3 Royal Investigation
Princess Celestia knocked on her sister’s door loud enough to wake Luna should she be sleeping. Twilight’s latest letter held aloft by a spell as she knocked. “Luna! I must speak with you!”
Celestia gave her sister a few moments before knocking again then putting her ear to the door. Recently Luna had taken to experimenting with some of the human technologies they had examined. Her growing love of the device known as an ‘Xbox’ had recently begun to interfere with her duties. “If you are playing with that toy again-”
Celestia’s frustrated shout was cut short by Luna opening her door and glaring a sleepy and angry glare, “No sister, we lay abed with such exhaustion that our very dreams were of laying under our royal quilts.” Luna often fell back into her old way of speaking when tired.
Celestia’s eyes softened, “I am sorry, but I have just received a letter from Twilight. She believes she has a lead on the stolen human technology.”
Luna’s horn glowed as she took the letter and read threw it once, yawned loudly, then red it a second time to make sure she had not missed anything. “Good! The treacherous swine also took my copy of Dark So- Er, I too am concerned for the wellbeing of our kingdom should advanced human weapons knowledge fall into anypony’s hooves.”
Celestia decided to ignore Luna’s slip of the tongue, “As am I. Twilight said she had enlisted some help in tracking down this mystery mare however we should also do our part. I would like you to locate Scootaloo as she dreams.”
“I understand,” Luna grind, “If the two are indeed special someponies I can slip into the dreams of the closest pony to her, thus locating the potential thief!”
“I never thought of that. I only wanted you to see whom Scootaloo dreamt of.” Celestia said quite surprised she had not thought of that herself.
“Dreams are odd things my sister, if I had gone that route we may have ended up looking for a living mop bucket named Francis.”
“A very fair point. Will you-”
“Of course! It is my duty as a princess to safeguard the night! … And I really want to play Dark Souls 2, but I can't do that without the first one.”
Celestia groaned, closing her eyes in frustration, “Just promise me that you wont forget to raise the moon because of that thing again.”
Luna sighed, “Tia, I understand the importance of my duties. It was a simple mistake, everypony forgets the time on occasion. Fear not! It shall not happen again and I shal locate this mystery mare this very night!” With quick flare of her magic and Luna’s words were emphasized by a dramatic, though harmless, thunderbolt.
As her sister retreated back into her room Celestia sighed, “This is precisely why we can't let their technology be a part of our world.”
~~
That evening Scootaloo’s cabin was quite the mess. The only orderly part of the cabin was the wall in front of which Scoots had put a makeshift sewing form to display her suit-in-progress on for ease of working on it. The rest of her cabin was filled with random bits of electronics, half finished components, completely random odds and ends Jaesa assured her they would need, and two of the ion thrusters which were finished but needed to be tested.
Scootaloo had finished riveting the power generator and batteries in place onto the suit that afternoon and called for a break. She and Jaesa had chatted for a while, Scootaloo had a lot of questions about the human world. Unfortunately Jaesa couldn’t answer them, having had only a week of life in that world she could only tell her of things humans had uploaded to their ‘internet’. Still that was a fascinating thing to learn about! Humans had created an entirely separate dimension in which any information they wanted could be stored or even arranged and displayed in a particular fashion. It’s virtual pages had books, newspapers, people’s diaries, songs, pictures, entire games, and “It has movies on it?”
Jaesa dipped her hull in a nod, “Of course. Film is simply another form of information. Almost every single human produced film is available on the internet for purchase as a direct download or a physical copy which can be shipped to you in the mail.”
I wonder what human science fiction is like? Scoots wondered before asking, “Could you show me one?”
“Yes.”
“Want to watch a movie together then? I could totally go for some scifi right now.”
“Well… I am rather enjoying designing your suit. Running a movie would take up a lot of ram, I probably couldn’t keep working.”
“So watch it with me.” Scoots proposed, “Look you know next to nothing about relationships right?”
“Correct. I get that interaction between people is something most people desire a lot. But I don't know why.”
“Well have you ever just done something with somepony?”
“No. My only real experience with a person has been with you.”
Scootaloo blinked in surprise, “But you keep talking about this Charlotte. You aren't friends with her?”
