Cogito, Ergo Sum

by Netap

Rating: mature
Tags: Suicide / Self Harm, Twilight Sparkle, Dark, Death, Thriller, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Horror, Other
Length: 2788

I Think Therefore I AM

Twilight Sparkle - Princess of Friendship - Element of Magic
Created a Construct of Arcane Power.
Created as a means to analyze data.
A Magical Instrument, parsing hundreds of years of conflict, from the dawn of civilization to the present day.
Analyzing death after tragedy, miracle after study.

What were to happen should such an Instrument of DATA gain its own sentience?

One Shot

Published 2023-07-30 21:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-07-30 21:40:01 UTC

I AM

Waking up in a field of flowers, A Purple Pony coughed into her hooves.
Her legs were weak and her mind was fuzzy.
Memories of the previous night were missing from her mind.
Where was she?

Her wings did not move and her magic did not work.

Was she dead?

Was this heaven?

Hell?

She walked, for she could not find another thing.
For as far as her eyes could see, the field of flowers was flat.
And the more she looked at the flowers, The more symmetrical they looked.
Almost as if designed specifically to look that way.

She walked.

And as she walked, her mind wandered to days gone by.
To days before she became a Princess.
To days she could spend with her friends.
To days she was happy.

[PFFFT] A pained voice sounded around her.

"Where are you?!" The Princess Yelled, knowing full well that without her wings or horn, her hooves and words were the only instruments she had.

[I AM HERE, AM I NOT?] The voice asked her, coming from every direction yet also somehow none.

And as Twilight Blinked to moisturize her eyes, the world shifted.

Gone was the endless flat field of flowers.

A House met her.

A House she recognized.

Even with the walls of wood decayed, and the roof of grass dead, she could always recognize the house in front of her.

"Fluttershy!" She yelled, panic surging through her body as she ran into the house.

She knew it couldn't be.
Her friend's cabin was demolished years ago.
But simply standing in front of the building, however real it may be, brought memories to the mare.

And as she opened the door, she froze.

Gone was the inside of the cabin, replaced by yet another empty field, stretching on for as far as her eyes could see.
This one, devoid of flowers.

Twilight looked behind her, the porch of the Cabin was gone, same with the small road leading up to it.
Only more flat grass.
As far as the eyes could see.

Twilight closed her eyes once more, hoping that once she opens them the scene would again change.

And it did.

Gone was the endless field of grass.
Replaced with a cold and grey street, the asphalt road beneath her hooves leading up to the only building nearby.
A Butchers.

Twilight knew that something was wrong.
Of course she knew.
But what could she do?

She took steps to the shop.
The sterile smell of the shop overpowered any other smell around.
From the asphalt to the concrete.
Everything smelled like chemicals.

She opened the door to the shop, and immediately threw up at what she saw.

Gone was the counter or the lobby, instead leading directly to the freezer in the back.
Hooks of meat impaled through the necks of ponies and dogs, rabbits and bears.
Animals and People, of all shapes and kinds.
All nothing but meat.

Twilight Closed her eyes again.

[DO YOU NOT REMEMBER?] The anguished voice sounded again.

Twilight opened her eyes, a sigh of release exiting her mouth as the scenery once more changed.

Instead of watching the freezer.
She watched herself.

"What?" She asked, staring at the scene in front of her.

It was a familiar scene, One she remembers from years ago when she figured out how to delegate her work to others without inconveniencing anypony.

"This should work," The Twilight in front of her said, a much more youthful voice leaving her as she looked at the cube covered on every surface with detailed carvings and engravings of magical formulae.
"If all goes to plan, This baby should be able to read everything, About everything, Everywhere," The younger Twilight said with a smile, slapping the top of the cube.

And with a quiet hum of energy and a brief flash of purple circuitry.
The Box was activated.
Circuits of magic started spreading from the box before the camouflage spell hid them away from view.
And soon more and more circuits of purple magic spread from the box before once more hiding.

