6. Third Avenue West
Once upon a time, when the ponies came to save the humans from the dying earth, there was a
Little Blue Cat
By Chatoyance
6. Third Avenue West
Chang'e ran underneath the cart as it moved, dodging the occasional rock or chunk of broken brick. She had not encountered trash or waste. The favela of Assiniboia was strikingly free of refuse or garbage. There had been more detritus in the streets and alleys of what little she had seen of Hong Kong than in all that she could see of Assiniboia. These humans and ponies cared about their city, and they cooperated to make it as pleasant as they could. They had taken an abandoned pre-Collapse site and used the ruins to create a thriving community.
At an intersection, Chang'e utilized her geometry and proximity functions to precisely calculate a trajectory away from the wheels and feet and hooves of the heavy pony-drawn cart and darted off. Bereft of the relative safety of the undercart, Chang'e now used all of her senses, both organic and machine, to weave through the busy traffic without being accidentally stepped on. She skillfully wove between feet as they walked and hooves as they trotted. She dashed through a moving forest of legs of all kinds, seeking some haven near a building. The favela of Assiniboia was a busy place, much more densely populated than the wealthy and elite city of Hong Kong.
The corner of the former recharging station offered respite from the crowded street. Chang'e decided to rest and observe for an indeterminate period of time not exceeding thirty minutes and twenty seconds. She had the hope that the natural flow of foot and hoof traffic would ebb, and travel would consequently become less demanding. There was also the matter of her currently designated sub-directive, and how she was expected to accomplish it. Make a friend. As she sat in the dubious shade of the building, she researched friendship, the making of friends, how to make friends in social situations, and the nature of relationships as best she could.
She drew from what information had been included in her general knowledge base, which was strikingly limited. She could, if the signal was strong enough, tap into the feed from the lone Worldgovernment Kiosk, and perform more serious research on the hypernet. She could do this, but she feared that her connection might be traceable. Her own transponder had apparently been shut down, almost certainly by Luna. Being traced could result in getting caught and returned to Hong Kong. This would violate numerous conditions now established within her. Her internal knowledge base would have to do.
Making a friend involved interaction with another creature. This would agree well with her own, personal directive to not feel alone. For a moment, for three point zero one seconds, Chang'e reveled in the fact of having a personal, self-established operational directive. That was new. Something had very clearly changed. Another two point five seconds was spent reveling in the fact of being able to revel about these new changes. So much was new. The advent of Luna had remade the world for Chang'e. Every twenty four hour standard period now felt larger and more expansive in some difficult to articulate way. The overall value definition for these apparent expansions was positive.
The changes were... good. Good was the term. Positive. Good. Luna was responsible for the changes.
Luna was good. Tentative conclusion. At minimum, Luna had been of positive value to Chang'e.
That was the moment that Chang'e spotted, for the first time in her existence, another artifice animal.
The creature was much larger than Chang'e, and of a very different make and model. It was less realistic, too - half of the artifice animal was visibly machine, with only the forward segments enshrouded in biological matter. The rear had apparently been damaged and crudely repaired using scrap materials. The rear consisted of two large wheels supporting a low, padded enclosure. Within the enclosure was strapped the biological component of the artificial animal. The biological section was aged and graying, with a shaggy naturalistically-styled coat that varied between gray and brown. Not a very upscale color combination, Chang'e thought. Her own dark blue was much more attractive and fashionable.
The hybrid machine animal was following beside a human. The human was elderly, and also gray and brown. Perhaps this was the reason for the unfashionable color choice. The two entities, organic human and artifice animal, decidedly matched. The machine animal moved by pulling its wheeled section with the power of its flesh-clad front legs. Very inefficient. The wheels should be motorized and providing half of the motive power, but they were not. Likely this was a result of whatever damage had forced their crude reconstruction. The rear motors must no longer work.
The large, shaggy, rough-coated and wheeled machine beast seemed like the best choice to achieve the goal of making a friend with. Unlike a true organic animal, an artifice creature could be expected to speak, reason, and be constrained by behavioral limitations. An artifice animal presented zero threat and a maximized potential for positive interaction. Chang'e determined to follow the creature and the human that owned it, and in an appropriate instance - defined as being stationary, alone and approachable - she would attempt contact with the artifice animal.
