Chapter 7 (Rewritten)
A few hours have passed. Discord has gone on his way; to do what I’m not sure. I’ve also checked all the cabinets for what food supplies remain- and now, I’m on my way into town. My first stop is the craftsponies’. When I show them the page, they ask if I had Rarity design it or something- but I decline. As he begins to dissect the components of the new shower, he then asks if I had Applejack design it- again, no. Apparently, it’s going to be an extremely sturdy, and beautiful, shower. He even asks me if they’re allowed to keep the design to put into their catalogue for other ponies to order.
I tell him they can, so they build mine for free. I still offer to pay for it, but they politely decline.
My next stop was to be Twilight’s castle; I am interested in learning more about… About stuff my design cores can use to improve my auxiliary… Which Discord called an ‘avatar’... I like that term better. However, Princess Celestia is in town- at Sweet Apple Acres, specifically- and she wants to talk to me. The Guard that found me leads me back to the Acres, and shows me to where Celestia is waiting: Inside that giant shed. He didn’t seem to know I already knew Celestia was there, thanks to Twilight’s senses; she’s not awake yet. I didn’t tell him- and nor will I tell Celestia. Unless she asks, but Tactical is suggesting she won’t, unless I specifically mention that connection.
The Guard doesn’t follow me into the shed. Rather, he sends me in without him. It would seem Celestia is trying to keep our current… Predicament… secret.
As I enter, she stares at me with an… interesting expression. I pause just inside; the Guard outside closes the door behind me. She seems to be primarily confused, and more than a little interested.
Then she schools her expression as I turn towards her.
“Princess.” Fluttershy bows, even from all the way across the room.
“Rise,” Princess Celestia returns instantly. “You know you don’t need to bow before me, right?”
Shrug, and an averted gaze. “I… I suppose…”
Celestia sighs, shaking her head and breaking her royal decorum. “You can probably see what… happened to… your friends here?” She glances back at Twilight, whose tracks she’s standing next to.
She nods. “Yes… I miss them.” She looks almost longingly at the row of growing tanks.
Celestia nods as well. “The same thing happened to you, right?”
She tilts her head. “I think?”
A raised eyebrow. “You think…? Well, to our knowledge, it did. How did you… turn back…?”
She smiles, making her decision. “I didn’t.”
Blink. Blink. “Then…”
“I made this… me. I’m in the Everfree Forest, working through an ‘avatar’.”
More blinking; she clearly isn’t understanding. “Then… how did you wake up, and not them…?”
She frowns. “I don’t know. I only know that I woke up two weeks ago… and that they won’t for another one.”
Even more blinking. “Wait. You’re still a…” She waves a hoof at Twilight. “Whatever that is, right?”
She shakes her head. “I’m a Mark Thirty-Seven Planetary Siege Bolo… Twilight’s a Mark Thirty-Six Assault Bolo.” She looks up. “That… That doesn’t mean she’ll attack everypony, does it?”
Blink. “Uh… No, probably not. Siege is another kind of attack, but you’re not doing that, are you?”
“What…? I’m… Oh no.”
Celestia lets out a sigh. “But you’re still… similar. A Bolo. Yet, you’re a pegasus.”
“Yes. I made this pegasus form, and am controlling it remotely. Discord calls it an ‘avatar’.” She lets out a sigh. “Just don’t hug me too hard, I’m made of metal now.”
“Discord? Was he able to reverse the curse?”
She shakes her head. “Bounced off every time he tried. I… I think it has something to do with the specific metal I’m made of.” She looks up at Celestia. “He did tell me, though, that as long as we don’t accept our new forms, we’ll be back to normal in a matter of months.”
Celestia nods slowly. “Ahh… Um… Do you think you could produce some of those… ‘avatar’ things for whenever they do wake up? It’d probably help them adjust.”
She nods. “Yes Princess.”
“Yes Princess.”
I ask my design cores to build avatars for the rest of my friends; they set right to it… it seems only me, Twilight, and Rainbow have enough internal volume- thanks to the false wings- to pack enough power cells to use four motor-pump things… the other three will have to make do with three. Oh well- I don’t think anypony not in-the-know has realized I’m not a regular pony just yet, and I’m running on only three of them right now.
For Celestia’s suggestion that they’ll help them adjust… Tactical disagrees. Knowing the avatars exist too quickly could easily put them in denial of their own capability- and result in major problems down the road. Once they have time to adjust, to realize what they can and can’t do, though, I should be able to introduce the avatars without issue… save some Bolo-scowls I’ll probably try to hide from, but it won’t hurt them.
As a matter of fact, having the avatars available to offer them after they adjust might even be beneficial- it should help keep them from getting quite so bored as I was these last couple weeks. For somepony like Rainbow or Pinkie, bored is a very, very bad thing… and that’s even before the Bolo transformation.
Close to two hours later, I finally reach Twilight’s castle. Princess Celestia wanted some details on what had happened; I explained everything she asked for. Tactical is pretty sure she still doesn’t know I’ve accepted my form.
