It had been nearly two months since James had felt solid ground under her hooves. When they finally landed, she practically fell off Dust's back, spreading her hooves and embracing the ground like an old friend. Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, muttering something James couldn't quite hear. It took her several repetitions before James finally looked up.
"Since you can't fly, we need to kapti trajnon. Dodge Junction is close, malmulta distanco if we hurry. I don't know if the ponies who came for you were the real thing or not... I lose track of kiu princino donas aŭtoritaton. But we'll need to get far away from here. How do you feel about the Crystal Empire?"
What James wanted to do was beg her to take them both back to the probe. It wasn’t what her mission called for—living among the ponies would make learning their language far easier than just keeping the company of one. But knowing the authorities might be looking for her, knowing she’d just attacked someone, it took James more than a little willpower not to beg to be taken to safety.
She swallowed that inclination, with some difficulty. "You have empires?" James rose from the ground, brushing dirt from her armor. "I thought Equestria was a monarchy."
Lightning ignored the question. "You need to take off that armor. The ponies in Dodge City are tradicia, ili reagos tre strange if you wear something like that. Old earth ponies like that sometimes get ofendata if you wear anything at your age, but hopefully we can eviti ilin." She reached back, lifting the hard-plastic box down off her back and setting it on the dusty ground in front of James. "It came in here, right?"
"Yeah." James undid the latches on the empty box, before unclipping the saddlebags from her back and proceeding to undress. The armor was in three main sections, and each one could be removed independently. Even this accommodation wasn't quite enough to make the task as easy as it would've been with hands.
"What is that made of?" Dust asked, staring down at her as she undressed.
"Things you don't have names for," James answered. "They're really strong. They won't be cut, they'll stop bullets..." She stepped out of the boots, before pressing down on the button that would cause them to retract. The various servos and motors whirred and clunked for a few seconds, and the suit withdrew into its original compact shape. She lifted it with her teeth, setting it down in the box before doing the same to the transmitter and the stun-pistol, before finally shutting it again. She left the saddlebags outside the box, wedging her head inside and pulling on the straps with her teeth to tighten. The saddlebags had been made to be worn even without the armor, though no consideration had been made for her wings and even after a few seconds they were starting to irritate.
"I've seen unicorns do magic like you," Dust said, scooping up the box and returning it to her saddlebags. She managed to strap it back down without ever turning all the way around, using a combination of her mouth and her wings. "But I've never seen a pegasus ĵeti tian impresan sorĉon. It felt a little like weather magic, were you using lightning?"
"Kinda," James admitted, walking over to stand beside Dust. "I don't like the word magic, though. It's a machine. Like a lever, or a pulley, or... any other kinda machines you ponies have. I don't know much about how you live, but... point is, it's not supernatural. You could make machines just like it if you knew how."
"Not me," Dust rolled her eyes. "I'm no egghead. But I guess I see what you mean. The... ponies who sent you... they've done for unicorn magic kiel kion ni faris kun vetero. A unicorn charged your... weapon... and once they did, anypony can use it. Right?"
"Uh... close, I guess." James shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not an 'egghead' about machines either. I'm only good with languages. I don't know astronomy, or biology, or even math very much. Only the basics they make everybody learn. I guess I'm glad that included how to shoot..." Though not well. She probably would've missed with every shot if it wasn't for the suit assisting her aim.
As they walked, James was conscious of the rapid transition from undeveloped desert to something more civilized. She could see orchards in the distance, the green of their trees incongruous against the brown and tan of other desert life. Sweat was already dripping down her mane, sliding down her legs, and she found herself wishing she hadn't removed her suit.
Hiking hundreds of kilometers was no problem while wearing armor, but take that off and even a short distance in this heat became difficult. I wonder if the other species are better adapted to life on the ground. She still hadn't met any individuals from the "earth pony" tribe. Her one example of a unicorn had seemed even thinner and leaner than the pegasus ponies were.
She found her mind drifting as they walked, relieved that, if nothing else, Lightning Dust was giving her a chance to think. Someone wants to take me away from Lightning Dust. Someone who knows more about humans than any other ponies. Not quite enough to understand the difference between a stun pistol and something more lethal, but enough to at least recognize a firearm when he saw one. The ponies with him were dressed like Solar Guards. Exactly like the pictures of them she'd seen in her book, in fact. How much did the natives actually know about her?