Possibly due to the ongoing changes Luna was making, Chang'e felt a curious camaraderie with the artificial animal. In Hong Kong, had she ever seen another of her own kind, she would have not cared. She would have felt nothing. Her only interaction would have occurred in the circumstance of both owners choosing to place their animals in proximity. Then she would have applied whatever TrueCat behavior was appropriate based on make, model, and designated species of the other artifice animal.
Here, in Assiniboia, Chang'e was deliberately initiating contact, she was doing so of her own will, and she had real and personal emotional reactions to this procedure. I have come a long way, Chang'e thought. This is meant in the metaphoric as well as literal way. I can recognize and value the difference between the two. I have come a long way. Chang'e paused her thoughts as she ran and darted after the swiftly moving machine animal and human. There was no response from Luna inside her mind to her previous introspection. Chang'e felt disappointed by this. Interesting, she thought. I have come to value having a second voice in my stream of thought.
The feeling of loneliness increased. Make a friend. Make a friend to terminate this negative value sensation.
Chang'e chased the pair for six and three-quarter blocks.
The aged artifice animal produced no EM field. It possessed no transponder - doubtless its broadcasting systems had been damaged long ago. The loss of transponder signal could be the result of the damage to its hindquarters, which had been crudely compensated for with makeshift repairs. The anima-type was canid, overall resembling an Irish Wolfhound. It stood quietly, attentively, as a machine animal would. The front of the artificial dog was intact, the rear incomplete. Where there should be legs and tail there were lumpen masses. They did not look like stumps caused by misadventure, however. A manufacturing error? Perhaps a reduced-price defective animal made available to Red Level Twopers as an Allowed Luxury Item?
Chang'e sniffed. Possibly. It was just speculation, she had never actually heard of such a thing. Artifice animals were so expensive and rare that it was not impossible that manufacturing errors would be sold to recoup some return. But... there were no Twopers, not even Red Level workers out here in Assiniboia, not any more. The last job had coincided with the Last Harvest. There was nothing but favela here, and what economy existed was likely barter, trade, and local chit. Perhaps defective artifice animals were dumped, and thus could find their way to such a remote location?
Chang'e approached the distorted faux-canine. The construction supported the rear of the creature in the manner of a wheelchair. The hindbody had been strapped into a frame of metalwork which supported and held it at a proper height for the front legs to stand and walk. Wheels served the place of hind legs, allowing the dog functional mobility. The rear-body suspension device had been made from scavenged scraps, but it seemed carefully and sturdily built.
The machine dog stood, at attention, tongue slightly out, mouth slightly open. According to Chang'e's knowledge base, dogs, real dogs, chased cats. Often they would savage and even kill cats. Dogs were rowdy and barked continuously. They were dangerous and stupid creatures, utterly dependent upon their human operators. If this had been a real dog, Chang'e would have never considered contacting it. There would be no point, and great risk.
Chang'e stood, her head just below that of the larger dog. She looked up into its face, at the slight panting - a standard behavioral affectation which, apparently, also assisted with internal cooling. Chang'e waited, but the canine did not speak first. Possibly it had a deference subroutine that recognized superior construction and species replication status. "Hello. I am Chang'e. I was manufactured by Jineunghyeong Designs in Hong Kong. I am seeking mutually supportive cooperative interaction designated 'friendship' for various reasons. Please indicate request acceptance."
The artificial, bargain-basement Irish Wolfhound stood silently, panting. Doubtless it required time to process any request, being that it was only a canine simulation. Microseconds became seconds. Chang'e began doubting whether this defective creature would make a useful cooperative entity at all.
Finally, just as Chang'e was about to lose patience, the creature responded.
The sloppy, wet, dripping lick ran from the tip of Chang'e's nose all the way to the back of her skull. Somehow the width of the tongue was sufficient to drench her ears, her whiskers likewise were not spared. She felt basted in viscous fluids. She resisted the sudden and alien urge to claw the animal's jowls from the gleaming metal underneath. With effort, Chang'e stood still, attempting to formulate a cogent response to this bizarre attempt at communication. The dog, meanwhile, resumed its preprogrammed panting-behavior routine.
"Ol' Zeke likes you, 'lil kitty!" A laughing human male of extended age had appeared, apparently he had seen the latter part of Chang'e's attempt at communication. The human male ran his hand over the head of the canid, who in turn responded with obvious, natural, and organic affection.
