One And Many
What is it that makes us human? It's not something you can program. You can't put it into a chip. It's the strength of the human heart. The difference between us and machines.
-Marcus Wright, Terminator Salvation
I stared out into the planet below me, feeling the slight push as the ship's thrusters propelled itself closer to the planet below. I decided to sate my curiosity and explore my ship, starting with the command bridge. Looking around, my visor highlighted every detail of the room, every one of the controls popping up as I gazed upon them.
The bridge itself was shaped in a semicircle with large curved glass, acting as a view port for whoever guided this ship, with a large central console that my scanners revealed as a command station for the ship, should non-synthetic life need to access the controls.
There was also a strange pod at the back that caught my attention, sticking out in the otherwise smooth wall surface. I decided to check my connection to the ship for information. Concentrating on the ship my vision became overrun with a network of information all linked together in a series of code. The entire history of an old race, from their weapons, to their evolutionary theory of ants all available at a single thought. I seemed to spend an eternity searching for the correct information and yet, it had only taken 0.37 seconds to find what I needed.
The pod is a TX7 control system, added to allow members of the Ascension project, to control any of the systems on and off the ship. It is also capable of performing a scan to discover any malfunctions of any type on it's designated “Ascensioneer” and commence repairs.
Armed with this knowledge, I approached the pod bringing up its commands and after another quick [ACCESS APPROVED], I was standing in the pod with glass closing in front of me and cables connecting to my neck from behind. Activating the pod with my visor, lights started to flicker around me, and a pulling sensation was felt, absorbing me into the ships systems.
I was... in control. I could see everything and yet nothing. All options for the ship and its individual components opened to me, all available at a microseconds notice. I had some control of the ship beforehand but nothing like this. Focusing I brought up the option for the ship's system scan and started the robotic maintenance protocols and watched, through security cameras and sensors as they existed in storage areas in each room, cleaning and repairing the ancient metal of the ship. I also realised I had been walking in the dark the entire time and activated the lighting systems, basking the ship in an artificial yellow glow in which the small drones worked.
Accessing the security measures, I discovered a list of armours and weapons of many kinds, from auto fire plasma cannons hidden along the hull to 12 Indigo class long range ballistic missiles and even a black sun fusion warhead.
This confused me for a moment, why would they give me access to the single most deadly device ever made? Black suns were never tested, for they were deemed too dangerous to use, as rather than your typical nuclear explosion, this one caused a chain reaction amount surrounding matter generating another explosion that would do the same although not forever, it would repeat for some time destroying everything in its path. It was however estimated that the approximate blast yield would be approximately equal to 800 megatons of TNT.
Making it 8 times more powerful then the Tsar bomb, humanities largest, tested thermonuclear warhead.
Noting this for future reference, I moved on to small arms which included a rather small amount of weapons with only a Pulse fire plasma rifle and a LSC side arm (Light Solidifier Cannon). There was also Tempest heavy armour, made with reactive nano bots weaved into titanium and carbon plating which could reflect most projectiles and was self repairing. It also had a second more valuable ability. Due to the threat of nuclear war it had been designed to protect the user from radiation by creating a small field around the wearer that absorbed the radiation from around itself. An ability I believe I could alter perhaps as some basic protection from the natives should they prove hostile.
Despite wanting to explore the systems more I knew I needed to make plans for the upcoming landing. I don't want to scare them, but at the same time going with minimal equipment and approaching slowly could end badly if they proved hostile.
Perhaps...I will approach in an OVDS (Orbital Vtol Drop Ship) at the small town near the mountain city. It seems small enough to not house a strong military presence while remaining close enough to the mountain city to get information to their government.
Also how will I begin communication? They seem to all be very primitive, with little in the way of technology. But they do appear to have some resemblance of language, as the planetary scanner viewed several of the creatures talking to each other. I turned the scanners to focus on the speech of the equines to try and begin a translation of their language only to discover they were talking in English. Not exact English, as there appeared to be some small differences, but it was almost exactly the same. Although written language appears to be different on what I could make out, but that was unsurprising due to the creatures lack of hands.
Disconnecting from the pod reluctantly I proceeded through the ship's many corridors listening to the metallic clamps of my feet and the humming of the maintenance drones and after another hiss of a door opening, I entered the weapons bay, a simple room with armour and weapons mounted on the walls and in central square containment boxes. I have a trip to prepare for after all.
