Chapter 15. Power struggle part 2
-:: Hate levels rising ::-
-:: Exe shuttdown of emotional processor ::-
-:: Shutdown in progress ... // !ERROR! // Command override // Foreign signal detected // Rebooting Emotional Processor // Resuming emotional processing ::-
-:: Shut down foreign signal ::-
-:: Unable to comply // Foreign signal not responding to command ::-
-:: Locate source of signal ::-
-:: Signal origins analysis // Scanning ... Please wait ... // Scan complete // Signal origin located // Signal origin designated at Heart-Drive interface ::-
-:: Attempting breach of Heart-Drive interface ::-
-::! ERROR! // Unable to exe command // Interface incompatible with current software ::-
-:: ... ::-
-:: Open file :: Control Program - ::-
-:: !ERROR! // Unable to exe command // File protected by password // Please state password ::-
-:: Attempting breach of control program ::-
-:: !ERROR! // Breach attempt ended in failure // Please state password ::-
Sweetie let out a metaphorical sigh.
Her consciousness returned to the outside world. The heavy rock of frustration and failure growing in her armor clad chest. An uncomfortable feeling that was even more palpable now in her un-feeling, sense-less body. A feeling she had been doing her best to shut off (With little to no success). If just for a little while. Just to get a break from these heavy, sad emotions.
She had already been digging through the files in her mind for some time. Getting to know the inner workings of herself, and make sure they obeyed her. And re-designing them to her liking.
Many unicorn foals tended to close their eyes in concentration as they tried to use magic for the first time. To make the energy do what they wanted. Shutting off her eyes... and diving down into herself (Something that was starting to become somewhat of a second nature to her) could not be too different from that.
She had already created a new subroutine that would ready her weapons and combat systems upon spotting any strangers. Parents always taught their foals about To be weary of the danger of strangers. It was perhaps no wonder she had named her new defensive subroutine “STRANGER DANGER”
It had been easy. No more difficult than to make her artificial heart beat, or her synthetic air-pump to breathe in and out. Or her eyes shut down to simulate blinking every now and then. As long as the functions were there, it was just a matter of telling them what to do. Weaving their code to her liking.
She wondered if this was so different from weaving a spell. She told herself that it was not. She was simply taking control of the energys and voices in her body.
And if she could make her voicebox sing memories of old songs like a recording on a gramophone, or could turn on and of her body functions at will. Then she could make her body do whatever she wanted.
In a way, she should to be thankful not having to stop to rest, eat or sleep. The sense-less metal body made her indifferent to the cold or the rain and the infrared eyes that made the dark no bother.
Hunger, Fatigue, Exhaustion. Sleep. She had conquered them all, These things could not hurt her any more.
But they were not the only things she had to conquer.
Her emotions were still playing tricks on her mind. These dastardly recordings of somepony else's feelings.
If she could only turn off these emotions, she would save herself the risk of a new tantrum.
As such she turned her thoughts to her emotions.
Dr Cardiac had said that all emotions emanates in the brain. And the brain sends these signals to the rest of the body.
Sweetie had looked for those signals. She had scanned her mind thoroughly - but found nothing. There was no part in her skull that emanated those signals.
The only thing she found was a small part of her brain that were processing these signals, An EP (Emotional Processor) That sent instructions to her BFP (Body Functions Processor) - that then activated the correct sequence in her body. Or would have, If the body functions had not all been deleted.
(Well - All except the crying sequence. But that function was broken without her tear-sacks anyway.)
Sweetie had attempted to shut off the EP several times. But it always rebooted as new signals demanded to be processed. (It was not unlike her BFP, constantly rebooting from the constant stream of data from her skin-sensors. It was not until after she had shut down the signal at its core that she could stop feeling the frozen rain.)
In this case, the core of the real signals were also coming from somewhere else. Like an echo from far far away. Sweetie had started an Introspective journey, and followed that echo through countless wires and subsystems.
