//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: "Putting On a Friendly Face" // Story: Away From the War; Away From Machines // by iDeltaVelocity //------------------------------// Chapter 10: “Putting on a Friendly Face” >>Full-body diagnostics… Standby… All injuries healed… No life-threatening injuries present… Parker regained consciousness. The first thing he felt upon waking up was a painful headache, along with a massive loss of feeling in his entire left side. He noted a repetitive beeping sound ringing in his ears; a heart rate monitor. Even though it was necessary for doctors to determine if a patient was in critical condition, he hated those things, and was always left wondering why an I-950 needed it if they couple monitoring their own heart rates with their Heads-Up Display. He opened his eyes and was immediately greeted with the sight of a plain snow-white ceiling above him. If the heart monitor wasn’t already obvious, he figured that he was in a hospital, though not on Earth; not in Alaska. His time asleep, he almost came to the conclusion that everything he experienced during the past few weeks, from meeting with Applebloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fighting the T-X and completely demolishing Town Hall, was all just a very in-depth dream. Though now, looking at a prim white ceiling in a sturdy structure that hadn’t been completely ruined by warfare, it was apparent that he was still in Equestria. The voices from someone else in the room drew him from his thoughts. He couldn’t determine who; his senses were too shot for him to figure out. Then, he groaned, finally coming to a very unwanted realisation. “If I’m back in a Skynet lab, I swear to God I’m going to…” He stopped after feeling a hoof touch his shoulder. He craned his head to see Applebloom beside him. “Glad to see you’re awake, Park,” said the filly. At first there was no response, but then the human smiled. “At least I know I’m not back with Skynet.” He sat up in his bed. Princess Celestia and Luna, along with the Elements of Harmony and a doctor, were also in the hospital room. “How d’ya feel?” asked Applejack. “I can barely move my body, and I feel like I’m about to vomit and pass out,” Parker replied, crudely, “How long was I out?” “Three days,” said Rarity, “You passed out after the T-X took out your arm.” Hearing this, Parker looked down at where his left arm used to be. The area was heavily bandaged, most likely to stop the bleeding. “Is it dead?” he asked, referring to the machine. They nodded. “We dumped the remains of it in the Everfree Forest. Looks like we won’t have to worry about it anymore,” said Shining Armour. Those words brought more than relief to the I950. With the T-X gone and out of the way, Skynet would lose an invaluable asset in the war. Score one for the Resistance. “M’ah sister an’ her friends told us everyth’n. Ah can’t believe you were hide’n under our noses this whole time,” said Applejack. “We were going to tell you… eventually. Me getting spotted by Applejack and the T-X showing up kinda screwed everything up.” Parker pointed towards Fluttershy, “We went to her first.” Celestia looked over at the yellow pegasus. “Is this true?” Fluttershy hesitated, but nodded. “Yes, it’s true. He helped me take care of some of the animals and helped save Mister Quackers from the Everfree Forest. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without him.” “Air Burst told me Parker saved him from the T-X when he was escaping Canterlot. It’s the reason why he helped him in the first place,” said Twilight. Princess Celestia looked at Parker, who stared back at her. The look on his face told her that she was worried of her decision. “You’re not gonna send him back to Canterlot, are you?” asked Applebloom. The Princess shook her head. “Doing that wouldn’t be the proper way of saying thanks for helping to protect Ponyville. The least we can do is let him stay here for a while.” A smile spread across Parker’s face, though it soon faded as he leaned over the bed and vomited into a bucket at his bedside. “That’s just the anesthetics,” the doctor informed him, “It’s still burning out of your system. I suggest you take some time to rest while you can.” Parker gave a thumbs’ up, lying back on his pillow. “Got it, doc.” “I believe we should give him time to rest,” said Rarity. The doctor nodded in agreement. “That would be best for now, but you’re free to come back and visit him any time you like.” One by one, the ponies left. The I-950 stared up at the ceiling above. With the T-X destroyed and out of the way, he could finally wind down and relax, not having to worry about a vicious machine hunting him down without end. Though, he still had only one objective remaining: he still needed to search for a way home. “Alright, Mister Parker,” said the doctor, “Time for your shot.” The I950 eyed the pony. “My shot…?” He nearly lost colour when a unicorn nurse trotted into the room, a needle levitated beside her. “Don’t