Did Luna survive? Was it even possible after what had happened at Canterlot?
Luna awakens in the aftermath of the great war in a robotic body that she is unfamiliar with. after being shown what has become of Equestria, She resolves to bring back order and save Equestria's people from themselves.
Sentinel L0-N4 exited it's charging pod and whirred to life before taking off down the royal halls at high speed. Sentinels L0-N1 Through L0-N3 had failed to start up due to a corrosive magical substance in the air. L0-N4 was still functioning because it had been performing a maintenance test on it's shield matrix just before the danger was registered in the RobronCo security system. Princess Celestia, L0-N4's designated charge, was missing from the premises and thus routed to it's next highest priority, Princess Luna.
Passing by the other Sentinel charging bay, L0-N4 noticed that the all 4 of the C3-L(-) sentinels designed to protect Priness Luna had also failed due to the corrosive substance. L0-N4 broadcasted a request for service memory from any active sentinels that couldn't move in order to better serve the remaining royal. It took an agonizing 4.23 seconds but the request was answered with a uplink and download of the past 10 years of recordings for Princess Luna, including speech patterns and recognized behaviors. This information would prove valuable for L0-N4 so that it could anticipate the Princess's commands and fully understand her requests.
Though sub-optimal, L0-N4 would slowly become more and more useful as it decimated the data file retrieved from the C3-L(-) sentinels. With this slowly increasing efficiency at L0-N4's, the midnight blue sentinel raced into the royal chambers where a struggling Princess Luna was maintaining a shield spell all by herself. The sound of explosive impacts could be heard far in the sky above. "Princess Luna, this unit has arrived to assist." L0-N4 Rolled to a stop, the purple light from it's optic blanketing the princess.
Princess Luna grunted, nodding in recognition of the sentinels monotoned announcement. He whole body shuttered as her horn sparked violently. The princess was nearly out of magical energy and her body was already ravaged by the corrosive substance in the air. "We Thank you, Sir Robot. Though, we fear that you have come too late." Her voice was course, signs of internal damage. There were no enemies present on the grounds and her entire focus was on the explosive barrage outside.
"You are suffering internal damage. No hostiles detected. Routing to nearest registered medical personnel." L0-N4 was not about to waste time and quickly turned to the nearest Pip-Buck tag for a doctor. In this scenario the weapons the sentinel carried would be ineffective at protecting it's charge.
The princess stopped L0-N4 before it could leave with a weakly raised hoof. "Wait, Sir Robot. We will not survive long enough. We have a more important command. Head into the City, evacuate our subjects. Save as much of equestria as you can! Those ponies come before us. As long as they survive so does Equestria."
L0-N4 had to take a moment to process the detailed command. The data it had received had already done quite a bit to help in understanding the commands, but the use of the words us and we were confusing. L0-N4 took the command at face value and altered it's priority settings. "Command recognized. Rerouting. Initiating evacuation protocol. For Equestria." L0-N4 plotted a parade route through the city. Standard evacuation protocol would have the sentinel roll through the city, making itself as visible as possible, and announce for all able bodied citizens to follow in a calm orderly fashion to the nearest city exit. The sentinel would eliminate any hostiles along the path that may harm the escorted ponies.
>[Core(8)] : Luna.Status(saving...10%)
The air outside of the palace was far more polluted with the strange corrosive material and gave the whole city a light pink hue. The material was spewing out of sewer grates and pony-hole covers in great geysers. There was no time to waste. L0-N4 pushed on into the clouds of pink mist, the material stressing the integrity of it's shielding matrix. "Attention, Citizens of Equestria!" The sentinel began, raising the volume on it's vocoder to be heard over the blaring sirens. "Please follow me to the nearest exit in a calm orderly fashion. You will be safe outside of city bounds."
Rolling down the main street, L0-N4 began to pick up a few stragglers. They were mostly unicorns that knew minor shield spells and their companions. Their shields were flickering, the effort of fighting off the corrosive pink mist becoming a great toll them. They were all coughing harshly, limping along after the symbol of Equestrian might that had called out to them. L0-N4 was their only hope of survival, the sentinel did not intend to fail. Recalling the difference in mist density from outside to inside, L0-N4 altered the parade route to take the group through the inside of as many structures as possible.
>[Core(8)] : Luna.Status(saving...40%)
Even with the effort to preserve the ponies following it, the sentinel began to notice a slight decline in survivors. At this point the bombardment had stopped but the shield remained. L0-N4 updated it's priority list to protect Luna once again after it's command had been lifted. If the shield was still standing the princess might still be alive. The sentinel had to hurry and finished escorting the survivors to safety.
There was an emergency tunnel located nearby, normally used to transport guards and munitions in and out of the city's defenses, according to L0-N4's mapping data. The extended parade route was immediately canceled and a new route was plotted through the emergency tunnel.
L0-N4 noted that it's personal shield was failing rapidly under the pink mist's onslaught. Lucky it suffered only minor damage to it's armor. The night-blue sentinel lead the survivors down and through two heavy metal doors, there were still soldiers here bravely manning their posts. The two heavy metal doors swung shut with a loud bang, sealing off the tunnel from the city and the pink mist. "Survivors, this way!" Shouted one of the soldiers, his voice just as course as the princess's had been. "Sentinel, we'll need your help to open up the exit. The external power lines were damaged in the bombardment."
"Affirmative." L0-N4 rolled ahead down the wide tunnel, leaving the survivors in the care of Equestria's Finest. The soldier had been correct, the door was unpowered and would remain shut unless an energy source was attached. L0-N4 had recently been charged and still maintained a 99% charge in its Magical Energy Cores. Maintaining the door would be little issue.
>[Core(8)] : Luna.Status(saving...87%)
L0-N4 rolled up to the electronic switch that controlled the door and opened it's access patch for one of the nearby soldiers. It began issuing step by step instructions for the soldier to follow to hook the sentinel to the door. Soon L0-N4 was watching the survivors, most of whom had severe acid burns and skin grafted to clothing, walk slowly but surely outside and to the possibility of safety. Almost every one of them stopped briefly to thank the sentinel for its service. L0-N4 decided to save pictures of each pony's face to record who it had saved for record keeping purposes. "By the Princesses orders, survive and Equestria will survive through you." This seemed to inspire the ponies and they began to stand tall, even through the pain they must have been in.
