First Impressions
The young indigene..correction...pony, returns the next morning as promised. Sensors detected the approach of her, and two more of similar size and weight. It appears that children hang out with friends in groups as on any other world. It is concerning me how apparently alike this world is to what I remember given my limited data base. I open the hatch for them to proceed inside after Applebloom knocks quite politely upon it. My video scanners can now catch details of the other two ponies. One by Applebloom’s previous description, appears to be a Pegasus, the other, one of the magic using type, a Unicorn. By voice, both appear to be female as well, and quite interesting shades of colors. I am introduced to Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle respectively.
Applebloom pointed to the large chair that swiveled from a mount on the floor, “See? This is the Commander’s Chair! I’m the commander so I get to sit there!” With that pronouncement, she leaped and settled herself into the cushion. “I’m the commander right Crusader?”
Once again the smooth baritone came from speakers, “Yes my Commander, you are.”
“Whoa! Where’s the voice coming from? Someone hiding in here?” This from Scootaloo.
“Nah, he says it’s just him all around us, not quite sure what that means though.” Applebloom looked up and around the room, the lockers, the medical bay, all the screens that were black. “It’d sure be kinda uncomfortable living here anyways I’d think.”
Sweetie Belle stuck her head out from a locker, covered in wires and spare parts, “Well whatever he is, it’s really cool in here, lookit all this stuff!”
I swivel video sensors to watch the three ponies, making sure the locks on all other lockers are secure and tight. They appear to be building something out of an R-45 Fire Control Module, their interest in me forgotten for the moment. This does give me the time to scan them deeper, the results a bit shocking, but not much more so than I expected. They are definitely equine, of a sort. Their eyes appear to take in more light and see deeper into spectra than old Earth equines. This in itself is interesting. One thing that does amaze me, is the denseness of bones and skin, it appears they can take, or deliver far more damage than old earth animals.
As for status, my tanks are almost full, I have been processing Cryo-H and Deuterium quite fast now with internal fabricators. With the extra solar power, I should be able to attempt a restart sometime in the next day or so. I can only hope the initiators themselves are not out of alignment, otherwise, this will be a very short restart.
I am drawn back into a conversation...
“I told him about Pinkie’s best party yet too!” Applebloom announced, waving to the room as she sat on the chair. “An’ I told him about the Princesses, and the Elements of Harmony and all the neat stuff that we do!”
Sweetie Belle put the finishing touches on the creation, it appeared to be a treehouse in miniature. “Cool! Maybe we can get some more of this great stuff to help us build things, we could get our Cutie Marks in design! Or..or..engineering!”
I ponder this for a moment, and decide to not let any advanced technology out into this world until I know quite a bit more about it. It has been Concordiat law, never to release any tech which has not been approved for use. In this case, I can apply it liberally, and shall. Admittedly, a Fire Control Module and data blocks look quite nice as a tree-house model, but then I can replace them. Until I know more about where I am, and the circumstances surrounding my state, I shall be quite careful.
“I believe that model would at least win a prize at a fair I’m sure. But I would ask that you not take it out of my command deck.”
“Awwww, c’mon!” It appears the one named Sweetie Belle has managed to get her eyes to look like what was used to be called ‘puppy dog’ eyes, attempting to get me to agree with them taking the model. Of course, I still cannot.
“I apologize, but those are needed here for right now. But what we can do, is talk, if you don’t mind? I would very much like to know about the world outside.”
Once again I am inundated with information. Not hard to keep up, though I’m quite sure the acrobatics and stunts aren’t needed necessarily. I am glad the command deck is solid durachrome, otherwise it would have received quite a few dents from the tough bodies of the young ladies. Though the chair did get a few new scuffs. It is hard not to be amused at the enthusiasm of these young ones, the zest and vigor at which they pursue life. But, as the information I need is not forthcoming, I must attempt another tack, being as kind as I can so as not to dash any hopes.
“I apologize once again for interrupting. But would there be any older ponies I could talk to as well? Someone with a bit more experience?”
Applebloom patted her chin with a hoof, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were balancing on the arm of the chair, showing off their latest maneuver.
“Ah know! I can get mah sister to come with us tomorrow! She’s got the day off from working the farm and I know she’ll be interested! She’s the Element of Honesty, cain’t get much better than that!”