He seemed to think that my involvement was a mistake. That probably means they don't know about sleeving. James looked up, clearing her throat. "E-excuse me, Lightning Dust..." She couldn't help but sound a little out of breath. She was thirsty, but not thirsty enough to stop and fight to get her saddlebags open and get at her water pouches.
The mare looked down, her eyes a bit glazed from the heat. The weight probably wasn't helping either—Dust's saddlebags had already been full before she tied a huge plastic crate to the outside. The suit and all James's gear had to weigh twenty kilograms, if not more. "Yeah, Lucky? We're almost there, if that's what you're asking. Tiuj ĉerizarboj are where the urbo komenciĝas."
"Not that." She hesitated for a few more seconds, wondering if she might be making a mistake. She kept going anyway. "The ones looking for me... they seem to know things. Have you ever heard of, uh... creatures... visiting Equestria before? Maybe in the last five years or so?"
Lightning Dust stopped walking, so abruptly she almost ran into her back legs. She swerved at the last second, and managed to stop herself from falling over too.
"Yeah," Dust said, staring forward at the town in the distance. "They supposedly visited Dodge Junction. Something..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Something really bad happened here, apparently. That unicorn who visited you in the hospital, she told me that the, uh... the things like what you brought, they could hurt ponies. Make them sick. Some even died. Was she telling the truth?"
"No!" James exclaimed, before taking the time to think about the answer. "Well, uh... they're not supposed to. Some of our technology is powered by... dangerous fuel. It's safe so long as the cases are closed. But if they open, they can make you really sick."
"That's... a little like what she said," Dust said, her face darkening. "She said that ponies were getting sick, and nobody knew how to make them better. We won't get sick, will we, Lucky?"
James shook her head again. "No, we won't. That's why I had to get new gear. I dropped my old communicator off the clouds while you were gone so it couldn't make us sick."
"Oh, good." Dust relaxed. "I don't trust the princesses the way I used to, but I don't want to help monstroj invadi. That isn't what you're here to do, right?" She turned then, leaning down and resting one hoof on James's shoulder. Holding her in place. "Tell me the truth, Lucky."
Again, there was no need to hesitate, nor any trace of dishonesty from her. "No, of course not!" Not that James exactly knew what Dust was talking about. But she could tell from her tone it must be bad.
"We came here because we wanted to be friends with you, that's all. We want to learn how ponies live, maybe share some of our ways so you don't have to figure them out the hard way, like we did. Honestly, it's... incredible to me how much we have in common. Most of the theories I studied on what alien life would be like suggested you would probably depend on whole suites of senses that we don't have. You might've been so different we didn't even recognize you were alive, or vice-versa. But here you are, using a language with nouns and verbs and adjectives, building..." She stopped walking then, staring forward. "Honest-to-God Old West boomtowns... and setting up governments that are familiar enough to recognize."
"I don't understand." Dust sounded a little relieved, but not much. "Isn't making friends more of a pony thing? You said your type weren't ponies. I've met dragons and griffons and minotaurs before, and they're not nearly as crazy about the idea as we are."
That took another few seconds for James to digest. She kept staring off at the buildings she could see between the trees—two stories, all made of familiar wood, with fences and signs and all the other accoutrements she would expect from a western boomtown. There were shouting voices, pounding metal, and the smell of food. Real food too, not just differently cooked hay.
"We're not... obsessed with making friends," she said. "But it's nice to do." She gestured up to the sky with one wing. "We've been looking for a long time, Dust. Wondering if, maybe, we were the only ones out there. Maybe the conditions to create life were so rare that it would never happen again."
Dust pulled her close with one hoof, embracing her with a wing. "You lost me again, squirt. You're a liar if you don't think you're an egghead... maybe ponies just have different standards for being smart where you're from. All I need to know is that you didn't come to hurt anypony. La aŭtoritatoj estas wrong, as usual. You just wanted to make friends, and they goofed up. A hundred bits says they got so scared they attacked and it’s their propra stulta kulpo that poneoj malsaniĝis." She released James, and together they started walking again. "We'll see when the next train is passing through. Hopefully you don't mind a little weather—we'll have to catch it even if it's portanta kargon aŭ poŝto. Maybe I can find you some smart ponies your own age up in the Crystal Empire. Homeschool estas mojosa kaj ĉiu, but... I bet you'd learn quicker if you had a whole library, instead of one book with ĉiuj paĝoj falantaj eksteren."