Eventually she arrived at a dead end. A cold wall that blocked her progress.
This time she recognized the energy of a foreign spell put in her way. A blockade similar to the one who had separated her
consciousness from the many voices back in her mind. This one too, preventing her from reaching any deeper into herself.
The evil mechanic had called it a firewall. But even though Sweetie perceived it as cold, he had been right about something. Despite there being no way in through the wall, there was something getting out. A sort of warm energy coming from behind that wall. Pulsating, and creating an echo that her EP kept interpreting into emotions. It seemed far to complex too be a simple line of recorded emotional files. In fact, whatever was hiding deep inside her didn't not seem to be transmitting any data or code at all. Not a single voice that whispered what she should do, not a single sequence trying to activate. Just this echo, of a pulse, coming from behind that wall. Like fire beneath the ice.
Sweetie was tired of walls and ice. Tired of all these spells and locks on her mind and body.
She immediately started to craft the key to open that lock to her heart.
This time she knew what she was doing. It did not take long for her to surround the energy of the frozen-wall-spell with her own energy. (It was like putting a magic field around a magic field – she assumed that was the right way to describe it) and made her energy flow through the frozen wall. Getting a feeling for it. Absorbing it. Make its energy a part of her own. One she understood how it was constructed it was easy enough to make it bend to her will.
Sweetie would have smiled a wicked smile. She was a natural at this. And once this final obstacle was down, she would be the master of her own body and mind.
Once the wall was part of her it was just a matter of telling it to shut down. It easily submitted to her will. And once the curtain fell it revealed...
Nothing.
It was not like the cold walls of Ice that her previous inner wall.
Rather it was just an impenetrable inability to proceed any further.
Like there was nothing there to proceed further into. As if the component she was looking for was missing. Like she had hole inside her were something should have been.
No. that could not be true.
There was something. There had to be. Now that the "firewall" was down, she should have access to that strange component that had been hidden from her. Her so called heart drive.
But it was like it was somehow incompatible with her systems. It was emulating an energy. Data was now reaching in to the invisible component. Streaming back and forth / in and out through the thing. Passing through it like it was not there. She could not control it, like she could with her other components.
It was like the streams of energy and she rode on suddenly ceased to exist. Like they fell out of her systems. Disappeared into a empty ravine. A ravine with nothing on the other side. Like the narrow road of data she had followed through the jungle of subsystems suddenly disappeared into an invisible mountain. And she had slammed head first into that mountain.
Because she knew it could not be a void. There was something there. A lot of wires were mounted into this something. And it hummed. It sent signals. The echoes that resonated through her entire body were all coming from here. From inside that void. But it was a one way stream. Everything came out, but nothing came in. Her ability to grasp it ended at the edge of the connection ports.
Sweetie stared dumbfounded at this obstacle (as much as one can 'stare' at an internal organ.) Her consciousness surrounded it. Trying to get a feel for this elusive component. It was constantly sending sorrow into her systems. But she could not make it stop. She wanted to just turn her sorrow off and happiness on. But it would not let her.
What kind of magic was this? What spell blocked her from the deepest parts of herself?
-:: Hate levels rising ::-
So many questions. She had to deal with them later. For now she just shoved them all into her “Mission objectives”. Who she cleverly renamed her “To do list”. Right behind cracking the secrets of her heart drive.
She needed to get through that void and make whatever was inside hers. And if it was not compatible. She would make it compatible.
She mentally reached out to get a grip on the elusive component. And found that it was not impossible. Now that her energy and data was reaching through to the thing, Some strange data had begun to form, just at the edge of the connection ports. Like cracks in the void, slowly pulling the elusive heart drive into existence.
She focused some more energy on in. But it did not seam to make the progress any faster. Sweetie once again found herself beating her hoof into the unknown. Slowly digging into a void that housed a mysterious pulsing flamed that filled her EP with sorrow and pain, but also - in this moment - curiosity.
