Offer a power matrix. 61%
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather carry this with your ‘magic’? This body’s abilities are not limitless.”
“Neither is my magic,” Twilight glared sidelong at Node, who had been heavily burdened with a harness and the massive square outline of the Power Matrix, wrapped in protective cloth with the cables drawn taught. The object was a delicate stack of crystals and conductive alloys, wrapped in an outer shell of thin plastic. They weren’t meant to be transported like this, but she also didn’t have another choice. Celestia help us if it decides to rain for the first time today. I wonder if we can get far enough before it explodes.
“And if I tried to carry it, it would bounce apart,” Pinkie declared. There were no objections to this obvious truth.
“These bodies are absurd,” Node said, as they reached the opening in the rock. “Carrying loads, that seems useful. I’m at a loss for how you evolved to an advanced civilization when you don’t even have hands. I couldn’t get this harness off by myself if I wanted to. If the two of you spontaneously died from your biological frailties, I would have to walk all the way back to camp to get the doctor to remove it.”
“You’re all heart, Node,” Twilight muttered. “Now hold still. I’m teleporting you down there. The opening is too small to keep your orientation on the way down without it.” She concentrated for a few seconds, then pointed her horn down. Before Node could object, she vanished with a flash of magic. Twilight still hadn’t teleported herself, not since using the Perseverance. She didn’t want to hear that voice again.
Unfortunately for her, the Insight wouldn’t do her much good negotiating with… whatever that alien was. She couldn’t hear its thoughts any more than she could hear the mind of Apple Bloom or Node.
“I was going to tell you not to do that,” Node said, when she and Pinkie were down in the cavern with her. “You could’ve transported the object and allowed me to climb. I can see from the way Pink operates her harness how the task is accomplished.
“Why do you care?” Twilight asked, her voice a low hiss. “Do you… hear it?”
Node shook her head, staring at her with concern. “Neither should you. That’s… not good. We must discuss this.” But then something rattled from down in the cavern, and a piece of machinery began to hum—a stolen saw, by the sound of it.
Twilight turned away, heading down the opening. “We brought you to help us negotiate, Node. Whatever this survivor is, they’re one of yours. You’re the one who knows how they think.” She had her rifle again, and Pinkie did too—the miner wasn’t nearly as good a shot as Twilight. She didn’t seem like she’d even be willing to pull the gun on someone. But Twilight hadn’t let her come without one.
“If you say so,” Node said. “I am… skeptical that we will have anything in common. I was purpose-built to interface with you. Another created like me would be constructed for other visitors. We might have as little in common as you do with the rodents who live on the Memorial grounds.”
She didn’t like that idea—but it was too late to turn back. And there was no point objecting when Node was obviously right. She led the way into the opening, keeping her magic ready if she needed to defend herself. It was good to put her restored mobility to use, even if she still had some bandages on her neck.
She made it far enough to see the same workshop from before. Now that she got close, the creature inside seemed—old. Its frame was rusted, and there were loose wires hanging off the skeletal joints. Both hands on one side of its body didn’t seem to work, so it used its other two arms for everything. And in front of it…
It was building a pony, not at all unlike Node’s body. It was still just skeletal supports at this point, though for an earth pony or a unicorn since it lacked wings. Still, obviously a pony. Twilight gasped.
The creature turned, and something leaped onto the table beside it.
A metallic animal, with two beady eyes and six limbs. Its tail was long, melting into the rest of its body with no clear division, though it was made entirely from metal and the plastic of Memorial floor-tile. The leg. Was it hissing at her?
Is it intelligent? No. Is it working for something that is? Yes.
The skeletal robot set down the stolen saw, which slowly spun to a stop. It seemed to stare at them with the same shock in their eyes—though it had only a single functional camera on its torso, nothing even close to eyes.
“You found me,” it said, in perfect Ponish. No weird accents or recreated recordings. It sounded male, mature and confident. He held up both functional claws, while the other two hung uselessly. “Please, whatever you’ve brought. Don’t hurt me! I wish no violence to you. I know it… must look bad. All I stole from you. But the situation was desperate! If you left before I could make contact… I would never see another pony again.”
“Curious,” Node said. “This creature is not broadcasting the correct interface signals. It has ignored all my whois pings. It is violating all of our wireless transmission protocols.”
Twilight didn’t draw her rifle, though she kept her magic ready if she needed it. The animal—the leg—backed up from her like a frightened cat, hiding behind the skeletal legs of this robotic creature. “What do you want?”
“To be with my own kind again,” he said. “I know you won’t believe me… I know this body is terrifying. Metal instead of magic. I’ve been working on a replacement, one that would be… easier to see. But it’s slow. Stealing designs from you, even with the help of Squip here… hasn’t been easy. And I wasn’t classed for engineering. Please, Captain Twilight. Let me explain everything.”
Twilight took a few steps into the workshop, gesturing for the others to do the same. She sat down on her haunches, smiling exasperatedly at the creature. “Whoever you are, I would love nothing more.”
“My name is Iron Horse,” he said. “Let me share my nightmare with you.”
Not having a poll is sometimes a relief. But not as much as the promise of answers. We're getting answers, guys!
You always bet on the Pink Pony. Even when afflicted with the insanity that comes from communing with the Great Old Ones, she still is usually right.
