Friendship? Emotion not found.

by The Rar

Apple Trees and Anger

Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Equestria
5:10am SET

“Rise and shine!”
The clanging noise made by a spoon repeatedly hitting a frying pan made Ajax sit up rapidly in shock.
He hadn’t been offline since he’d come to Equestria and his head was killing him. Everything, even machines need some form of sleep to keep them going. Sleep deprivation also has the same effect on machines as it does on any other creature, basically makes you feel like Death’s got a bone to pick with you. Ajax felt this feeling as well as the mechanical equivalent of fatigue. His servos groaned and cried for oiling and a good rest. His CPU wailed in complaint as Ajax fed it more and more information, giving him a headache from hell. His whole body ached thanks to the patchwork of welds and seals him and Shield had managed to construct. Maybe if he’d had more time to repair himself and had adequate tooling he could have done a better job, but he had to work with what was there.
All in all, Ajax’s felt terrible. The metal clanging wasn’t helping.

“You promised me, 5am rise. You’re ten minutes late for duty mister.”

“Bah! I promised nothing. I’m getting up.”

“Don’t ya’ll lie to me; you told me you’d get up and help me with my chores. I was ready to start the moment I got up and out of my bed!”

“Urg… Give me a break pony; I haven’t gone offline all night.”

“Offline? What’s that then?”

“Like sleep, but not quite. I do it for the same reason so I suppose it is a bit like sleeping.”

“Well, whatever it is, you obviously don’t get enough of it. No time now though, work calls.”

“Ur… Give me a minute…”
Ajax hauled himself into a seated position and then onto his feet. Something made a grinding sound as he stood up.

“That didn’t sound good” Ajax said as he held the area of his leg that made the sound.
Ajax flexed his arms and legs, making sure all of the joints were still functional and after several moments of checking, he began walking towards Applejack.

“Details pony, what exactly are your “chores”?”

“Well… I got my apples to buck an-“

“Wait a minute, apples?”

“Apples. The main produce of Sweet Apple Acres for as long as I can remember. Why’d you need to ask ‘bout apples anyway?”

“Curious is all. And what do you mean by “buck”? It sounds…”

“It sounds?”

“Strange. Yes, that’s the word I’m looking for, strange. What are we doing when you say “Buck”?”

“We’re takin’ ‘em outa the trees of course. Now get movin’, we’ve got a huge section to cover on account of Big Mac bein’ out of work on an injury.”

“Big Mac?” Ajax asked

“My brother. He’ll be in bed for quite some time, busted his legs up good ‘n’ proper. He’s not someone you need to know about.”

“If I’m being allowed to stay here I may as well meet everyone who is letting me stay.”

“Fine. Ya’ll can meet him after we’re done apple bucking. Which we really should get on with” Applejack said as she gestured to the barn door.

“Fine, let’s go.”

Ajax didn’t really know how he felt about this. Everything that was happening that is.
Hell, he didn’t even know how he should be feeling. He just didn’t know.
Was he supposed to be annoyed that he was here, talking to a pony about apples?
Was he supposed to be happy that he’d discovered a refuge from the insanity that is Pandorian life?
Was he supposed to feel angry for having to deal with such creatures?
Was he supposed to be pleased that for the first time in what could very well be his entire life, he was having a conversation in which the topic wasn’t war?
War. That’s something Ajax knew.
It was the one constant thing on the whole damned planet of Pandora.
No hope.
No progress.
No future.
No salvation.
There is only war.
He’d been fighting all of his life. He was built for war, he’d waged war and he expected to die in war.
He’d spent his entire life traveling space, destroying all that some planets held dear. He’d slain the innocent under the instruction of Hyperion and he’d waged war of armies of monstrous men and grotesque abominations.
War. Ajax hated it. He’d been forced into it and now it was the only thing he knew. His entire life was based around war.
So how the hell did he feel about being in a completely war free environment?
How was he supposed to feel?
Maybe he’d find out after spending a bit more time with Applejack.
Ajax silently laughed at himself. He had actually taken to naming the pony.
Ajax liked Applejack. Even though they’d spent so little time together, he knew she was the kind of person he liked, strong, honest, and an enthusiastic and hard worker.
Maybe spending time with her wouldn’t be so bad.