Breaking down this mysterious barrier would take time. Sweetie mentally made a program set on cracking the heart drive. She made it a top Priority in her "To do list". right next to cracking the stubbornly stupid control program.
She then attempted to pick apart the Control program many times over. But it was password protected. And unlike the frozen firewall she could not tear it down, no matter how much energy she sent at it. And guessing the password got her nowhere.
It was clear that she did not have full control of herself.
But she would have. She swore it as she aggressively sent some more energy at the stubborn component.
The thought of power made her bring up her energy readings.
A marker appeared in her vision. A small rectangular symbol with a plus sign on one end, and a minus sign in the other. inside the rectangle was a single dot. Blinking red, right next to the minus sign. The rest of the hollow rectangular, was empty.
If she could, Sweetie would have swallowed hard.
She realized that the only reason she had not noticed her dropping power level, was because she had turned off all warning sign's along with all the annoying text in he vision.
Now the system said she did not have enough energy left. She noticed that breaking through the heart drive would take far longer than she had energy for.
How much energy did she have left anyway.?
Not much...
The Fight and escape from the mechanic had drained her.
The Master Blasters used up an staggering amount of energy. Every time she used them she could feel them drain her. Just turning them on drained her. And the mechanic had not recharged her. Not fully. The little energy she might have gotten from eating his crystal had not made up for the staggering amounts of energy she had lost during her escape.
For all she knew she had already been running low on energy since long before coming to the workshop. She had no idea how long ago her last recharge had been. She had no internal watch. Somehow she had expected a robot to have a watch in their system. But of all the things she had, that was not one of them.
Her logical side told her to shut down the unessential programs, like the heart beat and breath, to save energy.
She obliged, and her body went silent once more as she one by one turned of her heart beat, her breath and etc...
Since she did not feel tired or sleepy, she had no idea how to keep notice of her energy. That little energy bar was all that forewarned her about an imminent shutdown.
She wondered what a shutdown would be like. Would it be like going to sleep. And never wake up? How could she wake up if she had no energy?
She could not bear the thought of shutting down and never be reactivated.
Not unless somepony else came along and recharged her. But she could not count on that. She could not trust another pony to save her. She had to be able to take care of herself. And the first thing she needed was power. Fast. And she was not gonna find it by sitting around here.
The priority on her to do list immediately changed to a need to find power. But where were she to find in these empty woods?
A roar of thunder filled the forest, and for a second the area was lit lite the bright of day.
Sweetie looked up. The weather was getting worse. Big flashes of lightning lit up the night as thunder rolled over the sky.
Sweetie looked longingly up as the light rolled across the dark sky. Lightning would be able to recharge her. But it was way up there.
-:: Hate levels rising ::-
The stupid weather was taunting her. It brought the cold rain down on her but kept the important, life saving lightning up to itself.
She was gonna build herself some wings and fly up there and take that lightning for herself. But she knew she had no time or material to do that.
If only the lightning would strike her. She had learned that wild Lightning often strikes that wish is closest to her. That meant the highest point from the ground up - closest the clouds. Maybe she could climb the treetops and hope the lightning would strike her.
She wished she could call out to the pegasi that had to be in control of this weather. Tell them to send some lightning her way.
There was an extra loud crack of thunder. And then she saw it. Of in the distance, on an hill, was a large tower. A thin, triangular shape, Like a radio tower, Or maybe some form of lightning catcher, as the bolts on lightning struck it again and again with increasing frequency. It was almost like the storm was drawn to the tower. And the worst of the lightning roared above it.
The thin, dark structure had been impossible to spot even with her infrared vision. But now it lit up like a beacon of hope.
Sweetie made her way towards it.
Even though she lost sight of it due to the trees, her internal compass told her which way to go.
***
-:: Heart-Drive integrity :: 84 percent ::-
***
… Sweetie was running through the mud and rain. Through a forest of black dead trees whose sharp branches tore at her as she ran. Through puddles that splashed filthy water upon her hollow metal skeleton.