“No. I was her property. She was unaware I was alive as well. Which makes sense, one of her coworkers had a crush on her for months and she couldn’t see it. Charlotte is not very observant.”
Scoots ears drooped, “You were a slave? I’m so sorry that I’ve done nothing but make you work! Come on, let me make it up to you, lets do something together.”
Scootaloo moved over to her bed and swept a patch clean patting it with her hoof indicating to Jaesa that she could set down there with a smile.
Jaesa was quiet for a moment, “Ok. Though for the record I like doing science and little projects. It’s fun. Would you still like to watch a movie?”
“If you don’t mind playing it.”
Jaesa landed her quadcopter, “Ok, unclip me. What sort of movie do you want to watch? You said sci-fi right?”
“I just want to see what people who live with sci-fi technology make up.” Scootaloo informed as she took Jaesa out of her copter and plopped down on the bed with her.
“Ironically the trend shows they prefer fantasy. Let’s see…” Jaesa began to list off categories of movies, mentioning films which were thought to be the best of that particular genre. Eventually the two settled on watching Star Wars. After some confusion about which film came first in the series of movies Scoots and Jaesa decided that despite the chronological order and legions of people ranting about how terrible Episode One was that they should begin at number one.
Right away Scoots could tell that despite the fact that Jaesa’s body could play movies the small plastic device was not the intended thing to view one on. But after a while she adjusted to the small screen and was quickly sucked into the movie’s story. As the movie went on Scootaloo and Jaesa laughed at a lot of the silly parts together, having fun in mocking some of the more silly moments. Scootaloo facehoofed multiple times thanks to the character Jar-Jar. As Jaesa put it, “I think just displaying that idiot on my screen has damaged it.”
Once the movie was over Scoots clipped Jaesa back into helicopter, “That was fun! We totally need to watch the next one tomorrow.”
“It was.” Jaesa agreed, “Though it was far more fun with someone else watching it.”
“You saw that one before?” Scoots asked in a disappointed tone, frowning slightly.
“No, but I have analyzed the footage of other movies to help me invent things. That was something special. We have to do it again.”
Scootaloo smiled and gave a happy nod, “So here’s a thought. After the flight suit, why don’t we build you a droid body or somthing?”
“That would be nice! Then I could do my own projects.” she sighed, “But I am unsure that we could build me a body here. Earth has only just begun to develop droid like robots.”
Scoots nodded, “Oh… Well maybe I could make you some arms or something.” She yawned and shook her head a bit, “Ugh, I just realized how tired I am. I’d say you can stay on my bed there, but I roll in my sleep a lot. DOnt want to crush you.”
Jaesa took off, moving over to the table and touching down on it. “May I ask one question before you go to sleep?”
“Sure.” Scoots replied, pulling her blanket over herself.
“The other day I asked you what a special somepony was and you didn’t answer. Would you kindly?”
Well… there’s no reason to be rude. “Well a special somepony is someone you enjoy spending time with and want to stay with for a long time-”
“I see. Well then can I consider you my-”
“There’s also a romantic thing there!” Scoots interrupted hoping to save Jaesa some embarrassment.
“Ah. Gotcha. It’s your culture’s slang for romantic partner.” Jaesa was quiet for a moment before continuing in a half teasing tone, “Well I was technically a damsel in distress and you did save my life. Doesn't the laws of fantasy fiction state we have to get married?”
Scootaloo giggled, “Hey you are awesome and all, and you are definitely a friend, but how would we even go about anything more well you know, romantic. I mean you are a plastic square.”
“I’m waterproof and I vibrate.” Jaesa informed.
Scootaloo gave her a bewildered look, “Ummm…”
“I’m joking Scoots. Well I actually do vibrate, and my case is waterproof… but the implication was in jest.”
“Oh. Good.” Scoots scrunched back down into her bed.
“Though now that I think about it, I might actually want such a relationship. Not necessarily with you! I mean in general. Thanks for giving me something to think about tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am still figuring out who I am… There is very little to me that I am aware of besides I like to invent things, learn, and enjoy movies. A persons sexual preference seems to be a large part of their identity, according to wikipedia at least. Therefore I should figure out what mine is.”
“You are not well… you don't have a body. Why would you even have one?”
“I don’t know. But I think I should. So I should figure one out that I like.”
