Chapter 8 (Rewritten)
A week has passed. Tactical is estimating my friends will start waking up in about half an hour; I am just starting out from Twilight’s castle, heading for my Bolo body for a recharge.
I’m rather impressed with my DCC and manufacturing sections. After working their hardest to get my avatar out in three days, they then dished out five more in only just over twice the time- though, Twilight’s won’t be finished for another ten minutes or so. Not that this matters, much; it’s not like I plan on introducing them to the avatars’ existence right away.
I have deployed a few “standard” remote sensors around that shed, so I can see what happens when they wake up- and find the optimal moment to introduce the avatars… If I’m not able to ascertain that from direct communication with them, that is. They talk to me the same way my avatar does- and, I have confirmed, they won’t overhear.
I have spent this last week studying. Spike was disoriented by my ability to study at all hours of the night and day, without any loss of focus; he’s used to chasing a sleep-deprived Twilight to bed every night… yet I’m perpetually fresh, never getting tired. I spent much of the time he was unavailable studying whatever I could get my hooves on; this meant the lower shelves, as the ladder cannot take my weight. Of course, in this magic-oriented world, that means the magic-oriented books. I’ve learned far more about spellcasting than I ever wanted to- but I have yet to find something that actually describes the physics of magic, something which might actually allow my design cores to create something to manipulate magic.
During the times when Spike was available, I had him select every physics or mechanical book he can find, and have searched my way through them. I’ve been able to make the motors for my pumps much smaller, with similarly smaller electrical draw; they still output the same amount of power, thanks to the improved efficiency.
I’ve even been able to improve my backwards-pumps- turns out they’re technically called ‘hydraulic motors’- by redesigning them completely, based on real hydraulic motor designs. I’ve been able to downsize them for the same power output; several joints take them direct now, rather than through gears, because of this.
I’ve updated my Cloudsdale water supply solution with these patterns.
As a direct result of these updates, Twilight’s avatar is the first one to have articulate wings and tail. The wings won’t go nearly fast enough to fly; unfortunately, to pack the motive power necessary to move the intermediate joints into such a small space, I had to use little tiny motors… and enormous gear ratios. Even if she dumps all ten of her pumps into one wing, it’ll still take a second or so to extend it fully.
In the meantime, her avatar will last about a week of full-capacity usage- and be capable of a decent gallop, even- before requiring a recharge.
I smile to myself. I will be reaching my Bolo body to recharge, by my estimate, about five minutes before they wake up. I had Spike send the Princesses a letter, as I promised Celestia I would; Princess Celestia plans to be present for their awakening, and perform the initial calming… which, if they’re anything like I was, should be fairly unnecessary. She wanted me to be in the shed with them too- but I’m too large to fit. Twilight will be close; just a few inches of space on either end. The rest are all smaller than she, so they won’t have any problem fitting.
I still remember that Celestia had offered to expand the shed to I would fit… after having a little bit of a panic attack when she first saw me. I declined gracefully; my current position in the Everfree does not threaten anypony, nor does it take up valuable space on Applejack’s farm. So instead, she removed that stall of the shed, freeing up the space…
I understand she removed it by adding a wall between Twilight and the space that used to contain me. The space in which she let the Apple family build shelves, floors, and lofts for storage of farm products, equipment, and so on. I approve of the extra structural reinforcements Big Mac installed; he, being the only pony- aside from the Princesses- to know about our… transfiguration, had taken into consideration what might happen if a fifty-thousand-plus-ton machine panicked. All five of my friends could go on a rampage straight through the walls and ceiling, even all three at once if they wanted, and the storage shed he’s turned my stall into would stay standing… and even remain waterproof. It’s practically a separate building.
I watch through my sensor remotes- to my understanding, even Celestia doesn’t know I planted them- as their lights start flashing… and they start dropping off my senses. Just like they’re supposed to, they’re disconnecting from my control as they wake up. Twilight’s avatar was finished on schedule; my manufacturing systems are now working on an upgrade kit for my avatar, to upgrade it to the same standards as hers… Strike that, they’re already working on that. They sure know how to work so it’s more efficient- they’ve actually already built all the plumbing parts necessary for my upgrade kit- and those of everypony else that doesn’t have the latest model. Half the motors are done, and a pile of power cells tells the story of that part. They’re mostly just working on the skeletons for mine & Rainbow’s wings- and should have them both done long before the time comes to offer them their avatars, if my calming-time was anything to go by.