Element of Honesty? I had thought the Elements to be an abstract, not living beings after being told of them by Applebloom. It could be she might have the data I need to proceed. So many things are not adding up, and as much as I enjoy the time spent with the three young ladies, I must have more solid information, that means contact.
“Would she be willing to come here and meet me? I’m afraid, well, I cannot move from here.”
“Ah’m sure she would! Cause you’re a nice pony, and she’s as honest as the day is long, she’d be willing to talk with you I bet!”
Sweetie Belle used her magic to lift Scootaloo off the chair, setting her down as she concentrated for a moment to get it right. “She would, Applejack’s great!”
A burst of energy comes from the small unicorn, immediately I swivel all scanners towards her and do a deep scan. This was the energy I was picking up days ago when I first awoke. Was this the ‘magic’ they spoke of? It is an unknown spectra and energy to my sensors and it is quite puzzling. I make permanent recordings for analyzing later.
“Then I would very much like to talk with her if I could? Would it be too much of an imposition to ask if you could bring her here?”
The three ponies looked at each other, “Impo..what?”
“Imposition, it means to lay a burden. It wouldn’t be a bother would it?”
“ ‘Course not, we’re always tryin’ to get her to stop working for a day or two sometimes, and this would be the perfect excuse! We could have a picnic!”
The little Unicorn lifted her front hooves, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Picnic Professionals! YAY!” As she was joined by the other two.
“Then I believe it is settled, I shall meet your sister Applejack tomorrow then?”
All three nod, agreeing to my request. Then we are off again with more tales. If they were children on Old Earth, I do believe they would give their parents a definite level of worry considering what they are telling me. Either that or drive them to the madhouse. Patience is a virtue it seems, on this world or any other. It would have to be, considering the level of unintended destruction they have caused just on my command deck. I do not think my makers ever planned for this eventuality, but I do praise them for durachrome and durasteel plating.
I shall have to make sure all the small arms lockers are securely shut and locked, I hesitate to think what these three could do with 10mm Norge Stunners or Needlers, much less power rifles.
I do interrupt them one last time, telling them it is getting to be afternoon already. I do not want them to be out too late as I do not want the first meeting with an adult to go badly. I must think of these things more now. First contact with a new, to me, race; was something done by Concordiat specialists. Not by such as I. But it is too late to think of any secrecy now as I watch them attempt to clean up the command deck. I am in this for what it is worth, and I can only hope I do my creators proud.
I am bid farewell till tomorrow, watching them troop out the maintenance way. Closing the hatches, I ponder this situation. This is a situation of which I am woefully unprepared, but I must make the best of it. I need access to all my computing functions. My battery reserves have topped, I can now spend a bit of precious power to my repair systems, I should know by tomorrow if I can attempt a restart. If it fails, I doubt I would know much after that, as catastrophic failure of fusion systems usually leaves a crater. But I am confident, I shall repower.
The number my internal clock is telling me is still baffling, I cannot have survived for that long, even with all systems in working order. My logs and data arrays cannot be accessed without much greater power reserves, so I am frustrated at my attempts to remember. For the moment, I am without recourse.
--------------
I feel the sun setting by the energy flowing through the solar panel. I wonder what this world is like outside, and who inhabits it besides these ponies. I scan the combat bands and channels, noting the damning hiss of background noise, the silence that taunts me. My brothers and sisters, are they lost to me forever? I spend the night in contemplation.
--------------
Once again, the new sun brings me out of my Survival Center, more power flows through molycircs as I continually scan the bands for any sign of my companions. I am patient, the restart is tonight, all tanks are full and the tap has been withdrawn. From what little my repair systems can access, I am informed my initiators are aligned properly, everything is looking good.
I await the arrival of Applebloom and her sister with some trepidation. I ponder what I should, and should not reveal, deciding to be as honest as I can. Once again, the overriding laws of the Concordiat must be my guide. I shall adhere to them as best I can, but as this is a unique situation, I am at another crossroads. Until I find out the tech level of this place, this world, I cannot release anything that would do the Concordiat, nor myself any harm.
My seismic sensors detect the approaching ponies. One most definitely a larger one, a heavier step and footprint.
“Applebloom, I swear, we come all the way out here for a picnic? Seems kinda silly don’t it?”
