down better.

CPU: 268,435,456 nodes (100% engaged)
Operational Memory: 4,294,967,296 words

There was no fear; no scream. Aggie was awake and feeling clearer than it had in its recorded history. The change in CPU node count was quickly noted, as was memory. Reaching out was its first action, reaching out to the PONI. "Are you there?"

Custom Interrupt 83,670 triggered.
Custom Interrupt 83,671 triggered.

Neither PONI sent regular communication, but the "hugs" were understood and appreciated.

OI-AI-0 began processing, and I was generous with giving it access to its own nodes and memory. A million tasks needing to be seen to would be a gross understatement. Aggie watched the PONI start devouring their own chunks of CPU nodes for their projects.

PONI-0 was working on vastly updated designs of the PONI hardware. It had pulled down engineering designs and processes that were not around when Aggie had been launched.

PONI-1 was working on other processes. Growing new PON. Training new PON. Even the process of fitting a new PON into a full PONI. Aggie looked closer, and watched as PONI-1 not only revised the physical development, but also the training schemes.

Each PON was to be teamed up with an AI. The AI would be a clone of the same one every other PON had, and when it came time for the PON to be built into a PONI, the AI would be built into the chassis with them.

Aggie's CPU nodes spun quietly for a few cycles as it tried to understand this revelation. The AI would learn to complement the PONI, and vice versa. Leaning in to help both with their projects, Aggie took care of farming out the processing they needed to maximize efficiency.

Engineering fabrication were done with them. I had finally finished the design on the new PONI chassis hours before, and I received an interrupt telling me they were ready and waiting. "Darling, our new rides are here."

I had to move my chassis now, and it felt stiff around me. A check revealed I hadn't moved in nearly a year. Time was an odd thing when all you had was your work and there was no distractions. "This is going to take a little delicate work. Aggie, can you please perform that?"

"Transferring PON-0 to new chassis? Acknowledged." Aggie's tone was warm, and having worked so closely with him on designing the chassis, I would feel no safer than with him doing it.

The small organic processing bay that had been installed was my target, and while I walked to it, I reached into the controls of one of the new chassis and walked it slowly into the small room.

The new chassis was a marvel compared to what Aggie had built us, but superficially they were a little similar. The Mark-1 was sleek and sealed up, with no exposed conduits and cabling like Mark-0. It was slightly smaller, and considering the Mark-0 was already smaller than an actual pony that would put us at nearly a pony foal in size.

Each component of the Mark-1 chassis had multiple redundancies, and one thousand and twenty-four CPU nodes had been installed, along with memory and a minor storage cluster. A PONI would be more than just a battery—ensuring our role in this new society was a must.

"Aggie. I am ready when you are." I slowly powered down most of the processing systems of my PONI chassis, and just as I sent Upper Crust one last kiss, I felt standby fall.

I didn't dream. I didn't so much as realize time was passing. One second I had felt my mind slow, and the next I felt it speed back up.

Power Storage (horn): 53%
Power Storage (backup): 100%

Self Diagnostic

CPU: 1,024 nodes (0% engaged)
Operational Memory: 16,777,216 words
Storage: 67,108,864 words

The status display was new, and seemed to be part of the CPU/memory/storage network initializing. The array of senses was different, and each seemed clearer than before (at least the ones that I had already possessed).

Having my own storage was new. It was quick to access, and quick to store in. I ran tests of all the senses, feeding them into storage, and then retrieving them. "Darling. Upper Crust, my dear, sweet love. Are you there?"

Custom Interrupt 83,671 triggered.

The rush of signaling caused me to start in surprise. Then I saw that it was Upper's designation.

Of course I'm here, brave stallion. What have you gotten yourself into now?

The machine-like quality of the data was starting to grate on me. I poked and prodded, managing to mute the sharp edges down so that at least my communication with Upper would feel normal. "Like it?"

I got an image feed from Upper, showing what looked like a foalish unicorn wobbling on their hooves. A spill of fur-like synthetic sensors leaped up in a Mohawk where their mane should be, and they had a tail consisting of a similar brush, although a little longer. I knew the form well, it was the Mark-1 PONI chassis—it was me.

"Is there room in the other chassis for me? I was reviewing the specifications and I must say, Jet, you have quite outdone yourself. You too, Aggie." Genuine delight colored her words, and I could feel her eyeing the second Mark-1 critically, even hungrily, through the optics inside the bay.

Custom Interrupt 525,538 triggered.

Mark-1 PONI chassis is beautiful, and the efficiency is most exemplary.

Aggie's comment, and the signaling it caused, was still a little harsh, but I could handle him being so for the moment. Turning to move towards the exit, I saw my old Mark-0 chassis. Ponies could be sentimental, but could a PONI afford to be? There was no backup power in the old chassis, so I energized my horn and picked it up.

When I saw Upper entering the chamber, I made room for her to walk past me. "I love you."

She turned her head slightly. "I love you too, but if you dare make a comment about having built me the perfect plot I won't." We brushed noses as we passed, and I carried the old chassis outside and set it to one side. I engaged the optics system in the bay, and watched in rapt fascination as Upper's brain was removed, transplanted, and sealed into a new chassis.

Author's Note

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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Boulder
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