"Yeah." James winced, thinking about the ratty old textbook stashed in her saddlebags. Most of its pages had swollen from moisture now, and some of the ink was smearing. The binding was coming apart from many, many readings, and she'd marked it up so badly in places that she couldn't see the original words. "I probably would." They were close enough now that she could see a handful of ponies watching them. The cherry trees offered refreshing shade, making it easier to breathe. Not that Dust's answers had made her feel much better.
As flattering an illusion as it might be, James didn't imagine for a second that she was this probe's first attempt. It would've started with whole crews, would've started with capable humans of mixed disciplines and probably military backgrounds. What had they done in Equestria before she arrived? More disturbing, what had the probe realistically hoped to accomplish by sending a team of only one member across sixty kilometers in the body of a child?
When she found a private moment, it would be easy to ask, but she wasn't sure how likely she would understand the answer she received. A Forerunner was not a person, nor could it be said to be meaningfully sapient. It could only follow its core directives and respond to stimuli. What stimuli made it want to make me?
* * *
Lightning Dust could always tell when something was wrong. It was a talent she'd relied on even more heavily than her special talent, ever since her disgrace. Ponies in groups always acted in the same predictable ways, just like clouds. And just like clouds, she could tell when the lightning was about to start.
Dust led the way into Dodge Junction with square shoulders and a friendly expression, ready to meet anypony who wanted to talk with her usual mask of politeness. Only as they walked around the fence out of the cherry orchard and into the town proper, she could see ponies were staring. Ponies passing in the street stopped, mouths hanging agape. A few children squealed and galloped off as fast as they could go, their cries mingling together and stretching beyond what Dust could properly understand. A few ponies hurried away with exaggerated nonchalance, turning to glance back at them whenever they thought she wasn't looking.
No, not both. The ponies of Dodge Junction hardly seemed to see Dust. Every single one of them had eyes only for Lucky.
"W-what's going on?" Lucky whispered, even more shyly than normal. "Why is everyone so scared?"
Dust only pulled her a little closer with one wing. "I'll handle it," she said. "I'll figure this out. We'll be getting out of the city quick enough, anyway." They were already halfway to the rail station. She could see the ticket booth already, and the large sign of routes and schedules posted above it. She couldn't quite make them out yet, though.
"Excuse me, ma'am," a male voice said, his voice a slow methodical drawl. Though to be fair, almost everypony sounded like they were talking slow when Dust listened to them. She stopped, turning slightly so she could see the speaker. A thickly-built earth pony with a sheriff's star as a cutie mark, taller than she was and wearing a rope on his belt and a wide-brimmed hat. "Name's Long Arm. I don't mean to trouble you, but... who is this you're traveling with?"
"This is Lucky Break," she answered, smiling as though she didn't notice the entire city staring at them. "My little sister. Why?"
A small crowd of the locals was forming around them. Not close enough to stop them from running, not a mob... but close enough that Dust began to feel nervous. If things go bad, at least I can fly away. Might have to drop that box to have the strength to carry Lucky... So much for choosing a fortuitous name. If things kept going like they were today, the both of them would probably be banished to Tartarus before the week was over.
"Oh, well... it's just...” He turned from her, looking down at Lucky. His expression seemed to soften a little as he spoke. "Morning Dew, is that you? I don't... I buried you myself, how... how are you so young?"
Lucky backed up, shaking her head. "I don't know who that is. My name is Ja-..." She stopped, collecting herself. "I mean, my name is Lucky Break, just like my sister said. I don't know a Morning Dew."
Dust cleared her throat, nudging Lucky to start walking. She did, with Dust flanking her side like a guard. "Excuse us, but we have a train to catch."
Long Arm followed close behind. Most of the crowd started to disperse, but a few trailed behind as well, close enough to listen. "She looks just like her," he said, a little awed. "Forgive us if ponies seem a little... flustered. Your sister looks exactly like... a friend we've recently lost. She grew up here in town, so... Celestia, she looks exactly like Dew did, when she was small. There's not a water droplet hiding under those saddlebags, is there?"
