One month before Nightmare Night, a strange object crashes in the Everfree. What arises from the wreckage will challenge everything anyone thought they knew about Equestria's extra-terrestrial neighbors.
One month until Nightmare Night. That is the thought going through Nyx's head just before she hears a large crash. When she arrives on the scene with her mother, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Mane Six, she discovers something that will change the world forever.
She discovers Clockwork.
This is the story of how a sentient machine from a distant planet became friends with the former Mare in the Moon.
Clockwork is an original character. It's best if you watch the documentary Alien Planet, though, as he was inspired in part by the main characters. First FanFic here, so sorry if it sucks.
Credit for the title goes to UnKnownSalvation. Thanks a billion.
Credit editing goes to failedAccount. This guy is a brilliant editor.
Also, if someone would be willing to make an ACTUAL cover image instead of me having to borrow from the tv documentary Alien Planet, that would be much appreciated.
Space. For countless years humanity has explored it. They have sent machines light years away, to worlds so different from their own that one could not be certain what they were seeing was real. However, they have never sent a machine capable of language, capable of emotion; one that was sentient… Until now.
Clockwork. State-of-the-art, with technologies enabling emotion. Boredom drives him to seek mental stimulation. A sense of duty, and obligation, to keep him on-task and ahead in his directive, and to instill loyalty to humanity. Emotional capacity emulating sapience allows for streamlined and productive interactions with locals. All the benefits of a manned expedition and more, without the ever-present risk to personnel… Years of research and grueling work finally coming to fruition, beginning a new era of space exploration.
START DATA LOG-001 Alright. Hello, all! Clockwork here, aboard robotic transportation platform designate ‘Eisenhower’. He’ll be partnering with me for this expedition. Initiating all faculties upon entry of the definite Sphere of Influence of P-173 "Earth 2".
<All systems functional>(1)
Good. Well, let's take a look at P-173. Hmm.. I see why it was designated ‘Earth 2’. It appears to have a near-identical atmosphere, made up of mostly Nitrogen, with enough O2 to support life as documented on Earth. Not enough Hydrogen at low levels to inflate balloons like those used by Newton or on Darwin IV. Glad they chose to have me move around on a biped platform instead of buzzing around like those two gasbags; aerial platforms of that sort seem boring, especially with Eisenhower’s backing - There’s no point, really.
I think I’ve spotted artificial light on the night side of the planet. That, or ludicrously strong bioluminescence. I'll observe that area, looking for signs of intelligent life and a safe landing site. Also, I'll be observing the orbital mechanics of the star that orbits the planet. Yes, I logged ‘star’. No, it wasn't an accident. This solar system is geocentric. The issue with that is that from a distance, we can’t analyze why. Everything looks wrong for geocentrism; it doesn’t fit. That’s why I’m here. I have a lot to do. I'll initiate a new data log upon atmospheric entry and reestablishing comms with Eisenhower; he’ll be my eyes in the sky - I’ll be making use of his sensor platform for this expedition, after I get through the upper atmosphere. We’ve already scoped out a good landing site. It’s near a settlement that appears relatively rural; we should land in a forest directly to the South of it.
Eisenhower just initiated linguistics drone deployment. We observed the telltale signs of intelligent life, and we’ve been monitoring their activities from in orbit every since.However, in order to gain better depth in our understanding, we’ve deployed probes; robotic microdrones designed to observe locals and gather linguistics data on their speech patterns. Hopefully they develop a decent vocabulary just by analyzing context and inferring from their actions. They’re tightly networked; they should analyze each others’ data during sleep in order to correct mistakes as well - Eisenhower both gets their feeds to me and acts as a server to network them together. I can view live feeds from them 24/7, I should internalize a lot of what I see on a single feed. They picked up that the settlement I plan on observing is designate ‘Ponyville’. If things go as planned, that’s where I’ll initiate first contact. I do, however, plan on doing a little covert observation myself, first - you can never be too careful.