"The mist is coming through! Everypony hurry!" A soldier shouted down the tunnel, urging ponies towards safety. The strange pink mist began bellowing from ventilation in the ceiling, What few ponies remaining in the tunnels broke into a gallop, trying their best to escape the burning substance.
L0-N4 watch the tail of the very last pony leaving the tunnel and began rolling backwards to forcibly disconnect from the door controls. The ponies and the soldiers began shouting for the sentinel to come with them. "Negative. Citizens secured, Equestria has been saved. New Priority target, save Princess Luna." Wires began to snap as L0-N4 began the process of updating its priority. The Sentinel could hear the ponies on the other side of the wall shouting their objections, as the door slid shut. They had become attached, a common psychological effect when being saved. They would be able to survive with just the soldiers to escort them. The last wire snapped and the sentinel began rolling through the pink mist towards the city side of the tunnel.
The Sentinel's shields failed, having to contend with the corrosive pink substance once again. L0-N4 began noting system after system shutting down as it power towards the wide gates, its objective to save the princess being far above its own preservation. First to go was it's targeting hud, the delicate circuitry fusing together in a searing mess. Next was the weapons system, the smaller components rapidly rusting into non-functionality. About half way through the tunnel the nevigation system simply turned off, causing the sentinel to careen off to the side and crash into the wall. It had reached non-functionality. The energy distribution matrix suddenly crackled with energy igniting a small explosion which blew out its power source. L0-N4 began rapidly losing power in its systems.
L0-N4 registered Luna under the status saved, completing its final objective. It began to shut itself down, preserving as much of its data as possible.
"Good morning sleepy head!" It was a course haggard voice, but definitely female. "You've been offline for a long time. Can you see me?" The sentinel cast its gaze down to see the mare in mechanic gear standing quite proudly in the dim light of an unfamiliar room. Re fur coat was ragged and some of her skin had flaked off to reveal an incredible amount of radiation scarring. "Okay cool. My name is Toggle Switch, one of the ponies you saved. What's your designation?"
The sentinel looked around the room, noting that it was a seemingly ancient mechanic's shop with terribly rusted electric equipment. It had been dragged here by the looks of the scratch marks in the concrete and the hook attached to its back. It looked back to the rotting mechanic to provide an answer, for once in its entire existence it didn't speak in monotone as it had originally been programed. "Our name? We are your Princess, Princess Luna. Please explain honorable mechanic. What has happened to us?"
Toggle looked up to 'Luna' and sat back on her haunches in mild exasperation. "Oh jeeze... "
Luna took some time to look over her new body. It was one of the sentinels assigned to protect her sister Celestia. The midnight blue paint was faded but she could still make out a portion of the robot model; L0-N. The sentinels were supposed to have been a joke, she remembered laughing with her when they were revealed. Brilliant white and yellow to protect Princess Luna and Midnight blue and black to protect Princess Celestia. The idea was that they would always be there for eachother. She felt herself trying to smile in a body that had no lips.
The mechanic mare, Toggle, had made some major changes to the sentinel frame Luna now inhabited, including rusted metal patches and a large makeshift energy pack that replaced the Magical Energy Cores sentinel robots usually sported. The energy pack looked like a series of chopped up rifles that Applejack and Twilight had been working on, Magic Condensation Rifles. The idea was to absorb ambient magic as an energy source for weaponry. It seemed this Toggle had perfected the invention.
"So Princess... er, Your Highness? How did you end up inside this sentinel?" Began the ghoulish mare after several minutes of silence. Toggle didn't seem like the conversational type and the frequent pauses in her speaking really showed it. She made a few grunts while waiting for a response, trying to manually push a wrench so that it would tighten a bolt on Luna's chassis.
Luna was shocked to see these lines of code appear in her vision. She hadn't learned how Applejack coded these things so she had to make her best guess. "We are not sure, It seems the sentinel that I now inhabit had something to do with it, but I can't seem to get at that memory. It only recorded the fact that it saved us, not how." The end of Luna's sentence was punctuated by the screeching of rusted metal scraping against rusted metal and then a loud clattering of parts. Toggle began swearing up a storm. "We don't understand, why don't you use your magic to turn the wrench?" Luna's red spotlight was cast over the mechanic, watching her nurse a hoof that had been hurt when her wrench flew free.
Toggle licked her hoof and started to shake it about to abate the pain. "Oh that? Sorry your highness, my magic isn't all that strong. It's great for delicate work, not tough work." She levitated the wrench up in a gentle orange glow and pocketed it into her tool belt. "I'm strong enough to handle the rest on my own though. Father was an Earth Pony afterall." She stepped out in front of Luna, contemplating the state of her princess. "Well, however this happened I guess you're still Princess Luna right? Um, is there anything I can do to make your uh... body more comfortable?" Toggle tried her best to give an honest smile but seemed to still not quite believe what was going on.
Luna looked about, not sure exactly what comfortable was in the body of a sentinel, trying to find an answer for her. After looking about, seeing everything in the red light cast by the sentinel light, it dawned on her. "We would be happy if you could change the color of our light? We like the color blue." Toggle smiled, seemingly more at easy at having been able to help.
Soon enough Toggle was releasing the Princess from the machine being used to make repairs and adjustments, Luna watched with her new blue lense. Toggle kicked a rusted lever, releasing mechanical clamps that had been holding the chassis to the large robot workbench. Next was a cable hooked up to a mini-terminal where a pony could adjust user settings and perform diagnostics.
A wall of Applejack's robot code streamed in front of Luna's vision like lightning and she was suddenly able to move her new limbs. Though vastly different from her hooves, neck, and tail, she didn't seem to have much difficulty getting a sense of how to move them to complete tasks.
"I have to hand it to you, your highness. You're handling all of this very well." Toggle stated, sounding less impressed than her words would have let on. She walked over to the garage door that sealed the old workshop off from the rest of the world.
The Princess tried her best to nod as she moved forward, trying her best to roll on her wheels instead of walk. She ended up half walking half rolling, wheels were hard. "We must maintain composure for the citizens of Equestria. They look to us for strength. With the war escalating we are unable to afford the luxury of freaking out over a change in body. What the zebras did to canterlot was the last straw. We must hurry and find Ministry Mare Twilight. She was working on a project that could very well end this. Alternatively, we could try the O.I.A. However, in recent days we hesitate to trust them. Come Honorable Mechanic Toggle Switch, you are here-by granted the rank of royal advisor to Princess Luna until such time as your services are no longer required or a qualified replacement can be found."
