Title:           A light breeze floated over the rocks and dirt of the San Palomino’s quiet no
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/L680iwpY
First Edit:      Monday 15th of February 2016 11:41:31 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Monday 15th of February 2016 11:41:31 PM CDT

    A light breeze floated over the rocks and dirt of the San Palomino’s quiet northern reaches in the mid morning. Walking by his lonesome, a cloaked and hooded pony paused to check the portable computer clamped to his left foreleg. All was quiet save for the repeating noise that played in his ear, the product of an unknown signal. Light flared from his horn gently, manipulating familiar buttons and wheels on the device until he arrived at the window he desired. The pony clicked one last button and took a breath.
 
    “Two days since New Nickerton, the trip going around the northern side and then to the south took longer than I thought. I should have just taken a route along the coast but I went inland instead.”
 
    Jitters paused and sighed heavily, staring into his pipbuck, watching the recording timer tick onwards.
 
    “I don’t know where I’m going. I can’t go back home and I’m afraid to face my, friend, again. He wouldn’t understand… But anyway, I picked up a strange signal that I decided to investigate when I was slipping through the outskirts of the city, on the eastern side. Led me south like I planned anyway so, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
 
The young stallion continued his slow march forward, on three legs, still speaking into his pipbuck as he looked around.
 
“It’s not a signal I’m entirely familiar with but I believe it’s a distress signal. I thought maybe it would lead to a pre-balefire bunker in the city, like a Stable or maybe some deadpony’s home-made shelter where I could pick up some forgotten stash of supplies but, no such luck. It’s actually led me out of the city proper, and appears to come from a mobile source.”
 
The quiet morning was broken by the crack of a rifle in the distance, drawing his attention away from the pipbuck.
 
    “I think I may have have just caught up too,” he said, ending the recording.
 
Jitters broke into a quick trot and sought out the source of the commotion. Few ponies in the wasteland look for trouble, and fewer still avoided it; but a part of him still believed in helping others. Failing that, his curiosity was a far more tempting prospect than more wandering.
 
Rocks became boulders and the path forward turned into an uneven slope as he approached signs of life. Three ticks appeared on his EFS, two solid reds and one flickering between red and turquoise. Already, a plan began to form in his mind as he withdrew a trusty pistol from it’s holster and shed his hood with a wave of light. There were voices up ahead, rough and crass like most typical Wasters.
 
He licked his lips and checked the safety as he stalked forward, weighing up the effectiveness of a surprise attack. Instead, a grimace formed on his features; peace was preferable but it he knew it was an idealistic hope.
 
Jitters stopped for a moment and perked up his ears when the words became clearer. The beeping of the distress signal was strong now, so he turned it down with a mental flick to his pipbuck.
 
“Come on, just shew’ dit already! We gotta eat and that thing looks like it’s worth plenty a caps,” came a the voice of a rather thick sounding stallion.
 
“I’m trying ya dunce!” replied a harsher voice. “It’s crawled itselfs up in this little crevice and I ain’t looking to get zapped!”
 
Jitters slowed as he came around a few large boulders onto the scene and knit his brow. Two old stallions, scavengers by the looks of them, were hunkered around a small crevice neither of them could fit in. Judging by his EFS, he determined the third tick had taken shelter inside the crevice.
 
The unicorn with the rifle lowered himself in an attempt to peek into the crevice, while his the earth pony inspected a metal cylinder in his hooves, but a thin red beam shot out with a sharp pop. Jitters hummed to himself, wondering what kind of weapon would produce a beam of that size before focusing his attention back on the rifle wielding pony.
 
    It appeared to be a combat rifle and judging by the rust and duct tape, it had seen far too many years and barely enough maintenance to keep it working. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth for a moment while he recalled an old memory. It was quite a similar scene to this, but the difference this time was his position as ambusher. The thought of repaying the favor to a stranger was uplifting.
 
Jitters stepped out of cover with his pistol raised and closed in. When the gap was a scant six ponylengths, he drew their attention with a low whistle. The pony with the rifle flinched and spun around, nearly losing focus on his rifle while his duller friend simply looked up with a look of confusion.
 
Lining up the shot with an assist from Stabletech was all too easy when the opposition was in a state of unpreparedness. The metallic *bang* of the gun was quickly met with a sharp *ping* as the bullet connected with the rifle’s barrel. The weapon jerked out of the former stallions’ mental grip as he flinched and it bounced off a nearby rock before coming to rest in the dirt while the latter flinched and dropped the object he had been inspecting. Jitters glanced at the rifle to note the warped metal and ensure it was out of order. Now had to be as good a time as any to speak.
 
    “Alright you two, didn’t anypony teach you not to pick on other ponies?” Jitters asked.
 
