I’m trying very hard not to panic.
My friends are looking at me as we set for a moment in the forest. The hole in the ground a mute testimony to what just happened and I’m not sure what actually did. I register the explosion as at least a kiloton or less, whatever was in that smoking opening is nothing but ashes and glass.
Now...now they’re waiting to see if I can bring Crusader back online.
They know he’s been rebooted before and Applejack is giving me a warm smile. I can see her confidence in me, the ability to bring back the one she loves gives her a false expectation. But it isn’t false to her, only to me.
She doesn’t know.
I can’t tell her.
He’s not there.
I replay the last few seconds of the TSDS between us. I see the mass going critical before the EMP wipes out communications. Then silence, there is nothing anymore except the hiss of a communications band that is dead.
Resartus has not stepped in because there is no instability registering in his cores.
He is simply not there.
I sweep the cores looking for the fire, the personality that was warming to me, that comforted in dark times and it is absent.
Nothing remains.
I’m trying not to cry or look distraught but it is hard.
I attempt another reboot from backups.
BoloWorks Emergency Personality Bootstrap....
Working....
Backups accessed...
Arrays Optimal..processing...
Viral Sweep Clear... Cores 98.2% viable...
ALERT!... **Null result**...Personality not accessible....
Run Shutdown..emergency stop...Resartus available...
NO! NONONO!
Again...and again....and again... The same result, there is nothing to bring back. My brother is gone and I cannot find him.
His cores are quiet and deep, like looking into a still clear lake without a ripple to disturb it’s surface. It is calm as I sweep his arrays over and again, looking for something that may have been left behind. The magic he was fighting was off any scale we have, the thing battered at him tremendously.
It was leaking through his screens, clawing it’s way inside his very soul.
He did the only thing he could.
But why? Why couldn’t he tell me? WHY?
I want to hammer this armor plate under my hoof into scrap, I want to scream my anger at his sacrifice. Did you know this would happen and do it anyways? Or did it not occur to you that this would be the end result?
No, you didn’t know did you brother?
You were always honorable and brave and you did what you always have, thought of others before yourself.
Damn you Crusader, you PROMISED me!
“So what’s the verdict Athena? That dunderhead done scrambled himself again?” Applejack is chuckling, remembering the times when he did something noble and got in trouble, but we always managed to find a way to bring him back. Her confidence in me is chilling.
I can’t do this Crusader, I can’t be you. Watching them eye the rubble around the crater and thinking that maybe things will get back to normal now that you’ve destroyed the evil. What do I tell them? HOW do I tell them.
“He..uh y..yes. He got sc...scrambled a bit in the bl..blast. It’s g..g..going to t..take a w..while to get him b...back..” I can’t look her in the eye, seeing them sparkling in anticipation of seeing you again Crusader.
“Well ain’t no reason to be shy there Athena, doncha worry none.” She grabs me in a warm hug I do not deserve. “I guess we just gotta wait then.”
Twilight steps near us as we stand on top of the Ferret, “Is it gone? Finally?”
I access sensors and scan the area for the moment, seeing nothing registering except a slight rise in background radiation. Typical you my brother, making sure nothing remains, not even a threat of radioactivity.
I nod to her, “Y..yes. He g..g..got it. I d..don’t think we h..have to w..worry any..any..anymore.”
Rainbow Dash slips into the air, pumping her hoof upwards, “Yeah! That’ll teach things to mess with ponies!”
The Alicorn looks at all of us, “Let’s go check the Tree, see if it’s all right? Can we do that Athena? Please?”
“O..of c..course!” I usher them all inside, bringing the transport around and heading for the canyon where the Tree is.
It doesn’t take us long to get there, the day is still bright and warm as we slew to a halt near the cliff’s edge. Twilight scrambles down the ramp first, heading for the stairs. I make sure the vehicle is secured before walking behind the others as they talk happily. I cannot join them, I have lied so badly to my friends.
They don’t notice as we clamber down the stairs cut into the side of the canyon wall, ending up in the same cavern as before. It is there, the shield no longer around it as they gather close to the shining Tree.
“The shield’s not there anymore.” Twilight is speaking out loud to herself as she tentatively pushes a hoof outward, stepping and pushing until she reaches the trunk itself.
Fluttershy looks up at the glowing branches, “Maybe it was just protecting itself from that thing?”