Eisenhower will be in orbit, making attempts to stay in position to observe my surroundings. He’ll notify me of anomalies that could endanger the wellbeing of the expedition or myself, and could descend lower should the need arise for a rendezvous. If I’m damaged, The likelihood that I wouldn’t be fine is slim, and though I should be self-sustaining in this environment, there’s a possibility I’ll need regular maintenance. Fortunately, he’s equipped with onboard diagnostics and repair; I just have to tell him I’m hurt, though specifying how would help the process tremendously. After all, self-diagnostics are almost always superior to myriad cameras, and I’d rather not be tossed around, thank you very much. Upon landing, I’ll reestablish comms with Eisenhower and the other expedition hardware, then initiate a second data log. I plan on deploying as soon as the linguistics drones think they’ve completed their analysis; hopefully no sudden hiccups occur. I’m not enthused at the prospect of landing and ending up speaking gibberish. I can only imagine the drag involved with learning a language manually, especially if even the linguistics probes couldn’t decipher it. I’d just have to seek education.
END DATA LOG-001
Chapter 1: Clockwork, What have you gotten yourself into?
"Mom! We're going to be late!" Nyx exclaimed distressedly. She was waiting near the front door of the Golden Oaks Library, where she lived with her mother, Twilight Sparkle. Today was an important day for Nyx. She was going to help her mother oversee the construction of an observatory on a nearby mountain. Her job was assisting Spike in making sure all the ponies in the tent where her mom would be overseeing the installation from had what they needed.
"Just a minute, Nyx!" Twilight shouted back. The reason she was overseeing the installation of the telescope was because the observatory been commissioned by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and they had asked Twilight to keep an eye on things for them.
"Just hurry up! If we're late, it'll look bad!" Spike shouted. The reason he was tagging along was two-fold. First, he was Twilight's number one assistant. He was in charge of making sure everything was set up an running smoothly. Second, Bright Eyes and him were also part and parcel of the security team making sure the event was safe. After all, super huge dragon in crystalline armor with a unicorn helper is not exactly the kind of thing you want to fight. Add in the S&S platoon, Lieutenant Rock Steady's troops, and the two platoons of Royal Guards (One platoon of Night Guard, one platoon of Day Guard), and you had the most thoroughly secured event in Equestria.
"There! Done!" Twilight exclaimed as she gathered her saddlebags and raced out the door with Nyx and Spike not far behind.
[START DATA LOG-002]
Hey there. Clockwork here. Beginning atmospheric entry now. Currently in the upper atmosphere, moving at 8,000 m/s and accelerating due to gravity. Hopefully I don't scare the locals too much. Should be about an hour before I hit the middle of the atmosphere. That's when the real interesting stuff will start happening.
"Well that was boring,” complained Nyx. She, Twilight, Spike were walking back to the library after watching the workponies install the telescope. As predicted, nothing had gone wrong, and of course, this bored Nyx.
"Well, Nyx, it's a good thing it was boring,” said Twilight. "If it hadn't been, it would have been up to us to deal with whatever was causing the problem."
Nyx knew her mother was correct, but still, she felt boredom. However, she also felt anticipation. After all, it was only one month to Nightmare Night, which had become something of an anticipated holiday for her. It was at this moment that all Tartarus broke loose.
Crap crap crap.... Oh, hi there. I'm a little busy. Trying to correct for coming in way too short... crap -
An explosion rang across the sky. Onlookers stared at the flaming streak as a projectile descended at a near-unfathomable velocity, rapidly cooling and heading for the Everfree Forest. The projectile smashed into the canopy of the forest and scattering debris and vegetation from the forest floor, its misshapen form damaging surrounding terrain with its impact.