    The unicorn eyed his rifle nervously while the other looked to his friend for directions, clearly he was the one in charge.
 
    “Don’t bother, that barrel’s too damaged for it to do anything but explode in your face,” Jitters stated. He began approaching slowly, keeping his weapon trained on the old buck. “And I’d rather not have to shoot you anyway.”
 
    The unicorn worked his jaw, the scruffy fur on his chin waving slightly while he tried to work up the courage to speak.
 
    “We saw it first Waster! Y-you think I’m just gunna let you nab our meal ticket after I shot it down? Eh?” he barked.
 
    Jitters flicked the pistol off to the side and let off another shot, causing the two bucks to flinch and yelp.
 
    “Not going to warn you again pal. You want caps?” he asked, carefully dividing his mental attention to a moldy purse in his coat. Another flick of mental focus sent the old, pre ware bag sailing to the two bucks and landed with a jangle.
 
    “That will last you for a while, now get out of here, and leave that cylinder…”
 
    The earth pony looked between Jitters and the purse a few times, then reached for it eagerly to check it’s contents.
 
    “Hey look, there’s like, uh… twen-nee or ther-dee caps in here! We’re rich!” he exclaimed.
 
    The unicorn only deflated with a grumbling sigh. “Well… At least let me grab my gun huh? No magic, see?”
 
    Jitters watched the pony slowly reach down to pick up the damaged rifle with yellowed teeth. The stallion grunted to show his non aggression and began backing away, around the crevice to follow his friend already walking away from the scene. When the two had been gone for a good minute, their bickering voices dying off in the distance, Jitters finally relaxed and let out a breath.
 
    “If only it was that easy all the time,” he sighed.
 
Those were the only caps he had managed to scrounge up while passing through the city. Trading for supplies with friendlies was going to be difficult without them, but he would make due.
   
“Now let’s see what we got here…”
   
Jitters approached the crevice, holstering his weapon and focusing on the metal cylinder instead. At first glance, it looked like an odd model of blender with the blades in the middle, but further study revealed the bottom to show signs of wear from heat.
 
He knit his brow, racking his brains for whatever reason such a thing could exist, but remembered the answer was just a few feet away. The little tick in the crevice had stopped flickering from hostile to friendly and held still.
 
    “Hello?” Jitters called out. “It’s safe to come out now, I’m not going to hurt you.”
 
    Silence reigned for several moments and the tick didn’t move. Jitters wiggled his muzzle and hummed in thought. It made sense to him that whoever was in there would be wary, but maybe he could coax them out with something. He looked at the little cylinder again and narrowed his eyes curiously at it, then set it down in front of the crevice.
 
    He stepped back for a moment to observe what happened next, but the tick never moved. Instead he heard a curious noise, like a terminal booting up. The soft hum of stabletech hardware was a familiar note to him and further patience was rewarded with a small set of electronic beeps.
 
    Something began moving within the crevice, and the sound of metal scraping against rock hit Jitters’ ears. He caught himself accidentally leaning forward, excited to discover the source of the both the noise and the signal. Then a small, dark object pushed it’s way out of the crevice and swiveled around mechanically, causing Jitters to tilt his head slowly.
 
    The source of the signal, it seemed, was a small robot modeled after a filly’s likeness. There were no specific markers or ‘a look’ to the head, but regardless, a feminine theme was apparent despite the lack of a mane and the smoothed features. It appeared to have wire mesh eyes and a focusing gem on it’s forehead. He had to conclude that was where the earlier beam had come from.
 
“That’s new...” Jitters said while the curious automaton continued it’s scan of the area. Once it finally faced his direction, it froze and a faint clicking static noise played against the gentle hum it produced. The seconds began to tick by, and Jitters tilted his head to the other side, wondering what could be taking so long to process. If memory served him correctly, typical ponitrons and sentry bots in good condition could identify and track a target in less than three seconds.
 
The little robot mimicked him, tilting it’s own head to mirror his action; ponitrons and sentry bots didn’t do that. Jitters stopped and straightened up again, observing more mimicry of his behavior. Little lightbulbs turned on in his head as he raised his right hoof and waggled it for a moment. Again, the robot mimicked him, bringing a metal leg out of the crevice and waggling it back and forth. Little gears and hydraulics in it’s limbs whirred as it copied him, he couldn’t help but smile at how oddly cute it was.
 
He sat himself down and focused on the cylinder again, catching it in a net of light and bringing it back over to himself. The robot continued to track the movement until he gestured for it to come closer. More processing noise followed before it finally crawled its way out of the crevice, and his heart sank a little when he realized just how much damage the little filly-bot had suffered. It’s front right leg was broken at the knee, hanging on by damaged wires and bent metal while on it’s wings there were three more cylinders to to match the one he held.
 