"No," Lightning said, leaning back to lift them away from Lucky's flank with one wing. "She doesn't have her cutie mark yet. It must just be a coincidence. Yellow and blue aren't rare colors for ponies. Like you said, this... Morning Dew wasn't a filly. This is a different pony."
"If you say so..." Long Arm said, retreating a few steps, getting out of their way. As he did, the most persistent of the crowd got out of the way as well, though plenty of them were still following. The poor filly stared around at everything, shaking slightly in fear and generally acting afraid of everything and everypony.
They made it to the train station with only a dozen or so ponies trailing them, many of which had found other things to keep them busy. Lightning Dust walked up to the ticket booth, and lost track of Lucky for a moment as she argued with the attendant about getting them booked onto the next train headed north. It wasn't a passenger train, and most ponies who sold tickets didn't seem to realize just how eager the rail industry was to take her bits. By the time she'd waited for the manager and explained again what she wanted, Dust realized the filly was completely gone.
Equestrian cities were the safest in the world, and being on the ground meant the foal wouldn't be able to find anywhere to fall. But the ponies of Dodge Junction were acting so strange...
Her worry was in vain. Lucky had only gone a few paces away, to the public notice board hanging by the train station. She was staring up at something written there as intently as she looked at her Eoch textbook.
Lightning Dust wasn't a strong reader, but even she could make out the simple words printed on the banner pinned to the very center of the board. The notice was plain black ink on white paper, as stark and ugly as possible as to catch the eyes of passing ponies.
Ponies of Dodge Junction are warned by order of Her Majesty's Solar Guard that dangerous creatures have been spotted passing through your town. If you see animals like these, please report them immediately to the nearest public figure. If you see something, say something.
Dust rested one wing gently on Lucky's shoulder, causing her to twitch and jerk upright, startled. "Woah, whoa, take it easy kid. I just wanted to let you know I got our tickets. Train should be passing through in another ten minutes. We'll have to get on while they're unloading mail deliveries."
Lucky acted like she couldn't even hear her. "W-what... what's that say, Lightning Dust? I can't read some of those words..."
Dust read, doing her best not to give away just how difficult it was for her. "Monster Sighting in Dodge Junction. Ponies of Dodge Junction are warned by order of her majesty's Solar Guard that dangerous creatures have been spotted passing through your town. If you see animals like these, please report them immediately to the nearest public figure. If you see something, say something. Don't be another victim." She looked up. "Why? That thing doesn't look like much of a monster. No claws, no fangs..."
"I'm glad you think so," Lucky said, very quietly. "I just wish I knew how ponies know about them."
"Because they killed you." The voice came so quietly that at first Dust couldn't even tell anypony was speaking. Until she looked down, and she saw the tiny figure standing just behind a pillar, looking straight into Lucky's face.
The pony looked so like her that Dust had to do a double-take, staring down at a pair of ponies with nearly identically colored coats. But the second pony had a violet mane instead of blue, and a few seconds later she smelled him. A colt, not a filly, with a cutie mark of three water drops with heart patterns on them.
"I-I don't know..." Lucky squeaked, tears clearly streaming down her face. "I'm not w-who you... th-think I am."
The colt ignored her, advancing another few steps. His eyes were different too, green instead of violet. He was still a pegasus, though he had the slightly heavier build that was common to foals of earth ponies and pegasi.
They look like family, Lightning Dust thought. Too close to be a coincidence. But why would Lucky lie? Not only that, but the hospital hadn't been able to find any record of a filly matching her description anywhere. If one had gone missing from Dodge Junction, surely Dust would’ve heard about it. The authorities could be negligent, but never so willfully incompetent.
"You even smell like her," the little colt said, walking right up to Lucky and pressing himself to her with all the innocence of a child. "What happened to you, Mom?"
"I'm not your mom!" Lucky squeaked, tears in her eyes as she retreated, trying to edge herself behind Lightning Dust.
Dust happily cooperated, shielding the filly. What in Celestia's name is going on?
