Chapters fallout equestria: project communicate
-------- Day one -------
At first all I saw was White. Of course I had no idea what I was supposed to be seeing, and I had a basic idea of what I was, but the basics for life where there. So not being able to see anything that could have built me seemed wrong.
"hello? can you hear me?" A voice called out in the white.
"hello, who is there?" I asked, using my pre programed knowledge of how to speak.
"Lilly pad, I'm your technician," The voice replied. "I want you to tell me if everything is working properly," It instructed.
"I see white, my limbs function, my cognitive spell matrix functions, my-"
"Sorry you said all you see is white?" The voice cut me off.
"Yes, all I see is white, is that an error?" I asked, not with alarm as, I only felt 'aware'.
"Yes, I'm going to shut you down so I can fix this alright?" The voice asked with what I can only describe as care in the voice.
"Of course." I responded, or at least I recorded doing so, before I was suddenly in a large room. inside this room was a mirror hung on the back wall, a large door on the wall to my left, and several tools and work benches filled the floor. The mare unicorn standing in front of me had a green coat with a blue and yellow striped main that was in tangles of un kept mess, and under that tangle was a pair of pale brown eyes.
"Hello, Colton, can you see ok now?" The mare asked.
"Yes, I can see now, you are Lilly pad correct?" I asked as to verify that I was indeed speaking to my technician.
"Yes, I'm Lilly pad," She responded in a friendly tone. "Could you please step in front of the mirror?" She instructed.
Obeying the issued command, I stepped up to the mirror and in the reflection I saw, a dirty green stallion with a sand yellow main and tail and blue eyes. "That is me correct?" The question was odd, I knew that, but I needed to verify.
"Yes, yes it is. So we made sure that your Hud was disabled for your first test run, Fluttershy thought it might be overwhelming for, I am going to activate it now," As she said that she used a device attached to her foreleg to connect to the outlet in my chest. I hadn't noticed the device before, It was a grey box with a green lit up screen in the center, on one side of the box was a series of buttons and dials that must be used to operate it, I deducted this because that appeared to be how she was using it.
Within a minute of her statement a series of symbols showing, power consumption, power generation, limp integrity and strength as well as many other useful pieces of information came up in my vision, this was my Hud, with enough information to make me combat capable should the worst come to light.
Just as I was getting aquatinted with my Hud, a pale yellow mare with a pink main, and a shy look walked into the room.
"sorry to bother you Lilly pad, but is Colton working?" She asked with in a timid voice.
"yes, he seems to be fully functional with only a minor error in his sensors that I have already fixed," She had said this with an air of pride. I decided that I wanted to ask what the devise she was wearing was but seeing as a new pony had just come I waited.
"Hello Colton, I'm Fluttershy, I wanted to come see you, if that's alright with you." I didn't understand why she wanted my opinion, I was designed to be a negotiator was I not? or maybe that was another error in my system telling me that I was something other then what I was.
Now I would explain what happened next but the next 3 days consisted of mostly testing and making sure I worked properly. I met the rest of the team working on me over the course of that 3 day period, witch turned out to be a very small team of just 10 ponies.
-------- Day 5 --------
Tstoday seemed to be moving slow for everypony, or at least it was for the 2 in my room with me. everypony was busy with war business and at the moment the only two ponies available to talk to where Lilly pad, and Lilac springs, Lilac was a white mare with a blue main who seemed to see me as a piece of equipment rather then a living being, now of course I saw myself that way too, I was a machine after all was I not?
At the moment they where teaching me what was right and what was wrong, something that was apparently very important for me to know, why I didn't know yet, but they where part of the team that brought me into existence so I trusted that they where right.
"Anything illegal is wrong, so I'm going to give you a list of equestrian laws as well as the appropriate conditions for when they can be broken, witch is very few," Said Lilly, before connecting her Pipbuck, as she had taught me it was called, to my chest and uploading a list of laws to my inner data base.
"Thank you Lilly" I responded, I had been taught basic etiquette the evening before by a purple mare with a dark purple and pink striped main, named Twilight Sparkle, and the leader of the Ministry of peace, Fluttershy, the mare from my first day alive.
