Toggle pulled out her wrench, tossing it from hoof to hoof, as she stared at the now disabled mare. The would be attacker had been propped up against one of the broken princess statues that marked the beginning on the ascent towards Canterlot. "What the actual buck did you think you were doing? You see, the Herders would LOVE to know why we are suddenly being attacked by a group of idiots with pots and pans for armor." She grumbled out, keeping a calm tone but edging in as much menace as she could muster.
The mare spat out a glob of black red mucus. She gave Toggle and Luna a hard stare before answering. "We were raiding. Duh!" She said it like it was an everyday occurrence. "The Powder Ponies got a hold of some actual explosives and we needed some real guns. You zombies always bring some good shit from the mountain so we thought you might share some. "
Using the word Zombie agitated Luna and she was beginning to have a hard time showing restraint. Her mini-gun arm began to whir up, the raider showing up as a hostile target in her vision. The words 'Locked on' were displayed by the mare's head in bright red. "Zombie?" She said, her blue spotlight intensifying over the injured mare.
Leaping at the chance Luna created, with the wit of a long time trades-pony, Toggle got right up into the Raider's face. "Keep talking like that and my new friend might have something to say about it! Be nice to this Ghoul and I just might let you live."
As Cliche as the statement was, Luna having heard it in many movies, it seemed to have the intended effect on this younger pony. Luna had to assume that most movies didn't survive the bombs. That was another thing she was going to have to save, Equestrian Culture.
"Woah, hold on hot shit. I can see who's in charge." The mare scrabbled about trying to get out of Luna's crosshairs. "Call off your bot and I'll talk. And I won't say zombie again, shit!" After a few more insults and Luna taking time to calm down the raider began answering questions. She seemed honest enough, if only out of fear. "It's just like I said, we were kicked out of our territory and we were trying to steal your guns from you. We weren't expecting to lose since you all travel alone a bunch, So Turnover is probably leading whoever's left to the Junk Pile. It's all we got left as far as bases go."
Toggle sighed, not really understanding. "Okay sure but why were you 'attacking' me? Ponies steal all the time but I haven't heard of anypony straight out trying to kill ponies for anything other than the last bit of food. What are you savage?" She stomped her hoof, blowing air through her nostrils.
This response made the raider laugh in Toggle's face. "Listen Filly, only reason no pony has gone after you all is because You had numbers and some of em were even soldiers! There's what, six of you left? You aint gonna be around long and we needed those high grade weapons you've been making. Us raiders adapted to take what we want. It's adapt or die, zombie. Pick one"
It was automatic, she wanted to stop herself but some part of the Sentinel she was riding simply wouldn't let her. Luna's mini-gun spun back up and was jammed straight into the raider's face, leaving behind nothing more than a slurry of bone and brain matter. To Toggle's credit she didn't vomit, though she was forced to look away from the spectacle. Forced to watch the entire thing, Luna wished she could vomit. She had been on battle fields before but actually watching the killing take place made her want to puke, or at least wretch.
A hoof gently pushed Luna away from the raider corpse. Toggle looked up to her with some concern. "I didn't actually want you to kill her." She sat down, looking up at the Blood stained Luna.
"We didn't mean to end her life. Honorable Mechanic, you must believe us!" Luna pleaded. "The act occurred against our will!" She shook her arms in frustration. "Our damned body moves of its own accord whenever it may be pleased to do so!"
Toggle struggle to hold Luna still, her magic doing nothing more than providing a soft glow around the sentinel chassis. "Luna, please calm down! It makes sense, I believe you!"
This statement caught Luna by surprise, ending her immediate panic. "'It makes sense-'? How could that make sense?"
Toggle let out a sigh of relief as Luna calmed down, pulling out a small pamphlet from her bags. "Well, you're running and functional but not everything is fixed yet. Let me see here." She flipped through page after page, looking for some intently. "Oh here, here. Luna, please run a Self Diagnostic and provide information of cores 3 and 4." She said, using the tone of a pony giving a command to a computer.
"Toggle, I am uncertain I can simply-" Before Luna could finish speaking more of Applejack's robot code started running across the Princess's vision.
>[Execute] : selfDiagnostic
>[selfDiagnostic] : Status(running...)
>[Core(1)] : energyDistributionMatrix.Status(online)
>[Core(2)] : eyesForwardSparkle.Status(online)
>[Core(3)] : combatInhibitor.Status(criticalFailure)
>[Core(4)] : sparkleAssistedTargetingSystem.Status(criticalFailure)
>[Core(5)] : ordanancePackageOne.Status(criticalFailure)
>[Core(6)] : navigationMapping.Status(online)
>[Core(7)] : interactionInterface.Status(online)
>[Core(8)] : dataPreservationBox.Status(online)
>[Core(9)] : shieldMatrix.Status(criticalFailure)
>[System] : dataIntegrity.Status(45%/%35)
>[System] : systemIntegrity.Status(67%/15%)
>[System] : structuralIntergrity.Status(48%/25%)
>[System] : guardianRoutine(1).Status(Running...)
>[Warning] : System.Status(suboptimal)
>[System.Message] : "Systems above minimum functionality. Unit operation is OKAY"
>[System.Message] : "Systems are suboptimal. Avoid damage, seek additional repairs."