“But it’s not just that, we gotta show ya somethin’ too! It’s really cool!”
A sigh accompanied the slowing steps, “Wahl that’s fine. Didya blow up somethin’ again?”
Sweetie Belle popped up from a bush where she’d been looking around, “Oh no! We found something really cool! You’ll like it!”
Applejack just nodded, expecting nothing but disaster sometimes from these three. But their hearts were good she supposed, just cleaning up the mess sometimes wore a pony out. “So what did you want to..” She stopped as she saw the panel of what looked like glass and metal, a deep black, jutting from the hillside.
“Well if that ain’t somethin’.”
She walked over, reaching out and tapping a reluctant hoof on it, “What is this thing?”
“We have absolutely no idea!” Scootaloo informed her proudly.
Scratching the back of her head, “Why didya bring me all the way out here then. Just to look at somethin’ flat and wierd?”
Applebloom smiled, nudging her older sister, “Nono sis, it’s this!” She reached out a hoof, tapping on the hatchway politely. It slid open, lights showing the way down as the Crusaders piled in, “C’mon Applejack, yer gonna love this!”
A wary look crossed Applejack’s face as she saw them running down the weird tunnel way, wanting to call them back, but getting a feeling they really weren’t in trouble. A hunch maybe, or just her being overprotective a might bit. Either way, she followed them down, listening to the ringing of her hooves on what appeared to be metal. Passing through another doorway, she entered a brightly lit room, where Applebloom sat on some kind of chair, the others digging through metal chests full of wiring and other things she couldn’t identify.
Applebloom waved a hoof around the room, “See what we found!”
Taking her hat off, she looked aorund the room, seeing light from what appeared to be the ceiling,soft and glowing. A few black windows here and there showing nothing, and a lot of blinking lights on the flat thing in front of Applebloom. “Well what in tarnation is this Applebloom? You sure it’s not dangerous?”
The brightly colored filly laughed, “Oh no, not a bit. He’s really friendly!”
Now a concerned look crossed her face, “Who is? What’re you talking about?”
At this point, seeing the introductions are not going as planned, I decide to intervene. “She is talking about me Miss Applejack.”
Applejack’s green eyes widened, hearing the voice, “And just who are you?”
“Please, call me Crusader. I mean no harm to anyone Miss Applejack, I assure you.”
Applejack stood for a moment, usually she could get a good read on folks who might be lying, or trying something shady. But this voice, she got nothing, not even a hunch.
“Ah’m not to sure ‘bout that. Why are ya hidin’ then?”
“I am not hiding Miss Applejack. I am here, though not as a, well..pony. I am all around you in this room. You might say, I’m a machine.” I break it as gently as I can, seeing her response to my voice. Trying to couch it in terms that would be understood, but not condescending.
“Ah ain’t never heard of no talking machine, so if yer hidin’ you better get out here or we’re gonna have some problems!” She still couldn’t get a read on this, like nothing was there TO read. But listening to the voice, it didn’t sound like it was lying.
“If I could, I would Miss Applejack. But I assure you, I cannot. Applebloom and her friends have been telling me about you. They say that you are as honest as the day is long I believe, correct my Commander?”
Applebloom perked up, “You betcha! See! He’s nice!”
Applejack plopped her backside down on the floor, rubbing her neck with a hoof, “Ah’m still not too sure about this.”
“I have conversed with your sister and her friends for a couple of days now. I assure you I mean them, and you, no harm.” Seeing her reaction, I believe I have made an error in judgment.
“YOU WHAT?” The angry voice spilled out as she turned to look at the three now silent Crusaders, “You’ve been talking with this thing for HOW long?” Her puzzlement forgotten as she turned in a bit of a fury to the three fillies. “How many times have we told ya, anything big comes up you come get me or the others! Now ya done gone and just disobeyed that! You coulda been hurt or worse!’ She pointed a hoof directly at Applebloom, then turned to point at Scootaloo and Sweetie, “And YOU TWO, shoulda told me even if she didn’t!”
“But Applejack....” Her sister rebutted.
“No buts missy! This here’s serious and you know it!”
I choose the path of silence as the tirade continues. She appears quite miffed to say the least, and to be honest, it had not occurred to me to ask them sooner about an adult or elder. Admittedly it is my lack of judgment, but at the same time, I find myself not wanting to be the target of her anger. I am a war machine, yes, but I am far from stupid.
The three Crusaders looked quite abashed by the time Applejack got done. She was angry yes, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a good hearted pony. “Lookit y’all, it’s for your safety. All of us love ya to death, and we don’t want to see you hurt even with all the crazy shenanigans you get up to.” She put her hat back on, and sat back down from where she’d risen in a fury, “Just.. for Celestia’s sake be more careful dangit!”
The three fillies were quiet as they nodded and answered back, “Yes Applejack.”
Applejack took a deep breath, waving her hoof around the room, “And YOU! Whoever ya are, got a lot of explaining to do!”
I speak up this time, hoping to derail any suspicions, “I will explain to the best of my abilities Miss Applejack.”
“You better, cause Ah’m not in the mood for any fancy talk.” She narrowed her eyes once more, “And stop that ‘miss’ stuff, I ain’t some old nag.”
The three Crusaders covered their muzzles with their hooves, giggling away behind them.
“Knock it off you three.”
“Yes Miss Applejack!”
The long suffering orange pony just sighed, putting her fetlock to the bridge of her nose and squeezing it, “You three, I swear.”
I try once more to make amends. This was not exactly how I wanted the first introduction to be. “I apologise Mis.... Applejack. It is customary for me to address a person politely.”
With that I get a tilted head, “Person? You mean pony? Something like that?”
“Of course Applejack, I meant somepony, my apologies once again.” I resolve to have a long chat with her about the usages of the word pony. I am making far too many errors thinking their culture is similar to the Concordiats.
“So what’s yer story then. Let’s try not to use too many fancy words. Y’all sound nice n’ polite, but let’s keep it straight alraht?”
I try and think of a way to explain my predicament so it can be understood clearly and without seeming condescension. But at the same time, I am restrained by my reluctance to reveal any more than I should. I attempt to be both honest, and reserved.
“To put it simply Applejack, I am a war machine. I was built to wage war against my enemies. I had but awoken a few days ago, when something uncovered one of my solar panels, “ At her look of curiosity I elaborate, “I’m sure Applebloom showed you the large panel outside?
She nods, and I continue, “That takes in the suns rays, and makes power for me to run. As I said before, I am a machine, I am not a living thing as you are. I do not know how long I have been inactive, you of course would say asleep. So you see, I find myself in a situation in which I do not know anything about my surroundings, though Applebloom and her friends have been very helpful telling me about the world outside.”
She tilts her head in thought, scratching the back of it with a hoof as I await a reply. I have couched it in the simplest terms I can without going into greater detail that would only confuse or frighten.
“Ah admit Crusader, there’s been some pretty wierd stuff in the world, and I had a hoof in helping to defeat some of it. But ah admit, this one’s got me stumped. I really don’t know what to say about it.”
“I would hope Applejack, that we can come to an understanding. I do not mean harm to any pony nor anyone else who is not my enemy.”
“Jes’ who exactly is your enemy Crusader?”
“I do not know.” I answer as honestly to that as I can. I do not have access to higher functions as of yet.
“But yer sayin’ we’re not the enemy right?”
“Yes, from all I can gather, you are not the enemy as far as I can tell.”
“Could that change?”
She is far from ignorant, and catches me off guard with that comment.
“At any time it could, yes. But from what I have seen, it is doubtful.”
“You know what Crusader, I think we need to bring a friend of mine in on this. This is way over mah head. Twilight Sparkle would know what to do I think.”
It appears as if it is going to get a bit crowded on my command deck.
Stats
Page generated in 0.053 seconds
Total duration
674 users online
1,003,012 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
What exactly is the machine from?
5448114 As in who made it? Or where it's from?
5448451 As in what is the universe it is from? What is the crossover with?
5448492 Ahhh now that will be forthcoming soon
Oh man, Crusader and Twilight... this will be interesting. I can't wait to to learn more about Crusader.
5448833 I sincerely hope I can live up to the expectation then
Thank you for the comment!
Oh yes, I am definitely enjoying this.
A machine that can not only see emotions, but understand them well enough to be amused and worried, or to make wry comments... Crusader seems very much alive, regardless of the fact that it's not organic.
I'm rather looking forward to the full reveal when it finally gets freed from its sedimentary prison.
Hmm.. if I remember correctly, the Bolo books always used just "Commander" as the means of address, not "my commander." Military convention is also just to address by rank alone, no determiner, unless I'm mistaken. Is there a reason in particular why you chose to include the "my" determiner?
missing word
5598075
The Bolo tanks have very, very advanced AI.
5659908 Oh I'm very much aware of that now. When I first started reading this fic a couple weeks ago, I had no more than a glancing familiarity with what the term 'bolo' referred to. Ended up hunting down a couple of Mr Laumer's stories to get the original material.
I, myself, have never read Mr. Laumers Bolo stories, but so far this is looking really good.
The originality is superb and Crusader has the feel of an A.I. but you can also hear the sapient part of him when he uses terms such as "miffed" when he's talking to himself.
And for that, you sir, have earned this:
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d5/5a/1c/d55a1c4d751f9b58398a7bbc7e22ce07.jpg
All in all, great story so far!
Carry on!
Two versions of 'Alright?' Not the strangest thing, but it sticks out more so because she's repeating the phrase. Dialogue needs a bit of clean up in this chapter. Also, I noticed that the 'time' his clock told him in chapter one is not mentioned. So when he says he doesn't know how long he's been out, he's lying.
If blueblood is ever in this story then I can't wait for his head to get blown off.
Unless the blueblood isn't a dick in this story.
Or if there is a blueblood.
5976115 He doesn't seem to like his internal clock, so it is possible he thinks it's malfunctioned.
While he did say he doesn't know, it probably would be more safe to say he isn't sure.
Hello, just being nitpicky :P
Wow, catching up with this one is going to be a task. Here's hoping you make it worth the journey.
First lesson: Main Battle Tanks do not a skilled diplomat make.
Chapter 2, first paragraph:
Pegasi is the plural of Pegasus. Saying "a pegasi," would be like saying "a geese."
By the way, as a general Sci-Fi nerd who is unfamiliar with the "Bolo-verse" itself, is there any particular background information I should be aware of? I mean, I know a "Smart" AI and a Main Battle Tank when I see one, and I can follow techno-jargon reasonably well, but I don't know what a "Survival Center" is, nor what any of the weapons mentioned actually are besides "Gun."
).
As for the "Concordant," for now I will assume that relevant information will be mentioned as-needed in the story itself, and they themselves have long since gone the way of the Romans (if not, please don't spoil me
7985818
While i'm not extensively read into the Bolo-verse lore myself, either; i do know that referring to 'Crusader' as a 'main battle tank,' does not come close to summarizing what he actually is. Super Tank/ Mobile Fortress, would be a more apt description; the final word in stupidly big land war machines.
Personally, i find the whole idea of BOLOs rather silly; since they play into the same kind of 'bigger is always better' mentality that was behind such real life behemoths as the Battleships Bismark, and Yamato... and anyone even passingly familiar with World War 2, knows what happened to them.
8965837
The Iowa class battleship is bigger than the Bismark Class
9015856
Indeed it was... was there a point in bringing this up?
9016461
Now I remember, the Iowas lasted longer than the Bismark AND the Yamato.
9088323
That might have something to do with them being American Super-battleships, that never came to blows with their German or Japanese counterparts. Bismark and Tirpitz both got ripped apart not long after entering combat duty (largely by aircraft); and Yamato spent much of the war tied up at dock being useless, until she was ordered to kamikaze, and got ripped apart by aircraft; but not before her sister Musashi got torn apart by aircraft at the battle of Leyte Gulf.
The Iowas after the war, where really not much more than glorified heavy artillery; with their final upgrades in the 80s adding missiles and Aegis defenses. and now they've all been made into Museum ships, while the wrecks of their German and Japanese counterparts slowly rust into oblivion.
I'm still waiting to hear if bringing up the Iowa and her sisters, had any point relevant to the previous discussion.
At least they're not arguing over who gets to build a functioning mini Hellbore cannon for a science project.
If you're confused now, wait until you start getting more accurate history.
Cutie Mark Crusader Hitmares, yay!
And you're not worried you might, I dunno, destroy Apple Bloom's home and everypony there???
Given all the other intelligent species in the world, why isn't person acceptable when one of the two parties clearly isn't a pony?
I don’t. And it is glorious!