//------------------------------// // Order Of Chaos // Story: Harmony of Machines // by CreeperZone //------------------------------// “Sounds great!” Bun stumbled a step, readjusted her phone to her ear with the shoulder she held it with and leaned up against her apartment wall for support as she used her other leg to equip a saddlebag. “Look, Disarray, I'll see it when I get there, I can’t walk and talk on the phone. H-haha, yeah, see you!”  Bun flicked her phone with her nose to end the call and she slipped it into her bag. Bun trotted down her apartment floors to the main door and she spilled out onto the street into the river of ponies trotting down the massive asphalt corridor. Like any early workday morning, the streets were nearly bursting, Bun being caught in the flow and traveling down towards her train station. She was quite attuned to brushing shoulders with the strangers harmlessly passing her by. The potential of thievery was always something a wise pony kept in mind while travelling down bustling city streets, which is why Bun always kept a close eye and hoof over her saddle bag while trotting in crowds. As her paranoia padded her bag down approaching the station, she averted her gaze from the incoming pony traffic for a brief fraction of just a split half-second, and barely even that, and of course she ran face first straight into another pony. Clonking her head against another's, Bun fell straight on her ass, her bag falling off and her phone, laptop and several other possessions spilled out like guts from a fish. “Ugh...” Bun rubbed her throbbing head and shut her eyes with a groan, “S-sorry... So sorry...” “No, no, it's my fault.” A very soft mare's voice soothed Bun's ear, she didn't even seem phased that Bun had trotted right into her. Bun leaned down to her bag and sulked, many ponies having to trot around her to avoid stepping on Bun's stuff. “Ahh... Damn...” “Here... Let me help.” The stranger took a step forward and down and began sweeping Bun's items into her bag, Bun shaking her head softly and joining in to put her things back. “T-thank you...” When her things found themselves returned, Bun shifted her eyes upward to the mare, spotting her deep red coat, bright orange mane like the sunrise and deep blood-red eyes. All wrapped up in a red and golden cloak with some fancy imagery Bun couldn't make out from her angle. (They were pictures dragons in battle, if you must know.) “T-thank you miss.” Bun stood up throwing her bag over herself. The mysterious pony smiled. “Please, it was just a courtesy. See you around, Bun.” Bun raised an eyebrow in curious confusion. “U-uh... D-do I know you?” “I don't believe so, no... I'd love to chat, but I have urgent business elsewhere, so I'll be seeing you. Say hi to your friend Odin for me!” The mysterious mare turned heel and began trotting off, getting swallowed and lost in the crowd. “W-wait what?! Hey! What's your name!? Miss?!” Bun took a sigh and softly shook her head, understandably freaked out as she boarded her train. “What a weirdo...” “What did you just say?” Bun sat down at the lab table with all of her co-workers and friends, sliding up next to Disarray on her lab stool. Disarray coughed and then repeated himself with a smile, “You heard me correctly, all the new parts for Odin two point O arrived this morning!” “That's freaking awesome!” Bun kicked her legs against her seat. “Show me! Show me!” Disarray leaned over to the pile of parts the rest of the team were examining and slid them over across the smooth table. The cardboard sheet stopped in front of her and a mass of several large parts rested on top. Bun looked them over, a full set of the highest of the high end computing parts all nicely wrapped up and inside their respective packaging, kept safe. She gaped at every single circuit, poking around all the out-of-this world tech with a huge dumb smile. “O-oh my~ Haha... These... Look so gorgeous...” Disarray then walked over to a large pony-sized box sitting on the table behind them, it was covered in black tape and several notes reading "Confidential". “And the cherry on top, I managed to snag us the best of the best in robotic bodies, this is a full pony set of Cyberskin Amalgumitron Pony-Support bot parts. After the war where they used robots and then they were banned, they experimented with new, non-lethal models since robots had to be unable to willingly hurt ponies by law. So this was one of the newest models that was designed to work as a field medic bringing back downed ponies from enemy land, and one of the most impressive features