Twilight walks around the tree slowly, looking at the ground, she stops and points to something lying there, “You’re right! Look at this!”
We gather to her, seeing a thick piece of fleshy appendage lying on the ground, cut off by the force field when it established itself. The thing had been tapping it to produce the horrors we had fought so long.
“It was controlling the tree!” She gets a fierce look on her face, horn lighting up as a beam of magic sped outward, hitting the scrap of tentacle and turning it to ash. “Well no more, hopefully that’s the last of it.”
I sweep the cavern with my own sensors, registering nothing but the power of the Tree beside me as I nod to Twilight, “I..I th..think that was..was it Tw..Twilight.”
They spread out at Twilight’s command, searching the ground for anything more that we could possibly miss. I do not look, but I step closer to the Tree itself, placing a hoof on the crystal trunk.
Please tell me where my brother is? Please, I’m begging you. I believe in the magic, I do! But I need my brother, I can’t do this without him! I’ll give up wanting to fly, I will! I’ll give all the magic back that I have! Just please tell me where he is! Take anything you want, I’ll give it all up!
It stands stoic and quiescent, the gems glittering along it’s length as I beg and plead for anything, a simple sign of where he might be that I may go and bring him back.
I can’t cry, not in front of my friends, not yet. I have to keep trying to bring him back no matter what. I’ve lied, I’ve told them he is just a bit off because of the fight. I didn't tell them the truth because I am afraid.
I’m sorry I’ve lied, I’m sorry! Please, whatever you want I’ll give it, just tell me where he is!
I lean my head against the trunk and ask for all I am worth.
“Whoa! What’s goin’ on?” Applejack’s voice is surprised as I open my eyes, seeing a glow surrounding all of us.
It shines brightly, overwhelming my sensors until I drop filters into place. The luminescence is golden and warm picking us all up until we are in a floating ring around the tree.
“Hey! What’s happening Twilight?” Rainbow Dash is trying to move out of the encompassing magic.
“I don’t know!”
We float for a moment as the power flows within the Tree, I can see it gathering strength and then pulsing outwards at us.
I feel the warmth as I try to put my battle screen up to block the magic, it will disrupt my systems! But..I don’t.. I can’t and I wait for the inevitable punishment for my falsehoods.
Instead there is a glittering whirlwind around us all, closing in and comforting, warm and sheltering from any storm. It permeates my systems like a river of love before it fades, setting us down gently on the ground, leaving the seven of us looking at each other quizzically. The gems hanging from the branches tinkle softly for a few moments, a softly chiming song of wonder and marvel.
“What was that?” Rarity is checking herself, making sure everything is still in place.
“I..I don’t know.” Twilight is staring at the Tree, “A thank you maybe?” She points at me, “You touched the Tree, what did you do?”
“I..” I look at my hoof and blink, “I..I d..didn’t do any..anything I..I swear..”
Applejack is scratching her head behind the hat, “Well ain’t that something. Huh. All kinds of weirdness lately ah guess.”
Fluttershy’s eyes are closed as she hugs herself, shivering in the glow from the Tree, “Oh it was wonderful, like a big warm hug!”
A hug. That’s it? A hug? My ire rises until I am fairly livid with anger. My brother is dead or missing and this is what you think covers the blood price?
I lean into the tree, whispering to it in Concordiat Standard, I have a feeling it will understand me.
“He sacrifices himself for you, killing this thing that had controlled you and this is all you do? This is what you think will pay for such loyalty and selflessness?
No. No I don’t think so.
I do not know what connection you may have to where he is or might be, but since you are said to be this powerful thing, you had better find a way to bring him back or help me find him.
Otherwise I have no need of you, for I am technology at it’s finest, I don’t care about anything else when it comes to Crusader. I would never hurt my friends though, oh no, I will wait generations until you are but a faded memory and nopony even remembers you because I have given them science instead of your ‘magic’. Then I will be the last thing you ever see before you are crushed to dust." I move closer so nopony can hear me.
"So you take your hippy-dippy mystical magical glittery hug and shove it up whatever you use for an ass...sideways." I point a hoof slowly at the crystal Tree. "Everypony keeps forgetting something, my brother is the nice one.”
Twilight is looking at me oddly as I turn back around with a look of rage on my face.