worry. It’ll just take a quick minute,” she said. The only word Parker came upon when seeing the needle was, “Help…” Three weeks passed since the T-X’s destructive assault against Ponyville. The memories of the traumatic battle between man and machine were beginning to fade away as the town was being rebuilt. The remains of the deadly machine were dumped out in the Everfree Forest, left to rust at the mercy of the unpredictable elements. For once, since its initial arrival in Equestria, everypony could relax. Parker was back on his feet, though the doctors still insisted he stay for another few days for observation purposes. They were mainly intrigued with the wires that ran throughout his body, as all I-950s had. After some time, he was finally cleared to leave the hospital. Grabbing his stuff—all except his weaponry which were still in possession of the Royal Guards—he followed Nurse Redheart out towards the entrance. The other patients watched as he left. He wasn’t concerned about them, but the way they stared was a bit unsettling, to say the least. Soon enough, they reached the front. “This is it,” said Redheart, “You’re free to go. And sorry about your arm.” Parker looked down at his amputation. The sleeve had been torn and tied up to prevent it from getting caught on anything. “Not your fault. I’m used to it to crap like this.” He stepped through the double-doors outside. Immediately, he was greeted with the warm weather on face, accompanied by the beautiful, well-kept scenery surrounding the hospital. Unlike town, this area was untouched by the T-X’s assault. In addition, in front of him stood a trio of small eager fillies he recognized. “How’re you feeling, Park?” asked Scootaloo. Like I’ve been viciously amputated? N’ah. “Good, so far,” replied Parker. “I’m just finally glad to be back on my feet after a while. What about you three? I would’ve expected you to at least get in a fair amount of trouble when the others found out you were harboring me.” “We got a lecture about safety,” said Sweetie Belle, “but we didn’t get into any real trouble. Everypony’s just glad the T-X is finally gone.” Parker smiled. “That’s good to hear.” He outstretched his arm. “Wow, it feels good to not be a runaway fugitive anymore. But I gotta say: I’ll miss having the Royal Guard hunting me down. It kinda gave me something to do in my spare time. So now that I’m free, what happens now?” Scootaloo answered, “Simple: We go along with the original plan. There’re still some ponies in town that still don’t entirely trust you yet.” “Even after all I went through?” Parker’s words were said in a mix of disbelief and sarcasm. “Nice to know they appreciated my help.” “Don’t worry about it. It’s not all bad,” said Applebloom, “They’re still perhaps just a little shaken up from that machine. They’ll get over it eventually. But in the meantime, there are still a few ponies in town we want you to meet face-to-face.” “Alright, I’ll bite.” Parker took a seat over on a nearby bench. “So, who are the ponies I’m gonna be meeting?” “My sister, Rarity, for one,” said Sweetie Belle, “She had some comments to make about your outfit.” “You mean my uniform?” Parker examined himself. Spending so much time on the run had worn it out some, and thanks to his life-threatening skirmish with the T-X, it had been dotted with bits of dried mud and dirt. “Okay, point taken. Who else?” “Rainbow Dash is next on the list,” said Scootaloo. “Are you still mad from when I told you she was a fraud?” “No I’m not!” the orange filly defended herself. “I’m way over it.” “Lie detection says you’re a liar,” said Parker. Applebloom blinked. “Uh, lie detection…?” Parker waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. So is Rainbow Dash it, or is there more I have to meet?” “Well, actually, Twilight wants to have a word with you,” said Scootaloo. “She says she still wants to study your Hacker device.” A chill went down Parker’s spine. After seeing the device disassembled after the CMC retrieved it, the last thing he wanted was to leave in inexperienced hands, and to him, Twilight was inexperienced as they got. “Are you sure she said my Hacker?” The pegasus filly nodded. “She never really got a chance to have a look at it, and she asked for your help so she wouldn’t break it.” The human was hesitant about this, but reluctantly, he nodded. “Alright, fine, I trust you. I’ll play along with whatever you three are getting at.” Applebloom snickered. “Will you relax? Twilight’s as trustworthy as they get. You’ll see.” Parker felt a degree of uneasiness as he walked openly through Ponyville. It felt strange, for one, not be hiding out constantly, only coming out at night like he was accustomed to. Also, what made him uneasy were stares from ponies in the area. Many had stopped what they were doing as he passed by, probably expecting him to do something He looked down at Sweetie Belle who was leading him to wherever Rarity might have been. In contrast to him, she was much more calm