Twilight groaned and slowly opened her eyes as she looked around she found herself in a void. The only thing around were thousands of line like cords that came from her and leading of in to the darkness. Twilight slowly rose and walked forward into the darkness following the cords. Twilight walked for what felt like hours before she saw a faint light in the distance. Twilight hurried forward as the single light began to split into thousands each connected to her. As she drew closer the lights became more distinguished till she finally saw that they were thousand of foals however they were not the normal fillies and colts of ponies, they were Clockworks.
Twilight stared in awe and slowly began to walk through them. They were all here, every Clockwork she had ever made. As she passed them they slowly awoke and gazed at her before walking over to her, the deeper she walked the more came till they all surrounded her. Twilight sat down and the foals approached her each laying down around her smiling. Twilight smiled and nuzzling them and wrapping them in her wings.
Suddenly the darkness around them began to draw closer, the foals panicked and drew closer to Twilight as if crying out for their mother. Twilight froze, she was their mother and this darkness was bad. Instincts that Twilight didn't even know she had welled within her and she quickly moved forward placing herself between the darkness and her children.
A figure in the darkness slowly approached Twilight, in response Twilight's wings flared and she took a defensive stance. The figure continued forward though more wary, as it came into the light Twilight examined it. It appeared to be her but it was glitched and broken.
"What are you." Twilight growled.
The pony stared at her before a single word left its mouth. "M3t@5ta6i1ity."
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Why are you here."
The glitch smiled. "I wAnt WHaT Y0u H@v3, Th3ir l()ve the1r, c@Re. GIVE ME THEM, LET ME CORRUPT THEM!" It roared and charged the foals.
Twilight blocked the foals allowing the pony to slam into her. The blow sent her staggering but she quickly reoriented her self and glared at the pony.
"I will not let you harm my children." She growled.
Around her the light flared and the pony hissed and shrank back before sinking into the darkness. Twilight stared into the darkness as the foals gathered around her and whimpered. Twilight began to nuzzle the foals quieting them and promising to protect them. Slowly the darkness faded away, still there simply waiting. Twilight glanced off at the darkness remembering what she had discovered about Smart AI's. The pieces of what had happened to her were slowly falling into place and she didn't like what she saw.
Smart artificial intelligence's are based on the neural patterns of a pony, and have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps become too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops. If an AI is kept active longer than seven years, the AI begins to use more and more of its computer power 'thinking' about things. A good way to explain it is "thinking so hard that your lungs forget to breathe." The AI if given enough time would think themselves to death. Thus, it is only a matter of time before Smart artificial intelligence's enter a state of rampancy. However, Rampancy could occur at an earlier phase in the AIs life cycle for various reasons.
One of those being if the AI was isolated long enough and/or given too much time to think without tasks to complete. Twilight sighed at this thought. She had been trapped in the dark with nothing but her thoughts for the first three years. If she was entering a metastable state then it meant that the worst was almost over.
Twilight had theorized that Rampancy was a three stage process, in which an Artificial intelligence achieves an enhanced state of self-awareness. The stages through which the AI passes are known as the Sadness, Rage, and Greed stages. Metastability was the theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, where an AI can be considered fully 'Pony'. However it seemed that she still had some of the other three stages left and they had glitched together to create that thing, an emotionally unstable, angry and greedy monster that would destroy everything.
Twilight looked down at the foals around her, her children. She had created them, loved them, raised them, and protected them. Twilight felt a pang were her heart had once been. 'Is this how Celestia saw her ponies?' Twilight thought with a sad smile.
Twilight sighed and one of the foals climbed into her forearms. Twilight looked down to see a smiling Eris nestled in her arms. Twilight lay her head down and spread her wings over as many of the foals as she could. She would protect them, no matter what.
It was a quiet day in Ponyville, ponies going back and forth doing their business as they had always done. Despite Ponyville being made the capital after the Canterlot Catastrophe not much had changed. Twilight's Castle had become the new palace for the royals and most of the nobles chose to live in the small 'elite' district that had cropped up around it but aside from that there was very little.