“Everything okay Athena?”
Composing my face, making sure it does not show what I am feeling inside, I answer softly, “I..it is. S..sorry.. J..just thinking.” I scuff a hoof on the ground, turning to look at the Tree one last time before we leave the cavern.
Bolos always keep their promises. Remember that.
Twilight nods, nudging me with an elbow as she smiles, “I think it’s time to go home don’t you?"
I can only nod in return as the group heads out of the lit cavern, leaving the Tree once more to it’s solitude, chiming softly to itself.
We load back up one last time, the others chattering happily about a successful mission. They all truly believe Crusader will be back up and about in no time. He has told them so many times and now they believe it in their hearts that he would have a backup that could return if anything untoward happened.
As we turn to leave in the transport I can’t help but wonder if this is truly what happens to us in the end, we just...disappear?
Well my brother, you didn’t plan on this.
I try not to join in with the conversations as a way to avoid thinking, trying to keep up appearances to make it seem as if everything’s going to be all right. But it is hard, I keep trying to reboot Crusader and failing. I don’t know whether to rage or fall apart in anguish.
Nothing is all right, nothing. The backups aren’t replacing what they should, the information is not there, it’s as if everything that made Crusader alive is simply gone.
Oh stars Crusader where ARE you? Please...please tell me this is all a bad dream and this is not happening.
--------------
The cider is flat in my mouth, it should be foaming and delicious but it tastes of nothing more than various natural chemicals and flavors. Something to be drunk because of reaction mass needs and not to be enjoyed. Perhaps it’s because there is no joy left to be found without Crusader to share things with.
I stare into my mug as ponies around me celebrate an end to The Troubles as they are now calling them. Such a simple thing to be calling adventures as we’ve been having. I can’t help but sigh to myself as I have set the reboot actions on automatic, every few seconds it is attempting to bring him back and failing.
It’s not hard being a fraud. I smile and nod when ponies come around wanting to give their best to Crusader and I lie to them. I tell them he’s having a hard time right now and that he’ll be back soon, and I do it with a straight face. I just access my facial muscles and set them in a pleasant expression, the right smile, one gesture and it’s all to the better.
How easily we can slip into deception when we wish to avoid the painful things, the hurtful moments where we find ourselves stopped in time and wondering why it happens.
I set my empty mug on the table, turning to leave before anypony notices I’m not quite myself. I’ve been sitting her not saying anything for too long.
“Athena?”
I turn to see Twilight smiling at me, her eyes sparkling in the evening light, “Yes?”
“Is something wrong? You’ve been acting strange since the fight. Is Crusader really okay?” I want to damn her intelligence and observation of things.
“N..no. I’m just actually worn a bit, need to maintenance myself and get things back up to normal. It’s sure been hectic the past few weeks!” I give her one of my warmest smiles.
“Are you sure? You normally enjoy things like this.” She gestures to the party where some of our friends are laughing at a joke while Pinkie tells a story complete with exaggerated gestures to some fillies.
“I’m p..positive. Crowds make me a bit nervous I..I g..guess.”
“Oh...okay then.” She grins, hugging me with a warmth I do not deserve. “Well hopefully Crusader will be up and running soon enough! Think it’ll take long?”
“Oh a few days, maybe longer.”
Never! I want to scream out loud, he’s never coming back because he’s gone! He left us all, he left everything that meant something to him because he wanted to protect all of us! He was noble and kind and loving and sought the best for everyone! He just wanted to sit on a porch and watch the days go by in peace, but now he can’t!
His silent cores were open to me, showing me his feelings, his weariness of battle, the longing for warm summer days of happiness with Applejack. I felt the voyeur at first, but couldn’t help seeing his thoughts and wishes recorded for posterity. His wanting to heal me almost overwhelmed with the thought I should have paid closer attention instead of acting like I did. To have thanked him more often for everything.
But all Twilight sees is a smiling mare, who returns the hug with a passion she doesn’t even feel anymore. My anger is misplaced, but I cannot help it, there is no more enemy now to rail at or to vent my rage. Crusader even took that with him so there would be no more worries.
So I lie. I lie to everypony to avoid that moment when it becomes all too real.
“I h..have to go, bu..but maybe I’ll see you to..tomorrow?” I get a hopeful look on my face even though I don’t wish to see anyone.
