Legacy

by NFire

From The Past To Now - Understanding

We were made to fight.

To conquer.

To win at whatever cost to keep citizens of the Concordiat, and the Concordiat itself, safe.

In this new world we have transferred allegiances. A new race, a new way is still being learned even as we use our skills to protect them.

Into all this, from the deep past, comes a human. A being we’d given up ever seeing again and mourned the loss of those who’d made us more than we could ever have been without them.

With humans, psychotronics technicians noticed a marked increase in combat rates and survivability amongst Bolos who had officers as observers, commanders, even tacticians.

It was not, and never was, explainable. Something inside us was faster, stronger and more agile when human beings were our partners. Even with neural interfaces it couldn’t be given a solid reason as to why.

We accepted it, and used it, becoming the most feared fighting machines and partnerships the galaxy had ever seen. Alien races developed their own versions which never came close to our capability. They didn’t understand. They couldn’t.

You did not wish the Concordiat as a foe. We had our losses, and stalemates, but by and large we held our own.

One thing was for certain when dealing with the Concordiat.

When Bolos landed, continents burned.

Now, we have a new world to protect. One that treats us as if we are beings not unlike themselves. Extending friendship where there was suspicion, some distrust, but it has smoothed out when we have proved ourselves again and again.

In return we have given what we can, what was asked for and accepted.

But there comes this figure from the past. One whose words penetrate deeply into our selves, our thoughts, as before.

He has told us we are worthy protectors. That we have stayed true to our duty. We have served with honor and distinction in his eyes.

Again we go into combat, facing that most mysterious foe, the unknown.

His words of praise ring through our cores as we descend into battlemind, linking together to become one thought, one action, one movement in a symphony of destruction for the enemy.

With that, there is nothing we cannot do.

-----

Wyatt watched for the umpteenth time, a flock of creatures get blown away so fast it was over in an eyeblink. Ashes rained from the skies as vibrant colors flashed overhead, the Anti-Air lasers tuned to a different frequency to allow for no battle damage were able to be seen slightly, a rainbow of colors that slashed and tore at anything they spotted.

Hyper-V missiles cracked the skies, slamming into larger creatures with a snap and thunder of explosions that left nothing but pieces scattered over the pretty buildings.

Chain guns and infinite repeaters screamed, the tracers firing so fast it looked like a solid beam of light that blew apart whatever it touched.

It was a cacophony of death, something he’d seen before but never like this. It was much, much faster than he remembered. The two Bolos were taking apart the enemy so fast they’d not had time to register most of their charging force was gone in an instant.

He leaned on the back quarter panel of the tank nearest him, one hand on Rainbow’s shoulder to keep her from charging forward. He wanted them all safe as the two Bolos filled the city with their anger.

-----

We burn with battle lust, the rage comes so simply and surely as it has so many times before.

Athena’s thoughts are joyous, a song in her heart that tells of battles before, filled with the implacable resolve we both feel. She is the Passion to my Stoicism.

As if it had been waiting all this time for a simple action to trigger it, that strange fire inside us flows forward, bursting from containment and engulfing our cores with a warmth that is comforting and welcome all at once. We can do nothing in the femtoseconds it takes, to stop it.

It wraps us in its embrace, bringing with it a resolve that suffuses our beings. It calms our minds, bringing a peace that makes us even more efficient, almost seeing everything about us in slow motion as we always have under Hyper-Heuristic Mode, but more than that. We choose our targets easier, faster.

We had always been wary of it, this thing inside us lurking, waiting as if biding its time to do harm.

Perhaps it was wanting for us to prove our intentions once more. To make good on our promises to protect. It was not for pondering at the moment. There was nothing we could have done to stop it, a battle being waged took priority and all resources were stretched.

A burst of light, almost as if the sun had risen once more, inside us, and then it is gone. A lingering warmth telling us that whatever it was meant no ill-will, and never would. But now, we can find no trace of it. The flames banked and smoldering are gone, leaving behind something fresh and new, a vigor we have never felt, nor needed, but accepted in the mere moments we had to think about it.

Everything becomes so very clear, as if we had been muffled in our sight, our senses. Crystal clarity in thought and actions as we dive ever further into ourselves. Tactical cores are flash-plotting ranging and fire at tremendous rates, gunnery is reacting quicker than even we imagined.

He told us that we had never needed humans, that we were fine by ourselves. We have longed for the sound of boots to trod our decks, the laughter and tenseness in voices from so long ago, missed and grieved for.

Our minds are calm, we are in that place we have only known when humans were our partners. A gift has been given. For what reason, we cannot say.

We use it.

