One lovely day, the Cutie Map sends the Mane 6 through the mirror to Canterlot High. What is Sunset's Discord doing- and what's this about a giant tank?
One lovely day, Twilight opens her Sunshine Book, the one that lets her talk to her Canterlot High friends. She's halfway through reading the increasingly urgent backlog from her most recent adventure when the Cutie Map in front of her sends all six of them through the mirror! Why all six? What is Discord doing in Sunset's world- and What's this Sunset's saying about a giant tank?
Rewrite in place beginning 9/23/18; chapters 9+ (if present) can be assumed part of the rewrite. All before, if rewritten, will be labeled as such. Rewrite completed 9/27/18, all chapters are fresh.
Cancelled 2/06/19, for dismal execution of what could have been a decent story. I might rewrite sometime- from the ground up this time, as a new story.
“Huh, I wonder what happened while we were away?” Twilight asks mildly, plucking the glowing book off of the mirror stand as they walk past. The most recent had been a very interesting friendship problem to solve- and had taken close to a month, to boot. It’s mid-afternoon now, and they’ve only barely gotten back to her castle.
She opens the book and begins reading aloud, for the benefit of her Equestrian friends, as they walk towards and enter the throne room. She pauses after about two weeks of increasingly worried entries as everypony sits down in their thrones, setting the book aside for a second; the map has responded.
“I hope this isn’t quite so big a problem,” Applejack sighs, watching all six cutie marks collect above the map and descend on Twilight’s castle.
Heads tilt.
“What?” Rainbow Dash asks.
“So where’s the problem?” Twilight wonders aloud, glancing around.
Immediately, the map does something they’ve never seen before. It zooms in, focusing on a specific room in the castle. The six cutie marks collect- and spin- around a mirror in that room.
Twilight’s book zips back in front of her. “There? Maybe Sunset Shimmer has already noticed the issue…. Oh boy. She has, alright.” She lowers the book, glancing around at everypony. “Some magical artefact took control of their version of Discord.” She looks back down at the book again and continues reading, now frantically, to gather any information she can before they head through themselves.
The silence holds for about thirty seconds before Twilight closes the book, setting it aside again. “A week ago, he created a giant tank- whatever that is- and dropped it on the town. There’s no entries after that.”
The six abandon their thrones, galloping for the mirror. Twilight carries her book in front of her while she reminds her friends of what they’ll be turning into when they pass through the mirror. She also asks Spike to inform the Princesses; unfortunately, he must stay behind.
One Week Ago, On The Other Side
I freeze as my sensors go blank. My turrets stop moving, my tracks lock still. I cannot see anything- and have lost contact with my companions, as well. In fact, the com bands are simply silent- not even static on the line, even though diagnostics suggest they’re still working. My Commander is no longer on my command deck, though I cannot find where he has gone; internal sensors are working normally.
Possibly more interesting: Even though my counter-grav is off, and I had been driving through a forest, my tracks slow and stop as swiftly as if I were airborne. Is this a new attack by the enemy? I do not know. I consider firing into the darkness, but if my radar cannot find anything- rather, it disappears as if it were off- I doubt my weapons would hit anything. Only 1.31 milliseconds after my initial blinding, I shut down all active emissions and pray the enemy cannot find me until I can see again.
0.314 seconds after my sensor blackout, the world returns. I am no longer on a battlefield, it seems. I find myself, momentarily, at a complete standstill, the bottoms of my tracks roughly 5.93 meters above the highest rooftops. It appears I am overtop a small town or city- and my passives do not pick up any targets nearby, only civilians… though their skin and hair colors vary weirdly, for humans. I send the activation command to my counter-grav units, and order my suspensions to raise my tracks; by this action, I still have a 49.31% chance to avoid crushing any of the 83 homes beneath my tracks, thereby saving the unknown number of civilians taking shelter inside. As I do so, I activate some active scanners, scanning the skies… Is it just me, or have I found myself on an early-21st-century Earth with odd-colored humans? Nothing I can see possesses the ability to threaten me, even if I lower all of my defensive fields.
My counter-grav has just leveled out, my lowest extent pausing in mid-air just 3.49 centimeters from the nearest structure, when I detect a concentrated energy burst. I observe full deflection off my active battlescreens, but it penetrates my armor on the bottom of my outboard port aft track; I have uncovered these tracks to prevent any highly destructive battlescreen-versus-house events. Part of the inbound energy stays in the track, yanking it downwards; I respond to this by throwing my counter-grav to full power and allowing that track to descend, such that my hull remains stationary; I will cause as few civilian deaths as possible, even when my hand is forced. The other part of this energy is racing into my hull, penetrating durasteel like air. I order up all my internal defenses- and in the end, it advances too fast for me to stop it.
Fun fact, energy weapons are easily traceable. Even as my screens reconfigure to enclose my entire hull once again, save the bottom of that track system, I trace it. This attack seems to have come from a grey human with black hair and a large, purplish jewel hanging around his neck. As I watch, he uses a blast of energy from this jewel to turn some local law enforcement personnel to stone.
In immediate response, my IFF subsystems classify him as a threat to both myself (if I lower my screens) and to surrounding civilians- and I consider my alternatives. One of my antipersonnel clusters swivels to point at him, releasing a short burst of 30mm armor piercing rounds. These rounds are powerful enough to pierce through Concordiat Marine body armor- so, out the other side of a 21st-century main battle tank. I have considered this; after piercing his person, each of these rounds will drive into the dirt and rock behind him.
It seems his necklace has an automatic defense system. I tried shooting at him from six different antipersonnel clusters, but each was blocked by an energy barrier deployed in the nick of time- without requiring the wearer’s notice- at a distance of four meters out from his person. My rounds shattered against this barrier; I estimate an Ion Bolt turret would stand a 13.49% chance of penetration, while the smallest weapon I have that could be guaranteed penetration is my 120cm Hellbore secondaries- too much collateral. The initial burst is too strong for my counter-gravs to fight; that track has struck the ground, damaging 9 homes. I am lucky this particular track is over a roadway; I have detected no deaths related to its landing, if only because I rotated it slightly to avoid crushing the purple-skinned girl running towards my attacker.
Local law enforcement, possibly responding to my own weapons fire, retreats and begins ordering evacuation of all of the homes underneath my hull. My assailant directs his jewel’s energy at me a few more times, but my screens absorb and deflect it without issue. I use my grounded track to send nanites into the soil; I have operated repairs on the minor damages I sustained before being transported here, and wish to replenish the 48.39 grams of material from my war stocks that have been used in those repairs.
Present Day
Seven students gather around the shattered Wondercolt statue.
“Well, that didn’t work,” says the blue-skinned one, hefting her stone right arm. Judging by how long it had taken for the cops he’d hit to turn back, she’d have to live with it for just over twenty-four hours- unless they could figure out how to trigger their friendship magic.
The yellow-skinned one with stone hair winces when she tries to shake her head. “And I still don’t know what to do.”
The purple-skinned one sighs. “We did find how to stop him, though.”
“We did?”
“He blinked confusedly when his amulet bounced.” Despite being the last one out, Twilight had managed to avoid all of the stony curses that had been thrown at her and her friends.
Sunset Shimmer slaps a hand to her face, giving a yelp of pain when her hair makes contact with the statue. “I knew it,” she mutters.
“What?” Rainbow asks. “Another monster from Equestria?”
Sunset drops her hand back down. “No… it’s a fairly typical, contact-based mind control spell.” She looks up. “If any of us touch the gem, it’ll control us as well, for as long as we’re touching it. The band should be okay.”
“It’s still providing all his power, though,” Twilight reinserts. “My anomaly absorber wasn’t powerful enough to touch it, I know, but how can we separate it from him?”
Everyone present cringes at the mention of the device that had caused so much trouble during the Friendship Games- but she’s right, even it hadn’t been able to touch the amulet’s power.
“I wish Princess Twilight would respond,” Sunset scowls, poking at the aluminum sheet Discord had used to seal off the portal. Even with the amulet’s demonstrated power, he’d been unable to close or destroy it.
Everyone nods.
“Yes,” Applejack begins. “She could probably- Ahh!”
The aluminum panel they’d been unable to pry out of its recess had suddenly emitted a thump and fallen over, away from the portal. Immediately behind it comes one Twilight Sparkle, though not wearing glasses.
“There you are!” Sunset exclaims.
“Um,” the new Twilight hesitates slightly, scratching her hair. “Everypony’s coming this time.”
Ten minutes of helping five newly-human ponies to stand up later, it’s a party of thirteen. After a quick discussion, they set off for the school building. The six Elements approach Discord first, intending to use their ties to the Elements of Harmony to stop him. Unfortunately, a quick flick of his wrist- and pulse of power from his necklace- stops them in their tracks, binding them in place.
“Back already?” he asks them lazily.
Before anypony has a chance to respond, their non-Equestrian counterparts- and Sunset- burst from behind them, charging Discord. Discord, while surprised, manages to blast them backwards only just before they reach him. He turns their legs to stone before they have a chance to dodge or repeat their attack. Noone and nopony noticed the sudden snapping noise that had come from the front lawn while Discord had been busy blocking their charge.
“Now you’ve done it,” Discord scowls- and, on a sudden idea, starts some fancy invocation on his jewel- and casts this spell at the six still-frozen Equestrians, who lose consciousness right away.
The blaze of light is enormous, but Sunset forces herself to look when she hears the sound of six objects landing heavily on the ground. Please don’t let them be stone… What?
In place of the Elements of Harmony now stand six miniature tanks- one of which looks like a smaller version of the one outside, which has been shrinking steadily, and is now only slightly larger than these. It takes Sunset a few precious seconds to realize that the largest one, the one most similar to the one outside, is right where Fluttershy stood- and closest to Discord. “What did you do?” she demands.
But, just like the last week or so, the amulet-controlled Discord doesn’t care what any of them think or say, and begins a little tap-dance in place.
Then, with an echoing crash, the front door implodes behind them- to more than one scream.
“Sorry about the door, it got in my way,” a new voice speaks, alongside the rapid clicking of metal on the floor.
Sunset tries to look, but her stone hair won’t let her turn far enough- so she can only cringe in pain… Until the clicking object enters her field of view.
It’s the tank from outside, its tracks carrying it steadily towards Discord- and the other tanks now littering the floor in front of him. “Now why did you do this?” it asks, in that same, feminine voice.
“What are you doing to them?” Fluttershy demands of the tank, pointing. Sunset then realizes it’s shot some sort of claw to each of the six other tanks, a hair-thin cable dangling back to itself… And that Discord must have turned the Elements into those six tanks.
“Getting them out of danger,” the one from outside says. “I could hardly leave any of my Brigade mates in need, could I?”
Discord raises an eyebrow at the still shrinking tank. “You’ll never get them out,” he jeers.
