• Published 8th Jan 2021
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Ark: Friendship is Survival - Pomp-Neigh



Equus, a world of magic and many strange yet wonderous forms of life. However, is this world truly natural? Or could it possibly be... artificial?

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Chapter 2 - Take me to your leader, Ponies

Some time before Helena Walker’s introduction:

It's a beautiful sunny day in Equestria, and a small mechanical entity bursts out of the ground from a crater created by some form of impact, sending flickers of dirt into the air. It then starts to look itself over before surveying its surroundings.

"Ok, the good news is: I'm here! The bad news is: Whoever owns this apple orchard is going to be very angry with me," Helena says as she looks back to the small crater that was the result of her entry to Equus, "I'm sure they'll forgive me… maybe. Now then, I need to head north to reach Canterlot. It's a good thing I chose the same spot I started with when I was using The Spectator. Before that, though, let's be sure that this little gizmo is in top shape. Initiating status protocol."

The mechanical entity starts to glow with what could best be described as a light-blue aura that's both technical and magical in conjunction.

"Hmm, looks like everything is in one piece. My HLN-A unit is at one hundred percent, and I- oh, crap… I forgot to give this thing cloaking capabilities. So much for subterfuge, I'm going to have to be a fly on the wall to traverse this Ark without being see-"

"Whoa! This thing looks awesome! So that's where the light show was coming from."

"Scootaloo! This thing left a crater in ma' family's orchard! It's probably what left that huge dent in one of our apple trees!"

-Of course ramming into that tree with the Spectator would come back to bite me like a Rex...- Helena thought, turning towards the source of these voices.

"Well, I say that this thing looks gorgeous," Sweetie Belle complimented. "That blue light it constantly gives off is delightful. It's almost like a unicorn's horn when they're about to cast a spell."

Helena then gets an idea as she chuckles to herself and says:

"I am a visitor from another woooooorld. Take me to your leader, ponies. WoOoOoOo."

-I always enjoy making that reference when I arrive on newly discovered Arks,- Helena says internally.

"You can talk?!" The three ponies exclaim in unison.

"You bet your flanks I can, survivors."

The three mares are, of course, thrown off by this reference, but the orange earth pony is the first to recover from their confusion and questions:

"Ah', why'd ya' call us survivors?"

"Oh, it's technically what you all are! Aside from being sweet, adorable, and cuddly ponies, of course. I'm not insulting any of you by chance, am I?"

"No, no, no! It's not that, ya' just surprised us is ah'll. Oh! Where are me and ma' friend's manners, ma' name is-"

"You're Apple Bloom," Helena interjects. "You're an earth pony while your friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are a pegasus and a unicorn. You're all so cute compared to the equines I've ever seen before on the other Arks."

The three equines were stunned as their eyes widened and the trios mouthes dropped towards the ground.

"Did I do something wrong?" Helena inquires.

"H-how in tarnation did ya' do that?" Apple Bloom questions.

"Do what?"

"You know our names and what type of ponies we are!" Scootaloo replies. "How did you do that?!"

-Damnit, Helena, you're going to drive them mad if you tell them everything. What I have to discuss is only meant for the rulers of Equestria. Come on, think… think.-

An exclamation mark suddenly pops up on the mechanical entity's visor, along with a dinging sound.

"Whoa!" The trio of ponies exclaims in response as they are startled by the change in the entity's 'eye.'

"Your eye just changed! Are you ok?!" Sweetie Belle questions in concern.

"My eye? Oh! No, my little ponies, this isn't my actual eye. You're looking at an Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, and this is my unit's visor. I'm a drone, a machine. Now, I'm in a hurry, but can you all help deliver me over to Canterlot in secret? Derpy Hooves was supposed to do that, but she kind of… dropped me."

-Sorry, Derpy, but you got me into this mess… and you're going to get me out of it.- Helena says internally.

"Oh!" The trio exclaims in unison.

"You must be some secret project for Princess Twilight!" Scootaloo exclaims.

"Keep your voice down, Scoots. If this thing is meant to be kept a secret, then we can't let anypony else see her," Sweetie Belle says as she places a forehoof onto the pegasus's muzzle.