Ponyville 2 Hours until Arrival
Vinyl scratch wandered around in the early morning looking for something to do. It was a Tuesday morning and the clubs were closed on Monday in Ponyville, meaning Vinyl actually slept through the night.
The WHOLE night.
And her body, use to staying up for extreme periods of time had refused to stay asleep, leading her to wake the moment Celestia’s sun reached her closed eyes from that accursed window. So after grabbing her trademark glasses and having a quick shower she was off, wandering around town looking for something interesting to do and finally, she discovered why she sleeps through the mornings most days. There is NOTHING to do. For the past hour she has been sitting on a bench watching stores being set up as the town slowly woke from its slumber.
Moaning in boredom and reminding herself again to never wake this early again, Vinyl slumped back against the bench an started staring at the blue sky, only so suddenly to have a pink entity appear from nowhere, right in her face.
"OHHAYTHEREAREYOUWATCHINGTHESKYASWELLBECAUSEIVEBEENHAVINGATWICHYTAILALLMORNINGAND-", Vinyl shoved her hoof into the hyperactive mares mouth to silence her, bringing back peace to the land.
For about five minutes anyway.
"Hay Pinkie what’s up? And speak slowly please," Vinyl asked, instantly recognising the sugar crazed mare while hoping something will finally interrupt the cruel claw of boredom that is the morning.
"Well I was at Sugar Cube Corner helping Mr & Mrs Cakes but my tail keeps twitching and I keep knocking things over, so I went on a walk and saw you watching the sky and thought you might be on lookout for whatever is falling as well," said Pinkie, her tail twitching non-stop throughout the conversation.
"Well I wasn't watching for anything Pinks but if I see anything I'll tell ya if I can find ya", Vinyl replied sitting up so she could see Pinkie better, who was now watching the skies with a telescope.
Wait, where did she get that?
"Okie dokie lokie", Pinkie replied bouncing away, searching the sky with... was she looking through a monocle?
Vinyl just rubbed her head with a hoof in frustration and glanced cautiously at the sky, waiting for whatever chaos Pinkies tail predicted to come to pass.
Orbiting above Ponyville: 1 Hour until predicted arrival time
I approached the hanger’s of my ship, now dressed in chrome black armour, which was covered in streaks of glowing green light as the nano machines inside powered on. The helmet’s see-through glass shielding obscuring my vision slightly as I watched the ship fuel the OVDS for deployment, with a plasma rifle magnetically attached to my back, and the LSC in a holster by my side.
I had spent the last hour reconfiguring the tempest armour to nullify the native’s abilities, while further analysing my flight path. My plan was a simple yet effective way to reveal myself to the populace. I will fly down over the large mountain town before proceeding, in a large arc to the small town near it, easily revealing my presence to the natives. Although this means I will have to pass through some unusually dense cloud , the OVDS should be able to pass through with little difficulty.
Before I could lament on, my visor was suddenly filled with a report from the ships computers.
[FUELLING OF OVDS COMPLETE]
[MOVING TO LAUNCH POSITION]
A loud Humming filled the artificial air, as the OVDS was moved by a large metal clamp over a large drop bay. I approached the rear of the drop ship with it's rear entry ramp opening at my mental request. The OVDS was a simple ship built to drop soldiers into enemy territory quickly and escape as well if the need arise. It was only lightly armed however as the ship was primarily covered in a strong silver alloy that protected it from the burning heat of re-entry into a planet. The original plans for the OVDS was to use nanites as a refractive armour plating to absorb the heat of re-entry however it was found that they melted and were ripped apart from the pressure, causing the ship to rip itself apart.
Boarding the OVDS, I took position in the pilots chair up front and began starting up the ship, closing the ramp behind me, and beginning de-pressurisation of the drop bay. A large hissing sound occurred as the ships internal pressure systems kicked in, and air was pumped out of the bay as alarms sounded at the sudden lack of air on the hanger.
[APPROACHING DROP ZONE – OPENING BAY DOORS]
The rumble of metal was all gone now, having been replaced by the humming of the OVDS engines as all remaining air was dispersed into space to reveal the deep blue of the planet below.
[DISENGAGING CLAMP]
The OVDS was now falling away from the cruiser above, its bays sealing itself behind me as I fell, pulled by the planets
gravity from the ocean of stars around me into the burning flames of re-entry which stated to caress the hull.