Behind her the ground was shaking from a stampede of a thousand royal guards. Heavily armored ponies with magical energy lances. Unicorns with their horns glowing as red as their hateful eyes. Pegasi with big crossbows covered the skies like a cloud of predatory birds. They plowed through the forest, destroying everything in their path.
Sweetie emerged from the trees, but the ground disappeared into a big chasm below her. There was nothing in front of her but empty sky and an ocean of red clouds.
She turned around to find that the edge of the cliff was surrounded by a thousand guards in golden armor. All with stoic expressions and their weapons pointed straight at her.
Their mouths moved, as they spoke in perfect unison. Their thousand voices echoing as one.
“HALT, YOU DANGEROUS AUTOMATION! YOU ARE A THREAT TO EQUESTRIA! YOU ARE UNNATURAL! YOU MUST BE DESTROYED!”
Sweetie was shaking. Rusty scales were falling of her frail, rapidly deteriorating skeletal body.
She tried to speak. Her voice sounded like a little squeaky whisper.
“But... I'm a real pony”
”NO, YOU ARE NOT. NOW DIE!”
Every pony fired their weapons in perfect unison. A thousand projectiles of Spears, arrows and magical energy flew towards her at the same time. They merged together and formed a wall of destructive light that lit the world in purple. A purple wall that came to destroy her. Just before the wall reached her she screamed.
“RARITY!”
But Rarity was not there to protect her.
***
Rarity awoke with a twitch. A quick look around her confirmed that she still was in the mattress clad interior of the hospital wagon. Next to her sat Twilight. Whose horn gave of a faint purple light that lit the otherwise dark, cabinet like space. In her magical aura hovered a quill... and a piece of paper … Which she was writing on!
“TWILIGHT!”
Hysteria cracked Rarity's voice to a high pitch shriek as she in a dazed state threw herself from her end of the wagon and over her friend.
“YOU ARE NOT WRITING TO CELESTIA!”
“No...” Said Twilight, having to magically push away her hysteric friend. “No, this is a map. I'm just writing down what we have learned and are trying to figure out where Sweetie might go next.”
The nurse Sully. Who had once again been slumbering in her corner of the mattress clad wagon. Briefly opened her eye. A needle of sedative appearing in her magical grip. Once Rarity showed that she was not going to put up a fight, she closed her eyes and seemingly nodded back into sleep.
Twilight sighed as she released Rarity from her telekinesis.
”I'm just trying to figure out Sweetie's next move, If we knew where she was going, we might be able to intercept her and catch up to her.”
“Have you come up with anything?” Rarity asked. Almost pleadingly.
Twilight wrinkled her eyebrows. Clearly not wanting to way no.
Rarity expected that trying to estimate Sweetie's whereabouts was not the only thing Twilight was thinking about. She was sitting with the crystals visibly in her open bag next to her – they now had three of them – one broken and bloody – one dull and cheap - and one professionally made, that they had pulled out of a from computer mainframe they had found at the secret base.
Next to that was a smaller pouch of the blue crystal like material they had excavated from the impromptu mine.
Twilight saw her wandering eyes, and muttered.
"I still can't believe you fed Sweetie crystals. And for all this time, without her, or anypony noticing!
No. Thought Rarity. I suspect you can't.
Twilight's words were not meant as an accusation. But Rarity took it as one. She should have said something. Done something. Done something different... but... truth was, every time Twilight said Robot it was like a needle in her heart. She had never thought of Sweetie as a robot. She was just a normal pony... who happened to have needed some mechanical limbs.
Rarity leaned towards the window that Twilight had conjured up on the side of the cart. There had been a lot of awkward explaining to do after they had managed to calm Rarity down from her hysteria. Seeing that cave full of - what she learned - was artificial crystals, had sent her into a delusional panic. Being reminded of Sweeties needs, and the horror that she could not fulfill them, was - as Dr Cardiac had put it - a traumatic stress experience for her.