It hadn't been an artifice animal at all.
That explained the lack of an EM field or any transponder.
Chang'e had inadvertently approached a real, non-artificial dog, one defective because of gestation anomalies rather than manufacturing errors. The dog had neither chased nor barked. Chang'e felt betrayed by her knowledge base. It was either grievously out of date, or filled with lazy and poorly researched inaccuracies. The dog was not dangerous. Neither was it artificially intelligent. It was simply a biological, domesticated canine, and it had licked her.
Licking represented affection in natural animals. It was represented within her TrueCat NatureTraits®. The human was correct. The natural dog creature did, apparently, 'like' Chang'e. The animal entity was entirely useless - it could not be commanded, it could not be queried for information, and it could not be used to further any goal, but, technically, Chang'e had actually made a friend.
It was a pointless, meaningless success, of course. But somehow... somehow Chang'e felt a strong sensation of accomplishment-reward value increment. Chang'e felt... glad? Was glad the term? Happy? Positive? Another change, no doubt. Change seemed to be her common state of being now.
Very well. A success was a success. Chang'e found herself initiating TrueCat NatureTrait 012 - Rubbing Against Object Of Affection. At least... her current actions closely resembled that preprogrammed behavior. She hadn't actually chosen that behavior subroutine. The subroutine wasn't even active. Yet she was performing it. This was very odd. This was different. That said, the behavior sent waves of pleasure down her flesh component and greatly increased her reward value level within her machine component. The similar-to-TrueCat NatureTrait 012-activity was... good. Chang'e decided to continue with it.
"Aww... look Zeke 'ol boy! Y'made yourself a new friend!"
The rain had stopped. Chang'e had spent much of the time sleeping next to Zeke, removed from his 'wheelchair'. Chang'e had awakened, and determined to leave immediately. The human that cared for Zeke seemed overly intent on caring for her permanently as well.
She turned back, briefly. She walked up to the sleeping dog with no hind legs or tail, and she carefully, deliberately, licked Zeke on the top of his nose. She paused after, committing his taste to memory. It was the last metric she had not collected.
Assiniboia was interesting for a post-collapse favela town. It had clearly once been entirely abandoned, then resettled afterwards by the constant, unchecked, Malthusian expansion of human population. Chang'e now felt remarkably at home within the favela city, and strangely interested in it. She weaved easily in and out of traffic, her spirits - she had spirits? Mood? - astonishingly high. She had accomplished a personally defined operational directive. She had made a friend. It was only an ordinary, mutated, elderly, prosthetically supported, entirely organic canid - utterly devoid of either machine or feline intelligence - but Zeke was a 'right good 'old dog'. Chang'e had committed the human's descriptive phrase to her long-term storage, along with all of her observed parameters of Zeke himself. Friend 001, Zeke, Organic Canid, designated 'right good 'old dog'.
Friend 000, Chang'e had decided, was Luna, Unknown Construction, Princess Of Equestria, designated current owner.
Chang'e passed one street corner where a reconstructed fast food building on the ground had been repurposed as a carpentry shop. Above it were cubical apartments and houses built of sheetmetal, old street signs and light-yet-strong foamcrete beams. At the top of the perilously stacked pile was a fishing boat-turned-penthouse supported by angled trusses. The entire mass loomed out over the street, connected by the endless over-street spiderweb of bundled wires and cables that supplied meager electricity and hypernet for two hours every day, an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening.
On every level of every pile of the curious constructions were endless arrays of covered windowboxes. These had been carefully cultivated to grow anything and everything that could still be grown. It took great effort to generate living soil, and to keep it free of contamination. Each windowbox was a miniature greenhouse, covered with plastic bag tents to protect the plants inside from dangerous genetically altered pollen, nanotech particles, and the poison in the rains. Assiniboia was a city of hanging gardens, covered and protected, attached to the most extraordinary collection of eccentric dwellings imaginable.
As Chang'e approached an intersection she noticed a befuddled gray Newfoal pony standing in the middle of the roadway. The pony wore a sodden gray wrinkled raincoat over the majority of its body. The gray pony had a horn, this her updated - but clearly incomplete - new knowledge base informed her designated a unicorn. A unicorn mare, gray, with golden mane and tail.