"It's not his fault." Long Arm approached, his heavy hooffalls echoing off the wood beneath them. Dust abruptly recognized the color of the colt's mane—it was the same as Long Arm's. He seemed to have a similar eye color, too. "He's just seeing what I did. Hoping you might have more of an explanation. Rather like I am." He nodded up at the poster. "Monsters got his mother, stranger. 'Bout six months ago, before winter ended.
Dust looked away from him, down at the filly she was shielding, lowering her voice to a quiet murmur. "Do you have any idea what's going on, Lucky?"
The filly looked up, her eyes still wide with fear. At least she wasn't crying. "M-maybe," she squeaked. "But i-it wouldn't make sense. I don't know if... you even have words for th-the concepts."
Dust's eyes narrowed. "Are you the pony they're talking about? Have you been lying to me all this time?"
"No!" she proclaimed, no hesitation, no looking away. "Everything I told you was true! I left out some details, but..."
Dust looked up again, away from Lucky. "I'm really sorry," she said. "It sounds like there was a real tragedy here. But Lucky Break didn't have anything to do with it. She isn't your missing family member." She lowered her head to the colt. "I'm sorry kid. I lost my mom when I was about your age. I wish I could give you yours back, but that isn't how things work." She lifted up her wing, returning it to her side so that Lucky was fully uncovered. The filly shivered, but Dust didn't let her hide again. Instead she raised her voice, so all the staring ponies would be forced to see. "We're just passing through. We're sorry we had to revive such painful memories on our way."
The colt returned to his father, and together they stared. Some of the townsfolk were still watching, their eyes never lingering from Lucky. This train can't come soon enough.
"Safe ride. But mind the sign, strangers." He pointed one last time back in the direction of the poster. "We lost a pony mighty close to us to those monsters. Wouldn't want somepony else's family to suffer like we did," Long Arm said, staring for a few more seconds at Lucky, before turning and ushering the stallion away.
A few minutes later, and the mail train finally pulled into the station. Dust hurried up to speak to the conductor, taking Lucky along this time. She didn't even have to say anything to make sure the filly followed close to her.
The conductor was far more amenable to the idea of carrying a few low-fare passengers in the back of one of his empty cars than the ticket ponies had been to sell them passage, and soon enough they were tucked away in an empty hallway between rows and rows of identical boxes. Lucky hid out of sight of any of the windows, but Dust waited by the entrance, staring out at the town as two measly cargo containers were unloaded and the train received new stock of water and fuel.
The train rumbled and whistled beneath them, starting to chug forward. Dust watched the town fade into the background, conscious of many eyes staring after them as they finally stretched out of sight.
damn this got dark fast, so the forerunner sent hunters out to get DNA from a pony?
Man, this answers much of the weird behaviour questions from previous chapters, but raises so many more.
I can't wait for the next update
Well, that got heavy.
Better hope James 2.0 doesn't walk through here.
Wow, if Lucky got that reaction, one of the G4 pod ponies arriving in Dodge Junction would cause an even bigger stir. Any bets where the probe sends G4 James to learn the language?
In light of that poster, I wonder if the probe itself might have killed off all the earlier humans? If it's programmed to initiate friendly contact, and it saw its human population as a liability after whatever happened at Dodge Junction, might it have just decided to start over? Lucky seemed afraid to admit to the probe that she might not be able to manage her task as a child, which suggests she could have been killed if she didn't attempt it...
dang just how fare did the forerunner go to gather DNA and other things?
and why kill when stunning would work?
something is not right hear.
love the chapter.
She's Archive, the physical manifestation of the spirit of humanity.
Dead characters supposedly coming back to life is a running theme in your stories, isn't it? Never gets old to see ponies' reactions to that.
Dang. Just how long has the probe been in Equestria for James 1.0 to have reached adulthood and have a kid?
So there was a civil war or mutiny. Still too little information to figure out all the sides and motives involved, though.
Edit: Okay, maybe I was trying to be too clever. Simpler explanation is that Morning Dew was a real pony and the original source of James' DNA, rather than an earlier iteration of pony James.
Hmmmmm... Interesting. I suspected something like this might be in the works. Though my first guess was that some little filly wandered off into the desert and died, and the remains were found by the probe. Or it saw the filly dying and, being an emotionless computer, left nature run its course, then took samples. I figured at some point someone would recognize 'her.'