Tactical is expecting her to explode in my face when she finds out- just a little more violently than Discord did. Before I explained to him that I’m difficult to break…
Honestly, I didn’t tell him, but I didn’t know most of that until I queried Tactical for an answer to calm him with.
I enter through the front door, and make my way straight to the library.
Spike is still studying.
I walk up behind him, peeking over his shoulder, before I make myself known.
“Hey, Spike?”
“Wha! Huh? What-!? Fluttershy! Is everypony else back?”
She recoils from his sudden outburst, and shakes her head. “No, it’s just me… I have to ask, what are you looking for?”
He looks down at the books and notes he’d abandoned. “I’m trying to find a way to fix it,” he states. “I… haven’t found anything. Twilight would be so much better at this…” He hangs his shoulders.
“Don’t worry,” she smiles, hugging him gently- very gently. Her avatar has the strength to crush him, and she doesn’t want to do that accidentally.
He doesn’t seem to notice the hard metal underneath her softer fur. “But what if we can’t turn them back…?”
She shakes her head at him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already talked to Discord- and, as long as they don’t accept their Bolo forms, they’ll turn back on their own in a matter of months.” She lets out a sigh, averting her gaze. “He tried reverting it early… but it seems the metal we’re made of is resistant to chaos magic.”
His eyes widen. “Wait, we?”
Ahh, he’d caught the word she’d slipped in. She nods. “I haven’t changed back either,” she states. “I… built my pony form back. It’s made of metal, slow, and not very articulate… but it’ll work.” She smiles at him. “Celestia asked me to make some for everypony else, for when they wake up. However…” She sighs. “Twilight probably won’t be impressed by the lack of moving wings… or magic ability.”
Spike pokes at her wings for a second to make sure- and, true to her words, they’re simply a shape extruded on her sides, not even a permanently-folded wing. “Uh…”
“Perhaps you could help with that?”
“What? But… But how?”
“Well…” She looks up at the shelves. “At the moment, I’m using pumps and water to move… but there’s got to be an easier- or more efficient- way. I’d like to go back to muscles, but I haven’t a clue how to make those.” Then she scowls at the floor. “Then of course, I’d also like to make it lighter; I weigh something like fifteen times what any normal earth pony does, let alone a pegasus… but I’m not sure how to do that without weakening it too far.”
“Uh… You need Twilight.”
Shake. “She won’t be waking up for another week.”
“Then… um…”
“Any books on mechanical- or electrical- stuffs? Ever since I became a Bolo, I can think- and understand- even faster than she.”
“Electromechanical… What about magical?”
She shakes her head. “I’d rather focus on being able to move all of my limbs first… and maybe being able to last for more than a week before returning to my Bolo body to recharge.” She smiles. “I rather suspect I don’t have the power supply- just yet- for things like magic.”
Blink, blink. “Aaahh… Um, no problem. Um…”
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
1,139 users online
1,589,546 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Too bad they can't build mini-bodies for themselves, like a robotic version of their pony selves, that way they could walk around and still do stuff like when they were normal ponies but they would still be machines.
8688062
That's what these 'avatars' are... Only problem is, they aren't working very well. And they won't, for a while at least!
Two moarter barrages just to the offside of each tank, theyll change angle of impact at least, enduing up track to track, or deflect in to a corner corner impact, or if speeds are faster than their reactions, they both end up upside down. Not sure how long it takes to use moarters for self righting.
Least, it worked last time.
8688163
That would work, true- but she still has no ammo for any physical weapons, only direct-fire (and more destructive) energy weapons. Thence, unfortunately, it's not on the list that Tactical offers. Attempting the same thing- successfully- with energy weapons would be on the list, I imagine, though turning a Bolo over with those energy weapons might be extremely difficult without destroying it. They're massively wide for their height, after all.
As for self-righting, she'd have to remote into their counter-gravs to turn them right-side-up again- and can you imagine Fluttershy taking over somepony else's body in any circumstances? I know I can't! ... Yes, neither Twilight nor Applejack have access to their own counter-gravs.
I'm sorry for being so critical of your input- it's just that, given the not-entirely-disclosed world state as it exists in my head, it wouldn't work. I do appreciate it, though- thank you!
THAT is a cliff.
Do the others have self-repair yet? No matter what happens, cleaning that up is going to be a pain.
Suggestion: Drop a battlescreen between them, or drive between them, with battlescreen on? At minimum, an extra tank between the colliding culprits should reduce the damage on all three, although again, repairs are going to be a pain in the flank.
Um, you just set off a nuke inside your hull. Only minor damage ensues, and no mention of radiation. What.
Also, um, why does she not know what it is if she built one? I would think that her manufacturing systems would tell her. (As a side note, if that gets working PROPERLY, I am guessing that it can run the avatars indefinitely? They usually run for around 4 years in a commercial power plant, but IDK how costly it is to run an android on a size-unknown fission plant. You could go with RTG instead, but those contain worse crap, at the improvement of a much smaller chance of kaboom.
Reading physics books for info is odd. She's already making far more advanced stuff (Plus, it's somehow innovating?!) than a physics book should be able to help with, unless it's a REALLY advanced AND detailed on. Is it for magitech rather than the type the bolo's Cornucopia Machine knows about?