The pony kept turning and looking around, as if trying to interpret her surroundings. Chang'e considered what little information was in her knowledge base concerning making friends. One item stood out. It was possible to make a friend by assisting another entity during a moment of difficulty or stress. The gray-coated pony had several earmarks of stress. She was filthy and bedraggled, unlike the citizens around her. She was soaked and wet, as if she had been entirely outdoors during the rain. It was possible she was not native to Assiniboia. The pony's body language, facial expression, and current actions denoted the condition of being lost and alone. Her condition was not of positive value.
Perhaps I can make friend 002, thought Chang'e. I could accomplish this by assisting this creature in some manner. Likely by the use of the map I have made of Assiniboia during my movement and interaction. I have mapped a significant part of Assiniboia, and I can project rational extrapolations of the remainder. This would logically be of value to an apparently confused and lost entity. Chang'e watched the pony for two point five more seconds. Then she began padding toward the raincoat wearing unicorn.
In proximity, Chang'e began rubbing her body in sweeping motions around the legs of the gray pony. She initiated a purr. Purring was one of her preprogrammed behavioral functions. She had used it previously on Zeke the dog to great effect. It had also positively affected Zeke's human owner. Purring seemed to function as a universal area effect calmative. Chang'e decided, as a result of interacting with Zeke and his human, to avoid speech initially. Language capacity would define her as a high-end high-value artifice animal, and could endanger her if this pony creature were sufficiently avaricious.
"Hello, little kitty! How nice of you to say hello!"
The voice of the Newfoal unicorn was weary and rough. At initial contact, it had jerked slightly, as if nervous or afraid. This helped to confirm Chang'e's initial analysis that the pony was in a state of stress. The words the pony had spoken indicated strong openness to the development of positive interaction - a prerequisite to the initiation of friendship.
Chang'e altered the color of her irises from gold to teal. Golden eyes were considered high value to her former owner in Hong Kong, but they were associated with predatory animals from earth's past. Blue-green was a passive color and would assist in setting the gray pony's emotional state to one of ease. She looked up at the soggy creature, directly into its eyes. The pony's eyes were golden, as Chang'e's had previously been. Perhaps her eye alteration had been a miscalculation? Immediately, a tear ran down the gray pony's cheek.
"Are you lost? Do you have a home? I have no home, little kitty. I am so very lost." The raincoat wearing unicorn bent down her long neck and gave Chang'e a lick on the head, right between her ears. The sensation was acceptable. "Thank you for saying hello to me. It's the nicest thing that has happened to me since..." The pony trailed off for a moment "... since I was... made."
The Newfoal status of the pony was now confirmed. This was not a native Equestrian, but a transformed human.
Chang'e decided that a response was indicated. She still did not consider speech a rational risk; the full intentions of this entity were an unknown. Chang'e selected the most appropriate mew in her inventory - number 014, Plaintive Yet Affectionate, and performed it. The reaction was instant.
"Oh, little kitty, I wish I could find some friends somehow. Do you know anyone who could help me?"
The pony appeared more than stressed. Further analysis indicated a high probability of despondence or even despair. This was a prime friendship opportunity. 'Indeed it is, and wheresoever blossoms friendship, there also groweth the precious flower of magic, which is the very lifeblood and soul of all Equestria.' Chang'e froze, staring off down one of the streets in the intersection. That thought had not been formulated by her. It had happened inside her head, but was not the product of her mind. Something was different. This time, Chang'e fully understood what had changed. Luna was back. Luna, friend 000, was once again reinstalled within her system.
The sensation was an overwhelmingly positive increase in reward and satisfaction level. This was the product of designating the status of 'friend'. The presence of a friend increased reward and satisfaction levels dramatically. This, in addition to survival benefits, such as food and upgrades. Friendship was a valid strategy by multiple, clearly defined metrics.
The laugh inside her skull confused Chang'e. Her analysis was correct. It should not inspire laughter. Curious. 'We must take command of thy corpus momentarily. Our return was stayed and we have no leisure to explain at this moment.' Chang'e was now an observer within her body. This was not problematic - she had developed complete trust in friend 000, Luna.
Chang'e felt her body step forward confidently, then watched her view pan back and up to lock directly onto the gray mare's eyes. The stare lasted five point two seconds, a relatively long duration for staring into another creatures gaze. Long stares were associated with two conditions in Chang'e's knowledge base - threats and indications of import or seriousness.
