open Mechquestria: My Life As An Equine Robot

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,026]

@@Aurora Lights,@@Denim&Venom,

 

who the hell let you in? She was shocked by Drone's comment she hadn't had blood in decades and apples were good, but not as good as the other stuff. Snap out of it, you blood crazy bitch "we'll talk later Sen and I call you the moment he comes back online, excuse me you two I have to have a little chat to my colleges outside." She left the room and stared at the two other guards, no words were spoken the look she gave them was more than sufficient. She then returned to the room and sat back down and looked at the robot. @@Randimaxis,

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@Aurora Lights,@Emerald Bolt,

 

"Wait. That thing is a student!? I thought it was some awesome art project consisting of parts from earth. Those audio receivers look to be from a KRS-1 spy satellite. And those copper rings in the face? Parts from an electrical station, prolly hydro electric turbine for sure. And that recharging port? I'll need a closer look but that appears to be from a 2030's Ford hybrid. Probably a truck.  To think somepony made this whole thing parts from earth, with the full intention of operating or uploading into it.  That's a die hard statement of personal creativity and affinity. Whomever that is, that's a rockstar in the making."

 

"Anyways, we have a relic external hard drive, a very old one in our possession. We're hoping to interact with the AI inside, so we brought up a compatible chasis from a warehouse in Canterlot. Since you're the dude who made the first components for Equinoids over 50 years ago, you might be able to help us make our tech backwards compatible for the interface. Heh, I bet even you may be surprised by this find. Cause we're still wrapping our processors over it."

[Aurora Lights 206]

@,@@Denim&Venom, (( sorry posted at same time))

 

Drone smiled at her kindly ,he really like his new name. He then looked back at the metallic pony," Old Hard drive huh? Still operational I assume." when they got to the room he looked at the old frame and smiled slightly," Ah,I remember when those things were the tip top of performance." he chuckled and took the hard drive into his hoof,he examined the small object and rubbed his chin,he then walked over to he frame and opened it up,unscrewing plates and metal out the back of the head,he smiled slightly as he looked at the pins to the connectors then on the hard drive and he smiled," Luckily,it isn't that hard of a conversion." he said and searched in a metal box,he pulled out some pins from the old frame and replaced them with ones that were compatible,it was now plugged in. He then connected some cables into the hard drive after some modification,he made very minor movements on the wires and when they were in perfect position,he soldered it into the wire,making it permanent. He put the plate back on the back of the hand turned on the power on the frame,it's eyes then lit up a dark orange,it flickered a few times before a voice said, " COMMAND PROMPT...ORDERS?" he smiled and said," Run code uhhh...damn...002893 Alpha,register as Admin." The eyes of the frame flickered and it said, "COMMAND ACCEPTED,ADMIN RESET...READING DRIVE...STANDBY...STANDBY...AI COMPATIBLE,REBOOTING TO ACCEPT AI INTERFACE..." Drone smiled as the frame turned off then whirred back to life,he looked at the gray metal pony beside him and said," Alright,it's all yours now."

Edited November 27, 2015 by Aurora Lights

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@Aurora Lights 

"Well that's what we call ourselves. It's really the retro-technology analysis and achieving division. But we look up old technology from Earth and Equestria and study it. Oh, I'm Flash Drive by the way. Anyways, yeah, this thing was found at a warehouse sale. Place was practically off the books. Lots of old stuff there. One mare's junk, y'know.  And we found this thing, an external hard drive. A place where AIs and intelligence could be kept between bodies. Rarley used these days with satellite transference to the web in the event of an emergency. So we thought that it might be an early model. But we looked at what you built and they were nowhere near as big or clunky as this. So we think, somepony might've beat you to the punch."

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@@Aurora Lights,

 

"Wow. Man you did that without a second glance. Glad you knew how to work with technology this old.  Although... we could use your thoughts on this. You introduced the first external hard drives. Well check the manufacturing dates on those one." 