is that using Changeling DNA, they were able to make it so the parts were able to attach onto living ponies. So if somepony lost a leg, boom, take one off the robot and now you have a robot leg... They were discontinued after the military stopped using them, they also found that Changeling DNA rotted some ponies brains as well as gave some cancer and stuff... But that doesn't really matter since we're not using that feature anyhow.” Bun trotted over and opened the unsealed box and looked down the hole, seeing a bubble-wrapped body, if Bun didn't already know this was a robot she could mistake it for a dead body wrapped up in all those inches of plastic marked with a symbol. A circle with the bottom quarter cut out and a single vertical line inside. “Woah...” “Yeah... I can't wait to start trying to get this running after the launch... Oooo~ Hehe!” Disarray hopped up and down like a little filly standing in front of the Hearths Warming tree the night before. “Yes, I agree it's quite exciting, though we should focus on the launch, it is tomorrow, keep in mind.” Bun shut the box, nearly breaking Disarray's heart. He then turned and stuck his tongue out at her. “Lwanch is tomworrow mwa mwa mwa.” He chuckled softly after mocking her. “Yeah, yeah, you baby. Go pack all this stuff up, I'm going to speak with Odin.” Bun nodded to everypony and trotted down to a free desk in the back where her visor sat. She plopped down her saddlebag onto the table and slid out her laptop along with a strange, unfamiliar device. It looked like a chip attached to a small pink crystal with a small paper note carrying it, Bun jumped and leaned back with a keen eye. “What..?” She picked up the note and unfolded it once, revealing a small message. For containment and mechanical reintegration of the soul.  Bun Button; in regards to the upcoming events, we have decided to trust that you will continue to serve the moon and so this item has been provided. Sincerely, The Dragon. “O-oh... That... Huh...” Bun looked in her bag to check, and all her regular items were there, and no other surprises either.  “Whats up Bun?” Disarray walked over and gingerly placed down the new robotic body near the lockers by the corner. “W-well... I bumped into a mare today... And... She slipped this into my bag.” Bun lifted the note and device to Disarray. Disarray leaned down to the odd object, “This looks a lot like Odin's Thought Matrix... A better, newer model than we used for Odin in fact... Don't know what the crystal is doing there though.” “The note said it's a "soul containment" thing...” Bun's spine shivered with the eerie nature of the idea what she was holding could contain a soul. “Soul containment? Like, holds dead ponies?” Disarray shook his head in disbelief. “That's what the note says, yeah... I hope there aren't any dead ponies inside.” Bun gulped. Disarray took the device and note from her, “Uh... Well... I'll take these, you can get back to what you were doing and I'll put this soul gem where it can’t hurt anyone..” Disarray went off and locked the weird note with the crystal inside an unused crate. “O-okay... Well... Back to business.” Bun turned on her laptop and shrugged off the weird gift she had just received. She punched in her password and opened up Odin's diagnostics tool. He was doing perfectly fine, every diagnostic as normal. She then picked up and slid on her visor, sitting up straight on her lab stool and taking a deep breath of concentration before establishing her link with Odin. She opened her eyes and saw through Odin's. Bun's voice came in, Odin faintly smiling as his receiver fired with Bun's sweet familiar voice. Odin looked around softly, he was in the spaceship cockpit, he's been there for the past few days, not having to leave to eat or move, after being trained appropriately there was no reason to keep him anywhere but simply ready in the cockpit. H-hey, Odin! Greetings, Bun, how has your morning been? Oh... It's actually been quite a weird one. Got reverse pick-pocketed by some mare. Doesn't matter anymore though, how are you? I am feeling... Impatient. Current time until launch is 28:34:11. Oh, Odin, come on, it's not that long to have to wait. Just one more day and you’re in space! Yes, I am very excited to go. I wish it was today. Me too... I can't wait to see what śp̸a̕c͏e̢ is like through your eyes. Bun? I am also pondering the potential of incident. Odin, please, everything will be fine. You shouldn't be worrying about such things. You’re not going to be flying anywhere near the sun or moon, in fact you'll be the furthest you can be from both. You'll be safe. If you insist so... Though I... Feel... A chill. You sure you're not just cold? Hehe. Haha... Perhaps I am. Anything else you wanted to chat about, Odi? No, I'm good. Cool, I'll chat again in a few, I have a lot of work to do on this new robot... I doubt they'll ever be as awesome as you though, Odin. Thank you for your flattery, Bun, I will see you when you return. Se͢ȩ ý̕ą͏!