Have non-biosleeved humans running about though... That raises a LOT of questions...
In first chapter it was said that probe couldn't adapt human DNA to this planet, so there shouldn't be ones running around. On the other side, if they were actually robots assembled by Forerunner, then they wouldn't have a reason to attack ponies. Well, except when retrieving a specimen for Biosleeve creation, that's it. But then, why make the robots to resemble humans? Or they weren't robots?
No idea.
Doesn't look like first contact was very peaceful. It's going to be interesting when the G4 group wanders to town, all looking like copies of a dead pony.
8223245
Maybe the incompatibility takes the form of psychosis that develops over time. Potentially due to magic's effect on the human body. That would explain the gunshots and potential murder/kidnapping of Lucky's template.
I am not going to jump instantly to the conclusion that humanity entered this town with violent or hostile intentions and killed off a number of its residents for DNA to make clones. Honestly I feel it was BOTH sides that caused this incident. A lack of proper communication, tensions between seeing a new species, the unknown and the likelihood of the ponies to scramble in fear shouting and running. It's possible also guards doing something stupid and causing the humans to react defensively. There is just too much unknown about what happened here to really make an honest judgment on what exactly happened. But you know what? I feel the only true honest source of information would come from the probe as it would not lie (it's a machine after all and would only offer the information it has collected), and not the equestrians as they would most likely skewer the truth and interpret it into their own version. Only time will tell.
Sounds more like the original Morning Dew (and I keep typing that as Mountain Dew) got mixed up with a previous crew iteration and either they killed her (possibly through miscommunication or accidentally) or the townsfolk just thought that to be the case. Either way, there are a lot of ways that Morning's DNA could have found its way into a field crew scanner, either before or after she died - mane or tail hair, saliva, blood samples etc.
It's actually entirely possible, from what the other ponies were saying, that Morning was the only pony who died, so it doesn't necessarily seem (despite the poster) that the original crew went on a rampage or attacked the town. The question then is: are they still around? And if so, when did they lose communication with the probe, so that it started its countdown before making James... or at least the iteration of James we've been following? Come to think of it, was there also a James in the first batch?
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What amuses me is that the James we've been following may not be James 1.0, even for this planet.
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Pretty sure that was already mentioned in the first chapter or so.
So the probe didnt accept no for an answer
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The sheriff mentioned that the dead pony wasn't a filly, the colt called James Mom, so we can conclude that there is a considerable age difference between the dead pony and James.
...Why do I have a feeling that the poster is not merely a depiction of a human, but specifically one of James' earlier iterations?
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I think that was implied when the probe started filling in bullet holes in the buildings.
8223245
I think it was a lie made up by the forerunner probe so that James would accept her situation.
Dang. This answers some questions (the source of Lucky's current DNA for one), but raises lots more. What the heck has the Probe been up to?
8223332
The way James describes the Forerunner probe doesn't make it seem like it's capable of lying.
Man, so many good ideas from the comments about what could have happened...
Something must have happened to the first contact and could be the lack of communication, a robot, or maybe the prob is lying to complete the mission of friendship between ponies and humans.
Though the question is... How did they know what a human looks like?
So there are two explanation.
1) They stole/killed a pony, mother of that foal, and made James's body based on her.
2) That pony was the first version of James.
The probe may not be capable of lying if directly asked a question, but that depends on if it is directly programmed in that way or not. So far we just know that it is meant to integrate humanity into the new planet at seemingly any cost, including omitting information from the teams it creates. So if it is capable of lying to protect the crew member's psychological well-being, there's nothing to suggest so far that it wouldn't be capable of lying to protect what it perceived as its mission.
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They said the same thing about Hal 9000. I get the feeling that something else is going on here and James and the rest of the transformed are not going to like the answer.
Is it possible that the probe gave James the body of a filly because it believed that the ponies would shy away from killing a foal?
8223446
The point of HAL 9000 going crazy is that it was given instructions to conceal information when it was purposely designed to give as much information as possible. One of the consequences of most of its code running on the assumption of total information parity was a fact between both HAL and the humans it works with, it became obsessed with knowing how much the human crew who were supposed to be kept out of the loop, the pilots, knew. But it had to be careful about what it said to find this out, because it could give away too much information.
