Minor Adjustments
Kiva climbed around carefully inside Megas with Apple Bloom. She was familiarizing herself with the war machine's internals all over again, as well as the modifications Apple Bloom had made to the inner workings. As they came to each primary system, Kiva would tell Apple Bloom what the system was called, what its function was, and whatever she could tell her about how it worked. In return, Apple Bloom told her what she'd been referring to it as - which was also the name it had on the sheaf of hoof drawn plans Kiva had been working from - as well as what modifications Apple Bloom had made to it, giving extra details beyond her minor notes on the crude drawings.
"And this is the hyper-fusion reactor," Kiva said, pointing at a central chamber of Megas. Inside, a large glass cylinder had powerful arcs of energy shooting through it. To her surprise, it also had a large, pulsating crystal inside. "I take it that's the high-density mana crystal you mentioned?"
"Yup!" Apple Bloom confirmed. "It was actually low on juice when I got it, but when I opened up the core it was giving off some sort of radiation that got sucked into the crystal and slowly reenergized it. So I tossed it in, where it floated into the center before I closed the door."
Kiva stared in shock. "The waste radiation of a hyper-fusion reactor is some of the most concentrated, deadly radiation known to exist. And..." She examined the systems. "By using the mana crystal to reabsorb and convert that radiation into magic energy, you've increased the safety of the power core by a wide margin, gave Megas a completely new power source alongside its original energy flow, and increased the efficiency of the reactor by 20%!"
"Yup!" Apple Bloom said happily. "Scootaloo was over the moon when she learned that I'd made the reactor '20% cooler'." She grimaced. "Scootaloo quotes Rainbow Dash religiously."
Kiva tilted her head at her phrasing. "So...what god do you worship?" she asked.
Apple Bloom paused. "...what's a god?" she asked.
Kiva shook her head. "Never mind. I think I may have misunderstood your word usage. Our languages probably have a different definition for it. What's religion in your language?"
"Science without understanding," Sweetie Belle said over the communications array from the cockpit, where she and Scootaloo had been observing Kiva and Apple Bloom's progress.
Kiva paused, trying to parse that. "I think I need more of an explanation," she admitted.
"If a given set of actions produce a predictable result with reliable consistency, it's ritual," Sweetie explained. "If you don't know why those actions produce that result, it's religion. If you do, it's science."
"Like with the Zap Apples," Apple Bloom explained. "We don't know what causes them to grow the way they do, but we know that we always have to do certain things in order to guarantee a good harvest. We don't know how much of what we do is actually necessary, and how much is...what's the word I'm looking for, Sweetie?"
"Ancillary?" Sweetie suggested.
"Yeah, that. Some of it might just be unneeded stuff added from Granny Smith's strange mind, but we have to do it all because we have no way of telling which parts actually trigger the magic. So it's religion."
"And that's what religiously means," Sweetie explained. "Doing something compulsively like you've always done before, as though a single mistake would ruin it."
Kiva rubbed her chin. "Seems there's quite a bit of adjustment I'll have to do to be at ease in your society. Lingual adjustments, at that." She ran her hand through her hair. "Let's keep going, see what else you changed."
"Gotcha!" Apple Bloom agreed, turning to lead Kiva to other parts of Megas.
After a time of further going over the various repairs and upgrades Apple Bloom had done, Kiva shook her head in wonder. "Apple Bloom, where did you learn to do all this?"
Apple Bloom shrugged. "I've always been good with my tools. It's no big thing, really."
"No big thing?" Kiva asked, stunned. "Apple Bloom, I've looked at the level of technology you have available on your planet. Earth of my time was centuries beyond this, and the Glorft who originally made this were millennia ahead of us. It took me years to learn enough of Megas' systems to redesign it for human use, and you took the same systems and my redesigns, and reconfigured it to pony use, improving on the original specs in the process...all in the course of a single summer!" She shook her head in amazement. "That's real talent, the likes of which I'd never even imagined before...especially since you don't even know the science behind most of it."
Apple Bloom stared up at Kiva in amazement. "Really? That's...talent?"
"And a real special one at that," Kiva replied, kneeling to rest her hand on Apple Bloom's head. "Being able to intuit technology eons beyond your own without fully understanding it and improve upon it? Even if you didn't have Megas, that's the kind of talent I'd want to take with me back to the early days of the war. Anyone can be trained as a pilot, but a good mechanic is worth Megas' weight in gold." Kiva blinked and tilted her head. "Apple Bloom, why is your butt glowing?"
Apple Bloom gasped, spinning to look at her flank. As the light faded, an image had appeared on her formerly blank flank: a silver wrench crossed with a blowtorch, with a miniature of Megas' power core at the cross point. Apple Bloom suddenly spilt into a huge grin as she leaped into the air. "Yes!" she screamed loudly. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she continued to shout as she bounced around Kiva. "I got my Cutie Mark!" She turned to the internal cameras. "Can you see it Scoot? Sweetie? Look, I got my Cutie Mark!"
"It's amazing, Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle said quickly.
"Dang, that looks awesome!" Scootaloo added.
"Would someone explain to me what this is about?" Kiva asked.
As Apple Bloom was still bouncing around, Sweetie Belle decided to answer. "A Cutie Mark appears when a pony discovers their special talent," she explained. "Generally it appears between 10 and 13 years of age, though some are earlier and some are later. We've been trying to find our Cutie Marks for over a year, since we're the last ones in our class to find ours."
"And Megas got Apple Bloom hers!" Scootaloo said happily. "Maybe we can, too! A Giant Robot Piloting Cutie Mark would be totally awesome!"