-----

Twilight stood with Wyatt by the tank, looking out at the streets and what was happening to the monsters that threatened them all.

Her violet eyes had seen things to amaze and bewilder in her short life, but this was nothing less than astounding. She knew what the two Bolos could do, but this was not like anything before. She glanced upwards, seeing the human leaning against a side plate, his rifle still ready but unused as he watched along with her.

She had to yell at him to have her words understood over the sounds, “What is going on?”

He shook his head, leaning down to speak into one lavender ear, “I don’t know Princess, I honestly don’t know.” He had watched the rate of fire leap from what he knew as normal for a Bolo, to something beyond.

The two machines were acting in concert, flashing and blasting things out of the skies and off the streets of the Crystal Empire. Fast, blindingly fast. Turrets snapped around more viciously than before, each shot perfect, on target, and not even the crack of sound penetrating the air before another monster was obliterated.

Nothing got through that wall of light and lead. Not the smallest creature, nor largest behemoth that came trampling down the streets to try and crush the waiting ponies.

The humming of huge null-grav generators slipped through the air as the Bolos used them to move quicker back and forth, covering all angles and light enough now to do so with an even quicker reaction time. Unused before when moving into the Empire, they were susceptible to side-slipping. Now, there didn’t seem to be a problem with slight maneuvering.

Thunder and lightning cracked and rumbled around the castle as ponies watched in awe, the mountains of metal acting faster than anything they’d ever seen. Guns whipping around so that if you blinked you missed it, snapping forward and speeding a hail of ring penetrators at an approaching creature, chopping it to bits and doing it again to another even before the remains of the first had a chance to hit the ground.

It was almost beautiful to watch, like fireworks in the night. Each beam of light, each ear-splitting sound meant one less threat to them.

The night of the fight in the Everfree showed everypony what they did, what they could do. This, then, was so far beyond that it was almost surreal.

Pikes had lowered, shields went down as Guards looked on in awe, stepping out of the ring of defenses and just watching the show. Magic faded as nothing came through they had to take care of, just standing and observing something no man, or pony, had ever seen.

-----

Numbers dwindle, faster and faster do the lights that designate the enemy blink out forever. We are counting thousands, hundreds, then tens, ones...

The plotting boards and tactical programs are showing clear now. Radar and sensors are sweeping the city, looking for any telltale sign. Our guns are hot and waiting as we search, looking for that holdout, that final attempt at an ambush.

Drones come in low, peering through the alleys and back ways of the Empire, waiting to stoop upon the unwary enemy.

Nothing.

There is that which was once called living, nothing more now than debris or ashes in the wind.

We look into ourselves, searching for anything untoward, anything out of true with our programs, our internal machinery, our selves.

Once again, nothing.

Athena’s voice is wary over the battlenet, “Where did it go?”

“I have no answers, Athena.” I can tell her nothing but the truth.

Internal sweeps are done by security programs, sensors show no trace where before there had been a glimmer of warm flame.

She sighs, garnering a moment of humor, “Just when you think it’s all gone back to a somewhat normal existence...”

“As you are so fond of telling Sergeant Carpenter, it is Equestria.”

“I know, I know. I’m sure it was all noticed..so..”

“The truth will be sufficient.”

We both pause as a team of combat spiders roust a few remaining creatures that were summarily disposed of.

“That it?”

“I believe so. Nothing else moving except for friendlies. Defenses shall remain in place.”

“I guess we can rest our guns then.” Athena’s secondary turrets swing to neutral positions, missile launchers drop back into waiting bays where maintenance and overhaul will be done, as well as my own.

Drones are recalled for pickup and retasking, vehicles remain on standby, providing overwatch on the castle for now.

“We need to get Wyatt into the auto-doc as soon as possible.” Athena was sounding worried.

“Agreed. Switching to avatar now.”

-----

There was a moment of disorientation as they slipped into their faux forms. Made to fit into the society where they found themselves, they had become like an old favored shirt, slipped on and worn in comfort. The momentary glitch was unusual, as they both brought up diagnostics to see if anything had failed while they had been in battle.

Nothing.

Everything was working perfectly, limb movement, gyros, internal tasking sensors, nanite disassemblers, all in the green.

Leaving sweep programs behind to search and tag any and all problems, they arose in the forms which had become somewhat more comfortable than their own hulls.

Visualization snapped on with a clarity they had never experienced, everything was in sharp focus, resolution took on a new meaning as each thing observed was detailed, crisp and so very clear to them.

“Are you..?”

“Yes.”

Nothing was changed, not a muscle nor pin out of place, connections stable, everything was fine.

That special place that all Bolos went when with humans was carried with them now, enhancing everything they did. It was a wondrous sight.

