Chapter One, Or "We Need A Jaeger!"
Another bright, sunny day in Ponyville.
The clouds were gone, Celestia had raised the sun, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were walking to school, with Apple Bloom dragging behind her a huge (for a little filly like her) cart full of apple tarts.
“Pinkie Pie wanted three baskets, but wrote down three bushels of apple tarts for a party last night,” Apple Bloom sighed. “She did, at least, pay for all of them. Applejack and I are trying to get rid of all these tarts before they go bad, so we’re taking them everywhere that anypony can eat them.”
Scootaloo already had eaten four. “Hey,” she said, “I’m trying to lighten your load! I’m trying help out a fellow CMC here!”
“Yea,” Sweetie Belle nodded, eating around her third tart. “Hopefully, this will raise the spirits of everybody in school. I mean, it seems like everypony is down over the last few weeks.”
All of them had noticed all the unfamiliar ponies, with clip boards and serious hats, that had been examining everything and asking all sorts of questions. And, the teachers and the parents and even Rarity had been worried by some of the things the kids had brought home from school. It didn’t affect them, after all.
Everybody got into class, and Cheerlee looked down. She did enjoy the tarts, and had two before she realized she had to set a good example, and distribute them among the other students. Then, she let the bombshell hit.
“Students, I have notes here for your parents or guardians. And, some very bad news. Because Ponyville Elementary and Junior High has not offered a viable Jaegery program for the last few years, the Equestrian School Board is ordering the school closed. This, I am afraid, will be the last year until we can get a Jaegery program going for this school,” Cheerlee announced. Her face was long and drawn, and looked very, very sad. “We are making every effort to keep students and classes together, but we expect to have to send many of you to Baltimare schools, and we would like your parents help in getting everything settled. I’m sorry for this…and, you have been a great class. And, you still have homework due! So, I need your parental notification forms and the history paper on Monday.”
The class was shocked. Then, the babbling began, as ponies pushed up against Cheerlee to ask questions. The whole of the Cutie Mark Crusaders found a corner in the back and started to talk.
“Wait a minute; we’ll have to go to school in Baltimare!?!” Apple Bloom yelled in a whisper. “That’s…a whole hour there and a whole hour back by train!”
“And, it’s a big school,” Sweetie Bell sighed theatrically. “We’d get lost walking down the halls!”
Scootaloo had opened up her note and was…quivering. Then…the tears started.
“Scootaloo? What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked, looking worried.
“I’m…I’m not going to Baltimare,” Scootaloo replied, sobbing softly. “They’re sending me to a school in Manehattan. A boarding school. They’re going to move me out of Ponyville!”
“WHAT?!?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell both yelled. “They can’t do that!”
“That’s what the transfer form says!” Scootaloo yelled through her tears. “After the end of the year, I move to the school and start immediately. And, it’s a year-round school, none of our holidays match up!”
“This is awful! The CMC will be broken up!” Apple Bloom started to wail.
“We’ll never get our cutie marks together!” Sweetie Bell started to wail, as well, and clutched onto Apple Bloom.
“I’ll miss all my friends and Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cried, as well and clutched onto her friends.
Suddenly, Sweetie Bell was struck by an idea. She stopped crying, blew her nose, and looked at her fellow Cuite Mark Crusaders, saying, “Wait a minute-if the school’s problem is that it doesn’t have a viable Jaegery program, maybe we should start one! That way, we have a program and that means they won’t close the school down!”
Her fellow Crusaders stopped, blew their noses and thought. “That’s a great idea! I mean, what could possibly go wrong?” Apple Bloom asked.
And, somewhere far, far away from Equestria, Richard Hammond was disturbed in his sleep. Somebody had spoken The Words, and in an unconscious sort of way, he knew that disaster was incoming.
“Yea! We can get help from the adults, I mean most of them probably don’t want to have to send their kids on long train rides for school and such,” Scootaloo noted.
“So, we need to go and create a viable Jaegery program,” Sweetie Bell smiled.
“Awesome!” Apple Boom said. Then, she had a thought. “What is Jaegery?”
We interrupt this discussion to talk about the program of Jaegery (aka “The Art of the Jaeger”,) and how it affects students in Equestrian Schools. To speed things up, we’ll use a “question and answer” format for this purpose.