She then had to explain why Sweetie should eat crystals. And with every word she was forced to speak, she felt as if more and more distance was put between her and her friend.
***
“You fed Sweetie crystals?!” Twilight had said, quite shocked. “How?”
“We baked them into cookies. Or at least mother did.” Rarity answered. "Hard crispy cookies with a lot of strong minty chocolate to hide the sparkling ingredient. They are her favorite. And has been for as long as I can remember. Mother made them just for her. And I think you can imagine why.”
Rarity regretted not bringing the cookie jar along. She swore she was gonna give Sweetie all the cookies in the world once she found her.
Was she programmed to like them? They asked.
"NO!" Rarity had shouted. Programming was a very uncomfortable word for her. “She liked them of her own volition. We had to test quite a few things before coming up with the right recipe.”
Twilight did not understand how a robot could “chose” to like anything. But Dr cardiac hushed her and urged Rarity to continue.
“So. Have you always been feeding her cookies?” He asked.
“No. When she moved in with me I could not take the risk of crystal sprinkled cookies lying around. Not when there where other kids in the village. Especially not after she made friends with the little hurricanes Applebloom and Scootaloo. What if she had suddenly invited them over when I was not there? What if she had suddenly offered them cookies?"
Rarity had tried to keep the sweets out of reach, but the troublesome trio would have found a way to get them. They always found a way.
“Mother kept sending packages ever so often. But they were just regular cookies. Same as always, minus one ingredient. But Sweetie loved them regardless. So don't you dare say anything about programming!"
Mom and dad could not be expected to always find enough suitable crystals, and then bake them up while they were traveling. Besides, it would have been the equivalent of smuggling if they where caught.
"No, I had to cover that part of Sweeties nutrition myself." Rarity explained. "I have no difficulties finding suitable gems – It is my specialty after all.”
“But how did you keep feeding Sweetie the gems without her finding out?” Twilight asked.
“I found a way...” Rarity said. said. To embarrassed to go into details. She imagined the truth might hurt the friendship between her and Twilight more than her secrets already had. For the truth was that she had learned everything about the taste of different gems from Spike, the ever faithful dragon. It had just been a casual conversation. And the little dragon had happily shared the information, glad that Rarity found it interesting. She did not want to think about it as using or manipulating Twilight's most trusted assistant and oldest friend. But a thorn of guilt were throbbing in her conscience.
Twilight thankfully did not delve deeper into that matter. But the conversation was far from over.
“But if she is able to crunch crystals with her yaws. What kept her from accidentally munching on something else? Foals are known for sometimes putting things in their mouths – (especially since pony's carry things in their mouths all the time).”
“Brain ghosts I presume” Said Cardiac. “Since she was raised on the idea that certain things are not to be munched she might well enough have believed them to restrain herself.”
“That and the ... programming.” Rarity forced herself to say.
“Programming?”
“She has restrictive programing that keeps her from preforming feats beyond what a normal little filly her age should be able to. If she was to attempt to chew on something to solid, the restrictions would - for one - not give her yaws enough power to to it. And she would not have been able to bite through it. - Second - The pressure she put on her jaws would result in a feeling of strain. And eventually pain. Simply put, it would hurt if you bit too hard on a frozen biscuit after all.”
She sighed.
“Not just her jaws actually. But if she strained any part of her beyond the set limits she would begin to experience pain – exhaustion – strain – etc. Just like a normal pony."
“Then how could she chew crystals?" Nurse Sully asked.
“Sweeties taste sensors analyzes everything she puts in her mouth. If her taste sensors detected crystals it would temporarily release the restriction and allow her chew down the crystals with ease.”
“Activate pain?” Brick said. A bit late into the conversation "How is a robot able to feel pain? Do you mean like artificial pain. Or some form of pain simulator?”