 

If Drone were to look, he would see that the date on one part, would say Oct'11. Another would say Feb'15, and and other, August '19. We carbondated the metal on this hard drive. It's over a century old. Before Earth/Equestrian contact was made public, and decades before you were even born. And this Mare you worked on?" She pointed to the rather sleek, tall, well crafted bot with a black paint job, a long gold mane and tail with a straight cut, and a silver & copper streak running along the side of the mane, and both a logn horn and collapsed feathered wings on the sides. "She looks to have been made within the last decade or two, right? We checked the dates on her. There were none. So we carbondated her metal. She's 90 years old."

Flash Drive turned to face Drone. "These things couldn't have existed back then. Not to this complexity. And we are finding nothing like her in the Equestrian Magitech Models Database."

 

"And these two aren't the only concerning parts."

[Aurora Lights 206]

@@Denim&Venom,

 

Drone rubbed his chin and sighed softly," Is she operational?" he asked Flash drive,examining the bot,he than said," If that's true,then that would mean that someone has had contact with Earth for longer than we've known." he said and looked at the old ponybot,the AI was still not responding to anything," Well,just because the drive is in,doesn't meant the AI couldn't be corrupt or wiped. I'm just hoping it isn't. This actually interests me." he looked over the 90 year old black ponybot and smiled slightly," Gotta admit,she's kinda sleek for her age." he chuckled softly and he looked back at Flash Drive," What else do you know about them?"he asked.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,026]

One of Emerald's gurads had followed Drone and Flash, looking at the conversation without being observed ran back to the room and informed Emerald "well that is not good, take Alex with you snd seize the robot and remove it immediately, radio for assistance I dont believe they'll give it up. "

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@@Aurora Lights, @Emerald Bolt

 

Flash drive proceeded to send a command to a pair of the hoer drones. "Take her to the testing chamber." The bots proceeded to lift her out of the room and down a slanting hallway. "Whenever we reactivate a bot, we have to have them in a secure, isolated area, our armored chamber down in the underground sub lab, which doubles as a bomb shelter. For their safety and ours. No idea if and when a malfunction could occur." The unicorn bot lifted the box in a tractor beam. "The adjustments you made allow us to transfer the AI kept in here to the bot remotely, from here." She walked over to a station with a number of gauges and monitors. She set the box down on the console. 

 

"The box came from a warehouse sale over in Phoenix. She, was kept in an industrial storage facility here in Canterlot. Though it appeared to have been missplaced. It's faint, and they wouldn't have caught this back then, but according to the marks on the crate, it was supposed to have been sent to the Canterlot royal guard garrison, now Fort Armor." 

 

She proceeded to hook the jury rigged box over to the console. Signal chatter in the air indicated she was in contact with the other departments. "Chamber sealed.... Killswitch operational.... EMP on stand by.... all stations are a go." Several lights shifted from red to green. Others started glowing blue. A few LEDs on the box flickered a dim orange. 

 

"As for what's in the box? Well, we could only listen and read, but not communicate. Now, we can have a conversation with it. With her. And that's another strange thing that should not be. That box, based on what we observed, may contain the most advanced AI of it's time, one as intelligent and responsive as you or I. Or, it could contain an actual intelligence. The very first case of transference in history. Either way Professor Drone, we are about to interact with the work, of your predecessor, whomever they were. Any questions you have-"

 

She turned to the screen, and to the alicorn bot standing motionless in the chamber. "You can ask yourself."

Edited November 27, 2015 by Denim&Venom

[Aurora Lights 206]

@@Denim&Venom,

 

Drone looked at the television and sighed softly," I'm about to meet a bot before my time. Sounds fun." he chuckled  softly and looked at the mic and and then to Flash Drive," So,can I talk to it orrr what?"he asked,he truly was fascinated by these machines,they were before his time,yet so advanced,even by today's standards.

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@Aurora Lights, @Emerald Bolt

 

"Hold off on that. Let's see how she reacts first."

 

 

In the chamber

 

-bewrooww-

 

Unit upload complete. Scanning chassis. Match found.

-EU-002 Designation: Luster. Model Variant: Mk7

 

"Mark 7? I'm surprised they haven't melted you down. Well, hello old friend. Looks like you'll be a pretty tight fit. But you're certainly better than... wherever the hell I was."

 

Full system diagnostic in progress. Diagnostic complete. All systems within normal operating perimeters. 

 

"Lets check my defense systems first."