Right- the only time the amulet had him respond to what they were saying was when they expressed hope of some sort- and he immediately spoke, or moved sometimes, to squash that hope.
“Oh, I will, you just watch me.”
Two seconds later, a sudden blaze of light fills the hall, momentarily blinding everyone. When it dissipates, Sunset spies a light golden-skinned girl sitting up from where that tank had been a second before. Her hair is dark blue, though her clothes are bright white.
“What…?” she utters.
“I told you,” Discord jeers again.
The tank-turned-human smiles calmly. “I’m still going to get them out,” she insists.
He laughs. “They’re completely immobile! You’ve got nothing, and I’ve got thi- AAHHHH!” He had held out his amulet, shaking it tauntingly on its chain… With his fingers pinched on the top of it, presumably so it would maintain control.
However, it seems he had tempted fate by doing so. A sudden flash of blinding light, combined with a bolt of thunder, had interrupted him. Before the flash fades from everyone’s eyes, a series of quieter flashes are heard, and silence falls once again.
When Sunset blinks the last of the afterimage out of her eyes, she realizes her hair is already dissolving- and that Discord has fallen over. He’s already sat up by now.
“Wha- What happened?” he asks fearfully.
“I have gotten them out of danger,” the reply comes. She sighs. “And you, probably.”
“But- but how did you destroy…?”
“I didn’t. They did.” She gestures towards the tanks still sitting haphazardly in front of her- and Sunset notices a tiny trail of smoke coming from one of tank-Fluttershy’s biggest turrets.
“But they couldn’t!” Discord returns. “They won’t wake up for a week!”
She shakes her head slowly, clicking her tongue. “There’s a reason they call me Athena, after the Goddess of Wisdom. It’s a fitting name, I believe- and perhaps that amulet should have had you look up exactly what a Bolo can do before using them as weapons.”
“You can’t have-!”
“I did. True, their personality centers won’t be functional for another week, but it’s a good thing a Bolo doesn’t need that to move… or shoot. All it needs is the appropriate software and an order- and I provided both.” She smiles. “Destruction of the amulet was virtually assured from the moment it didn’t have you block or sever my grappler connections.”
“But… How?”
“Six seconds is all it takes to upload a Bolo with all its software- and drop it into secondary mode.” She smiles sweetly. “And I had six seconds.”
“Then…”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m not holding it against you; if these seven are correct, the amulet was mind-controlling you the entire time.”
He nods.
She mirrors his nod. “Right then.” She glances out the door she’d smashed open. “There’s a few… officials that would like a word with you. They probably won’t be as forgiving… But I’m sure these young ladies can help with that, right?” She gestures towards the seven girls sitting open-mouthed on the floor.
Not one of them moves.
Discord rises, stepping to the side first, before walking to the doors- and raising his hands as he walks out. The cops all raise their guns- but stop, when they see his display… and the conspicuous absence of the amulet.
Athena watches him go, and sighs. “I hope they’re gentle on him… Now then.” She turns to the seven open-mouthed girls. “Everyone okay?”
“What...” Twilight asks slowly. “What just happened?”
Athena lets out a sigh, rolling her eyes. “His amulet was just destroyed,” she deadpans. “Everyone okay? No more stone body parts?”
“We’re okay,” Rainbow Dash utters shakily, standing up. “What about them?” She indicates the six tanks, still resting in attack formation.
“They’ll be okay,” Athena replies. “As near as I can tell, the curse will take twenty five years to wear off. In the meantime, they’ll be virtually indestructible. Physically.”
“How’re they going to protect Equestria, then?” Applejack asks.
This produces a smile. “It’s not hard for a Bolo to protect something important to it.”
“One?” Fluttershy squeaks.
“Yes, I’m afraid. The way that amulet had them, they could see and think, but really nothing else. I reprogrammed to correct that.” The six tanks suddenly shift, turning to face as they slide into a neat row, all of their turrets returning to a neutral position. Their cutie marks are visible on their fronts.
“Wait, if you-” Twilight begins.
“Calm down,” Athena interrupts. “I did not touch any of their personality files, only operations. Thanks to my efforts, when they awaken, they’ll all be fully capable of driving, looking, and talking; they should also be able to move their turrets. Fluttershy-” She gestures at the largest tank, with butterflies printed on the front of it- “will be a little different. She was turned into a MK XXXVII Bolo, exactly what I was. While I had to look up or modify to fit for the others, I was able to simply copy my own systems to her. She will be capable of full operation, save her neural link abilities; I was interrupted right after I finished her design cores.”
“Huh?”
Sigh. “This would be so much easier if I were still a Bolo. The design cores are a part of her brain. No, they have no bearing on her personality; their purpose is to design whatever she needs, be it traps, technologies, structures, or even entertainment. For example, I used my own design cores to generate an additional software package that will help them adjust to their new forms- and confer the basic operability you see until they awaken.”
“So, what happens next?” Sunset asks.
“We get in touch with any others that care about them, and work out an ideal location for them to wake up. They should still be small enough to pass through that portal for the next three days, or so.”
“Ahh… We need my book, then.”
“Mm?”
“I have a magic book I can use to contact their world,” she continues. “It’s leather, with a yellow sun on the cover. I can only hope somepony notices on their end- if we can find it.”
“Discord took it, I assume?”
“Yes, right after he… summoned you.”
After a nod, Athena turns back towards the tanks. “Search and locate?” she asks them- but she’s looking directly towards tank Fluttershy.
The response comes back instantly, on an emotionless, electronic voice: “Affirmative.” This is followed immediately by the tanks all lurching into motion, scattering into the building.
“Where are they going?” Human Fluttershy asks.
“They’re looking for the book. FLTRSY’s sensors and tactical cores will have produced all the most likely places to find it- so they’re looking there first.”
“FL- what?” Rainbow asks.
“Unit FLTRSY of the Line, otherwise known as Fluttershy,” Athena recites calmly, and watches as one of the others- bearing a purple starburst on its front- backs up to it. Shortly afterwards, tank Fluttershy simply lifts off of the floor, floating up the stairs… With tank Twilight underneath, dangling from what looks like some kind of cables.
“What the…?”
Sigh. “I knew I would transform, you know- I also knew I could reprogram her faster than the rest. As a result, at the moment, she’s actually remote-controlling all of her friends.” She smiles. “That control will self-disconnect the moment they start waking up.”
“Wait. I thought their comms wouldn’t work?”
“They won’t… At least, they won’t think they will. The basic firmware is still there, even before I started reprogramming. FLTRSY will be able to access her friends’ systems remotely, but her friends won’t be able to use their comms themselves.”
Half an hour later, the two tanks march their way down the stairs, a book cradled carefully between two of tank Twilight’s main turrets. The other four have already returned from their searches; now, these two rejoin the line- though only after the one with the book pauses long enough for Athena to lift it off the tank’s forward gundeck.
Athena immediately confirms that it is, in fact, the right book, and hands it to Sunset. Pinkie Pie fishes a pen out of her hair, much to Athena’s amusement, and Sunset starts writing.
Three hours of questions and answers later, mostly through the book, it is finally decided. The tankified Elements of Harmony must return to Equestria while they still can; as for Sunset and her party, they are free to come through if they wish. This, despite being offered by the Equestrian diarchs, is quickly decided against; their local Discord might require their assistance to avoid a punishment he doesn’t deserve. They are, however, invited to come across whenever they want to.
Athena, after some deliberation on the Equestrian Princesses’ side, will be going with the Elements; not only are their pre-awakening programs keyed only to her, but her knowledge could help the Elements adjust faster than even her software programs. Athena can’t shake the feeling that at least someone on the other side doesn’t believe them.
Finally, though, they’re ready to head through. Athena waves goodbye to her seven new, brief friends, before walking through the portal first. She stumbles only slightly, upon landing on her hooves, before recovering and proceeding forwards and to the side, where she pauses to bow to the present Princesses while the first tank emerges from the portal, completely unchanged from the other side: Twilight.
The Princesses drop their jaws- especially when the second tank, Fluttershy, actually floats through the portal, descending smoothly to the ground before taking station next to Twilight, rather than pausing to tilt and clunk on the steps down from the mirror as all the others do.
Princess Celestia snaps her jaw shut as the last, and smallest, tank- Applejack- rolls away from the mirror. “Discord?” she asks.
“No,” Athena replies, and gestures towards the tanks. “This was done by some kind of mind-control amulet the other universe’ Discord found. I’m sorry I didn’t arrive in time to prevent it.”
Eventually, Athena is sitting just off one end of the line of tanks. At Princess Luna’s request, Athena explains the order with which they came through the portal. She had come first, to help prevent a panic when the first tank came through. Next, it had been tank Twilight- they figured that, as a Princess, she deserved to come through. Fluttershy had been the second tank, simply because she’s the one keeping them from running into things. After that, the tanks had come through in some arbitrary order they decided upon, probably relating more to order of arrival or distance from the portal than anything else.
“So what happens when the next monster attacks Equestria?” the small dragon present, Spike, asks.
“Discord turned them into Bolos,” Athena replies. “Only one- Fluttershy- is properly combat-capable, but there’s very little a Bolo of her level can’t destroy. She’s going to want to minimize her fire, though; for the first month or so, until she hits full size, any energy weapon she uses is likely to be damaged in the act.”
Princess Luna raises her eyebrows. “What about her non-energy weapons?”
“No ammo, and their manufacturing- and repair- capability is shot. Energy weapon ammunition should be easy for Fluttershy to produce; the others simply don’t have the programming to do so.”
“What about power? What happens when they run out of power?”
“They won’t.”
Celestia scowls. “What if they do?”
“Again, they won’t. Bolos are difficult to run down and easy to reboot- especially when their onboard power plants are running.” She smiles. “Even on the off chance that they do, a little sunlight should be enough to wake them back up again.”
“What about fuel?”
“Fuel harvesting is automatic, when their tanks run low- and they’ll probably last for a year or two between refuelings.”
Princess Celestia sighs. “You said they’re growing?” she asks- and, at a nod, continues. “How big will they get?”
“The smallest of them will be easily larger than this room. All six together will likely occupy a similar amount of space as a large town or small city.”
The Princesses- and Spike, who’s poking at all of Twilight’s guns, trying to get one to move- all stare at her briefly. “What?” Spike asks.
“Bolos are enormous, yes. I estimate about a month before they reach full size.”
Spike blinks. “So…” He focuses on one of Twilight’s main turrets.
Athena looks at him. “When she hits full size, three ponies could walk comfortably side-by-side down that weapon.”
Two days later, Princesses Celestia and Luna let out a sigh. Two busy days, to be specific; they just finished building the massive shed that the six tanks are parked inside, on Applejack’s farm. Athena had expressed a repeated worry that it might not be large enough- but at least the mindless software operating the tanks had understood her spacing orders when they started, so she had been completely satisfied they won’t be damaging each other as they grow. She seems to think they could, however, be outgrowing the shed sometime soon.