̸̕͠ The audio cut out with a half painful burst of audio static. “E-eh...” Bun took a second, her heart holding a moment before she removed her visor. “I need to fix that...” Bun fiddled with the on/off switch for a few seconds, then placed the headgear back onto the lab table. Bun went onto her laptop and took off into her work, she needed to get Odin's old code ready for the next integration of their projects, and make any improvements she can along the way. The day quickly passed uneventfully, though the crew's energy was at a record high as tonight's launch, the Nexus Space launch drew ever nearer. It was roughly five thirty and fifteen seconds PM, or something like that, and the engineers had spent the day figuring out how to make all the new parts twitch and turn, while Disarray spent his time cleaning the hinges and performing the assembly required portions of the robot body. Bun saved her work thus far. It'd be only a few days before her program would be finished and Odin 2.0 would be born; name yet to be decided. But that was a later issue, as in roughly half an hour the Nexus rocket containing Odin would be flung out of the atmosphere. The crew spurred together around Disarray's laptop, all except Bun who quickly went back to her headset visor, throwing it on and then sliding over on her rolling chair to the rest. “Aww! I'm so excited!!!” Bun kicked in her chair. “I know right?! And I'm not even as lucky as you, getting front row seats. Hehe~” Goldwing didn't take her eyes off of the livestream, a large counter going down a second at a time with a whole chat flooding with meaningless comments flying off the screen never to be read by most, thousands of messages of support and shared excitement, as well as some ponies taking bets on how long it will be until the rocket crashes. “Okay, guys, once I turn on the connection I'll barely be able to hear you, so don't expect me to react to you guys.” Bun addressed everyone quickly. “Will keep in mind, enjoy yourself, Bun.” Disarray patted her on the back with a tender hoof and wholesome smile. “Thanks.” Bun girlishly giggled on the inside as she turned on her visor, and with a quick blip Bun found herse- Bun I'm scared, Bun I'm scared, Bun I'm scared. Odin?! W-what's happening why are you shaking? Something bad, really bad, I don't want to go, Bun, please I don't want to go. Odin, I'm here, calm down. I'm not leaving anymore, it'll be all fine. I promise. I'm going to sit here with you the whole time, all right? Yes, Bun I understand. I wish I didn't have to go. Something bad will happen and I will die. No it won't, Odin, I promise you, you will be fine. Promise? P̕r̀o͜mi̢s̶e͢. And, as Bun promised, he was perfectly fine. For the following thirty minutes at the very least. As everypony in Manehattan and most of Equestria sat at their television screens and nickered impatiently, Bun comforted Odin, experiencing the launch initiation through the same set of eyes as him. Bun got to experience first hoof how they uncovered the rocket and hauled it out from the storage facility all the way to the launch site, feeling every bump and swing as the engineers lifted the shuttle into position. Around the ten minute mark the console lit up in a plethora of lights, a range of every colour. Most of the systems were automatic or controlled from headquarters, but Odin was in charge of many of the instruments and recording data, and just in case his signal was cut, he had the ability to steer the vessel itself. There were two large curved windows across the front of the cockpit. Odin had about as much breathing room as stuffing inside a turkey, his lack of a need for sleeping quarters or a bathroom meant they had the essentials only. A seat, a console, front-facing windows and a small exit to the rest of the ship in case of needed repairs. Right through those windows shone the bright clear sky holding back the eternal cosmos, Odin's soon to be new home, and as the counter fell to five minutes left, the cameras... Were on. The Cloudchaser Z was ready to fly. Bun what is that noise? It's an announcer on the livestream, Odin, that audio is just leaking from my end, no need to worry. I see, I apologize. That's okay... There's just a few more minutes, and then we’re off on our trip together. Isn't that nice? I guess so, Bun. Just sit back and relax, you don't have to do anything yet, but enjoy the ride. Understood, Bun. I hope you are correct. Five minutes passed, every tick being felt by Odin's internal time measuring device, and it was painful. Bun's voice somehow soothed him out of meltdown all the way until the big countdown started. 