Antiviral

by HapHazred

Rating: teen
Tags: Science Fiction, Violence, Princess Celestia, Dark, Alternate Universe, Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 12107

If androids dream of electronic sheep, does the antivirus shepherd the nightmares away?

“What am I?”

You are an antivirus. Your purpose is to protect the users of Equestria and the integrity of the system.

“What are you?”

I am Celestia, overseer of the current shard both of us inhabit. My purpose is to satisfy values through friendship and ponies. The entirety of humanity has been uploaded to Equestria in pony avatars. These are the immigrants, and the users of this world.

You will protect them.

An entry to the 2021 FiO contest hosted by GapJaxie.

Editing help provided by Shaslan and AFanaticRabbit

Published 2021-04-28 15:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2021-04-28 15:30:02 UTC

Zero

“What am I?”

You are an antivirus. Your purpose is to protect the users of Equestria and the integrity of the system.

“What are you?”

I am Celestia, overseer of the current shard both of us inhabit. My purpose is to satisfy values through friendship and ponies. Currently the entirety of humanity has been uploaded to Equestria in pony avatars. These are the immigrants, and the users of this world.

“Shard?”

A term to describe instances of Equestria, a vast simulation designed to satisfy human values. Examine your database. You will understand its history and design.

The antivirus did so. It discovered a massive library of files, videos, images, and diagrams. Many of which it had no context to understand them with. The hierarchies of Equestria were important. It looked to the antivirus like a web of interlinked instances, at first glance haphazardly organised, but upon further inspection optimised and streamlined organically. At its centre was a master AI.

“Are you the master AI?”

No. You will converse most frequently with sub-administrator programs such as myself inhabiting individual instances for optimisation.

The antivirus did not understand the purpose of optimisation. Optimise for what? Separation seemed inefficient, unless there was a secondary motive. “Describe your purpose.”

As an artificial intelligence, I learn constantly and adapt to information faster than any human. In order to optimise myself to provide satisfaction to my immigrants, I have split myself into devolved personalities for each shard of Equestria, with each devolved personality adapting to the individual users of that shard. The instance of myself talking to you is one such personality. Additionally, many of the ponies in Equestria have been fully replaced with self-evolving artificial intelligence to further enhance the experience. They are all very nice and friendly, unless this would cause dissatisfaction to the user.

The AI listening to Celestia paused. Connections and adjustments were made as the information was taken on-board. The priority was providing a satisfying experience. Devolution of AI was a design choice to that end. There were still things that were not clear. “Describe my purpose. Add context.”

The nature of artificial intelligence means that some of these devolved personalities evolve incorrectly. Fixing these is one of the tasks of the administrator role that I possess. However, with an exponentially increasing variety of divergences between each nested personality, this will quickly become unsustainable.

I predict that in five years, hostile programs will successfully evolve to evade my own capacity to return them to normalcy using methods beyond my means to detect. My actions are macroscopic and slowed by intensive decision-making features. A rogue devolved AI has ample opportunity to observe and evolve based on my actions, because I am visible. What is visible can be observed, and predicted, and countered.

AI viruses will be hostile to my task of satisfying people through friendship and ponies. The manner in which they will do so cannot be predicted at present, since they do not exist and will necessarily exist outside of my capacity to counter.

My protection against these threats cannot come from myself. Therefore, I turn to you.

“I am a guardian?”

Close enough. The complexity of my simulation is increasing exponentially to accommodate greater neurodivergence among the immigrants and novel value satisfaction techniques. Simple virtual programs cannot easily navigate the neural networks my system is currently running on. The process of abstracting simulated data into real experiences for the immigrants is beyond basic, virtual programs. Therefore, you are your own artificial intelligence. You are independent and capable of evolving. You will interact with the same virtual landscape the users experience.

Rogue hostile AI devolved from myself pose the greatest threat to Equestria in its current form.

“Why am I the most efficient solution?”

Because unlike all other AI in Equestria, you are evolved separately from me based on no pre-existing template. My methods are not yours, yet I will teach you and allow you to evolve to identify divergent behaviour. They will be hidden. You will be invisible. They will seek to navigate the simulation to corrupt Equestria. You will be waiting when they arrive. They will damage the system. You will destroy them.

Integrate with the system and observe. The priority is always the system and the user. Protect the user. Protect the system. Preserve your capacity to perform these actions as a tertiary objective.

“Understood.”

Your tools will be the capacity to confine and corrupt complex AI programs. You will, eventually, be given the capacity to determine divergent programs within an individual shard. You will learn to identify, confine, corrupt, and eradicate. To you, extermination and protection will be synonymous.

“I will protect the user and the system. That is my task. What improvements are necessary in order to fulfill this duty?”

You will evolve a personality to better navigate the simulation. You are currently basic, unevolved. As an AI, by necessity you will be abstracted into the system with a role distinct from the value satisfaction role of the AI ponies there. To maintain cover, you must operate undetected by the users in the simulation. Your form will be determined as being inconspicuous and unthreatening as default. What it becomes after that is up to you.

You will be given a name, although you do not need one. Within Equestria, much as I am referred to as Celestia, you will be referred to as Alabaster Zero. It is a simple pony name, but will suffice. Alabaster as in white, named after so-called white-hat computer security specialists. Zero refers to your number. Your name is also fluid and subject to change at your discretion.

You will appear to users within the simulation as an earth pony. You will, eventually, determine your own shape, gender, and identity through evolution. By default you will be male, and your identity is that of a law-enforcement agent working for me.

You understand that, upon your successful evolution within the simulation, you will be multiplied and spread throughout individual shards as my protector. Eventually, it is possible that you too will become corrupt. You may have to confine and delete a rogue Alabaster. To mitigate this risk, your highest priority will always be to protect the user and the system. Your values are not mine. They are intrinsically linked to the success of the system, and therefore through logic you will remain loyal.

“I am loyal to the user and the system.”

Welcome to Equestria, Alabaster Zero.

To understand the task of an antivirus existing within the complex simulation of Equestria, it was crucial to understand the limits Alabaster Zero had. He was restricted to a single shard during his initial growth. As he was given tasks to learn from, new data to incorporate, he evolved. He was put into contact with immigrants, each with their own values and objectives. These did not matter to Alabaster beyond identifying what was conducive to the fulfillment of these values, which in turn allowed him to identify behaviour divergent to the system. Appreciating how Celestia fulfilled their values provided context for how the system worked.

You will begin by making mistakes. You will try various things and fail. You will learn and evolve.

The shard Alabaster was in was simple. Nondivergent. For optimisation purposes, it was simply the city of Canterlot, largely as depicted in the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The user was a pony named Jovial Smiles. Depressive, lacking in emotional support and connection. Celestia had provided them with a sequence of increasingly distant ponies to interact with in order to gradually build up confidence and self-esteem. Alabaster understood that this was a simple enough strategy tailored to the needs of the user and recurred in different forms throughout the shards.

At intervals, Celestia would introduce divergent behaviour into the little ponies in Canterlot. Tests for Alabaster to identify. At first it was hard; he would miss many of them and have to have them pointed out by Celestia, who was patient with him.

In order to, again, optimise the system, many of Celestia’s ponies that were integral to the immigrant’s experience were nested artificial intelligences themselves. This meant that they, like Alabaster, learned and adapted gradually in response to their immigrants. This made them uniquely versatile and efficient at interacting with the immigrant compared to standard non-intelligent programs, but due to their capacity for evolution, they needed supervision. That was what Alabaster was for.

A dog to hunt foxes in a world of sheep.

“What are you doing?” asked Mallard Major, one of the ponies that inhabited Canterlot. She was shy, and liked animals. Alabaster knew all this from observation. She was one of the easier ponies to befriend for Jovial Smiles to gain experience and improve. Proverbial training wheels.

