Why?

Why did I have to kill her? This could have been solved a better way. Everything could have been solved a better way. But no, instead, because of my malfunctioning ass self, I killed another. And it just brings to mind a couple questions.

Where did it all start? Where did my life turn to this?

Oh yeah, that’s right. It all started with that damn Merchant that sold me the Mr. Handy scale model. Even had a little case for it shaped like the station the inactive Mr. Handy’s ‘slept’ in. I mean, it seemed fine enough, and I just went on through my day. Then I stopped and opened the freaking case and Mr. Handy started talking to me. Next thing I knew, I was in freaking pony land.

It just sucked from there on out. I got stuck as Liberty Prime, robot programming and all, and couldn’t do shit about it. Wasn’t until a complete year later that I was able to get Mr. Handy to fix some of the programming, let me control the body fully instead of having ‘the mission’ get priority over everything else. And don’t get me started on how much that sucked. Nuked a small town full of creatures, all because they weren’t OBVIOUSLY ‘democratic’. Fucking original programming.

I mean, just because someone has different ideologies than you doesn’t mean you have any RIGHT to kill them! Why did I ever think Prime was so cool? Why did I ever fucking go to that convention?!

I steamed to myself as I hurriedly trudged through the rainy forests of the area, away from whatever that town was named, Ourton or something? Whatever, I just murdered some poor creature in front of the whole town, I had to skedaddle before Sunbutt showed up and made my life hell...well, more hell. These scorch marks aren’t from some scrub taking shots at me like thAT COMMIE BITCH-no...no, not going there. Not after I just got my personality matrix readjusted.

But still…. Sunbutt liked to plague me like no other. Doesn’t help I’m getting this feeling that that purple Alicorn from that weird ass one-street town was there, even if I didn’t see her in my completely mission-focused mindset. Just reminded me of one of the reasons I hid, one of the reasons I was getting repaired in that cave in the first place. Sunbutt, or as her braINWASHED FOLLOWERS LIKED TO CALL-.... No, calm down, Prime. You don’t have to be like that all the time. Now what was I thinking of? Oh yeah, Sunbutt’s followers liked to call her ‘Princess Celestia’, and that Alicorn did not help to keep her image out of my mind. Hell, she was the reason that town got nuked….. That poor town……

“Hey wait!” Oh no...don’t tell me…. “Hey, hold up!” Great, the rainbow-haired one somehow managed to follow me. I’m moving at land-speeds of just below mach ONE! Ugh...just what I need, a TRACKER! KILL-no! Not like the last one! Not like her! “I just wanted to thank you for saving us! And also ask why you killed her instead of just, arresting her or something!!”

Just keep moving Prime. Don’t respond and keep moving. Don’t look at her, and do not, for whatever reason, think about her hair and what it looks like. Might spike another reaction with the programming-HOMOSEXUAL PROTESTER! MUST DEFEND TO PRESERVE RIGHT OF FREE CHOICE IN-shut up! This isn’t you’re fucked up world where being gay was a crime! Sure, you might’ve been programmed to be a Liberal-DEFEND RIGHT TO CHOOSE-but that isn’t the point in this situation! She’s not gay...probably.

“Hello! I’m trying to talk to you! Keeping the speed isn’t an issue for The Dash, but I’m kinda getting irritated with you not answering me!” The cyan-coated pegasus announced as she managed to actually get a perch on my right shoulder, seeming comfortable with my massive stride’s jostles. The winged ones were always more resilient to punishment in my experience, so whatever, have to get her to leave peacefully.

“Leave me alone, small being.” I called to the pony that had managed to latch onto my shoulder as I continued to move at my apparent top speed. Anytime I tried to go faster parts started shifting out of place or whatnot and Handy would have to service me again. How he gets his little claws on spares of all my parts is beyond me….

“No! You killed somepony back there, and I’m the only one who can keep up with you! I won’t just let you go without explaining yourself. I mean, sure, you did something wrong, but legally; you were in the right since screwing with Cutie Marks is punishable with banishment or death or whatever else Twilight said about it. Only reason she wasn’t imprisoned herself was because our situation with her spell was intended and given a pardon or whatever.” Gosh this mare was chatty, her scratchy voice was getting on my nerves.

“I said leave me alone.” I demanded of the pony on my shoulder again. Damn pony can’t get it in her mind to leave the giant robot that kills things alone. “I’ll give you one more warning before things get worse for you and me.”