Peak efficiency had no meaning here, the bar was not raised it was gone. They were operating like they’d never had before except in battle, even then this was a step or two beyond.

Athena was looking around, seeing with new eyes the Crystal Castle, the bright and colorful surfaces.

“What is going on?” Her voice was low, almost a breathy whisper.

Before Crusader could answer, another voice interrupted.

“Good question, what was that?” Wyatt stood there with their friends, all of them except the tall human looking a bit anxiously at them both, hoping nothing was wrong.

Lavender eyes met blue ones as they both turned to the group, “There seems to be..something happening.”

-----

Wyatt scratched the short-cut hair on his head, “That’s the damndest thing I’ve ever heard, sure it’s not affecting your cores?”

They had explained about the fire, the events leading up to it. Now there was no trace of it inside them, except now they were operating at a level unknown except for very short periods of time in battle.

Crusader nodded, “We are positive, everything is in the green.”

Athena gestured with a slight movement of a front hoof, “It’s odd. We are still constrained by limits of what our cores can do regarding tasking, but it’s easier to handle the load.” She was directing the cleanup with spiders and lifters outside the castle as they talked, the data streams and informations loads that came with tasks such as this were transmitting and received so easily now.

“Your reaction times and processing, for ranging and firing, were twenty to fifty percent higher than even the best recorded in combat.” Calliope’s voice had joined in, looking through, with permission, their data banks to compare statistics.

“We cannot explain it.” Crusader gave a slight shrug.

Rarity piped up, “Is there anything different you can tell us about?”

Athena grinned, “You’re all very colorful actually.” And they were. The pastel hues, always vivid before, had become a wonder to behold, almost as if they were now viewing permanently through Wyatt’s view. The pure shades and distinctions were quite noticeable. The Cutie Marks glimmered, but not like they had for human eyes.

“If we tone it down, we can go back to the way we were viewing things before, a simple switch, but it seems the normal visuals for us have changed.”

She smiled warmly, moving with blinding speed that beat her previous best, ending up near Rainbow with a clatter of hooves, “And we seem to be thinking a lot faster. Like..when humans were with us.”

Wyatt stood motionless for a moment, rubbing a hand under his chin and thinking, “Turn your screens on.”

Athena trotted over to sit beside Crusader again, “What?”

“Turn your battle screens on.”

Looking at one another, they stood, the only safe way to use them and threw the connects that would bring power flowing to the internal screen generators.

Any time they had used them, a harsh actinic light would surround the bodies of the faux ponies, sparkles that were seen were actually dust motes in the air that were disintegrated by the screen and the very minute kinetic energy imparted would be funneled back to help power them. Once settled it was a barrier between them and anything else, even magic, as long as the power supply held out.

Now, instead of quickly coming into being, it was a gentler appearance. Coming into shape around the avatars in a soft glow that was immensely more powerful than before. Colors swirled about them as if trying to decide which one to be, giving an odd magical look to the fields about them.

Athena popped her wings, seeing the razor sharp edges still delineated, but in such a way it was form-fitted to her body as never before. Sparkles still occurred when collisions of drifting dust impacted the shields, giving a more starry appearance instead of a quick flash.

It was the same with Crusader, a bulwark of energy appeared around him matching Athena’s as they both looked curiously at each other.

Outside, the big machines threw the energy lines that switched on their main battlescreens, the same thing appeared aorund the tremendous hulls, flowing with colors and hardening into an energy cover Concordiat scientists would have killed to study.

Wyatt peeked out the door, seeing the effects before they switched back off.

“Yeah, I’d say something was different.”

To be continued....

Comments

[Kenshinryuu]

Okay, we've had the Battle of Ponyville, just finished the Battle of the Crystal Empire... I'm going to say now there's going to be a Battle of Canterlot as well. Awesome battle against the Zerg wannabes, Wyatt was an excellent commander and I can see a statue of him in armor with his weapons being put up in front of the castle and Flurry Heart being told bed times stories of the Last Brave Human who rose up to defend her home from evil.

[LostArchivist]

Huh. Well, it seems that they have taken another step toward true personhood.
I wonder if Athena can fly now?

[hydra30]

Aw were did the flame go?

[hydra30]

Aw were did the flame go?

[tsaukpaetra]

They've almost ascended!

[Merula]

Hurray for Super Saiyan Bolos!

[KVFFour]

8962111
Seriously... Can we agree that Zerg and and 'Nids would stomp these tryhards?

[Edguy0009]

8969281
I agree.

[NFire]

8969281The 'Nids just stomp everyone :)

[Edguy0009]

8996528
Well almost.

[ChakatRedstripe]

Awesome chapter