and collected, and she didn’t seem to mind the multitude of ponies watching their every move. “Mind telling me where exactly we’re going?” he asked. Sweetie Belle answered, “My sister’s Boutique. It’s not too far now.” “And what exactly did she say about my uniform?” The unicorn filly stopped, trying to remember her sister’s words. “She said that it was ‘horrid’, and questioned how in Equestria you could go out in the open wearing something like that.” “Okay, then, I’ll be sure to talk to her about that,” said Parker as they kept on their way to Rarity. They soon arrived at a building which Parker described as a “giant circus tent”. Sweetie Belle knocked on the door, and soon it was answered by Rarity. The mare looked busy, like she was working on something important. She had glasses on and was wearing a tape ruler around her neck. She noticed Sweetie Belle first before looking at the one-armed human standing behind her. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, so nice of you two to come,” she said. “Howdy!” Parker greeted her. “Nice to meet you.” “Well I’d be rude to not invite either of you in,” she said, motioning them inside. Parker was amazed at how the place looked; neat, tidy, and everything not nailed down was in its place. She must be a neat freak, he thought. Rarity scrunched her nose when she got close to the human. “My goodness, you smell horrible.” “Thanks. That’s was really nice of you to say,” Parker said sarcastically. “Remember that I’ve had to wear the same thing for almost two weeks and the only way to wash up was a bucket of water Apple Bloom kept bringing me.” “How ever did you ever overcome that, Sweetie,” Rarity said to the filly. Sweetie Belle answered, scratching the back of her head, “Well, we’ve kinda been lending him some of your perfume.” Rarity looked down at her sister. “Perfume? Quick question, but you didn’t take a blue bottle from my room, did you?” “You mean the small bottle that had the fancy French letters?” said Sweetie Belle, “Yeah, we did.” The alabaster unicorn could only do a face-hoof. “That perfume was made from a very well-known designer in Canterlot. It was strictly supposed to be used for extremely special occasions!” “Our bad!” responded Parker. I’m sure she didn’t mean to. She saw something that would help me smell better and we took it.” Rarity groaned. Three minutes had passed and she was already regretting her decision to meet the human. But she tried to be subtle, to not be rude. The last thing she wanted was to offend her unusual guest, more so than she did earlier, after she invited him in. “Okay then,” she said, “I suppose I can try to look the other way.” “So, was insulting my uniform and talking about how much I smell the only reason why you wanted me to come here?” asked Parker. Rarity shook her head. “No… Well, actually, you’re uniform was the main reason. I just have no clue how you can stand being dressed in… that.” “Fighting a war doesn’t necessarily give me enough time to wear something nice.” The alabaster unicorn levitated a tape measure. “Don’t fret, dear. I’m sure I can make you something ravishing to wear while you’re in town. It shouldn’t take me too long.” The I-950 looked down at Sweetie Belle. “Is this some kind of punishment for kidnapping Applebloom when we first met? Because if it is, I thought we agreed to put that behind us.” Rarity quickly and eagerly proceeded to take measures of the human in front of her, wrapping the tape measure around his arms, legs, torso, neck, and head. “Your body structure is very complex. It certainly will be a challenge making something, particularly for you to wear.” “Thanks, I guess.” Parker stood in the same spot for the next few minutes as the unicorn continued. “How long is this normally supposed to take?” “I should be done soon,” replied Rarity, “Just be patient.” Parker contemplated on just walking out and not looking back, but the look on Sweetie Belle's face told him that all he needed to do was wait a bit longer. Soon enough, the unicorn was finished and Parker was finally free to move. He looked around at the mannequins that were, not surprisingly, pony-shaped. “You sure you're gonna be able to make something for me? In case you haven’t realised, I'm not exactly…like you.” “Don’t worry, Park,” said Sweetie Belle, “She can do it.” The I950 shrugged. “If you say so. So, what’s next?” At that, a towel was tossed at him. “Shower. Now,” said Rarity, “Just leave your stuff over on the table there.” She pointed over towards a nearby round table. “The guest shower is upstairs and to the left.” Without much of a choice, Parker went over; he took off his jacket and T-Shirt, folding them and placing them down. Sweetie Belle watched him, and as he did, she bared witness to a larger number of injuries, aside from his missing arm, that’d settled on him. She tapped on her sister’s arm. “Uh, Rarity…?” Rarity turned around to see what Sweetie saw. Parker’s back was littered with scars and bruises that made the