Jitters stopped himself for a moment and blinked; wings. The little robot had wings, where three other cylinders were bolted onto the underside. The missing piece he held belonged to the right side wing, on the very end where signs of damaged were cleared. He hummed and peered at the damaged limb.
 
“Guess that old buck wasn’t kidding about shooting you down huh?” He said mostly to himself.
 
The little robot surprised him when it let out a negative sounded noise, like a terminal rejecting attempted access. It’s wings adjusted and sparks flew from the broken section while the other three cylinders fired up for a moment, lifting the filly-bot off the ground momentarily with a slight whine and a jet of hot air.
 
“Oooh,” Jitters exclaimed, reexamining the piece he held in his hooves. “It’s a propulsion engine. Amazing.”
 
He looked back to the robot with interest, a grin forming on his muzzle, “Where did you come from? Can you understand me?”
 
The robot took some time to answer, most of it’s systems seem to run just loud enough to hear while it stood still. At first, it blurted out a string of noises that seemed like gibberish but upon nodding at him, Jitters felt more confident. Whatever this little robot was or wherever it came from, it was vastly more advanced if yet ‘inferior’ by other standards. It could understand him, it could respond, it actively tracked and it could even mimic movement. He knew quite quite a few ponies who would be interested in this kind of technology, but it was unlikely any of them would be friendly.
 
Jitters grimaced, banishing all the distractions in his mind with a shake of his head; now wasn’t the time to dwell on past decisions. Instead he brought up his pipbuck and began cycling through whatever data he had on interacting with robotic units. The little robot simply watched him for the time being, occasionally beeping at him while he searched for the desired file.
 
“Here it is…” he mumbled to himself, then looked up to the little filly-bot and grunted. “So you can understand me… But I’m still having trouble understanding you. I think I can fix that though, but I need access to your systems.”
 
Light from his horn flowed like water to grasp a square plug-in from the back of his pipbuck and pull it out. Wires inside the device whined as they unwound from the storage compartment they belonged to, and he waited patiently for the robot’s response. The mouthless face stared at him for several seconds before emitting an agreeable chirp and bobbing its head.
 
The filly-bot proceeded to hobble closer and present it’s right side to him, and a little hatch popped open over the flank area. Jitters noticed painted letters emblazoned on the surface of the robot’s flank and read them out loud.
 
“P... E... S... E… Is that you?” he asked.
 
Jitters grinned as the automaton responded quicker this time, impressed by the way it strung together the whirring noise of it’s legs bending with a two toned hum from it’s head. It nearly sounded as if ‘PES-E’ had said it’s name out loud.
 
“Well, PES-E, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jitters,” he replied as he located a compatible slot to plug himself into. “Huh, looks like there’s a compatible port after all, whoever made you must have used Stabletech hardware. Software should be the same too in theory...”
 
The attachment clicked in snugly and already his pipbuck screen became a hive of activity. Access requests flew by on the little screen and suddenly, a new window set itself up on his pipbuck. He read the words ‘PES-E LOG:’ at the top, and a blinking marker for character input immediately after. PES-E let off a string of computing noises, chirps and warbles, as text began to rapidly flow over the screen.
 
DESIGNATION: PEGASUS ENCLAVE STRIKER - MODEL E.
DIRECTIVE: SCOUT SURFACE WITH PEG-E UNIT AND REPORT BACK.
ERROR: PEG-E UNIT UNAVAILABLE.  NO SIGNAL DETECTED.
CURRENT GOAL: LOCATE PEG-E UNIT.
ERROR: STARBOARD ENGINE 2 NON RESPONSIVE, FLIGHT CAPABILITIES IMPAIRED.
ERROR: RIGHT FORELEG SEVERELY DAMAGED, MOBILITY IMPAIRED.
 
    The diagnostic readings continued on, listing off PES-E key components and status reports of various systems including weapons and even a Cloud-Walking talisman. While tech like that was impressive, the proof of Enclave tech under the cloud covered scared him.
 
Jitters raised his eyes to the cloud cover above and shivered, feeling rather small and exposed. He could only wonder what the Enclave could want with the surface in this corner of Equestria, but his best guess was the city of Nickerton several miles to the north. It was the logical conclusion that they could be interested in at least one of the Stables within the city’s limits. He recalled the data from the Bastion he had read over in the past detailing local stables, including the ones in Nickerton. Intel back home was seldom wrong, so long as it was up to date.
 
PES-E chirped at him again, drawing his attention back to the ground; she had sent him a message on his pipbuck.
 
STATEMENT: PEG-E UNIT IS MISSING.
QUERY: FRIENDLY-TARGET JITTERS, PEG-E UNIT LOCATION KNOWN?
 
