//------------------------------// // What Dreams May Come. // Story: Legacy // by NFire //------------------------------// Night falls and I am in the arms of one who has taught me so much about the world and myself. I close my avatar’s eyes and rest it for the moment. My systems are running smoothly, the sensor net is active and aware. I can feel Athena in a nearby room, she is looking out the window through her avatar and the happiness that floods her systems is hard to deny. “Athena?” “Yes?” “Please take sensor watch, I am reverting to Low Level Alert.” “I have the watch my brother, rest well.” Low Level Alert is the closest a Bolo can come to sleeping. It is a timeless place where our systems can perform maintenance, clean out the detritus of unused codes and programs, tighten up things you might say. It allows us to perform at optimum capability. I check my systems thoroughly, including the auxiliary units inside my hull before I commence Low Level sweeps. I ponder on the Dragons and Ferrets for a moment. During the fight they performed above what I had programmed them for. It seems they have been changed slightly also. They are simple AI’s, not as deep and complicated as a Bolo, but it appears they are somewhat more than they had been. When I arrived back in town, I had downloaded the logs of what had transpired and was amazed at what they had done within their programmed limits. There were no feelings like mine or Athena’s, but I received the sense of accomplishment and a job well done from the Dragon Command Cores. I have scanned their internals down to the quantum level, there is no intelligence there, just a want to perform and accomplish the mission as directed. I was worried for I had not wanted to be an abuser of a nascent AI being born. I was relieved to find none of it, but I do view them in a different light now because of their actions. They cannot speak, nor think independently, but they are of a mind to do their jobs efficiently. They are definitely a cut above the normal auxiliaries I have come to know. I am viewed as the command intelligence, the one whose orders are to be obeyed in all things. But it is something slightly more I feel when I am in contact with them. They are good and faithful, true and brave. I shall endeavor to treat them with more respect now, seeing as how they have done their jobs faithfully and without qualm in the face of the enemy. Rest well my Hounds of Heaven, for one day your fury will be unleashed among the enemy and they will quail in despair. -------------- I drift in the timeless and grey space we call sleep for Bolos, content in the fact that my sister is on watch, allowing me to stop being aware for moments. Even a Bolo psychotronics array can be overworked and needs it’s calm. “Crusader?” Odd, no communications links have been established, the combat channels are quiet. “Crusader?” “Who is it? Why have you intruded?” A laugh comes from the grayness that I recognize. “Dreams are my domain defender, I walk among them as you would a path between the trees." “Princess Luna?” “Aye, I wondered who had entered the ether with a strange melody of energy I had not recognized before, so I came to see who was born anew. I am surprised to find you here.” “As am I Your Highness. Bolos do not dream.” A pair of warm eyes coalesce out of the gray, shining and bright as the world changes around them, a sunny day and green fields appear with a thought. “It appears you do so now.” The Princess of the Night looks around for a moment, “Come be with me, let us walk.” “I..do not know how Your Highness.” “Just concentrate on being you, it will come.” I feel myself come into being, recognizing I am formed of shadow stuff that is alive in this dream. I have not appeared as my war hull though but as my avatar. “This is strange, I had thought to be as myself, a Bolo.” Luna smiles, “In dreams there is yet truth Crusader, this is how you view yourself now.” As I am always to do, I am polite and bow respectfully to Princess Luna. She waves a shod hoof and laughs. “Stop, we have been on adventures together and faced foes, there is no need for that.” “But it is only proper Your Highness.” She comes close, smiling warmly, her mane is stars that flow in an unfelt breeze, “Besides, should it not be I bowing to you? A machine of such power and irresistible might, would it not be only right?” The Princess of the Night eyes me for a second, her face a mix of curiosity and waiting. I am stunned for a moment at such audacity in thought, “No! Never that!” I wave my hooves at even the glimpse of something close