WHAT IS JAGERY?-Jaegery, or The Art of Jaeger, is the art of piloting and running Jaegers. It is a recognized team sport and martial art, and maintaining a viable Jaegery program is vital for Equestrian schools.
WHAT ARE (OR IS) A JAEGER?-A Jaeger is a humanoid robot (aka “engine”), about fifty feet tall, that is piloted by a team of two to five ponies. Connected via a neurological interface called “the Drift”, the ponies work together in a virtual command space called “the Manifold”. Heavily armed, Jaegers form the main strategic weapon for Equestria and its people. When engaging other hostile opponents-including dragons, other engines, and similar threats- the Jaeger is highly valued for its firepower and capability.
WHY DO SCHOOL KIDS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PILOT A WALKING GIANT ROBOT NUCLEAR WEAPON?-Finding capable crews for Jaegers is a tricky thing. And, the earlier you find them, the earlier you can train them, and the longer you can have them deployed in the field. As well, older Jaegers-still useable but not in the front line-are passed along to school districts for training in both piloting and maintenance. After the necessary modifications are made, older Jaegers, with their experienced Manifolds, are useful for young colts and fillies to learn how to use engines in combat.
ISN’T IT DANGEROUS TO LET KIDS PLAY WITH MOBILE ATOMIC WEAPONS?-All of your concerns are fully addressed here. First of all, all Jaegers are modified to uphold the International Engine Competition Committee (IECC) rules. Any direct fire weapons are altered to use simulation ammo or to fire a lower powered shot. Indirect fire weapons are prohibited and use only simulated round in the training/exercise battle area. Special computer and sensor systems are installed inside the Jaeger, and is designed to simulate weapon hits from the lower powered weapons used by the training Jaegers. This simulates combat damage and engine destruction, without any harm to the pilots.
In addition, the crew cockpits are heavily reinforced and have special enchantments to ensure that the pilots are not harmed. In extremis, the entire cockpit assembly is built around a Cassandra’s Tears system that can teleport the cockpit and its pilots out the moment before a critical blow that would harm or kill the crew. (This system cannot be used on battlefields, due to magical interference effects. IECC rules dictate that no system that can interfere with Cassandra’s Tears can be used on an official field.)
Power systems, as well, have been renovated. All Jaegers use modern crystal-mana power systems that require extreme measures to explode or deflagrate, rather than the older plasma/crystal furnace system (jokingly called by the crews “the Suicide Ball”). In fact, this is a major portion of the retrofitting process for Jaegers used for student training. Manifolds with “difficult” or “dangerous” personalities are not used in student training. And, all training is done under adult supervision.
Resolution made, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided they need to talk to somepony about this. Scootaloo’s suggestion of starting off with Rainbow Dash was immediately shot down, so they went to the next pony on the list that was the most viable to help them out.
They went immediately to the Golden Oaks Library, to talk to Princess Twilight Sparkle.
The question that kept getting asked around Ponyville was “was the Golden Oaks Library the library of Ponyville or the residency (and therefore palace) of Princess Twilight Sparkle”? This was one of those sorts of questions that ponies could agonize over for days, because these things were not the same thing. And, it seemed both rude and inappropriate to ask a Princess to check out your books and to pull down the latest copy of “Daring Do” from the reserve shelf. Even though she got a great deal of pleasure in a well-read patron from Ponyville.
At least Twilight Sparkle had gotten the library organized according to the Library of Canterlot shelving system and was teaching some of the volunteers how to handle the catalog system. For Twilight Sparkle, mis-shelving a book was a serious sin-not quite on par of eating your own children alive and raw, but somewhere above auto-erotic asphyxiation and below damaging books.
Right now, Twilight Sparkle was working on some sort of wing exercise with Rainbow Dash, using her new alicorn wings to push her up and down off the floor. “Come on, Twinkle Toes!” Rainbow Dash cheered, wearing a whistle and cheering on Twilight Sparkle. “You’ve got two more and you break your previous record!”
“Ninety-eight…,” Twilight Sparkle huffed, pushing herself up with her wings by the count. “Ninety-nine…one hundred!” She paused for a second, then did one more. “One hundred and one!”