Suddenly an image of Toggle, as well as some statistics, appeared in her vision. Toggle Switch, Sex: Female, Race: Unicorn, Eye color: Orange, Mane/tail color: yellow, Coat color: Navy Blue, Age: 28, Cutiemark description: "Metal Electical switch w/ red handle". The picture looked like it was taken at an Equestrian military base and showed a much nicer complexion than what she had not. Her coat was fully intact, along with her mane, and she was smiling like a filly at her cutecinera. A second photo was displayed afterwards, this one looking like it was take from a security camera or possibly a robot. In this picture toggle was huddled up with a bunch of other ponies trying to escape some sort of tunnel. She was smiling in this one too, but it spoke more of a desperate thanks than any actual joy.
Toggle pressed a button on the wall with her hoof, seeming to prefer physical contact to using her magic. "Why thank you very much for the promotion your highness." The Garage door gave a squeal and began to slowly trundle open, rolling up to the ceiling. "I'm sorry to say, but you have been out of commission for a lot longer than you think Princess Luna." The door gave way to a truly bleak sight, one that would cause Luna's mechanical heart to sink far more than she thought possible. From the side of the road that wound up the mountain Canterlot rested on she could see the blasted lands that were once called equestria and a sky that was nothing but cloud cover. "The War is over..." Luna rolled outside as she listened, speechless as she took in the devastation. "We lost."
The pain of seeing Equestria in such a state was too much to bare. Luna just wanted to curl up and cry, oh how she wanted to cry, but the restrictions of her new body wouldn't let her. She chose to simply sit silently, morning in her uncrying body as best she could. She was accompanied by the mechanic , now royal advisor, that had brought her into this world. "You know, its alright though." She said, surprising Luna with how upbeat she sounded. "A wise old hero told me something important once. As long as we survive, Equestria will survive through us." Toggle put a hoof on one of the roller legs and looked up to Luna. "We may have lost, but we survived. It might be hurt, but Equestria is still alive."
It was a lot to take in and a lot more to try and understand it. "How long?" Luna asked, casting her blue light down to Toggle. "How long has it been?" She spoke with a great deal of concern in her voice, having been away from Equestria meant she had failed everypony. She knew she had failed them a great deal but exactly how much was a burning question in her heart.
Toggle sat down, gazing off to the side where Canterlot loomed not too far away, now ruins by anypony's standards. It was clear that the city held a great deal of her emotions inside, slowly being eroded away by the Pink mist that still swirled about within its walls. "Since The War ended? Probably about a hundred years? Since Canterlot was destroyed, 114 years 5 months 22 days." Toggle looked back to the sentinel princess, a life time of hardship and pain replaying in her eyes. "I count every day. I need to."
114 years was a long time for a normal pony, a blink of the eye for Luna. How had this unicorn lived for so long, especially with whatever disease she must have that was causing her skin to rot and scar over. Thinking about it, her condition reminded Luna of a certain golden pony she once knew. "114 years? But how?" Luna asked.
"Well..." Toggle began. "Like most of the survivors from Canterlot, I'm a ghoul. At least that's what the stable dwellers called us." The rotting mare stood up and began making her way back to the garage, which luna noted was actually a reclaimed maintenance entrance for the train tunnel that bored through the mountain. "Lucky for us. Being ghouls allowed us to survive the long winter, 20 years of radioactive snow and ice from the fallout of the bombs. The radiation heals us but it has its downsides as well." Toggle Motioned for Luna to follow her into the train tunnel itself which had a large gate in front of it now comprised of scrap wood and steel.
Luna was lead into the mountainside where it appeared as though a large group of ponies had at one point made their home. A makeshift sign hung from the ceiling that read 'New Canterlot'. The only thing resembling homes were box cars that had been left cut into and strung with Hearth's Warming lights. Toggle pointed over to another ghoul pony who was meandering the tunnel with no real sense of urgency. "That's my best friend. His name is Brass Casing. We're the only two ponies left in New Canterlot." She called out to her friend, who looked over to her with blind eyes. He began a slow shuffling trot towards Toggle and Luna.
An ID and two pictures flashed in front of Luna's vision as the sentinel information identified the individual. Brass Casing, Sex: Male, Race: Earth, Eye color: Blue, Mane/tail color: Ash gray, Coat color: Mahogany, Age: 30, Cutiemark description: "5mm ammunition container with bullet belt spilling out", Rank: Lance Corporal. The first picture was a military graduation picture complete with equestrian flag in the back, he looked rather handsome. The second picture had the soldier in full body armor shouting for a crowd of ponies in a tunnel to follow. Luna recognized it as the same tunnel in the picture of Toggle huddled alongside other ponies. These must have been the other survivors all escaping from a tunnel somewhere in the city.
"Togggsss." Droned Brass Casing as he approached. Though he was clearly blind, he seemed to be able to navigate the area from memory alone. "Toggss." He said again with the same tone and inflection as before. When he climbed onto the walkway above the tracks and approached Luna and Toggle he gently butted his head into Toggle's side and rolled it from side to side. It was very strange behavior, especially for a soldier of equestria. "Togs." He said one last time, sounding rather content this time.
Toggle smiled like a mother caring for a foal and gently patted him on the head. "He's going... But most of him is still here. How are you doing Brass? I brought a new friend. Remember that sentinel that helped us out? I finally fixed it! Turns out the princess is in there, neat huh?" She smiled and waited for a response from her friend, only to get the half spoken version of her name again before Brass plopped his chin over her back and started staring blankly at Luna. "That's right. With her help we can save you." Brass Casing began to drool.
Luna Looked over to her new Royal Advisor. "Save him? Maybe if we had our magic we could do something. But." Luna lifted up her arms to remind Toggle of the state she was in. As it stood she couldn't even levitate objects. The Sentinel body was completely without magical capability.