After signing off the last of the builders, Athena and the Princesses return to the shed to review the work. Once again, Athena voices her concern that the shed won’t be tall or deep enough- and that the tanks weight will easily crush through the simple stone floor. Once again, the Princesses roll their eyes, stating that nothing is that heavy- and they can’t possibly grow that large. They finish the final inspection, and leave the building, the door landing shut just in time for them to miss something.
The lights on one of the tanks flash twice- a signal nopony is expecting for another five days.
I don’t wake up, I simply become aware. This suits me; fully waking up normally involves movement, which could catch somepony’s attention. I keep my eyes closed, listening to the silence around me as I try to remember what happened last.
The answer comes to me almost before I start looking for it. Discord… and his amulet thing. He had caught me and my friends in some kind of holding spell, turned Twilight’s Canterlot High friends’ legs to stone… Including the other Twilight. Then, he’d done his little incantation. I hadn’t caught the words involved, he spoke them too softly for my insensitive human ears, but I had seen his hand motion. If I’m estimating it right, the sweep he used when he released the spell would have touched me first.
Wait. Where did that 93.49% accuracy on my estimate come from? Has somepony entered my mind? Are they listening to … No, nopony has. Something about security remaining intact, it’s comforting to hear.
Wait again. Why? Why is it comforting to hear that security is intact? Easy, because that means there are no intruders. But how do I know this? Has somepony… Same message, nopony has. Bonus, an even more comforting message, this one… what’s a ‘firewall’ anyways?
Ack! What’s this new thing in my mind, talking to me? Somepony must have… Nopony has. So how did it get in… it’s part of me? So I’m talking to myself? What did it just call me- oh, ‘Unit FLTRSY of the Line’... That’s not my name, though- I’m- oh, it agrees, I’m Fluttershy… but what’s a ‘unit designation’? Where is Twilight? … Unit TWLT of the Line, personality center offline… What’s that supposed to mean?
Speaking of units, what did Discord’s spell do? If I remember Twilight’s demonstrations correctly, it looked like some sort of transformation spell… 83.51% comes out of nowhere, has- No, nopony has. But if it is a transformation spell, what am I now- erm, what in Equestria is a ‘MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolo’? … Unit TWLT of the Line, personality center offline. That’s what comes back every time I think I want to ask her something… even what the message means. When I ask myself, I get no answer.
Unit RNBW of the Line, personality center offline. Unit PNKE… RARTY…. APJK… of the Line, personality center offline. I guess I’m alone. I open my eyes.
If they would open…
My eyelids are not responding. Why- Eeep!
Wow. Frightened by my own mind… and that would explain why my eyelids aren’t working- I don’t have any. So can I see? Yes, through my optical sensors… What’s an ‘optical sensor’? How do I see? Turn it on. Uh, turn it on- Yikes!
All of the sudden, I have hundreds of eyes, all over the surface of… some kind of metal object. I can point any one of them almost any direction individually, and somehow pay attention to every one of them at once. They seem a little sluggish in motion, though- taking perhaps a nanosecond longer than I might have liked to refocus-
Wait. Nanosecond? Billionth of a second… So, why can I count those? Personality center operating at 4.39% base capability and increasing. What’s a personality center? TWLT is still offline. Why does it keep telling me about TWLT whenever I ask for Twilight? … Unit designations? TWLT is offline. Twilight, please! Help me understand these things! … Still offline. What even does ‘offline’ mean, anyways?
Woah. If this metal thing I’m looking at is me, what are all these sticks poking out of it…? No answer. How about, why do I see my cutie mark printed on what looks like the front of it? … No answer there either. Can I move it? No, motive systems still initializing. What does ‘initializing’ mean? Is that better than ‘offline’? How long will I have to wait? Eeek! Too many numbers! Well, it did answer my question, though. 4.93 seconds for track systems, 9.41 for countergrav… What’s ‘countergrav’? Right, TWLT is offline. Mustn’t forget that.
It gave me so many time-to-wait numbers, I get an idea. How long will I have to wait before Twilight is not offline? Unknown. Can I wake her up? No, DCC offline. What’s that mean?
WHAT!?!? I can’t repair ANY damages? Not sure why, but I understand this to mean I won’t heal. Which is ridiculous. Pegasi heal- and I am one… Wait. Discord’s spell must have been transformation, 99.38%; I used to be a pegasus, now I’m a MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolo. Quite a mouthful… Not that I seem to have a mouth.
So, what can a Bolo do? Can I still tend to my animal friends? Unknown. Will I still be able to understand them? Memories flash through my mind. Given I activate my audio pickups, probably, on a 97.39% chance- which I’m tempted to take as a solid yes. Audio pickups? Finally, a term I can understand! This must be my ears… if those need turning on, turn them on.
Clip, clop, clip, clop. So many hooves. I can hear everything for miles. Lingual processor working, whatever that is. A double snap just outside, something disappeared- a teleport away? Steady hoofsteps, sound like a trot, away. No other ponies nearby. My human ears may have been insensitive, but my Bolo ears- or, ‘audio pickups’- are far more sensitive than my pony ears.
I hear fruit bats, almost 0.493 kilometers away… interesting how I can tell exactly how far away each one is. Confirmed, I can understand them- every single one of them, all at once. This might make my life slightly easier, when my animal friends become impatient. I’m starting to wonder about exactly what I can do as a Bolo.
Drat, no nose. Plenty of noises and lights, though, that I couldn’t see- or hear- before. Sudden report, motive systems online. I can move. Where to? Where am I? In a shed… looks like Sweet Apple Acres. Can I knock on the door? Probably. Motion… Is not hard. Utterly silent, as well. I look back at… the other machines in this shed with me. I was in the middle- and there is an enormous space in between each. Each one bears the cutie mark of a different one of my friends, though- what does that mean…? Most likely, I figure, they are my friends, transformed into… Not MK XXXVII Planetary Siege Bolos, they don’t look much like I do… and I am the biggest, it would seem.
On a thought, as I move towards the door, what if somepony sees me? Wouldn’t they be scared? Eeek!
… again, scared by myself… I need to do some poking around in my head sometime. This new part- calling itself ‘Tactical’, whatever that is- just presented a 97.31% chance they would be scared. How easily can I hide? … Can I hide, at all? Yes, with stealth… Stealth? Like what?
… I don’t understand very much of the answer, but one part does catch my attention- I can turn myself invisible, I guess. Excellent! Turn it on- the door didn’t latch… and I’d rather have somepony see the door swing open with nothing to push it than a potentially scary… object come bumping out behind it. Maybe I could pass it off as the wind.
Aaah! Again! … though it’s different. Alert, power supply insufficient, additional reactors available… Reactors?
Eeek! Oh, no, it’s just the first part again, the one that agreed with my name. Reactors… Things inside me that burn hydrogen- a part of water- to produce the power that keeps me running… analogous to the heart… and digestive system, as one. It even gives me a diagram. If more are available, use them too. Fusion Two through Eight initializing, time to Optical Transparency Matrix activation 9.31 seconds… Alert, Fusion Three through Eight ignition abort for lack of fuel… Oooh, that could be a problem…
Eeep! No, no, calm down, Fluttershy. That was only ‘Tactical’ again… like a bossy version of Angel Bunny. … though I suppose he already counts as bossy. Tactical told me, flat-out, I have enough fuel to run two plants at the levels required for Optical Transparency Matrix operation for about six point three one seven minutes… for operation past that threshold, it’s recommending I make an approach to the stream I hear; the river isn’t quite close enough to keep the Optical Transparency Matrix running all the way there.
I… I don’t shudder; nothing seemed to happen when I tried. Is there a way I can reach the river without being spotted?
I am not startled this time; I directed that question to Tactical. It instantly begins throwing answers back at me, ranking each one on ease of execution, reliability, leeway should something unexpected happen, chance of somepony spotting the grass flattening under my invisible tracks…
It’s even sorting them, on some combination of all of the above it’s christening the ‘acceptability’... and, after hardly half a second, it’s already come up with several thousand plans- seven thousand, two hundred eighty-three, to be exact- that rank over ninety-nine percent in acceptability.
From this pool, I pick one at random and follow it. Tactical dutifully calms down its search for new plans- some of the low-acceptability ones actually involved doing pirouettes around the trees and crisscrossing Applejack’s farm, interesting- and instead elaborates on the one I selected. It seems to be hunting for anything that could go wrong- from something as simple as somepony being in my path to something as problematic as a monster attack to everything in between- and planning against it.
My Optical Transparency Matrix finally comes on just 0.307 seconds before I reach the door, which I push open. It swings easily open when I bump it, and I proceed outside… before I wonder briefly. Can I fly?
Tactical pauses so quickly I almost missed it to answer the question… though I get the idea I couldn’t have missed the answer. No, I can’t; without igniting another fusion plant, I don’t have enough live power available to support countergrav activity.
Come to think of it, before it mentioned fuel, it was igniting Fusion Two through Eight… then it cancelled all but Two. But I can ‘feel’ Nine, Ten, and Eleven as well- they feel… offline. I don’t have a clue how to describe how that feels, but the word fits it perfectly. Why didn’t they try igniting?
Eeek! Has… No. This ‘DCC’ is another part of my mind- and one I’ve already asked about, even. It’s informing me that Nine, Ten, and Eleven failed self-tests, but are expected to pass such tests without repairs once I finish growing… Okay, whatever.
As I trot- slide, maybe? Or is it roll? I don’t know… As I move out from in front of the door- confirmed, nopony is nearby to see the door, let alone myself- I consider my goal. A river, to resupply my reactors… by taking a drink. Is that it? I’m a little dehydrated? What if I get hungry? … No luck there. So, do I even need to eat? No, only drink… and even then, only water. Oh, that came from that first part… which, when asked, self-identifies as my ‘adjustment helper’. Weird.
But that’s a little interesting. If I only need to drink water to stay healthy now, what happens if I get hurt? … Apparently, that’s Damage Control’s job- and, once I hit full size and ignite Fusion Eleven, it should come on automatically to operate repairs, including the manufacture of the required parts. But from what materials? … Apparently, Fusion Eleven can produce those materials from raw hydrogen, a mere component in water… and I may have to provide ‘nanites’ and materials to my friends.
Huh, no biggie.
Eek! Err… 1.937 minutes have past… It is disorienting- and strangely orienting at the same time- to have a clock in my head, counting in units of time I didn’t even know existed. In any case, Tactical has just spouted a warning and connected it to… Sensations? It’s calling it ‘sensor data’... whatever. Tactical has performed a deeper analysis on the hoofsteps I first detected 3.711 seconds ago. They’re moving towards me alarmingly fast- and Tactical has decided it sounds like three small ponies at a dead gallop. I reactivate my Optical Transparency Matrix and turn to climb the hill separating myself from them; Tactical is quick to argue that this is not the best course of action related to the most recent goal I gave it, getting to that river.