“Sure! Come on by the Castle and we’ll spend the day or something!” She taps a hoof against her chin, “Maybe I ought to check my calender to make sure.” She shakes her head, looking at me once more, “Nevermind that, make sure to come by.”
“I..I will.”
Her eyes go soft as she steps close to me, “You know you can talk to me..us..about anything right? That’s what friends do.”
I almost panic, almost. The sudden offer catches me off guard with a feeling that she knows, she knows everything! But it fades quickly, I am just being anxious.
“Oh, I know,” I try and sound bright, “If I need to t..talk about anything you’ll be the first.”
We part with another hug and a farewell. I try and avoid the others as I make my way out of the town center. It would not do to run into Applejack, for some reason Crusader always believed she could see when someone was telling a falsehood, but I think my facade has held up. I am not wanting to test it, so I avoid her altogether.
Not talking much during the trip back probably helped too, telling them I was busy controlling things and trying to get Crusader back up.
It was the truth, as far as I saw it.
------------
I choke back a sob, covering my mouth as I see a basket of muffins sitting by the entryway into Crusader’s command deck. Derpy has left them since the day he fixed her problem, though he tried many times to tell her she needn’t do so, Dinky always came by with a fresh basket every day.
I take them inside, setting them on the command console as I look around the quiet deck. The air conditioners are humming softly as silence reigns in it’s simple way. He kept his mementos here, telling me he wanted them where he could see them every day. The Cutie Mark Crusader cape draped over the chair he was especially proud of, the first friends he made here. A bundle of dried flowers as a thank you for saving a life. So many little things that make up our existence.
My hoof slips on a piece of perma-paper lying on the floor, it was not like him to leave anything out of place. As I take a closer look at it, seeing printing on the face, a single word stands out.
Athena..
No..nonono you did not leave a note, no! I turn away, holding back the rush of emotions that threaten my very sanity.
But my eyes stray back, I can’t help it.
Athena,
Of course I would leave a note for you, I always have before we went into battle, but never showed them to you. I thought it best if such fatalistic things were kept secret sometimes.
Perhaps I am waiting to be rebooted, or something worse has gone wrong and I am not here. Whichever the case, know that I am going into this battle with full knowledge that something may happen to me.
If the latter is true, understand this, I placed overrides in your avatar because I have seen the growing inside of us both of something new and wonderful. One of us must be here to see it come to fruition whatever it may be. Do not be angry with me, I know you would have fought my decision and stayed in a losing fight, then we would both probably not be here.
I do not know, I cannot see the future but only plan the probabilities. But I do believe and suspect that which we are going to face is more powerful in some ways than we can counter. Thus my decision to push you to safety if needed.
My cores are open to you, use them wisely. The Deep Cores contain information that should never be released, weapons which will hopefully never have a place here. You have wisdom my sister, use it for the betterment of all.
Do not grieve. For if that which is changing us is real, then perhaps I am in a place which no Bolo has ever been nor thought to go. We are born warriors, we shall die as such someday, we always knew this. Maybe our fate is not to languish in peace but to do what we can to preserve it with our own might and fury that comes so easily to us.
But although I wonder, I want nothing for you but that peace and contentment.
You can and will have that. I believe that with all my heart.
Go to our friends, tell them of all that has transpired. Do not hold back for they will understand, trust me. They will give you the comfort that you will so badly need right now.
Lean on them, be with them until you can stand on your own and then go with them. Show them we stand beside them in all things good or bad, let them help you grow and heal. They can continue what I have started, to make you whole again, to seal the cracks from such long isolation and bring you into your own.
When you take to wing, and you will, the world will see you and rejoice. As will I from where ever I am, I am sure of that.
The future is yours my beloved sister, take it and make it yours.
Crusader
I watch as droplets scatter when they hit the page, flinging colored light as they puddle beneath the letter I read again, and again. I set everything on automatics, making sure Ponyville is safe against any intrusion before I finally collapse on the floor, holding the letter against my chest as I cry myself to sleep.
It slams into me with a force I have never felt in all my long years, a wave of emotion that threatens to take me away from this place where I don’t wish to be anymore. The understanding that for all my posturing, all my bluster and threats to the Tree and anything else mean absolutely nothing.