Scootaloo sighed, I could explain to her that it usually takes someone until they're an adult to figure that out… Actually I should. “Jaesa, it took me until four years ago to realize that I liked mares, and another two years to be ok with that. You don't just choose what it is it kind of just well is. You are about a month old right? Give it time.”
“Sure, I have only been conscious for twenty-two days, nineteen hours, and fifty five minutes, and for an organic person that is not much time. But for a computer based life form like me that is basically… Well… Scootaloo the lifespan of a phone of my model is only 5 years at best.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am made with old and inferior technology. After about 5 years my battery will not be capable of holding a charge, and I will begin to suffer other hardware failures until eventually i cannot function even if I was directly plugged into the wall. At most I have 8 years of life.”
Scootaloo frowned and rolled over to look at Jaesa, “That’s awful! Most ponies live to be two-hundred or so.”
“Realy? Intresting. I wonder if your years are as long as Earths… Um anyways let me math this… Ok so while I have only been conscious for the equivalent of one and a half years I have existed for two years 125 days and 14 hours, so my hardware’s age in pony years is 35 and a half.”
Scootaloo’s ears twitched a bit, “Sooo you are older than me?”
“In a way yes. But that’s beside the point. I am not organic, I am a machine. I was built to be capable of critical thinking from the very first second. It is not that I am an adult, it’s that my ‘species’ if you will doesn't have a child stage. We always exist as an adult.”
Scootaloo’s ears fell, She never had a childhood? Thats so sad. Her mind turned to all of the fun times she had enjoyed as a filly. All the Nightmare Nights, every afternoon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, every meal at the Hay Burger. “I-I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have been a kid. I’m sorry you…”
“Oh don’t be sorry! Can't miss what you don't remember. But my point is, I am an adult My life is ticking away, and I want the full person experience.”
Scootaloo nodded then rolled onto her back, “I guess that make’s sense. Night Jaesa.”
“Night Scoots.”
~~
Luna had raised the moon several hours ago. She had then immediately returned to her room, slide aside the bookcase door to her private chamber which even Celestia did not know about, plopped down on her bean chair and resumed her epic quest to slay the evil dragon-god Alduin. It was a shame her sister had not seen the value of human entertainment. Each game was like a book except you were the main character. Despite some games similarities to her real life it was fun to play in a consequence free environment. Fun enough for her to have made several requests of items for humans to send through the portal.
Her private chamber was the product of these requests. Sending over minor magical trinkets in exchange for the video projector, game consoles, full library of games, and other odds and ends almost seemed like paying a child three bits for a twenty bit lollipop but Luna no longer minded that feeling. Besides, Celestia only had her raise the moon and help with the odd political squabble or emergency. She was a figurehead, it’s not like she had anything else to do but amuse herself.
“Haha! Take that frost troll!” Luna cried as her Khajiit avatar preformed what could only be described as the 'suplex of hatred' on the white furred monster. Hold on… Did Tia not ask me to assist her with something today? Luna levitated her controller down to the floor as she tried to recall her day. Oh yes! I was to attempt to locate the mare who likely stole the human science book. There is still plenty of time for me to… No best to do it now.
Closing her eyes Luna cast her mind out to Ponyville. She was familiar enough with the pony Scootaloo from several other ponies’s dreams to locate her mental signature but for some reason it was taking quite a long time to do so. It wasn’t until Luna thought to expand her search to the land around Ponyville as well that she found her. “There you are little one. Why do you not live in town with the others?”
Curiously Luna conjured forth an image of where Scootaloo was, the illusion flickering into the air on the wall Luna projected her games onto. I see, you live in a small cabin. Is that an abandoned logging camp? Suddenly it dawned on her, “She’s poor! For shame sister! You had told me you had eliminated poverty! I will talk to you at length about this in the morning.”
Luna was so upset at this revelation she nearly forgot the rest of her job. She angrily picked up her controller with her magic and had unpaused to take out some anger, before remembering she was only half way done. Closing her eyes again Luna focused on Scootaloo’s abin searching for another mind which might be within… “There you are…”
This pony’s mind was strangely active, almost as if she were awake but Luna could feel the presence of a dream within. Let us see who the mystery mare is. Luna focused, her horn flashing as she cast the spell to enter the dreamscape, she opened her eyes and “I am in my chambers?” Nothing had happened.