"That's gotta be It. If it's fer' Twilight, then the Cutie Mark Crusaders accepts yer' request ah- wait, what's yer' name?" Apple Bloom questions.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. My name is Helena Walker."

-Canterlot-

The Cutie Mark Crusaders exit the train that has just arrived from Ponyville. Various individuals from different species were now starting to board the aforementioned train as Sweetie Belle wipes her forehead with her left forehoof and says:

"Phew, that was too close."

"Ah'll say… that conductor was one nosey pony. It's ah' good thing we wrapped Helena in a blanket before we placed her in that there bag of yours." Apple Bloom responds.

Scootaloo took the time to peek into the bag as she whispered:

"Psst, you ok in there, Helena? It's not a tight fit, is it?"

"I'm good, love. One good thing about being an AI is that I don't have to worry about feeling anything. Don't you worry about my physical discomfort. I owe you three so much for this."

-I swear, when this is all over, I will personally make sure that you three live incredible lives on Earth. I might even be able to do something about Scootaloo's wing condition.- Helena states internally.

The crusaders nod in response as they continue to make their way through Canterlot.

..........

After traversing through Equestria's capital for nearly an hour, greeting and passing various ponies, the group came upon a very familiar sight as they found themselves in the aftermath of Princess Twilight's royal coronation.

"Wow, ah'm surprised that this place is still a mess. Didn't anypony bother to clean up after the coronation?" Apple Bloom questions.

-I might've had something to do with that...- Helena says internally.

"Let's see if there's anypony who can help-"

"Hey, I recognize you ladies. You're the younger siblings of some of the Element Bearers, right?" A new voice interjects, which causes the crusaders to turn towards a dark purple unicorn mare with a noticeably broken horn on her head.

"How's it going, Tempest?!" Scootaloo exclaims. "Have you seen Princess Twilight around here? We've got a secret delivery for her."

"Oh? Well, I saw them teleport away not too long ago with some strange object. From what I observed, some pegasus rammed into it while I was about to take my leave. I'll spare you the details, but they went to see somepony named Dr. Whooves?"

"I know him; Derpy asked me to help deliver some apples to his laboratory a few times before," Apple Bloom responds. "Thanks a bunch of apples fer' this, Tempest. We'll catch ya later!" The apple family member waves her right front hoof at the broken unicorn before the group heads off towards the opposite direction with Apple Bloom in the lead.

"Ok, everypony, here we are," Apple Bloom says as she turns around and exclaims with a raised forehoof:

"Welcome to Dr. Whooves' Laboratory!"

-Fantastic! I hope we aren't too late and can catch the current ruler of Equestria in time. According to her file, Twilight is a potential fourth guardian for this Ark, currently being processed. I must say: This installation is so bizarre, and it's unlike any of the others. I mean, The Guardians on The Island aren't exactly nice… I still hold a grudge against The Broodmother, stupid overgrown spider. Yet here on Equus, its guardians live alongside the survivors in peace. What the hell did this Ark's Overseer do? Disabling the Ascension Protocol was mind-boggling in itself, but seeing such a surreal phenomenon even by the standards of the other Arks is just so unusual.-

During her inner thoughts, Helena failed to realize that Sweetie Belle managed to get by various other ponies dressed in lab attire in some miracle. Suddenly, the unicorn pony stops in front of a door as the two can hear faint voices just behind it.

Sweetie Belle looks around one last time before opening up the bag via her magic, floating Helena before her and removing the blanket that had covered the AI.

"Ok, the coast is clear for now. Scoots and Apple Bloom are distracting the other ponies. I'll open the door for you so you can fly in there and meet up with Twilight."

"Thank you again for this; I promise to make it up to you all someday," Helena replies as she then flies into the unicorn and rubs herself against the pony in a grateful gesture, to which the unicorn returns by lifting her left front hoof.

The two then part ways after a momentary embrace as Sweetie Belle alights her horn and opens the door for Helena.

"Goodbye, Helena. It was really nice to meet you."

