//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 (Rewritten) // Story: First Equestrian Armored: Elements of Harmony // by computerneek //------------------------------// “Everyone okay?” The stillness holds for about thirty seconds. “What...” Twilight asks slowly.  “What just happened?” Athena lets out a sigh, rolling her eyes.  “His amulet was just destroyed,” she deadpans.  “Everyone okay? No more stone body parts?” “We’re okay,” Rainbow Dash utters shakily, standing up.  “What about them?” She indicates the six tanks, still resting in attack formation. “They’ll be okay,” Athena replies.  “As near as I can tell, the curse will take twenty five years to wear off.  In the meantime, they’ll be virtually indestructible. Physically.” “How’re they going to protect Equestria, then?”  Applejack asks. This produces a smile.  “It’s not hard for a Bolo to protect something important to it.” “One?” Fluttershy squeaks. “Yes, I’m afraid.  The way that amulet had them, they could see and think, but really nothing else.  I reprogrammed to correct that.” The six tanks suddenly shift, turning to face as they slide into a neat row, all of their turrets returning to a neutral position.  Their cutie marks are visible on their fronts. “Wait, if you-” Twilight begins. “Calm down,” Athena interrupts.  “I did not touch any of their personality files, only operations.  Thanks to my efforts, when they awaken, they’ll all be fully capable of driving, looking, and talking; they should also be able to move their turrets.  Fluttershy-” She gestures at the largest tank, with butterflies printed on the front of it- “will be a little different. She was turned into a MK XXXVII Bolo, exactly what I was.  While I had to look up or modify to fit for the others, I was able to simply copy my own systems to her. She will be capable of full operation, save her neural link abilities; I was interrupted right after I finished her design cores.” “Huh?” Sigh.  “This would be so much easier if I were still a Bolo.  The design cores are a part of her brain. No, they have no bearing on her personality; their purpose is to design whatever she needs, be it traps, technologies, structures, or even entertainment.  For example, I used my own design cores to generate an additional software package that will help them adjust to their new forms- and confer the basic operability you see until they awaken.” “So, what happens next?”  Sunset asks. “We get in touch with any others that care about them, and work out an ideal location for them to wake up.  They should still be small enough to pass through that portal for the next three days, or so.” “Ahh…  We need my book, then.” “Mm?” “I have a magic book I can use to contact their world,” she continues.  “It’s leather, with a yellow sun on the cover. I can only hope somepony notices on their end- if we can find it.” “Discord took it, I assume?” “Yes, right after he… summoned you.” After a nod, Athena turns back towards the tanks.  “Search and locate?” she asks them- but she’s looking directly towards tank Fluttershy. The response comes back instantly, on an emotionless, electronic voice:  “Affirmative.” This is followed immediately by the tanks all lurching into motion, scattering into the building. “Where are they going?” Human Fluttershy asks. “They’re looking for the book.  FLTRSY’s sensors and tactical cores will have produced all the most likely places to find it- so they’re looking there first.” “FL- what?” Rainbow asks. “Unit FLTRSY of the Line, otherwise known as Fluttershy,” Athena recites calmly, and watches as one of the others- bearing a purple starburst on its front- backs up to it.  Shortly afterwards, tank Fluttershy simply lifts off of the floor, floating up the stairs… With tank Twilight underneath, dangling from what looks like some kind of cables. “What the…?” Sigh.  “I knew I would transform, you know- I also knew I could reprogram her faster than the rest.  As a result, at the moment, she’s actually remote-controlling all of her friends.”  She smiles. “That control will self-disconnect the moment they start waking up.” “Wait.  I thought their comms wouldn’t work?” “They won’t…  At least, they won’t think they will.  The basic firmware is still there, even before I started reprogramming.  FLTRSY will be able to access her friends’ systems remotely, but her friends won’t be able to use their comms themselves.” Half an hour later, the two tanks march their way down the stairs, a book cradled carefully between two of tank Twilight’s main turrets.  