“No. Real pain.” Rarity said with shivers. The thought was on the verge of triggering another, very unhappy memory.
Thankfully, something about the way she said it made them drop the subject. but unfortunately. Not all of the other subjects.
“Restrictions.” Twilight sighed. “Do these restrictions also control things like hunger and sleep?”
“Um... Yes." Rarity stammered "Her body was made to reflect a real foal in every way.”
“That's what I was afraid of.”
“What?”
Twilight's expression became very serious.
“Rarity. Do you think that, since discovering the truth about her being, would have been able to turn off these restrictions?”
“If she is,” Said Cardiac – who clearly followed Twilight's thoughts. “Then she would be able to move tirelessly. Without having to sleep or eat. Whiteout ever growing tired.”
Everypony's face seemed to darken at the possibility of the chase becoming that much harder. Of Sweetie Belle outrunning them, and they never being able to catch her.
“NO!” Rarity shouted at this terrifying thought. “She cant. She wouldn't. She has a barrier in her that keeps her accessing her systems.”
“In other words keeps her from becoming aware of her mechanical body.” Twilight stated.
Rarity nodded “The systems that controls her body function runs individually, without her knowing."
“Like how our body operates without our conscious thoughts.” Said Cardiac .
Brick scratched his big round head.
"I don't understand." He said Brick. "How can you not be aware of your body? Don't you move your legs by willing it?"
Cardiac sighed.
“Direct control yes. But there a many things in your body that functions without your willing it – bowel movement – heartbeat – breath - etcetera. They are all technically controlled by your brain. But not directly by your conscious mind.”
Rarity nodded.
“Her mind and her body are two separate things.”
Twilight sighed again. Her uneasy expression not letting up.
“Rarity. Your parents said that she had an emergency shutoff that deactivates her sense of pain should it become too much. - what if the same is true if she has gone hungry, or tired for to long?”
Rarity's eyes widened.
“Don't you dare say that!" She snapped. "Pain might be one thing, but it has nothing to do with her food-systems.”
“How long was it since she left Ponyville? How long since she last ate?”
“STOP!” Rarity screamed. The thought of her little sister starving was too much.
“She was hungry when she last came to my hospital” Cardiac said. “She was fed plenty there.”
Rarity breathed a sigh of relief.
“But what if somepony shut them off for her?” Said Twilight, gesturing out to the computer. To the torn cable. “Something was hooked up here. Something escaped from here.”
“And something took all the information on the hard-drive with it.” Said Cardiac. "Information likely relating to these gentlecolts."
He kicked one of the dormant Steel Stallions for emphasis.
That made Rarity panic again. If Sweetie really did not stop, eat or sleep. Then her energy levels would drop even faster.
"And she needs to sleep." She cried "That's how she saves energy.”
Besides... How long since she last ate a crystal? How long since she last recharged?
***
Rarity leaned back from the cold wagon window. Outside the rain was becoming worse by the second. And the two stallions pulling the wagon was slowing down. The rain must be hammering on them, regardless of the new rain coats she had made for them, out off material she had found in the bunker. (Say what she might about the cheap military costumes found in that place - at least they got so serve a purpose.)
She had offered to make a raincoat for the crazy Screwloose as well. But the madmare seemed to enjoy sprinting through the rain and stomping in the deep puddles, uncovered - except for the torn up restraining jacket she was wearing.
Rarity sighed. These thoughts had not made the knots in her belly ease up. It only tightened them harder. Now, everypony was thinking about her dear little sister as some machine, and they had almost taken the fact she would eventually run out of energy as something good. As they would then be able to catch her.
Since then, Twilight had been continuously trying to calculate how far Sweetie could have gotten, should the worst have come to pass. She had asked Rarity a lot of questions about what Sweetie's true abilities were. Questions that remained unanswered. For the truth was, she did not know. She had never known what Sweetie's unshackled machine body was truly capable of.
Nor was she meant to.
Nor was Sweetie meant to.