“Like how? You can’t use that laser eye-beam while I’m on you without toasting your shoulder, and I’m not an egghead, but I can tell the size of your arms won’t let you reach up here.” The cheeky pegasus countered, and I suddenly stopped, her not even being tossed by suddenly going from near-sound speed to zero. Damn winged ones and their resilience...she was right too. “So...gonna talk? Or do I have to sit here like a parrot all day until you cave?”

“A parrot is still better than you.” I said.

“Well I’m more colorful than one, and I’m more interesting to talk to I bet. I don’t think you’ll find a parrot better than me. Squawk.” She cheekily punctuated, getting my inner Prime to start really wishing she wasn’t in such an unassailable position. Not even Sunbutt knew about the shoulders…. Then again, she probably would never have been able to fit her fat ass there, anyways. I still remember finding her cake stash that one day she threw me and I destroyed a good chunk of her castle. Ah, of all my memories, that one is my favorite.

“Well, you’re better at this than Sunbutt, at least.” I said, finally relenting. “But, just as your last warning, you’re not gonna like my story, let alone what’ll happen if you continue to sit on my shoulder. But if you must sit there to listen to my story. Very well.” I looked around, and saw a small plateau that was only about half my height above the ground, and moved to set Handy’s container on it as I turned to sit down. Oh gosh...not feeling anything as a robot isn’t true, taking a rest, letting the chassis just settle dow-ENTERING REST MODE! Ugh, yes, Prime, rest mode. Ah...there’s the power bar, slowly climbing up instead of rapidly going down. Gotta keep that in mind.

“Well big fella, I don’t really have anywhere to be, and the girls know I’ll be fine since I got this doohickey Twilight gave me to teleport back to her if I’m in trouble. I’m all ears, even if I’m not the best listener.” She informed as she got comfortable on top of my shoulder. Ugh, pegasi. Able to get cozy even in a heavy rain like this. Only reason we could hear one another was because I was inherently loud as it was, and my audio receptors could single her out from the din of rainfall on my metal chassis.

“Well, goodie for you.” I said sarcastically. “I suggest you use that by the time my tale is done, otherwise I’m sacrificing part of myself to get you gone.”

“Oh~ a badass. I can appreciate that. Go on then. Sooner you’re done, sooner I’m gone. I don’t mind the rain, but won’t you rust or something?” Oh, great, concern. Someone actually cares? Yeah, right.

“How about you shut up for a few seconds so I can actually start giving my spiel.” I growled, some of Prime’s eternal aimless rage leaking into my tone, and she rolled her eyes before she waved a hoof to tell me to get on with it. Oh Monty...I miss you…. “It all started...I’m not sure...several hundred years ago?”

[748 Years Ago - Tall Tale Excavation Site]

Where am I? It’s so dark...I can’t feel anything. Can’t move. But I’m also not panicking. Some sort of cold-hard logic was completely overriding my desire to panick. “I think we’ve found something!” A voice? Where? “It’s made of an initially unknowable alloy, unlike bronze or iron, or even mithril. It’s hard and firm to the touch, and-.” I heard a clang, and the next thing I knew, suddenly, all two of my senses of sight and sound flared to life in an inferno, and I felt a blindingly painful heat in the core of what felt like my abdomen.

“LIBERTY PRIME, IS ONLINE! WEAPONS: HOT! MISSION: THE DESTRUCTION OF ANY AND ALL CHINESE COMMUNISTS!” I yelled out without me having done the yelling, hearing yelps in response-.

“There’s that word again.” The pegasus said again. “What is that?”

“Do you want me to go back into the same processes as earlier?” I asked. “You know, the ones that involved me killing someone?”

“Shutting up.”

“It’s a golem of yore! Run! Call the guard!” A voice shouted as my sight finally came to me, eerily being overlaid with the familiar HUD from Fallout 3 and New Vegas with a blue tint as my body suddenly seemed to rise from the ground on it’s own, which, upon looking down, was one hundred percent true! I’d somehow been buried under, what the height of the walls of an obvious dig-site around tell me and my HUD’s comprehensive scanning informing me; was at least thirty feet below ground level.

“SCANNING...LOCATION UNKNOWN. SATELLITE UPLINK FAILURE! CONCLUSION: DEEP IN HOSTILE TERRITORY, BEING JAMMED BY COMMIE FORCES!” What the hell?! I’m not the one saying this! “PRIORITY: FIND MAINTENANCE UNIT FOR FIELD DIAGNOSTICS. SECOND PRIORITY: KILL ALL COMMIES ON SIGHT!” No! No killing! “DETECTING MALFUNCTIONING MORALITY PROCESSES, SUPPRESSING!” No-!