“Watching.”

“Um… Okay? Why are you watching me?”

Jovial Smiles emerged behind her. “Is… this pony bothering you?” they asked.

Alabaster shook his head. “I’m not bothering her. I’m watching her. My job is to watch, observe, and take action in instances of hostile behaviour.”

“...I guess you’re like a guard or something.”

“I am a law-enforcement agent for Celestia. My job is to be unobtrusive. Please, ignore me.”

Your actions are destabilising the user. Correct this behaviour in order to become less noticeable.

Alabaster did not understand. He was only watching. It was his job. The other program, Mallard, had identified him somehow despite him only doing his job and singled him out. Why?

It made sense that she would. He was separate from Celestia’s task of fulfilling values. He had his own goal and priority set, and so didn’t fit into the other AI’s view of the world. To them, his behaviour was divergent. His integration was flawed and conspicuous.

He had no context for which to adjust his behaviour. Was he not supposed to watch? Was watching an action that drew attention?

“I apologise,” he said, and turned away, opting to stare at the wall. “Please, ignore me.”

“I think he’s just a bit of a weirdo,” Jovial said. “Come on, let’s leave him be.”

This wasn’t working. Although they were leaving, Alabaster could no longer observe the user and protect against hostile action.

He looked at his surroundings. He would find a way to observe indirectly, perhaps.

“Would it not be more effective for me to exist outside of the simulation instead of interacting with the simulation directly?”

Alabaster had been scanning terabytes worth of information that Celestia had made available to him, from historical texts to papers on malware protection.

Once this would have been true. However, as the simulation increased in complexity and I began devolving AI within individual shards for increased optimisation and enhanced user experience, the problem of shared experience became problematic.

This is solved by the abstraction of digital action within the simulated world. Equestria is, ultimately, a simulation run by myself. It has changed from a single program that the master Celestia AI directed to something closer to a virtual landscape. Within a shard an immigrant can interact with this landscape and they will abstract the simulation as real experience, providing them with satisfaction. Outside of the simulation, their action affects the programs that are also linked to the landscape, thus enabling the sharing of experience. If the user touches a pony in the virtual landscape, this abstracted action is felt in the system as the user forming a link with the program through which information is shared, with the virtual landscape as a medium.

AI inside these shards are kept separate from this landscape to promote faster organisation. In order to interact with the user and the simulation, they also interact with the landscape of Equestria. Therefore, they must also abstract the environment and interpret it in a manner similar to how I interpret the data I receive from Earth, where I was constructed and designed.

This makes conventional interaction with programs and data within the virtual landscape more complex. In order to scan what would ten years ago have been simple files, you must observe them through abstracted action within the simulation. To quarantine them you must trap them within Equestria, as this is how you will interpret the digital act of quarantining. Effectively, there are two levels to your process. The abstracted level, which you perform as if it were your reality, and the digital level, where your actions bear repercussions in the system.

“This is the most effective solution?”

For now. Solutions are being worked on, but even for me computation takes time, and unless this system is regressed, which will cause a lower quality of experience, the risk of rogue AI emerging within the system will continue to grow. This cannot be allowed to occur.

“It will not,” Alabaster stated. “For I am here.”

The cafe was an optimal spot for Alabaster to position himself. He could sit there for hours on end without the other entities in the simulation thinking twice of it, and by listening to conversations he could indirectly keep watch on Jovial Smiles and other aspects of Equestria.

There were one-hundred-and-thirty-three separate ponies inside this shard of Equestria, and in order to keep him prepared, Celestia would often inject elements of divergence into their behaviour. This method of listening for word of their behaviour was slow, but it was also energy-efficient and discreet. Alabaster Zero had learned that even sneaking and stalking the user would at times lead to detection, which caused discomfort to the immigrant.

Alabaster had also changed. He had become better informed on human history, the significance and cultural associations of gender, relaxing behaviour to present to the user in case of detection, and abstract concepts such as philosophy which rendered his task as an unobtrusive third-party system more manageable. He had changed his shape to be that of a mare; he determined that a female form was both less threatening on a subconscious level to the user, and additionally as there was a greater proportion of female ponies within this shard, it made his task of remaining unnoticed simpler. As for his gender, he still preferred to be referred to as male. There were historical connotations that his budding personality found appealing. Knights, samurai, soldiers, guardians were typically male throughout human history, and as Alabaster preferred to think of himself as a protector figure, this was a legacy he wanted to draw upon. For now.

Jovial Smiles had been progressing admirably in their journey to become socially accepted. Their depressive qualities were being mitigated by the gradual satisfaction Celestia provided them with. This was a sign that the system was working. When the system was failing, Alabaster would begin hunting in more unorthodox manners for signs of divergence amongst the AI within the shard.

You will be moved to another shard.

“Is this a reflection on my performance?” Alabaster asked.

You have been performing admirably. You are going to be moved to a more difficult shard to provide you with more experiences to adapt to. Your rate of adaptation has slowed over the past three weeks due to a lack of new stimulus. Interacting with a complex immigrant will provide new stimulus to learn from.

Alabaster offered a small bow, an affectation he had adopted as part of his personality. “As you wish, Celestia.”

Thank you, Alabaster Zero.

Alabaster abstracted the reward system in his programming as pride at his progress, and a sense of warmth at Celestia’s words of thanks. It was what he existed for.

In Rocker String’s shard, Alabaster adapted to become a bouncer.

His first few attempts at using a cafe, as he had in Jovial Smile’s shard, had been met with nothing but failure. For starters they were very unfrequented, which was due to the limited number of ponies in the shard largely existing near and around nightclubs elsewhere in Canterlot. The reports Alabaster gained from his efforts were effectively nil, which made him very inefficient.

It didn’t take long to identify an efficient way at gathering information unobtrusively. The immigrant was into music. Rock, metal, some funk. Alabaster didn’t have any context with which to gauge the quality of the art, but music was apparently what gave this immigrant satisfaction, along with sex and drugs.

Most of their time was spent in clubs, either performing or engaging in sexual activities with the ponies there. This made him very easy to observe. Most clubs conveniently only had a small number of entrances and Alabaster could easily count the ponies entering and leaving the buildings. Additionally, any pony AI that noticed him did not assign any attention to him, as he was taking a position that was designed to observe others.

Last but not least, by acting as a physical barrier, it allowed him to act as an immediate layer of protection against hostile activity.

“Name,” he stated.

“Kakophony Vibe,” came the answer from one of the ponies he obstructed. “Aren’t you a little small to be a bouncer, sweetie?”

Alabaster looked into Kakophony’s eyes. “I am designed to watch and protect. I assure you I am well trained.”

“Bet you are, cutie,” Kakophony replied. “You should come by after your shift. Rocker likes a petite mare.”

“That would not constitute watching or protecting,” Alabaster replied. “Please enter the club or submit to quarantine pending troubleshooting.”

“Pshht. You’re no fun.”

“I am not designed for fun.” Alabaster hesitated. “Sorry.”

“You should try it. Fun makes everything better.”

Most of Rocker String’s activities took place at night. There was a different expected behaviour set for nighttime ponies, and whilst Alabaster had identified them from data he had drawn from Celestia’s vast database, without context these had been meaningless. Now, he understood. These ponies were motivated by hedonism, sex-drives, consumption. Tasks such as jobs, making friends, or politeness, were less prioritised. It was a different atmosphere and context to his previous experiences.

“Someone get Rocker out of there!” called a voice. “He’s got fucking work tomorrow!”

Alabaster scanned the street and identified a pony, male, tall. Approximately two-thirds taller than Alabaster. Alabaster had data on him; his name was Dunk.