The other four have already returned from their searches; now, these two rejoin the line- though only after the one with the book pauses long enough for Athena to lift it off the tank’s forward gundeck. Athena immediately confirms that it is, in fact, the right book, and hands it to Sunset.  Pinkie Pie fishes a pen out of her hair, much to Athena’s amusement, and Sunset starts writing. Three hours of questions and answers later, mostly through the book, it is finally decided.  The tankified Elements of Harmony must return to Equestria while they still can; as for Sunset and her party, they are free to come through if they wish.  This, despite being offered by the Equestrian diarchs, is quickly decided against; their local Discord might require their assistance to avoid a punishment he doesn’t deserve.  They are, however, invited to come across whenever they want to. Athena, after some deliberation on the Equestrian Princesses’ side, will be going with the Elements; not only are their pre-awakening programs keyed only to her, but her knowledge could help the Elements adjust faster than even her software programs.  Athena can’t shake the feeling that at least someone on the other side doesn’t believe them. Finally, though, they’re ready to head through.  Athena waves goodbye to her seven new, brief friends, before walking through the portal first.  She stumbles only slightly, upon landing on her hooves, before recovering and proceeding forwards and to the side, where she pauses to bow to the present Princesses while the first tank emerges from the portal, completely unchanged from the other side:  Twilight. The Princesses drop their jaws- especially when the second tank, Fluttershy, actually floats through the portal, descending smoothly to the ground before taking station next to Twilight, rather than pausing to tilt and clunk on the steps down from the mirror as all the others do. Princess Celestia snaps her jaw shut as the last, and smallest, tank- Applejack- rolls away from the mirror.  “Discord?” she asks. “No,” Athena replies, and gestures towards the tanks.  “This was done by some kind of mind-control amulet the other universe’ Discord found.  I’m sorry I didn’t arrive in time to prevent it.” Eventually, Athena is sitting just off one end of the line of tanks.  At Princess Luna’s request, Athena explains the order with which they came through the portal.  She had come first, to help prevent a panic when the first tank came through. Next, it had been tank Twilight- they figured that, as a Princess, she deserved to come through.  Fluttershy had been the second tank, simply because she’s the one keeping them from running into things. After that, the tanks had come through in some arbitrary order they decided upon, probably relating more to order of arrival or distance from the portal than anything else. “So what happens when the next monster attacks Equestria?” the small dragon present, Spike, asks. “Discord turned them into Bolos,” Athena replies.  “Only one- Fluttershy- is properly combat-capable, but there’s very little a Bolo of her level can’t destroy.  She’s going to want to minimize her fire, though; for the first month or so, until she hits full size, any energy weapon she uses is likely to be damaged in the act.” Princess Luna raises her eyebrows.  “What about her non-energy weapons?” “No ammo, and their manufacturing- and repair- capability is shot.  Energy weapon ammunition should be easy for Fluttershy to produce; the others simply don’t have the programming to do so.” “What about power?  What happens when they run out of power?” “They won’t.” Celestia scowls.  “What if they do?” “Again, they won’t.  Bolos are difficult to run down and easy to reboot- especially when their onboard power plants are running.”  She smiles. “Even on the off chance that they do, a little sunlight should be enough to wake them back up again.” “What about fuel?” “Fuel harvesting is automatic, when their tanks run low- and they’ll probably last for a year or two between refuelings.” Princess Celestia sighs.  “You said they’re growing?” she asks- and, at a nod, continues.  “How big will they get?” “The smallest of them will be easily larger than this room.  All six together will likely occupy a similar amount of space as a large town or small city.” The Princesses- and Spike, who’s poking at all of Twilight’s guns, trying to get one to move- all stare at her briefly.  “What?” Spike asks. “Bolos are enormous, yes.  I estimate about a month before they reach full size.” Spike blinks.  “So…” He focuses on one of Twilight’s main turrets. Athena looks at him.  “When she hits full size, three ponies could walk comfortably side-by-side down that weapon.”