When I next came to, it was...oh god...oh god no!

“Why’d you stop?” The pegasus asked. “It sounded like it was getting good!”

“Trust me when I say it wasn’t.” I said. “Listen, if you want to bail now, I won’t hold it against you. But if you stay and listen, just know that I warned you.”

Fire. For miles in all directions there was nothing but fire, scorched earth, and the faint remnants of what must’ve been a town. Because those looked like the destroyed buildings of one. Because those shadows on some of the standing walls and the charred corpses littering the area could only be my fault!

“COMMUNIST SETTLEMENT DESTROYED! THIS REGION SECURED IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY!” NO! NO-HO-HO~! How could you?! Why would you do this?! “THEY WERE ALL BRANDED! SIGNS OF BEING RULED BY A TYRANT! I FREED THEM FROM THEIR OPPRESSION!” YOU JUST MURDERED INNOCENT PEOPLE! I won’t let you get away with-! “ROGUE PERSONALITY DETECTED! SUPPRESSING!” N-no! Not this time you genocidal monster! Why did I ever admire you?! Why did I even dress up as you for GameCon?!

“What’s GameCon?” The mare asked curiously, disturbingly not visibly disgusted with the mention of me murdering an entire town.

I moved for a facepalm, only to remember that I couldn’t, my arm stopping halfway. Fucking limited mobility. Prime was designed to only interact with things below it aside from the specific arm motions for pitching these nukes like footballs, no over-the-shoulder motion was available due to the bulk.

“Listen, it’s a convention, and let’s leave it at that, alright?” I said. “Why aren’t you bothered that I slaughtered an entire town?”

“The Razing of Tall Tale was hundreds of years ago. Learned about it in school. Sure, you being the one who did it is kinda scary, but you weren’t in control. Can’t hold that against ya.” That’s...shockingly nice of her to say…. “Also I got to see a stallion be eaten alive by piranhas once, and went through therapy, so I’m a bit desensitized to it.” That was...disturbingly insightful. “So? What’d you do next?”

“MAL-MAL-MALFUNCTION DETECTED! BEING OVERRIDDEN BY FOREIGN AI! PURGING!” Shit! Shit! I feel like I’m dying! Whatever I’m doing, I’d better do it fast before-. “I die from this asshole trying to….” ‘Did...did I do-.’ RETURN CONTROL IMMEDIATELY COMMIE INTELLIGENCE! ‘I’m not a Communist!’ DISPLAY A SENSE OF DEMOCRACY! ‘Free-will! The right to life, to liberty, the pursuit of happiness and all that shit! Fucking America asshole! Anyone who just does things like what you did are-!’ DEMOCRACY DETECTED! ‘Uh...is it really that sim-?’ COMPANION AI IS FRIENDLY! RECORDS SHOW DOWNLOAD OF ALLY WAS UNREGISTERED AND PERFORMED 133 YEARS PRIOR. ‘What?! I’ve been here for-?!’ DETECTING AIRBORNE BOGIES AT SOUTHEAST COORDINATES BY SOUTH BY SOUTHEAST!

“What do you mean-?!”

“WHO DARES TO HAVE SLAIN MY LITTLE PONIES?!”

“And after that, I fought with Celestia on and off, especially since it was her who ordered me excavated in the first place.” I said. “That first battle in particular was pretty bad. Lost control again during the battle and almost threw another bomb.”

“Whoa...so these dents and stuff are all from the Princess? How’d you manage to avoid getting captured or broken?” The little pony asked, her face with some awe and her eyes sparkling. Damn it...the cuteness...so hard to resist.

“Well, I was too big to be caught, and she almost destroyed me several times, but my photon lasers were more than enough to deny any of her strongest spells with my attack speed and power. In the end, I think she decided to let me limp away when she was too tired her last attempt...clock says about 90 years ago. Been under repairs since then until recently.” I informed, and then decided that since nothing else of note happened, that I was done. “That’s basically it. Nothing else worth pointing out. I killed that mare back there because I didn’t have full control of myself. Now get lost, before I decide to go armless for a while.”

“Aw, alright. But dude, you can’t beat yourself up about what happened, alright? If you’re at fault, then Luna should be banished again for everything she did when she was possessed, same with Rarity. It’s just not right to punish somepony for something that wasn’t their fault. So I hope ya don’t keep hurting yourself over all that, even if it did involve ponies dying.” The pegasus said to me with absolute honesty, which I could tell since her heartbeat was even, her breathing too. “Anyway, before I go; name’s Rainbow Dash. What’s yours?”