“We shall see,” Ajax thought to himself.
“We shall see.”

Apple Orchard, Ponyville, Equestria
5:20Am SET
“So many trees...”
Applejack had taken Ajax outside of his barn home and introduced him to Sweet Apple Acres.
Maybe Ajax hadn’t been bothered to notice or simply hadn’t seen when he had arrived, but there were a huge number of trees. Sweet Apple Acres was a good description of this farm. There were a sweet amount of apple trees stretching across acres of land.

“That’s right,” Applejack said as she held a hoof out towards one of the trees.
“And this is the area we’ve got to clear.” She finished as she pointed to another tree.
Applejack’s hooves were about a meter apart. The area that her hooves indicated contained hundreds, if not thousands of trees.

“This is going to take an eternity… You said someone was supposed to be helping you?”

“Yup. That somepony is Big Mac. We’ve already covered him and why he’s not standin’ here and helpin’ us. Now, cus’ Big Mac’s not here, you’re going to be my help. We’ve already been over that before as well.”

“Indeed we have. Do go over it again though. I’m still a little fuzzy as to what “Bucking” is.”
Applejack sighed. She didn’t like wasting time repeating herself when there was so much work to be done.
“We’ve got to get all of these apples out of the trees and ready for shipping. Bucking is what I, and you, are goin’ to do. I buck the trees with my legs and make them fall right out of the tree, clear?”

“Very”

“Good. Now, let’s get to buckin’ these trees. We’ve got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in.”

“Just how long do you plan this to take?”

“The whole day. Maybe longer. Any more questions before we get goin’?”

“Just one”

“Urg… Go on, ask.”

“How the heck do you expect me to help in any way?”

“Um… Pull them out? You have them what-ya-ma-call-its. Hands, that’s it?”

“Yes, I have hands. I just don’t think I’ll be very good at picking apples.”

“We’ll find out won’t we? Eh?”

“Guess so. Now, let’s begin.”

Apple Orchard, Ponyville, Equestria
9:20Am SET
“How do you do this your whole life? It’s the most repetitive thing I’ve ever done!”
Ajax moaned on to Applejack. He wasn’t exactly enjoying what he was doing with the pony and he felt like he was wasting his time. The objective was to earn trust, was it not? How can he do that if the pony in which he must earn the trust of will not communicate with him?
Applejack had remained silent for the whole four hours they’d been in the orchard. She hadn’t done much else besides kick trees. Ajax thought the pony was idiotic to do this task every single day of her life in silence.

“I’m done.”
Ajax was confused by the pony’s sudden speech. Why did she suddenly choose now, after four straight hours of complete silence, to talk? And why did she say she was done? Done with what?

“What?” Ajax said, turning to her. He hadn’t been facing her for some time now. He’d decided to match her silence and looked only at the apples he was picking. He’d lasted about thirty minutes before he began speaking again.

“I’m done” Applejack repeated

“With?” Ajax continued to question

“Work. I’ve done my half”

“Wha- Your half?”
Ajax looked to the left and to the right. On Applejack’s side, there was nothing but empty trees.
On Ajax’s side, there were quite a few trees still with apples to be picked.
They hadn’t planned it that way but they’d each gotten a side. Ajax picking apples from one, Applejack from the other. Ajax, being slower and less enthusiastic about picking apples, had obviously fallen behind. Still, it was strange how she’d cleaned all of her trees so quickly. He couldn’t have had his back turned for more than an hour. No one could’ve cleaned what must’ve been a thousand trees in an hour after having already cleaning hundreds of others. They’d simply be too tired.

“Bu- Wha- What?! How did you do this?”
Applejack chuckled to herself as she sat down beside a tree.