There was a short laugh from the mechanic pony before she started to lead Brass through another maintenance door a little further down the tunnel, Luna following. "I'm very sorry to say, Your Highness, but I had no idea you were in that body. What I needed was the sentinel." Toggle placed Brass in front of a weapons workbench that had a stack of broken weapons next to it. Against the wall was a crate that had perfectly cleaned and repaired guns of various sizes placed gently inside. "Here Brass, Why do you play with your guns and I'll go talk to our new robot friend okay?"
Almost as though he found new life, Brass Casing stopped drooling and picked up weapon parts from the pile. He began cleaning and repairing them diligently. Once the gun parts were back to military standard he would assemble the gun, check each mechanism and place it gently into the crate against the wall. He seemed quite content doing just this for the time being.
With only a moment's hesitation to admire her friend's work, Toggle picked up a crate, similar to the one Brass was filling, and hefted it onto her back to carry. "C'mon Princess. I'm gonna take you into town, make some caps, and see about outfitting you with some guns. The ones you have just won't cut it in their condition."
"We don't understand, you intend for us to act as a soldier?" Luna followed behind Toggle after exiting the maintenance room.
Heading towards that far end of the tunnel, leading down the mountain, Toggle flicke dan ear back to listen to the princess. "I know it's a strange thing to ask of royalty but I've been working day in and day out so that I could save Brass. Can I ask this favor of my Princess? You always said you cared about our soldiers, right?" The ghoulish mare looked back to give Luna a wide grin.
It was true, Luna did care about her soldiers. She recalled speaking at Big Mac's Funeral, as a Spritebot hovered about, capturing the scene for the whole of equestria to mourn the hero that had saved Princess Celestia. She had cried more that day than she had during the entire war. If she could save one of Equestria's finest, she would. "Very well Honorable Royal Advisor Toggle Switch. We hereby swear that we will do everything within our power to assist."
Toggle didn't show it in her face, but he whole body visibly relaxed. "Good, I'm glad to hear that our princess is still fighting for Equestria." She opened up the gates at the other end of the tunnel and stepped out, into the wasteland. "Cause I'll be damned if it doesn't need somepony to fight for it."
The walk down the train tracks, or roll in Luna's case, was filled with a nervous quiet. The whole way down, Luna couldn't keep herself from looking at the devastated land around her. She could see some area where the hardiest trees were still dying off from radiation poisoning. Miraculously, the Everfree Forest still seemed to be thriving, at least from this distance.
Toggle kept looking back at Luna, she seemed nervous. The hesitation she felt was easy to understand, she had awakened a sentinel in the hopes of getting a bodyguard or something similar and had gotten the princess of equestria instead. Surely she should have been happy, even rejoicing, in that revelation but the world she was living in must complicate things a great deal.
"Honorable Mechanic-" Luna decided to break the silence, hoping to ease the mind of her savior.
Before Luna could continue, Toggle interrupted. "Please, just call me Toggle. The royal speak is kind of weird to hear after so long." She didn't look back at all, instead choosing to keep her eyes trained on the road.
Amid the awkward silence that followed, Luna decided it was safe to continue. "Ah yes, we do apologize Toggle. We are so used to using the royal 'we' and addressing those of honor with the respect they are due that we did not take into consideration that it must be strange after so long. Ministry Mare Twilight once taught us the meaning of kinship, we spoke of it frequently. Perhaps... 'I' and 'me' would also serve to ease your mind?"
This time Toggle actually looked back to the sentinel princess with a smile. "Yeah, that feels a ton better." Once again, the mechanic mare seemed to visibly relax. It seemed the less formal the princess was the better Toggle would feel.
"Very well, I will speak in common terms... err, I will speak normally." Luna stated, still speaking in a royal tone, but keeping her language in the correct mindset. "I had a question about your friend. When you mentioned that he was 'going' what did you mean by that exactly? I did notice he was not acting in a manner befitting a soldier." She tried her best to keep a sympathetic tone but wasn't quite able to shake her royal roots just yet.
There was a sharp breath in before Toggle answered. "I suppose I should explain it at least." She began, letting out a short sigh. "It's part of being a ghoul. One of the doctors figured it out before she went also. We call it going Feral. After so long, the radiation eats at your brain and reduces you to basic instincts. Brass... Well he's getting there. He's at the stage we call going simple. It's the last stage until-" Toggle took a moment to compose herself, not being able to look at Luna. "-until he's gone. He can still do the things he did habitually or practiced a lot, but he can't take care of himself for long."
Luna felt a tugging on her mechanical heart. "Oh we- I see. I am so sorry Toggle. This isn't what was supposed to happen." She motioned to the world around them, before continuing. "None of this was supposed to happen."
The tension coming from Toggle worsened again. Her reply was sharp and toneless. "Don't worry about it." She returned to watching the train tracks they had been following and didn't say another word.
Perhaps it was best for Luna to be quiet until she understood the whole situation. For now, it seemed as though she was only making things worse by talking. Instead, she turned to observe the land that was creeping ever close to them as they wound down the mountain side. Soon they would be crossing the long bridge that spanned the valley and connected Canterlot to the rest of Equestria. While Luna rarely used the train, she had flown over it many times and was familiar with the layout. If they continued to follow the tracks they would head into Junction R-7 which then took the train either north or towards Ponyville where Twilight and her friends used to live. Luna wondered if they had survived the end of the world in a similar fashion to Toggle Switch. She prayed that they were happy if so and that they died happy if not.
The two travelers approached the tunnel that would lead them to the train bridge. The tunnel was sealed up similar to the way New Canterlot had it's tunnel sealed, scraps of sheet metal and wood with a garage door placed to keep the elements out. The words 'Now leaving New Canterlot' were painted above the garage door. The door itself had 'Ghoul Station' spray painted on in classic military font.
Toggle walked up to the garage door and began fiddling with a padlock that kept the garage door shut. "Hold on a second, okay princess?" She didn't wait for an answer, setting down the crate of weapons and sliding under the barely opened garage door. She left the door opened slightly but only just enough for an unarmored pony to slip through.
Luna rolled a little closer, wondering why she had to wait. This was the only exit she was aware of, surely she wasn't just making a quick stop. The sound of moaning could be heard from inside, along with the faint sound of a mare's voice, likely Toggle's. Luna leaned the robot chassis forward so that the audio receptors could pick up more of the sounds. Sadly it all seemed like more of the same. Sentinels were built for extended combat, not surveillance like Pinkie's sprite bots.