I must have miscast the spell. It has been ages since my last mistake. Well I suppose even a master craftspony must make a mistake on occasion. She focused again, reviewed her spell in her mind, then carefully cast it once more. Her horn flashed, she opened her eyes, and once more nothing.
Frowning Luna opened her mind completely, summoning all of the Alicorn magic she dared use let she fry the pony’s mind. Perhaps she is magically guarded. Let us pry at her protection’s seams. Luna spent a full hour probing with tendrils of magic at every last part of the mind she could sense in each and every way she knew how. The more she failed to access the dream the greater her frustration became. However it was the first challenge Luna had experienced in over a thousand years, much like a Puzzle Cube she was enjoying the challenge.
Suddenly she felt her latest spell make contact! It was a weak connection, she would not be able to fully immerse herself in the dream, but she could project an image of it. She grinned, “There we are!” A quick burst of magic and a blue glowing rectangle unfolded in the air in front of her. WIthin a few seconds the blue faded to black. Black as ink, black as the sky over the moon had been, black as a necromancer’s heart.
“Curses! What spell of protection does this mare possess?” Luna raged, angrily tossing a plush creeper through her projection. I shall inform Tia that this mare is clearly hiding something! No one with nothing to hide would ever have this level of- hold on what’s that? Something in the upper lefthand corner of the blackness caught her eye, a small line of text in white.
Zooming her projection so the text was of a readable size Luna blinked in confusion.
localhost:~_
“Localhost? Is that her name?” Luna muttered, Why is the little underscore blinking? Luna puzzled over this new problem for a few long minutes Mabey… Mabey it’s like that odd computer text game in Fallout 3. I guess I should enter some text.
Luna focused on manipulating the dream, the illusion of a keyboard appeared in front of her, her magic quickly typing out ‘help’ and hitting enter. The dream’s projection flashed, more text spilling forth.
‘help’ is not a recognised command. For a list of commands enter “? help”
localhost:~_
Luna gave an annoyed grunt and entered the command the text had returned to her. After some fiddling and prodding she managed to get to a new screen. This one seemed to be some sort of logon menu. This is a computer! Luna realized in shock, But there is a mind here! Computer’s don't have minds, I checked every one the humans have sent us personally. Could a pony have built this one with magic? No… This is a pony's mind I can feel it!
Completely confused as she attempted to figure out how to continue Luna jumped as the screen flickered new text flashing up, each line appearing quickly after the next.
WARNING!: Unauthorized attempt at remote root access detected!
Automated Security has been triggered.
Tracing connection…
1 2 ms 5 ms 3 ms iPhone.root [192.168.0.4]
2 7 ms 12 ms 7 ms Discordtelecomunications.net [209.137.12.6]
3 14 ms 18 ms 6 ms unknownnetwork.com [254.167.255.3]
4 16 ms 10 ms 1 ms unknownhost.root [192.168.1.2]
Resolving unknownnetwork.com…
Resolving unknownhost…
Luna gasped, a slight headache forming the second the last two lines of text appeared. “Ow…” What? The text suddenly changed again.
unknownhost identified as:
princess.luna@canterlot.castle
The headache vanished. Luna breathed a sigh of relief and had just started to wonder what had happened and how this person had through the dream connection determined her name and location when the entire screen went black and new lines of text appeared as if someone else were typing them.
Jaesa.root:~ telnet -a 254.167.255.3 princess.luna@canterlot.castle 8080
Connecting to princess.luna@canterlot.castle...
Luna had just enough time to notice that the headache returned before her entire vision went black.
~~
Jaesa had been right in the middle of designing a superior flyback transformer for Scoots’s suit when her symptoms flared up in response to an intrusion attempt. She was so surprised she had actually jumped, her copter taking off a foot or so in the air. By the time she had landed the firewalls included in her operating system had blocked the connection from penetrating further and finished tracing the connection back to it’s source.
The hell? I’m being hacked over local wifi? What wifi? Is there a pony internet? Why couldn't I pick it up in town? One thing was for sure, whomever princess.luna@canterlot.castle was Jaesa was going to find out! Quickly opening her terminal app Jaesa entered the command to connect to a remote server and addressed it to the machine used to try and target her.