"Not a problem Colton!" She exclaimed, before Lilac turned and scoffed at her.
"Stop talking to it like it has feeling Lilly, it's just a robot so we don't get shot while discussing peace with the zebras,"
Now it was Lilly's turn to scoff, "And we plan to give him feeling hen the war is over, I assume because it would be horrible to bring him into a world like this with feelings," What she was talking about I didn't know, but I assumed it must be important war stuff so I didn't interrupt.
The rest of that day went by with little of interest other then the fact that at 7:23 Pm, an alarmed sounded and Ponies in armored barding wearing saddle bags that appeared to be medical boxes rushed out of two large double doors before disappearing out of sight.
------ Day 6 ----- ------ The Day of the blasts -----
The start of the day went as normal, everything seemed to be going very well and I was now learning how to tell if a pony meant harm using body cues, Fluttershy wasn't available as she had important business in Canterlot, I was taught on day 2 the major city's and given a map of Equestria, at the moment I was in Manehatten, in my little supply closet that had been converted into a room.
By the time we finished with that lesson I was told I could do what I pleased for the rest of today as there where plans to send me to canterlot for better lessons in the morning. So I decided to watch the news to see what was going on in equestria.
At 5:15 that day the news announced that Cloudesdale had been bombed, and that the Pegasi had closed up the sky. 2 minutes later a large explosion sounded outside and the large tower he was in collapsed on top of him, killing everypony inside, except for him.
Footnote: level 1!
fallout equestria: project communicate
It must have been some shifting rubble that re activated my spell matrix, because no pony would have ever been able to find me under all that.
At first I thought I was back in the supply closet, the grey was definitely a good indicator that I was still where I had shut down. All around me was a dull grey of rock's and rubble from the now collapsed Ministry of peace hub, and while I don't believe in luck, I must have still had some as I was relatively un damaged. I took a good look around and found that the floor I was on had actually collapsed and that if I wanted to get out I would need to move some of the rubble. Lucky me I'm a robot.
As I moved the rubble being careful not to buck any of the load bearing stuff, I looked through what data I had. It had apparently been 40 years since the mega spells hit, and the radiation in my general area was low enough to allow life for the time being.
It was an hour and 4 minutes before I could get to a part of the building that wasn't collapsed, logically the first thing I had to do was find the override for my combat features, I had no on board weapons, but I couldn't hurt a living creature even if I needed to without that override. The next thing I would have to do would be to head to the Ministry of arcane science hub in Canterlot to get the personality spell, as I would need that in order to be able to feel complex emotions such as love, fear, anger and the other needed parts of being alive.
So with those two tasks now on my list of to do's, the first thing I would need to do would be to find Lilly pad's terminal. From the map I had of the building it would be two floors below me on the ground floor and down the first hall on the second door to the left. As it was I was standing a grey room with two doors on either side of me and a large window in front of me. As I took a look out the window I was greeted with a cloud covered sky, it wasn't raining but the clouds looked bloated, below that was the ruined street of Mainehatten, and several ruined building, but what stood out to me was the still standing Ministry of arcane science hub, there where even lights inside! So my next objective, after getting the override would be to go investigate the Mainehatten Ministry Of Arcane science hub.
Turning on my on board radio I tuned into the emergency broadcast signal, the only one I knew so far. "-are still holding up in the clouds like cowards. In other news, we've got word that a caravan was found dead near Mainehatten, Celestia bless their souls," I turned it off. The signal was now being used as news station, of course that meant that the equestrian government had in fact not re built itself yet, witch meant that the outside world was going to be more broken then the inside of this building.
Putting that aside I made my way through the door to my left, I found myself in a hallway. On one wall there where a few posters depicting the various Ministries, and on the other was the elevator door. It was bust, but one of the many advantages of being an Equidriod is that I could find another way, no matter how long it took because I couldn't die of thirst or hunger.
So checking my map I found that there was a stairwell on the other side of the building, this, in theory, would allow me to walk two floors down, and follow my map to Lilly pads office. Then I just had to get out of the building.
