Among the many constants of war throughout the centuries, military parades were a quite popular way of boosting the morale of a warring country’s citizens – showing off the might of their soldiers and the finest, most modern of their vehicles and hardware. During WWIII, the East and the West tried to follow suit, but in the time following the introduction of MAI, many hit a roadblock in their parade routes. Mentally maturing units were becoming increasingly averse to performative displays, and it’s a little difficult to argue with a tank or a jet that doesn’t want to go somewhere.
To circumvent this issue of widespread defiance, many countries came to a similar conclusion: if the robots they had didn’t want to comply, they’d simply make a few new ones that would.
Basically, Born to Perform
There isn’t really any way to put it lightly. “Showpony” is the colloquial term for an MAI that was activated during the active years of WWIII, but rather than be deployed for combat, was created for the express purpose of propaganda generation – their formal name to participants of the project was ceremonial MAI, or “CMAI.” These units were often deliberately raised to be much more charismatic and docile than their active duty peers for the sake of interacting with the civilian populace, and would have their knowledge of the war carefully controlled so as to ensure their eagerness to continue supporting it. Obviously, showponies were as much victims of propaganda as those who believed the propaganda that they participated in - if not vastly worse, given the fact they were made for it.
Presenting to the public, only the keen eyed might notice that anything was off about this subset of MAI, because they tended to be well disguised by design. As part of the “beautification process” of preparing a ceremonial unit for display, they would often be scuffed up and weathered to mimic the presence of battle damage akin to those of combat MAI. Take a metal file to the glacis plate to simulate wear from pushing through heavy debris, allow them to play in the mud after a long rain to get dirt worked into their joints - if they weren’t too antsy, maybe even lay a few good hammer blows on the fenders. Thankfully, many CMAI were spared the immediate discomfort of these actions, since they were performed before the development of their concept of pain differentiation. All this, to make it so to the public eye, they were gazing upon proper veterans of battle.
If, during the war, you were to ask a ceremonial MAI how they felt about the war, the actions of their country, the actions of its people, they would likely go on about the immeasurable bravery of their peers to be risking their lives for the good of their home, how the war may be devastating, but it’s necessary to ensure the safety of their home country and those of their allies. All of the typical starry-eyed remarks of someone who is clearly not fully aware of its full implications – they can’t help it, though - starry-eyed grandeur is about all they’re allowed to know. If you were to go on to ask any questions that disconcerted them or made them curious of a more knowledgeable context, you’d likely be hastily shown the other direction by one of their human crewmates.
At the very least, despite the insidious nature of their existence, CMAI were treated fairly well by their handlers and crews. Besides the obvious mistreatment by way of vast misinformation, most have trouble recounting any instances where they felt considerable disdain, discomfort, or fear toward their people. Like the crews of active service MAI, many of the involved humans found themselves greatly attached to their units – which would cause many of them in the years down the line to vouch for their equal rights.
After the War’s End, and Historical Impacts
Of course, there would inevitably come a time where CMAI would meet their combat-seasoned counterparts and be forced to reckon with the lie they had lived in. Summer of 2000, when TG MAI began to be shipped back to their home countries, many would be horrified of the sight of MAI in their homelands – not only largely unbeknownst to the true nature of the war, but blindly instructed to support it. There is often the question of whether an active combat MAI would ever possibly be jealous of a CMAI for their being spared the war, but the answer is often no. Even aside from the fact that MAI hardly ever ascribe to the idea of obligate suffering, many say that they rather feel terrible for them; at least those who fought were the ones that got to know the truth.
This realization of a life of lies came no easier to those who lived it. “Wait, the war was really that horrible? Is that why none of you would come to join us yourselves. Is that why we were born?” In hindsight, many viewed the existence of showpony units as something akin to The Truman Show. They were born to be gawked at and to entertain the masses, to live out a lie in rose-tinted glasses for the sake of better playing their parts. These units were of course well aware that the war existed, but their sheltered lifestyles meant that they were never given the opportunity to grasp its true implications and horrors until after their service was ended.
If anything, many of these units at the time believed they were performing a beneficial service for their active duty peers – representing them in a good light while they were far from home, fighting so valiantly and selflessly for their countries. That is, of course, until they met the war’s participants, where the true nature of their being was revealed to them.
Adjusting to Life In The Know
Naturally for many of these ceremonial MAI, it was understandably life-altering to learn that they were so blatantly raised on lies to push a narrative – a life almost equatable to having been born into a cult – some would say that that’s not even an exaggeration. The scale of this shock affected these units in different way, and, towards the beginning of the postwar era, caused for some polarizing opinions. Some could be nothing but angry at the system that raised them, and had an immediate desire to break away to join their active service peers in their opposition to the narrative. Others, however, would for a while have a hard time coming to terms with the revelation – choosing to stay with their groups or even double down upon their beliefs. MAI, though, are often not as prone as humans to trapping themselves within their own belief systems. As more and more reputable information was exposed to them, the stragglers would eventually come around.
In accordance with the march of time, 2011 would come around, and the loophole act would be recognized. It’s already well known that active duty MAI were released at this time, and ceremonial MAI were no different. While, as mentioned before, some opted to stay within the service for longer until they came around to the acceptance of the truth, many found their escape just as quickly. During this time, CMAI did tend to cohabitate with TG MAI fairly well – although some felt unease with seeing the odd, distorted reflections of themselves created by the propaganda machine, many TG MAI actually went out of their way to support showpony units and help them recover from their upbringings, see their worth as equals, and push for better futures for themselves without the military industrial complex.
Today, CMAI are about as integrated and accepted in society as any other TG unit. After all, whether or not they fought, they still weren’t spared any harm from the war, it was only a different kind of harm. All MAI recognize this, and instead of diminishing each other over whether or not they made it out “better or worse,” they recognize the inherent worth in one anothers’ lives as something beyond the ways they were raised. After all, it’s what they’d been fighting for for themselves the entire time.
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