I step my avatar into place, and make it available for the upgrade. Three seconds later, manufacturing starts opening it up for the upgrade. I watch as, before any of my friends make a visible response, Manufacturing starts digging into the other avatars for their upgrades, as well- many of them are going very quickly. Rainbow’s will be last to finish; my own will be second-last.
I watch my friends wake up… Oh no, I will need to attend quickly… with my avatar. I ask Manufacturing to hurry mine along, if that’s okay with it… It is, apparently.
“Ow… Wha- huh? Where- Uhh…” Twilight begins, upon finally awakening.
Down in the corner, Celestia blinks, looking up. It’s almost a full minute after the lights started flashing- the signal Athena had indicated would immediately precede their awakening.
The next verbal response comes from Rainbow. “Ow… Huh? Wha- uhh…”
Then Pinkie. “Cupcakes! … Cup… cakes… PINEAPPLES!”
And Rarity. “Ow… Oh, Pinkie, dear, could you tell me- Oh my Celestia! What happened to my COAT!?”
Down in the corner, Princess Celestia winces visibly, quickly schooling her expression back to her official calm. Nopony notices.
Instead, Applejack finally puts in her two cents. “Ya know, Rarity, I’m a little more worried about how we’re going to eat. Anypony see a mouth on any of us?”
A few more words pass- and finally, somepony spots Celestia, waiting in the corner.
It’s Twilight- who had been mumbling something unintelligible to herself as she examined herself and her surroundings. She lets out a gasp so realistic Celestia has to wonder where her mouth is. “What-! Oh, sorry, Princess! I didn’t see you!”
“Princess?” Applejack asks immediately, down the line.
Celestia smiles calmly, starting her planned walk to the middle of the front of the room- where she can see all of the tanks. “Good morning,” she greets. “I trust you are well today?”
The answer is a chorus of “Uhh…” and “Not really…”.
Twilight adds to it, of course. “Do you know what… happened? Last I remember, Sunset’s Discord was making a transformation invocation on his- Oooh! That must be it! But then… Then how’d we get here? How long has it been?”
Celestia smiles. “We carried you back here while you were still… small. Three and a half weeks ago.”
“Whaaaat!?” Twilight asks. “Three and a half weeks? But- is Equestria okay? How many friendship problems have I missed? Is Spike doing- Aaah!”
The door bounces shut again, behind the buttery pegasus. “Yes, yes, zero, yes!” she almost screams. She then lowers her head closer to the floor, reducing to more of a mumble. “I checked.”
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asks. “How did you avoid the… thing?”
She shakes her head. “I didn’t. I… I don’t know why, but I woke up weeks ago. I… I built the me you see.” She looks back up. “Discord calls it an avatar.”
“Discord? Can he reverse it?”
She shakes her head. “He tried… It should wear off in about three months- but beware, the moment you accept the form, it’s permanent!” She lets out a sigh. “Or so he says.”
“Then… Can you show us how you built your avatar?”
She shakes her head. “I…” She turns away. “You won’t be able to. I’m… Different. I…” She takes a deep breath. “I made you one too,” she finally squeaks. “It’s imperfect.”
“You did? Awesome! Where… erm, how would I use it…?”
She looks up at Twilight’s stupendous bulk. “I… I can connect you to it, if… if you want.”
“Yes please! … erm… Though, do you happen to have any for, um…”
She nods. “I do.”
“Is she saying what I think she’s saying?” Applejack asks.
“Yepperoni!”
“If she can make me a pony again- even an earth pony- I’ll be happy,” Rarity states. A pronounced scowl enters her tone. “Though I really would prefer a unicorn…”
“Yes! If we’re becoming ponies again, sign me up! I wanna be the fastest pegasus in Equestria again, not… this.”
“Me too!” Pinkie pitches in. “I don’t think I can plan a party like this…”
Applejack distinctively nods. “Probably be helpful, why not? How strong are these avatars, anyways?”
Celestia simply stands in place, staring open-mouthed at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy gives a meek smile. “Uhh… they’re pretty strong, very heavy, and not very fast… Articulate wings, but can’t fly just yet… they have horns, but they can’t use them.”