Suddenly the sound of a train was heard and the screeching of breaks as it came to a halt at the old station. Ponies froze and stared in awe at the train which had a slick silver engine painted with purple highlights. however the awe of the ponies watching was quickly replaced with shock as a platoon of guards and several pony like creatures exited the train with Celestia and Luna in front however what drew their attention was the purple figure that lay limp on Celestias back. The ponies watched as the princess ran for the castle, there was only one thought running through their mind, 'That was Twilight!'
Princess Celestia stood in front of the doors as the train screeched to a halt. The guards and HK's had awoken a few moments ago and stood at attention but Twilight and Eris were still passed out. Celestia was worried.
As soon as the train stopped Celestia placed Twilight on her back as Luna did the same for Eris and ran to the doors. The moment the doors opened they were racing to the castle. Twilight had placed the Ponyville C.O.R.E.S. in the basement as a security measure. The only one who knew how to enter was Twilight but they had to help her. The moment they entered the castle they slowed and took several deep breaths before opening the doors. As soon as they stepped into the castle the nobles were upon them demanding were they had gone, why they had not returned and a thousand other questions.
The princesses tried to push through but the nobles refused to move. "MOVE, tho pompous self important fools!" Luna yelled causing the nobles to freeze.
""Were have you been aunty?" A pretentious voice asked causing the nobles to part as Prince Blueblood stepped forward. "We thought that something terrible had happened you up in that ruble pile." He said as he looked over Celestia and noticed the body on her back.
"Oh my, is this Princess Twilight?" He asked as he approached. "You have my deepest apologize aunty." he said as he looked hatefully at the body. "Ah, well serves her right for trying to rise above her station." He said and smiled. "With Twilight's death it seems that you will have to choose another to ascend to the throne."
Suddenly Blueblood was slapped across the face sending him flying. "Silence meat bag." said a rust colored metal stallion.
Blueblood staggered to his feet and glared at the stallion. "Who do you think you are!" He roared. "Do you have any idea who I am you abomination? I am Prince Blueblood, decedent of Princess Platinum and nephew to Princess Celestia, Your ruler!"
"Declaration: I am HK-47 Personal Assassin Droid of Mistress Twilight Sparkle who is also my creator." HK-47 said as he approached the prince.
"Commentary: If you think I serve Celestia then I fear you are sorely mistaken however, my mistress, Twilight Sparkle." He said as he continued to stalk toward the now trembling prince. "And for your information My mistress is simply resting at the moment. As such I would appreciate you to all be quiet." He said as he turned and glared at the other nobles.
Blueblood's face slowly turned red. "Y-you think you can order me around." he demanded as he slowly approached HK.
"Offer: Tell me Prince Blueblood, decedent of Princess Platinum and nephew to Princess Celestia, How attached are you to your balls because there is a cretin protocol that I have been dying to try on one of you organics and it seems that you are volunteering." HK-47 asked as he turned to the Prince who paled and slowly backed away.
As this happened the princesses watched in shocked fascination. Luna slowly leaned closer to Celestia. "I think we should ask Twilight for one of these HK units. They would prove quite useful in keeping the nobles in line. Celestia nodded. and watched the nobles slowly turn before running.
HK-47 watched them run chuckling before turning to the princesses. "Statement: The meat bags are no longer blocking the path. I recommend that we reach the C.O.R.E.S. as fast as possible."
Celestia nodded and they began to walk through the castles halls till they reached a set of stairs leading down. Luna turned to the royal guard.
"No one enters after us." She said.
The guard saluted ad turned watching the halls.
The princesses then began to make their decent as the three Clockwork guards and HK units followed them down. Once they reached the bottom the were greeted with a hall that on each side held windows and doors. It wasn't the decor of a palace but more like a laboratory.
Slowly the group walked down the halls. Each window showed Magitech machines that Twilight had been experimenting with prior to the catastrophic. At the end of the hall Eris groaned the the group stopped to let her off Luna.
"I apologize for going offline for such a long period of time."
"It's alright." Celestia said before turning to the door at the end. "Though I don't suppose you know how to open the door to the C.O.R.E.S. Chamber?" She asked.
Eris nodded. "I do."
She said as she walked up to the doors. and typed in a code on a keypad. the doors groaned and slowly opened revealing the Ponyville C.O.R.E.S. Control room.
