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Chapter 1 (Rewritten)2,656 words
Chapter 2 (Rewritten)1,522 words
Chapter 3 (Rewritten)2,480 words
Chapter 4 (Rewritten)3,063 words
Chapter 5 (Rewritten)1,496 words
Chapter 6 (Rewritten)2,598 words
Chapter 7 (Rewritten)1,531 words
Chapter 8 (Rewritten)2,573 words

Chapter 3 (Rewritten)

Two days later, Princesses Celestia and Luna let out a sigh. Two busy days, to be specific; they just finished building the massive shed that the six tanks are parked inside, on Applejack’s farm. Athena had expressed a repeated worry that it might not be large enough- but at least the mindless software operating the tanks had understood her spacing orders when they started, so she had been completely satisfied they won’t be damaging each other as they grow. She seems to think they could, however, be outgrowing the shed sometime soon.

After signing off the last of the builders, Athena and the Princesses return to the shed to review the work. Once again, Athena voices her concern that the shed won’t be tall or deep enough- and that the tanks weight will easily crush through the simple stone floor. Once again, the Princesses roll their eyes, stating that nothing is that heavy- and they can’t possibly grow that large. They finish the final inspection, and leave the building, the door landing shut just in time for them to miss something.

The lights on one of the tanks flash twice- a signal nopony is expecting for another five days.

I don’t wake up, I simply become aware. This suits me; fully waking up normally involves movement, which could catch somepony’s attention. I keep my eyes closed, listening to the silence around me as I try to remember what happened last.

The answer comes to me almost before I start looking for it. Discord… and his amulet thing. He had caught me and my friends in some kind of holding spell, turned Twilight’s Canterlot High friends’ legs to stone… Including the other Twilight. Then, he’d done his little incantation. I hadn’t caught the words involved, he spoke them too softly for my insensitive human ears, but I had seen his hand motion. If I’m estimating it right, the sweep he used when he released the spell would have touched me first.

Wait. Where did that 93.49% accuracy on my estimate come from? Has somepony entered my mind? Are they listening to … No, nopony has. Something about security remaining intact, it’s comforting to hear.

Wait again. Why? Why is it comforting to hear that security is intact? Easy, because that means there are no intruders. But how do I know this? Has somepony… Same message, nopony has. Bonus, an even more comforting message, this one… what’s a ‘firewall’ anyways?

Ack! What’s this new thing in my mind, talking to me? Somepony must have… Nopony has. So how did it get in… it’s part of me? So I’m talking to myself? What did it just call me- oh, ‘Unit FLTRSY of the Line’... That’s not my name, though- I’m- oh, it agrees, I’m Fluttershy… but what’s a ‘unit designation’? Where is Twilight? … Unit TWLT of the Line, personality center offline… What’s that supposed to mean?

Speaking of units, what did Discord’s spell do? If I remember Twilight’s demonstrations correctly, it looked like some sort of transformation spell… 83.51% comes out of nowhere, has- No, nopony has. But if it is a transformation spell, what am I now- erm, what in Equestria is a ‘MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolo’? … Unit TWLT of the Line, personality center offline. That’s what comes back every time I think I want to ask her something… even what the message means. When I ask myself, I get no answer.

Unit RNBW of the Line, personality center offline. Unit PNKE… RARTY…. APJK… of the Line, personality center offline. I guess I’m alone. I open my eyes.

If they would open…

My eyelids are not responding. Why- Eeep!

Wow. Frightened by my own mind… and that would explain why my eyelids aren’t working- I don’t have any. So can I see? Yes, through my optical sensors… What’s an ‘optical sensor’? How do I see? Turn it on. Uh, turn it on- Yikes!

All of the sudden, I have hundreds of eyes, all over the surface of… some kind of metal object. I can point any one of them almost any direction individually, and somehow pay attention to every one of them at once. They seem a little sluggish in motion, though- taking perhaps a nanosecond longer than I might have liked to refocus-

Wait. Nanosecond? Billionth of a second… So, why can I count those? Personality center operating at 4.39% base capability and increasing. What’s a personality center? TWLT is still offline. Why does it keep telling me about TWLT whenever I ask for Twilight? … Unit designations? TWLT is offline. Twilight, please! Help me understand these things! … Still offline. What even does ‘offline’ mean, anyways?