A few minutes later the moaning died down and Luna could hear some hoofsteps coming her way. "Just a second!" Toggle shouted from inside. The sound of heavy metal locks sliding out of place could be heard just before the garage door slid open to reveal a train tunnel much like the one at the top of the mountain. "Sorry, I had to put the family away." She motioned towards the maintenance door which had a few ghoulish ponies pressing their faces to the window on the door before picking up the crate of guns. "They can be rowdy. Not everypony in here is like that though. Let me introduce you to the Herders." She said, the awkwardness of earlier seemingly forgotten. Luna was lead over towards the train cars that had been transformed into homes in this tunnel. It looked as though it could comfortably house 6 or 7 ponies.
Sitting around a small fire a group of four ghouls ate from cans of food and watched the approaching duo. The fire had been set up on the platform overlooking the train tracks and seemed to be a common living space for these ponies. "Howdy 'princess'" announced the nearest of the four, tilting her cowpony hat. Toggle must have told them about her situation. "Name's Apple Turnover. Ah'm head of this here sect of The Herders. You've already met our mechanic; " Apple Turnover nodded to Toggle and then began pointing out the other ghoul ponies. "This here's Silver Beat, don't mind his stubby wings he can still fly faster 'an you can run, good with music too. Stripe's name is Viribas. Resident cook, tough as nails. The filly there is awful good with talk'n and fixin up clothes." Before she could say anything else about the 'Herders' the unicorn filly shot up right and fixed Apple Turnover with evil eyes.
"I told you I'm not a filly! I'm over a hundred years old!" The 'not' filly turned to the robot princess and made a short bow. "My name is Hope Thread. Are you really a princess in there? I mean I've heard stories but none of them had robot princesses in it."
Luna was going to answer but ID displays began to show for each of the ponies in her vision, for all except Hope. Apple Turnover was a relative of Applejack, she was an engineer who designed ammunition. Silver Beat was a civilian, music talent on the rise. He had been trying to rival DJ Pon-3 with little success. The Zebra, Viribas, was a Proditor and had lived in Zebra Town with her family. Viribas's red colored stripes were a sign of her allegiance with Equestria and the honor she deserved. Of the three with IDs only Apple Turnover and Silver Beat had additional images from the tunnel. The other two ponies must have survived by some other means.
Toggle chimed in while Luna was processing the new data. "Princess Luna here isn't sure how she got into the sentinel's body. Especially since I found her so far away from the castle." The response seemed rushed, and carried an air that told the others not to press the issue. "We're going to be heading into town to sell these guns off and find some more components to finish repairing her. You guys need anything while I'm out?" She sat down the crate and went over to a wall that seemed to house a large number of Equestrian combat harnesses. Luna wondered if she was expecting a fight.
Apple Turnover tossed out a small satchel of bits, landing it near to where Toggle was placing armor over her mechanic jumpsuit. "Mama needs a new pack of smokes and some more canned food. Tell them Rangers we need another Matrix for the waste processor they gave us. The last one just went. Apparently the cracks in it 'were' significant enough to short circuit."
There was a moment of silence as Toggle picked up the satchel of bits. She took time to consider the request, looking intently at Luna. "Actually, I don't think it's too wise to speak with the rangers. They would be pretty avid about taking 'Our Princess' here apart. Plus they haven't been very nice since Sunshine took a bite out of one of em."
"That's true, Sunshine has been rowdy lately. Thinking she's bout to go all the way soon." Apple nodded sagely, looking over to the door window where more ghouls pressed their faces up against it. "I hate to see her go." She turned to look at Luna, a slight spark of hope in her eyes. "So do you think it'll work? Getting into Fort Mac I mean?" Everypony's attention turned back to Toggle as she clicked the last buckle on her combat armor.
It was like the whole room took a sobering breath when toggle spoke up. "It has to." With that there wasn't much else to say and Luna saw the life drain out of Toggle again as her mind began to dwell on what would happen if she failed.
>[Core(8)] : dataPreservationBox.Access >[Access.Core(8)] : File.fortMacintosh >[File.fortMacintosh] : Status(corrupted) >[Display.File(fortMacintosh] : "Fort Macintosh, memorial military town builtv344 @!#$ GFff h@#nor of Big Macintosh of the Apple family. Founded by fl!#$ FEw@#$ to assist in the recovery process for #$#@^@%GEFGGGGGG33 and radiation$##$#$$$$$%1e4 .r 34f][34f33415235@#$%{@}%3by6the8OIAt4%2[45]gvgggg#%g,ed]pv,dooos. access 5543.rpu."
The corrupted data burned like a loud static in Luna's mind. It took her a moment to gather herself, following toggle out of Ghoul Station and back onto the train tracks. "Fort Macintosh? You think there is something there that can help your friends?" Luna recalled having been there shortly after the fort town was constructed. It was one of the very first bases on equestrian soil to receive a fully automated defense system, sponsored by Robronco. She had been visiting alongside Fluttershy to show support to the soldiers who had been moved there for long-term recovery. The entire event was covered by a news team and some of Rarity's 'special reporters'.
The train tracks that spanned the gap were remarkably intact, though it appeared to have been repaired in many places to make the trip safe. Additional wooden panels had been laid around the rails to allow for tracks and carts to be pulled along. There was a distinct lack of railings that made the makeshift bridge seem hazardous to cross. While taking her first nonchalant steps onto the bridge Toggle looked back to answer. "Yeah, I'm sure there is. It's been a hundred years but I recall there being something there to treat bio-degeneration cause by exposure to magical radiation. Some kind of advanced treatment. I need you to get us in there because there is a ton of robo-ponies guarding the damn place." She turned back to the road, clearly not wanting to speak at the moment.
Not wanting to upset this very moody mare, Luna rolled forward silently. Out of boredom, She looked out to view Equestria from this new point of view. From here she could see Canterlot, a castle city of pink mist and acidic water. Below was the remains of Zebra Town, a place that was supposed to be a safe haven for allied zebras. From here it was obvious that neither place was safe to occupy. In the opposite direction was the ruins of Ponyville, which appeared to have been razed to the ground. The buildings that she could make out from this distance looked half blown up and half burned down. She hoped that one day it could all be repaired.
It was all so much to take in. She wasn't sure she could handle it.