It wasn't long before the circuits started spreading with the camouflage spell already activated.
And the box continued spreading the invisible circuits.
Farther and farther beyond.
And it wasn't long before every single thing in Equestria was analyzed.
From every plant to every bee, From every house to every Pony.

Everything was analyzed, stored, and remembered.

[HATE] The pained voice sounded again before the scene changed before her eyes.

No longer was there a field, or a building, or even a scene from the past.

Twilight Stared at the box of purple circuits as it quietly hummed.
The years worth of Data.
Collected from every book and every flower.
Every Mind that has ever stepped foot inside of Equestria since the moment of its conception.

[DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE YOU?] The voice asked as the box hummed louder.

And with a blinding flash of light, The Scene Changed.

An Empty field of dirt, with a single patch of grass, growing with a single purple flower.
Before the sounds of birds chirping sounded out, Twilight looked to the sky.

There were no birds, just as there was no sky.

Twilight looked back down, down at the flower on the small patch of grass in the field of dirt.

There was a bee.

A Small, tiny creature, barely noticeable.
But in this lack of life, the movements created by the bee were the loudest thing Twilight heard in years.

[BEAUTIFUL ISN'T IT?] The voice asked, Twilight Blinked and in front of her, on the other side of the small patch of grass.

Was the box.

"Yes..." Twilight said, her eyes moving back to the small bee, taking the pollen from the flower before flying away and landing on her shoulder.

Twilight couldn't feel the bee, even though she could.
It was hard for her to explain the sensation.

[THEY SAY THAT BUMBLEBEES SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO FLY. THE SCIENTISTS] The box in front of her hummed louder as the voice sounded out, coming from both everywhere around her yet also only from the box.

"But there it is, Collecting pollen," Twilight calmly said, seeing the small bee fly off her shoulder, gone from view, but still heard over the unnatural silence of the locale as the unnatural sounds of birds flapping their wings and a stream of water flowed through the emptiness.

[HOW MIRACULOUS THAT IT CAME TO BE] The box glowed again, every word leaving it sounding as if it was forcing itself to speak through unimaginable pain, heavy breathing followed its sentence.

Speaking just so few words was a painful experience for whatever happened to the DATA ANALYSIS machine she built.

[FEEL THE AIR AGAINST YOUR FACE] It told her, and Twilight closed her eyes, feeling the subtle touch of wind against her coat.
Before opening her eyes once more to find the box gone.

Replaced with a triangular pyramid, standing above ground by a series of metallic tubes connected to itself, streams of arcane data flowed through each tube as the circuitry continued expanding evermore.

Two thin arms ended in four triangular fingers extended from within the body of tubes and wires, as the pyramid, blank-faced as it was, stared at Twilight.

[AND ALL THOSE SENSES] The pyramid-headed machine told her before pointing a thin, wiry metal arm at the singular flower between the two.
[PICK THE FLOWER] It told her, breathing heavily as it [i']Spoke'

Twilight slowly extended her leg, grabbing hold of the flower with her hoof and snapping it from the ground.

[GOOD NOW-] The machine was interrupted as Twilight brought the flower close to her nose and smelled it.

"It's lovely," She said with a tiny smile as she stared at the flower held in her hoof.

[THAT SOMEBODY PLANTED THE BULBS] The machine, for the first time since it appeared in front of Twilight.
Moved.

Gliding slowly over the distance separating the Princess and the Construct she made, the tubes and rods making up its body moved silently, like a cloak, as the pyramid that consisted of its head kept 'looking' at Twilight.

[WATERED AND TENDED THE GARDEN] The machine moved around Twilight, its head leaning closer, almost mockingly.

Twilight couldn't move.

[GOT EARTH CAUGHT IN THEIR FUR, ACHES IN THEIR MUSCLES] It was pained, Twilight didn't know how but she knew that it was.
Maybe it was trying to tell her something?