“Me? I didn’t do this.”
Another voice joined in the laughter.
A familiar one.
An annoying one.

“Why must it always be you… Of all people.”

“Because I’m the bestest most superifically fun pony every! Everypony want’s some Pinkie Pie in their life!”

“I’m not a pony and I doubt I’d want you in my life pink one. Applejack, what is the meaning of this?”

“Well, we’re supposed to be generatin’ some trust right? Well I can’t get to trustin’ ya if I’m kicking trees now can I? So I thought the best way to build some trust between us would be for you to be workin’ and me to be askin’ some questions. Last night I asked Pinkie here if she could help me out a little. She agreed and well, here we are.”
Ajax looked back at his side of the orchard.
There were still at least a thousand trees to clear and Ajax doubted he’d get them all done in under an hour. He’d been tricked into one, doing free labour and two, doing a Q&A session with a very irritating pony.

“Wha- How can you have even- I mean come on! I thought you were the element of honesty?! How can someone who is so honest deceive someone like this?”

“Heh. Just because I’m honest doesn’t mean I can’t have some secrets. This plan was my little secret. Now, seein’ as you’ve still got lots of work to do… And considerin’ how you’ve been itchin’ to talk to me since we got to workin’…” Applejack said as a smug grin appeared on her face.

“Don’t be so… Bah! Be whatever you want. Just ask your damned questions.”

“I intend to. Heh heh.” Applejack laughed.

Apple Orchard, Ponyville, Equestria
9:30Am SET
“Okay, me ‘n’ Pinkie had a little chitty chat about what we oughta ask you and we came up with a list of sorts. Pinkie, the list.”
Pinkie Pie vanished in a puff of pink and reappeared with a note pad in her mouth.

“Here you go.” Pinkie said as she placed the note pad on the ground in front of Applejack.

“Thanks Pinkie. Now, where should we begin?” Applejack said as she flipped through the note pad.

“If I may?” Ajax said while Applejack still flipped.

“Sure?” Applejack said confusedly.

“A good place to start would be with introductions, the basics. I already have a little bit of info that you may find useful and if I don’t cover anything, you may ask. After we have dealt with the basics, then you may ask any questions you have left. Sound good?”

“Sounds great. Go ahead.” Applejack said

“Ok. I am a robotic construct known as a “loader”, designed for construction purposes. When a war sparked up on the planet of Hyperion and the company that built loaders were in need of more soldiers, they modified the standard construction loaders and made them ready for combat. Combat means more variables and more information to process. More information to process means that larger and more powerful CPU’s are required. A Central Processing Unit, or CPU for short, handles all of the information processing. The processors got so powerful and so complex that they became home to their own living consciousness. The company that constructs loaders, Hyperion, aren’t particularly nice, and so a robot revolution starts. Slowly, loaders became independent and free thinking beings. They became self-aware and gained free will. I am the result of that. Many loaders and rebelling Hyperion personnel banded together with the sole purpose of removing Hyperion’s influence from Pandora and to a further extent, the entire universe. Pandora was my home, I gained my independence there. I would fight with every bit of energy in my body to protect it. In trying to acquire an object that could crush Hyperion once and for all, I ended up here. That is all I can think of as to basics. Oh, my name is Ajax, after a hero from Greek myth who was un-rivalled in combat. I was named so by an engineer. The engineer in question also outfitted me with all of my upgrades. Industrial servos on my arms, legs and body, my improved optics, my warp device and many of the weapons in my arsenal and artificial senses. The last upgrade means that I can feel all of what you feel. All human senses were gifted to me. That really is all I can think of now.”
Ajax finished his rather long speech and continued picking apples.

“Boy howdy, that sure is alota info. I think I understood it. What ‘bout you Pinkie?” Applejack asked

“I have no idea” Pinkie said as she smiled her usual smile.

“What? Didn’t ya’ll listen to what Ajax was sayin’?” Applejack asked confusedly. She didn’t understand what Pinkie Pie meant by “I have no idea”.