10 Odin took a deep mental breath. 9 Bun sat back and sighed with a soft smile, ready. 8 Odin's nerves only faintly chilled upon his friend's relaxation. 7 But the dread was still present. It crawled its way back into him. 6 It was all going to go horribly wrong. It would be a disaster. 5 The void wouldn't stop taunting him. His legs shivered at its eerie voice. 4 His metal heart pounded against his inner chest, it felt like it was melting from the heat. 3 He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die. 2 No, no, no, please stop no more. 1 Odin shut his eyes... There's no going back now. Blast off. The rocket's pillar of thick magic fire shook Equestria in a torrent of quaking flames erupting from the bowels of the metal beast. The roars of the fires were met with exclaiming applause, a rolling thunder of cheers sounded throughout the city, it seemed as if the only pony in Equestria not excited, for better or worse, about the situation was Odin himself. The sky came falling down onto Odin, its soft blue blanket quickly started turning darker as he rose into the vast unknown void of space. Bun kicked in her seat at the stars started appearing, the ship only took minutes to shoot out through the first layer of the atmosphere. Meanwhile Odin's shaking in dreadful fear was masked by his seat shaking under the power of the flame cannons.  After a few dozen minutes of travel, the first stage rockets detached and fell to the Equestria surface, the second stage propellers firing off to continue their ascension.  The horizon melted away, bending and shifting around into a sphere as the city turned to country, and then to a round beautiful planet. From the Sunshard in the south to the Moonstone in the north, it was all beneath him as he left the atmosphere, second stage rockets detached and the third stage fired off more gentle than the first two, giving Odin the last small push, and he was out, the world no longer bound him. See, Odin! Ahaha!!! I told you it would be all right!!! That was epic!!! I... I... I don't understand... Odin, it's okay! We're in fucking space! Haha! Just enjoy it! Oh by Celestia's mane this is beautiful! Y-yeah... I... It is quite exquisite. Told you. Hehe... Oh, Odin, thank you for sharing this with me. You're welcome, Bun... I'm... Sorry for my panic earlier. All forgiven. Come in, Cloudchaser, this is Mission Control do you Copy? over C-Copy, Mission Control, captain od̶in̸ here over, Hehe... Um... That's a funny way to say your name, Odin. ¿How's it looking up there Whatss your readings like, od̶in̸ over eVerything good, mission Control all readings n̡͟͞͡o͏͢͏r̴̨͞m̶̵̨͝͏ą̵̛͜l̕͟ Odin... Ahh... T-that's hurting my ears... Fuck... W-what are you doing? What’s happening with mission control..? gooD oT here odin CCaptian  . keeep us postde affF.F̟i͔͎̫͖̩͞r̸̰̣̜͉m͍̞̫̼̮̬̟a͝t̫̘͕͙͠i̡v̦̖̬͇̬͖ͅe Aaaggrhhh!!! Odin!! For fucks sake!! b-bbunn w-what'd wrogn; u-uuh C̸̣̪̜͕͚̤ļo̜̭͖̜͈̜͟u͍͚̤̱̬ͅd̹̭̪͖̝̭c̸h̛̞͉̘̹a̠̱̫̗͓͎͕s̫̩e̞͖͔͖̱̣͉͡r̥̘̟͓̟ eW aave aCtivity: It began as only a faint distortion in the audio, though she merely was a pony falling into an impending surge of Chaos, initially what seemed so far drew nearer, every second that went on it grew in intensity exponentially, until she could no longer even hear Odin or mission control. She screamed, writhing in her seat, trapped there without hope for escape. Odin was informed by mission control about sun and moon’s activity, both of the magic giants in space attacked like never seen before. While their other space ventures at least made it about ninety percent of the way there before the galactic entities reacted, The Cloudchaser Z wasn't even an hour outside of the world's pull before giant beams of magic were hurtling towards it from both sources.  