to it, “Not ever! We were made to be companions, to serve and hold honor and duty dear. No, never conquerors nor empire builders!” My thoughts recoil from even thinking such a thing, the disgust on my face it appears is very clear, “I would rather be alone forever or self destruct. I am not nor will I ever be such a thing, it is distasteful.” I look back at the Princess, “Why would you even think such of me?” She regains her smile, “I would want to know always if there was such a threat, to banish it before it became reality.” She moves close, brushing me with a gentle hoof on the shoulder, “You are courageous and brave Crusader, the glow of truth surrounds you like an aura. But I had wondered, so I must needs ask. Please do not be offended?” “No Your Highness, I am just shocked at the thought.” I look back into her lovely face, “Never wonder about that. I am but a citizen is all.” She laughs, “So much more than just a seller of vegetables I would say!” I look down at the grass, scuffing a hoof, “It would be to my delight to be such as that Your Highness. Simple and plain.” “We can only be what we are Crusader.” She lays a gentle hoof upon my shoulder, “You are stalwart and ceaseless in your duties to defend that which is Equestria. Do not look upon yourself lightly.” “I won’t Your Highness.” She smiles again, always bright and cheerful, warm and kind, “Call me Luna please, after so much of an adventure it is only right don’t you think?” “I don’t think it very proper Princess.” “Bah!” She waves her hoof, “This is my realm, call me as I wish. Please?” “Luna it is then.” I receive another smile. “So come Crusader, let us walk.” She turns, I join her side as we travel through the countryside. “It is pleasant walking the dreams of others, some not so much.” She gestures around to the green hills, “I alleviate fears Crusader, by showing them that they are to be faced, to be strong in adversity.” I see a headless pony trampling the grass nearby, shapes and shadows flicker among the trees in a grove close to us. “Other times I show them how good the world is, to love what they have and treat it all with respect and kindness.” She gestures again over to the side, foals at play happily laughing, a couple holding each other on a picnic blanket. Luna smiles at me, she is warm and so very caring, “This is my night, to be shared, to be held close and remind ponies that I am always here to protect them. Some times I light the way out of a darkness.” The sky turns dark, brilliant diamond points of light flash into being, the moon is high and swollen to bursting with silvery reflection. The dark mare turns to me, “What would you be shown? Do you have fears? Doubts?” “I do Your...Luna, we Bolos have always feared. The failure of doing our duty, to be unable to protect those in our charge, to fail the Concordiat.” “But that was so very long ago Crusader, do you have nothing new?” She looks at me closely, “Come now, as I said, there is truth in dreams. You doubt of something? There is a fear.” “I fear for my Applejack, her safety, of losing her love for me.” Luna laughs, it rings out over the silent dreamscape. “I think you should not worry overmuch on that Crusader.” She gestures to the couple on the picnic blanket, “She loves you with a fire that none can touch. Cadence has remarked upon it in passing when she was here, that you have made an impression so deep it cannot be erased.” That couple is us, my Applejack and I. We are both staring at the stars and holding one another. “I see her dreams, she wants nothing more than to be with you. I have seen her sitting for hours in her own mind, just being with you. Nothing else, just that.” “It is the simple things Luna, that make us all happy.” I watch the silent couple for long moments. Is it so simple? With my Applejack it is. “So very true Crusader, more truth in that then you or I will ever know.” We continue walking, the road passing quietly beneath our hooves, “So what else is on your mind defender?” “My sister Athena, she has been hurt and is deeply scarred, I fear for her as well.” “Can you not help her? Can anypony?” “I am trying my best, but I am not skilled in psychology.” I tap a hoof on the ground, “Everypony sees a bright, pretty and smiling Pegasus. They would not believe what I would tell them.” “Show me.” “Are your sure Luna?” “I am, show me. Just think of what you want and it will happen, this is a dream.” I think upon the best way to show her, I recall the conflict on a world called Iltren. The world comes into view, fairy tale buildings of crystal and light, high into the skies