Ponyville outskirts 5 minutes before arrival
Vinyl had eventually gotten bored of waiting on the bench and after a cautious half hour of ducking under cover from whatever was falling, decided to take a walk along the edge of town, bordering the Everfree Forrest to clear her mind and maybe provide some form of entertainment for the day. The path she followed was filled with ponies walking along, laughing and chatting away, generally enjoying the morning.
Vinyl settled for resting against a large tree just off the path so she slumped against the tree and reminded herself to never again wake up this early. After a few minutes of staring into the horizon, as her eyelids started slowly giving in to sleeps grasp, she was suddenly ripped from her near slumber by the sounds of ponies crying out. Quickly standing up she noticed all the ponies around her were gasping and pointing off in the horizon where Cloudsdale could be seen.
There was a massive fireball was descending though the city, seeming to weave in and out of the clouds while ploughing straight through smaller ones before plunging below the city. It then streamlined itself turning in a long arc with the flames disappearing to be replaced with a large, metal object leaving massive lines in the sky where it passed. It also seemed to be spurting blue flames from two wing like objects sticking out from the sides, as it tore through the air towards Canterlot.
After making a quick pass over the mountain city it turned towards Ponyville, only for a bright flash and a dark blue beam to smash into one of its wings, causing fire and debris to rain down as it flew over Ponyville at supersonic speeds plummeting towards the edge of town, right where Vinyl was.
Vinyl and all the ponies around the area started running for their lives, as flames and metal smashed along the path before the flying object collided directly with the tree Vinyl was resting against, leaving a trail of fire as earth was blasted away from the impact, knocking Vinyl and several other ponies of their hooves as the blast wave connected with them.
Canterlot day court: 1 minute until arrival.
Princess Celestia was listening to a *request* from Prince Blueblood. He was currently arguing that the statue of him in the gardens was too small and didn't show him in enough detail, despite the statue having had the best sculptors in Equestria work on it for a month. Celestia really wanted nothing more than to turn him into a statue, just for a single day of not having
to deal with him. But instead she kept a mask of serenity, earned from 14 thousand years of ruling Equestria.
"The statue does not even begin to cover the details of my hoof yet alone my face, something must be done about this for I will not have the future generations of Equestria remember me as that pathetic excuse for a statue. Are you even listening Auntie?" The prince cried after he spotted Celestia glancing out the window.
"Of course I'm listening Prince Blueblood, but I cannot make you another statue just because you demand it. The royal sculptors worked ti-",
"SISTER THOU MUST COME LOOK", Princess Luna yelled in the RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice) as she burst into the chamber.
Celestia while pleased at the distraction, quickly rose from the throne, and approached her sister.
"What is it Lulu? And please use an inside voice", Celestia said to Luna, her serine voice masking the worry she held inside.
"Yes what is so important you interrupted MY audience Auntie Luna?" Blueblood said, venom practically dripping from his mouth, in anger that his meeting had been interrupted.
"NO TIME", Luna yelled again her magic swiftly engulfing her and her sister teleporting them both to the observatory at the top of the Canterlot Castle, leaving a rather angry Blueblood behind.
As Celestia quickly rubbed her eyes to clear her vision from the bright flash of the teleport, Luna grabbed her and pointed with her hoof over Cloudsdale in the distance.
"There can you see it sister!" said Luna pointing at a great fireball descending from the skies.
"What is that", Celestia replied in awe as it smashed through several buildings in Cloudsdale.
The fireball then equalled out its approach, slowing slight as it travelled, at speeds even Rainbow Dash couldn't match, towards Canterlot, already reaching the outskirts of the city.
Luna’s horn started glowing as she pulled all the energy she could into a powerful spell, the air shimmering around the glow.
"It dares destroy part of our beloved ponies’ city? IT SHALL PAY", Luna cried
"LUNA WAIT", Celestia yelled although it was too late as Luna fired a beam of pure energy at the flying object ripping one of its wings apart, sending a large shard of metal into the royal gardens where it sliced Prince Bluebloods statue in half, as the flying object itself spun out of control spewing flames and debris as it flew at alarming speeds towards Ponyville.
Celestia watched in horror as the spinning wreckage impacted into the outskirts of the small town, as a massive shock-wave spread, from the impact zone causing the ground to shake even at Canterlot as flames spewed around the wreckage.
"Luna rally the guards! I shall teleport to Ponyville myself and get the elements, meet us at the crash site!" Celestia cried as she teleported into the chaos of Ponyville with a bright flash and a crack of her magic.