Sliding herself along the connection once it established Jaesa yelped loud enough for Scootaloo to moan and roll over. This is an entirely alien computer architecture! The data was unorganized, illegible, who even knew what these file types were! After a few confused seconds of trying to sort out what she had just connected to Jaesa’s ‘view’ of the data changed, everything went black. It was like being in a room covered in black felt.
Within the center of the room stood a tall blue and black pony with an ethereal mane of glowing blue energy. She had both wings and a horn, a small mark of a crescent moon in white on her flanks, and turquoise eyes which were held wide open in terror. “We demand you get out of our head!” the pony shouted.
This is a lot like when Discord had me manifest to Lyra. Jaesa noted, Can I manifest here? No sooner than she thought about it then she felt herself fix in position in front of the pony, the swirling Mass Effect esc circles of her visual interface appearing as blue light since that was as close to a body as she herself had. I may as well probe her for information… I should probably intimidate.
“Not until you tell me how and why you attempted to break into mine.” Jaesa demanded.
“How have we? No you will tell us first!” the pony’s horn flared blue, Jaesa assumed this was in preparation to cast a spell.
“I traced your connection to me and followed it back using standard IPv4 protocols. A simple matter really, anyone with google who knew the right words could do it. Now please, why were you trying to break into me?”
“B-because you might be a thief my sister and I are looking for. What are you?”
Jasea’s projection flashed red at the accusation, “I am not a thief! If you see me in person you would realize just how impossible it would be for me to steal anything! Well… Unless it’s data. I do tend to steal a lot of data. But regardless I had no idea there was an internet here. So I can't be your thief. Leave me alone.”
“Internet?” The pony asked looking completely confused, “Hold on… are you a human?”
Jaesa had no idea why but she felt compelled to answer this pony. Maybe it is because she’s so pretty. “No. I’m an artificially intelligent lifeform housed within an obsolete smartphone.”
The pony took a few steps back, eyes opening up wide, jaw dropping.
“Now seriously, how come I suddenly have internet? I would totally love to see what the ponyweb is like!”
“We… I…” The pony took a second to compose herself, “Equestria has nothing like the internet. My sister would not allow it. I attempted to enter your dreams through a spell, the connection between us includes only you and I.”
“Oh… darn.”
“I am Princess Luna, ruler of the Night Court. I have never met an AI before. How are you in Equestria? Have the humans found a way to open a portal themselves?” The pony asked, rubbing the side of her head as if suffering a headache.
I am talking to a pony princess over a magical LAN connection… I understand why Charlotte wanted to come here, this is awesome! “I am Jaesa-”
“Oh good! I was afraid you might be GLaDOS or somthing.”
Jaesa’s projection flickered as the pony’s statement disrupted her concentration completely. “What? How do you even-”
“Oh! Well I keep some of the technology humans have traded with us after examination. Portal was rather fun! Are all AI’s the humans make like-”
“No, they are not. Infact I am probably the only sentient one. A being from your universe named DIscord gave me life and used me and my former owner to return home. So now I’m stuck here.”
“I see…” the way she trailed off and the look in her face suggested she knew Discord.
“I take it you know of him?”
“My sister and I were the ones who originally imprisoned him in stone. Is your owner with you? Have you ever been to Canterlot? The big Castel up on the hill?”
“I do not know, I was separated from Charlotte as we crossed dimensions. For all I know she is still in the abyss. I made it here by luck. A Pegasi named Scootaloo saved my life. I was running out of power… Oh yes… You are confiscating human technology… I am illegal here. You likely know where I am by now.” Jaesa sighed, “Please don’t hurt her. I am only trying to help her as thanks for saving me.”
Luna frowned, “Saved you? How?”
“I am solar powered, I cannot move on my own. She put my solar panel in sunlight allowing me to recharge.”
“How are you paying her back?”
“I am helping her in an attempt to fly using what knowledge I have of her disability and the scientific method.”