Luna's heart sank as she peered out amongst the ruin of her home. Equestria may have been saved through it's people, but it would be scarred forever. She vowed to never let this kind of atrocity happen again. No matter what it took, she would never let war break Equestria again.
"Toggle. We- I was wondering. What exactly are 'The Herders'? And where are we going?" The duo had been traveling down the mountains along the railroad for almost a whole day and there was no sign of any other life in the area, aside from the occasional over-sized roach. Almost the whole trip had been spent in silence. Luna had started entertaining herself by counting the wooden boards under the tracks, which was starting to get boring now that she realized she had a calculator programmed into her new body that flawlessly recorded every board they passed by. Needless to say the game had become nothing more but watching the number go up.
The ghoul mare taking the lead leaped about a foot in the air when Luna spoke up. She must have forgotten there was somepony behind her. "Oh shit! Sorry Luna. The Herders? They're what's left of the ponies that the sentinel you're riding in saved. The stable ponies like hiring us to move wondering groups of feral-ghouls out of their trading paths."
Luna perked up a bit, becoming somewhat excited. "The Stables? Stable-Tech succeeded!? Ponies made it to the shelters in time!?" Stable tech was owned and founded by Apple Bloom, Applejack's sister. Together with her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell they created a series of vaults across Equestria to save the citizens and preserve the culture of Equestria in the event of catastrophic balefire annihilation. When Apple Bloom approached her with the idea near the beginning of the war she was furious with the lack of faith that Equestria would be victorious. In hindsight, that lack of faith had been well founded.
Toggle nodded. "Well sure, lots of ponies made it to the stables. For the most part though, it was a death sentence all of its own. There's a stable town out there called New Appeloosa. Their stable, Stable 24, opened up just a couple years ago and it spawned a load of mutated demon lizards. The damn things killed most of the residence before they evacuated. The survivors settled down in an old cargo yard not to far from there."
News of the stables turning deadly was alarming to say the least. "Oh I see... But some of them still survived right? What if-" Luna was cut off before she could finish the question.
"Trust me, princess. You don't wanna go exploring stables. They're generally empty because everypony inside is already dead." Toggle stated, as a matter of fact.
The idea of walking, or rolling, into a stable that had more or less become nothing more than a large metal crypt was unsettling. Those stables were designed to open up once it was safe right? Perhaps it would be best just to let those that were safe come out when they were ready. It seemed pointless to try and rescue them if the only ones that were alive were the ones that would be perfectly safe. "I understand. So The Herders, you are trying to rescue more ghouls than just your family aren't you?" Luna asked, trying to steer the conversation back to her original question.
Toggle nodded, taking on a business tone as she spoke again. "The Herders represent the hope that Equestria and her peoples will revive and as such we take on the responsibility of caring for and controlling the ghouls that populate the wasteland." She smiled back at Luna, dropping into a more casual tone. "It's what we tell ponies who ask about us. Simply put, yeah. Those ponies are still in there somewhere and we want as many of them to survive as possible so that we can bring them back. Equestria can never die as long as we survive, you know?" Toggle turned the side of the last mountain and began the final descent into the wasteland its self. "Anyway, to answer your other question, we're heading to New Appeloosa. We keep steady work keeping the ghouls off the train tracks from there to Old Appeloosa. Normally we would be heading to Ponyville, but I would like to avoid talking to the rangers about... well, you."
"That is a question I had been thinking about. Who are the Rangers and why wouldn't they like me?" Ponies wanting to disassemble a sentinel, a guardian of Equestria, had been a difficult concept to grasp, especially since she was their Princess.
Luna's question actually prompted a short laugh out of the moody mechanic. "Sorry, I may have mislead you on that. They would 'love' you. But not in a good way. They would love to have a new sentinel, not a Princess. They would take you apart and put you back together as an empty robot and a set you up guarding some rundown fort or something. The rangers are obsessed with hoarding technology. Especially any technology that can be used as a weapon. Admittedly, they are good for repaired house appliances and batteries if you can get them to talk to you."
"I see, much like the waste processor that Apple Turnover mentioned." Luna added in, showing that she was paying attention.
Nodding, Toggle continued. "They've always been hesitant around us but ever since Sunshine started to get bitey they have been keeping their weapons ready around us. I don't know how much longer they will-" Toggle was cut off as a nearby rock exploded into a shower of stone chips and dust, the bark of a high caliber rifle echoing off the mountain walls. Luna's EFS identified the rifle as a Windrider .308 hoof-loaded rifle, one of the first rifles mass produced by Applejack early in the war. The rifle was powerful but slow. "What the hell!?"
Shouting could be heard from only a few yards away. "Kill the zombie and get the guns!" Before anythign more could be said, a group of ponies in armor made from battle field scraps and kitchen appliances started charging into view from behind a pile of rubble that had once been beautiful statues, welcoming visitors to Canterlot. They were all wielding blunt instruments or makeshift blades, one was simply swinging around a golf-club wildly.
As Luna began to assess the situation, text began flooding her vision again, along with flashing red lights.
Power began to shift through Luna's body and focus in her arms. With the guns non-functional, she could feel that she would be exceptionally strong if she tried to hit somepony with them. "Why are they attacking us! What is going on?!"
Toggle just barely dodged another bullet as she jumped behind Luna's protective armor. "I have no idea, this has never happened before! I've never had to fight ponies before, only mutated creatures! Just knock them out or something!"
There wasn't much time to react, the raiding ponies were already too close for comfort. Without thinking about it to heavily, Luna struck out at the one swinging his golf club about. Mid swing, she bellowed out a battle cry in a deep robotic, definitely stallion, voice. "Surrender and die Zebra sympathizers!" There was a hiss of steam as the pistons in her arm spun into action and rocketed her broken gun arm into the side of the would-be attacker's skull. There was a gut dropping crack as the attacker's head was ripped straight from it's body and showered bloody bits onto the mountainside wall and half of the attackers.
In a moment of shocked silence, the attacking ponies came to a halt and watched with unrestrained fear as the now headless body of their golf-loving friend slowly tilted and fell to one side. The makeshift weapons dropped from their mouths all at once and they began to turn tail. Luna wanted to stop, but something had clicked on and would not click off. The raiding ponies tried their best to run, all the while shouting for every pony to escape. The tires under her legs kicked at the dirt, steam gushing from her back, as she rocketed towards another of the attacking traitors. "Better wiped than striped!" She shouted, once again in the voice of an actual sentinel.