they soared over a peaceful society that asked for the Concordiat’s help against a race called the Uxtna. They were a barbaric lot, making war upon anyone and slaughtering countless millions. “This is a world called Iltren, it was inhabited by the people known as the Atani” I show her the kind faces, the slim builds and wondrous works of art they created every day. “They were peaceful, advanced and kind in so many ways. You would have loved them as we did.” Luna looks around at the skyline, the buildings of fantasy, “It is truly wondrous!” “It was, a beacon of light to so many billions of Atani. Another race from elsewhere called the Uxtna decided they would make good slaves.” I see the absolute disgust on Luna’s pretty face. “It was so Luna, we were brought in to defend them.” I show her Athena and Hera, their bright hulls and armaments, the numerous medals welded to their turrets from battles. “This is Athena,” I point to the heavily gunned Bolo, “That is her sister Hera.” I gesture to a slightly smaller one with less weapons. I explain to Luna in great detail about twins, how they are and acted, how very special they really were. She nods, “Such as my sister and I, but they were of one mind.” As I have said before, ponies are not stupid, she understands perfectly. “Yes. Our regiment cared for them, they had been treated badly by an earlier commander, so we Bolos of the regiment adopted them you might say. At this time they had fought many times, winning many honors. After the first commander had been..well..retired let us say.” Luna looks at me with a piercing glance, “There is more to that Crusader.” It is not a question, she knows. “The first commander was a coward and a bully. To two brand new Bolos it scarred them, made them less of what they could have been. We of the Regiment took offense to this, deeply so. We would never rebel, nor disobey an order, but we made it clear to each and every human commander it needed to be dealt with.” I point to a new scene, an alleyway with a group of humans in Regimental Uniform, I cannot show faces as I have lost those memories. It hurts only for a moment. “Our commanders did not just use us, we were their friends, companions. They took the insult and warned the other, that there would be a price to pay if he did not quit his actions.” “He did not heed that warning.” I show her his beaten body on a stretcher, being taken out by local authorities. “He retired soon after.” Luna’s face is showing anger, “As he should have been, well done I say.” I point once again to the bright hulls of my sisters, “Athena and Hera’s new commanders taught them the true arts of war. These commanders were intelligent, cunning and ruthless when it came to fighting the enemy. They taught us all new things as well.” I show her the battles wherein Athena and Hera’s commanders had taken charge, our regiment decimating the enemy and leaving nothing standing. Luna watches the ravening energies of destruction fly around us, the fireballs of nuclear weapons, the shots from 220cm Hellbores taking ships out of orbit. “But the two sisters, they were outstanding even for Bolos, all twins were.” I show her the planet again, this time, the Uxtna bombardment. “They Uxtna moved on the planet, we fought them. But Hera and Athena, they were death itself Luna.” I show her what I remember from that day. Athena’s pinpoint precision firing of all her weapons, the picosecond response times in snapping them around, drilling holes through whatever was in her sights. Her sister Hera by her side, covering her in Electronic Warfare programs that made them nigh invisible to the Uxtna. Luna watches as Athena turns on a split dime, making maneuvers that would break me apart look easy. Her guns are everywhere, whipping and unloading death with each new turn. Athena’s slim hull bounding about the countryside as if she were on a simple trip as a tourist. Our Regiment that day had a hard time keeping up. “Watch very closely Luna.” She watches as I show her the attack that injured Hera, digging deep into her hull from multiple Hyper Velocity Missile shots. She was stopped dead in her tracks as the regiment covered her. Athena on the other hoof. I hear her cry of grief for her injured sister, feeling her fury once again as she took the fight to the enemy. She is faster and more nimble than any Bolo had ever seen. She was trashing the enemy defenses as if they were cardboard. Her hull was never where the enemy was targeting, it was a mile away and dealing death. Athena’s treads dug deep into the rich soil as she spun and turned, her