 

Status of offensive & defensive systems:

 

"Hmm. Should've guessed. That's missing. That's missing. All those are missing. Pretty much if it wasn't built right in. It's gone. What abbot my first layer of defense?"

 

Status of BKC armor: Not found. 

 

"Should've figured they'd strip that off me. Everything else is still there. Guess they didn't know me very well. Well, nothing I can do in here. Let's see what I can do out there."

 

Beginning external systems activation. 

 

The entire process too less than a second. A pair of glowing amber iris's slowly came on. The black alicorn lifted her's head. She blinked a few times, showing she had complex facial movement. She began to look around in the large, featureless metal room she was in. Then she began to walk over to what appeared to be a door. She tapped on it three times. She proceeded to wonder the perimeter. Staring at and anaylizing the walls. Tapping them every so often. 

 

"Pretty thick stuff. Though if they thought me a danger, I'd been scrapped already." 

 

Seeking remote connection. One connection found. 

 

She began to listen in, but heard nothing. 

 

"Let's try this the old fashioned way." She held a hoof to her muzzle and coughed into it, appearing to clear her throat. Vocal sounds did come out. "Hello out there. Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone or anypony there?" It said in a more cyberized & metallic voice than most bots would posses. The pitch was also deeper, like it was artificially done to an existing voice." 

 

For some reason though, to those listening in, her voice sounds vaguely familiar.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Denim&Venom

[Randimaxis 8,654]

"Grant, don't forget to-"

 

As soon as she walked in, she knew she was going to be mad.

 

It was obvious he'd been jacked in; the equipment was still on, lights blinking and monitors on... but the visor was missing.  Grant never put away the visor unless he was doing something stupid - hacking the banks, playing with traffic lights, even just messing with TV studio station's programming servers.  She was used to that, but this felt... different...

 

"Did you put in the hours you needed?  We need that income, you dink; tell me you made Shift Call PLEASE tell me you didn't miss it..."

 

Grant did sidework as a drone controller for hire: construction drones, taxi drones, vendor drones, whatever position he could get through GALATEA Industries 'outreach program', where they put techies like Grant to work doing menial tasks from the comfort of their homes.  It was one of the few jobs he could do, and it paid enough to cover the medicine costs... barely.

 

Still, it was better than nothing.  Plus, it keeps his head out of those damned clouds, she thought.

 

Grant looked at the console, dumbfounded, then turned to her with an apologetic look on his face.  Oh damn it all to Hell...

 

"Uhm, I... I'm sorry Kess; I got caught up in a-"

 

Kestrel Rhiannon House gave an exasperated, choked bark of disgust as she slammed her hand against the wall.  "DAMMIT, GRANT!  If you keep shirking work like this, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO GET YOUR WEEKLY PILLS, STUPID!  I mean, I know you don't appreciate anything I do around here, and you have no clue what I-"

 

He's been crying, she thought, why has he been crying?

 

"... what?  What's up, what?"

 

"I... lost Pookie today."

 

Inwardly, Kess sighed; one less of those damned homemade drones he was always playing with.  She HATED those things - they were creepy, and even though her brother was the one who made them, she was always worried that they'd be the death of him one day.  She wasn't tech-savvy like he was; give her a gun and she was downright deadly, years of police training giving her a steady hand and a cool head for a fight... but computers stopped for her at cellphones.

 

"Well, I told you - if you'd have been doing your job, you'd have stayed out of trouble.  Was it Wiliiamsen again?"

 

He nodded.  I hate to lie to her, but... the less she knows, the better.

 

"Bat or shotgun?"

 

"Bat.  Metal one."

 

"Am I to expect him by later for another 'chat' with me?"

 

He shook his head.  "Already showed up; told me I was a feeb, other crap... went home."  He shrugged.

 

Kess sighed.  "Please... PLEASE stop building those things; you know I don't trust-"

 

"You don't trust me?"

 

She gave a rare smile, and tousled his hair.  "YOU, I trust - it's the damned machines I don't have faith in.  Okay, get your wet-naps; clean up for supper, ready in fifteen."

 

She left the room, with one more glance at the monitors, she-

 

"What..."

 

She reached over to the frankencore he'd fashioned, and pulled back a drawing.  A schematic-type drawing.  OF A PONY.