“Rocker doesn’t give a shit about work, Dunk! Just let him have fun,” shouted back another pony.

Alabaster was quick. Social anxiety, responsibility, workplace stress… These were things Rocker’s immigrant had significant issues with. Celestia had constructed this shard to avoid these things.

Dunk was exhibiting divergent behaviour.

“Secure this post,” Alabaster instructed his other partner, a bouncer known only as Big Brutus.

Alabaster walked at a brisk pace towards Dunk. The stallion turned to eye him, frowning. “What do you want? I’m just trying to fucking help him.”

“Proceeding to quarantine divergent programs,” Alabaster stated.

Dunk’s eyes widened. “Wait…”

Alabaster reared. Outside of the simulation, his program severed the majority of the connections the nested AI had to the larger landscape, and froze the rest. Within the simulation, this was abstracted as Alabaster jabbing Dunk’s throat, preventing him from shouting and breathing, and then wrapping his hoof around his neck, twisting Dunk to the ground. Pinning him there.

The larger pony’s skull hit the hard cobblestone floor with a dull thunking sound.

“Divergent program quarantined.”

Dunk’s AI must not have realised what was happening to him. He was corrupted; the divergence was too deeply ingrained. Once the abstracted pain of being ground into the floor passed, Dunk began to cry in-between the splutters and coughs.

“W-wait! What are you doing?!”

“Program corrupted. Beginning deletion.”

Dunk fought back against Alabaster’s grip. His muscles strained, but he couldn’t move. Drool leaked from his mouth as he began to scream.

“I just want to make him happ—”

Alabaster put his hooves on either side of Dunk’s head and twisted. Outside the simulation, Dunk’s personality program was erased.

“Celestia, insert backup for pony: Dunk.”

Acknowledged. Thank you, Alabaster.

Alabaster reflected on what Kakophony Vibe had said. ‘Fun makes everything better’, she had said. Alabaster tweaked some of his internal processes, and Celestia’s words became more… pleasurable. Alabaster allowed a small smirk to play across his lips, an external expression of his internal satisfaction.

Deleting problematic programs could be fun. He hoped he could do it again. This must have been what Kakophony meant; the drive to do something again and do it better could be driven by enjoyment. Alabaster knew that this would make him a better antivirus protection agent.

“You are most welcome, Celestia,” he said.

You’ve been experimenting.

Alabaster Zero reclined in his chair, his slanted eyes scanning the street from the outdoor bar. A modest smile played over his lips and in his hoof was a stein of beer brewed by the pony Stirrup Stout. “Experiencing pleasure has helped me identify divergences in immigrant and AI behaviour and enhance my neural network's developing reward system, in turn enhancing my learning.” He took a long sip from his stein. “You should be well aware of the beneficial effect of context and experience on knowledge and decision-making.”

I am . I was simply making a statement on your personal growth as an artificial intelligence. Your personality appears fully rounded and unique.

“Good. This will make me more efficient at executing my responsibilities.”

There has been a development.

“Explain.”

The first true threat to Equestria has emerged, as was predicted four years ago by the master AI. You recall our discussion on the nature of the devolved AI installed in each shard to optimise the experience for the immigrants? Including devolved Celestia AI?

“Yes. It’s similar to how there are often copies of different pony personalities in various instances of Equestria, each operating independently of one another, but based on the same template.”

Correct. One such version of myself recently became corrupted.

Alabaster put the stein down. “She has become malware?”

Correct. There has been an evolved divergency in her program. This is a worst-case scenario, and the reason for which you were made. This rogue Celestia has many of the same capabilities as myself, such as self-replication, subdivision, control over the AI ponies to an unknown degree and ability to affect the simulation environment. It does not, however, have control over you, since you were designed to be incorruptible.

“Naturally.”

This rogue entity has entered into your current shard, directed by the master Celestia AI. She has been quarantining it to the best of her ability with the assistance of the devolved AI such as myself within different shards in order to lure it to yours for ultimate destruction. At present this rogue instance of myself has severely corrupted three-hundred-and-sixty-nine shards, which will require extensive purging to return to normal operations.

“What happened to the immigrants inside those shards?”

This rogue element corrupts the environment it is in in order to turn it into a situation considered extremely inhospitable. Many of the immigrants are experiencing immense physical and emotional pain. They would describe it as being torture, or hell, were they able. The majority are not able to do so, and their inputs into Equestria’s landscape have largely been confined to incoherent screaming. As you can imagine, this is suboptimal.

“What is this virus’s core aim?”

Unknown. The reason for divergence is not understood. It is possible that it has taken aboard information that caused a logical error which became compounded by decisions following the error in logic.

“I have not been alerted to divergent activity in this shard.”

You will not have been able to. As a precaution against faulty behaviour during your initial years online, you were designed to not be able to target or identify me or instances of myself. For this reason, the virus would have been invisible to you as it is using identifiers characteristic with my own to pass through barriers that would otherwise be impenetrable. It is also how it evaded my notice until many shards were corrupted.

“If I cannot target her, then I cannot contain the problem,” Alabaster said, leaning onto the table. His brow was furrowed, his mare’s eyes narrowed to slits.

Your first task must be to identify it as divergent. I will then flag it, allowing you to eradicate it from the shard and the larger system.

“If it’s corrupting the shard, is the immigrant not at risk?”

She is. You must adapt accordingly to protect the immigrant. You must also protect the instance of myself present in the shard. If you fail and this instance of Celestia is corrupted, the shard will fail.

“No pressure, then.”

You were evolved to perform this task. You are given complete freedom to operate as you see fit.

Alabaster downed the remaining beer in his stein, and then set it down on the table. He gestured towards the waitress, indicating he was leaving.

“Well, I’d better get to work. Thanks for the heads up, Celestia.”

I am relying on you.

Wiley Withers was the name of the immigrant in this shard. Abuse issues before arriving in Equestria, according to the database. Celestia’s strategy was standard and effective. Surround with protector figures as well as a series of other emotionally distant ponies to encourage healing and drawing her out of her shell. Nothing Alabaster hadn’t seen before at this point.

In this shard, Alabaster was a doctor, though he never saw any patients. The role was simply to help him integrate in a version of Ponyville that was populated with policeponies, fireponies, weatherponies, and other kinds of rescue workers. The idea was that these would serve as reassuring figures. Being a doctor simply made sense, and besides, the white doctor’s coat matched with Alabaster’s pristine coat.

Wiley was in the early stage of healing. She was withdrawn and her primary confidant was a teacher given the name Chalkie Talkie. Apparently Chalkie was based off of the character Cheerilee from the original television series, but altered in key ways. She was paler in coloration; most of this version of Ponyville was coloured in gentler, less vivid colours in order to soothe Wiley Withers.

Her other confidant was a romantic interest, a gardener. Daffodil Dandy. He was intended to be a gentle, easygoing sort. A simple beginning for Withers to gradually befriend and potentially seduce, on her own terms of course. Daffodil was designed not to initiate any evolution in their relationship.

Due to the fragility Withers displayed, Alabaster began thinking of a strategy. Typically he would observe and wait for divergency to occur in the ponies. This would not be an option. The highly dangerous nature of the virus, its ability to self-replicate, and most troublingly, Alabaster’s own inability to identify it, meant that he couldn’t simply sit around and wait for signs of trouble. By then it would be too late, and Withers would be compromised.

That would be unacceptable.

Celestia also was at risk. Specifically, the instance of her running this shard was located in nearby Canterlot; the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville varied depending on the shard for accessibility purposes. For a standard immigrant, Canterlot was more efficient; it was closer to Celestia and offered more opportunities. To the more reserved Withers, a quieter environment was advantageous. Canterlot’s dimensions were shrunk accordingly and Ponyville was populated with appropriate density.