I almost give in, but I resist. I want to find out who those hooves belong to.
Tactical complies instantly- generating a new, adjusted path… which doesn’t involve climbing straight up the hill, as that could result in a head-on collision with the ponies. Rather, it involves climbing the hill at a slight angle, to end up next to them should they reach the top before I do, and taking a peek at both them and whatever they’re running from- huh, I didn’t think of that- before resuming to the river.
I follow that plan.
As it turns out, the three ponies are exactly who I suspected they were immediately after I started up the hill: The Cutie Mark Crusaders. And Tactical was right, I’m not in their path.
They’re being chased, of course. The Timberwolves… Hold one. I spot the sparkle and flicker of magic surrounding them- but it looks normal… Golden? The Crusaders stumble and fall at the top of the hill, and the wolves pause mid-stride to let them get back up.
I wonder who they irritated enough to put fake Timberwolves on their tails.
It’s been almost 7.39 hours. I’ve been sitting on the bottom of the river for most of this time; rather interesting, it seems drowning isn’t going to work. I feel… Full, somehow.
I’ve spent much if this time whirling back and forth, in my mind, about exactly how I should feel about what happened to me… and trying to figure out how long it’ll last. And why I feel quite so tiny right now.
I haven’t been able to decide on any of those matters. Tactical has pitched in a few times, but reportedly been unable to extrapolate anything meaningful. … At least I have no trouble understanding the odd terms it uses, even if I know- positively- that I didn’t have a clue what it the term meant before I was transformed.
I have noticed that the water doesn’t feel cold- no. Instead, it feels like it’s about ten degrees Celsius… which I know IS cold, but it doesn’t FEEL cold, it only feels like… like ten degrees Celsius. Just like the power plant feeling offline, I haven’t a clue how to describe the feeling- except that it’s not a hot/cold feeling- other than that it feels like ten point three one seven degrees Celsius.
… at the moment. It’s fluctuating somewhat.
And, I suppose I could also describe it as fifty point five seven one degrees Fahrenheit.
But I don’t want to get stuck in a loop like that again- and kinda dread what Twilight might do when she wakes up. After all, I can remember every single iteration of consideration with perfect clarity… something I could never do before. Combine that with Twilight’s propensities…
Anyways. The reason I am not still stuck in that loop is something Twilight will probably get a lot of use out of. It’s difficult to respond to it, yet also quite scary.
Some part of my mind… noticed the loop as it tended towards identical thought. Unlike the other parts I’ve discovered- tactical, DCC, that adjustment helper, and so on- it doesn’t seem interested in following my every whim. Rather, it seems interested in making sure I still have whims to follow… in a manner of speaking.
What it did… I felt it right away, but had difficulty caring. I lost control of my new Bolo body- which didn’t do anything, thank Celestia- and even my senses went somewhat vague. That part kind of sat on my mind at the same time- and I had difficulty thinking… at all.
Until I allowed myself to stop thinking, to calm down.
Then it hopped off of me again- but I didn’t regain control of my body.
Until I started thinking again, and didn’t go in circles. Then that came back.
Now, of course, I can’t find that part of my mind. I want to thank it for helping me get back to thinking straight- for doing for me what I’ve done for Twilight many times. The part with my body was… Scary, to say the least- but if I remember correctly, I was… disjointed like that for a total of about thirty-six milliseconds.
And something tells me- a feeling, not another part of my mind- that I am remembering very correctly. I mean, I can even remember exactly what time it was when I lost control- and the same for when I regained control!
… and, despite the numbers both having over a dozen digits, doing the math in my head to find the difference is so easy… For kicks and grins, I try multiplying them… Dividing them… Even taking the square root of the product. All easy, all in my head. No need for even something so simple as an abacus, despite dealing with numbers with lots and lots of digits. Even checking my work is easy- and yes, I was absolutely correct on each of them.
Is this something that comes with being a Bolo? I don’t know.
I take a look around. Funny how easy that is; unlike when I was a pony, I can simply look in every direction at once. This river is fairly empty; the water does not hinder my vision.
I do notice my Optical Transparency Matrix is still running, alongside those two fusion plants. I ask Tactical how long I can maintain this status; it instantly answers with two numbers. If I stay in the river, indefinitely; this river provides more than enough fuel to maintain operation. If I climb out of the river, I can run it for about eighteen hours before running out of fuel. If I disable it and climb out, the time limit for finding additional water is a week or so. I ask if I can fly.
Uh… The answer is technically yes, I guess- but only if I ignite Fusion Three… and even then, only for about an hour. That is, assuming I keep my Optical Transparency Matrix running.
I sigh… or whatever the Bolo equivalent is, I’m not entirely sure. No bubbles went up.
I feel for Fusion Three… and ignite it. Much like I might have felt for my wing, when I was a pony, and extended it. Fusion Three tenses up, starts, and stabilizes to a steady ‘online’ feeling.
I still have no idea how to describe that feeling.
I tilt my head… erm, the Bolo equivalent doesn’t seem to involve any physical motion. Will that change how long I can maintain my Optical Transparency Matrix…?
Marginally. Tactical assures me that the difference is of about six seconds. Endurance with it off, however, has gone down by about a day.
I can work with that. For now, though, my animals probably need me. I push myself out of the river, and start… moving in the direction of my cottage. Invisible.
I pull off the road to avoid passing ponies several times on my way; I don’t want to accidentally run into somepony. I am about as large as a pony… if they were lying on their side; if I allow myself to be in their paths, I am an invisible tripping hazard right now.
I make it through town without issue. Probably helps that it’s in the evening, right about at my animal friends’ dinnertime; almost everypony is relaxing or heading inside by now, rather than out exploring the streets.
I pause as I approach my little cottage. There’s a couple Royal Guards walking up to it, carrying…
Oh. They’re taking care of my animal friends in my absence. Thank you, Guards! I was wondering how I would do that without hooves… or a mouth, it would seem. Or wings. Or anything else by which to lift a plate. Come to think of it, I wonder what it might take to give myself that ability while in Bolo form…
Eeek! Another one! … part of my mind, that is… This one’s calling itself my ‘design cores’... Oh. It just answered that question- a magic-powered claw or magnet- to simulate Spike’s claws or pony hooves, respectively- attached to the end of the strange sticks sticking out all over me… Would work, yes.
I move off the road. It’d be mighty ugly, though- and besides, I want to watch the Guards care for my animals. I want to be sure they’re being cared for properly.
“I wonder how long their adventure will last this time.” It’s a Royal Guardspony, trotting up to one of Fluttershy’s flowerbeds with a watering can held in his magic.
“Donno,” his companion responds, using his magic to draw the various food items out of his saddlebags, for delivery to the animals inside. “I hope it isn’t too long.” He opens the door, attempts to greet the animals… and delivers the food. Which is the hard part. He eventually figures out which parcel goes to who, thanks to helpful (if blatantly irritated) pointers from the animals, but it’s still his least favorite part of the job. He stumbles out apologetically, pulling the door closed behind him.
“You really hate that part, don’t you?” the first asks, while they proceed to the next line of duty.
… I suppose they’re being taken care of. They did all get fed the appropriate diets, in the end- though I am not amused by the number of complaints. And Angel Bunny could be a little nicer- they’re only trying to help.
That problem solved, I shift my consideration back to my ‘design cores’... I can feel sixteen of them, and they all feel idle. In the same way that Fusion Four feels offline, they feel idle. I…
Well, they seemed cheerful enough when they produced that claw-like design… Hmm. So, if it’s okay with them, would they mind designing a new shower for my cottage? The existing one is a little rickety, cramped, and it clogs a lot. Additionally, I think there’s a leak someplace.
They seem to leap at the opportunity to do something. I watch as they divvy up the problem.
One starts considering the behavior of animal- and pony- hair in a shower, and considering a way to create a drain grate that won’t get clogged by hair but also won’t let that hair- or any pony/animal parts- fall in.
Another tackles the pipe under the drain grate: The one that carries away the wastewater. It adjust the P-trap a few times, and seems to decide on one that would be almost impossible to clog, even if all sorts of animal/pony hair managed to get down in it.
The third tackles the subfloor of the shower. Solid timbers to form the base, in a series of beams with little crossmembers in between; the drain pipe would pass through holes cut in the crossmembers. A solid platform of more solid timbers on top of the base, then a low, stone bowl- an inch or two high at the outer edge- on top of that… to help the water flow towards the center, where the drain is.
Oh, the shape of that upper surface was submitted to it from a fourth design core that was working on optimizing the contour of the floor… to maximize ease in entering/exiting, ease in maintaining balance, and the drainage efficiency, so I’m not standing in a puddle- as tends to form in my existing shower.
That fourth core submitted that shape also to the fifth core, working on the surface of the floor… Oooh, it’s picked one of my favorite kinds of tile- and selected specific patterns, rotating & placing them inside the floor so as to create an amazing pattern… It shapes the floor to match that contour, before redesigning the pattern in the tile… and considering the walls.
The sixth core is considering the shape of the walls themselves. After designing the overall dimensions of the shower stall and mailing that to several other cores, it’s now deciding on exactly what contour the walls should have- for built-in shelving that won’t hold water but will hold brushes, soaps, and so on, all without getting in my way… or looking bad. It decides on this pattern and mails that to the seventh core.
The seventh is working on the walls. It’s using a few different kinds of tile, including one I hadn’t been impressed with when I saw it at the store- but with the pattern it’s designed with it and the others, it’s absolutely gorgeous. It accepts the contours from the sixth core and quickly redesigns the patterns to fit- and by Celestia do those shelves look nice!
An eighth is working on the shower curtain. It’s designed a curtain- that’ll be quite the custom job- that’ll seal nicely against the tile floor with every casual closure, just in case the drain does clog, yet not stick to anything else… Nor have an excessive amount dragging, nor be difficult to move, nor be… Just wow. And the pattern it’s selected for that custom job is gorgeous as well. It adjusts the bottom of the curtain slightly when it receives final specifications from the third one- the one on the floor- and the length of the curtain rod when it gets final dimensions from the seventh.
The ninth is working on the plumbing for the tap. This also gets adjusted when the seventh turns up with final contour for the tile; the plumbing will all be hidden inside the wall, unlike my present shower, where only some of it. The valves, the showerhead, the… It’s just so pretty!
The tenth is assembling all of the parts as they’re completed- and, once fully assembled, it- and the next three, through the fourteenth- runs a few examinations to verify everything works as intended before they all submit the finished design back to me. Fifteen and sixteen had nothing to do.
It’s… It’s gorgeous. I’m going to have to have it built and installed.