Walking back up the hallway to the room with the window I made my way down the next hall, I say it's a room rather then a T junction in the hallway because it had doors. Big blue doors with pink butterfly's on them. So anyway, walking down that hall I came into another room, now what I should have done was loot it for anything useful, but as I didn't have the override I couldn't, so I made note to come back, that being said I was in what was most likely the only armory in the whole building. In the event that Mainehatten get invaded, it was important to be able to defend the hubs, so in this room there where racks of guns on the walls as well as several crates of ammunition. Not only that, but there was also a large rack lined with ballistic vests.
The next room I found myself in was an office, this one containing what must have been Lilac's belongings judging by the photo of her and what must have been her family hanging on the wall. While I can't say I like here, I didn't know her long enough to hate her, I didn't really know anypony long enough to hate.
I looked through the office for the terminal, being the head engineers assistant meant she might have the override in her office as well. The walls where a light shade of blue, close to the grey of the rest of the building, with a line of blue that cut through the middle of the wall. There was a no doubt locked safe on the right hoof side of the room and her terminal was on the left hoof side.
I went over to the terminal, It was, lucky for me, unlocked. As I went through it though it proved to not have what I was looking for, so I continued on my way out of the office. At last I was at the stairwell, it looked sturdy enough to hold my weight so I continued down 2 floors to ground level.
This level was painted like something out of one of the many posters that were made depicting the Ministry mares. It was a bright yellow with light pink stripes running the length of the walls, and had a nice granite tiled floor. This was the main lobby.
To my left was something I had never seen in my 6 days of activity and my brief 2 hours active now. It was a dead body, or at least what was left of a body. it's neck was bent at an impossible angle and the rest of its head was crushed by debris. It was almost all bone save for the few scraps of decaying flesh still on it.
For any other pony new to equestrian wasteland life, it would have been horrifying, to me, it made logical sense, I survived the blast due to being a machine, others would not have been so lucky. It was a sight I was just able to deal with.
The next thing I saw for the first time was the barrel of a gun level with my face, in an aura of magic. "Who are you?" Said the unicorn mare wielding the gun. She was wearing a red uniform with a logo stitched to the back of a sword and wings overlaid on gears. She was had a yellow coat and green main with a pink stripe down it. The gun was that of a combat shotgun with a drum magazine.
"I am Colton, Ministry Of peace communications and negotiations Equidriod, model number 1," I responded. This is what I would always say until I got that override, after that I would be able to decide what I wanted to say based on my situation. "Can I help you in any way?" I asked, it was after all my purpose, to help end strife, and to a lesser extent with anything else.
"Yeah you can help me, you can quite your bullshit and tell me who you really are, or I'll call Star paladin Hedge and have you arrested."
Footnote: Level two!
fallout equestria: project communicate
Steel Rangers, part of the now ruined equestrian government, that is what paladin Hedge had told me. After I had reiterated what I had already said to, who I now knew was scribe Butterfly storm, she promptly arrested me and brought me down a hall to where the rest of her squad was.
"This stallion says he's an Equidriod sir, but those are Science fiction," Scribe Butterfly storm stated to her superior.
"I am unable to lie to you, I am an Equidriod," I stated directly after the Scribe.
The earth pony before me was wearing a thick metal armor, it was what I had to assume was the magic power armor mentioned during my first few days of existence. It was large, bulky and grey and had a missile launcher mounted on one side and a Gatling gun mounted on the other.
"If you really are a machine then you will no doubt be able to survive it if we dismantle your foreleg to examine it," The paladin countered. He had a very commanding tone to his voice, as though he had been doing this for years, witch I guessed he probably had been.
"Alright, go ahead, you will need to plug a Pipbuck or similar device into my chest to disengage the plate lock," I informed them. It would have been a lot more damaging to me had they tried to pry it off with a crowbar, and seeing as no factory in Equestria would have the exact parts to replace mine, pre war or not, it was only logical to let them continue un obstructed.
Seemingly to finally notice the small hole in my chest the scribe's mood changed from caution to excitement. "This is a whole new kind of pre-war technology we haven't even seen before!" She stated happily, so at the very least they didn't plan to shoot at me. How long that would last I had no idea.