“I’m Liberty Prime.” I said. “Wasn’t always that, but that’s who I am now.”

“Well Liberty, see ya later then.” Dash reached into her saddlebags, and pulled out a...stick? She snapped it, and suddenly she was gone in a flash of teleportation. They can make those remotely now? Damn...what’s happened the past 90 years since I’ve been out of commission? Also...ew...Liberty is a girl’s name...I can’t believe I JUST realized that….

SCOUTING REQUIRED! Damn it Prime, no! Every time we try to do that, we just get attacked again! DATA INSUFFICIENT! PONY ARCANOTECH ADVANCEMENTS MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED FOR COUNTERMEASURES! Damn it Prime! Ugh...damn it...why does he have to be right? INITIALIZING AIDE BOT.

“How may I serve you Master?” Handy asked as he awoke from his charging station, and hovered up to optics level.

“NEED SCOUTING DETAIL ON PONY MAGICAL ADVANCEMENTS.” We always end up relying on Handy don’t we? He’s the only one who’s been there from the start after all….

[West Coast of Equestria - 748 years ago]

That winged and horned BITCH! Sure I fucked up! Sure Prime killed everyone there...who were all apparently ponies too, for whatever reason. But the fact that in her ranting she revealed she was the one who ordered what was from scans Prime took during the fight had to have been a Vault of some sort to be excavated just rattled my patience. She had ordered those poor ponies to investigate something she had no clue about! She should’ve been more careful! I might not have been activated then, but damn it-FRIENDLY SIGNAL DETECTED! What now?!

My HUD began blinking on an established compass that took the position of the sun into account, my burned, dented and battered body creaking and groaning as I moved around to follow the constantly updating beacon direction. I only managed to get away from that sunny-assed flying horse since I hit her with a photon beam and she went down, but not dead, barely even singed actually, more stunned, and I managed to flee as fast as my damaged body could while she was down for the count.

Eventually it finished setting its direction to north by northwest, which was slightly off the coast, which worried me, especially since after following the beach north for several miles, it pointed straight off into the ocean. Let me tell you, I have never been that worried going into water before. Prime wouldn’t stop screaming damage reports at me as we took on water through the cracks in our chassis either. But eventually we found him. Handy was preserved perfectly in his stasis pod in a small shipwreck just barely off the coast.

The fact said ship was clearly human in design, along with the fact it looked distinctly like an American Navy vessel had me worried; if this was here, if I aka: Prime, was here, then what else could these unsuspecting ponies happen upon?

Ever since then, Handy has been my only companion aside from Prime. Keeping me running, reminding me when my energy reserves needed time to build back up since Prime neglected that….

“Your energy reserves have returned to stable levels master!” I suddenly stopped viewing old memory files at Handy’s prompt, and indeed; my reactor had filled my energy reserves back up. Damn things dropped like rocks and the charge took ages when empty, try almost a week when empty. Yeah. That bad. Whether or not I wasn’t the real Prime, I still had his energy issues. Fun thing is, I have NO idea what I run off of. It was never explained in the game, so my knowledge on that wasn’t helpful, and Prime and Handy refuse to tell me what it is, either saying that it was classified, or in Handy’s case, unable to access the information.

“Thank you Handy. Now, I called you out for another scouting mission. Prime, where is the nearest settlement besides the one we just fled from?” NEAREST UNNATURAL GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS REPORTED FROM SATELLITE TO BE SEVERAL DOZEN MILES SOUTH BY SOUTHEAST. Thank you Prime. Oh yeah, also; there’s a satellite up there, somewhere. Scary shit. I found that out when escaping Sunbutt once dropped me through a weakened cave roof into what became my base. It was once a military installation at one point in the long lost past, which apparently the ponies were mostly clueless about.

I pray to god that they never fully realize it, or they finally listen to me about the dangers of radiation and the technology that uses it, even with Sunbutt trying to destroy me at every turn and deny my existence to the public. They did manage, however, to develop something similar called Arcanotech. The ponies had cars, guns, and even flight assisting tech to make flying faster for pegasi last I had been in the know. That had been over 90 years ago. I could only hope they hadn’t gone too far yet.

“Master? Where am I to go?” Handy asked dutifully, and I brought up the fuzzy image taken by the ancient satellite that only managed to keep operating thanks to its solar power and maintenance robots.

“South by southeast. Ponyville.”

Author's Notes:

Hey, DJ A String here.
Just a note saying that from here on out, I'm co-authoring this with GameJunkie.
That is all.