“So, makes everypony effectively an earth pony?” Applejack asks.
“Yes.”
“Sure, why not? For… Hmm. They can be modified later, right?”
Smile. “Yes.”
She seems to nod. “Right then, when do we get started? If it’s been a month, Applebuck season is coming up soon and I’d rather not miss it.”
Fluttershy smiles. “Right then…”
I push the… thing… my design cores made into their minds. I tried connecting to them earlier, with my subspace relay; they accepted connection, but when I tried asking them questions, I got no response. When I asked Tactical why, it correlated their non-response with the reports from my sensor remotes… and decided that they must still be working with entirely pony minds, at normal pony speeds. Thus, they simply don’t have access to things like my subspace relay. Tactical also reached out to them through the relay- and got an answer back… but not from their minds, no- from their body, much like before. I… I still have complete, control access, if I connect for it… I specifically did not make that kind of connection.
When Twilight asked how she would use it, I asked Tactical for the answer. After hardly a moment of consideration, Tactical returned that I would have to operate a remote override to force the connection; she is incapable of forming it on her own. Additionally, Tactical noted, she’s also incapable of maintaining such a connection on her own, so I’d have to push over a ‘software package’ to handle that for her… and switch her sensory/motor inputs/outputs from her hull to her avatar.
When I asked it what that package would be, it referred me to my design cores… Which I reluctantly asked for the relevant package. They tackled the problem almost eagerly, and provided an answer… Three answers, to be specific- one for Twilight, one for Rainbow and Rarity, and one for Pinkie and Applejack… like the different models require different answers.
Tactical informed me this is the only way for them to control their avatars. My design cores informed me that, should they lose connection, the package will become inactive- and they will automatically revert to their hull. They even provided me with a specific disconnect code I can give them- one that, if they recite it twice in quick succession, will trigger the deactivation of my package, returning them to their hull.
And a different code, when such “disconnected”, to reconnect, and put themselves back through to their avatar. That only works because, when they “disconnect”, it doesn’t truly disconnect- just deactivates the control link and puts the connection on stand-by. Reactivating the link is easy- and as long as they don’t break their avatars, there shouldn’t be a problem…
Oh- and if ever their avatars lose power, they need only recharge- and recite the reconnect. It’ll automatically seek the matching receiver and form a missing connection, if it can.
So I push it into their minds. I feel it slot into place, and settle in. I shudder; what if I hurt them? Tactical estimates a flat zero percent chance this will hurt them. Apparently, the package is designed to remove itself should they establish the capability on their own.
I let out a sigh, reaching out with each of their subspace relays- feels strange- to connect them to the appropriate avatar. I then let those connections drop to standby, and make sure my package has locked onto them.
“Okay, I’m ready. Is everypony ready?”
A chorus of yeses returns.
She nods, then blinks, and looks at Celestia. “It’s done… They’re in my Bolo-body.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Nice… You okay for teleportation?”
She smiles. “If you can handle the mass. Even if I lose connection, I can reconnect.”
Two seconds later, they’re standing in front of the giant machine in the Everfree. Fluttershy kicks up a canter, running under it. “This way.”
Celestia follows. “How far?”
A door opens in the metal above them, reaching down to form a smooth ramp for them to climb. “Here,” she states, as she hits it and canters up.
Fifteen seconds later, they trot into the room where everypony else is- just in time for Twilight to get too close to the ongoing work on Rainbow’s outstretched left wing; Fluttershy’s Manufacturing section is installing the waterproof shell, skin, and false feathers.
One of the spiderlike machines working the assembly grabs Twilight by the outstretched hoof and flips her over Rainbow’s head to land on the floor, upside-down.
Rainbow watches her go. “Wow.” She looks forwards to where Fluttershy and Celestia are entering. “Hey, are we that strong?”
Fluttershy just shakes her head.
“Ahh,” Rainbow mutters, turning to watch the assembly of her wing. “This is… interesting.”
Pinkie watches from behind Rainbow, though without trying to get close and poke at it. “That’s… Wow.”
Applejack trots over to where Twilight fell, poking her in the chest. “You okay, Twi?”
Twilight blinks, yelps, and twists to turn herself right-side-up. “Yes, um, sorry… Those things are… Wow. How strong are we?”
