More Dreams

by totallynotabrony

The Return of Vulcan Avenger

I sat back and watched Tin Mare do an internal check, testing her systems and control surfaces. I hadn't gotten around to repainting her and she still wore the toothy mouth on the forward part of her fuselage. Cordoba liked it because it matched her bandana. Tin Mare, of course, had no opinion.

"I'm pretty busy today," I told her. "I'm going to have to ask you to take the new plane out for some calibrations. Right now, I'm dealing with the fallout of too many sick references."

"Hella."

Twilight did not like my references. Partly because she didn't get them, but also because she thought I used them to covertly make fun of her. She was right.

"Anyway," I said, picking up a clipboard of things I needed to throw at Twilight eventually. Not physical objects, that would be too easy, just random insults and references she would never get.

I cleared my throat. "Twilight was such a bad romance that Kristen Stewart is gay now. Just like you, Twilight."

"Needs work," advised Tin Mare.

"Yeah." I shook my head. "I really need to step up my game. That's why I need to stay home today."

"And you want me to calibrate LIBB."

"Right."

I sensed the reluctance in Tin Mare's manner. Yeah, I knew the new airplane was kind of annoying. That's why we were trying to get her fixed up. Still, Tin Mare is a professional and didn't say anything, merely spinning up her engines to fly away.

I sat down to think of more insults, but kept one eye on the datalink display.

Tin Mare taxied out of the hanger and met up with LIBB. The Lightweight Interceptor for Badass Bombing was my latest AI.

"Hi Tin Mare!"

Libby had an annoying voice. She was just kind of annoying in general. Believe me, I had tried to fix her, her source personality was nothing like that, but sometimes things just don't work out. Like when I had to come up with new references.

"What are we doing today, TM?" Libby chirped. She excitedly wiggled her wings

She was a stealthy design with internal weapons. She slightly resembled a boomerang, a cranked-kite configuration with foldable outer wings. This was to allow her to fit in the back of Tin Mare should that be required. She'd occasionally had a few technical problems that required a haul back home.

I hadn't built a runway yet, so the VTOL-capable Tin Mare had to help her standard-takeoff counterpart get off the ground. She took off with Libby in the back, climbed to altitude, and let the other aircraft go. Libby dropped out the back, unfolded her wings, and began to fly on her own.

Libby was subsonic, but faster than Tin Mare. She excitedly banked around, zooming in circles.

"Status report," said Tin Mare.

"Oh gosh, I've got a full tank of fuel and I'm loaded with two dual-guidance five hundred pound bombs."

Tin Mare turned for the southeast and Libby trailed along behind her. "Where are we going, TM?"

"The dragon lands require patrol."

"Don't we have satellites for that?"

"Full motion video from space is neither easy, high quality, or persistant," Tin Mare explained.

It probably would have been better for the two of them to communicate directly via datalink. However, being the only two systems in all of Equestria that might need to do so, I hadn't gotten around to implementing that capability yet. Besides, I got the strange feeling that Tin Mare wouldn't appreciate the airplane equivalent of telepathy with Libby.

The two of them headed for the dragon lands. Libby had her own multispectral camera, but Tin Mare's FLIR was more versatile, being that it didn't have to conform with a stealthy profile.

Yes, building a stealth combat drone was overkill on many levels, particularly in a world where radar and heavier than air aviation didn't really exist beyond my own capabilities. Still, to improve my stuff, I had to always be one-upping myself. It's-a me, Valiant.

As they entered the dragon lands, naturally they found dragons. Some were a little smaller than Tin Mare, only a few were larger.

The first dragon Tin Mare and Libby encountered airborne gave them a weird look. "Who are you supposed to be?"

Tin Mare had been mistaken for a dragon before, when wearing the toothy mouth paint like she was now. Her databases gave her enough information to play along. "I am called Vulcan Avenger."

The dragon squinted. "Are you one of the northern tribe? They're about your size."

"I am not a real dragon." Good thing, too. Dragons are dumb.

"Hi I'm Libby!"

The dragon swatted the small drone out of the sky as she buzzed his head.

To be fair, it was reflexive in response to a perceived attack by a small insect. But also to be fair, Tin Mare was armed and programmed to respond to hostility. Her 30mm gatling cannon spun up and fired ten rounds into the dragon's belly from point-blank range. That was probably too much, but gatling guns aren't really for being conservative.

Tin Mare rolled over and dove after Libby, who had gone into a flat spin with claw marks on her fuselage. Libby deployed a drag chute, which helped stop the motion and brought her in for a hard but adequate landing.

This had happened before, hence the parachute. I couldn't figure out why Libby was so difficult, and the problems were almost not worth the expense and headaches. But I really wanted a dedicated stealthy attack drone and also I'm kind of hardheaded.

Tin Mare landed next to Libby. "Status report."

"Everything hurts," whined Libby. I hadn't built her with the ability to feel actual pain, I'm not a monster. Still, she was always using that voice to get sympathy. She really was a shitty combat AI.

"Well, at least you're still able to communicate," said Tin Mare. "Let's get you back to base so you can tell Valiant what you did this time."

The dead dragon's body flopped to the ground nearby.

Comments

[Salty Milk]

pfttt nice.

[frostfiresnow]

"Hi Tin Mare!"

Hmm. Sounds like you either have:
a bug in your system
Or a ghost in your robotic shell

[dragonstj]

YASSSS!