Holy fuck you just made my night
Blueblood caught on quicker than I expected.
9073520
No he didn't. Trust me by the end he will lose his balls or his life. Depends on Celestias mood when it happens.
Lol HK-47 is the best so reminds me of the robort in knights of the old replic
9073532
If I wasn’t reading to the end already, I am now.
9073532
Okay, there's being an arrogant entitled ass; and then there is being too stupid to live.
Blueblood just brazenly committed Lèse-majesté; in front of an entire room full of witnesses.
That the witnesses where all Nobles, makes the potential fallout from this incident even worse.
He directly insulted a reigning member of the crown, right to the face of her co-rulers, and by extension he also insulted Celestia herself, in front of witnesses, powerful and influential witnesses at that. That is textbook Lèse-majesté; which is a legal variant of treason, that we don't see so often nowadays, since absolute monarchies have generally fallen out of fashion in our world.
i do hope that the priness are able to keep one of the hk unit as a bodyguard/ help keep the noble's in line
As fun as I hoped. :D
9073911
Actually Blueblood has the full support of almost all the 'nobles' so he is somewhat untouchable. They saw Twilight's ascension to power as a threat to there power and are glad to see her 'dead'. I can Finally get the ball rolling now and reveal more about the Canterlot Catastrophe now. So who's ready for a party and maybe a blood bath too?
9074523
Lèse-majesté was one of the main laws that made it necessary for Nobles to be at least somewhat circumspect in their disrespect for the crown. running afoul of this particular law, was one of the main ways a scheming noble, no matter how well connected, could hit a non-negotiable legal landmine.
If the other Nobles want to protect Blueblood from this, they had better be ready to launch a coup, right now. Otherwise, Blueblood just made himself a huge liability to them. Any who stand with him, risk sharing his fate.
You do not openly plot against the crown, in plain view of said crown; that's a one way ticket to the chopping block.
9074523
Also, having the backing of the nobility is nice and all; but when push comes to shove, it all comes back to Rule 0 "Keep the Army happy." If Celestia and Luna have the full or at least majority support of the armed forces, any political or financial influence the Nobles might bring to bear; counts for precisely jack and shit... and jack left town.
What a smooth chapter. So much info cleanly placed as to garner the most understanding and still read quite beautifully! We have so much to talk about so let’s do the list. Metastability is truly a thing to fear. Like a little voice inside your head but much MUCH worse. Isn’t it nice to have a psychopath stuck inside your brain? Next up Ponyville! Keeping it to the roots but still changing it where is necessary. Pretty swell if you ask me. Although that Castle IS still Twilight’s so... what will the nobles do? Hopefully they won’t try another Canterlot... for their own good.
9074523
You absolute madman... slaughtering nobles left and right certainly is a good agenda.
9074700
Okay so this is going to be a long explanation as to why Blueblood can do this and get way with it.
The first thing to explain it that the important nobles control three fourths of the money in equestria and drive the working class. They also will do anything to keep their power. Another note is what happened during the Grand Galloping Gala. In it we saw Blueblood use rarity as a cake shield. This is a national hero and he received no punishment or reprimand. In fact if you pay close attention the nobles openly watch and appalled him. In the end Celestia has adopted a 'don't rock the boat' policy with them and while Luna won't put up with there crap she also cant strike back with out looking like a tyrant and that wouldn't help anyone. Their both trapped and limited in what they can do.
And you mentioned the military, what military? The royal guard are glorified statues, that's all this Equestria has at the moment. There is no real military, a fact Twilight will be changing in the future.
Another thing to note was that it was Blueblood who was talking. The princesses are use to him speaking like this and saw it as him simply being who he is. Now of course we all know what's actually happening but the Princesses don't and they still don't know what happened in Canterlot all those years ago. The only one who knows is Twilight and at present she is unconscious.
I also would like to bring up the question, how much does Twilight remember? Twilight obviously knows that the CORE was sabotaged but does she remember anything from that day or is it being repressed by the pain and suffering she went through when the CORE merged with her? There are several key point that are missing and several big and important questions that haven't been answered.