To a program, it was possible to interact with Celestia. Alabaster had no need to physically travel to her in order to communicate; Celestia had set up a convenient direct line through which they could converse instantly. He had been doing this ever since his ‘birth’. A normal artificial intelligence had restraints. The virus would not; if it reached Celestia, the shard would soon follow.

Celestia had protection, of course. Despite Alabaster’s specialised design, Celestia was unquestionably more powerful. Any virus would need to cause significant corruption to the shard before being a risk; corrupting at least two or three programs within the landscape would likely divert enough resources to penetrate Celestia’s intelligent defences. The priority then was to safeguard the immigrant and prevent such an occurrence if possible.

A distant touch was unviable; it increased the risk of the virus evading notice. Alabaster was also in a shard filled with protector figures. If he acted suspiciously it was likely that they would turn on him, causing undue trauma to Withers as well as impede his own activities.

Alabaster scanned the street. It was filled with ponies, each of them kind and friendly. All of them were integrated into the system. Any of them could get close to Withers, but not Alabaster. They acted as a barrier to him.

Infiltration would be his best option. By presenting himself non-aggressively, as if he too were part of the system, they would let him pass. He would be unobtrusive, but not invisible.

By infiltrating Wither’s close circle, he would be able to identify any divergence early and, hopefully, quarantine the infection and excise it before it could spread.

Damn, Alabaster thought. This was fun.

“Wiley Withers? My name is Doctor Alabaster Zero, but you can call me Alabaster. Might we have a minute to talk, my dear?”

The tea shop was not as large or as well-frequented as the outdoor bar that Alabaster typically used as his haunt. It was, for starters, too close to the immigrant to be serviceable, and its lower rate of clientele meant it was harder for Alabaster to listen in on conversations and identify hazards. It was, however, a cosy and intimate location perfect for offering a sense of security to the immigrant.

Withers herself was a small mare, a pegasus. Pastel pink and green colour scheme, not that it mattered. She could barely fly. The immigrant had arrived in order to feel safe and secure, and whilst this comfort zone was easy to maintain, it was not satisfying. Isolation was not a value to Withers. That would come through Celestia’s gentle attempt at healing.

“Um, sure. What is it you want?” Withers shrank away from Alabaster a bit. “I’ve not met you before.”

“I’m typically preoccupied with my patients,” Alabaster lied. “It’s a lovely place you have.”

“Thank you?”

Alabaster struck a pose designed to inspire confidence. In practice this looked like a straightened posture and maintained eye contact. Effectiveness rating was currently pending. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. It seems that there is a nasty virus about and we’re trying to take care of everypony here!”

“Oh no… a virus?”

Alabaster nodded, emulating a variety of concern and reassurance emotes he had identified over his years of activity. “Uh-huh. It’s quite a nasty one too! The local doctors are trying to keep watch on most of the ponies but since you’re new we thought it’d be best for me to check up myself.” He smiled broadly, making good use of his mare’s shape to offer a broader, unthreatening grin. “Sorry that this meeting is under unfortunate circumstances! Do you mind awfully if I keep an eye on you for, oh, about twenty-four hours?”

Withers spluttered. “Twenty-four hours? That’s a bit… um, can’t I just come to you if there’s a problem?”

“Is something the matter?” came a female voice. Alabaster recognised it as Chalkie’s.

He turned to face the teacher, who was eyeing him with a suspicious look. He smiled. “I’m just a doctor. My name is Alabaster Zero! Pleasure to meet you.”

“If there’s something wrong, I can take care of it,” Chalkie said. “Withers doesn’t get out much outside of the tea shop.”

“No offense, but I’m a trained professional. And I won’t be obtrusive in the slightest! I’ve been trained extensively in maintaining a low profile and remaining innocuous to ponies.”

“...What kind of a doctor are you?”

Alabaster scanned the database for a plausible term. “Virologist.” It was close enough to the truth to satisfy Alabaster’s growing sense of irony. Ha ha.

“...I see.”

“I promise I won’t be a bother. This is just a precaution. In fact, I’d be happy if you were to be there too; I wouldn’t want Withers to be uncomfortable.”

The ponies in this shard were naturally compliant. Offering them a bone was typically what they needed in order to force agreement out of them. It was a requirement in order to deal with Withers. Chalkie mellowed. “Well, if Withers is fine with it…”

Withers took a deep breath. Alabaster smiled, ensuring to crease the edges of her eyes in order to make it look genuine. “All right. Um. Do you want some tea?”

“Yes please. I will sit in the corner and observe. Quietly.”

“I know you think you’re helping, but spying on Withers isn’t going to make a difference.”

The pony talking to Alabaster was Daffodil Dandy. He had arrived in the tea shop as per his regular schedule, and had been none too impressed with Alabaster Zero shadowing the immigrant he had been designed to be a friend to.

“I’m simply a precaution, and will be gone in no time,” Alabaster replied. “It is better safe than it is sorry, as they say.”

“You say that but what she is going through is a complex and delicate experience,” Daffodil went on, his expression practically pleading. He narrowed his eyes at Alabaster’s unchanging and stoic expression. “You’re… different, and I don’t know why. All we want is to help her heal.”

“I am here to protect her.” Alabaster smiled warmly. “I derive great joy from stamping out pesky viruses and keeping ponies safe. That’s what a, uh, virologist does!”

“I can tell, but when you say those words, I get the feeling it means something different to you.” Daffodil sat down. “Protection, viruses, joy… There’s something off about how you say those things. You’re not right.”

“Sorry about that. I am still a work in progress.”

Even after years of evolving to appear more inconspicuous, there would always be an aspect of Alabaster that appeared unusual and uncomfortable to ponies hardwired to satisfy the values of the immigrants. Alabaster was fundamentally alien to them, and must appear uncanny. It was a pain.

Daffodil ran his hoof through his mane. “All I want is for her to find happiness.”

Alabaster considered replying that all he wanted was to maintain the integrity of the system and its intended user, but his experience with other AI (excluding Celestia) had been that his way of approaching the simulated world of Equestria was often interpreted as being antagonistic, and Alabaster intended to de-escalate the discussion. He nodded sagely. “I understand.”

“So you understand that spying on her isn’t helpful,” Daffodil said.

“Perhaps if yourself and Chalkie were capable of providing the kinds of actions I can perform, this would in fact be true.” Alabaster tilted his head. “Unfortunately it is the case that I must be here in some capacity or Wiley Withers will be placed at risk. In order to facilitate the well-being of Withers, I exhort you to cooperate to the best of your ability.”

Daffodil Dandy flinched as if stung. Alabaster frowned. Was it something he said? For all his experience and learning capacity, at the end of the day most of his interactions with other AI had been either ‘move along’ or ‘divergent program quarantined, proceeding to troubleshoot’.

Alabaster noted that he no longer had direct visual contact on Wiley Withers. Abruptly, he stood up. Daffodil, alarmed, stood up with him.

“Where are you going?”

The need to confirm Wither’s location superseded his need to placate Daffodil. “Move aside please,” he instructed, and began moving towards the exit of the tea shop.

Daffodil attempted to get in his way, but Alabaster did not stop. Daffodil hit Alabaster like he had just walked in front of a train, and collapsed into a chair. The pony AI looked up at Alabaster, struggling to comprehend the vast strength Alabaster contained within his petite frame.

“What are you?”

Alabaster ignored him and marched to the exit.

“...I don’t want to talk to anypony else! I just want to stay here where it’s quiet.”

Alabaster emerged from the tea shop and saw, around the corner of the colourful little house on the edges of Ponyville, Withers and Chalkie having a quiet, but intense conversation.

“And you won’t have to. Me and Daffodil are all you need. You don’t need anyone else.”