>[System.Message] : "Yeehaw."
>[selfDiagnositc] : End
Luna immediately blurted out the status of Cores 3 and 4 in the deep voice of a sentinel. " Core 3, Combat inhibitor. Status, Critical Failure. Core 4, Sparkle Assisted Targeting System. Status, Critical Failure. These cores are, OFFLINE. Warning, These cores are vital to combat safety. Please seek out a certified RobronCo technician for immediate repairs."
"Oh shit!" Toggle, Stomped one frustrated hoof. "I Bucked it up. I forgot to comb through those damned systems. The data is probably still fragmented. You know you spend years fixing an old robot and you'd think you would get at least some basic safety code done. But NOOOO I gotta get the motor functions running first 15 years of hoof shopping parts and you completely skip over the necessities. I can't-"
Before Toggle could continue her rant, Luna felt the need to bring her back on focus. "Toggle! Please explain what that was? I didn't say those things. What does it mean!?"
Catching a breath, Toggle calmed herself down and explained everything as simply as possible. "That voice was the Sentinel's voice. The diagnostic reports don't route through the personality matrix so it's not filtered through you. That's why it sounds normal and not like our Princess Luna. Those two cores you you mentioned earlier are responsible for all combat functions. With out them, you can engage combat with anypony you want. No User guidelines to protect innocent ponies. On top of that the ability to organize your targets and decide which one is hostile or not is basically absent. You attacked that pony like that because you literally had no control of your combat abilities." She paused to look at the corpses of the other ponies killed in the earlier battle. "Come to think about it, that's probably why you were hitting them so hard. When we get to town we need to hook you up to a computer."
Toggle took a moment to look at the dead ponies and sighed. "We had better get moving. If ponies are going to start attacking us we're going to need you fully operational."
For a moment, Luna could do nothing but stare at the dead ponies, scattered about like nothing more than discarded and broken dolls. "Are you saying you want me to do this again?" The idea was painful to contemplate. what kind of princess would openly engage in combat with her subjects? She could explain it away and justify it with the way she is now, but once she was repaired...
"I don't want to do it either." Toggle said, dropping her crate. She popped open the top and began searching through it. "If there is one thing we've figured out since the bombs fell, its that you need to do whatever it takes to survive." She was speaking calmly but her voice shook slightly, only clearly audible when she took a moment to breathe. "If it helps, I'll be just as guilty as you are." She pulled out the largest gun she could find, a light machine gun that looked like one pull of the trigger would send it flying out of her magical grasp, and loaded it with a box of ammunition.
Just the fact that Toggle was willing to carry that burden as well was enough to abate Luna's fears for now. If they were attacked again, who knows what would really happen. "Very well honorable mechanic." She said, briefly forgetting her etiquette. Toggle didn't seem to mind or even catch the slight so she continued. " We should still bury these ponies. Villains or not, they were citizens of Equestria and we should treat them as such."
Toggle looked over the corpses thoughtfully before responding. "I agree with you princess, but neither of us are really equipped for grave digging. We can pick up a shovel on the way back. It's unlikely they will be moved unless their friends come back for them."
Luna nodded in agreement. It was an acceptable compromise and either way these ponies would still receive their burial rights. Either Luna and Toggle could dig their graves when they got back with shovels or the rest of their gang would stop by and do it in their stead.
With the matter settled for now, Toggle put the lid back on her crate and hefted it up onto her back. She kept the LMG on top of the crate, ready to pull it out at anytime. After a moment to get her bearings again she pointed off in a direction and the two began to make their way into the waste land and away from the relative safety of New Canterlot. Away from the scene of their first battle.
As They traveled, a troubling thought itched its way into the back of Luna's thoughts and as they traveled her gaze continued to flick over to the machine gun on Toggle's back. As she contemplated Toggle actually using the weapon at some point the itch soon became to bothersome to scratch. "Toggle." Luna began, hesitant to find the answer to her question. The ghoulish unicorn looked back questioningly. For the stress lines in her face she had been dwelling on issues of her own. "Earlier, you said that my ability to determine friend or foe was essentially non existent. Will- Will I hurt you? Why am I not attacking you now?"
Toggle pressed her lips together trying to figure out the best way to answer. "Well, to be accurate, your IFF core is turned off until it's fixed. I imagine that until it's repaired your decision making program will route that process through your personality matrix to determine the outcome. With you in there, I'm guessing that decision is too much for the Personality matrix to handle so it shuts off just enough of you until combat ends. I mean, That would explain the automated combat lines at least." She stopped walking and gave Luna a hard look to emphasize her next statement. "Whether you hurt me or not, I don't know. But it will be up to you to stop yourself. whether or not you attack me is based solely on your personality matrix."
This put Luna in a place where she was unable to respond. Now that she had her answer she had the overwhelming urge to let toggle know that she would never hurt her but deep down there was nothing to back up that claim. At any point Luna's Sentrybot body could simply turn on her only friend in this messed up wasteland. How on Equus could she guarantee that wouldn't happen?
Seeing the Luna was incapable of responding, Toggle pushed forward heading towards New Apploosa. "It's a Long trip Princess. You have time to think about it."