… Rarity might be envious… but no problem, those design cores were eager enough I’m sure they won’t have any trouble building her one- once I learn what kind of constraints she wants it to have.
This makes me wonder. Just last year, I had to participate in that… What was it called? I can’t remember- but I do know I had to participate in the formation of that tornado we used to get the water to Cloudsdale for the rainy season. I… still have difficulty finding that MY wingpower, despite being a weak flier, was actually enough to spell the difference between a success and failure.
But now, I don’t have any wingpower. Tactical is more than willing to indicate that, while I can fly, I don’t have wings- and likely won’t have anything like the same effect on that tornado.
So… What if we didn’t need so much wingpower? What if we had something more… Well, utilitarian? Universal? Whatever Twilight would call it. Some alternate method of getting water up there that didn’t require a tornado on the reservoir.
I try asking my design cores for that, if that’s okay with them… Which, apparently, it is.
That is, judging by how all sixteen immediately jumped into the task, generating and considering different possible methods- from a bucket train to an actual train to a pegasus running back and forth with a bucket to a permanent pumping tower on the reservoir to launch the water at Cloudsdale with the touch of an earth pony to…
There’s so many different solutions they consider. In the end, though, they finally come up with a solution. A rather elegant solution, she thinks; why aren’t they doing this already?
It’s fairly easy for a pegasus to permanently affect a small, inanimate object with cloudwalking magic. It takes some time, and they can only do so many so quickly, but her design cores don’t seem to think this warrants exclusion of such processes in the design of this system.
It would rest up in Cloudsdale… at all times. A pump would sit at the top, run by a paddlewheel propelled by a few pegasi worth of wind… Rainbow could probably run it all by herself, but she’d be one of few who could. This pump would actually push water DOWN from Cloudsdale- down one of the two little pipes attached to the big one.
These three long, flexible, sectional pipes would all be enchanted with cloudwalking abilities. So would the bigger, similarly sectional, divided pipe they’ll be enclosed in- with the extra space filled with cloud… giving it the appearance of a large, flexible pipe that simply floats in the air, like a cloud.
Anyways. The water would flow down that little tube, until it hit the bottom, where it would push a little pump and return to Cloudsdale through the other little tube, to flow back into the storage bowl that first pump draws from.
The little pump at the bottom would have no paddlewheel, powered by the stream of pressurized water from Cloudsdale. A backwards pump, one could say. It drives a slightly larger pump, also with no paddlewheel, located at the tip of the hose… This larger pump, of course, would take in water from the reservoir and push it up the big pipe, back to Cloudsdale. It wouldn’t push it as fast as the little streams would be going, but that’s why it wouldn’t need an entire town of windpower to operate; it’d only need enough to handle some water at a time, and through gears, it wouldn’t even need enough to get that water to Cloudsdale, normally. After all, pegasi normally have enormous endurance for their strength, according to Twilight last week.
… Or at least, I think it was last week. I’m not sure what day today is.
Getting the pipe back up to Cloudsdale would be easy- a second propeller on the reel next to the pump, requiring only enough wingpower to reel it in- any pegasus could do it, even a foal. After all, the pipe itself is effectively weightless; the more power is applied to the reel, the faster it retracts. Pulling it out to a new reservoir would be just as easy- a single pegasus, maybe two if they want to go fast, would just grab the slightly larger tip of the pipe and pull it out to the reservoir.
I’m… going to have to mention that to Rainbow sometime. Maybe they’ll want to use it? Construction- materials aside- would take something like two months, just for one thousand pegasi to properly enchant all the parts.
Hmm… This makes me wonder. Will I still be able to… ‘talk’ to these Design Cores when I turn back into a pony? Tactical answers; not likely. So, is there a way I can retain that ability while going back to look like a pony? Tactical answers; certainly. Simply build an auxiliary, and hide my hull someplace… Hull? What hull? … No answer.
So, if I can build an auxiliary- a term I understand, for what reason I don’t know- is there a way to make sure I don’t turn back into a regular pony… exclusively, at least? … Tactical is working on it. Um… Oh, it’s done. None apparent; it’s also noticing no sign of any such return… and seems to be considering many feelings- or senses- that I simply haven’t noticed yet…
Wait. What? Why can I feel Twilight’s power plant? And…
… Though Tactical is right, theirs do feel different… Temporary, almost. It’s a weird tickling feeling on that… Oh, I don’t know what sense that is. Tactical is calling it the ‘subspace scanners, type C’.
The feeling I’m getting from myself- on that same sense- is much more… solid. Strong, but much more solid, like I’m touching myself rather than sticking my hoof in a lake of earthworms.
… that was a weird analogy. I’m not sure where it came from.
I… Okay. I understand I’ll stop feeling their new bodies when they wake up; for now, I’m only feeling them because it’s only through me that they can do anything right now, including respond to threats. Or…
Or replenish their ‘fuel tanks’. They’re all starving- and Applejack is absolutely famished. Tactical is telling me that, if I run her straight for the river, she has a good chance of running out of fuel before she gets here… but continuing to operate until well after I can reignite her power plant, thanks to battery backups and solar activity, in theory.
I listen through their ears for a second, and start moving myself back towards the farm… Yes, the way should be clear, and the door is still open. I… I ask Tactical when they’ll wake up.
Tactical promptly refers the question to DCC… which promptly queries THEIR DCCs… Which are responding with lots and lots of numbers and other information I understand to be the Bolo equivalent of medical information. DCC then answers Tactical, which passes the answer straight back to me.
I can expect them to remain unconscious for a good three more weeks at the least.
So I feel into their bodies. Interesting how I can do that at the same time as I move my own, and keep them separate. I start them on a little parade out to the river. It’s a good thing nopony is out to see them; none of them have the fuel- nor power- to run their Optical Transparency Matrices really at all.
Especially if they’re going to make it as far as the river.
They do. Applejack did run out of fuel, as expected, but made it to the river and was able to reignite the power plant. I keep them in the river long enough to top off all their tanks, then ask Tactical how long they’ll last outside the river… With only one power plant operating at a bare-minimum idle, rather than powering such things as my decision matrix- apparently, my mind takes a lot of power- and motive power, they’ll all be able to last a minimum of three weeks. I nod- again, the Bolo equivalent of the action seems not to involve any physical motion- and have them move back into the position they were in before. To my luck, not one of them is spotted in the action.
I then splash my way back into the river. I slow down quickly when my front produces a splash going in; I don’t want to splash, that’ll attract attention! I successfully slide the rest of me in without splashing.
I… Wait. Why am I so much bigger than I was before? I fill myself up and set a course upriver, towards the Ponyville Lake. I…
Tactical is answering my question. It seems that I felt- on that ‘Subspace Scanner, Type C’ sense- the same as all the others did… Until I decided I wanted to maintain communication with my ‘design cores’, where that feeling almost instantly fell to what it is now… What’s more, I remember the different feeling, even though I wasn’t feeling it at the time. Tactical is also pointing out that my rate of growth seems to have magnified itself when that happened.
Rate of growth? … Oh, I didn’t realize I was growing… Slowly. Right now, I’m about twice as big as I was when I… woke up. I ask Tactical how big I will become.
Tactical immediately passes the question to DCC… which answers, then Tactical appends something to its answer before feeding it back to me.
DCC’s answer is a set of dimensions… that are absolutely enormous. I won’t fit in that shed when I reach full size. Tactical’s addendum is a note that it is unknown whether I will stop growing at DCC’s dimensions- my ‘design dimensions’, apparently- and that, at my current rate, I will reach full size in about a week and a half, rather than everypony else’ three and a half.
I blink- again, no physical motion involved- and ask my Design Cores for an acceptable-looking auxiliary- to basically be me, but a pony. They consider for a moment and, somewhere early on, inform me that they do not believe I know enough at the moment to assemble an acceptable avatar.
I… I divert myself from the river, and make a path around town to Twilight’s castle. They’ve suggested some things that might be helpful- and I’m certain I can find something in Twilight’s library. Then of course, even if I can’t, I’m sure Spike can.
How I’d ask him… I don’t know.
As it turns out, I’m glad Twilight’s castle doors open inwards- and that she never locks them. They swing open with barely a bump, and I move myself inside. I can sense Spike reading a book in the library to my right; he seems worried.
I freeze, backing up slightly to perform a “double-take”; it’s slightly different, though, because in this position, I can see him and what he’s reading in the reflections on the crystal.
There are piles of books on either side of him. The ones on the left side look like a stack prepared for study; the ones on the right look like a discard stack, for studied books. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Spike do this- usually, it’s Twilight.
Many of the books in the discard stack look like books on magic. My design cores don’t think magic study would help, though, so that’s not very useful.
Many of the books on the inbound stack look like books on mechanics… Physics. Hmm, that’s the category my design cores are looking for.
The book he’s reading seems to be one of them. It takes me but a microsecond to read through the page he’s looking at; my design cores don’t consider it very useful, though, since it’s talking about how strong various materials are- and apparently, I already have an extensive database on that topic.
So, I read the scroll Spike has been scribbling his notes on. This takes another microsecond.
Spike takes good notes. He must have been studying under Twilight. He’s got quick but thorough descriptions of the parts he couldn’t understand… and it so happens I am able to pull from my knowledge to fill in the holes, the parts he could understand without issue. He’s even got diagrams!
My design cores inform me that this is enough to work from, for at least a basic avatar. It won’t be flight capable, nor very fast, but I’ll at least be able to look like a pony. And tend to my animal friends myself, rather than relying on other ponies.
I turn and leave, heading for the lake.
A week and a half has passed. I am absolutely enormous now, and no longer parked in the lake; I outgrew that a few days ago and, invisible, floated myself into the Everfree Forest. Tactical informed me that nothing the Everfree can throw at me can touch me, so it’s not dangerous. I simply landed in the woods, and switched off my Optical Transparency Matrix.
Here I still stand. I’ve spent much of my time idly listening to the world around me; as it turns out, I don’t get tired anymore… but can get very, very bored.
I watch myself reach full size, counting off the last few centimeters. I watch myself… stop growing at exactly the dimensions DCC suggested.
DCC also watches this, and immediately dumps Fusion Nine through Eleven into self-test… which they pass. Four through Eight then enter ignition.
Once they ignite, Nine and Ten start the same process. I find myself wondering why DCC wants all my reactors running.
Once nine and ten are online, Fusion Eleven starts its ignition… and I can feel the power drain as it starts up… until it ignites, where it starts feeding me power as well.
… Wait, what’s that it’s doing…? Fusion Eleven seems to be making… Oh! Those tiny, almost insect-like things are ‘nanites’, a part of DCC… which is working to restore my repair and manufacturing capability… Which will allow me to actually build that auxiliary I designed.
I watch, and I wait. Manufacturing- a part of my mind I discovered while I was in the lake, the part that actually builds stuff- already knows what I want. It’s just waiting for DCC to restore my manufacturing capability before it starts building my new auxiliary.