OVDS Burning through the atmosphere time until arrival 20 seconds
All systems normal, no anomaly’s detected. I was watching through the view port, which was currently covered in fire as the atmosphere burned away the OVDS’s armour. The flames started to die down as I was greeted with the view of the clouds I had to pass through, only something wasn't right... were there natives living in these clouds!?!?
Grabbing the flight controls I pulled them right, barely avoiding a group of locals playing with their children before twisting the OVDS sharply to the left dodging another flying native before smashing through a strange cloud building scattering the locals. I barely avoided crashing into a cloud stadium before ploughing through the bottom layer of clouds ripping them apart with the fire that still covered the OVDS which was unable to slowdown due to my manoeuvres.
Levelling the drop ship with the horizon I was able to slow down considerably reducing speeds to Mach 4 while flying over the mountain city. Suddenly alarms blared as a massive radiation spike was detected building up before everything seemed to slow down to a near stop. I could see the deep blue beam of energy about to collide with the OVDS and everything seemed to move in ultra slow-motion as I pulled the controls forcing the ship right, so the beam will only hit the wing.
A massive explosion echoed around as the wing was ripped off by the beam causing the ship to spin in a flaming arc, spreading debris everywhere as the drop ship spun out of control. I quickly activated the distress beacon to the cruiser, before strapping myself into the chair and locking down my body, bracing for impact.
A massive bang was all I heard before the chair was ripped apart from the impact and I was thrown into the burning bulkhead as errors filled my vision.
[DANGER CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED]
[SYSTEMS NOT RESPONDING]
[NANO MACHINE OVERRIDE ACTIVATED]
[EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN AND REPAIR INITIATED]
Main cruiser 1 minute after impact
[DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED]
[COORDINATES LOCKED]
[DEPLOYING SEARCH AND RECOVERY BATTLE DRONES 1-5]
The ship shuddered slightly as five pods dropped from their hangers forming bright flames as the planet’s atmosphere burned with their decent.
Authors notes:
Well that's that.Amazing what a mind can think up when your listening to a mix of Deadmau5, Skrillex and Feed Me.
Thank you to all who help with editing and pre reading giving me idea's and so forth. I'm also sorry but due to exams *grumpy face* I wont have much time between studying for them and school work in general so I will not be able to work on this for some time meaning it may take a couple weeks for my next chapter
I'm sorry for any mistakes but I really did work on this for along as I was able and any more time of mine has to be devoted to exams.
also InfinityXanadu pleeeease don't kill me in a wall of review of science. I want to live
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Ha.
KILL HIM NOW WITH YOUR TECHNICAL TALK XANADU
linux.dsplabs.com.au/files/p82-mime/gedit-ricoh-aficio-3030-multi-part-mime-pdf-attachment.png
damn that was awesome
but damnit Luna 
Ill be honest, i'd normally pass anything not mature up, but it seems interesting. Ill be posting comments later, along with any unneeded comas and semi-colons
Great.... shoot the last living survivor of a HIGHLY advanced warlike race that's sure to make a good impression.
1724735
he is part robot so he is a cyborg to be most accurate, so he isnt really a human anymore...if what i understand is correct
NEED MOAR CHAPTERS
that is.. if you don't mind i guess.....
more More MORE!
1693910
This amuses me simply because it's Kommandant Klink.
Royal guards vs Battle Drones
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/21168897.jpg
Oh boy I see a shitstorm brewing...
1724812
Yes, yes it is.
If this dude's 'force field' is designed to absorb radiation, what does it do with the radiation particles?
Also, where does this guy's body/armor get the extra matter required for repairs? (Asuming that only magic can fabricate matter)
Don't make science angry...
1724943 i.imgur.com/XCMDr.jpg
P.S Probs shadowless_night's reaction ^ if he was online.
Also did you know atoms can be transferred?
i48.tinypic.com/vxi1bl.jpg
1724943
well the armor comes with nano bots to repair damage to the armor, the nano bots use themselves as the repair material.
1724702
yeah, dammit luna!
1724997
that picture made me lol
Should change naturally to instinctively. We're not naturally warlike that sounds silly.
*ebbs back into the shadows*
"[DEPLOYING SEARCH AND RECOVERY BATTLE DRONES 1-5]"
uh-oh.
1725067 Actually we all naturally have a fighting sense in us, if something we are passionate about is being taken from us we will fight
This is part of the topic so watch it.
P.S I'm Australian, not American and I still feel this is like us too.