"Thank you, Sweetie Belle. I'll never forget this, nor will I forget you three, my little ponies," Helena replies as she flies into the room and the unicorn closes the door behind her.

Helena starts to zip about the lab and leaves behind a stream of blue light as the AI flies towards the source of the voices, which notably grew louder as she drew near.

..........

"Then that is all the more reason for us to destroy that object!" Luna exclaims.

"Yeah... Now I'm going to give the order for that machine's destruction. If this thing is scaring you, Discord, then that means-"

"Maybe I should do the talking for him, huh Discord? Or shall I call you this Ark's Overseer? Ooooh boy, do I have some words for you," Helena interjects as she reaches the source of the voices and catches the attention of the entities that stand before her. "Greetings everyo- uh, every... pony? I'm Helena Walker! Well, not exactly... kind of? Ok, look, I'm not going to lie to any of you. I'm essentially an alien from Earth, which is kind of your original homeworld, and I've come to seek your aid. Survivors of Installation: Equus."


Present.


Discord's eyes are widened in shock as he recognized the entity before him. "Y-you!" He shouts with a pointed eagle's talon, "You're the one who managed to access my terminal! How did you do that?!"

"Four words: Alpha. Terminal. On. Earth. In your face, Overseer," Helena responds as she flies up to Discord's face and presses against it, "Tried to hide this installation from good old Helena, huh? You've got a lot of explaining to do, and not just to me it would seem," Helena says as she gestures towards the other ponies who stare in shock and disbelief.

"I see two of your Ark's Guardians here, in addition to Twilight Sparkle, yet they seem to be oblivious to everything that's going on! Hear me well, Overseer, if you are trying to pull another Edmund Rockwell, I will terminate you right here and now!" Helena roars out as the AI glows with its light blue aura.

Celestia recovers before any of the other ponies and starts to walk forward, saying:

"Discord... why is this mysterious machine-entity calling you an Overseer? Also, Ark? Guardians? What is happening here?"

"I will happily answer in his stead-"

"No! Leave this Ark right now!" Discord interjects. "I don't care one bit about what you came here for; you will not-"

"You don't care?!" Helena interjects in response. "It's in your programming to care, Overseer! These poor souls deserve to know the truth!"

"They can't handle the truth!" Discord roars in response as his pupils glow red, "You would cruelly tell them of their harsh reality?! You don't know these ponies as I do; their emotions are-"

"ENOUGH!" Celestia exclaims in her very own Canterlot Voice as she injects herself into this debate and shakes the entirety of the laboratory. Her exclamation also causes the bystanders to cover their ears in the process.

"You two will come with me, right now," Celestia declares as she then turns to the others, "Princess Twilight, you, Luna, and the Element Bearers shall accompany us, and as for you, Dr. Whooves, I respectfully ask that you keep this a secret."

"For the first time in my life… I don't think I want to know where this is going. I shall take my leave, and this never happened," Dr. Whooves responds as he starts to make his way towards the exit.

"We haven't had time to change the Canterlot Castle, so we could use your room Pri- I mean, Celestia."

"Oh my sweet Twilight, there's no need to call me that, for I am no longer Equestria's ruler. Also, it's not exactly my room anymore, but I do appreciate the gesture, my beloved former student."

As they converse and everyone gathers around them, Discord and Helena are practically staring daggers at each other. The AI, in particular, was now emitting a red light rather than its usual light blue coloration. Seeing this, some of the element bearers have various reactions of their own:

"Hey, AJ, wanna make a bet? Five bits on the machine."

"Yer' on, Rainbow. Ah' got five on Discord."

"I'll take a piece of that action," Starlight comments. "Five bits on Discord as well."

"Ooh, ooh, I've got five on Helena," Pinkie Pie said happily.

"You can't be serious, darlings. How could you bet on such a thing?" Rarity questions. She then pauses for a moment, "Five bits on Discord."

Both Fluttershy and Spike stared at the group with expressions that could be translated to: ' Seriously?'

Twilight raises an eyebrow at their antics.

Luna chuckles.

Celestia's horn glows with a golden aura before casting a spell which consumes the group in bright light, disappearing as a result.

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