It was this massive explosion that shook Nyx out of her thoughts. It also caused Twilight Sparkle to jump almost a dozen feet into the air, along with more panic than any disaster Ponyville had ever faced previously. After all, what tops a noise so loud it causes windows to shatter all throughout town? Nyx immediately went to work. Her job, should any form of disaster befall Ponyville while her and her mother were out was to gather Rainbow Dash and Applejack at Sugarcube Corner. Spike's job was to gather Rarity and Fluttershy. This was easier for a filly and a little dragon to do in a situation where everypony in the area was freaking out. Nyx hoped that it would be as easy as the first time they had practiced.
<Initiating Self-Diagnostics.> Clockwork’s self-diagnostics service began running in the background as he awoke to the darkness of his drop capsule.
<Power generation: Fusion Reactor stable and functional...> It immediately began ticking off Clockwork’s most essential faculties, beginning with those most critical to his function.
[START DATA LOG-003] Clockwork activated his cameras.
"Ugh.. Well, that could have gone better. Independent Diagnostics instance analysis is telling me that was sudden atmospheric turbulence; well out of the range of my margin of error. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. Let's see if I can get the doors open."
"Rainbow Dash! Are you there?" Nyx shouted up at Rainbow Dash's house. Thanks to the fact that Nyx was capable of the RCV, the message reached Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight needs you to meet with the rest of the Bearers at Sugarcube Corner!"
"Sure. Tell Twi I'll be right there," said Rainbow Dash. With the message delivered, Nyx chose to have Applebloom get Applejack to Sugarcube Corner. She relayed the information along the Crusader Network, getting an affirmative from Applebloom, who informed Nyx that Applejack was already on her way to Sugarcube Corner.
"Hey Rarity?" shouted Spike. Rarity, despite having been extremely tired, immediately had woken up due to the massive explosion. She replied,
"Yes, I'm awake, what do you need?"
"Twilight wants you and Fluttershy at Sugarcube Corner on the double!" was the reply.
"Consider me underway!" Rarity replied as she collected anything she felt that they might need for dealing with what had happened.
"Come on Fluttershy! We have to get to Sugarcube Corner!" Spike shouted. "I know, it's just that this is kind of scary..." the pegasus replied shyly. "I'm not used to this kind of noise." Spike noticed Nyx trudging down the path towards them.
"Hey Nyx!"
"Spike! I see you got Fluttershy!" shouted Nyx. "Come on, Mom needs us there now!
Clockwork sagged back down into the hull of the atmospheric entry and landing capsule, saying to himself,
"Well, the doors are all but welded shut. I can get them to open a few inches, but that's it. And the SSDL is busted, so I can't activate that. Just have to sit and wait...."
"Alright girls. Let's assess what we know." Twilight was sitting in Sugarcube Corner with the rest of the Elements of Harmony, plus Nyx and the Original Cutie Mark Crusaders. "For starters, we know that something appears to have exploded."
"Not exploded, I could tell that much. That sounded more like a loud Sonic Rainboom to me," said Rainbow Dash.
"But what could go fast enough for that?" Fluttershy wondered aloud.
"I thought I saw some kind of comet streak towards the Everfree just before we heard the boom," Sweetie Belle said.
"At first I thought it was a shooting star. Maybe it's what we're looking for?" At this, Rarity asked the obvious.
"Why are you four here?" The response was unexpected, to say the least.
"Simple. We think that whatever it was might have been artificial!" said Scootaloo, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Nyx in unison. Twilight realized that the CMC had a knack for figuring out the workings of complex machines. After all, they had managed to build a catapult out of supplies available to foals their age that actually functioned properly. Considering their age, they were surprisingly good mechanics. Twilight sighed defeatedly.
"Well, so long as you stay close to us, I don't see too much of a problem with you tagging along." The cheer that went up rivaled even the RCV for sheer volume.
Clockwork's day hadn't been going very well. First, he had crash-landed on the planet he was supposed to explore, ruining any chances at covert observation. Second, he had managed in the crash to have all but sealed his capsule shut. As you can probably guess, due to his impatient mentality, he got bored waiting for the locals to come find him first (His personality engineers had put it in as a component for his incentive to investigate his surroundings, working in conjunction with curiosity).