 

"What... is... this?"  Her voice had gotten low and sweet; she was furious.

 

"It's just something I found taped to a-"

 

"YOU DIDN'T FIND THIS - YOU DREW IT. DIDN'T YOU?  DO YOU THINK I'M STUPID?  IT'S A DAMN PONY, ISN'T IT!?  ISN'T IT!?"

 

In a rage, she shredded the schematic into confetti, right in front of his face.

 

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THIS?  HUH?  NO - MORE - PONIES!  I am FED UP with this!  Do I have to smash the SHIT out of your stuff to get you see that-"

 

"NO!  PLEASE NO!"  If she breaks my system, I'm sunk!

 

She stared hard at Grant for a moment, then wheeled around and headed toward the hallway outside his room.  "One.  More.  Pony... and you won't be able to get your hands on a damned calculator for a whole month, ARE WE CLEAR?"

 

His door rattled as she slammed it shut.

 

"... does this mean dinner's off?"

 

Her muffled, distant response wasn't fit for children's ears.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,026]

@@Denim&Venom,@@Aurora Lights,  

 

The radio cracked on, "captain we have a problem you are required at the test chamber." "Very well come here and watch this robot until it comes back online." She left her post heading for the chamber she passed her guards, they pointed her to the correct room.

 

***

 

she came into the room which contained Drone and Flash, Her face was deadly serious. "You need to stop this now! If it is awake so help me Luna." Please let it be offline, how was it not destroyed like the others somepony is going to jail for this, not me thank Celestia. 

[Yoshikupo 302]

@@redshell, @@VinylWubs,

She remembered now...the order of assassins, this pony just got kick out of it and seemed happy. Fuck! she thought having a little of a conflict between what she thought was right. She came to a conclusion "yeah...lets go get you fixed up" she broke the silence and headed off the campus to her friends place "Renee, I want to talk with you in private as we go" she waits for Renee

[VinylWubs 1,252]

@@redshell, @@VinylWubs,

She remembered now...the order of assassins, this pony just got kick out of it and seemed happy. Fuck! she thought having a little of a conflict between what she thought was right. She came to a conclusion "yeah...lets go get you fixed up" she broke the silence and headed off the campus to her friends place "Renee, I want to talk with you in private as we go" she waits for Renee

Renee looks at her, with a confused expression. "Uhh.. Sure!" She said before walking up to the mare who was waiting for the unicorn to hurry up. A little thought came to her mind as she pondered "What's wrong with her? She isn't usually like this?" She thought as she shook her head gently, trying not to make the other mare suspicious of her actions. With a clear but quiet voice, she asks her. "What's wrong?" Renee looks right at her, waiting for the arrival of the answer to arrive.

[Yoshikupo 302]

@@VinylWubs,

"I am a guard at the research facility where all the tech is made, and before that I was a normal guard around town. I am supposed to know every criminal organization around...Hidden was part of the assassins" she sighed "if I made friends with her and others found out that she was part of them then we would both be in deep water...uh I'm so stupid, now if anypony finds out that you knew then you would be in the same situation" she felt like hitting herself "Celestia, I am the worst guard ever, I already couldn't fight the new tech stuff today and now I am acting like an idiot and getting citizens involved" they talked about 2 yards in front of Hidden

[redshell 195]

"Hey, banner if you know about the assassin's creed then why are you talking about them privately two yards away from a member? You should know we have the best hearing, and what is with the "was" thing I am still a member just a reserve member" hidden said with a slightly smug smile

[VinylWubs 1,252]

@@VinylWubs,

"I am a guard at the research facility where all the tech is made, and before that I was a normal guard around town. I am supposed to know every criminal organization around...Hidden was part of the assassins" she sighed "if I made friends with her and others found out that she was part of them then we would both be in deep water...uh I'm so stupid, now if anypony finds out that you knew then you would be in the same situation" she felt like hitting herself "Celestia, I am the worst guard ever, I already couldn't fight the new tech stuff today and now I am acting like an idiot and getting citizens involved" they talked about 2 yards in front of Hidden

 

  

"Hey, banner if you know about the assassin's creed then why are you talking about them privately two yards away from a member? You should know we have the best hearing, and what is with the "was" thing I am still a member just a reserve member" hidden said with a slightly smug smile