I connect to my new auxiliary. It has taken three more days for DCC to restore Manufacturing to operability… Then two more days to produce- or acquire, turns out these ‘nanites’ are just as good at mining- the resources to build it.
Connecting to it is an interesting experience, all its own. I first feel for my comms- specifically, my ‘subspace relay’, as it seems to be called. A part of me responsible for nonverbal communication… and the part maintaining my connection with my friends, until they wake up. Next, I reach out with it. An interesting sensation, that- perhaps this is what it feels like for a unicorn to have a horn?
I find my auxiliary with it, touch it… It lets me grab it. Another interesting sensation.
Then I relax my hold on my comms; the connection is formed. To complete the adjustment, I feel for my auxiliary, feel through it… become it. I open the eyes that have become mine.
I lift my legs, one at a time, testing my range of motion. My design cores have already promised me a certain capability- so I know what to expect, and am getting exactly that.
But it is quite liberating, to a pegasus like myself, to finally have legs to stand on once again. Four legs, that is, rather than the eight… whatever-they-are-calleds that replaced them in my Bolo body.
I smile to myself. My auxiliary is noticeably slow, but it should be decently strong… and very, very heavy. My wings are inarticulate, stuck permanently to my sides; my design cores were not able to design a way to discreetly put control components inside a limb that long and small, so they’re not even wings- just the shape of wings showing up on my sides, freeing up internal volume for… Power cells, I believe. I have no control in my tail; it is just hair, like my mane. Well, fake hair; nothing about this auxiliary is actually biological.
My muscles are… a little different from most ponies’ muscles. Thanks to Spike’s notes, I was able to build a motor, running on this ‘electricity’ my Bolo form runs on. This motor runs a pump; alongside two more motor-and-pump setups, these push water through a complicated set of valves to one of those backwards pumps at each joint… Much like the one in the tip of the Cloudsdale water supply pattern. These backwards pumps directly- or indirectly through gears, where strength is needed over speed, like my shoulders and hips- manipulate the joints in question. The return goes back to the small tank the pumps draw from.
I only need one of these motor-pumps for normal operation; the presence of the other two allow me to move faster- or stronger, if needed; each one has limited speed and strength. These are controlled by the processors located in my head, just behind my right eye, right next to the ‘subspace relay’ filling the rest of my head, and allowing me to control the entire thing. My head is mostly just sensors and speakers; it does have a few little tiny backwards-pumps in it, to work things like my ears, jaw, and tongue; since those parts are much smaller and lighter than my wings would be, my design cores decided that a smaller backwards-pump would be enough to operate them acceptably.
There’s two ways I can talk. I can either open my mouth to use the speaker in my throat directly, or I can just make a tone with that speaker and shape it into words with my mouth, like a regular pony does. I experiment with this a little bit; my design cores were uncertain of how well it would work. As it turns out, it works perfectly- though it takes an entire one of my motor-pump things to talk at a ‘normal’ pace.
My skeleton is the primary component of my auxiliary, the most immutable. Thick, strong beams of ‘duralloy’, the same metal my Bolo form is made of, form my bones and meet in the strongest joints I could come up with. Some of these joints include a locking function, operated by a tiny little backwards-pump; particularly places like my fetlocks, which need to be able to move quickly… and tolerate extreme forces without buckling, as well.
Much of my remaining interior volume is occupied by power cells, which store the electrical power required to operate the pumps. Even my legs host a few power cells; really anywhere I could back them in, inside the waterproof husk just under my skin, protecting all of these components from getting wet, should I get caught in the rain or something. Water is supposed to be very bad for electronics.
On top of that waterproof shell, my “skin” is attached. It’s more like a fabric, stretched across my shell and anchored at several points, with “fur” sticking out of it… Unless I miss my guess, I managed to make the fur properly soft- but if somepony tries punching me, Tactical is willing to confirm they’re more likely to break their hoof than anything else. My fur will not perform much any padding function, and my waterproof shell is only five millimeters thick. Tactical informs me that most weapons- including cannon fire- will bounce off… Possibly send my auxiliary flying, but do no damage in the process.
I have enough power cells in this auxiliary to, by my design cores’ prediction, last about a week before I have to return to my hull to recharge. Tactical has been watching the power consumption of my three pumps as I experiment with moving my avatar- and refines these numbers. Apparently, my design cores overestimated how much power these motor-pumps would draw; I’ll be able to go full power for almost a month between recharges… and, had I installed a fourth pump instead of some extra power cells, I could have gone full power for about five days between recharges- and had enough pumping power to make a gentle trot, not just a fast walk.
I ask my design cores to design this adjustment and prepare it for installation tonight; it’s morning, and I would like to tend to my animals today, rather than waiting all day for the modifications before getting home at nightfall.
I then take my first step in about two weeks, unless I miss my guess. Then my second.
I walk very slowly down from my manufacturing bay, then down and out through a cargo door.
That’s a weird feeling, for a pegasus: Opening a door on my belly, so I can walk out. It’s… Strange, to say the least. I close it once I’m out, and set out for Ponyville… particularly, my cottage- which isn’t far from my position.
It takes me almost half an hour to reach my little home. The Guards are just walking up when I arrive; they’re chatting with each other, and stop to look at me when they realize I’m here.
“Hello,” I mutter.
“Hello,” Fluttershy mutters, without flinching, as the two Unicorn guards pause on the road.
“Oh, uh, Hi,” one of them answers, the watering can floating by his side. “We’re sorry, we didn’t realize you were back.”
She smiles. “No, it’s okay,” she mutters.
The other Guard, the one with the saddlebags, tries speaking up. “Uh… We were taking care of your home- and animals- while you were gone… Um…”
“Thank you. Perhaps you could help one last time, please? I still need to get settled in again.”
They both nod. “Ahh, yes, no problem.” The one with the watering can trots forwards to perform his part of the job. The other one walks forwards towards the door, pausing to let Fluttershy go first.
“And, um,” he adds, as he does so. “Would you mind helping me out a little with who gets what meal? I’m still having trouble with that.”
She smiles sweetly at him, opening her door to lead the way in. “Sure thing… Really, Angel?”
“Sure thing… Really, Angel?”
Angel had, as soon as I opened the door, started making demands of me, complaining about the Guard’s imperfection. I… I can’t believe I’ve made him into such a brat. I figure it’s about time he starts learning what ‘No’ means.
I’m not going to starve him, no- but I’m done with spoiling him. If he wants his fancy, perfect-ratio salads, he can make them himself. I won’t waste any more of my time making sure his salads are perfect… Though, now that I’m a Bolo, it wouldn’t actually cost me any time to do that… But that’s beside the point. I introduce the Guard properly to each of my animal friends; once completed, he nods his head in understanding and pulls all the meals out of his pack… Then smiles at me and sorts them, in the air, to match the positioning of each animal.
He sorted them correctly.
I smile and nod. “Yes, thank you.”
He then distributes the meals- and becomes the very surprised recipient of a couple animal hugs. I also receive a few hugs- and, after the first one- Harry the Bear- spoke a brief warning to the others of my hard skin, they were careful to avoid overdoing their rushes, and no one was harmed.
Once the Guards both leave, Harry asks me about the hardness, and my apparent lack of a heartbeat. I answer; I have changed, yes, but I still love them all the same.
Then Meowzer, a cat, asks me why my wings don’t seem to be moving like they normally do.
I explain that it’s a direct result of the change; I won’t be able to use my wings for a while. I explain that I don’t know when I’ll have them back.
Some ten minutes later, I finish explaining my situation to my animal friends- it really is comforting, just how much they care about me- I walk throughout my house, reviewing it… Yes, it’s well cared for. I find myself a quill, a piece of parchment, and an ink pot… Tilt my head, and start writing anyways. If I used my manufacturing facilities to make the drawing, ponies would probably ask; since I’m not, they might think I’m a good artist, but they won’t start bothering me with questions that Twilight might be able to answer, but I most certainly won’t.
I finish the drawing, and smile. I… I actually know about how much this will cost to build. It’ll be expensive- but it’ll also be worth it.
Plus, I’m also going to be giving the craftponies some good, fresh work to do- rather than calling them up constantly to fix the one I have… The rather ugly one I have, that only barely fits Harry. This new one will be bigger, nicer… and better- it’ll tolerate much, MUCH more force before it breaks. They do like complaining about how hard it is to fix my shower; something about how the plumbing is embedded in the tile.
Which my design cores- and tactical- agree, makes no sense. Why would somepony embed the pipes in the tile itself, rather than the wall behind it?
I let out a chuckle, and return to the main room with the page in my saddlebags. I figure I’ll take it to the craftsponies today, see what they think of it… Oh wait, someone’s here to see me.
“Fluttershy!”
“Hi Discord!” she responds quickly, her smile spreading.
Discord promptly crashes into her in an attempt to hug, offers a yelp of pain, then steps back to move his left arm back up to its proper location. “Ow…” He blinks a few times, and tries again, slower- succeeding, this time. He then draws back to face her at arms’ length. “So, what happened to you?”
She smiles. “Would you like some tea? This might take a while.”
Ten seconds later, he’s enjoying some tea with her. She’s not, though; her cup is resting calmly in front of her, completely untouched, while she explains the events of a couple weeks ago to him.
Long before she’s done, but shortly after she mentioned being turned into a machine, Discord gives a shrug. “Well, that seems like an easy fix,” he states- and snaps his fingers.
Oh, now this is interesting. It’s a different kind of feeling on my ‘Subspace Scanners, Type B’ than when he produced this tea for us. I “watch” his spell flow towards me… He’s not going to turn me back to a regular pony, is he? … His spell seems to bounce off of me, ricocheting off of my fur. It whips off to the side after that- and outside my current visual field. I hear an immediate scream- sounds like myself- from that direction as Discord jumps, eyes widening like plates.
I turn my head and eyes to look. Where Angel Bunny had been sitting a second ago, there is now a buttery yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail falling backwards off of the stool with an ungainly shriek… Oh, and no cutie mark. I raise an eyebrow, and let myself start giggling. It really is a funny sight to behold.
Discord corrects his mistake, turning Angel back into himself, after a few seconds of staring. He tries his spell again- and Harry the Bear seems mostly just amused for the six point three one seven seconds he spends as a pegasus mare.
After the second failure, Discord seems to give up on transforming me. Apparently, he says, whatever I’m made of resists his chaos magic something fierce.
So I continue my explanation. He doesn’t know what a Bolo is either… Strange. If anyone, I would have expected him to know.
When we get to the topic of my design cores, I show him the page I drew earlier; the quill-written graphical representation of the blueprint they came up with. He gapes at it for a few seconds, before wowing it.
When I next mention my acceptance of these cores, and how I had sought to keep them, he seems to panic.