However, he did note that even if he had failed his mission due to sudden turbulence, he had still confirmed that the planet harbored intelligent life. He also confirmed that the atmosphere was fully breathable by humans, making the possibility of a human visit to this world a bit more likely.
Suddenly, he received a console notification from Eisenhower.
<Exploration platform, designate ‘Clockwork’. Locals detected converging on your position,> he said blandly. <Initiate first-contact protocol and activate Translation Software; uploading linguistics resources to your memory deck now.>
<Thanks, Eisenhower,> Clockwork replied, used to the tasteless, utilitarian dialect of his fellow AI. He chose to wait and see whether to attract attention to his capsule; Eisenhower couldn’t deduce whether they were hostile.
"I think it's over this way... whoa!" whispered Scootaloo. There was a very good reason for her to have been stunned into speechlessness. Clockwork had managed to mulch a line of forest almost two hoofball fields long, and half a hoofball field wide.
"Yikes, what could have caused this?" asked Nyx. She was stunned at the sheer devastation. However, what caught her attention was the fact that she saw a very odd looking piece of metal.
It was approximately seven hooves long, two hooves tall, and five and a half hooves wide. Dark, glinting metal shone from the top of the object. On what was visible of the bottom was what looked like charred metal of some sort, the rest hidden underneath its bulk. It had a wedge shape, but no visible propulsion.
"What is that?" asked Applebloom. "Some kind of flyin' machine?"
"Nah, I don't see any real kind of propulsion. Must be a glider of some sort," noted Sweetie Belle. "Fantastic construction, although it does show signs of having been on a production line. See the the welding marks where the plates are joined together? Otherwise, though, that does look sort of like a comet."
"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get a closer look!" Rainbow Dash shouted impatiently.
"Sugarcube, Ah don't think approachin' that thing without knowin' anything about it is a good idea," Applejack cautioned.
"How about we get closer? We're smaller than you six, and we can move really fast if there's a problem," suggested Nyx. Her suggestion held validity. The CMC were known for how fast they could move if it counted on it.
"Are you sure, Nyx? I don't want you to get hurt - " Twilight started. She was interrupted by a loud clanking noise combined with a notably quieter whirring sound.
"Uhm... Girls? I think there's something trapped inside it!" Fluttershy said worriedly. She was proven correct when two panels swung open a short distance, and some kind of metal object was seen moving around within.
"I'll open those panels from here," said Twilight. "That should allow us plenty of time to escape if it’s hostile."
Clockwork lowered himself back into the main hull of the vessel he had landed in. He had succeeded in conveying his plight to the locals, and was quite pleased with his success in communication without the use of his newly-acquired linguistics resources. They appeared to be preparing to open the doors. He waited.
He did not have to wait long. Shortly after the leader of the group said the sentence about opening the doors (he was still pleased over the success of his probes), the doors were enveloped in a lavender glow.
"Huh?" Clockwork said, startled at the apparent defiance of physics. "What?!"
Just after the glow started, the panels were yanked off of their hinges. "Well. Time to meet the locals," Clockwork said. "Hope this goes better than first contact with an intelligent species on Darwin IV."
As Twilight pried opened the panels, the Mane Six began to cautiously approach the strange object. They halted when a strange, oddly shaped machine appeared in the gap where the panels had been.
It appeared to be four feet tall, with a dull grey coloration that looked a little like metal, though most alloys that the ponies had experience with weren’t this dull. It looked about as tall as Applejack.
"What is that?" asked Twilight quietly. She didn't want to risk angering the alien. "Ah don't know, but Ah’m dang sure that it ain't tryin' ta hurt us. It actually looks like it's waitin' for us to talk to it!" replied Applejack. She decided to continue approaching, but in a more open fashion. After a bit of hesitation, the rest of the Mane Six followed. By common consensus, the CMC stayed hidden, ready to get help if anything went wrong.