What are the specs on the others? Why is Flutters the only one with truly working systems? Is that because she was the only modern one, and the others need to update software first, because the others don't have the hardware, or is it disable a la Discord?
Is there an ETA on -magic -countergrav -accelerated thought speed?
I don't really understand what the "interrupted" adjustment by Athena meant. Did she ever finish the updates?
Also, plot hole: Shouldn't the others also have the Tactical subprocessors online? They should at least be able to play nondestructive chicken, if not realize the mess they are making. How does a tank COVERED in cameras run something over, anyway? Shouldn't automated systems take care of that? The whole fight seems slightly OOC, anyway.
I find the idea interesting and the story good, otherwise.
I have no idea why I am complaining about a particularly ridiculous fictional war tank's implausibility... Odd...
8698853
Yes, driving between would reduce the damage on all three....
A Bolo's glacis plate, or frontal armor, is its strongest armor. Unless Fluttershy wants to turn hers into a battering ram and assure the others' deaths, she can't park her front between them. If she lets them plow into her thinner side armor, they'll almost certainly puncture her far more powerful power plants... And all die anyways. Yes, I knew the fight was OOC when I wrote it, they just snapped from the stress or something- stoic old me did that just yesterday...
As for the nuclear thing, it was a small test- oh, dozen ton range. Remember, these bolos routinely shrug off dozens of megaton-range weapons! As per radiation, perhaps little enough escaped that the (presumably working) radiation scrubbing functions in her DCC systems are able to eliminate the remnants?
Yes, her design cores are innovating, or at least trying to; No, unfortunately, they have virtually no technical knowledge to work from- only a couple of blueprints that made it across the line before Athena's upload was cut off by Discord's transformation spell. They have these advanced blueprints to start from, no understanding of the underlying principles, save her personal knowledge... And nothing at all to suggest how to make some things, like light durasteel bones. Or modern hydraulics- the MK IIs were probably leaking somewhere.
As for why Flutters is the only one capable of any Bolo-like actions, including watching multiple directions at once, that's a combination of artifacts. Discord left none of them with any software, for the most part. Fluttershy happens to be the only one whose model- and, thence, programming- matched Athena's, so the programming process went far faster for her. Athena had to modify to fit or look up from archives for the others... And hadn't gotten past basic mobility and defensive systems, even to overwriting the inhibitory programming Discord left on their personality centers. Thus, the others are no more capable of paying attention to eight hundred different cameras than a single security officer can simultaneously trace eighty different suspects scattering through a building filled with ten thousand innocents, when armed with only forty camera displays. Not like anyone but a full-powered Bolo can watch all of them at once anyways... Same goes for their tactical & design cores- with no software, they're useless.
ETA on magic & Bolo abilities... Indeterminate. Applejack's starting to break past Discord's inhibitory programming with her brainpower (I enjoy the image of her as more than meets the farm- or eye), and is slowly gaining up to her proper Bolo-like thought speed, at least. Counter-grav and other Bolo abilities will be whenever Fluttershy builds up the courage to start pushing programming- or when those other ponies ask for and install it themselves. Magic... May or may not ever come back, while they're still Bolos.
8699024
Okay. I was wondering about the interrupted upload, but was not quite able to figure that out. I guess transformation to a pony would stop the upload process (so THAT's what that meant. From the context, it sounded like she was still in communication with them post-xformation. My bad.) (hindsight is 20/20...)
RE the nuke, that makes more sense. It was a funny scene, though.
I have read little of the Boloverse, though (and long ago), so what abilities will the others have once they get past all the fun driver issues (pun intended)?
For the part on their programming (or lack thereof) and why Flutters is able to design those, yet need physics books, you may want to redo the chapter or add an author's note. Still, now I know what happened.
You had a breakdown?! That's bad. Aside from your health, I like my chapter updates. (Wicked, but kindly grin)
Try less coffee (or more coffee, depending), more sleep if possible, and a nice browse through THIS for more of David Weber's work (though you may know of it, considering which Bolo book you read). The Looking Glass Wars and Legacy of the Aldenata books are in there too, along with many others.
8699054
Yes. She technically was still in communication with them post-transformation- though only through verbal and visual signals, rather than anything even close to TSDS.
This chapter rewritten!
Thank you, my little ponies!
I wonder if you plan to revert some of them, or if they will all end up as siege weaponry.
I can't imagine that Twi or Dash would be happy at first. Applejack is uncertain, but Rarity would probably love the capabilities.
I don't want to know what Pinkie Pie could do with advanced mechatronics and nanites. Oh, no. You HAVE to make her stay. I have this glorious mental image of a pink Bolo taking one of her Shortcuts and poking a light cannon out of a cupboard, where a flag pops out that says "FOREEEEVERRR!" And that's before she starts designing some of these...
...Chrysalis (next time she attacks... how many times has it been, anyway?!) would have a fun surprise no matter what, though!
"(faintly) I think I have made a miscalculation." :D