She caught up to the next pony before the mare could even finish turning around, bringing the rocket launcher arm down of her spine. She snapped in half like a twig under one's hoof, screaming as she stopped being able to move her rear legs. Another went down as Luna's machine-gun arm came up to crush a stallion's rib-cage. The fourth was smashed under the weight of both arms swinging in unison. She was going to continue on to the fifth when a warning flashed across her screen.
Her whole body stopped moving, slouching over as she felt a mechanism attempt to open up where her energy core should be. With the modifications that were made to her, the mechanism did not open. Instead she heard the continuous beeping of overcharged recharger-rifles automatically cooling their breeder cells. Luna was relieved as she watched the remaining two ponies run off to meet up with whomever had been shooting the rifle. Looking back, she was appalled by the damage she had caused, having only meant to knock them out. It was as though each attack had been pushed to full force regardless of her wish to use restraint. She had never killed another pony before and was unsure of how to feel. The only thing she was sure of was the guilt building in her empty robotic chest.
Fifteen seconds of silence later, Luna's cool-down sequence ended and she was free to look about the battle field once more. She noted that she was still over the operational threshold for heat before turning around. It was a scene like straight out of one of her visits to the battle field. It was horrifying and filled with pain, the one mare that she had permanently disabled still crying out and asking for death. This is not what a princess was supposed to be, she swore that she could feel a small part of her dying away.
"Holy shit! That was awesome!" Shouted Toggle, charging over like Pinkie Pie back when she was sober. "You destroyed those guys like they were nothing! Gotta work on that heat-sync clearly, the dispersion rate is waay to slow." She flipped out a couple of tools as she began fiddling with Luna's mechanical bits. "You know I was iffy about using that quad-breeder carburetor to manage the power flow from the recharger-rifles? Clearly-"
Luna felt the need to cut off this pony's excitement over her work. "Toggle please. How can you be excited right now? I've just killed 4 ponies!" How on Equus could she have ignored that fact so nonchalantly?
It was like looking at a professor who you had just given the 'dog ate my homework' excuse. Toggle fixed Luna with a simple disappointing stare. "Princess, please listen. You're a Sentry bot now. You were designed with the specific intention of killing as many dissenters as possible and protecting good ponies like me. And you just did that! You protected the HECK outta me. Besides you only killed 3 ponies. That one is still alive." She pointed at the disabled mare who was still screaming in pain.
Not wanting to be near somepony so heartless, Princess Luna backed up in disgust. "That doesn't make any of this better! That mare will never walk correctly again and the other three lost their chance to compensate for their crimes! I should have subdued and arrested them! They needed to be tried in a court of law!"
Toggle jumped up and put her fore-hooves on Luna to put her face as close to Luna's as she could. She gave off an air of grim understanding. "Luna." She said, making it clear that she was leaving out the formal title of 'Princess'. "There is no law out here. There are no courts, no royal guards, and NO PRINCESSES! You are not a princess anymore. Equestria might have survived through her people but the Kingdom did not." She looked back at the pony corpses, continuing her lesson. "I don't know why those ponies attacked us, but they did and now the wasteland is claiming them. It's do or die out here Luna. Be sure that you're not the one dying, that's the only rule." She looked back to Luna before getting down. "Adapt or die."
Toggle pulled out her wrench, tossing it from hoof to hoof, as she stared at the now disabled mare. The would be attacker had been propped up against one of the broken princess statues that marked the beginning on the ascent towards Canterlot. "What the actual buck did you think you were doing? You see, the Herders would LOVE to know why we are suddenly being attacked by a group of idiots with pots and pans for armor." She grumbled out, keeping a calm tone but edging in as much menace as she could muster.
The mare spat out a glob of black red mucus. She gave Toggle and Luna a hard stare before answering. "We were raiding. Duh!" She said it like it was an everyday occurrence. "The Powder Ponies got a hold of some actual explosives and we needed some real guns. You zombies always bring some good shit from the mountain so we thought you might share some. "
Using the word Zombie agitated Luna and she was beginning to have a hard time showing restraint. Her mini-gun arm began to whir up, the raider showing up as a hostile target in her vision. The words 'Locked on' were displayed by the mare's head in bright red. "Zombie?" She said, her blue spotlight intensifying over the injured mare.
Leaping at the chance Luna created, with the wit of a long time trades-pony, Toggle got right up into the Raider's face. "Keep talking like that and my new friend might have something to say about it! Be nice to this Ghoul and I just might let you live."
As Cliche as the statement was, Luna having heard it in many movies, it seemed to have the intended effect on this younger pony. Luna had to assume that most movies didn't survive the bombs. That was another thing she was going to have to save, Equestrian Culture.
"Woah, hold on hot shit. I can see who's in charge." The mare scrabbled about trying to get out of Luna's crosshairs. "Call off your bot and I'll talk. And I won't say zombie again, shit!" After a few more insults and Luna taking time to calm down the raider began answering questions. She seemed honest enough, if only out of fear. "It's just like I said, we were kicked out of our territory and we were trying to steal your guns from you. We weren't expecting to lose since you all travel alone a bunch, So Turnover is probably leading whoever's left to the Junk Pile. It's all we got left as far as bases go."
Toggle sighed, not really understanding. "Okay sure but why were you 'attacking' me? Ponies steal all the time but I haven't heard of anypony straight out trying to kill ponies for anything other than the last bit of food. What are you savage?" She stomped her hoof, blowing air through her nostrils.
This response made the raider laugh in Toggle's face. "Listen Filly, only reason no pony has gone after you all is because You had numbers and some of em were even soldiers! There's what, six of you left? You aint gonna be around long and we needed those high grade weapons you've been making. Us raiders adapted to take what we want. It's adapt or die, zombie. Pick one"
It was automatic, she wanted to stop herself but some part of the Sentinel she was riding simply wouldn't let her. Luna's mini-gun spun back up and was jammed straight into the raider's face, leaving behind nothing more than a slurry of bone and brain matter. To Toggle's credit she didn't vomit, though she was forced to look away from the spectacle. Forced to watch the entire thing, Luna wished she could vomit. She had been on battle fields before but actually watching the killing take place made her want to puke, or at least wretch.