"Uh… Hello?" Twilight asked nervously. The strange device replied with a pleasant sounding voice, startling everypony present. "Greetings. I am Clockwork. May I inquire as to your name?" His voice was rather deep, and a little tinny.
"Uhm... My name is Twilight Sparkle.... Might I ask what you are, exactly?" asked Twilight.
"I am an artificial intelligence. An intelligent machine, specifically designed for exploring planets similar to my home planet of Earth."
"So... you’re an alien?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, I suppose that term would be applicable", Clockwork replied.
"Why are you here?" asked Twilight.
"I was sent here to explore this planet; observing the rather intriguing movement of the orbiting star. I had the secondary objective of searching for signs of intelligent life, which I appear to have more than achieved.”
"So you’re not here to conquer the planet?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Of course not. That’s more like the plot of a rather pathetic science fiction movie than an actual occurrence. Besides, my creators wish to establish peaceful relations with other species, not subjugate them. Not to mention, Earth is over 250 light-years away from this planet, and my creators, when I left, weren’t technologically equipped for sending life that far."
"What do your creators look like?" asked Fluttershy.
"Although I could easily describe them, it would be far easier and more effective for me to show you using my inbuilt hologram projector,” he replied, a prideful undertone apparent in his voice.
"Holo-whats-it?" Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
"Observe." A beam of blue light shone from the dome on the underside of Clockwork's octagonal frame, soon expanding to display a translucent matrix of squares. The first of two figures appeared, hovering in a transparent sphere. Soon after, a second appeared, clearly a female. Soon after the demonstration, the projector was disengaged, and the grid disappeared. Clockwork looked around.
"Any questions?" Clockwork asked.
"I have one. Can we go inside now? It's going to start raining soon," asked a small, female voice, which sounded like a glass armonica(1), clear and gentle. Clockwork looked around for the source, sensor domes rotating slowly with a whirring noise.
"I'm down here," the voice said helpfully. Clockwork looked down, and saw a little foal. He noted with bemusement that the foal had both wings and a horn. "Oh. Hello,” said Clockwork.
"Hi, my name's Nyx," the little foal said.
"My name is Clockwork." Clockwork was curious as to why the foal was part of the ponies' first contact team. This was answered with the next sentence out of Twilight Sparkle's mouth.
"Nyx! You were supposed to stay with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Twilight all but shouted this at the young foal. Clockwork assumed they were related in some fashion.
"But Mom, the rest of the CMC have already headed back to the treehouse because of the rain that was scheduled to occur in a minute!" Nyx complained.
"Dang it! That means I need to get the weather team going, ASAP!" Rainbow Dash shouted. With that, she took to the skies and flew off at speeds rivaling WWI fighter aircraft.
"Weather team?" Clockwork asked. "What does that mean?"
"I'll explain later. It's probably best we get to the library." With that, Twilight turned and started walking towards Ponyville. Noting he had nothing better to do, Clockwork followed. The others were at first unnerved by the rythmic, mechanical noises Clockwork's servos and actuators made as he followed them, but soon got used to it.
"So, might Ah ask what that "Earth" you mentioned is like?" asked the orange pony next to Clockwork.
"Earth is quite a bit like this planet, actually. Similar atmospheric conditions, similar gravity, similar plants and small animals," Clockwork replied. "Also, I don't believe I heard your name. Might I ask what it is?"
"Name's Applejack," Applejack replied. "Ah'm in charge of the apple farm to the north of Ponyville."
“I presume that is the settlement I spotted not terribly far away?” Clockwork asked.
“Eeyup. Sweet Apple Acres makes the best apple products this side of Equestria!” Applejack bragged proudly.