 

Renee sighs, being the only one serious. Renee puts her supportive hoof onto banner's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. I can understand how hard being a guard can be.. Not an easy task I must say.. Anyway, you have to stop beating yourself up. That isn't the way to your destiny. If you didn't want ponies to be involved in various violence, then why did you sign up for a guard? A guard's role is to be protecting ponies from harm, fighting off criminals and arresting them in the name of celestia. But.. Here we are in the flaming future where all kind of technology is made and ponies accept humans!" As she was explaining this, a hint of anger could be seen. "And now we are getting used for test subjects! WHO DOES THAT?!" Renee shouted in complete anger, making ponies stare at her. "O-oh sorry.." She said, looking down at her hooves, wanting to leave.

[Yoshikupo 302]

@@VinylWubs, @@redshell,

"I signed up to be a guard because fighting is what I'm good at, I was trained to be a fighter" Banner answered now not wanting to punch herself but others. She waits for Hidden to catch up to her "Look how your talking to, you can run, but I can find you with the vast other guards and I could get off scot-free with a confession. Now shut up and walk, you want to get fixed right? I'll give you that chance but don't EVER cross me" she dropped the calm, nice tone in her voice to be more assertive and fear inducing.

[Aurora Lights 206]

@,@@Denim&Venom,

 

Drone smiled as he saw the blank robopony firing up he looked at Flash Drive and then at the monitors once more," It can speak!" he said with glee,but then Emerald came in and he looked at her," Hey,whoa,whoa calm down. Nothing's gonna happen. All of her offensive and defensive abilities are stripped. If she does manage to break out and cause damage..."his armor swallowed his body and his voice changed,his red eyes glowing,"Then,she'll have to get through me."his voice was deep and electronic. He looked back at the screen and he said," I kind of want to talk to her,face to face..."he said to Flash Drive.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,026]

@@Aurora Lights,@@Randimaxis,

 

She looked at Drone, "you don't understand Sen, if you don't shut it down and surrender it to me i... I'll have to a...arrest you. You are both breaking the law, a secret law but..." She stopped in mid sentence and walked up to the glass viewing panel, she looked back at Drone, "you turned it on. I have no choice op... open the door." Emerald pulls out Cloudslicer from her tail and extends it... 

[Aurora Lights 206]

@,@@Denim&Venom,  

 

Drone looked at her with amazement as she drew out her weapon,he blinked a few times before his machine guns extended from his shoulders,he looked down as he said," Em...I don't want to hurt you...put away the ax..."he said and looked back up at her," I'll...I'll destroy the thing. I just have to ask it questions first,Em,I know your loyal to the princesses,but...but can't you see? This is bigger than you,bigger than all of us. This could change life as we know it,Em..."he said,he truly did not was to hurt this mare,he finally felt like he could get truly close to another pony.

[Denim&Venöm 19,219]

@,@@Aurora Lights,

"I just looked at The Equestrian legal codes during your chat. There isn't any laws in there against reactivating a relic AI. If it's not in there, than we can't be punished by law.  You'll be the one going away for a long time if you act out of line. Besides, that door is staying closed, for her safety, and ours.  We were granted authority by the school board, the department of education and the department of technological affairs to reactivate magitech lifeforms. So stand aside and let us do our jobs. And no professor drone, you don't get to go in and talk to her face to face. Not until we assess her stability."

 

She approached a mic stand on the console, and in a calm, friendly tone, answered, "Yes. Yes, we can hear you. Hello there. What's your name?"

[Randimaxis 8,654]

Grant sat in misery on his hospice cot.  He felt like his entire world had been yanked out from under his feet.  He felt as if everything had come down to what would happen today... and today, he was nothing but a failure.  He'd tried for so long to get everything just right; he even had conversations with Twitch on the matter (not that the ponybot answered).

 

His eyes opened slowly, and moved across the room's dingy walls until they reached the backpack in the corner.

 

Why bother... what's the use?  He's so much scrap metal by now.  Bet they didn't even examine him...

 

He pried his eyes away from the pack; he was just torturing himself.  But no matter the want to forget it, no matter HOW he fought it, his eyes betrayed him and they came right back to it.

 

... maybe one of his eyes still gets a feed...