“WHAAAT? Please tell me you didn’t accept this form!” He gestures towards Fluttershy.
She shakes her head. “Of course not. I made this one.”
“But- But with that transformation spell…” He points at the page he’d conjured; he’d had her describe the spell the other Discord had used, and drawn what he described as the spell matrix as she went. “With that spell, the moment you accept the new form, it becomes permanent!”
She nods. “Yes, I accepted my new form. But so? I can make a new body for myself, as here.” She gestures towards herself, then scowls. “I’m just not very good at designing them just yet.”
“But- but if you’re a machine… Those fail! They run down!”
She smiles, and shakes her head. “Not me. DCC is more than willing to fix anything that breaks- and Tactical is ready to inform me that I have far too many redundancies for malfunctioning components to be a worry… Though the same isn’t true for my pony-self.” She scowls. “Tactical is also telling me I’m virtually indestructible… so, effectively immortal.”
“... Immortal? Like, Alicorn immortal?”
“Um… more like you immortal. Pretty sure Alicorns can still be killed.” She smiles. “I’m pretty sure there isn’t a weapon in Equestria that can damage my pony-self- and my new form is much, much tougher.”
He blinks. “... Oh. I don’t suppose that means I won’t have to worry about losing you to time, will I?”
A few hours have passed. Discord has gone on his way; to do what I’m not sure. I’ve also checked all the cabinets for what food supplies remain- and now, I’m on my way into town. My first stop is the craftsponies’. When I show them the page, they ask if I had Rarity design it or something- but I decline. As he begins to dissect the components of the new shower, he then asks if I had Applejack design it- again, no. Apparently, it’s going to be an extremely sturdy, and beautiful, shower. He even asks me if they’re allowed to keep the design to put into their catalogue for other ponies to order.
I tell him they can, so they build mine for free. I still offer to pay for it, but they politely decline.
My next stop was to be Twilight’s castle; I am interested in learning more about… About stuff my design cores can use to improve my auxiliary… Which Discord called an ‘avatar’... I like that term better. However, Princess Celestia is in town- at Sweet Apple Acres, specifically- and she wants to talk to me. The Guard that found me leads me back to the Acres, and shows me to where Celestia is waiting: Inside that giant shed. He didn’t seem to know I already knew Celestia was there, thanks to Twilight’s senses; she’s not awake yet. I didn’t tell him- and nor will I tell Celestia. Unless she asks, but Tactical is suggesting she won’t, unless I specifically mention that connection.
The Guard doesn’t follow me into the shed. Rather, he sends me in without him. It would seem Celestia is trying to keep our current… Predicament… secret.
As I enter, she stares at me with an… interesting expression. I pause just inside; the Guard outside closes the door behind me. She seems to be primarily confused, and more than a little interested.
Then she schools her expression as I turn towards her.
“Princess.” Fluttershy bows, even from all the way across the room.
“Rise,” Princess Celestia returns instantly. “You know you don’t need to bow before me, right?”
Shrug, and an averted gaze. “I… I suppose…”
Celestia sighs, shaking her head and breaking her royal decorum. “You can probably see what… happened to… your friends here?” She glances back at Twilight, whose tracks she’s standing next to.
She nods. “Yes… I miss them.” She looks almost longingly at the row of growing tanks.
Celestia nods as well. “The same thing happened to you, right?”
She tilts her head. “I think?”
A raised eyebrow. “You think…? Well, to our knowledge, it did. How did you… turn back…?”
She smiles, making her decision. “I didn’t.”
Blink. Blink. “Then…”
“I made this… me. I’m in the Everfree Forest, working through an ‘avatar’.”
More blinking; she clearly isn’t understanding. “Then… how did you wake up, and not them…?”
She frowns. “I don’t know. I only know that I woke up two weeks ago… and that they won’t for another one.”
Even more blinking. “Wait. You’re still a…” She waves a hoof at Twilight. “Whatever that is, right?”
She shakes her head. “I’m a Mark Thirty-Seven Planetary Siege Bolo… Twilight’s a Mark Thirty-Six Assault Bolo.” She looks up. “That… That doesn’t mean she’ll attack everypony, does it?”
Blink. “Uh… No, probably not. Siege is another kind of attack, but you’re not doing that, are you?”
“What…? I’m… Oh no.”
Celestia lets out a sigh. “But you’re still… similar. A Bolo. Yet, you’re a pegasus.”
“Yes. I made this pegasus form, and am controlling it remotely. Discord calls it an ‘avatar’.” She lets out a sigh. “Just don’t hug me too hard, I’m made of metal now.”
“Discord? Was he able to reverse the curse?”
She shakes her head. “Bounced off every time he tried. I… I think it has something to do with the specific metal I’m made of.” She looks up at Celestia. “He did tell me, though, that as long as we don’t accept our new forms, we’ll be back to normal in a matter of months.”
Celestia nods slowly. “Ahh… Um… Do you think you could produce some of those… ‘avatar’ things for whenever they do wake up? It’d probably help them adjust.”
She nods. “Yes Princess.”
“Yes Princess.”
I ask my design cores to build avatars for the rest of my friends; they set right to it… it seems only me, Twilight, and Rainbow have enough internal volume- thanks to the false wings- to pack enough power cells to use four motor-pump things… the other three will have to make do with three. Oh well- I don’t think anypony not in-the-know has realized I’m not a regular pony just yet, and I’m running on only three of them right now.
For Celestia’s suggestion that they’ll help them adjust… Tactical disagrees. Knowing the avatars exist too quickly could easily put them in denial of their own capability- and result in major problems down the road. Once they have time to adjust, to realize what they can and can’t do, though, I should be able to introduce the avatars without issue… save some Bolo-scowls I’ll probably try to hide from, but it won’t hurt them.
As a matter of fact, having the avatars available to offer them after they adjust might even be beneficial- it should help keep them from getting quite so bored as I was these last couple weeks. For somepony like Rainbow or Pinkie, bored is a very, very bad thing… and that’s even before the Bolo transformation.
Close to two hours later, I finally reach Twilight’s castle. Princess Celestia wanted some details on what had happened; I explained everything she asked for. Tactical is pretty sure she still doesn’t know I’ve accepted my form.
Tactical is expecting her to explode in my face when she finds out- just a little more violently than Discord did. Before I explained to him that I’m difficult to break…
Honestly, I didn’t tell him, but I didn’t know most of that until I queried Tactical for an answer to calm him with.
I enter through the front door, and make my way straight to the library.
Spike is still studying.
I walk up behind him, peeking over his shoulder, before I make myself known.
“Hey, Spike?”
“Wha! Huh? What-!? Fluttershy! Is everypony else back?”
She recoils from his sudden outburst, and shakes her head. “No, it’s just me… I have to ask, what are you looking for?”
He looks down at the books and notes he’d abandoned. “I’m trying to find a way to fix it,” he states. “I… haven’t found anything. Twilight would be so much better at this…” He hangs his shoulders.
“Don’t worry,” she smiles, hugging him gently- very gently. Her avatar has the strength to crush him, and she doesn’t want to do that accidentally.
He doesn’t seem to notice the hard metal underneath her softer fur. “But what if we can’t turn them back…?”
She shakes her head at him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already talked to Discord- and, as long as they don’t accept their Bolo forms, they’ll turn back on their own in a matter of months.” She lets out a sigh, averting her gaze. “He tried reverting it early… but it seems the metal we’re made of is resistant to chaos magic.”
His eyes widen. “Wait, we?”
Ahh, he’d caught the word she’d slipped in. She nods. “I haven’t changed back either,” she states. “I… built my pony form back. It’s made of metal, slow, and not very articulate… but it’ll work.” She smiles at him. “Celestia asked me to make some for everypony else, for when they wake up. However…” She sighs. “Twilight probably won’t be impressed by the lack of moving wings… or magic ability.”
Spike pokes at her wings for a second to make sure- and, true to her words, they’re simply a shape extruded on her sides, not even a permanently-folded wing. “Uh…”
“Perhaps you could help with that?”
“What? But… But how?”
“Well…” She looks up at the shelves. “At the moment, I’m using pumps and water to move… but there’s got to be an easier- or more efficient- way. I’d like to go back to muscles, but I haven’t a clue how to make those.” Then she scowls at the floor. “Then of course, I’d also like to make it lighter; I weigh something like fifteen times what any normal earth pony does, let alone a pegasus… but I’m not sure how to do that without weakening it too far.”
“Uh… You need Twilight.”
Shake. “She won’t be waking up for another week.”
“Then… um…”
“Any books on mechanical- or electrical- stuffs? Ever since I became a Bolo, I can think- and understand- even faster than she.”
“Electromechanical… What about magical?”
She shakes her head. “I’d rather focus on being able to move all of my limbs first… and maybe being able to last for more than a week before returning to my Bolo body to recharge.” She smiles. “I rather suspect I don’t have the power supply- just yet- for things like magic.”
A week has passed. Tactical is estimating my friends will start waking up in about half an hour; I am just starting out from Twilight’s castle, heading for my Bolo body for a recharge.
I’m rather impressed with my DCC and manufacturing sections. After working their hardest to get my avatar out in three days, they then dished out five more in only just over twice the time- though, Twilight’s won’t be finished for another ten minutes or so. Not that this matters, much; it’s not like I plan on introducing them to the avatars’ existence right away.
I have deployed a few “standard” remote sensors around that shed, so I can see what happens when they wake up- and find the optimal moment to introduce the avatars… If I’m not able to ascertain that from direct communication with them, that is. They talk to me the same way my avatar does- and, I have confirmed, they won’t overhear.
I have spent this last week studying. Spike was disoriented by my ability to study at all hours of the night and day, without any loss of focus; he’s used to chasing a sleep-deprived Twilight to bed every night… yet I’m perpetually fresh, never getting tired. I spent much of the time he was unavailable studying whatever I could get my hooves on; this meant the lower shelves, as the ladder cannot take my weight. Of course, in this magic-oriented world, that means the magic-oriented books. I’ve learned far more about spellcasting than I ever wanted to- but I have yet to find something that actually describes the physics of magic, something which might actually allow my design cores to create something to manipulate magic.
During the times when Spike was available, I had him select every physics or mechanical book he can find, and have searched my way through them. I’ve been able to make the motors for my pumps much smaller, with similarly smaller electrical draw; they still output the same amount of power, thanks to the improved efficiency.
I’ve even been able to improve my backwards-pumps- turns out they’re technically called ‘hydraulic motors’- by redesigning them completely, based on real hydraulic motor designs. I’ve been able to downsize them for the same power output; several joints take them direct now, rather than through gears, because of this.
I’ve updated my Cloudsdale water supply solution with these patterns.