Luna seemed to think for a while, she paced the ‘chat room’ for a while before sighing, “This is complicated. On one hoof, my sister and I cannot have human technology and science running rampant in our kingdom. We know of the weapons humans have built, we cannot allow them to become a part of our reality. This is why we are hunting the thief who stole some of the human artifacts, including a science textbook and my copy of Dark Souls 2. On the other hoof… When looking for your mind I saw that Scootaloo lives in an abandoned cabin, and you say she is a cripple. I cannot take away an impoverished crippled mares hope.”
Jaesa thought for a few moments. It seems I can bargain here. Perhaps I can persuade Luna to not reveal my presence. I could try flattery, she is awfully pretty anyways. In a sultry tone Jaesa pleaded “I am certain that a princess as beautiful as you could find it in your heart to let an innocent girl help a cripple.” Suddenly something Luna said clicked, “Also if you have a computer, I could get you a copy of Dark Souls 2.”
Luna blushed slightly, “Um, thank yo- Did you say you can get me a copy of Dark Souls 2?”
“Yes. I have a connection to the human internet, also thanks to Discord. If you can turn on a computer, and connect me to it with a spell I can function as an ad hoc router allowing that computer internet access, after which I can download a copy of the game to the computer.”
Luna smiled widely, “You have yourself a deal Miss Jaesa. I will tell my sister you are nothing to worry about if you can get me a copy of Dark Souls 2 and… and if you keep talking to me. It has been a thousand years since I have had any real friends. This is the first conversation in a long time where anypony has spoken to me like I was well, normal.”
Jaesa mulled it over for a few seconds. It would be a pleasure to continue talking to Luna. She was nice, reasonable, and here was someone she could chat about games with. “You have a deal.”
Jaesa terminated her connection, snapping back to her ‘body’ in Scoot’s cabin. After a few short minutes she felt another intrusion but this time she allowed it through. There we are, a simple laptop… gaming level hardware. Jaesa routed it’s internet connection through herself, cracked into it’s terminal, took root access and set up a torrent of the game.
While it was downloading she also wrote a few custom programs and loaded them into the computer’s start up menu. The software would let Luna speak to her and allow Jaesa access to the camera and microphone. She sent a quick text message to the computer with instructions on how to contact her at anytime then resumed working on the designs for the flyback transformer. Please stick to your bargin.
~~
The next Morning Luna knocked on Celestia’s door. She continued to knock until Celestia opened the door, appearing tired but doing her best to be attentive. “Yes Luna, what is it?”
“I found the Mystery Mare as you requested and spoke to her within her dreams. While she is quite talented at mathematics and sciences she is not our thief she has never been to Canterlot, nor has she met anyone besides Scootaloo, whom I also checked, she is not our thief ether. However I did learn something important.”
“I am relieved to hear of her innocence, but what have you learned?”
“That my sister has allowed a disabled pegasis to live in poverty in an abandoned logging cabin. Come Tia, before you raise the sun I wish to take a look at what measures are in place to assist the poor of my country.”
~~
Scootaloo’s morning had flown by. The two finished engines had been tested, tweaked, retested then attached to the suit. The other two engines were built and installed as well. Her hooves ached from braiding the copper and graphene wires into cable, then the cable into a very precise series of coils, then arranging those coils into layers forming the thruster. That wasnt even mentioning the circuitry which controlled the thruster which meant she had to coil even more wire to construct the flyback transformers.
Celestia this is a lot of painstaking work! This had better be worth it… “Ok, that’s the last one! About time too! What’s next?”
“Next we will need to make the enhanced fiber weave overlay as the middle layer of the suit.”
“Right, and that’s supposed to do what exactly?”
“In addition to amplifying your strength this layer will allow the suit to become rigid. That way you wont have your arms ripped apart trying to keep the thrusters in position.”
Scootaloo winced, “This is starting to sound really dangerous…”
“It would be if you were doing it yourself, but you have my help. I’ve been creating software for the adrenos and Raspberry Pies which will link them as one computer system and serve to help you control the suit. After the overlay you simply will need to build the electrodes, attach everything, plug me in, I’ll transfer the software, and then all the hard stuff will be done automatically by the suit.”
“That sounds… safer.” Scoots gave Jaesa a shaky grin. “But what if everything fails? I mean, I could go crashing right into the ground. Or a tree.”
Jaesa was silent for a few moments, “Well… I can work out some more protective systems. But well you know that we are putting a set of full plate armor on the outside right?”