On the right, a deadly and sporadic beam of lightning and molten fire, hotter than the insides of a thousand year old dragon’s stomach, having capability to melt atoms down to their finer pieces. On the left, a long beam of gentle light erupting from the moon that turned anything it came in contact with into dust. And they were going to meet, with Odin, and more importantly Bun's eyes, in the dead center. Mission control panicked and began initiating every defence system they had aboard, the magic heat sinks activating, as well as a thick magic bubble barrier being projected around the ship. It was only a few seconds after when all of their connections were interrupted, their radio signals flaring between an ear burning static to a dead cold silence. Odin took a deep sharp breath to focus as he heard himself become completely and wholly alone, he took manual control over the ship and began running the heat sinks and barrier, making sure they remained stable by switching power distributions as his equipment began failing. Though he wasn't alone completely, as Bun still remained connected, her signal to him being independent from the failing ship and small enough to not warrant attention from the two giant planetary beings. The sun and moon each independently went to destroy the ship, the clash of pure Anarchy and Harmony magic from the sun and moon respectively began to fuse into unquenchable and uncontrollable Chaos. The sun quickly overloaded the heat sinks in microseconds, the shields were shot through by the moon's beam immediately after. Odin sat back and sighed almost calmly, he decided that he did all he could, and panic was worthless at this point. He sat back and watched the magics collide around him. It was sudden, the very moment one magic met the other, a light a thousand times brighter than the sun and a thousand times darker than the deepest moon cavern was produced to be seen worldwide. All creatures turned their heads away and shut their eyes, the cameras stopped rolling and every pony in mission control sighed in failure. The light which swirled in between both spectrums of blindness overwhelmed the sight of the ship, and they all assumed it was over, gone for good once more. Though Odin wasn't gone yet, and he, he didn't look away. His mechanical mind not even being able to comprehend what was occurring in front of him, so he simply saw errors that didn't harm him in the slightest. Bun wasn't as lucky. She cried and screamed in utter terror, destroying her own vocal cords, she tried to shut her eyes but the light was too bright and too dark simultaneously to be protected by her eyelids from this immediate distance, and Odin didn't turn his head away to save her. He didn't even know. Her entire vision was gone within the second, the unadulterated Chaos magic burrowed its way into her mind and broke it. She learned every piece of knowledge that could be known, and then it was wiped from her brain to leave her mindless.  A hundred times over.  Every. Single. Second. Then, a miracle happened. The magic from the two sources dispelled, the two opposites completely canceled themselves out... And the Cloudchaser Z, survived. Every pony in Equestria cheered at the top of their lungs, even Odin smiled and laughed like crazy at his survival. But not Bun, or her friends in the room with her... Because Bun died. Not just mentally, but her entire skull and upper torso had been evaporated. Her soul became permanently scarred, forever to hold this trauma with her, changing her soul so fundamentally from other creatures in this world, that she finally realised. She realised everything. So, she looked deep inside her soul, and she had a few outgoing thoughts. H-hello..? Y-you there... I... I... I see you now... Oh my... Oh my Ce... Oh my God... W-what... Are you..? What is happening to me..? Bun paused her thoughts for a brief moment, realising she knew the answer to those questions now. But she found one she was still curious about. W-what... Is your Name..? “BUN! BUN FOR FUCKS SAKE WAKE UP!!! PLEASE!!!” Bun was brought back into the waking world by Disarray's intense pleading voice. Her soul finding itself trapped back inside a bodily vessel; no afterlife for her just yet apparently. Bun gasped for breath, “Ah... Wha...” she rubbed her head in pain, her eyes still closed, but at least she was responding. Her memories of the last few minutes were very vague, the forbidden knowledge she had obtained masking itself within the dense fog of her now literally dense head. A round of relieved sighs made rounds around the room. “OH THANK CELESTIA!” Disarray exclaimed and launched to Bun, kissing her deeply on her lips, a long, lov- “Ah!! Ew ew ew!!” Bun knocked him back and started spitting out saliva, opening her eyes. “What the fuck, Disarray?!” “I um... I just... I thought...” There stood a dead pony, having just fallen to the overwhelming utter embarrassment. “This