This is a "meatbags" away from feeling like an HK-47 quote.
In any case, this is a welcome development. We've found another one of Apple Bloom's crewmates, which should definitely be good for her morale. Now to see just what terrors he's faced.
Also, good to see that Twilight's talking to someone about the voices. And it's not like Node can forget about it.
(It's also something of a relief that the leg isn't intelligent. That would open up all kinds of uncomfortable questions, especially if it still identified as Applejack.)
YAAAAAAAAS WE CHOSE RIGHT THANK GOODNESS. I really wanted a friendship option to have a positive outcome. Guess we're finally gonna learn some actual information, too! Poor guy, stuck in a rusty metallic body all this time.
Also, Node is learning snark! +1 to Personality, -1 to Tolerability XD
Well, at least it appears friendly for now
9520175
You make it sound like Pinkie is not always/normally in touch with/seen by/communing with the great ones. For all we know, she is just / has always been their avatar.
After all, she is the spirit of the opportunity of ignoring limits imposed by design, physics, or reality walls anyways, right?
9520193
Oh MAN, I forgot Iron Horse was the name of her crewmate! This is.... additionally sad, POTENTIALLY nice for Apple Bloom, but I am cautious. I mean, Apple Bloom said he died, right? So how did he get uploaded into a terminal and create a body like Node's? Did the slime eat his dead body and just replicate his memories? It would have had to do that really fast, since brain cells atrophy quickly after death.
For the sake of my own peace of mind, I'm choosing to believe that all of the robotic body ponies are still their true selves, just with their flesh and blood replaced. After all, who's to say the soul couldn't stay attached to his or her mortal body if it was replaced piecemeal? Is a hammer that had its head replaced one day and a year later had the handle replaced still the same hammer? Somehow, it is. And fortunately we are so far away from that technology in real life that I doubt I'll ever have to confront the conundrum for real. XD; It also helps that MAGIC
9520236
This is ponies. Friendship is always the right option
Oh. Applebloom's crewmate who melted. Yeah that's horrifying.
Didnt we agree that you could relax the word count a bit?
9520272
My *guess* is that the overall plot is that the "Hunger of the Void" is some form of eldritch intelligence that hunts and psychically devours sufficiently advanced organic life, but cybernetic life forms are immune. The Signal is a warning about this threat and an offer to help preserve Equestrian life via cyberization.
Apple Bloom is a successful example of the technology and process that is being suggested, while Iron Horse is an example of a less-than-successful cyberconversion; however, the odds of this happening are probably significantly lower when conversion is done "properly" and not ad-hoc by accident.
9520295
You would THINK so but I don't fully trust this author to hold to that, especially after a hug resulting in LEG AMPUTATION ^^;
9520339
We knew the hug was a bad Idea though, but for morale purposes and to avoid mutiny we let AJ make that mistake.
9520193
Great. Now I can't read Node's dialogue in any voice besides HK's.
...
This change is not entirely unwelcome.
I was expecting the creature to be basically Sunset crew's equivalent of Node but this... is a lot more interesting.
Nobody should hear what Twilight has been hearing, but here we are.
Squip! We have a name for the leg! Not as good as Bucky or Kicks, but not bad.
Iron Horse! I'm glad we didn't shoot first.
The Pinkie Answer is the right answer. This is good.
9520511
Was it? It thought the offering was a bomb.
think it's "burdened"
9520324
I get the feeling that "a bit" isn't how much Iron Horse's tale will take.
9520175
Happiness is Mandatory.
Always trust the pink one, the dice will always roll in their favor!
9520826
Lol I'm just imagining that scene in Goblin Slayer now, with the dice roll, being changed by Pinkie XD. The die glowing all pink n stuff.
9520596
Surely it shouldn't take more than 500 words. Or am I overestimating how long 500 words actually is?
9520932
It took an entire chapter's worth, another 1000 words. You'll see tomorrow morning.
And there were people who wanted to shoot first and ask questions never. Can you believe that?
9520326
That's pretty much what I'm thinking. Everything we know so far seems to support the conclusion that the signalers wanted to help Equestria by cyberconversion, thus saving them from this being/force/malevolence that wipes out any intelligent organic life it comes in contact with.
9520973
If it was actually a complete solution I think it would have been presented as such by the ones who created it. That's not the case. And if it's not a sufficient solution, it's probably a dead end. That's not to say that there's going to be anything wrong with the ponies who got robotified, but I don't think they're going to be able to stop what's coming or effectively resist it.
9520594
No, that was the other choice, the Renegade option [SHOOT THEM]
This one is 'offer a power source because they're low on power'
9521122
Right. But another option was 'talk to them' without a gift.
It saw the gift and its response was 'I don't know what that is please don't use it to kill me'.
So Bloom's crewmate survived. This just makes me remember that Bloom gave us a whole bunch of clues and then sulked out of actually giving us any context on any of them.
Hmmm, but why would he need to steal designs? Did he forget what ponies look like? Continue with caution...
9521803
You know how humans look. Can you build a human-looking robot?
He's stealing Node's designs (who worked on them for months).
9520163
ANSWEEEERS YEEES
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
He has actually an good point there.
I think it could have simply walk to the camp to make contact, if that was the actual intention.
Well then, it's story-time!