Rainbow Dash was happy, and danced around as Twilight Sparkle rolled onto her back and panted. “A hundred and one wing-ups, Twilight! Keep that up, and your endurance will be awesome and easily twenty percent cooler!”
“Yea, just…” Twilight Sparkle panted for a minute. “I’m doing all the other exercises as well. Just feels like I’m not making any progress.”
“Hey, you don’t want to strain yourself-the wings are new and you haven’t grown up with them,” Rainbow Dash replied. She opened her wings up and started to hover. “Got to build up the basics before you get to the advanced stuff.”
The CMC looked at each other, then Sweetie Bell made a quiet little cough. “Um, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash looked over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their expressions were curious. “Oh, hi, how are you doing?”
“We just heard that they’re going to close the school,” Apple Bloom said, doing her best “sad filly in the snow” impression. “And, all because we don’t have a Jaegery program at the school.”
Twilight Sparkle listened, then nodded and looked guilty. “I know. I even went to Manehattan a couple of times to appeal the decision. And, when that didn’t work, I did everything I could to keep classes and kids together as much as I could. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more…”
“But, you can!” Scootaloo said, almost yelling (she didn’t yell-having Twilight Sparkle be very disappointed at you for yelling in a library, threatening to turn you into a chicken, and making chicken gumbo would moderate anypony’s volume). “All we need to do is start a Jaegery program at the Ponyville school! We do that, the school stays open!”
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. “I thought about that too, but there’s one big problem,” Twilight Sparkle replied sadly, her ears and shoulders drooping. “We don’t have Jaegers to set up for the class. And, there’s a few little problem, as well. We’d need to field a full octo of Jaegers-that’s eight Jaegers and about twenty-one students. We’d need a trainer and some other ponies to help with maintenance. And…since it’s our first year, the rules require that we be in the top three of our competition district to be considered a ‘viable program’. I’ve been asking, but there isn’t a single training Jaeger to be found for months…and we’d have to field a viable team in the next ten weeks…”
“Um, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “I might be able to help with the first.”
Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle twitched one of her ears. “Really?”
Rainbow Dash looked very, very sheepish. “Yea, really. Think you can all meet me at the Old Gulch Mine, with flashlights in an hour or two?”
“Rainbow Dash…is this something that’s going to require me to call for legal assistance? Again?” Twilight Sparkle asked, looking at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.
“No, no, it’s not going to be anything like the muffin swarm, I promise,” Rainbow Dash replied, looking very offended. “Just…it’s easier to explain when you get there.”
An hour later, everypony was walking into the mine, with flashlights on their head. Twilight Sparkle had brought a copy of Jane’s All The World’s Engines in her saddle bags, as Rainbow Dash lead them down. “Back when I was younger, a bit older than Scootaloo, I got in a lot of trouble and part of my punishment was helping out in the Mayor’s office,” Rainbow Dash explained as they walked into the Old Gulch Mine. “So, they put me on the totally not awesome job of having to go through the old records and shredding them.”
“You shredded records?!?” Twilight Sparkle gasped, in the same tone as the locals in a British pub would have said “you killed a what?!?” to Saint George.
“They were all supposed to be backed up onto microfilm, and this was years ago!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Anyways, as I was going through them, I saw this record for Jaegers. I came down here, and well…this.”
They had eventually walked and stood in front of a huge door. The massive sheet of metal loomed over them, and even the pony-sized door built into it was easily taller than the two tallest ponies that they knew-Celestia and Luna. “Never worked up the nerve to open the door up, I was worried that I’d get into even more trouble and it had alarms and such,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “But, since you’re the Princess and all, it makes it all official and such.”
Twilight Sparkle sighed and shook her head. “Okay, okay. I’ll get the door open. Everypony, stand back.”
Twilight Sparkle’s horn glowed and she could feel her magic getting “purchase” on the manual access handles. With a solid “oof”, she could feel the stuck door start to give, as old mechanisms turned and the door finally released. But, it didn’t open. Twilight Sparkle was ready to give the door a good tug, but waited and thought. “Wait a minute,” Twilight Sparkle said, extending her magic through the opened door. “We need to wait until the light turns green over there,” using her horn to point at a panel near the door.
“Why is that?” Apple Bloom asked, looking curious.