Woah. If this metal thing I’m looking at is me, what are all these sticks poking out of it…? No answer. How about, why do I see my cutie mark printed on what looks like the front of it? … No answer there either. Can I move it? No, motive systems still initializing. What does ‘initializing’ mean? Is that better than ‘offline’? How long will I have to wait? Eeek! Too many numbers! Well, it did answer my question, though. 4.93 seconds for track systems, 9.41 for countergrav… What’s ‘countergrav’? Right, TWLT is offline. Mustn’t forget that.

It gave me so many time-to-wait numbers, I get an idea. How long will I have to wait before Twilight is not offline? Unknown. Can I wake her up? No, DCC offline. What’s that mean?

WHAT!?!? I can’t repair ANY damages? Not sure why, but I understand this to mean I won’t heal. Which is ridiculous. Pegasi heal- and I am one… Wait. Discord’s spell must have been transformation, 99.38%; I used to be a pegasus, now I’m a MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolo. Quite a mouthful… Not that I seem to have a mouth.

So, what can a Bolo do? Can I still tend to my animal friends? Unknown. Will I still be able to understand them? Memories flash through my mind. Given I activate my audio pickups, probably, on a 97.39% chance- which I’m tempted to take as a solid yes. Audio pickups? Finally, a term I can understand! This must be my ears… if those need turning on, turn them on.

Clip, clop, clip, clop. So many hooves. I can hear everything for miles. Lingual processor working, whatever that is. A double snap just outside, something disappeared- a teleport away? Steady hoofsteps, sound like a trot, away. No other ponies nearby. My human ears may have been insensitive, but my Bolo ears- or, ‘audio pickups’- are far more sensitive than my pony ears.

I hear fruit bats, almost 0.493 kilometers away… interesting how I can tell exactly how far away each one is. Confirmed, I can understand them- every single one of them, all at once. This might make my life slightly easier, when my animal friends become impatient. I’m starting to wonder about exactly what I can do as a Bolo.

Drat, no nose. Plenty of noises and lights, though, that I couldn’t see- or hear- before. Sudden report, motive systems online. I can move. Where to? Where am I? In a shed… looks like Sweet Apple Acres. Can I knock on the door? Probably. Motion… Is not hard. Utterly silent, as well. I look back at… the other machines in this shed with me. I was in the middle- and there is an enormous space in between each. Each one bears the cutie mark of a different one of my friends, though- what does that mean…? Most likely, I figure, they are my friends, transformed into… Not MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolos, they don’t look much like I do… and I am the biggest, it would seem.

On a thought, as I move towards the door, what if somepony sees me? Wouldn’t they be scared? Eeek!

… again, scared by myself… I need to do some poking around in my head sometime. This new part- calling itself ‘Tactical’, whatever that is- just presented a 97.31% chance they would be scared. How easily can I hide? … Can I hide, at all? Yes, with stealth… Stealth? Like what?

… I don’t understand very much of the answer, but one part does catch my attention- I can turn myself invisible, I guess. Excellent! Turn it on- the door didn’t latch… and I’d rather have somepony see the door swing open with nothing to push it than a potentially scary… object come bumping out behind it. Maybe I could pass it off as the wind.

Aaah! Again! … though it’s different. Alert, power supply insufficient, additional reactors available… Reactors?

Eeek! Oh, no, it’s just the first part again, the one that agreed with my name. Reactors… Things inside me that burn hydrogen- a part of water- to produce the power that keeps me running… analogous to the heart… and digestive system, as one. It even gives me a diagram. If more are available, use them too. Fusion Two through Eight initializing, time to Optical Transparency Matrix activation 9.31 seconds… Alert, Fusion Three through Eight ignition abort for lack of fuel… Oooh, that could be a problem…

Eeep! No, no, calm down, Fluttershy. That was only ‘Tactical’ again… like a bossy version of Angel Bunny. … though I suppose he already counts as bossy. Tactical told me, flat-out, I have enough fuel to run two plants at the levels required for Optical Transparency Matrix operation for about six point three one seven minutes… for operation past that threshold, it’s recommending I make an approach to the stream I hear; the river isn’t quite close enough to keep the Optical Transparency Matrix running all the way there.

I… I don’t shudder; nothing seemed to happen when I tried. Is there a way I can reach the river without being spotted?