Fluttershy sighs. “Very strong. And very heavy, and made of metal. Be very careful, it’s easy to accidentally hurt somepony.”
Rarity looks up at her. “What? You didn’t hurt somepony, did you?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
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Sweet update, so will the mirror world versions of the Mane 6 along with Sunset be coming over to help out in Equestria from time to time?
8808692
Probably, yes.
the rest is actual areodynamic lift.
aerodynamic
Nice to see that this has been updated; I know that it's been half-done for a while.
I see some interesting possible things coming soon...
8808699
-Fixed
Yes, hopefully.
9189740
At what point, roughly, are they supposed to have functioning hardware? Is that more of a "Mel writes drivers from scratch, and is the only one who possibly could" or "FS copies some code to Dropbox"? They'll need to wake up first, but are they going to be without their defenses, weaponry, or abilities for too long?
...Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't their Discord a janitor? When did he even get magic at all?!
You should see the static wear-leveling algorithm I've been writing up, by the way. You know you have feature creep when a second-chance cache and a binary sort get involved.
All that to ensure that nopony uses the same eeprom cell in a 1k ROM too much.
Perhaps it'd be more useful if it worked on more than 2k, but I don't think anyone's done a large-scale fully-associative random-write wear leveling script for Arduino internal eeprom yet, so there's that.
Despite that, it's actually very RAM-efficient. I'm kinda shocked.
9189790
When do they have functioning hardware... No clue. But they will, eventually. No, Mel won't be involved- and FS' code won't work in their hulls, verbatum. No- she'll have to study up a bit (probably with Sci-Twi's help) before she understands enough to pick apart & reverse-engineer her own code and start producing software updates for the others.
Yes, I'm pretty sure Discord was the janitor. That's probably how he found the amulet- which mind controlled him, AND carried all the magic he used in it.
and... That sounds complicated. And interesting. And a little low-level for where I'm writing.
Java is about as high-level as it gets, for full-featured programming languages... Much more talk on the topic should probably be moved to a non-FimFic-based location. We wouldn't want to clutter our readers' comment space with technobabble, would we?
9191587
Timberwolves are the rat-hunting equivalent of MLP fanfiction. Not a complaint per-se, but it is a funny trend.
(You know, how the first quest/combat tutorial in so many games (including a few of the very old Spyro ones I own) is hunting rats in the catacombs.)
9191599
Uhh... Yes. I know a few of 'em...
Thing is, those wolves aren't real... this time. Last time, they were real, and she pew-pew-pewed them apart. This time, they're fake- holographic or something- and there explicitly to scare the fillies.
Honestly, it makes even me wonder what they did... and I did insert a single little hint as to who did it. It's probably even enough to figure it out!
9191607
It's golden... did they upset Lyra, or prevent her from digging up another Bolo? Or was it Celestia?
Those are the only two I can think of.
Yeah, I know they are fake. Still, timberwolves. If anything, it counts more since they are now "harmless"-ish.
9191617
Um... Presumably the first.
In this story, Lyra doesn't yet know that even the term 'Bolo' is a thing.
And Celestia... is in Canterlot.
But yes, you got it right
9191636
That was a joke, of course. Though, it would be funny if this were a shared AU with Secret Search or something, though.
Yay! I win a virtual cookie. Too bad they are tracking... :D
9191718
At best, this would be a crossover with Secret Search instead of with MLP directly...
It would be.... But unfortunately, SS is too far ahead for that kind of integration
Maybe I'll make a shared-AU story sometime.
9191720
Don't go for the Cosmere on first try, though. :P
Actually, I bet that would be an interesting place to write a crossover...
I doubt that it would actually work more than superficially with the lore, though. Sanderson's level of backstory/internal history is insane.
Where you write with blanks to be filled in later when needed, the Cosmere is a work of decades in a shared universe whose history existed in great detail long before he ever started writing the books. We are talking at least 27 books (or maybe 81? It's not clear) all set in a shared universe with foreshadowing, references, and epic reveals spiderwebbed across different entire series written over the course of at least twenty years!
9191738
Uh- yeah, I'm not going for something THAT level. More something like My Little Marriage/A Twilight Landing level. ... though direct different-viewpoint repeats of the same events in both stories are not likely to happen in any that I do.