“The entire room is a controlled atmosphere location-they took all the air out and pumped in nitrogen. It prevents rust and such, but if we go in there now, we’ll suffocate because there’s no oxygen in there,” Twilight Sparkle replied and waited patiently. The panel’s lights started to turn from red to yellow, and then finally all the lights on the panel turned green. A series of solid “thuds” came from the door, and Twilight Sparkle pulled on the door again. “Okay, it’s open. If anybody feels light headed, can’t breathe, anything else…speak up immediately! We’re going in now.”
The massive door opened outwards, and they went in, lights swinging around the room. “Looks like an entry way to the main bay,” Twilight Sparkle said. She did something with her horn and the glow from it flowed in one direction. “If you’ll follow me, I think I can find the main power switch.”
It was the work of about ten minutes to climb up to the main power vault, as the CMC made jokes and told ghost stories about the darkness that surrounded them. But, finally, they made it to the main power room, and Twilight Sparkle pulled down the instruction sheet near the main power breakers.
“Piece of cake,” she announced a few minutes later. “Just have to throw these switches…”
She used her magic to throw a series of eight huge circuit breakers. A low, thrumming hum came from the transformers.
“…turn these knobs…”
Two knobs were twisted towards each other. The humming grew louder.
“And, pull this final lever!” she said, with a flourish, and a huge shower of sparks.
The humming stopped, leaving them all in silence. Then, with a popping flicker, the lights in the power vault came on. And, through the open door, they could see more lights coming on.
“Very cool!” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Now, where do we find the Jaegers?”
“There’s a sign here,” Sweetie Bell said, looking up at the walls. “Would it be the main bay?”
“That it would be,” Twilight Sparkle replied. “So, let’s follow the blue line.”
That took a few minutes, and they finally came to another set of doors. Twilight Sparkle opened them up, and the party of five were confronted by wonders.
At fifty feet tall, the Jaegers loomed over the ponies. Their thermo-optical camouflage skin was set in “neutral”, revealing the dull white plastic color of their armor. Wrapped up in massive translucent plastic bags, the bags hid the details of their form. They were clearly older models, having more sharp angles and longer lines than modern Jaegers. Their torsos were thin, almost overshadowed by the huge arms and legs. Five of them appeared to be identical, two of them looked like they were longer in both arms and legs and much lighter. And the eight was easily a whole head taller than the larger five.
None of them had weapons attached, but they clearly were fitted for combat use. And, all eight of them were waiting, as ready as they were the moment they were installed here.
All five of the ponies looked up in awe and wonder.
“Wow…,” Scootaloo said.
“That’s cool!” Rainbow Dash said.
“They’re…pretty,” Apple Bloom said, in awe.
“Oh, my…” Twilight Sparkle said, looking through the book. “Oh, my.”
All the other ponies looked at Twilight Sparkle. “What is it?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“I know what these are,” Twilight Sparkle replied, opening up the book. “These are Fafnir Jaegers. Easily fifty years old, but still considered some of the best Jaegers ever. I think the five over there are Sigurd-models. There are two Brynhildr-models, probably the scout pair for the octo. And, there’s an Odin. An Odin! That’s not an octo command model, that’s a tribune command model!”
“But, this means we have a full octo! Eight Jaegers! So, what do we do now?” Apple Bloom replied, looking at Twilight Sparkle.
“Well,” Twilight Sparkle said, scratching her head with the corner of the book. “I know what we should do, but you won’t like it.”
“What?” all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders asked, looking at Twilight Sparkle curiously.
“Research!” Twilight Sparkle said with a smile.
Everypony groaned.
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Ponies, Pacific Rim and Girls und Panzer. Completely hatstand, and yet... This promises GIANT ROBOT WARGAMES.
If you can write action scenes that are half-way decent, make the robots 'look' cool and original (including some junkers) and put in a bit of character growth for our trio, I will rocket punch that favourite star in the face. Your writing's not bad so far, so - giant robot fingers crossed.
Wee typo:
3492774 Will get to fixing and chapter 2 tonight.
Hilarious and epic
Who knew My Little Pony went so well with giant robots!
I may be missing something here (and I am almost sure I am, so please do not get mad at me), but IF you are meaning the Pacific Rim Jaegers, they are around 250 ft tall.
Creating a Jaegery Program: "How Hard Can It Be?"