 

He turned over in the cot, facing away from the room itself, trying to completely shut off any possibility of doing what he didn't want to admit he was chomping at the bit to do.  

 

... no.  Getting my hopes up for nothing.  Leave it; you can recondition the damned visor for drone work tomorrow.

 

After a moment, however, he sat up and stared at the backpack again. 

 

... but I just HAVE to know what the beeping was.  I HAVE TO.

 

He reached down and grabbed his pong-claw gun.

 

Just a peek.

[Professor Annabella 330]

                What Anna and her son were living was a simple, sweet, and basic lifestyle just outside the massive futuristic university. Anna, the young scientist and professional tinkerer she was, owned a small garage in the town/city in which the university was located in. She lived here with her baby, and only her baby. His name was Zeus, and he was her little partner in her prosthetic robotic limb business. They fixed limbs, built limbs, replaced parts on limbs, and even upgraded them. Limbs could fall anywhere from; forehooves, hind legs, wings, horns, eyes, ears, and sometimes even little versions of all those things, for little ponies. The two pegasi made a decent bit doing these things in the city for many loyal customers. It was indeed simple and lovely. All peace… No disturbances…

 

Well at least when Anna wasn’t overloaded with orders… Or she ran out of the required parts she needed to fill said orders. The mother was constantly hectic between being a good mom, and business owner.  A very hungry Zeus watched Anna run about the garage with nothing but a wrench, wondering where in the world her order of aluminum parts was…

 

“Oh Celestia… I thought I put it right here... Was it the copper? I think it was the copper. Did the aluminum come in? It should have been here today!” She panicked.

 

Aluminum was a key element to the building of any limb. It wasn’t only aluminum, but it was an alloy instead. Super light and durable, this aluminum alloy was the base of all her projects. But there was none! And that meant-

 

“Oh boy, I need to take a trip to the university…” She said with a deep sigh, dropping her wrench in defeat (but trust me; she was wary of where she was dropping it with her toddler up and about). Anna picked up a stamp, and a stack of papers, and threw the stamp down on each of the dozen or so…

 

“Late… Late… Late... Late…. This will throw me back too much to even consider getting these done before closing time. The clients with understand, none of them are urgent…” Anna sighed again

 

Zeus watched closely as he always did, sitting on his little diapered rump upon a bench by his mother. The little toddler was very quiet, patient, and rarely made too much of a fuss. He was the key to all of this, because he was one of her most important of customers. Due to a birth defect, Zeus himself had a robotic left forelimb of Anna’s design. It was a special design that needed close monitoring… Zeus was a little colt who had plenty of growing to do. But right now, he whimpered and whined because he was hungry. Poor little thing hadn’t eaten for a whole hour! I did say he was growing, after all…

 

Anna scooped Zeus up and plopped him in a leather chest carrier. This was not what he wanted, but he didn’t complain. Maybe they were going somewhere to eat! Zeus couldn’t understand big pony talk, so he truly had no idea where we they were going!

 

“Hush now Zeus… Only a quick trip to the university, then I can come back and play with you” She said, not very focused on the baby. She obviously wasn’t paying much attention at all… Zeus wasn’t looking to be played with, he wanted food!

 

Anna headed to the university, walking through the streets, to the campus, and through it. She was heading for the medical department, which would have plenty of spare aluminum scrap from the many things they needed it for. They always had extra on hand. Anna, with her mane tied up in a bun, lab coat flapping in the wind, and little colt in his carrier (with a very grumpy look on his face) trotted through the middle of campus… for anybody to talk to, or possibly disrupt.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Professor Annabella

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,026]

@@Denim&Venom,@@Aurora Lights,

 

"Sen I...I don't want to do this!" there was visible sorrow and horror covered her entire face, however Flash's comment snapped her out of it (for now...). She lifted her hoof and tapped her ear piece twice, singling her guards to her. She turned to Flash "I am Captain of the GUARD! WHO's ORDERS DO YOU THINK I'M FOLLOWING?! Their positions are much higher then any school board!" This is getting me no where, she looked back at Drone for the first time assessing him as a threat, not so good with his MG's already drawn. "please Sen, help me stop myself I must follow my orders, even if I don't know why? Help ME!"