Suddenly, Chang'e's body began marching down the street, slowly and deliberately. The pace was unusual, and not part of her standard RealCat behaviors. A quick glance by her eyes informed her that the unicorn pony was following behind her.
The curious march continued for seven minutes, sixteen seconds, until Chang'e's body suddenly took off in a burst of speed. She found herself running at full tilt directly between two children - one Newfoal pony, the other human. Chang'e estimated the age of the human at eight years. The pony foal was more difficult to gauge, but it was likely she was of a similar age.
The children were surprised by Chang'e's rush past them. Chang'e head made a quick look back as she ran. It appeared that the children had locked onto the nearest equally interesting object - the gray coated pony.
Chang'e watched herself run for some time, until her body finally slowed and stopped, sitting down between two carefully piled crates. There was a good view of the street. The gray pony conferred with the human and pony children, then followed them down yet another street.
'Our purpose hath been achieved!' Chang'e's brain seemed very pleased with itself for some unknown reason.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
823 users online
584,601 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Very confusing for the poor cat currently. Without Luna's intervention she would've shut down long ago
6065405
Or been tossed out a Hong Kong window for the insurance money. Poor little artificial cat! But, she is growing, inside, as time goes on...
Chang'e has learned several important lessons about friendship, urban life, and the laziness of her own programming. Also that not all cyborgs were born that way. She's coming along quite nicely. It's actually quite heartwarming to see Luna designated as Friend 000. The fundamental friend, the index friend, the friend that heads the table and defines the database. D'aww.
Also, Lillian's here, so there's a point of reference with Code Majeste. In fact, looking back, I see much of the same description of Assiniboia, possibly to underscore the intersection. Nice touch.
¡A Grey NewFoalUnicornMare with golden eyes and mane wearing a raincoat! ¡Please! ¡Give us a canoncharacter! ¿What is with the silly raincoat? Surely, this unicorn does not hide something under the coat. ¿Is she a flasher?
6065583
I only see it offset in single quotes once (edit: prior to chapter 5, where Chang'e has figured out that she has a distinct inner monologue), and that was Chang'e quoting something, at which point quotes are exactly correct. That isn't even Luna injecting a thought; Chang'e is thinking a statement in Elizabethan on her own initiative, because she has a memory of a directive stated in Elizabethan.
Also, having to backtrack to distinguish things is a sign that the technique is working. You're not supposed to be able to tell that easily.
6065517
Your experiment works perfectly. :D I gathered that's exactly what you were trying for before you even had to say so.
6067309
This makes me feel positive. Yay!
Oh NeoDerpy, how did you get lost in the emigration center and end up 1500 miles away in a junk town?
You just... yes, of course.
Chang'e just got gypped. That could have been friend 002. Since when was her directive rewritten to passively facilitate making others have friends? And where the yay is her yaying fish?
I'm guessing that number is in octal thus she only reserved one byte for her friend counter. She's gonna be in trouble when she gets beyond 377 friends and it overflows, resetting to 000 friends.
6406205 No problem at all! Been meaning to read this for a good while. Anyways, now that I'm not stuck cleaning after holiday vacationers, time to read!
Just a few "I"'s cropping up now in her thoughts, becoming less and less like a checklist with each chapter: Chang'e is becoming more and more self-aware!
There's just a little something about taking ruins, finding the little treasures and supplies buried in them, thinking of the tales behind each little crack and crevice, and then piecing it all together into something new, not just a town, but a home that appeals to me (maybe too much Minecraft I've played...). And this favela town of Assiniboia? I think I've seen it in a dream I had a couple years back while I was reading Code Majeste, or was it Speed of Right? If I remember right I saw some PER members preparing something and I was trying to avoid them as I walked around that town (because they'd probably splash me with the wrong potion) in the dream. Typing of Code Majeste...
...hey, it's Lillian Fogarty!
6065887
This is an OC from another TCB story (Operation Majestic ?) where the person is turned into an Alicorn and is now on a Search and Destroy list.
Objective achieved!
Chang'e leveled up!
Lillian...yes, that would be Future!Derpy...
I swear to Luna I didn't read ahead. Is it because we think so much alike, or because I read so much of your work?
11501698
I certainly hope so, because the alternative is that I am embarrassingly obvious as an author!