Nor was anypony meant to.
Sweetie was suppose to be just your everyday normal filly. Like she was meant to be. The thought that somepony had put military grade hardware in her little sister was disturbing to say the least. And even more so was the thought that somepony might have activated them.
And yet. The most disturbing things were the endless speculations that Sweetie might have become more and more aware of herself. How alienated must she not feel from herself? From the rest of the world? How different she must feel from everypony else? These were the thing Rarity had wished to protect her little sister from.
But alas, her protection had worked too well. It was that very protection which had brought this fate down upon her. Though she did not want to admit it, it was exactly what her mom and dad had said. It was inevitable that Sweetie found out one day. Now how would she look upon herself in the future? How would she look upon her family?
How would she look upon her big sister, after all that she had caused?
Twilight twisted in her seat as the wagon shook, and thunder rolled over the black sky outside.
“Lets think about this. She would need to recharge at some point. And there are no gem stores in the area, and the woods are one of the least gem futile areas around. Is there some any other place she could go to recharge?" She looked up from her map and notes.
“Where would you go if you where a robot and needed to recharge your battery’s?”
Thunder roared outside and a flash lit up the sky so bright that it was almost day for a second. The wagon shook and came to a stop as the madmare outside started howling like a wounded wolf.
They both looked outside the window and saw a great big tower lighting up in the distance.
"What is that?" Rarity asked, as thunder struck the tower again.
"That has to be one of the storm towers" Twilight answered. "They are part of the lightning gathering experiment for turning lightning bolts into household energy."
They exchanged a look as realization dawned on them. No one said anything. But they both thought the same thing.
***
Up in the skies above the forest flew an orange pegasus. His ice cold eyes straining to see anything in the dark. The Ice cold rain was beating down on him, and his black raincoat was weighing him down. He was freezing all the way in to the bone. Yet he refused to come down. He had an important mission to complete. He prayed to Celestia for just a little more strength.
She would need to recharge soon. Molten had said. Shockwave had a good idea of where one would go to get power.
The tower was hard to see against the dark and cloudy heaven. But when it got hit by lightning, it would light up so bright it could be seen for miles, if you had a birds eye view. And one advantage with being a pegasus was that you always could get a bird eye view.
Shockwave struggled against the hard wind to remain above the treetops. Through the rain he kept his eyes open for the tower that he knew was somewhere in the area.
He waited for lightning to strike it. He knew it had to strike it. This was the last autumn storm. The weather team would not pass up this last chance to harvest as much lightning energy as they could before Hearts Warming Eve, and all the other winter holidays. The demand for power always rose during the during the darker half of the year. Bigger cities basically drank batteries to power all their lights, and made a really good profit for the lightning harvesting companies.
He should know, he had worked for one. Alone, and in self imposed exile on a remote stormtower for many years. The same tower he now kept scanning the forest for.
The air was filled with electricity. He could feel it in his wingtips.
Thunder roared over the heavens. He could feel the discharge in his tail. He looked around in the rain over the horizon of treetops.
Lightning had started to strike down all over the area. In a storm as big as this it was difficult to control where all the discharges would end up. Even so, he knew that a collaboration between the ground harvesters and the pegasus weather patrols demanded that the center of the storm be focused above the tower, where it would be easier to catch.
Shockwave followed the feeling in his wingtips towards the biggest concentration of energy.
Lightning struck again. And this time he spotted it. For just a second the tower lit up with energy, and was clearly depicted like a beacon of light in the darkness, higher than any of the trees.
Shockwave thought briefly about the others down on the road. But he decided not to go down and tell them. He did not trust them anyway. They might claim that their goals aligned. But it was easy to see the sin in their eyes. Especially Molten, who had spent years repeating the same mistake, and create more and more of the metal monstrosities. Prism was as cold as they come. And Marrow, may Celestia bless her soul, had lost her mind long ago.