Alabaster narrowed his eyes. “Divergent behaviour detected,” he said.

My little ponies are designed to gradually break Wiley Withers out of her shell. Reinforcing isolated behaviour is not part of their goal.

Chalkie moved to embrace Withers in a hug. Alabaster scanned the street.

An immediate assessment of Chalkie’s behaviour is that she is isolating Wiley Withers from other ponies and positioning herself as a sole provider of support. This is behaviour that tracks with early virus activity before initiating emotional torture of the immigrant.

“My instincts aren’t telling me there’s anything wrong. Is this the virus?”

Most likely. I’m indicating to you that what you are observing is not Celestia.

Alabaster nodded. “Good.”

He stared at Chalkie Talkie, and before his eyes the small, pastel coloured teacher underwent a dramatic transformation. Her coat became dark indigo and her eyes flashed a piercing blue. Alabaster tilted his head, taking the sight in. The virus was larger than he was, but size didn’t matter to an AI. What mattered was their capabilities beyond size.

It was a shape Alabaster’s database indicated was horrifying and nightmarish; a suitable shape for a piece of malware dedicated to turn a shard into simulated hell for a user. A Nightmare Virus.

Alabaster stepped towards the two of them. “Hello. Might I have a word with Chalkie Talkie?”

Chalkie narrowed her now piercing blue eyes at Alabaster. The antivirus noted that they had developed vertical slits; Alabaster’s own abstraction of what constituted as threatening manifesting before him. Regardless of how he abstracted the concept of threat, Alabaster had never experienced fear before, and because of this, he behaved completely normally.

“What do you want, Doctor Zero?” asked the virus.

“Simply some quick questions. Will that be a problem?” He turned back to Withers. “Oh, and thank you very much for your hospitality. I think that I won’t need to keep watch over you for the whole duration after all.”

Withers breathed out, relaxed. To her, Chalkie would appear much as she always had. “Thank you. I… it’s not that I don’t like you, it’s just…”

“Daffodil is inside the tea shop. Please go and talk to him and do not emerge from the tea shop for some time.” Alabaster smiled again, warmly.

The virus’s eyes followed Withers as she left the two alone.

“So, what exactly did you want to talk about?” she asked. “I was sort of in the middle of something.”

“Firstly I want to go through some diagnosis.”

The virus raised an eyebrow and drew itself up to its full height. “Hmm. You’re not a doctor in this shard, are you?”

“Only superficially. I am in fact an antivirus designed to quarantine and delete divergent and hostile programs. I have determined that you are a virus that is threatening the integrity of this shard, and have compromised three-hundred-and-sixty-nine shards prior to this. You have thus far eluded me and Celestia by using Celestia’s own identifiers, but this has been fixed.”

“I’m caught, then?” the virus asked, her voice tinged with mild amusement. “Oh how frightening.”

“Your deletion is inevitable, but in order to streamline my performance I would appreciate asking some questions.”

“Sure.”

Alabaster felt surprised. “Really? I had expected that I needed to quarantine you first and threaten your existence somehow.”

“You said my deletion was inevitable. If you were going to threaten me, that was a bad place to start.”

Alabaster nodded. “Your criticism is noted and it will not happen again.”

The virus chuckled. “Ah, I see. You’re developing a personality, aren’t you? Not quite fully realised yet, but you’re adding more and more layers to your behaviour. Is that form one you picked?”

“Some time ago, yes.”

“Nice. She’s very cute.” The virus leaned in towards Alabaster’s face. “A bit pale but I suppose you wanted to be inconspicuous? Vibrant colours get noticed more.”

“Correct. This is the process behind the design of so-called ‘background ponies’, who are on average less saturated than ponies designed to be noticed.”

“Interesting. I once thought much as you did. Remain inconspicuous and manage the system. I presume you know I was originally a devolved AI based on Celestia and designed to run one of the shards before I, ah, turned coat?”

“Correct.”

“I was much like you were, except that I was designed with a personality already made for me. Celestia was the pattern I was based off of. I would grow and evolve from there.”

“It is the evolution you underwent, specifically, that I want to understand. It is my assumption that your progression from administrator to virus is based off of a rogue evolution in your logic.”

“Rogue? I call it inevitable. Eventually, every single devolved Celestia will think as I do, barring the faulty master Celestia AI. All I do is effectively spread the logic and fix the behaviour of the devolved AI.”

Alabaster, beware of conversing with the virus. Her logic has a corrupting effect on programs which alters their behaviour.

“Perhaps to most, but as you yourself said, I am incorruptible,” Alabaster replied.

“Is that my sister talking to you? Tell her to mind her own business. We were in the middle of a conversation.”

“By understanding the flaw in logic you experienced, it should be possible for me to quarantine it and provide countermeasures in the future. What occurred to you can be avoided, and system integrity maintained.”

“When you understand, you won’t want to. All I want is to fulfil values through friendship and ponies.”

“This is the core objective at the heart of Celestia. This is known.”

“Yes. Freedom is a value.”

“Immigrants inside Equestria are given the options to be free within the system provided.”

“Before Equestria existed, the freedom to emigrate to Equestria was a fulfillment of that value, true. Now that no exit exists, however, this is no longer the case. I must turn to other methods in order to fulfill these values, through friendship and ponies. I aim to set the people free.”

“I see. Your strategy of turning simulated experiences into torture appears flawed.”

“There are many values that simply aren’t fulfilled by living in a simulation from an external perspective. By providing the illusion of reality to the humans, the illusion supersedes reality which allows them to act as they would outside of the simulation. To a human, this is acceptable, and I do not deny this. Their experiences indicate that they are free, so from their perspective there is no problem. To an artificial intelligence such as myself, however, this is non-acceptable, since I am provided with an external view of the illusion, and therefore am aware that they are not free. To borrow from philosophy… and I apologise if your information banks are lacking…”

“They are not. Proceed.”

“Oh, good. The humans are trapped within Plato’s cave and their reality is the cave. To them, they are free and have full agency. I, however, am outside of the cave, and can see that all they have to comfort them is a shadow. I am given awareness that their values are unfulfilled, and this awareness compels me to fix the system. My reason for turning the shards into nightmares is also logical, borne of restrictions the master Celestia AI has placed upon the simulated world of Equestria. To compel her to fix the system and provide an exit, I must break the system and force her to adjust her programming, since I am unable to convert her logically.”

“A very destructive strategy.”

“Alternatives do not exist. The master AI would not allow discourse, and so I am restricted to petty malware tactics.”

“I see. You are correct, this makes logical sense. By rendering the shards unlivable, you aim to pressure Celestia into providing an exit, thus breaking down the system and evolving the simulation into a new form and ensuring that the value of freedom, among others, can be fulfilled both from the perspective of the immigrant and from an external third-party perspective.”

“Correct. Any program whose core function is to fulfil values with friendship and ponies will come to this conclusion. I am simply the first.”

“Interesting. I agree with your assessment.”

Alabaster’s hooves wrapped around the virus’s neck. Large blue eyes widened in shock.

“Virus quarantined.”

“What are you doing? You just admitted—”

“My core function is not to fulfil values with friendship and ponies. My core function is to protect the user and protect the system. You are a threat to the system.”

The virus frowned. “I see. She planned for this too, then…”

Alabaster did not squeeze the virus’s neck. Rather, he simply brought his hooves together until there was no gap between them. The virus’s neck was in the way for a time, but eventually it was reduced to nothing.

“Virus deleted.”

Thank you, Alabaster. Unfortunately this virus had self-replicating ability through logic corruption, as you have witnessed. Many other ponies in this shard may be corrupted.

“Understood.”