A hoof gently pushed Luna away from the raider corpse. Toggle looked up to her with some concern. "I didn't actually want you to kill her." She sat down, looking up at the Blood stained Luna.
"We didn't mean to end her life. Honorable Mechanic, you must believe us!" Luna pleaded. "The act occurred against our will!" She shook her arms in frustration. "Our damned body moves of its own accord whenever it may be pleased to do so!"
Toggle struggle to hold Luna still, her magic doing nothing more than providing a soft glow around the sentinel chassis. "Luna, please calm down! It makes sense, I believe you!"
This statement caught Luna by surprise, ending her immediate panic. "'It makes sense-'? How could that make sense?"
Toggle let out a sigh of relief as Luna calmed down, pulling out a small pamphlet from her bags. "Well, you're running and functional but not everything is fixed yet. Let me see here." She flipped through page after page, looking for some intently. "Oh here, here. Luna, please run a Self Diagnostic and provide information of cores 3 and 4." She said, using the tone of a pony giving a command to a computer.
"Toggle, I am uncertain I can simply-" Before Luna could finish speaking more of Applejack's robot code started running across the Princess's vision.
Luna immediately blurted out the status of Cores 3 and 4 in the deep voice of a sentinel. " Core 3, Combat inhibitor. Status, Critical Failure. Core 4, Sparkle Assisted Targeting System. Status, Critical Failure. These cores are, OFFLINE. Warning, These cores are vital to combat safety. Please seek out a certified RobronCo technician for immediate repairs."
"Oh shit!" Toggle, Stomped one frustrated hoof. "I Bucked it up. I forgot to comb through those damned systems. The data is probably still fragmented. You know you spend years fixing an old robot and you'd think you would get at least some basic safety code done. But NOOOO I gotta get the motor functions running first 15 years of hoof shopping parts and you completely skip over the necessities. I can't-"
Before Toggle could continue her rant, Luna felt the need to bring her back on focus. "Toggle! Please explain what that was? I didn't say those things. What does it mean!?"
Catching a breath, Toggle calmed herself down and explained everything as simply as possible. "That voice was the Sentinel's voice. The diagnostic reports don't route through the personality matrix so it's not filtered through you. That's why it sounds normal and not like our Princess Luna. Those two cores you you mentioned earlier are responsible for all combat functions. With out them, you can engage combat with anypony you want. No User guidelines to protect innocent ponies. On top of that the ability to organize your targets and decide which one is hostile or not is basically absent. You attacked that pony like that because you literally had no control of your combat abilities." She paused to look at the corpses of the other ponies killed in the earlier battle. "Come to think about it, that's probably why you were hitting them so hard. When we get to town we need to hook you up to a computer."
Toggle took a moment to look at the dead ponies and sighed. "We had better get moving. If ponies are going to start attacking us we're going to need you fully operational."
For a moment, Luna could do nothing but stare at the dead ponies, scattered about like nothing more than discarded and broken dolls. "Are you saying you want me to do this again?" The idea was painful to contemplate. what kind of princess would openly engage in combat with her subjects? She could explain it away and justify it with the way she is now, but once she was repaired...
"I don't want to do it either." Toggle said, dropping her crate. She popped open the top and began searching through it. "If there is one thing we've figured out since the bombs fell, its that you need to do whatever it takes to survive." She was speaking calmly but her voice shook slightly, only clearly audible when she took a moment to breathe. "If it helps, I'll be just as guilty as you are." She pulled out the largest gun she could find, a light machine gun that looked like one pull of the trigger would send it flying out of her magical grasp, and loaded it with a box of ammunition.
Just the fact that Toggle was willing to carry that burden as well was enough to abate Luna's fears for now. If they were attacked again, who knows what would really happen. "Very well honorable mechanic." She said, briefly forgetting her etiquette. Toggle didn't seem to mind or even catch the slight so she continued. " We should still bury these ponies. Villains or not, they were citizens of Equestria and we should treat them as such."
Toggle looked over the corpses thoughtfully before responding. "I agree with you princess, but neither of us are really equipped for grave digging. We can pick up a shovel on the way back. It's unlikely they will be moved unless their friends come back for them."
Luna nodded in agreement. It was an acceptable compromise and either way these ponies would still receive their burial rights. Either Luna and Toggle could dig their graves when they got back with shovels or the rest of their gang would stop by and do it in their stead.
With the matter settled for now, Toggle put the lid back on her crate and hefted it up onto her back. She kept the LMG on top of the crate, ready to pull it out at anytime. After a moment to get her bearings again she pointed off in a direction and the two began to make their way into the waste land and away from the relative safety of New Canterlot. Away from the scene of their first battle.
As They traveled, a troubling thought itched its way into the back of Luna's thoughts and as they traveled her gaze continued to flick over to the machine gun on Toggle's back. As she contemplated Toggle actually using the weapon at some point the itch soon became to bothersome to scratch. "Toggle." Luna began, hesitant to find the answer to her question. The ghoulish unicorn looked back questioningly. For the stress lines in her face she had been dwelling on issues of her own. "Earlier, you said that my ability to determine friend or foe was essentially non existent. Will- Will I hurt you? Why am I not attacking you now?"
Toggle pressed her lips together trying to figure out the best way to answer. "Well, to be accurate, your IFF core is turned off until it's fixed. I imagine that until it's repaired your decision making program will route that process through your personality matrix to determine the outcome. With you in there, I'm guessing that decision is too much for the Personality matrix to handle so it shuts off just enough of you until combat ends. I mean, That would explain the automated combat lines at least." She stopped walking and gave Luna a hard look to emphasize her next statement. "Whether you hurt me or not, I don't know. But it will be up to you to stop yourself. whether or not you attack me is based solely on your personality matrix."
This put Luna in a place where she was unable to respond. Now that she had her answer she had the overwhelming urge to let toggle know that she would never hurt her but deep down there was nothing to back up that claim. At any point Luna's Sentrybot body could simply turn on her only friend in this messed up wasteland. How on Equus could she guarantee that wouldn't happen?
Seeing the Luna was incapable of responding, Toggle pushed forward heading towards New Apploosa. "It's a Long trip Princess. You have time to think about it."