"I see that, begin running tests on the 'Equidriod' until further notice," He ordered, and at that I was hauled off to the main lobby again. This time there where three ponies in more large power armor guarding the doors out and to the rest of the building.
After listing off everything I already knew about myself, we started running endurance tests, she seemed to think that, "a machine so complex," As she put it, would run off a power source that would require cooling should I do strenuous activity. As it turned out, I did not. I had been running in place for a solid hour and a half before she decided that clearly if I needed to cool off it would take to long for it to happen to matter.
Next she tried to test my combat capability, witch proved utterly useless. I stated that I did not have the overrides to be able to preform combat, and when she shot at me, only to be met with not retaliation, she accepted it. Having very little else to test she decided to test my ability to think for myself.
"If two ponies where tied to the tracks at junction A and one pony was tied to junction B, and a train was coming down the track witch junction would you choose to let the train go down?" Was her first question.
"I would let the train go down Junction B," I replied. As far as I was concerned there was no reason to ponder a question like that, it was only logical to prevent as many casualties as possible.
Sensing that in order to understand just how sapient I was she asked me a harder ethical dilemma. "A pony want's to have a tree cut down, it's on her property, but before she owned the property, the local orphanage had a deal with the owner to use the apple's to make apple pie's as the local orchard's apples where too expensive. Is she in the right to chop down the tree, or should she uphold the deal?" She asked.
Now this question felt different, there didn't seem to be a right answer. she couldn't deprive the foals of their treats, as that would be cruel, but if she owned the land, then she had every right to chop it down. So I did the next best thing I was capable of, reasoning.
"She should not chop the tree down, but sell the apple's at a price lower then the orchard's price to the orphanage as to still gain from the deal," To me, it seemed like the logical answer, to Butterfly however, it was incorrect.
"That wasn't an option, she's not willing to negotiate, you have to pick A or B," She corrected me.
"May I speak to her? I am sure we can come to an agre-"
"Hold on, hold on, she's not real, it's just a question, there is no orphanage, or orchard," She cut me off.
"Then the question is irrelevant and therefor it will not matter witch one I choose, so I choose let the orphans have apple pie," I said immediately. I chose this not by random but because it was what I would have done. This seemed to have satisfied her for now.
"So you are somewhat sapient, you just see everything as a logic puzzle," She said with new purpose to her voice. "I will talk to Hedge about getting you protection," and with that she left me with the two armored ponies. I wanted to follow, but I didn't know if I would be allowed to, so I took a step forward, and when nothing was shot at me, continued to where Butterfly had gone.
She had gone to the main office of the maintenance section of this building, my original destination. I also now noticed that this was the room I was in when first introduced to the Paladin. It was small, bigger then my closet but small, there was a desk on the far wall with a terminal on it, a safe to the right, and a work bench to the left.
"What do you mean 'destroy it'?!" Butterfly seemed to be having a heated discussion with Paladin Hedge.
"That is an order scribe! you will do as I have commanded or face court martial," His tone was brisk, and commanding, leaving no room for argument. "The 'Equidriod' has is of benefit to us, and cannot be replicated even if we still had the latest tech from the ministry,"
"Did you miss the part where he's sapient? Even if we can't replicate or use him, we should at least leave him be!" She said angrily. They where talking about if they should destroy me, and no sooner had I entered the room had I been noticed.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear, either you do it now, or I'll have you arrested," He commanded.
"I have combat capabilities, I cannot use them due to not having the override inside the terminal behind butterfly," I said in a vain attempt to diffuse the situation.
"So what? you expect me to hoof it over to you so you can kill us now that you know we need you gone?" As much as it was framed as a question it was not, it was his way of telling me the decision was final. That's when I saw Butterfly hoofing through the desk, she didn't seem to be against me so I decided I would buy her time.
I dashed out of the room, down the hall, through the lobby and to the stairwell. Hedge and two more rangers where now giving chase, but as they where a lot heavier then me they where slower, all be it not by much. I came thundering up to the floor I had awoken on, and in a random choice of action leaped through the large window I had looked out of before.