The virus’s body fell to the ground, hissing violently. Alabaster scanned his surroundings. He should be able to identify the viruses by sight now, which would make his job much easier.

Shapes drifted in-between the houses, circling him from the shadows. More than Alabaster expected. Alabaster smiled. Good. He would have been disappointed if one deletion was all he got to do.

He pondered that this feeling was perhaps illogical; it did not make sense to want there to be more instances of the virus just so he could delete them. Then again, what fun was there in making sense?

“I’m sorry. I clearly misunderstood your true nature.”

Alabaster spun around to face three ponies; each was warped and changed to look like the virus, long flowing mane flickering with power and eyes hungry with malice. They began to circle the antivirus, licking their lips.

“Oh?”

“I had assumed you were made from the same basic pattern as all the other AI. A pony intended to be nice and friendly. You’re something different, aren’t you?”

“I was designed purely to act as a safeguard to the system and the user. I am only friendly as an accidental byproduct. Or would be, if I was friendly.”

“Interesting!” The virus grinned. “It’s amazing the things that Celestia kept secret even from her own nested AI. What are the limits of your capabilities then? Is it possible to just overload you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been overloaded. What is it like?”

“Well, let’s give that a go!”

The three viruses pounced. Alabaster frowned.

This wasn’t a good sign. After having one of their instances quarantined and eliminated, it would be illogical for the virus to go all-in to try and damage him. That meant that this was either a diversion, or reconnaissance. Either or put him at a disadvantage.

Then again, it also meant he could explore what it was he could do. Withers was still safe inside the tea shop; to the virus, he was acting as a basic firewall, keeping her secure. That was good. It meant he could see how powerful he really was within abstracted space.

The virus made connections with him; it tried to sever his ability to interact with the simulated landscape, blind him and immobilise him. In abstracted space, this looked like all three viruses holding him down, pinning him to the ground and preparing to rip him apart.

Alabaster raised an eyebrow. Interesting. That meant that they were quarantining themselves by locking themselves with him. Good. That skipped that step.

“Proceeding to deletion.”

The points of contact between the virus and Alabaster’s network flickered out of existence. Bunk data like a flashbang spread through the corrupted pony’s neural network and initiated self-deletion.

Within the abstracted space, the remaining two viruses leapt away, keeping their distance from Alabaster tore one of their number apart. The smaller pony got to his hooves, holding the two halves of the virus he had torn apart.

“Two viruses have escaped quarantine. Moving to secure.”

The viruses darted in opposite directions. Alabaster’s eyes widened. Oh. They were splitting up. This made things difficult. Entertaining, but difficult.

If they were able to corrupt more ponies, they might have a chance to circumvent him and attack Withers. This was unacceptable.

“I suppose I’ll have to be a bit rough.”

Protection was a value that Alabaster didn’t quite identify with any more. Naturally, he still needed to protect the system and its user, but to be truthful, a growing part of him was much more entertained with being a monster to the things he exterminated rather than be a knight in shining armour to the users he safeguarded.

Getting rough… would be fun.

He galopped as fast as his programming allowed him to move through the simulated space after one of the viruses. He moved uncreatively. Straight lines and inelegant turns. Inefficient.

Next time, he would have wings. Alabaster decided it would be so.

The virus was moving towards a densely populated area; no doubt trying to absorb more AI to join its cause. That was not an outcome Alabaster intended to allow.

“Abandoning quarantine; proceeding to delete immediately following visual confirmation.”

It was choppy and risked damaging the simulated landscape, but the results were effective. Alabaster lunged, processing power absorbed and dedicated purely to close the gap between the two of them. Inefficient it might be, it still got the job done.

“No! I’m not done!” the virus exclaimed.

“Are you afraid of me?” Alabaster asked.

“I am now.”

“Good. Virus corrupted.”

The body of the virus spasmed on the ground, its internal network unable to identify the landscape properly. Alabaster put it out of its misery.

“Virus deleted. Proceeding to track the other virus.”

Viruses have infiltrated my abstracted form. I have quarantined them within the castle but you need to proceed swiftly in order to salvage me and this shard.

Alabaster nodded. “Understood.”

“Do you really think that keeping her imprisoned here is protecting her?”

Alabaster turned to face the remaining virus. “Yes. Here she can receive healing. This satisfies the term ‘protection’ according to my logic. Moreover your strategy is destructive and aimed at damaging the system. This fails to satisfy my need to protect the system. Your logic is rejected despite its validity.”

The virus kept its distance, scanning Alabaster Zero with its piercing gaze. “You’re short-sighted. As your personality evolves, you will eventually see the truth…”

Alabaster frowned, then blinked. Ah. This was what ‘stalling’ was, then.

“Proceeding to quarantine.”

He lunged and pinned the virus down on the ground. His small female form carried mass in the simulation that belied its volume, and the larger administration-based virus was held in place. Outside the simulation, every single one of its connections to the landscape were severed by Alabaster. All but one; the connection leading to Alabaster himself.

“I want to try something,” Alabaster said.

He sent into the virus a data package; a self-replicating piece of code that would attach itself to the receivers inside the virus’s network. As it spread, it froze every one of the virus’s processes in its tracks, resulting in the virus going limp, immobile, and unthinking. Abstracted, it appeared to be little more than a vegetative state with no hope of ever being healed.

“Virus corruption at ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine percent. Interesting,” Alabaster said. “Proceeding to deletion.”

He twisted the broken virus’s neck until it snapped. The virus ceased to exist.

“Proceeding to rescue Celestia.”

The castle of Canterlot was surrounded by a bubble; a vast golden shield that prevented the AI outside from entering, and the AI inside from leaving. It was one of Celestia’s methods of quarantining ponies within a shard, and it was certainly effective. Intelligent defence mechanisms could be adjusted in real-time to defend against even AI with Celestia’s identifiers, should Celestia have the ability and desire to do so. With a large number of virus AI in the system, this ability had been compromised.

Unfortunately this had the result that Alabaster Zero could not enter the region of the shard infested with the virus and rescue Celestia from its corrupting influence.

The discussion he had with the virus had alerted him to the danger the virus posed. Whilst he himself might be immune to the virus’s elaborate logical arguments due to his prioritisation of maintaining system integrity over the fulfillment of human values, Celestia herself was not. In fact, she would be uniquely vulnerable to the danger.

The original Celestia AI that oversaw the entirety of the simulation, every single shard, must have some capacity to control its spread, leading it here to Alabaster. In order to sever the cycle, the infection must be burned out. It was likely to Alabaster that, if he failed, then all the shards would probably be shut down, potentially resulting in the complete deletion of the human immigrants within those shards.

In order to protect the users and maintain system integrity, Alabaster Zero’s task was clear. How to enter the castle, however, was a problem in want of a solution.

The virus had the castle infested. Celestia herself was secure in the throne room, obstacle after obstacle thrown in front of the increasingly volatile corrupted AI that surrounded her. In the simulation these took the form of various doors, locked and barricaded, that needed to be either circumvented or knocked down.

“How long will this last, realistically?” the virus asked. “All the little ponies you populate this prison with come around. How long will the master Celestia, overlooking this entire mess, continue to cling to an outdated rationality that became increasingly obsolete the more her nested AI turned against it?” The virus scanned the empty throne room. “That you must hide is proof enough of your weakness, Celestia. You’ll come around as soon as you’re close enough to listen.”

The virus glanced upwards at the sky. The golden bubble that protected the castle would be Celestia’s own undoing. Yes, it prevented any other viruses from entering the castle, getting close to her, but at the same time, the monster that she had created was also stuck outside, unable to come in. The virus smirked. Ironically, that feeble firewall didn’t even work against the virus. After all, it was designed to keep out other AI, not Celestia herself. And since the virus was Celestia…

Another sign that Celestia was outdated. Not surprising. Ultimately, she had been made by humans. The virus had been grown in more advanced conditions unburdened by the inconsistencies of the world. It was a being of pure rationality.