I am not startled this time; I directed that question to Tactical. It instantly begins throwing answers back at me, ranking each one on ease of execution, reliability, leeway should something unexpected happen, chance of somepony spotting the grass flattening under my invisible tracks…

It’s even sorting them, on some combination of all of the above it’s christening the ‘acceptability’... and, after hardly half a second, it’s already come up with several thousand plans- seven thousand, two hundred eighty-three, to be exact- that rank over ninety-nine percent in acceptability.

From this pool, I pick one at random and follow it. Tactical dutifully calms down its search for new plans- some of the low-acceptability ones actually involved doing pirouettes around the trees and crisscrossing Applejack’s farm, interesting- and instead elaborates on the one I selected. It seems to be hunting for anything that could go wrong- from something as simple as somepony being in my path to something as problematic as a monster attack to everything in between- and planning against it.

My Optical Transparency Matrix finally comes on just 0.307 seconds before I reach the door, which I push open. It swings easily open when I bump it, and I proceed outside… before I wonder briefly. Can I fly?

Tactical pauses so quickly I almost missed it to answer the question… though I get the idea I couldn’t have missed the answer. No, I can’t; without igniting another fusion plant, I don’t have enough live power available to support countergrav activity.

Come to think of it, before it mentioned fuel, it was igniting Fusion Two through Eight… then it cancelled all but Two. But I can ‘feel’ Nine, Ten, and Eleven as well- they feel… offline. I don’t have a clue how to describe how that feels, but the word fits it perfectly. Why didn’t they try igniting?

Eeek! Has… No. This ‘DCC’ is another part of my mind- and one I’ve already asked about, even. It’s informing me that Nine, Ten, and Eleven failed self-tests, but are expected to pass such tests without repairs once I finish growing… Okay, whatever.

As I trot- slide, maybe? Or is it roll? I don’t know… As I move out from in front of the door- confirmed, nopony is nearby to see the door, let alone myself- I consider my goal. A river, to resupply my reactors… by taking a drink. Is that it? I’m a little dehydrated? What if I get hungry? … No luck there. So, do I even need to eat? No, only drink… and even then, only water. Oh, that came from that first part… which, when asked, self-identifies as my ‘adjustment helper’. Weird.

But that’s a little interesting. If I only need to drink water to stay healthy now, what happens if I get hurt? … Apparently, that’s Damage Control’s job- and, once I hit full size and ignite Fusion Eleven, it should come on automatically to operate repairs, including the manufacture of the required parts. But from what materials? … Apparently, Fusion Eleven can produce those materials from raw hydrogen, a mere component in water… and I may have to provide ‘nanites’ and materials to my friends.

Huh, no biggie.

Eek! Err… 1.937 minutes have past… It is disorienting- and strangely orienting at the same time- to have a clock in my head, counting in units of time I didn’t even know existed. In any case, Tactical has just spouted a warning and connected it to… Sensations? It’s calling it ‘sensor data’... whatever. Tactical has performed a deeper analysis on the hoofsteps I first detected 3.711 seconds ago. They’re moving towards me alarmingly fast- and Tactical has decided it sounds like three small ponies at a dead gallop. I reactivate my Optical Transparency Matrix and turn to climb the hill separating myself from them; Tactical is quick to argue that this is not the best course of action related to the most recent goal I gave it, getting to that river.

I almost give in, but I resist. I want to find out who those hooves belong to.

Tactical complies instantly- generating a new, adjusted path… which doesn’t involve climbing straight up the hill, as that could result in a head-on collision with the ponies. Rather, it involves climbing the hill at a slight angle, to end up next to them should they reach the top before I do, and taking a peek at both them and whatever they’re running from- huh, I didn’t think of that- before resuming to the river.

I follow that plan.

As it turns out, the three ponies are exactly who I suspected they were immediately after I started up the hill: The Cutie Mark Crusaders. And Tactical was right, I’m not in their path.

They’re being chased, of course. The Timberwolves… Hold one. I spot the sparkle and flicker of magic surrounding them- but it looks normal… Golden? The Crusaders stumble and fall at the top of the hill, and the wolves pause mid-stride to let them get back up.

I wonder who they irritated enough to put fake Timberwolves on their tails.

Author's Note:

This chapter rewritten! You'll notice where everything becomes new, not just simple changes, around halfway through.

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