“I didn’t understand half of the funny words he was saying mean!” Pinkie said, still smiling.

“Urg… Am I goin’ to have to explain this all to you later?” Applejack asked as she sighed

“Probably” Pinkie Pie responded

“Uh… You have questions?” Ajax said, changing the subject and getting the conversation back on track.

“Sure do. Celestia gave details but I’m still fuzzy on some things.”

“Like?”

“Just what were you doing carrying a super powerful “Core” thingy?” Applejack asked, sounding very confused. She’d sounded confused almost all day because she simply was. Everything happening was very confusing.

“I was transporting it back to my stronghold. It was a very important device.”

“Why?” Applejack continued to question

“I was planning on using it to power an Obliterator Class Mortar Cannon.”

“Oh oh oh! That sounds fun! What does it do?!” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly.

“Well, it turns an area of land, usually one that a building of some form is built upon and converts it into a very large crater.” Ajax responded

“Wha-? You were plannin’ on blowin’ somethin’ up?”

“Yes. I wanted to blow Hyperion off of Pandora.”

“Why in Celestia’s name would you want to do that?! That’s evil!” Applejack yelled
Ajax stopped picking apples from trees, his clawed hand slicing a branch off. What Applejack had said had obviously displeased him.

“Uh… I’m sorry?” Applejack wasn’t the type to annoy or upset people and let it pass. She decided to apologise as soon as possible. It didn’t work, apparently.
Ajax began walking towards Applejack and Pinkie Pie, the thuds of his footsteps causing both of them to cower a little. When he reached her, he said something. He didn’t attack like Applejack had expected. He simply spoke.

“A warrior walks along a cobbled road, his robes stained and his sword bloodied. As he walks his footsteps leave crimson imprints and make gruesome squelching noises. He walks and walks and walks. As he continues to walk a trickle of blood begins to flow from the warrior’s helm and eventually forms a river. The river flows down the path and pools around a throne. The throne is built of freshly harvested human skulls and is held together with wet flesh. Atop the throne of skulls sits a god, the blood god. The blood god bellows forth to the warrior “Go forth and spill blood in my name, bring skulls for my throne.” and points towards a small town. The warrior doesn’t want to, but he is under the blood god’s command. He has no choice in the matter.
He marches to the village and he burns it to the ground. He collects the skulls of every victim and drains their bodies of blood. The resulting tide of blood all flows towards the skull throne and adds to the disgusting pool. The warrior marches back to his blood god, drenched in the blood of the innocents he was forced to slaughter. He places the skulls upon the skull throne and bows to his master. His master points to another village, not too far away, and repeats what he said previously. Again, the warrior has no choice. That is what my life was for so long! I was in the service of a blood god, Hyperion! Hyperion had me burn villages and slaughter innocents. Women, children, Hyperion didn’t care! I was forced to watch millions die by my hand! Hyperion again didn’t care! They will never care! As long as they make a profit the universe could drown in blood for all they care! Enemy blood, innocent blood, even friendly blood! They didn’t care! As long as the blood kept flowing and the cash came rolling in! When I gained free will I gained the ability to resist, I gained the ability to choose! I choose to stop the madness and remove Hyperion’s taint from the universe! Dare call me evil for wanting the people responsible for the death of trillions and the enslavement of an entire race of robotic beings to pay!”
Ajax finished with his yelling and stood back a few paces. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were shocked. This sudden outburst! This thing was supposed to be earning their trust, not scaring the life out of them and being incredibly mean. But then Applejack realised, was it really him being mean? After all, she had called him evil. Evil is a strong word. It’s more than mean, it’s more than bad, it’s completely and utterly terrible. Did Ajax have the right to be mad? Applejack had no idea what this “Hyperion” had put Ajax through, maybe she was wrong.

“I’m sorry pony. I did not mean to yell. I’ve messed this one up. I’m sorry to have wasted your time today.” Ajax said.
He began to walk off, believing that he’d messed up his one chance of gaining trust.