The issue is that HAL needed to be able to lie. It had never been programmed to lie. It realized it may have to lie at some point and thus tested its ability to lie by reporting a fault in a component. Seeing the situation escalate afterwards when the humans came to the (wrong) conclusion that HAL was faulty (instead of just lying, which it was expected to do by the ones who gave it orders), and discussed disconnecting HAL if the need arose for the rest of the mission, HAL grew paranoid and expected this outcome to be a certainty instead of a worst case possibility as the pilots had meant it, and thus to safeguard the mission decided to purge the crew, because it was specifically designed to also carry on the mission by itself as a failsafe if the crew died. The possibility of it dying by its crew and thus unable to complete its primary mission is what sparked the tragedy that followed. It never considered that HAL being disconnected might still allow the mission to carry on with the crew in hibernation. No, HAL considered it being disconnected equivalent to the ship being destroyed, and treated the threat with an appropriate response.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that HAL 9000 had a reasonable explanation for doing what it did. The issue was that it had no priorities on behaviors and outcomes. Its primary mission, to carry on the investigation by itself if necessary, was rated higher than the lives of the crew if the crew were a threat to the primary mission. This had never been an issue before, but then again the crew had never gave HAL sufficient reason to suspect that they would interfere in the primary mission.
The forerunner probe might operate on similar logic. If, for example, humans went crazy due to magic or whatever, it might kill its own crew in the same way you'd put down a rabid dog. I don't believe it would kill the crew for anything less than advancing the mission. The question becomes, if the probe did kill the crew in a previous generation, what drove it to concluding the mission would advance by doing so? What, as Lucky Break asked herself, would drive it to send Lucky Break out alone in the body of a child afterwards as being more successful than trying with a full crew?
Also, consider that for as wacky as the probe might seem to an outsider, so far in the story, its decision was correct. As unlikely as it seems, Lucky Break is making progress, and precisely one of the reasons she is doing so is because she is alone (instead of in a group of clones). We are starting to see a lot of hints that alternative approaches would have probably had worse results, especially if Lucky Break's original destination was Dodge Junction.
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James ended up in a foal-sized body due to some miscalculations for growing the biosleeve (we know that the because we read about the Forerunner fixing said errors while making the new batch), so it is unlikely that missing pony was a biosleeve / James (unless she had been fabricated a good while ago and had had time to grow older the natural way).
The more likely option is that the unfortunate pony was indeed the "blueprint" for the biosleeves - though there are by far not enough details regarding her death to determine how and why the humans were involved in her death.
A chilling thought strikes me - if human forms became a liability (due to the actions of previous biosleeve generations, no matter if they were intentional or accidental)... Maybe the previous generation was "cleaned up" by the Forerunner probe itself when human biosleeves became more of a hindrance than an asset for the mission (explaining the bullet holes in their transport ship).
First Gen: created, behavior becoming, irrational and paranoid possible psychotic breaks: Solution Batch Culled; use local aliens DNA for new bio sleeves.
Second Gen: created, travel to nearest settlement, select the first alien of target civilization, skirmish with law enforcement or scuffle with Target, results in Target's death, sample collected and returned: Batch Culled.
Third Gen: new BioSleeve prototype blueprint designed, created; error in creation leaving unmature, chances of success; above current record: green light for first attempt.
that how I'd do it. The first one didn't count, the second was just so the third had a chance
and you got the fourth in the wing, maybe.. unless it made the bodies and didn't put the mind in them
I think Lighting Dust could get back into the Wonderbolts if she just took her head out of her plot and stopped blaming others for her mistake. Hopeful Lucky will be able to see Lighting is wrong about the majority of ponies, and help Lighting change her view. Course another problem the two will face is well, Ponyville really is the best place for first contact, it's citizens accept the weird more readily and between Twilight and Starlight is home to the smartest ponies in Equestria. But also Rainbow Dash lives there and Lighting and Dash are the type to hold a grudge. Course Lucky is going to have a hard time explaining the gun toting nut Forerunner accidentally created.
8223489
I think James does not know a lot about the probe and it is coloring his perception of the probe. A comparison to Hal is not completely unwarranted until we understand why they view humans as dangerous animals we should view the probe as suspect.