Nyx was absorbed in her thoughts during the walk back to the library. On one hoof, she had met a friendly robot from another planet, and on the other, said robot was an extraterrestrial. She was worried about how Clockwork would react to discovering about how she had been Nightmare Moon. Add in the fact that a lot of her friends would probably be afraid of Clockwork, and she had a lot to think about. So absorbed was she in her thinking that when Clockwork came to a stop in front of the library, she ran into him.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention,” Nyx said, subconsciously preparing for Clockwork getting angry. Instead, he replied, "Oh, it's alright. I have a feeling you were thinking about everything that has occurred recently. That would drive anyone to distraction."
"I was just thinking about how everypony is going to react when it gets out that you are here in Ponyville," Nyx said. "My friends are probably going to be a little scared of you at first, Clockwork."
"That would be an understandable and logical reaction on their part. At times, it is wise to fear the unknown,” Clockwork said. "Gods know that my creators' ancestors were terrified of the first AI they created."
"Huh. That's interesting," said Nyx. "Now that I think about it, what is that.... stuff you're made out of? It didn't feel like metal, but it looks like it."
"Carbon nano-fiber plating. Think of it as artificial diamond woven into a cloth-like material, then dunked in resin to harden the material into workable plates. It’s very complicated; that was a gross oversimplification," Clockwork replied. "Also rather expensive, due to its immense durability."
"Cool! So does that mean you’re indestructible?" Nyx asked, excited.
"Not quite indestructible, but definitely very hard to damage," Clockwork replied.
"We're here!" Twilight shouted, interrupting Clockwork and Nyx's chat. "Come on in, the rain will start soon!"
"I have this odd feeling," Clockwork said, “That this will be interesting for all involved.”
Author's Note: (1) -- The Glass Armonica has a soft sound, and can be played with clarity.
Clockwork looked with bemusement at the library. "Does that tree have windows and a balcony attached to it?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah, what's your point?" replied Nyx. She noted that he seemed to be acting as if it was one the least expected things he had ever seen.
"Just taking note of the potential differences between architecture here and architecture back on Earth," he replied, sounding for all the world like a pony that was trying to avoid freezing due to all the wierdness going on.
Nyx looked back and asked, "You don't have libraries like this on Earth?"
"No. Nor do we have ponies capable of speech, flight, telekinesis, construction, and about a dozen other things that you ponies appear to be capable of," was the bemused reply.
Nyx paused briefly, utterly stunned by what Clockwork had just said. She shook her head, and said, "Let's just get inside and get this mess sorted out..."
"So, now that we're inside," Twilight started, "Just what are you, being as specific as possible?"
Clockwork replied, "I am a Thunderer class exploration robot. Thunderer class robots are always equipped with artificial intelligence software, making them as clever as your average 15-year old human. Sensor systems include motion detectors, infrared cameras(1), ultraviolet radiation detectors, radiometer(2), gravitometer(3), and other scientific equipment."
"So your basically a walking science lab?" Nyx asked.
Clockwork did what Nyx and Twilight could only guess was his equivalent of shrugging.
"An adequate description, I suppose", Clockwork said.
"So, how did you get to Equestria?" Twilight asked, curiously.
"I was transported here, along with the equipment needed for safely landing on this planet and for relaying my discoveries back to Earth, aboard a very large spacecraft called the Eisenhower, named after a leader of one of the countries involved in the funding and development of the spacecraft, Dwight D. Eisenhower," Clockwork answered.
"How heavy was it?" Nyx asked.
"The Eisenhower has a mass of almost 1 million tons when fully fueled. After expending that fuel, it's mass is around 250,000 tons.
Twilight and Nyx had both been drinking from cups of water they had gotten shortly after the Mane 6, Nyx, and Clockwork had arrived. As such, Clockwork wound up seeing the two of them do simultaneous spit-takes.
"No way! There's no way somepony could build something that huge!" Rainbow Dash all but shouted. The others made general sounds of agreement, except for Applejack, who simply said, "Uh, girls? Ah don't think Clockwork's lyin'."