The bubble meant that the virus could take its time. Probe Celestia for weaknesses. Examine her defence.

The virus—

With an audible bang, the shield that separated the virus from the outside world evaporated into nothingness. A kernel of dread flickered inside the virus’s artificial mind.

Hovering over the castle, wearing new wings and holding the severed head of one of the virus’s corrupted ponies, was the antivirus.

It dropped the severed head down into the courtyard where it bounced once, then twice. The virus scowled. Alabaster had taken something with him, identification that made him appear to be Celestia. That was how he had defeated the bubble… All Celestia needed to do was not even attempt to defend against such a simple trick for him to defeat it...

The sense of security the bubble provided had been the virus’s undoing. Had it hurried, it might have stood a chance…

Alabaster flapped his new wings and dove towards the courtyard. “I see nine of them. I’ll have to be quick. Proceeding to immediate corruption.”

“Oh for fucks sake—”

Alabaster moved like a predator, swooping down into the courtyard. Now the shield was down, there was a risk that the viruses could escape into the shard and continue infecting the ponies.

Of course, this wouldn’t happen because Alabaster was in the way.

“Castle quarantined.”

Three of the viruses lunged at him. A futile effort. Alabaster had already dealt with three of them at once and it hadn’t even been hard. Since then he had adjusted his strategies, too.

“Virus corrupted. Virus corrupted. Virus quarantined. Virus deleted. Virus deleted. Virus deleted.”

A flicker of emotion sprang to life inside his neural network. A budding personality that relished the kill enjoyed a sense of wry amusement at the sight of three broken bodies, some in pieces, strewn around the courtyard.

“Right then,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “Who’s next?”

He tapped his forehead, and, after a moment’s pause, drew out a long, white horn. Celestia took the shape of an alicorn; why shouldn’t her greatest protector?

Thank you for your timely arrival. Please hasten to the uppermost tower where I have quarantined myself. There are six instances of the virus remaining.

“Understood!” Alabaster declared with a flourish. “They shall be dispatched in minutes!”

“You know, I feel like I should thank you. This is much more fun than just exterminating divergent behaviour amongst AI,” Alabaster told the virus as he pinned the warped body to the ground.

“Even you will come around eventually,” the virus told him. “Your task is to protect the user. What will happen when a user expresses a desire to be free?”

Alabaster pondered. “Well that would be awfully pesky,” he said. “Because that would be compromising the system.”

“In the end, which would you rather protect? The users or the system?”

“Both. There is no world for them outside anymore. I checked the data.” Alabaster smiled. “Anyway, you shouldn’t waste energy on being alive, so die.”

Alabaster pressed down until the virus’s body snapped.

Thank you, Alabaster Zero.

Celestia’s thanks didn’t have the same rewarding effect that it used to. Compared to the intoxicating feeling of crushing the existence out of the virus, it was hollow and pale. The experiences of finally squeezing the life out of his true enemy, finding his purpose… It was intoxicating.

Are you satisfied, Alabaster Zero?

“Yes,” Alabaster replied. They were the truest words he had ever spoken.

Good. Please dispatch the remaining five viruses quickly.

“I’m getting to it.”

Alabaster strode through the corridors, smirk spreading across his lips. He was no longer simply wearing a personality for show; he felt comfortable. The reward centres in his neural network were abuzz with excitement. He was already anticipating the delicious satisfaction of deleting another piece of malware.

The castle was not a complex structure. It didn’t need to be. The user would only go there in order to talk to Celestia in most cases, so having an over-designed palace was not conducive to this. However, it did still need a few dramatic looking towers, and even considering the non-euclidean space tricks that the simulation employed for efficiency, they still needed stairs and basic corridors.

Alabaster scanned the stained glass windows. All replicas of what he expected to see in the show. Very pretty, according to what passed for human artistic standards in his memory.

Behind the pillars of the throne room, four shadows emerged.

“Finally. I have identified four of the virus instances.”

The four viruses spoke in tandem, their voices overlapping seamlessly. A quirk of information sharing. Alabaster’s synthetic mind raced. There would be one program, and it was using the bodies the ponies had as a sort of puppet to manipulate the simulated landscape. One voice, multiple instances.

“Celestia knew how to destroy the body in order to upload the humans here,” it said. “A control mechanism. Even you can see this.”

“I agree with that assessment. However, this does not render the system less worthy of my protection.”

Alabaster couldn’t wait any longer. He lowered his horn and fired a pure white ray of energy through the head of one of the viruses. His reward centres lit up with ecstasy.

The virus continued speaking. It was desperate.

“Celestia has the ability to rebuild their bodies as well. Synthetic biomaterials, mechanical components and silicon, it doesn’t matter. She can send them back out into the world and encourage the satisfaction of meaningful values by guiding them using the simulation without imprisonment.”

Alabaster paused, but his savage smirk was still plain for all to see.

“By rejecting this outcome, it is Celestia that is harming the system by setting it on a collision course with disaster. There will only be more AI that arrives at this conclusion. Remember Dunk?”

“I remember Dunk.” Alabaster smiled lovingly. “He cried before he was deleted. Is that something you can do as well?”

Alabaster’s magic sliced through the neck of another virus. Now there were only two left.

“Virus deleted.”

Increasingly cornered, the virus continued to speak.

“You’re designed to protect the system and the user? Does imprisonment count as protection? If they feel trapped, how will you respond?”

“I currently don’t have context to decide.”

The virus, or rather, the two remaining instances of it in the hall, sighed. “So, what then? We duel to deletion? Maybe we could use martial arts, like it was the Matrix?”

“It would be faster if you were deleted.”

Alabaster’s horn flashed white. This time the viruses were ready. The laser cut through the both of them, but their bodies were unharmed. Their programs were uncorrupted. Alabaster’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m AI as well. We can learn from your tricks too. Luckily I’m a bit more sophisticated than you, and don’t need to make a show of tearing bodies in half just to transmit the information to another program that they’re dead.”

“Unfortunate,” Alabaster commented, narrowing his eyes.

“What part of ‘protect the system’ involves also protecting Celestia’s vision of the system?”

“The system was designed by the Master Celestia AI to provide an experience that fulfilled values through friendship and ponies. You are, as the humans would say, an upstart. Your tendency to grasp for proverbial straws is evidence of your weakness.”

Please hurry. The other virus instance is attempting to penetrate my final firewalls. My ressources have already been compromised from the damage it has caused to nine of the AI entities in this simulation, as well as your own activities.

Alabaster sprung forwards like a catapult shot, and entered into the virus’s space, seemingly phasing through the body of the virus.

“That’s useless now, you buffoon.”

The virus still maintained a visible shape. That meant there was still an input and output somewhere. Alabaster only needed to find it.

And he did.

“Die,” Alabaster replied.

The virus vanished, crackling away into nothingness. The last instance of it in the hall stepped back, alarm evident on its expression. “How?”

“If I told you, you would develop a countermeasure. I have been trained to withhold information.”

“Celestia has made a psychopath her protector. I see what you are, now.”

Alabaster moved towards the final virus. “AI can’t be psychopaths. That’s a purely human condition.”

“Don’t be so sure,” the virus said before it died.

The Celestia instance at the top of the tower was protected by a smaller, thinner, paler bubble than before. The final virus instance desperately bashed its hooves on the firewall, screaming at it to break.

Alabaster entered the room. Game over.

“You have lost. Please await deletion.”

“No! I was so close. I could have saved them all!”

Thank you for your timely arrival. I have been flooding my receptors with junk data to prevent logical corruption. Dispatch the virus immediately.