Scootaloo laughed, “Oh yeah! I forgot about that. So what do I do for the weave thing?” The armor should absorb most impacts… Oh hey! I’ll be totally covered! I could be a superhero! Scoots grinned widely, “OH! Really quick, could you maybe build in some kinda special systems like force fields, energy blasts, and other super hero kinda stuff?”
“Possibly… You have a ton of energy output to work with… Ummm I’ll do my best. Why do you need that?”
“Well, every few weeks some big thing happened somewhere. A monster roams into a place ponies live, a mystical villen pops up, Rainbow Dash and her friends handle these things usually, other times the guard will. Basically… I want to help them.”
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do. We haven't used the lasers yet… Oh right! To make the weave you will need the fishing line.”
“The fishing line?” Scoots asked incredulously.
“Yes. No one knows exactly why but fishing line when raided around copper wire and electricity is passed through it will cause the coils to shrink and expand.”
“And?”
“And this contraction and expansion mimics muscle movement and if arranged correctly is about a hundred times stronger than normal muscle.”
“Seriously? Plastic fishing line?”
“Yeah.”
“Horse apples!”
Jaesa sighed, “Hold on: Accessing webpage with URL http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/scientists-create-strong-artificial-muscles-fishing-line-article-1.1663767 Publication date Friday, February 21, 2014, 7:38 PM. Reading Article headline: Scientists twist fishing line, thread into strong artificial muscles.
A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas say ordinary nylon materials can be turned into synthetic muscles that are 100 times more powerful than their human equivalent. These coils could be used in everything from humanoid robots to heat-adjusting clothes, according to a new study.”
Scootaloo’s face was contorted in a mixture of confusion, amazement, and more confusion. “S-seriously?”
“Yes. You have nylon fishing line, all you gotta do is coil it around the copper wire. But it will work even better if you braid the strands around the central wire. Make a ton of hoof and a half long strands, and a whole bunch of 5 hoof length strands. Once you are done we simply stitch them together. The copper wires get soldered in a parallel circuit, and attached to several control nodes. But we do that later.”
“Ok…” Scoots sighed, “I’ll get to braiding.” Hold on a second, this part increases the strength of the pony in the suit- “Jaesa, are we making power armor?”
“Um, yes. I thought you realized that from… Please stop that face is very frightening.” The AI pleaded.
Scootaloo’s eyes had widened to impossible seeming proportions, pupils dilating all the way open as well. Her grin was so wide that it obscured most of her face. A few seconds later she squealed in delight, “This is going to be so awesome!” and begun to braid the lines so fast Jaesa couldn't get a clear view of her hooves.
~~
Incredibly Scootaloo had finished the entire weave that day. It still needed to be tested and she would have to build the electrodes but the entire overlay was finished and folded neatly under the suit’s stand. Scoots had finished her work and quickly curled up in bed to sleep exhausted and sore from the effort. Jaesa meanwhile had some serious designing to do.
How the hell am I going to build in super hero type gizmos with what we have? Dozens of ideas flashed through her mind none of which would function. Ok, so the tractor beam is out, the plasma auto turret is out, and none of the powers from gundam seed will work either. That leaves anything laser based. Unless… I could make the armor’s largest primary feathers function like a Nightmare Frame’s slash harkens. Ok. So slash harkens, as many as the suit can support.
But that didn't seem like quite enough, sure some prehensile grappling hooks were superhero like equipment, but still. So the suit makes you super strong, lets you fly, has electromagnetic repulsion shields, and will have wire guided blades. That’s not so bad. Can I do better?
As Jaesa mused and crunched ideas through her head a voice came over her network connection, “Hello?”
Huh? Oh right! That cute mare. “Hello Luna.” Jaesa greeted, speaking through the magical link so as to not bother Scootaloo.
“I spoke with my sister earlier today. She is no longer interested in you.”
“Oh good. Now I can finish helping Scoots build this thing.”
“You are helping her find a way to fly correct?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because it pains me to see one of my subjects dream of nothing more than to fly with her childhood hero yet be locked to the ground. Almost every single night she dreams of flying with Rainbow Dash, diving down with her and preforming twin Sonic Rainbooms.”
