//------------------------------// // 8. Friendship and Discovery // Story: Star Wars: The Droid Chronicles // by Stalin with Da Spoon //------------------------------// [Carousel Boutqiue, 12:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.] "Hold still, darling!" "Hehehehe, I'm trying! But- Hehehehe, it tickles!" "Your a machine, how can you even feel that?" "Uhh... Yeah, I don't really know either... Hmm..." OOM-5264 and Twilight lightly chuckled as he watched Rarity attempting to measure the waist of 7262, claiming that it would help create some new fashionable clothes for the droids, which despite the droid's objections, she was dead set on doing, saying she had already draft several design ideas the very first day they met, which both impressed and scared the droids. "Darling, I can't get a proper measurement if you don't hold still!" "I'm trying!" "7262, just hold still, that's an order." Upon hearing his superior officer give an order, 7262 felt the urge every droid felt when given an order. "Roger roger." And like that, he stood as still as a statue, seeming quite off putting to the ponies in the room, with Rarity taking a moment to process what had happened before going back to her measuring, while Twilight staring in fascination before turning to 5264. "Uhh... Why did he just stop like that? It just seems so... unnatural. And what does 'Roger roger' even mean?" "Oh, well... Uhhh..." 5264 suddenly realized he had likely said a bit too much, so he decided to use an advanced tactic of deceit, called telling a half truth. "Well, since I'm an OOM type droid, I am classified as a higher rank than my squad-mates, and due to their programming, they listen to me and follow my orders un-conditionally. The 'Roger Roger' is just what all droids say in response to orders, and trust me, we try to say something different, but it's pure compulsion." "I see... Fascinating! So you droids have some special sort of social hierarchy?" "You could say that... Though it's a bit less like a hierarchy, more like a military command structure, seeing as we are, well, battle droids." "I see... So you really are only made for battle and warfare?" "Yep... Though me and my team rarely saw any action, just got stuck guarding outposts and stuff." Which was true, before being assigned to the Blade of Serenity, 5264 and his team had been hopping between different outposts, mainly ones where their previous droid guards had, in a nice way to put it, retired early thanks to some in-convenient clones and jedi." "So does that mean that you haven't... Ummm...." "Killed anyone? Nah, worst we did was spook off some raccoons on this one jungle planet we were assigned to. Though, now that I think about it, I don't think they were raccoons..." "Wait, you've been to other planets!?! What were they like?" "Well, one time we went to this planet that had a bunch of tall mountains, and I mean like really tall, the outpost we were guarding was literally above the clouds. We also went to this one planet that was just covered in big trees, i'm talking really really big trees. We also went to an ocean planet that one time, pretty sure we were the wettest we had ever been, 7262 was cleaning water out of his servos for weeks!" "Oh don't remind me... I still got water jammed in my right arm!" "Yeah, we've been all over the galaxy." 5264 could swear he saw stars light up in Twilight's eyes, as her mouth morphed into an unnaturally wide smile. "That's amazing! You've been all over the galaxy!?! What have you all seen, what kind of technology allowed you to travel around, what is space like-" "Hey hey hey hey, woah woah woah, calm down there! Slow down, gimme some simple questions, and I will try to answer as best as I can." "Alright then, first question, forgot to even ask this one, who created you?" "Well... That would be Baktoid Combat Automata, and as the name suggests, it made robots for battle and inter-galactic warfare. See, we OOM's and B1's aren't the only battle droids, oh no, there are plenty more. Or at least, there were..." Twilight noticed the distinct sadness in his tone of voice, as she felt the need to inquire further. "What happened to all of the droids?" "Well, you see... We were fighting in a war called the Galactic Civil War, and we were essentially helping the Separatist alliance fight the tyranny and corruption of the Republic." "So you were essentially fighting for freedom?" "Pretty much, but at the end of the war, we were... Well, somebody sent out a universal shutdown command, and we had no choice but to comply... So, me and my team shut down. When we were asleep, the galaxy changed, as the confederacy of independent systems was wiped out, and the Republic transformed into the Empire... Turns out the entire war was to give them the justification to spread their tyranny further." Twilight couldn't help but feel sorry for everything the poor droid had been through, pulling him into a hug. "I'm... Sorry to hear, but don't worry, you'll be safe here in Equestria." "I hope so..." 5264 couldn't help but feel guilty, as he had told most of the truth, he hadn't mentioned he was part of a massive droid army in orbit. Yeah, probably best to wait a bit longer. Meawhile, as Rarity continued measuring 7262's proportions, 2197 and 3956 were helping to hold up a large piece of fabric as Spike made precise cuts, making sure not to mess up as they engaged in conversation. "So let me get this straight, you dragon creatures can breathe fire?" "Yep, it's essentially our trademark, aside from our wings and scale of course." "That's kinda cool. But why are you so small when all the other dragons you described are huge?" "Oh, I'm just not fully grown yet, it takes longer for a dragon to mature than a pony." "Man, your organic biology is confusing." "Your telling me." [Everfree Forest, 12:00 AM.] Captain OOM-9164 quite liked this forest. It was nice, calm, and very quiet, which honestly sounded like a paradise compared to the other forests he had been in. Of course, the un-predictable weather was something to be wary of, as B1-592 had proven when he got struck by lightning, or 282 having his audio receptors blasted out by thunder. Either way, it was still better than the other forest planets. As he and his squad were sent away from the castle to patrol the surrounding area, 9164 had decided to take this path as it led deeper into the forest, attempting to try and get to the bottom of this forest's strange behavior. Eventually, he and his squad began to see a large cave entrance come into view. A rather impressive cave at that. As the droids slowly entered through the large doorway, pushing aside some old vines and branches, a quite beautiful sight came into view. Sunlight shined through a large hole in the ceiling and onto a small pool at the center of the cave, light reflecting off of it and illuminating the cave, as the droids slowly approached it. "Wow, sure looks nice..." 9164 said as he stood right over the pond, before 393 decided to play a prank on him, and push him in, as the captain fell forward into the pond, completely submerging, before emerging from the water, completely soaked as the droids laughed. "Not funny." "You kidding? It was hilarious!" "He has a point." Every droid stopped laughing, as they turned to a new arrival, as a new OOM droid was standing right next to 9164. "Uhhh... Who the heck are you?" "I'm OOM-9164, who else?" "WHAT!?!"