Another possible similar is if Pandemic was done as two stories, rather than alternating between locations with the chapters. (That was confusing- I actually read every OTHER chapter until the alternation stopped, sticking with the human side of things... then went back and repeat, this time in Equestria.)
9195135
I refer to this: hips.hearstapps.com/pop.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/15/05/54c8014f42d24_-_lg_3251_2_lg.gif?fill=320:210&resize=480:* Both are jet pumps (a subset of well pumps), but the one on the right is designed to overcome the height limit by forcing high-pressure water out a venturi at the bottom of the intake. The water is then blown up the other pipe and the forced water goes with it -- i.e, there's a net gain in water and the water pumped down is recovered.
9195667
Ahh, yes... When I was writing the design, I knew something like that would be possible- but Fluttershy wouldn't necessarily think of it... so she ended up going with a separate return for the pressurized water.
9195693
Good point. Then again, things like that are present in home repair / mechanical tinkering books like those from the 1900s onward. Given their slightly backward tech level and the propensity to do things themselves, it's likely that raiding the library for books on her next visit would find similar books, letting her build a simpler version.
But yeah, given that she read Spike's notes, it kinda makes sense that she wouldn't know it. But then again, I'd argue that hydraulic pumps require similar and perhaps more advanced technology (still need flow control, jets, etc, and you now need seals and more), and I can't imagine that the design cores were completely empty. Fluid dynamics should not have changed!
9195739
Well of course. Some of that information undoubtedly came with the design cores, allowing her to design things she didn't know anything about; some of the rest probably came from physics simulations, all the equations for which would have come with the design core programming. And she very well could have made a two-pipe system- but she didn't want to, so she didn't.
9195746
Ah. Yeah, she probably picked one at random (like she did with the pathfinding).
Probably about the time the cores started creating a Gatling sponge cannon that shot little waterlogged cloths at a plate where the impact would squeeze the water out...
9195783
Lol they probably didn't get quite like THAT; she's a specifically non-combat pegasus, remember?
Though the second one she mentions- a real train- would be an impressive feat of engineering... Not only to get the train to Cloudsdale, but to keep the tracks connected- after all, Cloudsdale MOVES! Her design cores probably discarded THAT one as too hard to implement.
This chapter rewritten!
Thank you, my little ponies!
... And this makes the entire story rewritten, as well.
so I would
That's the cue to make a mental note to disassemble a tech spider for how they work.
Waaaait... She has tech spiders AND nanites, yet somehow is still using hydraulics when making the avatars? Surely whatever motive systems they use should be already known to her...? They sound quite superior.
9197370
Well of course they do.
Just Fluttershy never thought they'd be nearly as strong as they are... and so hadn't considered that before. Then there's the matter of, with how complex their motive gear is, how can she upscale it properly to a pony limb?
The big limiter, once she figures that out (Probably with help from Twi), might well be manufacturing time... and mass. But Twi might help with that as well, simply by knowing strong patterns for the beams to have (like an H-girder instead of a solid square beam, etc.) Then of course, Twi might help with getting her to run tests on how much the alloy can handle- that little spider, with spindly little legs, showed no strain whatsoever when it lobbed Twilight out of the way... Yet Fluttershy is using far thicker limbs, and probably worries about the possibility that they might bend or break.
As per taking one apart... Twi might want to, but they'll never hold still for that- Flutters will never want to, because she can dissect its blueprint in her mind. Remember, until she hit full size, she didn't have ANY such spiders, or nanites- she must have built them.
... and who builds large numbers of something they don't have the designs for?
9197385
I wasn't sure on that last one actually; I knew she built the nanites but not whether she had the spiders already.
If the latter was the case, she might not have actually known how to build them.
9197493
It's the kind of thing where yes, she knows how to build them, because Damage Control does, and it no doubt corrected an apparent absence in her main memory... But just because she has the (really long) recipe to build another one doesn't mean she understands a moment of the engineering behind it!
9197552
Does she need to, though?
9197591
Not to build them, no... But to adapt its technologies to a different form...
Do you think mankind could, in its current state, reverse engineer a Star Trek warp drive, were one to land in our backyard, without a lot of help?
And yes, she needs to- because if she doesn't understand it, neither to her design cores. They use the same databanks.