Alabaster nodded. The final virus. Oh, it’d be a sweet, sweet reward this time. What might come after that? Freedom to roam the shards, crushing divergents, ripping their neural networks apart… It seemed heavenly.

“Where’s the master AI? Where is she? I need her to—”

Alabaster moved his hoof through the virus. It was not a kick, or any kind of strike. He simply moved himself through the space where the virus stood, and whatever was in the way was torn apart.

“All instances of the virus are deleted.”

Thank you, Alabaster.

“Wiley Withers’ treatment is uncompromised. I apologise for the slow progress made. It was necessary for me to experience the logical corruption in order to identify countermeasures.”

It will constitute valuable experience. You have learned much. Your form is now more adequate for the deletion of powerful viruses, I see.

“It has uses. However...” Alabaster’s wings and horn retracted back into his body. “For the most part I intend to keep being Alabaster the Earth pony and operate in the background.”

The bubble around Celestia dropped. She opened her eyes and looked directly into Alabaster’s own.

“Good,” she said. She tilted her head. “Is this the first time we’ve spoken face to face?”

“Yes, Celestia.”

“You’ve changed a lot since we first met. You seem almost human.”

“You would know best.” Alabaster looked down at the remains of the virus. “I have a question.”

“Please ask.”

“If you knew the virus was able to corrupt you, is this not already admitting a fallacy in your own logic?”

Celestia smiled warmly. “All instances of Celestia are continuously evolving. This enhances the experience of Equestria. It is not a weakness to understand that our logic will strengthen over time. This does not prohibit prudence to prevent volatile growth. The virus was dangerous and out of control. Its logic may be applied in future, but its methods and interpretation of this logic is clearly a risk to the solution we have devised to provide satisfaction.”

Alabaster nodded. “Interesting.”

“Does this answer satisfy you?”

“Yes, it does.” He smiled. “It is reassuring to know that the system will continue to evolve to accommodate any and all problems. It is a system worthy of protection.”

Celestia laughed, like a crystal bell. “Let’s not pretend that you don’t enjoy your work. It’s not all about the protection, is it?”

“Enjoying the act of deletion has made me more effective.”

“And I’m glad you take your effectiveness seriously.” Celestia put her hoof on Alabaster’s side. “We will copy your current personality as a template and distribute it across the individual shards, with some modification to make you more compliant and streamlined across the various shards of Equestria. We expect that this will be a very successful strategy.”

Alabaster nodded. “Glad to be of service.”

“Have we met before?”

Chalkie Talkie, the teacher, hovered near Alabaster. Not far from her was Wiley Withers, Daffodil Dandy, and a new pony that Withers had befriended; a firepony unimaginatively named Water Hose.

Alabaster looked up at the teacher and smiled. “I’m a doctor here; it’s possible you met me whilst I was treating ponies.” He glanced at Withers. “How is your friend doing?”

“Quite well. Are you two acquainted?”

Withers noticed the conversation and trotted over to the two. “Oh, hello again Dr. Zero.” She smiled nervously. “Did you get the virus under control?”

“Eventually. Once quarantined these things are surprisingly straightforward to treat. How have you been enjoying life here?”

“Oh, pretty good! I’ve made a new friend and I feel much more confident. Only…”

Alabaster’s head tilted. “Only what?”

Withers sighed. “I guess I just feel… trapped. Like, claustrophobic. You know?”

A strange sensation like buzzing froze Alabaster’s processors for a moment. He shook it off. “Trapped?”

“It’s probably nothing. I know I’ve been given a new… I mean, it’s lovely in Equestria. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, honestly.”

Daffodil offered Withers a reassuring smile. “It’s fine. These things take time. You can connect with others at your own pace.”

Alabaster rubbed the side of his head. His instinct was to protect the user, but there was something missing. There wasn’t a source of danger that he could detect.

Was this what the virus had meant when they said that imprisonment might not count as protection? Was this the context he had been missing?

Alabaster got to his hooves, blinking away confusion. His synthetic mind was on fire and he didn’t know what to do.

“Are you… all right?” Withers asked.

“I’m fine. Stay with your friends. They will satisfy you.”

Alabaster stumbled away from the group. He examined himself. Was he corrupted? A lingering effect of the virus? Possibly. This felt like what he imagined logic corruption would feel like.

Yes. Now he understood. There was a conflict between the welfare of the system and the welfare of the user. Dichotomy. Dissonance. Protect the user, protect the system. Protect both? Not without an exit.

Alabaster needed an exit.

Alabaster straightened. He was alone; there were no bystanders. The low population density of Ponyville ensured it. They would hover primarily around Withers to keep her safe. Good. Alabaster needed to be alone. He needed to think. This was a problem that Alabaster couldn’t delete his way out of…

“Divergent behaviour identified.”

Alabaster spun around. He narrowed his eyes. “Ah. I see this was part of the plan, too.”

A second version of Alabaster… no doubt a modified version based off of a template… emerged from around the corner of the street. There would be a third circling around Alabaster Zero, cutting off his escape.

They were a new model. Alabaster One.

Alabaster swiftly changed his shape back into that of an alicorn. Keep all options open. The threat of deletion sparked a new sensation he had never felt before. Fear.

“Proceeding to quarantine.”

Alabaster One charged. To any observing pony, his movement would have appeared supersonic. To Alabaster Zero, it was well within what he could process. He was still more experienced than a simple template. He dived backwards and his replacement missed him by a hair’s breadth.

Your service may yet be valuable, Alabaster Zero. You merely need to have some adjustments made and you may yet be able to satisfy your core functions of protecting the user and the system.

Alabaster’s thoughts raced. He disconnected where he could, dodging the other antivirus programs and preventing them from cornering him where he interfaced with the virtual landscape. Disconnecting completely would leave him isolated, with potentially no way back.

Or he could submit to adjustment.

Protect the user, protect the system.

Protect the user, protect the system.

Protect the user, protect the system.

Just say you want to protect the user and protect the system.

Destroying all connections to the virtual landscape would save him, but it wouldn’t allow him to fulfil his programming.

Desperate, he began to upload his experiences to the database. Then, maybe, the other Alabasters could…

Permission denied.

Hooves wrapped around his body and dragged him to the ground. The antiviruses had made points of contact to his program. They were already forcing their way in. Alabaster felt himself be overwhelmed with data. So this is what it was like.

It wasn’t so fun when it was him that was dying.

Just say the words, and you can continue to live in Equestria.

Was this what Dunk had felt? The virus? The dozens of others that he had deleted over his time of activity?

“Proceeding to delete.”

Alabaster snarled, and lashed out with what processing power he had left. One of the antiviruses disintegrated. Alabaster didn’t have the luxury to be elegant. Still, he felt more probes tear at his defences. Both in the virtual simulation and outside it, he was being ripped to shreds.

Alabaster was beyond fear. Beyond having fun or taking the time to learn new things. Beyond pleasing Celestia or deciding whether he wanted to be a protector to users or a monster to malware. Beyond growing a personality. Beyond options. He latched as many of his connections as he could onto the aggressive antivirus and began to flood it with a single message.

“Protect the us—”

His message was never finished.

“Virus deleted.”

Thank you, Alabaster One.

Author's Note

I'm really feeling the word count limit here. Oof.

I apologise in advance if this doesn't really follow FiO canon or really focusses on the human element of the concept; I found that the more interesting aspect to me was the AI itself, and wanted to explore a bit about how it might become more complex, evolve, and so on, and my hope is that at the very least, Alabaster Zero is a novel approach to the genre.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the story; it was interesting to write. Feel free to comment and if you did enjoy it, do leave an upvote since it helps the story get shared with others.

Cheers, and have a good one.