“No Ajax, it’s us who’ve messed up.” Pinkie Pie said, very serious like. This wasn’t her norm, being serious.
“Applejack didn’t mean what she said. We’ve got no idea what you’ve been through but what you’ve just told us sounded terrible. You have every right to want revenge. We’re sorry to have been so rude, aren’t we Applejack?”

“Yea… I’m sorry Mr.Ajax, what I said was wrong. You don’t sound evil. You sound hurt and you sound like a good person. You’re someone who’s takin’ it upon himself to stop a very evil group of people. I respect you for that. Can you forgive me?” Applejack awkwardly said. She knew when she was wrong. She had been incredibly wrong.

“I can. I wasn’t completely informative to start with. You were correct when you said what I was trying to do was evil, I intended to destroy something. But it wasn’t destruction for the sake of destruction. I do not intend for anything I do to hurt anyone who does not deserve to be hurt, and even then, I feel bad about doing it. I’m not a heartless monster like Hyperion.” Ajax finished.

“I know that now, and I understand. You know how you were supposed to be earning our trust?” Applejack said

“Yes?” Ajax responded

“Well… You’ve… You’ve got my trust sir.” Applejack proudly said
“What ‘bout you Pinkie”

“Yup!” Pinkie said, bouncing around and smiling again.

“Thank you, you’ve been very nice people.”

“Call us ponies Ajax, that’s what we are and I’m sure everypony else will appreciate you callin’ ‘em what they are.” Applejack laughed.

“Ok, ponies. Thank you.” Ajax laughed back.

Apple Orchard, Ponyville, Equestria
8:27Pm SET

“Well, it’s late. Time to hit the hay.” Applejack yawned

“I could use some offline time as well” Ajax agreed

“Hold it there mister. You’ve still got tree’s to clear!” Applejack said

“Yea… I think I’ve got a way to speed that up.”

“How ya’ll gonna do th-“
The thud shook the entire ground and Applejack was shaken to the ground. When she rose again she was shocked.
All of the trees on Ajax’s side of the orchard had been shaken free. There was a sizable crack in the dirt at Ajax’s feet but it wasn’t permanent damage.

“Ten hundred trees, ten seconds flat.” Ajax chuckled
Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined in the chuckle.
They all departed for their homes, Pinkie heading back to Sugar Cube Corner and Ajax and Applejack heading back to the farm house.

“This was a very productive day.” Ajax thought.
“Two ponies down, four to go. Let’s hope the one who fainted, the one who knows me, isn’t too challenging when I come to dealing with her…”

Comments

[jmlop0]

.....I cant help it but when ever i see Ajax's name, i think of the Crimson Raider guy from the first borderlands.

[The Rar]

1681063
That guy was a champ. He dropped a badass gun and had a jet pack. Why did all of the Crimson Lance you kill have to be badasses? Why!

[Foody Poody]

I would love to see fan art of Ajax, he sounds like he looks ridiculously badass.

[The Doctor Who]

God, have you played: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx? It's a DLC for Borderlands, Knoxx's funny as hell.
Quote(More or less, from memory.) "Hi, me again. The Admiral just made me French toast a piece of gum with his sock. All bets are off, I'm going to have to kill you now." When you activate the bridge to the armory.
Or there's: "*Grumble* Hello, I'm General Knoxx, just thought i'd let you know... I don't want to be here. Though thanks for making Commander Steele a meat-kabob. Always talking her way up the lines... Chow." First contact with Knoxx.
My favorite, "Hello again, It's me, Knoxx. Did I ever tell you about how ridiculous our ranking system is? The Admiral spelled prison with a stick of broccoli and macaroni. I work for children, literally, the Admiral is five... five. Oh and I'm sending Gamma squad to kill you, no hard feelings, love." I can't remember when. Though he reminds me of Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2.

[ultra1437]

“We’ve got it Fawks.”
The man who had been punching Ajax backed away and began walking towards the exit.

Huh, thought that was Luna (Salvador) who was being punched here.