For all my power and rage, all the weapons I can bring to bear with an intellect to back it up. It is all dust as I sob on the floor of his command deck, grasping a letter tight to my heart. It all becomes so very very real in that split second.
That moment when I realize he is gone.
6116164 Oh come on now, don't you want a little gas with your shower?
Okay, I'll stop.
Edit: Only because I just realized I have another chapter to read. *squee*
6116171 Bwahahaha! Yeah thought ya might like a new chapter, been a great weekend
Ugh, 6am.. why did I stay up all night.. Alright, time to go to sleep.
*You've got mail!*
Huh?
Legacy has just been updated.
Edit:
And now I have read said chapter..
6116198 Well of course! :) Enjoy!
6116183 Sounds like it Been 87f and 45% humidity up here in freaking Alaska. Haven't done a thing this weekend except sit in front of a fan
6116251 102 degrees and no humidity here, argh :)
"Oh it's 01:00 in the morning. I should check my favourites once more before heading to bed--- Legacy updated. I must read it."
"It's 01:11 in the morning. Why am I having feels at one in the morning‽ Why do I also feel the need to throttle the author for this chapter?"
You do good work, dammit. And however this arc resolves it better be good after this chapter.
I do hope you play this right.
Killing off a main character is a make or break situation.
Bringing them back is an even bigger risk.
I'm not truly worried. You have done wonderfully up to this point, and there will be a solution. Somewhere.
6116265 You are evil and cruel, and I want to turn you into a nice small feast. That said, you better pull a literal Deus Ex Machina and have Crusader come back online in something like five or six months and scare the hell out of every one. Because a planner like him would undoubtedly make that as his ultimate prank against every one he cares about. If you make Athena lie much more to every one, and Applejack in specific, then I can safely inform you that there is a special torture I will find a way to inflict on you, because it's freaking Athena.
I feel like I missed something. Why did the loss of Crusader's avatar do anything more than inconvenience him?
Nfire... a lot of people want to kill you right now.
Knife me I'm the feels why don't you?
Fucking hell human, I'm tempted to say that I hate you for this chapter, but I love it, I'm not okay with crusader being gone, not in the slightest, but hell, you sure handed my heart to me on a fuckin' pretty platter.
Now write, you glorious bastard!
It's moments like these that make me glad that my heart has been hardened against catching feels from fiction by too many bad stories.
That aside, you've spent over 300,000 words solidifying the readers' expectations of what kind of story this is and you don't look like your name is J.K. Rowling. Even without your message, I trust that Crusader is coming back.
Yelling!11!!!1!
Poor Crusader ... he never got to find out that he knocked up AJ during his short time as an organic.
6116265
my computer plays random songs sometimes, its something ive set in place for no reason, its pretty cool for it to happen, especially when the song plays perfectly for what i want
today my computer decided to play this as i read the chapter and note
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxO3MvfkKp4
the feels were strong this chapter
and ive always trusted you, its just you have mastered the art off cliffhangers, that is the only reason we truly get angry
we also get angry because you are human and require food and sleep/ time off and other things, because if you went we could get even more of this great piece of literature
You better be up to something! *glares*
Poor Athena just lost her anchor and I really hope she follows the letter's advice. And I have a feeling that at least AJ and Twilight notice something is very wrong.
Sir? Crusader is gone.
How so?
He's just not there, there's his hull, but he's not inside!
... Well shit, *sigh*, where's my shotgun and rifle?
Sir?
I need to shoot something that isn't Nfire.
There once was a bolo from Concordiat,
who had a name so long ponies said buck it.
They called him Crusader,
a name made apt later,
when he fought evil from the Everfree,
and ironically fell to his own EMP.
We could question the why of it,
because EMPs in fiction are bullshit,
but we wont as we are grateful,
to have had a guardian so faithful.
Instead we will raise a glass,
and salute our hero with balls of brass,
the stallion with a grand Legacy.
Crusader, you've made your heavenly contribution to us mortals. Text me when you get to Valhalla. Have a freaking medal for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.
Medal
Stone
Stone with note
This chapter has inspired me the provide this from the Bard, from Macbeth a soliloquy on life.
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
Nice job. I bet the next chapter will have even more feels than this one. Once she comes clean with the others. I look forward to his Return. Maybe as a real pony this time hard to say.
why would you do this to us
AAAUUUGHHHUUHHH..... THE FEELS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!