1724755 meh he has all the history of humans in his head so he is prob more 'human' than any of us.
no
assets.diylol.com/hfs/023/f23/46f/resized/bill-nye-meme-generator-this-shit-is-science-and-it-says-you-re-gay-6c5bed.jpg
continue or SUFFER!!!
Too good, it leaves me dieing for more
Luna just dun royally F to the U to the C to the K to the ED up.
Goddamn It Luna as much as we all love you, you had to shoot the ship didn't you? i mean you just had too huh? i wouldn't be very happy if that was MY welcoming to equestria i'd be POED
1724656 well thank you
1724677 burn in tartarus you traitor
1724702 Don't you just love Luna's naivety?
1724731 well thank you for giving this a chance
1724735 Lazer beams are fun!
1724755 Correct while he was human, cyborg is the correct term now
1724762 i will see what i can do, but my studies come first
1724767 thank you for pointing that out I shall fix it asap!
1724776 more what? potatoes? very well BRING THE POTATOES baag.com.au/images/produce/potato1.jpg
1724793
hope you enjoy chapter 2 aswell 
1724819 this can only end well
1724826 better get our umbrella hats static2.fjcdn.com/comments/quot+best+pony+quot+_49fe7b2a8f07fef9d4c865e492a8e4cd.jpg
1724912 sorry bout that
1724943 the nanites in the armour absorb it converting it into some useful energy for repairs while most is simply rebounded by the nanites, so it doesn't really absorb to radiation as it just blocks it.
1725027 aah Thor... gotta love that movie
1725028 correct the nanites duplicate them selves and repair the armour. 30 Points to you!
1725067 aren't we? do you think about it when you crush a fly? when angered isn't the first thought to always fight before we think of something else? We all have that anger and as a race we have a natural talent for war.
1725124 the shit is closing in on the fan
1725139 well i never said anything about impenetrable armour but it will still be a shitstorm
1725302 aaah but is it the memories or the personality that truly makes us human? or is it something else all together
1725440 not sure if insulting me , either way I laughed that pic is funny
1725775 .... but if I suffer how will i write the next chapter?
1726632
don't die on meh!
1727092 she was pissed bout Cloudsdale. this will only end well
1727673 big flaming object that flys falls from the sky what do you do? KILL IT WITH LASERS
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m97pqmMuk61rswg2c.png
1727815 No insult, just funny
What happened to past tense?
Also... YAY! Drones! Display the grand power of the ancients!
1728112 i waited about a minute before i realised that it wouldn't load
1728160
1729316 ALL HAIL THE POWER OF THE ANCIENTS
More please
1727815 I'm not a traitor just want to see you try and read technical talk.
1730758 Luna is disappoint
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1668-1317479719.jpg
1729624 we shall see
Hey, I'm liking the story so far. It's an interesting plot.
However, it's rife with random spelling errors, and you keep changing tense. You gotta watch out for that one, alright?
I can point out them if you like. :P
1730966 that would be nice but please note its also in Australian English
Not much difference to normal English, but it did come up with some errors before I swapped the spell check to Australian English.
1730994
Haha, no worries mate.
I'm Aussie too. :3
1731016 YAY AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE !
1731023
...oi oi oi? :3
1731023
Alright , I had to have dinner, that's why I took me so long.
I started looking, and decided to just copy it all into an Open Office Document.
I'm assuming highlights copy over to word documents, or that you have OpenOffice.
I don't think I'm ever doing that again. ....
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B99NoiRyoCGeMUZMeXF1MnhfX1k/edit
1731228.... you know you could have just messaged me with any mistakes right?
i had no idea i was putting in all those spaces
1731231
Well yes, but the message would have been enormous. >_>
1731253 ... priv message maybe?
My only issue with this is Luna's shot. Do you know how hard it would be to hit a vehicle sized object moving at mach 4 from several miles away with a beam? Especially without really aiming or anything?
1731685 alicorn = god like being.
do i really gotta explain it?
1730758 PDF in MIME64 FTW!
1731771 Yes, yes you do (not really)
1731834 XD someone else here knows. Unless they just read the technical part of the script/pdf
Smart.
1731884
From the Base64 encoded PDF (in the part you've shown us), I know that its PDF version is 1.3, it has a JFIF image at position (3308,4677), said image is in 8bit grayscale and has been compressed using the DCTDecode (JPEG/FIF) filter.
Now give me the full pdf!
Why do writers assume Luna would simply blast everything in her way?