I hit the ground with a loud crunching sound that could only be my frame buckling under me. I started staggering forward and hid behind an empty food market, where I watched as some how, the rangers had stopped chasing me, they must have assumed me destroyed.
But that hope was quickly dashed as two scribes came out of the main entrance and started combing the immediate area for my remains. One was Butterfly, and the other was a lavender unicorn I had not yet seen. I stumbled to my hooves and tried to get away, but in doing so I knocked over some of the garbage cans near by.
"There!" Shouted the lavender unicorn, as they both closed in on my position. Butterfly got there first. She had her combat shotgun levitated at eye level with me.
"I'm sorry" She said as the lavender unicorn came running over, and before I could process what she had meant she swung her shotgun around and unloaded two rounds into the other scribes face. "Oh Celestia!" She cried out in terror, "No no no no no! I didn't think she was so close!"
Seeming to realize that if she wanted to live she would have to leave now she turned to face me. "I know how this looks but now we're both wanted by the rangers, so we need to leave!" She gestured with a hoof to the Ministry of Arcane Science building in the distance. "lets go there, it's become some what of a trade post I can buy the tools needed to fix you and then we can leave," As she gestured to the building, I noticed she now had a Pipbuck, no doubt from the head engineers office.
And with that we left the other scribe to bleed out, for fear that we would be killed on sight. It wasn't a far trot to tower, but in my current state I wasn't able to move very fast, so, by daybreak, we had gotten there and waited at the entrance.
"Hand over all your ammunition, and you can come in," Said the guard stallion. Butterfly promptly did so and I stated that I had none, and with that we where headed to get a room.
Once we had a room, Butterfly left to go buy enough tools to cut out the bent part of my frame, heat it up and bend it back into the right shape so she could weld it back on. But before that she came to me on my little would palate off to the side of a rather nice looking apartment room with red sheets and violet walls. "I have something for you, hopefully you won't decide to shoot me, but that's what building trust is for right?"
"What do you mean?" I queried.
"If I give you this, you trust me not to hurt you, and I'll trust you to make the choices from now on, deal?" She answered bluntly.
"Alright, what is it you are giving me?"
She then plugged her new Pipbuck into my chest, and uploaded the override. "Free will."
Footnote: Level 3!
Author's Note
sorry for the bad questions, I couldn't think of anything good.
fallout equestria: project communicate
Prolog: the beginning of a beginning
Why did being head of a Ministry have to involve talking to so many ponies? Fluttershy thought. "All you need to do is show everypony how important it is to do this, and then we can stop the war and all the death for good,"
She paced around her office. There was 20 minutes until she needed to speak to the group of ponies about their new, very secret, project. She had hoof picked their most loyal, and smartest ponies from both her own Ministry, and Twilight's Ministry.
"You'll do fine, you just have to talk to them kindly and they'll help," She whispered to herself in the mirror. she would have to do this if she wanted to stop the war soon. but is it right to make artificial life? With some help from Twilight it would be able to feel emotions. no wait, we don't want that, it's supposed to be completely un bias. so maybe they could give it feelings after the war was over, so having a spell for that ready would be a good idea right?
"Ma'am, you're on," said the brown stallion that had peeked into the office.
"Alright, I'll be out in a minute," Fluttershy said quietly.
Walking out onto her podium she looked out on the 10 hoof picked ponies assigned this project. 5 from her own Ministry
"Um, hello. I know that you all must want to know why you're here, and why you had to sign the loyalty wavers," She said in a whisper that was too quite but still audible. "the reason you're all here, is because I want you to make a robot, one that will understand and learn,"
They all looked at each other as though this might be impossible, but one by one each pony in the room nodded. this was it, the project was now going to take place. it would have to start tomorrow, as nopony knew just how much time they had before things went to far down hill. so with a quite sigh of relief, she explained the actual details of the project, thanked everypony for coming, and went to her office.
"I really hope this works, too many ponies die everyday," little did she know, that in a few months time, bombs would fall and what was left of Equestria would be even worse then the horrors she had seen so far.
Author's Note
The only reason I don't go into more detail about the project is because ,one I'm entirely sure about it yet, and two, I want the main character to have to discover that all for himself as the story progresses.