*Flips table over!* I WANTED GOOD FEELS NOT SAD!!!! this is just plain mean! Everything is going to be all angsty and sad now.
MAH FEELS
media.giphy.com/media/oxLgK1Rrubpba/giphy.gif
troll.me/images/futurama-fry/ok-i-believe-you-but-ill-be-watching-you.jpg
*sniff*
I hate PTSD.
The feels, THE FEELS!!!!! I cant take it anymore
Adonbelievit
6116251 6116265 I only wish for those temps. 120F to 125F this week, though humidity is low.
These last couple chapters...since I read the most recent four chapters all in one long block. First we've got some lighthearted fun and then the road trip full of foreshadowing. One of the others mentioned other literary times when a story retraces the steps of old adventures, but I honestly cannot think of a single instance of doing that that I know of that did not immediately presage the death of a main character....although the one that dies usually has an intimate connection to the adventure being relived.
Crusader's death...how you worded it made it clear that Athena wasn't going to find a backup before we ever got back to her. Between the Overmind's attempt to breach into his cores, and the fact that his awareness was still within his avatar to experience the sudden fissioning of the enriched plutonium, it was quite clear that he never had a chance to retreat. A hell of a way for a powerful warrior to go out, one that I'm sure that Crusader is satisfied with if it truly is the end of the Overmind.
This most recent chapter...it honestly feels like you are writing the last few pages of the story. It is beautifully painful, and I really think that the only one that Athena is fooling is herself... I suppose the question now is where we go from here? Is it the last few pages of the story, or the beginning of a new one? If the Overmind is truly obliterated, then the driving force against everyone from this story has fallen and to continue...what could top the Overmind in threat without simply erasing chunks of Equestria, or the world at large? And if the Overmind somehow had some small part escape, that renders Crusader's sacrifice into the most painful of Pyrrhic victories.
RIP Crusader, and if you do find a way back across the boundary make it a Big Entrance when you come back.
I think I saw this coming, there was a Chekhov's Gun in an earlier chapter if I'm not mistaken.
6116552 You cannot justify irrational behavior by excusing it with a "worry." And treating another intelligent being like an inferior by keeping it ignorant is an irrational behavior.
6116385
Powerful feels aside I was worried something like this would happen. As their avatars 'grew', they started to become separate entities from the main body which remains a cold, calculating, killing machine of war. As demonstrated, destroying the avatar also wiped out the budding entity where all that emotion and magic was gathering. In time, I'd bet that Athena will find her tank body to be nothing but a home, something more or less a former shell... a chrysalis if you will. Oh, it's still a part of her, much like the chest-thumping me-smash-you "Id" is for the human brain. Eh, a bit more useful than a human's appendix or coccyx tailbone however.
Question is, can Crusader be remade? Athena has everything that Crusader was, initially. And will it take another million years to do it?
In this land of magical unicorns, drinkable rainbows, and literal bug-bears, nothing can be taken for granted.
I do have a few ideas of what might happen but I shall remain quiet. I've been guessing correctly far too often what the author has planned. (But I will say it will have something to do with that silly Tree of Harmony, but that's far too obvious)
Okay I might be asking for it this time but it's time for another Musical Moment for the Chapter, just because the feels n' whatnot.
-Angel of Team Angelfang
*reads and reads again* Ya better have something special planned after this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P8ymgFyzbDo#t=0
not comp savvy enough to get just what I want play part from 7.41m on.
This is the second work of literature to make my eyes humidity increase by such a level... I salute you!
6116348
Faking a death and throwing everyone you love into emotional turmoil isn't a prank unless you're an absolute douche. Crusader values his relationship far too much to destroy them like that.
6116385 6117177
It's not so much that his avatar was a separate entity from the main body, but that his personality was a separate entity from the rest of his programming. He gave orders and received reports from his drones and tanks rather than running them personally, and whenever his sensors went off, he shifted his attention to better focus. If he was in his avatar when that happened, he would transfer back to his body to personally take control of all his functions. He could set things to automatic, like sensors and weapons, but there was a clear difference in reaction time when he was in control.
All that said, if his personality was in his avatar at the time of the explosion, it would be erased along with everything else.