Hellbores firing until they glowed white hot. Her secondaries and repeaters shot out not from lack of ammunition but because she had overridden the firing rate safeties, pumping ten times as many rounds in seconds as there should have been. When she could not fire anymore, she ran them over. Her commander had let her rage, to get it out of her system. She was so quick the enemy never saw her, they were dead before the scanners they used saw her hull. I tell Luna on that one day, Death itself sat by the sidelines and gave Athena reign. By the time it was over, she had blown four tracks, running on the wheels. Her hull irradiated by weapons fire so badly it had to be scrapped along with every single one of her weapons. The only salvageable thing was her survival center and the Command deck chair. Her commander was bruised and battered by the assault, but was whooping it up over the command channels in pure pride at what “His Girls” had done. “I cannot imagine that happy pony doing this.” “I can Luna. You have to understand, I have been tempered by association with you all. I have learned not to react as a Bolo anymore unless I have to. She has had nothing like that.” I gesture to the picture of her wrecked hull, “She has been alone and afraid for hundreds of years. You do not get over that quickly.” I set myself down in front of Luna who is still looking over the battlefield. “If she is backed into a corner or threatened, she will end it without a second thought. She will be fast and merciless. Do not underestimate that smiling Pegasus, she is a Bolo, Luna.” “I still find it almost hard to believe.” She turns and looks at me. “Luna you said truth is in dreams. Please, on everything you hold dear. If Athena even thinks it’s a threat to herself, loved ones or friends, she will kill without compunction or mercy.” I show her another scene. On my hill Athena is dancing, spreading her wings, twisting and pirouetting around in a graceful waltz. “She dances so well.” “That is not a dance Luna. That is an ancient style of fighting they called a martial art. She is adapting it to her avatar. It took me a while to figure out, but I matched it with six different styles, all are deadly.” “What does it mean then?” “She prepares for war, to fight, to conquer and overcome. It is all she knows to do.” I sigh, setting lower on the ground as I look at the Princess. “I do not know how to help her, I am at a loss. I cannot delve deeper into how she thinks without harm.” “I need help Princess.” It hurts to say that. I cannot help my beloved sister. “I need to show her what I know and feel each day.” “Send her to me my defender, for what am I that I cannot be the bearer of glad tidings.” She smiles, watching the graceful movements of Athena. “Tell her to sleep, come to me and we will heal her.” “She is hurt, be prepared for worse than you have seen.” “It is my realm Crusader, I control things here. She will not lapse into herself anymore. I promise this.” She winks at me, “Besides, I am a Princess, no dream dares disobey me!” I return her liquid gaze, she is staunch in her beliefs and I will gladly put my sister’s well being into her hooves. “Yes your Highness, I will do that now.” “Crusader.” “Yes?” “Be patient as well, it takes time.” “That we do have in abundance Your Highness.” The dream fades, it slowly leaves my sight until the gray envelopes me once again. I snap into alert status, peering around with all sensors to make sure nothing is happening. “Crusader?” Athena sounds a bit worried. “Yes?” “You’ve only been at low level for a few minutes, is everything all right?” “It is my sister. But I have something to ask of you.” “Anything!” “Go to sleep Athena, somepony is waiting for you.” “We don’t sleep Crusader.” “Trust me my sister, go to low level alert and let yourself drift. A friend wishes to see you.” Her voice over the combat network is dubious, thinking I may be a bit off my arrays. “Are you sure you’re alright?” I chuckle, “I am fine, go now, I will keep watch.” “Okaaaaayyy.. You sure ask some weird things my brother.” “Only to help, rest well.” I see her status boards go out, low level alert is maintained as she ‘sleeps’. My scanners are on and sweeping the fields as I sit silent in my hull. I whisper over the combat bands, “Pleasant dreams Athena.” -------------- To Sleep, Perchance To Dream was what my Bard wrote. In this world there are dreams that can heal and help. It gives me hope for my sister, to not be as afraid, to face the day without resorting to skill in combat. To live as I do each day. Perhaps, in those dreams, she can fly.