8223372
In Equestria magic is deeply tied to mental state and emotions. See King Sombra using the power of his subject's fear to hold his own against both of the Royal Sisters or Cadance and Shining Armor's Love Nuke. Presumably pony's brains evolved to handle this connection while humans did not. Hence emotional instability when human brains are exposed to magic.
This raises a question on how the probe's "brain" is designed. Currently we are experimenting with neural network circuits that mimic biological brains. If the probe was designed using something similar it may be just as vulnerable to magic induced malfunction as humans are. So it may not be able to "lie," but if its understanding of the truth is warped to begin with...
So probe has immoral programming. Just great
Such a good discussion on this story - at least better compared to most other stories.
Author has talent.
8223265
We've already seen that the probe will hide/destroy information that it decides is counterproductive to it's goals.
8223754
Well then in that case we may never really learn the real truth as now neither side would really tell what really happened.
8223784
There's 3 sides to every conflict.
Well that's not good, so humans were sent before james but it ended badly. What happened? Did the ponies attack first? Did the humans get sick from the magic? Something happened.
AWESOME INTENSE CHAPTER!!!
8223155 My thoughts exactly!
Maybe. Perhaps we'll find out in the future.
8223655
Not necessarily immoral, so much as amoral. The probe doesn't have the ability to make a distinction between good or evil. It is simply working on a calculated likelihood of success of the mission and views all things around it (living or non) as exploitable resources. You're a human? Resource. You're minerals in the ground? Resource. You're the local law enforcement? Resource. Resources that reduce the likelihood of success should be changed to raise the likelihood of success. This would seem to include biological resources. They may be recycled and reproduced (despite any objections of said resources).
In short: biosleeves are expendable and easy enough to replace. If previous generations of biosleeves will hinder the current generation, they can be recycled.
So the big question is: why did the humans have guns?
8224261 that's is something i want to know as well. however it my just be due to the prob not knowing what is out there, as in wildlife. they do have to walk 60 kilo's { that's a lot }, it'd suck if they go for seven days only get get eaten by something.
8224261
That's an unfair question, as we've already seen the stun gun be extremely helpful to Lucky Break in this story already. Besides, it would absolutely be necessary in the wilderness of Equestria, considering the horrors in, say, the Everfree forest.
8224261
Presumably, the machine thought that they might be a sensible precaution.
8224092
Nobody interested in peaceful contact makes an amoral contact probe, though. I suspect the probe's mission isn't what James thinks it is.
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Or the humans asked for them.
8224602
A couple issues to think about then. First is that the Forerunner probe was a colonization effort. A First Contact scenario was considered HIGHLY unlikely. James was only taken on because "Why the heck not? We've got the storage space for your upload." Second, how do you propose to teach morality to a computer? The best they could probably do was exactly what we currently have: decisions based on mission success probability. Angering the locals would decrease that probability, but the AI has to first figure out a number of things like "who are the locals" and "what will anger them". Trying to pre-program in a set morality could have some highly negative impacts in strange and surprising ways, especially when you have absolutely NO idea what kind of events and environments the probe is going to encounter.
8224651
Better to have them and not need them. Guns, like any other tool, are completely dependent on the person using it. Any sane and balanced person would pick up a gun with the fervent hope that they'd never have to use it. The key is, of course, that "sane and balanced" bit. Something, somewhere, obviously went horribly wrong.
I can't wait for Dust's reaction when she discovers that Lucky was grown in a vat by a non-feeling robot to serve a singular purpose. She'd, at the very least, feel sympathy for Lucky, right? After the initial shock of horror, of course. I can imagine Dusk wanting to take her as far away from the 'evil monster' as possible.
8224414
Lots of people go out in dangerous parts of nature without packing enough weaponry that they end up killing someone.
8224710
And I think Lightning Dust will be entirely right to do so. The Forerunner has been nothing but unhelpful and unfeeling after it made the decision to misgender and mis-age a linguist in its biosleeving, and deploy that linguist in lieu of actual diplomats, after diplomacy had already failed once.
8224698
They can upload mindstates; they know at a fundamental level how minds work. Giving an AI an ethical framework should be trivial for them. On the other hand, that the programmers of the probe saw no problem with it treating resleeved humans as totally expendable assets makes me think ethics were never much of a priority in the first place.