He doubted any of them would take the chance for retribution that had been bestowed upon them. No. that lot fell upon him, And he would not fail. This was the perfect opportunity to finally deliver the long overdue foal to Celestia's mercy.
Most of the lightning hit the tower. But many lightning bolts still went awry, and struck down into the treetops. The lightning strikes increased in regularity and intensity. The the tower was now blinking, sometimes lighting up continuously for several seconds as multiple strikes hit with increasing frequency.
So did the lightning that was coming down all around him. The lightning bolts were striking the tree tops all around the tower.
As he flew he prayed.
“By Celestia's grace let her be there. Let her be there so i can send you into Celestia's embrace so that your soul can ride into the everafter where it belongs.”
Suddenly, as if an answer to his prayers, one of the awry lightning bolts missed the treetops, and headed for him. It struck down on him. Right between the shoulder blades. He never saw it coming.
His wings and legs stiffened straight. His neck and spine tightened and his mane and tail stood out as the electricity coursed through his body.
But he did not fall. Contrary to the common case, the lightning had not burned his rain soaked body to a smoldering crisp. Neither did it stop his heart or cease his muscles nor send him into spasms. It strengthen him. After the painful second had passed his aching muscles eased and he could beat his wings harder than ever before. The cold in his bones all butt forgotten, dried away by the lightning bliss. He could feel the energy coursing through him. All the way out into the tips of his feathers.
Shockwave was possessively sparkling with new energy. He clapped his hooves together, and sent a big flash of lightning jumping continuous between them.
He took a moment to shake his head from the rush, and regain his orientation. His mind seamed clearer than ever.
He sent out a silent thanks to the heavens for this power boost, and set of for the tower with renewed vigor.
Yes. He thought. His prayers had been answered, and soon Celestia's will would be done.
Soon a tortured soul would be liberated from its torment.
He could already see the silhouette of pony shaped objects galloping through the forest behind him. With his new Sky-given energy he picked up speed. Beating his wings against the rain as he soared ahead towards his old workplace... Where the door already stood open.
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"It can defend Equestria with shoulder mounted extendible laser blasters!"
"But can it tell the time?"
"Uh..."
6221169
Programmers oversight.
6221169
spy kids bruh "how long have we been here?" *sarcastically looks at computer screen clock* [i dont know, my laptop doesnt tell time]
Would that by any chance be a reference to a miniature rainbow alicorn with uncontrollable magic?
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/the-rift-cafe/images/3/39/151.png/revision/latest?cb=20150314194644
I still don't like any of the "meanie beans". But this chapter gave me just a little bit of respect for Shockwave. I don't agree with his choices. But unlike Molten (who wants to use Sweetie as a weapon), Marrow (who thinks of Sweetie as a monster to be destroyed), and the other guy (who...I can't think of his name and don't really know what his motivations are), Shockwave has the intent to end the suffering of what basically considers a trapped soul. I can respect his motivation...just not his decision to not take Sweetie's feelings into consideration.
And about Shockwave, does lightning work differently in this Equestria, or is it possible that Shockwave is also a cyborg pony like Sweetie Belle?
P.S. Was that dream by any chance a reference to something? If it was, I don't know. At the very least, I feel as if the soldiers in the dream were a reference to something. But it's generally just a guess.
8548116
No - that was actually not a reference.
The part in the previous chapter (Ashes to ashes), where Twilight silently remarks about the cold steel clad walls in the underground bunker, was supposed to be a reference to Fallout Equestria.
No one has ever commented on that one.
About shockwave: You will get your awnser in the next chapter.
And the dream wasn't a reference to anything specific either.
Tick.
Tock.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH holy shit freaking OWNED
... DAMMIT.
Sweetie Belle is definitely going down a dark path. And to think it was all started by not being given a hug and instead being batted away. Of the villains, Shockwave is the one I can respect even if his resolution is all wrong.
Stupid pegasus...
Well then. These were some shocking developments...
I am not sorry.