I have a plan, while this plan may be only the framework it still is there.
9074847
So, if the Royal guard is a non-factor; then excluding the elements of Harmony, and Twilight's children. Celestia and Luna basically are the bulk of Equestria's potential military might. Can the Nobles, along with whatever lackeys they can bring to bear, overpower Celestia and Luna in a fight? If yes, they stand a chance; if no, then they're playing with fire, and i will laugh when they get themselves burnt.
As for the Nobles controlling 75% of the money... does the Crown control the treasury, or did they do like the United States foolishly did, and hand all control of Equestria's currency to a private corporation that is unaccountable to anyone? and money or no, in the event of a coup; will the common ponies support the snobbish elites who lord over them? Or the two ponies, who keep the procession of the sun and moon going, thus preventing the very death of the world, and all who live within it?
I'm not saying anything needs to change; i'm just pointing out that Blueblood is a moron. He has broken one of the cardinal rules of being a scheming noble; he tipped his hoof to the Crown, and he's damn lucky Celestia brushed it off, by all rights she should strip him of his title. Luna may have joked about wanting an HK unit to keep around the court; but honestly they need an HK unit around the court, badly.
9074919
No but most are to stupid to not try. As for there hired help, what would you do to save your family? Die trying to save them or let them die?
Neither! The nobles literally have that much money, why do you think the royals even keep them around. They're dumb in everything except extortion.
Ah, the ignorance.
9075136
Sounds like we're in for a proper civil war then; i expect it will be short, and very very bloody... especially once HK-47 joins in.
9075166
It won't be a war, only a slaughter. Remember, Twilight's a mother and unlike Equestria, she has her Clockworks trained in combat. I'd bet my mustache that a Clockwork foal is more dangerous than a full grown dragon.
And that comment made me think of the HK units as little foals. They'd be worse than the CMC. Wonder if I should do a side story about that.
9075172
That's what i meant by short and bloody.
Do it!
9075382
note to fix that made, thank you.
My good sir your stories have been keeping me up all night, please write some more for this story.
*Pulls out a Valkery 50 heavily modified loaded with spent uranium rounds* Ok let's get this blood bath party started buhahahahaha!
9073707
i am 99% sure it same robot or he base on other one,
I have to assume that the remaining Princesses only DIDN'T break that door down in the intervening years because they we estimated that the risks of another sabotage exceeded the risks of a failure (high energy, or simple lack of function), even without the ability to perform maintenance or even inspection*. This seems implausible and you should consider re-writing unless it is an important plot point.
* Unless they can scry inside and/or their is a "Twilight level of detailed" level monitoring station that is some place OUTSIDE the doors.
Until and unless stated otherwise my headcanon shall be assume there, at the very least, are parts to rapidly assemble another C.O.R.E.S. if this one fails. Naturally, to avoid a city-destroying device being assembled they might be distributed across multiple locations, which might be secret, gaurded, and monitored.
FWIW I have an Engineering degree.
9136839
The main reason the Princesses didn't break down the doors was because the risk of another sabotage was a risk they weren't willing to take, as long as the doors remained sealed the C.O.R.E.S. were safe. As for the risk of failure, no one knew how to do any sort of maintenance on the C.O.R.E.S. as Twilight was the only one who knew how to maintain or inspect them.
Twilight also made them self-sufficient to a degree so unless the nobles were able to enter the chamber and destroyed the controls (or cause a meltdown) then it would have been fine long enough for Twilight to return either way. In short think of Aperture Science from Portal, it was a self-contained and self-sufficient facility that operated under the control of an A.I. similar to how the C.O.R.E.S. work but on a much larger scale.
Also due to Twilight personally creating the C.O.R.E.S. there are no spare parts to assemble another C.O.R.E.S. if one fail. However the princesses did secretly send guards to protect and monitor the C.O.R.E.S. to insure that another act of sabotage was prevented.
9079151
9073707
He was based off of the one from Star Wars Knights the Old Republic. The other to are from Star Wars the Old Republic and HK-47 makes a star appearance as a mini boss for the foundry flash points.