"And where does that leave me?" Sweetie demanded. "It seems all I do that's Megas related is fetch and carry, make sardonic quips, and stick my horn in it. None of those sound like good Cutie Marks."
"Maybe your special talent will be sardonic wit?" Kiva suggested, trying to smooth things over.
"Oh yes," Sweetie replied drolly. "Cutie Mark Crusader Cynic, yay." Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were consumed with giggles. "It's not funny!"
"Come on!" Apple Bloom cried happily. "I've gotta show Applejack! And Big Mac! And Granny Smith! And rub it in Diamond Tiara's face!" With that, the three fillies raced out of Megas towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Kiva leaned against an internal wall of the giant war bot. "You were once an engine of destruction under the command of your makers," she mumbled to herself. "Then I turned you into a beacon of hope. And now...now you're a child's plaything." She chuckled and patted the metal wall. "If you could talk...would you be happy?"
She turned and left without waiting for a response. If she'd waited a moment longer, she'd have felt the thrum of power from the mana crystal that briefly filled the mech, illuminating the inside of the mech in joyous pink light.
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Woah, that last bit is pretty deep
will Megas gain sentience?
Equestrian magic crystal in a high tech energy reactor=sentience?... Eh, makes about as much sense as anything else I guess.
5043349
Haven't decided yet, but it's distinctly possible.
I loved that show when it aired, it was hilarious and action-y. Sadly they cancelled it, although I did hear that the writers said that they were trying to get the company that owns the show to take it to a different network back in late 2012, so maybe it will come back... Either way, I like what you did with this crossover.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
I can just see the CMC and Kiva being pinned down when Megas suddenly roars to life and goes Mama Bear on the Glorf to save them and starts talking to them.Because the only thing cooler than a giant robot is when the giant robot talks back to you and is your friend. Just imagine the Friendship Report that incident would make!
I love Apple Bloom finally getting her Cutie Mark, well done. I hope Sweetie and Scootaloo get theirs as well soon.
5043349
The Megas seemed to have sentience in the show when it aired sometime as well. So I having some now is a good chance as well.
Sweetie Belle may not have engineer or piloting skills, but from what I've read she is good with math as was shown in the second chapter. Which would be extremely handy when designing plans or calculating complicated maneuvers. Especially, when creating strategies against certain foes.
5046194
So Apple Bloom's the mechanic, Scootaloo's the pilot, Sweetie's the strategist...
...and Kiva's the foalsitter.
Especially when they go to outer space.
5044432 Especially with the self renaming buttons, like the one that said "The exact same button Coop pressed 5 minutes ago".
i like how you made Aplebloom win her Cutie Mark from the realization of what is her talent and not for doing the talent.
Oh dear Celestia, Megas got Applebloom her cutie mark. Everypony is screwed.
Or Sweetie may get hers when they take on Magnanimous. If it still has "The Jammer" anyways. Not sure which fight might give Scootaloo hers for piloting though...
And I'm of the opinion that Megas was always sentient. It's the Pinkie Pie of Giant Robots.
"The same button Coop pushed five minutes ago!" "Five minutes until the end of the episode!"
HOLY FUCK SOMEONE FINALLY MADE A CROSSOVER OF THIS FUCKING YES!
5090072
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as you like the concept.
I don't know how I actually feel about this chapter. I mean, the CMC finding their cutie marks is one of the driving force of most of their action, and ,what I imagine as, whatever plot you can conjure magically and make it work. Making Apple Bloom realize her cutie mark, especially early in the series, makes the CMC dynamic change. I find that cutie marks are a sign of maturity and a sense of self and that I now imagine Kiva found a new ally in reigning in the CMC wild tangent direction, and I don't really find it appealing since my imagination is the opposite of Discord.
Pls, whatever happen next chapter, pls make it work
5134650
As for what you say about the CMC finding their Cutie Marks...yes, that's their driving force as children, with the Cutie Mark signifying the change from childish interests to adult responsibilities. If all I had planned for this story was childish cavorting around the universe in a giant robot, then it would make sense to never have them find their Cutie Marks.
The fact that Apple Bloom has found one indicates that I have more than that planned for this story.
Okay I read the story. Even though I find myself missing Coop and Jamie, I find myself really enjoying reading what you've got so far, (especially while playing the shows soundtrack in the background) keep up the great work, consider yourself faved and followed.
5137601
Thank you for giving me a chance.
And as for missing Coop and Jamie...
Remember the episode involving the Mirror Universe? Well, the MLP comics have already addressed that sort of thing, and it doesn't have a place for a giant robot. So where else might I find a universe with a giant robot for Megas CMC to fight? And how can I make that amusing?
5137394
Haven't really thought of it that way. Now I am really curious what direction this story is going
5137614
I wonder which Kiva thinks they have a bigger headache when they meet. Also would be fun to see Coop and Scoots battling to see who is the better pilot of a MEGAS Robot is as well. Maybe the Two MEGAS talking to each other as well.
Shit! It's alive and has gotten a taste for destruction!!!! Flee you fools. FLEE!!!!!!
5702734
Cool your jets. Megas is just happy. Once it actually DOES start getting a taste for destruction, we'll have no choice but to bend over and kiss our asses goodbye.
Thanks to that mana crystal inside it, Megas is now basically an Intelligent Device, much like those seen in MGLN. And those of us who have seen the series and the movies know what sort of damage they can do...
5044214
"Dear Princess Celestia, Giant robots are your friends. Literally. Please send me a stronger formulation of aspirin."