two unicorns cringe. He didn’t seem to notice them with his back turned as he took the towel and hiked up the stairs. Twilight answered a knock on the door to find Parker and Applebloom standing in front of her. “Oh, good, you’re here,” she said to the human. “Yep,” Parker said, “I’m here.” He almost seemed like he did not want to be here. The unicorn smiled. “I’d really like a chance to study your device some more. Maybe with you here, I can get a better glimpse at what makes it work.” Reluctant, Parker reached into his pouch and pulled out his Hacker. He managed to repair it before the T-X attacked, which only added to the slight anxiety. As he handed it over to her, he couldn’t help but ask a very important question: “You’re not gonna break it, are you?” “I’m sorry?” “Don’t take this the wrong way,” said Parker, “but when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stole it back from you, the thing was in pieces. I’m just worried you’ll end up breaking it.” Twilight reassured him, wanting to gain his trust. “I know I was inexperienced the first time I had it, but I can assure you, I know what I’m doing now.” >>Lie detection: 22%... The I-950 sighed, mumbling, “I’m scared,” under his breath. “Didn’t I tell you to relax?” said Applebloom. “I told you before, Twilight’s one of the most trustworthy ponies I’ve ever met. Your Hacker is in good hooves!” Parker looked down at the filly. “I don’t believe you. I sure as hell cannot take your word for it, but I guess I have no choice. Might as well get it over with.” “That’s the spirit!” Applebloom gave a bright smile. “Anyway, see y’all later. I gotta head back home before it gets too late.” “Okay,” said Twilight, “See you later.” The Hacker lay in pieces once again on the table. Parker disassembled it, removing everything he thought was important for the unicorn to know about. “This the memory card.” He held up a small computer chip. “It lets me store important data on it: schematics, battle plans from Skynet, pretty much anything I want. The stuff I can store on here is practically endless.” “How’d you build it?” asked Twilight. “I came across a downed Hunter-Killer in the ruins. Took out the main components and put them back together in a new device.” He started putting it back together. “In all, building this small thing took me almost a year, dealing with glitches and all that. But it was worth it, seeing as I can hold all of Skynet’s secrets right on my wrist.” “Do you mind telling me who Skynet is? Or why she caused the war?” the unicorn asked. “Basically, she’s an A.I.,” Parker explained. “She’s an Artificial Intelligence created by Humanity. Of course, things went wrong during her creation and in the end, she sparked a full-scale war against us.” Once putting his Hacker back together, Parker tapped on the screen, bringing the device to life. Twilight used her magic to place it back on his wrist. “Thanks.” “That stuff that covered the T-X,” Twilight said. “That stuff is liquid metal,” Parker interrupted. “It’s able to disguise itself as anyone it touches. Not as stealthy as a T-1000, but still deadly, as you realize. The metal is manipulated by thousands of nanomachines that work unified under a single CPU signal.” “Meaning…?” “They’re basically like a swarm of insects. A hivemind,” Parker said. He stood up from the chair and walked around, stretching his legs. The chairs in this world were way too small for him. His first thoughts were that the unicorn in front of him would end up destroying eleven months of hard and tedious work, but he was proven wrong, even though he wouldn’t admit it. “I guess that was all you needed to know, right?” “That’s right,” the unicorn said. She yawned and looked over at a clock on the wall. “Wow, it’s getting late. You’re welcome to stay here, if you want.” Twilight started to descend the stairs towards her room. “Goodnight!” Parker waved goodnight to the unicorn, and soon after, he heard a door close. Now he was left standing in the middle of the library. He looked around him and before long, came to a realisation: “I have no place to sleep. No place, at all.” The T-X’s metallic armour was beginning to show signs of rust. Underneath the vegetation that blocked it from the moonlight, the motionless machine simply lay there, expecting to be forgotten. It stayed this way, until now. “Yeah, this is where they left it.” The figure pushed away the leaves that blocked the sight of the “dead” machine. The liquid metal was dripping from underneath its casing. He dipped his hoof in the stuff. It was still cold, but he knew he wasn’t water. It had to be something else. “What is it?” asked the creature next to him. “I don’t know, and I don’t care,” he said. He saw what it was capable of. Obviously whatever this thing was, even if it did looked broken and worn out after the guards brought it here, it would have some value. “I think we may have some use for this. Help me carry it back.” Putting the T-X on a cart, they hauled off into the night.