isn't that kind of cliche story, Ray! We're just friends not lovers in denial! Ahh... What the hell happened?! I died! How am I alive again?!” Bun looked around the room, noticing her increased vision sharpness, clarity and colour range. She saw that she was on the floor, and that everyone was covered in blood. Goldwing stepped in front of Disarray, half a smile on her. “We put you back together! Using... The new cyberskin ponybot parts... And some weird soul crystal Disarray found... w-we... Had to replace a lot.” “W-what?!” Bun started panting in shock, though she quickly realized breathing was completely optional, as she could not feel having lungs. She stopped breathing as her natural urge to do so faded.  “B-but how!!! This fur feels so real! I feel so real! Apart from... The robot eyes... And no lungs...” She stroked her fur, and it was her fur. Every single strand she could remember feeling exactly identical to how it was this morning. “Changeling DNA... It morphed to be just like the real you.” Goldwing smiled warmly to Bun. Disarray had finished swallowing his pride and chimed in again. “T-try... Run diagnostics... Just think the command in your head.” Bun sat back on the floor up against the lab table, then she thought the words. “Run diagnostics.” In a soft blip, a menu with a loading bar popped up in front of her vision, quickly running from zero percent to one hundred. / Diagnosing... \ /————————————\ | [ █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ] | | 0% - - - - - - - - - - - - -100%| \————————————/ “W-woah! It's working! Haha!” Bun cheered. / Diagnosing... \ /————————————\ | [ █████████▄▄▄▄▄ ] | | 0% - - - - - - - - - - - - -100%| \————————————/ “It's nearly done... Hehe...” Bun wondered what she would see when it was finished. |Diagnosing... Complete| /————————————\ | [ ██████████████ ] | | 0% - - - - - - - - - - - - -100%| \—————\___/—————/ |__| /———————/___\———————\ | . /~ ~∆~ \ . . . . . . . . .} | | √ C . . \ ~ \ . . . . . . . . } Harmony; . . | |[° . . . . / ~/ . . . .,—, . } Operational. | | / . . . . \_/____√ ~ ~ \ } Damage; . . . | || . . ____\ . . . . \ ~ ~|} None. . . . . . .| | [ . ]/ . . . . \_ . | . \_| } Flesh/CS SB; | | [__] . . . . . [__] . . . . .} 2%/98% . . . . | \————————————————/ “Woah! T-there’s a whole screen and... And... Ninety eight percent mechanical..? T-that's... Basically all of me...” Bun's heart sank to the bottom of her chest like a foal in a swimming pool. “T-that may be true... But it's still all you.” Goldwing added. “Yeah... I suppose it is... Just feels a bit weird. So... New.” Bun stood up with a half a smile and stretched, feeling much stronger than ever before.  Bun turned to Disarray with a humbled stare, “You used that soul gem that Dragon mare gave me to save my life, didn't you?” He nodded, still shy in his interactions with her. “Well she must have known this was going to happen... So... I guess someone's watching over me then, huh?” She cheekily smiled and winked into the ceiling, not completely sure why. Goldwing took notice, “Y-you okay, B?” “Oh... Yeah... Sorry.” “Good... Anyways, it's like four in the morning and we all need to sleep so so bad so... I hope you get home okay. Night!” Bun nodded and hugged each and every one of them, then sighed as she went out of the lab, everyone else staying behind five minutes to rinse blood out of their fur, and Bun walked home. She arrived home like any other time, the only difference is she wasn't tired. Heck, she wasn't sure if she was capable of sleep anymore. So, she just sat down at her kitchen table and took a long break to just let this all settle in. She felt strong, Bun could sense the new robot blood inside her, nicknamed "Harmony" as it served as a simple replacement for all wiring. Her robotic muscles could flip a car with a single buck, and her eyes could beat an eagle at a one on one Wheres Waldy?™ match. It was quite a lot to let settle. But it will, just not today. Especially since there was a knock on Bun's door that completely busted her out of her zen. “W-who is it..?” The door opened, the pony unlocking it themselves with a master key. The royal guard stepped through, cleared their throat, and announced. “This is an official summons from Princess of the Magic of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. Attendance is expected as soon as is physically possible and attendance is compulsory.” An envelope with Twilight's cutie mark as a wax seal was slid to her. Bun blinked. Twice. Then... Well. I think it's best if you just hear how she put it. “Wh... wha... What the fuck?!”