Jitters looked up from the screen and frowned at PES-E. “Sorry, I don’t. I only picked up one signal and it was yours,” he said, looking over the little robot. “Is PEG-E like you?”
 
STATEMENT: AFFIRMATIVE. PEGASUS ENCLAVE GUARDIAN - MODEL E. COUNTERPART UNIT. REESTABLISHING CONTACT WITH PEG-E UNIT PRIORITY ALPHA.
 
The unicorn had to pause for a moment and marvel the wonder of this automaton in front of him. The work that must have gone into creating this unit and it’s counterpart must have been very extensive, which was both worrying and fascinating. Nothing from what he knew suggested the Enclave had access to advanced AI’s but here it was staring him in the face like a curious foal.
 
He slumped slightly and put a metal clad hoof to his chin, wondering what to make of the situation. Jitters felt compelled to help the little robot but had nothing to go on, no idea what direction to search in.
 
“Wait,” he said suddenly, PES-E whirring and bobbing slightly at his outburst. “Do you have a mapping function? Your directive was to scout the surface here, right?”
 
PES-E hummed a little louder, processing his questions stoically for a moment before letting out a series of beeps and chirps.
 
ANSWER: PES-E UNIT DOES NOT FEATURE ‘MAPPING FUNCTION.’ RESYNC WITH PEG-E UNIT REQUIRED TO ACCESS DATA STORAGE OF LOCAL GEOGRAPHICS.
 
“Damn…” Jitters muttered, shaking his head slightly before looking around. Even in his little corner of the Wasteland, it was a big place, and the ‘PEG-E’ unit could be anywhere. He turned his attention back to the robot and asked, “PES-E, you had a distress signal I was able to track. What about ‘PEG-E’?
 
PES-E’s answer was almost immediate. She chirped and nodded her head repeatedly in response.
 
ANSWER: AFFIRMATIVE. ERROR, NO SIGNAL DETECTED.
SUMMARY: PEG-E UNIT IS (A) DEACTIVATED, (B) DAMAGED, (C) DESTROYED.
 
    Jitters grimaced at the notion of the counterpart unit being destroyed. It was a mechanical unit that couldn’t feel pain like any pony or living creature but he couldn’t help feeling sympathetic. If ‘PEG-E’ was any one of PES-E’s suggestions, there would be no way for it to signal them for help and PES-E could end up wandering until other scavengers decided to try their luck, or until she rusted away and broke down.
 
    The unicorn was lost for words and ill prepared to come up with a solution. A day or two spent searching wouldn’t be a bad thing, but he knew he would need to move on before long. He looked away from the little robot’s face and into the distance, searching for an answer that wouldn’t come. At least, not in a way he expected.
 
    Suddenly, PES-E froze up and let off a little warning siren.
 
    WARNING! COUNTERPART SIGNAL DETECTED.
    PROCESSING…
    SIGNAL STRENGTH 5.37%
    ESTIMATING SIGNAL DIRECTION…
 
    Jitters stood up quickly as well, exclaiming his surprise and glancing rapidly between pipbuck and automaton. PES-E continued to process for a few moments longer before letting out another string of clicks and beeps.
 
    DIRECTION VERIFIED.
STATEMENT: PEG-E UNIT IS LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 12 MILES DUE SOUTHWEST.
SUMMATION: CONTINUE WITH PRIORITY ALPHA AND RESYNC WITH COUNTERPART UNIT.
 
PES-E began to whir and beep rapidly as she accessed more of Jitters’ pipbuck of her own accord, then suddenly ejected the plug from his pipbuck on her own. The wires whined as they were reeled in to their original place and two of the little robot’s engines spun up. Dust and dirt blew past Jitter’s legs as he backed away in surprise.
 
The robot lifted off the ground shakily and then began to hover over the terrain. Jitters couldn’t help but gawk for a moment before hearing a strange beep from his pipbuck, responding to PES-E’s own noise.
 
HOSTILE TARGETS: (0) UNKNOWN.
FRIENDLY TARGETS: (1) JITTERS.
SUMMATION: ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.
QUERY: ACCEPT?
 
 
    Jitter’s mouth dropped open into a small ‘O,’ realizing that PES-E had quite literally written another new set of codes into the spell-matrix of his pipbuck; allowing her to communicate with him remotely. A grin spread over his muzzle and he felt an energy he didn’t realize he lacked surge back into him.
 
    “Yeah… Yeah, let’s go find your counterpart PES-E,” he replied cheerfully.
 
PES-E made another cheerful chirp and swerved off into a southwesterly direction, gliding off towards her intended target determinedly. It was a light jog for Jitters to keep up, but with the excitement at the prospect of a little adventure in his wanderings, he couldn’t help but welcome it.