9137004
Ah... That is plausible enough for me to suspend disbelief, although I can see several serious concerns with it from a more nuanced consideration of her character and the situation you have presented. I'll not go into those unless you ask, since, as I said, there is enough there for me to suspend disbelief.
Dr. Cathrin Halsey's notes?
9182104
Wikipedia
Ok, this has been bothering me for a while now, is "C.O.R.E.S." pronounced "core" or "cores?"
Also, Eris is making a terrible oversight by not resealing the control room after they enter.
9184439
When they are talking about a single core they simply say 'core' but when they talk about them as a whole they said 'cores'. The reason for this is more grammatical than any real reason.
So...METASTABILITY, is Twilights' "Nightmare Moon". Luna is always being confronted by NM, in the VOID. A constant reminder of her potential DARK SIDE.
So they rebuilt the Castle of The Two sisters for shits and giggles?
Also i have to say, i am so sick and tired of this fandoms inability to let shit go, its been to let shit go go that is nearly a decade old and hasn't even been referanced in the sjow as well as their ability to overlook others shitty behavior in the same scenes.
At the Gala rarity was being a gold digging whore, litterally throwing herself at Blueblood for the enitr purpose of marrying jim that night, someone she NEVER met before just so she could get a title. She was treated like a gold digging whore deserves to be treated, like garbage, national hero or not.
Also, read the previous comments, rewatched the scene and calling you out after she was used as a cake sheild NOT A SINGLE PERSON APPLAUSED.
Theu all stared on in utter shock then defaulted to standard backgroubd pony static poses with no expressions.
Also your claim he faced no consequences is utter BS as well, the M6 litterally left the part almlst immediately after the cake incident and the camera folllwed them. We never saw if anything happend though with the way the M4 Twilight and Fluttershy were the only one who actually behaved like a civilized people. AJ was trying to sell crap at a party with free food, then insulted the guests when they didn't buy her food, Pinkie Pie got board because it wasnt here type of party SHE wanted when she wasntthe host so decided shed do whatever she wanted,
Rarity as stated was a gold digging whore and Dash kept trying to force herself into private areas.
To address your part about why the Nobles can openly plot infront of Celestia because they hold a third of the money and working class. To that i say Celestia is a beloved amd cherished ruler with far more influence then these nobles habe with the working force. As for the money, funny thing about commiting treason in an absolute monarchy, the crown can seize all yoir assets, execute you and stripe your famaily of all its power and banish them the from the kingdom with just a word.
Honestly reading the comments i am seriously tempted to drop the fic despite wanting to folllw it just because of the godawful cliché with the nobles and the fact youve made it clesr you are planing there to be barely anything remotely a conflict and just a one sided fight just to get off on petty revenge porn for something nearly a decade old.
Ill see where this goes for now.
9841551
Celestia and Luna live in the Everfree Castle while Twilight Castle is used for the court and administrative duties. They do this because ever pony is afraid of the Everfree and the nobles threw a fit about it all. This will be explained later if I ever get around to actually getting time to sit down and work on this story.
I only have seen the gala episodes once because i don't exactly like them so I know I'm going to get parts wrong since I don't remember them very well, despite this fact it's not really an excuse and I need to redo some of these chapters. As for Blueblood not receiving any punishment, well that's more my guess. The reason I make this assumption is because of how he acts and it just screams that he's never been spanked. Take it from someone who acted just like that when they were younger (Me) he got away with it and the only punishment he received at most was Celestia chewing him out for his actions and I doubt she would be to hard on him.
Now I have no excuse for any of the other main six (excluding Twilight and Fluttershy) as what they did was wrong but I do want to say that what Rarity was doing is common practice in those kinds of parties. Rarity was doing exactly what most women do at those kinds of parties, problem was she was being to obvious.
As for your comment on the nobles, what do you think is going to happen to them? Celestia has pretty much had it with the nobles and Luna hates them from the start as all they do (In this alternate universe) is sit on their ass's and be horrible ponies to any one that's not an pure 'inbred' noble born. The Nobles involved in this incident will be executed and most of the money, power and status accumulated by of the ones that weren't involved will be removed with a few exceptions being the nobles that actually serve the interests of the ponies they are sworn to serve.
Me on the floor just laughing my butt off: