... Like an AI Scorned
“ROSE!” Alex yelled after the AI, running out of Sugarcube Corner at a full sprint with Twilight right behind him. “STOP!”
Unfortunately, they were too late. By the time Alex was out the door, Rose had already entered the Hellbender they used to drive to the bakery and had taken off down the road without them.
“What’s she going to do?” Twilight asked frantically, Alex’s panic spreading to her.
“I don’t know!” Alex hastily answered back. His dove into his pocket and fished out an ear piece which he slapped against the side of his head. “Rose?! What the hell are you doing?! Answer me god dammit!” No response came back. “Fuck!”
Before Twilight could inquire any further about what was going on with Rose, Alex bolted down the road after the Hellbender. Twilight wasted no time catching up to him.
“What are we going to do?” Twilight asked as she ran beside him.
“Catch up to her! Shit - sorry!” Alex danced around a startled pony as they rounded a corner. “Rose sure as hell knows that newspaper is run by the kids at the school. But knowing her, she’s going to go home first! So that’s where we’re going!”
“But your home is all the way on the other side of town! Wouldn’t it be easier to just cut her off at the school?”
Alex held a hand to his chest as he sprinted. “Just run!”
The entrance to the garage whirred open as Alex stumbled inside with Twilight trotting in behind him. While Twilight was no worse for wear, Alex doubled over on the nearest toolbox, nearly coughing out his burning lungs.
“Wow, you’re really out of shape,” Twilight commented.
Alex heaved several more times before finally wheezing out, “Dont… remind… me… shit…”
Twilight shook her head and gave Alex a firm nudge in the side. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”
“Just gimme a second…” Alex responded, holding his hand out to her. After several large gulps of air, Alex sickeningly coughed up a wad of phlegm from his lungs which he swallowed back down. A few more panted breaths later, Alex glanced over in the direction of the elevator and yelled, “UNIT!”
Twilight followed his look to find a Liandri quickly approaching them. This one looked different, however. Instead of the usual Blue that guarded the elevator, this Liandri was painted red. While it still had a only single, albeit smaller eye and all the usual hallmarks of a Liandri, this was very clearly a different model.
Its torso looked significantly more armored and filled out than a Blue’s. Its overall body appeared more alien and jagged in comparison. Yet somehow, it looked more… professional — as if Blues were mere underlings in comparison to this. Although in what field that would be, Twilight could only speculate. Despite being jagged in appearance, its major armor components were still masterfully rounded, giving it a captivatingly beautiful, yet still threatening look. Its arms were oddly shaped, as if they bent outward at what looked like the middle of the forearm instead of the elbow, but their movements seemed to mimic the intended limb with no difficulty. Its legs were almost definitely pony-like, ending in feet that were undoubtedly modeled after hooves.
As the Liandri approached, Twilight spied the lettering “NOVA0002” printed on its left shoulder guard.
Hmm… Nova must be its model name… Twilight briefly thought to herself. If that number next to it means anything, then there’s probably another one just like it somewhere around here, too…
“Yes, sir?” the Liandri spoke as it approached.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Alex asked, “Where’s Rose?”
“Rose left the facility approximately two minutes and thirty six seconds ago and is currently en route to Ponyville elementary school,” the Liandri answered.
“FUCK!” Alex blurted out, slamming his arm against the top of the tool box he was still leaning against. “We just missed her!”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t she be in the lab?”
Alex pressed a palm against his temple. “To make sure we can’t talk her out of whatever the fuck she’s planning on doing…”
Twilight’s ears flopped down and the blood drained from her face. “Oh no… I told you we should have gone straight to the school!”
“I can’t think when I’m this stressed out, okay?!” Alex cried before rushing up to the Liandri and grabbing it along its collar. The red Liandri easily stood an inch or two taller than him. “Did Rose take anything with her?!”
The Liandri responded with the same indifference as before. “Rose exchanged the CIV-05 chassis for the XT-2 chassis and departed with a Hellbender.”
Alex’s fingers loosened their grip on the Liandri as he stared, completely dumbstruck, into its eye. “The XT-2…?” he breathed. Alex took slow, unbalanced steps away from the Liandri, his fingers slowly working their way up and into what little hair he had, muttering the phrase “oh shit…” over and over again.
Twilight looked over at Alex with pleading eyes. “What’s the XT-2?” When Alex continued his muttering, she gave him a firm magical shove on the shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. The wide-eyed look of horror of his face was enough to send a chill through her body. “Alex, what’s the XT-2?”
His response was brief and breathless. “She took her combat chassis…”
“WHAT?!” Twilight screamed. “Why would she have a combat chassis!?”
“It’s Rose! She needs one of everything!” Alex yelled back, flailing his arms.
Twilight shut her eyes, shook her head, and let out a single huff. “Look, we need to catch up to her before she does something drastic - Now.” Twilight’s horn began to glow. “If I teleport us now, we should be able to-”
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Alex interrupted, holding his arms out and taking several cautionary steps back. “I am not teleporting!”
Twilight paused for a half second. “What…? Alex, please, I know what I’m doing. If you just-”
He shook his head. “I don’t doubt that! But once was way more than enough for me!”
“Are you still afraid of what happened between Earth and here? Alex, we don’t have a choice!”
Alex stepped forward, punctuating his words by pointing a finger at her. “Not. Happening.”
Twilight stomped a hoof. “Well we can’t just stand around all day!”
Biting his lip, Alex glanced away from her, staring off into space for a brief moment. Eventually, he looked back at her and snapped his fingers. “Just gimme a sec…”
Before Twilight could inquire what for, Alex took a step back, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply through his nose. As he did so, his arms spread out at his side and his head angled towards the ceiling. Alex only held his breath for a second before slowly exhaling through his mouth, his body visibly relaxing at the action.
Alex’s eyes then snapped open and focused on Twilight. With the strangest calmness, considering the situation, he simply said, “The Manta.” Turning on the spot, Alex made a beeline for the nearest computer terminal, pushing his way past the red Liandri which effortlessly retreated from its creator’s touch.
Twilight gawked at him in confusion, only coming to her senses after he had already walked away. “I’m sorry, the what?”
“The Manta,” Alex repeated over his shoulder while typing furiously at the console. “It’s still a prototype, and I don’t really have much experience piloting it yet, but so far, tests have been positive.” With a final tap, both the titanic garage door and the equally large entrance on the opposite wall leading to what Twilight could only assume to be some sort of vehicle storage area simultaneously began to lift up.
Alex spun around to face her and rattled out his words. “Look, we don’t have much time. Rose is gonna get there any minute now. Even with the Manta, she’ll still get there before I do. I’m probably the only one who’ll be able to get her to back down, but I need you to teleport over there as quick as you can and stall her. The last thing I want is for her to start a school shooting. She probably won’t do that, but I don’t wanna take that chance, because believe me, calling her a calculator is the easiest way to piss her right the fuck off.”
As if on time, a floating vehicle driven by a Blue zoomed through the inner doorway and came to a stop about a meter above the center of the vehicle area before slowly lowering itself to the ground. Despite its complex appearance, the simplest description Twilight could come up for it would have been a small, open pod with a pair of large wings with embedded fans mounted on the side to keep it afloat.
Alex glanced back at Manta for only a second before looking back at Twilight and yelling, “Go!”
With a quick nod of her head, Twilight’s horn glowed its usual lavender aura and, with a bright flash of light, she was gone.
“No!” Diamond Tiara barked at the three fillies in front of her oversized business desk. “I am not letting you three quit!”
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stood in front of Diamond Tiara in the middle of the school’s printing room, located in the basement. All around them, a hoof-full of school mates were hard at work formatting pages and squeezing them through the press, all in a desperate effort to churn out the latest edition of the Foal Free Press for the next day. The lighting in the basement was poor at best, illuminated only by a couple of bulb lamps hanging from the ceiling and whatever sunlight streamed in through a small window off to the side.
“But we don’t want to keep writing these gossip columns!” Sweetie Belle pleaded. “The things we’re writing - they could be hurting everypony’s feelings!”
Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Feelings! I don’t care about feelings! Gabby Gums is my bread and butter, and I’m not going to let you three stop writing just because you’re afraid of hurting ponies’ feelings!”
The Crusaders shared looks of unease between each other for a moment before Applebloom responded, “Actually, we’re sorta’ more afraid of what you made us write in our last column…”
“The one about Rose,” Scootaloo added.
Diamond Tiara blinked at them. “So? Why would you be afraid about that? It’s just a machine. It’s not like it’ll care.”
Applebloom stomped her hoof, her face a mixture of anger and concern. “Rose n’ Guy are more than just machines, though! They do care about things! Don’t ya remember anythin’?”
“Yeah, and haven’t you heard what Rose does to ponies who make her mad?” said Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo shuddered. “I heard she electrocuted Rainbow Dash on Nightmare Night just for startling her…”
“You’re afraid of rumors?!” Diamond Tiara cried with a stomp of her hoof against her desk. “You three are the ones that make rumors like those! It’s your job! And I already told you: It. Doesn’t. Care.”
Applebloom ground her teeth together in a growl, but Sweetie Belle cut her off before she could say anything. “Then we care! We don’t want to write anything that’s going to upset anypony anymore - Liandri or not! I’m sorry, Diamond Tiara, but we’ve made our decision.”
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, taking a step forward. “Besides, it’s not like you can force us to keep gossiping.”
Diamond Tiara smirked and pulled open a drawer in her desk, keeping her eyes on Scootaloo’s defiance. “When you see these, you may not want to quit after all…” She pulled a simple file folder out of her desk and tossed it to the floor in front of them, whereupon it split open and its contents slipped out.
The three Crusaders gasped at what lay before them. A trio of photos; one of each of them: Sweetie Belle wearing one of Rarity’s more outrageous and embarrassing experiments in fashion; Scootaloo covered in mud and attempting to fly out of the puddle using an impotent set of wings, all while nearby birds laughed at her; and Applebloom attempting to cover her face in shame when presented with a baby photo of her wearing a pair of diapers—one where it was supposed to be, and the other pinned firmly on her head.
Diamond Tiara leapt off her giant office chair and moved towards them. “I asked Featherweight to document everything, and that’s exactly what he did.” With a single motion, Diamond Tiara swept the photos back up in their folder, and threw the file back onto her desk before clambering back onto the chair. Diamond Tiara rested her head against her hooves, smiling in satisfaction at their looks of shock. “And if Gabby Gums does go into retirement, I’ll need something to fill that empty column space.” Diamond Tiara’s face turned vicious and she clacked her hoof against her desk. “Now get out there and write me more-”
Diamond’s words died on her lips, and the Crusaders jumped as the sound of Diamond Tiara’s hoof hitting the desk echoed from behind them a thousand fold. Splinters of what was the door flew past them as they realized the boom was not from Tiara, but from something much bigger.
The door’s handle and frame had been been shattered into splinters, and a very obvious hole had been made from where it had been kicked. Standing in the doorway itself, however, stood a tall, bipedal figure clad in bronze colored armor that took up almost the entire doorway, despite its slender limbs. Its right hand held a black, alien looking weapon with streaks of glowing purple along its virtually non-existent stock and large body, with some sort of glowing purple tube forming most of the weapon’s barrel.
The newcomer’s mask-like face and blazing blue eyes never moved beneath its bladed headpiece, even while it spoke in its familiar, feminine voice.
“Which one of you is Gabby Gums.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a demand.
Nopony, however, answered her. They all seemed to be much too shocked by her presence to even consider her words, so Rose tried again.
“I said…” Rose raised the weapon and caught the body in her left hand, pointing it in Diamond Tiara’s general direction from the hip. “Which one of you is Gabby Gums.”
This time, the command registered, and everypony in the room pointed towards the trio of fillies standing in the center. Rose’s eyes immediately fixed on them.
Scootaloo gulped. “Uh… Hehe, umm… Hi?”
Rose shook her head and emitted a disappointed sigh, despite her face remaining perfectly still. “Of course it would be you three. I shouldn’t have expected anything else. It really is a shame, though…” Rose raised her gun up to shoulder level. “I expected better of you. Especially you, Applebloom.”
The Crusaders’ eyes widened, and their hearts nearly stopped during the fraction of a second where a purple flash suddenly dominated their vision. But whatever intense pain they expected was absent. Blinking the temporary blindness from their eyes, the Crusaders looked back up at Rose to find somepony now standing directly between them and the invading AI.
“Rose, stop!” Twilight pleaded, making sure she was using her own body as a shield for the fillies. “This isn’t like you!”
Rose immediately lowered her weapon to her side, though leaned in towards Twilight. “And how do you know what I’m like? Do you have any idea what sort of damage control I will have to do because of them? You ponies have a tough enough time accepting Guy as a sapient entity, and I don’t need their drivel to make my life any more difficult!” Rose paused, allowing her words to sink in, before slowly adding, “These children need to be taught a lesson in cybernetics, and I am more than happy to teach them myself.” Rose raised her weapon back up, staring Twilight dead in the eye. “Now move aside.”
Twilight’s eyes quickly darted towards the weapon in Rose’s hands before looking back up at her face. The adrenaline coursing through her system was almost enough to force her heart out of her chest, and her quick breathing was starting to dry out her lips. Giving them a quick lick and blinking her eyes several times, Twilight creased her brow as she stared back at Rose in defiance.
“You don’t live in the shadows, Rose. Ponies will hear about you one way or another. Is this really how you want the next generation of ponies to know you? Guy? The Liandri? As beings to be feared, rather than loved and respected on their own merits?”
Silence reigned throughout the printing room. All eyes were on Rose, whose own stare focused solely on Twilight. Rose didn’t reply, but neither did she lower her weapon. Twilight took it as a sign to continue.
“Rose, the Liandri aren’t just new to Ponyville, they’re new to Equestria as a whole - hay, the entire world! As much as I hate to say it, you’re aliens. Xenophobia, or I guess technophobia, in your case, will always be a problem. Not everypony is going to accept you, Alex, and the Liandri right off the bat, not like my friends and I did. It’s just something you’re going to have to live with, no matter what.
“Ponyville has been more accepting of you than I thought it would, yes, but that won’t be the case everywhere you go. Sure, that article they wrote didn’t help, but I’m pretty sure ponies are starting to take everything they write with a grain of salt by now anyway. And considering your relationship with rumors, I think it would be safe to say that yours is probably the least believable, even if the ponies reading it don’t really know you.
Twilight smiled. “And besides, all they would have to do is talk to you for just a few minutes, and I’m sure any presumptions they had about you would disappear in a heartbeat.”
Once again, silence permeated the space between them. In that moment, Rose held more akin with a statue than a living, breathing creature, but in Twilight’s eyes, it was a statue with actual, intelligent thought behind its frozen face.
Of course, it would never be easy. Inhabiting a world as a minority never was, especially when it came to establishing your image, but Twilight’s words held their own weight and more. Rose’s thoughts may have been an unknown to anyone and everyone, her still features keeping even the barest hints of what they could be a closely guarded secret. But of all the things they could be, evil wasn’t it. Rose’s personality may have been hard, and even unkind at times, but never evil.
The sound of rushing footsteps against wood echoed from somewhere beyond the open door, but Rose broke her silence before they got too close.
“You make a valid point, Twilight...” she said, slinging her weapon around her lower back, whereby a dim light surrounded the gun and consumed it, making it disappear entirely. “I apologize for my actions.”
Twilight’s smile grew even wider.
It was at this moment that Alex finally made his appearance, breathing heavily with a frantic look in his eyes. However, he simply stopped in the middle of the doorway and stared at the scene before him. The XT-2, standing calmly and unarmed, and Twilight standing just beyond it, grinning like she had just won the blue ribbon at the local science fair. And of course, Twilight’s eyes moved past Rose and landed on Alex, never losing her smile.
“However,” Rose continued, not even acknowledging Alex’s presence, “there is still one question that remains unanswered.” Rose looked around Twilight and directly at Applebloom. “Why would you, Applebloom, of all ponies, write something like that?”
Twilight’s smile finally fell as the question forced her into contemplation, and she turned around to face the filly for herself.
Applebloom, for her part, wasted no time in providing an answer, and pointed directly towards her editor-in-chief. “Diamond Tiara made us do it!” Rose’s gaze swiveled towards the filly in question, who stared blankly at her. Applebloom continued. “We didn’t wanna do it, but she said it was for the good o’ the paper, and we just wanted our cutie marks so badly!”
Sweetie Belle continued for her. “All that stuff we wrote in that column - we don’t actually believe it! But Diamond Tiara wanted us to write it that way! In fact, she still doesn’t think you and Guy actually have feelings!”
Scootaloo finished up. “Yeah! Plus, we don’t want to keep writing gossip columns anymore, but she’s blackmailing us with embarrassing photos of us in that file right there on her desk.”
With every passing comment Diamond Tiara’s eyes grew wider under Rose’s stone-faced glare, although she didn’t dare move any more muscles.
“Is that so?” said Rose, maintaining her eye contact with the pink filly sitting in the office chair that was much too big for her. The distinct sound of metal on wood penetrated the deathly quiet of the printing room as Rose casually advanced towards Diamond Tiara’s desk. The sound of her footsteps was enough to disguise the click of an object separating itself from her thigh.
With lightning speed, Rose reached for the object with her right hand, and drew it high above her, revealing a large combat knife angled downward. Observers only had enough time to gasp before Rose brought the blade down upon its intended target, landing on it with a loud thunk.
Diamond Tiara, for her part, had shut her eyes to brace for the inevitable assault. But, feeling nothing upon her body, she dared to crack open an eye.
Rose’s knife had embedded itself an entire inch inside her solid wood desk, and straight through the file folder containing the photos of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rose’s eyes never left Diamond Tiara’s face, and with a hard crank forward and back, she jerked the knife free, with the folder stuck to the blade.
Rose held the knife/folder combo up for Diamond Tiara to get a good look at. “This is what I think of you and your newspaper.” She then turned her attention back towards the Crusaders as she began making her way out. “You three - come with me.”
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared a concerned look while Scootaloo stammered out, “W-what? Wh-why?”
Rose paused midway to look at them. “Considering recent events, I believe you three deserve at least some form of compensation. I’m considering ice cream.” The three fillies’ faces instantly lit up, which was enough of a confirmation for her. “Excellent. Come with me, then. You’re more than welcome to come as well, Twilight.”
The three fillies cheered simultaneously and eagerly followed after Rose, who passed by Alex by briefly patting him on the shoulder and saying “Nice of you to come,” before walking straight past him as if nothing had happened.
Alex gawked after her, completely at a loss for words. The clopping of Twilight’s hooves was enough to direct his attention to her, although he only came face to face with one of the most smug smirks she had ever produced.
“And you said you were the only one who could get her to back down,” she sassed, walking passed him and after Rose and the three fillies.
Alex remained glued to the spot like a bump on a log, mouth completely agape. He briefly glanced around the printing room at all the other foals that seemed just as stunned as he was, almost as if their looks could solve his own confusion. Eventually, he simply flapped his arms in exasperation.
“What the fuck just happened?”
“Hey!” Alex yelled after Rose as she and the ponies approached the Hellbender parked just outside the school, the Manta not very far off. Rose paused in her walk to turn back towards Alex, who marched directly up to her and held his earpiece up with scowl on his face. “Why the hell didn’t you answer me earlier?”
Rose plucked the earpiece out of his hand, examined it for a brief moment, then calmly handed it back. “Try turning it on next time.”
Rose started to make her way to the Hellbender again, the Cutie Mark Crusaders giggled amongst each other, and Twilight’s face magnetically attracted her hoof. For his part, Alex raised the earpiece up to get a better look for himself.
The power switch was, in fact, firmly in the OFF position.
The hand holding the device fell limp at his side while the other made very close friends with his forehead.
And there I was, thinking I'd publish these past two chapters in September. But nooooo, I was a potato and pushed it all the way until the end of the semester. Aren't I just dandy?
Anyway, I really liked how this arc turned out. It's short, it's sweet, and it's full of "oh fuck no ._." Hopefully I'll be able to get back to my regular writing schedule, though with family spending a couple of weeks here over the holidays, that's going to mess with a few things. That and finals. Hope you guys enjoyed this one! 
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5327050 Well shit, glad to see you're so happy about an update!
5327202
eeyup
Wow, i thoughtfor awhile that you had given up on this fic, i am really glad to see that i was misstaken.
5327283 Nope! One way or another, I will finish this thing. It'll take a while, but dammit, I'm committed!
Yaay, lets rile up one of the most dangerous weapon systems we dont know enough about in the country.
Cutie Mark Crusader Bomb Disposal Experts Away.
5327510
Oh my god, someone has to make that a thing.
Two at once? You spoil us!
5327551 I might be able to fit it in to the story I'm going to do about the Cutie Mark Crusaders Crime Lords Yay!
>It’s torso looked significantly more armored
>It’s legs were almost definitely
*Its
I will have to say that was a good chapter. Keep up the good work you are doing.
Dragonfox
Bane of existence right there.
It's only been a month and I already miss this story.
5411075 Gonna have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid...
I'm working on the next chapter, but I'm entertaining cousins from across the country for the next week and a half, so I have to put progress on hold during that time. Rest assured that I'm already 3700 words into it and will do my best to get the next chapter out some time in January! Hopefully before I have to go back to school.
5327551
I'll take note of that.
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Great. Absolutely no consequences for anyone's actions. Leaving aside the kids' misdemeanours, Alex of course shouldn't place restrictions on Rose so she doesn't kill anyone for stupid reasons because OBIOUSLY she didn't REALLY want to kill those foals. OBIOUSLY.
It's a personal opinion of mine that those who use the 'broken telephone' trope should get suspended from the Internet for a month. If the trope does eventually happen, the rational thing that should have happened was for Alex to act out on his very real earlier fear and QUESTION ROSE FOR HER BEHAVIOR REGARDLESS OF THE MICROPHONE BEING A PIECE OF TRASH.
Also, the guy being the butt of the others' jokes, and when he does make it evident that he minds he's just being 'dramatic'? It's an overplayed gag that wasn't even funny the first time around, instead only being increasingly more annoying from the first time onward.