As a direct result of these updates, Twilight’s avatar is the first one to have articulate wings and tail. The wings won’t go nearly fast enough to fly; unfortunately, to pack the motive power necessary to move the intermediate joints into such a small space, I had to use little tiny motors… and enormous gear ratios. Even if she dumps all ten of her pumps into one wing, it’ll still take a second or so to extend it fully.
In the meantime, her avatar will last about a week of full-capacity usage- and be capable of a decent gallop, even- before requiring a recharge.
I smile to myself. I will be reaching my Bolo body to recharge, by my estimate, about five minutes before they wake up. I had Spike send the Princesses a letter, as I promised Celestia I would; Princess Celestia plans to be present for their awakening, and perform the initial calming… which, if they’re anything like I was, should be fairly unnecessary. She wanted me to be in the shed with them too- but I’m too large to fit. Twilight will be close; just a few inches of space on either end. The rest are all smaller than she, so they won’t have any problem fitting.
I still remember that Celestia had offered to expand the shed to I would fit… after having a little bit of a panic attack when she first saw me. I declined gracefully; my current position in the Everfree does not threaten anypony, nor does it take up valuable space on Applejack’s farm. So instead, she removed that stall of the shed, freeing up the space…
I understand she removed it by adding a wall between Twilight and the space that used to contain me. The space in which she let the Apple family build shelves, floors, and lofts for storage of farm products, equipment, and so on. I approve of the extra structural reinforcements Big Mac installed; he, being the only pony- aside from the Princesses- to know about our… transfiguration, had taken into consideration what might happen if a fifty-thousand-plus-ton machine panicked. All five of my friends could go on a rampage straight through the walls and ceiling, even all three at once if they wanted, and the storage shed he’s turned my stall into would stay standing… and even remain waterproof. It’s practically a separate building.
I watch through my sensor remotes- to my understanding, even Celestia doesn’t know I planted them- as their lights start flashing… and they start dropping off my senses. Just like they’re supposed to, they’re disconnecting from my control as they wake up. Twilight’s avatar was finished on schedule; my manufacturing systems are now working on an upgrade kit for my avatar, to upgrade it to the same standards as hers… Strike that, they’re already working on that. They sure know how to work so it’s more efficient- they’ve actually already built all the plumbing parts necessary for my upgrade kit- and those of everypony else that doesn’t have the latest model. Half the motors are done, and a pile of power cells tells the story of that part. They’re mostly just working on the skeletons for mine & Rainbow’s wings- and should have them both done long before the time comes to offer them their avatars, if my calming-time was anything to go by.
I step my avatar into place, and make it available for the upgrade. Three seconds later, manufacturing starts opening it up for the upgrade. I watch as, before any of my friends make a visible response, Manufacturing starts digging into the other avatars for their upgrades, as well- many of them are going very quickly. Rainbow’s will be last to finish; my own will be second-last.
I watch my friends wake up… Oh no, I will need to attend quickly… with my avatar. I ask Manufacturing to hurry mine along, if that’s okay with it… It is, apparently.
“Ow… Wha- huh? Where- Uhh…” Twilight begins, upon finally awakening.
Down in the corner, Celestia blinks, looking up. It’s almost a full minute after the lights started flashing- the signal Athena had indicated would immediately precede their awakening.
The next verbal response comes from Rainbow. “Ow… Huh? Wha- uhh…”
Then Pinkie. “Cupcakes! … Cup… cakes… PINEAPPLES!”
And Rarity. “Ow… Oh, Pinkie, dear, could you tell me- Oh my Celestia! What happened to my COAT!?”
Down in the corner, Princess Celestia winces visibly, quickly schooling her expression back to her official calm. Nopony notices.
Instead, Applejack finally puts in her two cents. “Ya know, Rarity, I’m a little more worried about how we’re going to eat. Anypony see a mouth on any of us?”
A few more words pass- and finally, somepony spots Celestia, waiting in the corner.
It’s Twilight- who had been mumbling something unintelligible to herself as she examined herself and her surroundings. She lets out a gasp so realistic Celestia has to wonder where her mouth is. “What-! Oh, sorry, Princess! I didn’t see you!”
“Princess?” Applejack asks immediately, down the line.
Celestia smiles calmly, starting her planned walk to the middle of the front of the room- where she can see all of the tanks. “Good morning,” she greets. “I trust you are well today?”
The answer is a chorus of “Uhh…” and “Not really…”.
Twilight adds to it, of course. “Do you know what… happened? Last I remember, Sunset’s Discord was making a transformation invocation on his- Oooh! That must be it! But then… Then how’d we get here? How long has it been?”
Celestia smiles. “We carried you back here while you were still… small. Three and a half weeks ago.”
“Whaaaat!?” Twilight asks. “Three and a half weeks? But- is Equestria okay? How many friendship problems have I missed? Is Spike doing- Aaah!”
The door bounces shut again, behind the buttery pegasus. “Yes, yes, zero, yes!” she almost screams. She then lowers her head closer to the floor, reducing to more of a mumble. “I checked.”
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asks. “How did you avoid the… thing?”
She shakes her head. “I didn’t. I… I don’t know why, but I woke up weeks ago. I… I built the me you see.” She looks back up. “Discord calls it an avatar.”
“Discord? Can he reverse it?”
She shakes her head. “He tried… It should wear off in about three months- but beware, the moment you accept the form, it’s permanent!” She lets out a sigh. “Or so he says.”
“Then… Can you show us how you built your avatar?”
She shakes her head. “I…” She turns away. “You won’t be able to. I’m… Different. I…” She takes a deep breath. “I made you one too,” she finally squeaks. “It’s imperfect.”
“You did? Awesome! Where… erm, how would I use it…?”
She looks up at Twilight’s stupendous bulk. “I… I can connect you to it, if… if you want.”
“Yes please! … erm… Though, do you happen to have any for, um…”
She nods. “I do.”
“Is she saying what I think she’s saying?” Applejack asks.
“Yepperoni!”
“If she can make me a pony again- even an earth pony- I’ll be happy,” Rarity states. A pronounced scowl enters her tone. “Though I really would prefer a unicorn…”
“Yes! If we’re becoming ponies again, sign me up! I wanna be the fastest pegasus in Equestria again, not… this.”
“Me too!” Pinkie pitches in. “I don’t think I can plan a party like this…”
Applejack distinctively nods. “Probably be helpful, why not? How strong are these avatars, anyways?”
Celestia simply stands in place, staring open-mouthed at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy gives a meek smile. “Uhh… they’re pretty strong, very heavy, and not very fast… Articulate wings, but can’t fly just yet… they have horns, but they can’t use them.”
“So, makes everypony effectively an earth pony?” Applejack asks.
“Yes.”
“Sure, why not? For… Hmm. They can be modified later, right?”
Smile. “Yes.”
She seems to nod. “Right then, when do we get started? If it’s been a month, Applebuck season is coming up soon and I’d rather not miss it.”
Fluttershy smiles. “Right then…”
I push the… thing… my design cores made into their minds. I tried connecting to them earlier, with my subspace relay; they accepted connection, but when I tried asking them questions, I got no response. When I asked Tactical why, it correlated their non-response with the reports from my sensor remotes… and decided that they must still be working with entirely pony minds, at normal pony speeds. Thus, they simply don’t have access to things like my subspace relay. Tactical also reached out to them through the relay- and got an answer back… but not from their minds, no- from their body, much like before. I… I still have complete, control access, if I connect for it… I specifically did not make that kind of connection.
When Twilight asked how she would use it, I asked Tactical for the answer. After hardly a moment of consideration, Tactical returned that I would have to operate a remote override to force the connection; she is incapable of forming it on her own. Additionally, Tactical noted, she’s also incapable of maintaining such a connection on her own, so I’d have to push over a ‘software package’ to handle that for her… and switch her sensory/motor inputs/outputs from her hull to her avatar.
When I asked it what that package would be, it referred me to my design cores… Which I reluctantly asked for the relevant package. They tackled the problem almost eagerly, and provided an answer… Three answers, to be specific- one for Twilight, one for Rainbow and Rarity, and one for Pinkie and Applejack… like the different models require different answers.
Tactical informed me this is the only way for them to control their avatars. My design cores informed me that, should they lose connection, the package will become inactive- and they will automatically revert to their hull. They even provided me with a specific disconnect code I can give them- one that, if they recite it twice in quick succession, will trigger the deactivation of my package, returning them to their hull.
And a different code, when such “disconnected”, to reconnect, and put themselves back through to their avatar. That only works because, when they “disconnect”, it doesn’t truly disconnect- just deactivates the control link and puts the connection on stand-by. Reactivating the link is easy- and as long as they don’t break their avatars, there shouldn’t be a problem…
Oh- and if ever their avatars lose power, they need only recharge- and recite the reconnect. It’ll automatically seek the matching receiver and form a missing connection, if it can.
So I push it into their minds. I feel it slot into place, and settle in. I shudder; what if I hurt them? Tactical estimates a flat zero percent chance this will hurt them. Apparently, the package is designed to remove itself should they establish the capability on their own.
I let out a sigh, reaching out with each of their subspace relays- feels strange- to connect them to the appropriate avatar. I then let those connections drop to standby, and make sure my package has locked onto them.
“Okay, I’m ready. Is everypony ready?”
A chorus of yeses returns.
She nods, then blinks, and looks at Celestia. “It’s done… They’re in my Bolo-body.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Nice… You okay for teleportation?”
She smiles. “If you can handle the mass. Even if I lose connection, I can reconnect.”
Two seconds later, they’re standing in front of the giant machine in the Everfree. Fluttershy kicks up a canter, running under it. “This way.”
Celestia follows. “How far?”
A door opens in the metal above them, reaching down to form a smooth ramp for them to climb. “Here,” she states, as she hits it and canters up.
Fifteen seconds later, they trot into the room where everypony else is- just in time for Twilight to get too close to the ongoing work on Rainbow’s outstretched left wing; Fluttershy’s Manufacturing section is installing the waterproof shell, skin, and false feathers.
One of the spiderlike machines working the assembly grabs Twilight by the outstretched hoof and flips her over Rainbow’s head to land on the floor, upside-down.
Rainbow watches her go. “Wow.” She looks forwards to where Fluttershy and Celestia are entering. “Hey, are we that strong?”
Fluttershy just shakes her head.
“Ahh,” Rainbow mutters, turning to watch the assembly of her wing. “This is… interesting.”
Pinkie watches from behind Rainbow, though without trying to get close and poke at it. “That’s… Wow.”
Applejack trots over to where Twilight fell, poking her in the chest. “You okay, Twi?”
Twilight blinks, yelps, and twists to turn herself right-side-up. “Yes, um, sorry… Those things are… Wow. How strong are we?”
Fluttershy sighs. “Very strong. And very heavy, and made of metal. Be very careful, it’s easy to accidentally hurt somepony.”
Rarity looks up at her. “What? You didn’t hurt somepony, did you?”