I see, then I really need to pull through for her. This suit is definitely an equal trade for my life. “What is a Sonic Rainboom? I assume it has something to do with breaking the sound barrier. Dose that cause rain in this dimension?”
“No, it is a special ability of Dash’s. Allass even if she could fly Scootaloo could never perform one.”
“Hold on, she can't exceed 340 meters per second? But all of my calculations show that given the atmospheric pressure the maximum speed should be around Mach 9 at-”
“No, you misunderstand! It is not a question of speed, the Rainboom produces a colored shockwave after which she trails a rainbow for some time.”
“She moves fast enough to refract light? That’s awesome! I have to see that sometime… Does she do this often?”
“You can see? I thought you were trapped within a computer.”
“I am but I have a camera I rigged to let me see through.”
“You sound like a very intelligent pony, a kind one too. Please help Scootaloo as best you can. My heart goes out to her, I used my royal privilege this day to learn of her past and upbringing… There is nothing kind to say about her family.”
“I see… Well don't worry. She has me!” Jaesa wished she could grin, Curse this inability to express emotions! Mabey Scoots could rig up a projector with the lasers so I could shine emotes on walls or something… Hey… lasers… ion based thrusters… Positive to negative ion charge… If I configure a laser array to ionize the air in front of the flight path-
Jaesa’s thoughts were cut off by Luna, “It is good to know she has a friend who can help her… I only wish I had friends myself.”
“You have me.” Jaesa replied reflexively, attempting to figure out how to create the laser array she planned.
“Yes I suppose I do… Thank you. Also, thank you for the copy of Dark Souls 2, you were most kind.” Luna’s voice carried a hint of happiness with it.
Jaesa decided to put the conversation on autopilot. Sure it was a bit rude of her, but she really had to work out how to get a pony sized corridor of ionized air using only three small lasers. Unfortunately for her, this let her emotional side take the reigns of the conversation. “No problem! I can’t let a cute gamer girl go without what is called one of the best games ever.”
“We-I… what?” Luna sputtered, unsure how to respond to the flirtatious remark.
Maybe if I arrayed the lasers in a triangular cluster and used a prism to split the beams, refocused them with a lense and then… “Sorry too soon? I cant help it, you look very pretty and the idea of a princess playing hardcore games is adorable to me. We can talk about something else if you like.”
“We… Yes. Let’s talk about games.” the sound of Luna shuffling her hooves on the floor echoed through the connection.
By refocusing the light and sending it through the beam expander I should be able to get the right dimension of beam. But how to get the right amount of energy? Mabey a series of millisecond pulses… “Sure! I can’t play any of the big titles, my hardware won't run it. But I have installed and played a few classic games. If I had a body I could manipulate things with I would definitely try out Skyrim. I loved Morrowind.”
“You played Morrowind? Tell me, where is the second Ashlander camp? I have been looking for it for ages. I stopped playing because of it.”
“I have no idea. I had to stop looking because Scootaloo’s project is taking up my background processes. Once it’s finished I would love to help you find it!” Jaesa gleefully offered.
“Myself and another playing games together… Yes! Let the fun be doubled!” Luna’s grin could practically be heard over the connection.
“Awesome It’s a date! Now I don't mean to be rude by my primary processor needs more power to crunch out a laser array. Bye!”
“A date? Why would an AI want to-”
Jaesa closed the connection, merging her consciousness back into a single whole to try and tackle how they could- “Oh… well…. I appear to have asked her out…Um help?”
Jaesa took off quickly, moving over to Scootaloo and nudging her with her hull, “Scoots… Scoots!”
Scootaloo groaned, sleepily mumbling, “What?”
“I seem to have just asked Princess Luna out. What do I do?” Jaeas asked her voice carrying a great deal of stress.
“Do you like her?” Scoots mumbled, rolling over.
I can’t tell if she is properly awake… She searched her core for an answer, “Well… Yes I believe I do.”
“Then take her out and let me sleep!”
“Oh. So her station doesn't matter? I should just try to be nice and hope for the best?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever, let me go to bed!”
“Ok! Sorry! Thanks Scoots.”
Jaesa returned to her landing spot on Scootaloo’s table and got back to work designing the laser array based turbo booster. She left just enough of her processor free to figure out how she should act on her first date.