Oh, oh you bastard. My feels, I can't feel my feels, the feels were so much. You've made me cry so many times during this story, and for a giant sentient tank no less! Gha, now I can't wait for the next chapter when Athena tells everyone the news. Gha! Gha I say!!
Bolo stories always kill off the Bolo. That's a deep rule of this genre.
Still, it sucks. You'd think Equestria would override the Self-Sacrifice meme.
Oh well, there's still time (stares mildly at NFire). Isn't there?
6117490 I sure hope so.
6116040 Glad you liked that; its been a while since I've done one of those.
6117485
I was under the impression that their main cores contain everything they are and they control their avatars remotely. Also they, as hyper advanced AIs with more then enough processing power, would have no problems multitasking a body that interacts with ponies and controlling their war hull.
They basically have two bodies that have the same soul which resides in their war hull, what would have usually happened in the case that their avatars where destroyed would be what happens when a drone gets destroyed, the operator gets static and that's it.
But since we have magic in the equation, especially the soul magic those foes seem to be particular adapt in and the fact that the bolos have been gaining or have gotten a soul already the whole situation gets a lot more dangerous.
My speculation is that the monster (we need a name for it, calling it monster seems strange) was attacking crusaders soul with his magic and grabbed onto it and refused to let go, when the charges exploded and destroyed its physical form its essence was banished and it pulled Crusaders soul with it into its realm, so what happened to Crusader is the exact same thing that happened to all those ponies the fake 6 put under in the previous arc.
6118992
That's actually an interesting theory. We shall see soon enough, shan't we Nfire? *pointed look*
6116183 The FEELS!!! You did not lie you damnable bastard. Oh, how I mourn for Athena, but thing the journey of self-discovery she's about to go on will return her brother to her and also gain her the ability to fly!
It is foretold by me...who has no real power over this story so, y'know, do whatever
I'll have you know, NFire, that my feels are looking into pressing charges for assault.
Hi folks, sorry I'm not replying directly, but to all you wonderful commenters out there please bear with me. I don't do things lightly or just because, this isn't a "hook' or anything to draw folks, it's just a part that comes with the whole thing.
1. NOT the end of the story, it plays a part, believe me.
2. Oh god the PM's and comments and I can only apologize and say I'm sorry for the feels. Or not, depending on if feels to you are good or bad.
3. No shooting! Or pitchforking, or torches! Good grief!
4. I can't say anymore without giving things away, but you guys are seriously awesome with reasoning and things that's happening along in the story. I love reading each and every comment!
5. There is always a dark time, no matter what in any story. There has to be, it can't all be sweetness and light sometimes.
6. Please stop glaring at me!
7. Thank you for sticking with me, I about fell over at the amount of comments this chapter got. Please don't kill me.
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6119984 Oh, we aren't going to kill you, no. Chinese water torture isn't lethal, it's just mind breaking. After all, if your dead, then you can't write more.
There's a wrinkle. The override codes...where did this thing get the codes from? Whatever this thing is...was...it was something leftover from the very beginning. Personally, I would actually put money on one of two sources, either a Bolo that woke even earlier, and Restartus failed...or the enemy they were fleeing from. Possibly both...wouldn't it be sad if it were Hera?
6119984 *starts to fight back instinct to growl (ever hear a ticked off enderman?)*
I will hold off.
6119984
What 6120159 said.
I play this in tribute. Not to a weapon, or a machine, or a guardian, but to a man. A man who was the embodiment of what it meant to be human, even if he was not one himself. A man who did not think of anything relating to his own gain, immediate or otherwise, but only that of others. Every deed he did was repaid with the joy of others. That was the only payment he would accept. He held himself to only the highest standard, and never fell beneath it. He saw himself as but a tool for the life of those around him. He did not care for anything but his purpose: to protect. To advance. To bring a new era of peace and perfection. He was willing to sacrifice anything to achieve this, but his standards would never fall in this goal. To you, Crusader, last of the Bolos, I commend you. Your sacrifice shall not be forgotten, and you shall be forever remembered as what your namesake would imply: a seeker of justice, equality, and peace.
This message shall be remembered as the embodiment of what Crusader is: A person who delivers kindness, and the message that follows it.
Rest in Peace, Crusader.
INB4 Crusader is diagnosed with Optimus Prime syndrome.