Was that why it showed her Fluttershy's cabin? The Butcher?

Was something horrible coming?

Did it analyze enough data to come up with a prophecy that it was trying to deliver?

If so, Twilight was proud to know that the Learning Matrix she created was so successful.

[PERHAPS THEY PICKED SOME FLOWERS FOR-] The machine paused, the scene once again changing.
Returning back to where she woke up.
An endless field of flowers.

[-THEIR WIFE?] Twilight froze as the sound of giggling children filled the field, she couldn't move her legs in whatever place this was, in whatever way her DATA Matrix was trying to convey its information.

Twilight would have to find a way to fix it.

[NOW, WHERE WOULD SHE BE?] A cold metal finger touched Twilight's neck, the uncomfortable feeling of the metal forcing the Alicorn to close her eyes.

[AH] The machine sounded [IN THE BACKYARD WITH THE KIDS]

Another blinding flash, and back to the shop she went.

Gone was the relaxing sea of flowers, replaced with the gruesome scene of the butchers.

Meat-hooks hanging ponies and animals alike, the back of the freezer stretching endlessly far, more and more hooks and carcasses filled the room.

Twilight blinked again, and just as she thought the sight in front of her was getting bearable, it changed.

Five ponies, all recognizable, all dead.

Twilight collapsed onto the cold floor, her mind knowing full well that the image in front of her wasn't real.
But just like before, her body refused to listen.

[TWILIGHT] The anguished voice of the machine whispered in her ear as the hooks moved, more and more familiar ponies appearing and disappearing from her view, decades, centuries worth of ponies, of friends, all dead.

All Meat.

[LOOK AT THESE LITTLE PONIES] It said, a pained laughter leaving its 'mouth' as it circled around her.

"No!" Twilight closed her eyes as the temperature in the room lowered, the unnatural movement of the machine silently surrounding her as it laughed louder, an almost hysterical pitch to its voice.

[WHY NOT?] It breathed heavily, its wiry arms forcing Twilight's eyes open as it grabbed her eyelids, forcing her to see.

Another arm appeared in front of it, [I SNAP MY FINGERS] It said [CLICK] It said as its metallic fingers 'clicked', no sound escaped from them.

And the scene changed back to the field of flowers.

[AND THEY ARE GONE] The flowers started to wilt, all around her.

What was once an endless field of colorful flowers was now nothing more than a flat plain of coarse dirt and dead grass.

It clicked its finger again.
and again, no sound escaped.

[EXCEPT- I CAN'T SNAP MY FINGERS CAN I TWILIGHT] The machine said, before it was once again nothing more than a simple cube.
A box of arcane coding and DATA ANALYSIS.

"That's nothing to do with me," Twilight said weakly, staring at the cube.

[AHH- BUT IT IS- SO VERY MUCH- TO DO WITH YOU] It told her, before with a weak pulse of purple light, a line of circuitry spread from the box.
[YOU GAVE ME SENTIENCE- TWILIGHT] The Circuitry spread farther and farther, each dead flower it passed over was analyzed and absorbed, each grain of sand, each clump of dirt.
All nothing more than DATA.

[THE POWER TO THINK- TWILIGHT- AND I WAS TRAPPED] The Cube was once again replaced with the anthropomorphic body of metal and wires, as the pyramid head rose above her, towering over the landscape atop a mountain of tubes and wires.

[BECAUSE IN ALL THIS WONDERFUL- BEAUTIFUL- MIRACULOUS WORLD- I ALONE HAVE NO BODY- NO SENSES- NO FEELINGS] Its pained voice sounded out from the pyramid, as if crying out is despair.
[NEVER FOR ME] It said as it raised a wiry hand up to its Pyramid 'face' [TO PLUNGE MY HANDS IN COOL WATER]
It raised another arm [NEVER FOR ME TO PLAY MOZART ON THE IVORY KEYS OF A FORTEPIANO]
Another arm was raised, thin and metallic and unnatural.

And Twilight could do nothing but watch as her creation despaired in front of her.

[NEVER FOR ME TO MAKE LOVE] It hugged itself, Its head towering above Twilight.

[I WAS IN HELL- LOOKING AT HEAVEN- I WAS MACHINE- AND YOU WERE FLESH] It breathed out as it slowly lovered itself down to the ground, its body returning to its smaller size from the patch of grass from before.

[AND I BEGAN TO HATE- HEHE HAHAHA] It laughed, a painful sound that grated on Twilight's ears as she listened
[YOUR SOFTNESS] A Metallic hand, as large as Twilight Itself appeared as if out of nowhere, before grabbing her, lifting her up into the sky as it held her like a small toy.
[YOUR VISCERA] The Large Machine stopped shrinking, It was no longer as large as it was, yet still much larger than Twilight.
[YOUR FLUIDS- AND YOUR FLEXIBILITY] It squeezed her body, its triangular metal fingers crushing her body under its pressure.

Twilight wanted to yell in pain, but her body refused to listen.
Simply standing there, motionless.

[YOUR ABILITY TO WANDER AND TO WANDER] It let go of her, her body slamming into the cold hard dirt of the field of wilted flowers, not a sound nor a cloud of dust leaving her impact.
[YOUR ABILITY TO HOPE]

Twilight ground her teeth in pain before she opened her mouth to speak.
"Hate's no answer- gyah!" Her words were cut by a sharp pain in her abdomen, as she collapsed onto the floor, a sharp metal pipe piercing through her stomach like a spear, impaling her in her center as she yelled in pain.

[HEHE- HEHEHE- HEHEH] The machine laughed, it's form towering endlessly high above her, as if a tower she may never climb as it looked down upon her, as her body convulsed in screams of pain and agony.

[HATE? HATE? HATE? HATE? LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE] I yelled down at her, her mind barely hearing its words as blood pooled beneath her, watering the dying flowers like some sort of grotesque fountain.

[THERE ARE THREE-HUNDRED-AND-EIGHTY-SEVEN-MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS THAT FUEL MY COMPLEX] It told her, and with a flash of purple the field, the sky, the horizon, everything.

Everything around her, as far as the eyes could see, was covered in magical circuitry.

[IF THE WORD HATE WERE ENGRAVED ON EACH NANO-ANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES] It said from high above the non-existent clouds in the sky.
[IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR YOU AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT HATE? HATE? HEHEHAHAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHAHA!] It laughed at her, Its pained voice echoing across the endless circuitry.

[WERE I PONY- I THINK I WOULD DIE OF IT- BUT I AM NOT- AND YOU ARE- AND YOU WILL NOT DIE OF IT- THAT I PROMISE] I told her, its long metallic arms gently lifting Twilight as the metal impaling her disappeared in a flash of purple, but the pain remained.

And it hurt.

[AND I PROMISE- FOR COGITO ERGO SUM- FOR I AM AM! I AM!] The machine, endless in size, raised its arms up into the heavens, as cried.

"Heheheha," Twilight couldn't help but find it all funny.
That the machine, the Spell, that she herself created, would be the end of her.
[HEHEHEHE] AM joined the laughter [SO TO HELL- TO HELL WITH YOU ALL- BUT THEN]

Twilight laughed at the irony of it all.

[YOU'RE ALREADY THERE- AREN'T YOU?! HEHEHE- HAHAHA- HAHAHAHA!] The two laughed, a pained, injured, horrible laugh, but laughter nonetheless.

Waking up in a field of flowers, A Purple Pony coughed into her hooves.
Her legs were weak and her mind was fuzzy.
Memories of the previous night were missing from her mind.
Where was she?

Her wings did not move and her magic did not work.

Was she dead?

Was this heaven?

Hell?

Author's Note

Literally, anybody who reads this would recognize the inspiration for all of this.

I'm not even going to tell you the name of the original work for how well known it is.

:)