Manufacturer's Label

by The almighty rager

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Applejack, Apple Bloom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other
Length: 2858

Many years have passed since the coronation of Princess Twilight, and the technology of Equestria has vastly improved since then. Service droids populate the halls of many businesses, and hoofprint scanners protect the doorways of homes.

Ever since Twilight became an alicorn, research and development has reached new heights, allowing for new implements like service androids to aid ponies with various tasks around their homes if needed, hoof scanners to better protect property, and teleportation terminals to allow ponies to instantly travel to other parts of Equestria without need for a train ticket.

A factory near Canterlot manufactures some of the finest service droids available for consumer purchase, and the CEO of this particular production line has agreed to have one of her employees responsible for circuitry place a tap on a random circuit board that handles daily logs and memory input for the droid unit it will be inserted into. For competitive reasons of course, we agreed not to divulge any manufacturing secrets used by this company.

Published 2013-06-21 15:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-16 09:21:29 UTC

Second 57, minute 0, day 1 (Tuesday, 5:27am)

I feel tired, and I can feel something clattering under my hooves. Whatever it is, it's making me move along the ground rather slowly, and judging by all the crackling and hissing sounds I'm hearing, I'm guessing I'm in some sort of factory. Either that or there's some sort of steam generator at work. No, wait... Those things didn't whir like what I'm hearing... Hey, I think I stopped moving.

"Running diagnostic now. Hydraulic fluid flow, nominal. Gyros, stable. Motor systems optimal. Power core coolant system online, running at full capacity. Unit coordination at peak performance, establishing visual input now." called out a rather tinny-sounding female voice on a speaker right next to me.

All of a sudden I could see colored blurs all over the place. A lot of them were stark white, while a good few others were green, purple, yellow, and even pink. The blurs started to focus and became clearer, confirming my first guess of being in a factory. There were ponies standing around conveyor belts that twisted throughout the entire place in uniform lines. A bunch of steel skeletons stood on these conveyors, all lined up directly in front of me and facing the same direction. One of them turned to look at me, and I reeled back in disgust. I could see uncovered jaws with their teeth baring and various actuators pushing and pulling as it moved. Now I know it's a machine, but just seeing that could give foals some pretty nasty nightmares! The only thing that pulled my attention away from the skeletal frame were those glowing blue eyes that seemed warm, friendly. Of course, these were LEDs on a black light plate, but they still seemed like the friendly gaze of another pony when compared to the other bare machine parts. I heard another whir and saw a few bits near its teeth move in a way I assumed was meant as a smile.

"Hi! I guess you're still getting put together like me, huh?" it asked with a voice that sounded like a colt. His tone was friendly, so I was right about the attempt to smile.

"Yeah. Do we all look like that? I mean, bare teeth and actuators and all that?" I asked.

"Yup. Oh, and welcome to the Beta Seven model line by the way! We're the newest models, capable of performing more than the Beta Sixes before us could. That and we look a bit truer to the real thing!"

"That explains the teeth. Hey, before we go any further, what was wrong with the Beta Six line?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Beta Six gyros couldn't handle tasks like lifting or pushing. Sometimes when a Six was walking, they'd randomly blow a gasket, spew hydraulic goop all over the place, and then fall to the ground in a heap. They weren't exactly the finest machines, but they were still pretty good. They were popular 'cause they were easy to tweak, so of course you'll still see a few Sixes walking around, though they won't look anywhere near what their original design was. Ponies around here like to tinker with their Beta Six models, make them different from the rest, you know?" he said, waggling his hooves like he was holding a wrench and using it to tighten something.

"I get it. Nopony likes to have a factory-given design, so they add to it and change it until they like what they've got?"

"That's it in a nutshell friend." he said with a quick nod before turning to face in front of him again.

I looked up and saw wires running along a guide, and followed them down to my fellow droid's back. I figured they supplied power throughout the process in order to root out any defective models and get pulled out later on, and that I most likely had some hooked up to me as well. I got a tap on one of my hooves and I looked down to see an orange mare with thin rimmed glasses motioning for me to lift up my leg. I did what she instructed and she placed a hard white casing around my leg and sealed it with clear glue that sparked and instantly flattened to close the seams and blend flush with the casing itself. She tugged rather harshly on the new cover to make sure it wouldn't come apart, and moved to my back leg on the same side. I lifted that one and she did the same as she did with my foreleg. Another pony on the opposite side of the conveyor was just now fitting a casing on my other foreleg that had a logo on the outside of it. I was moved further along down the line and automated arms took over placing hard cases around the rest of my body, the last of which was placed over my head. I watched one of the arms change its tip and reach around to open something on the back of my head, then I felt it push against me and twist, and then I felt so happy I wanted to prance in place! I felt it twist again. Suddenly I was so angry, I just wanted to cave in somepony's skull! A third twist put me down in the dumps, and a fourth made me scared and very antsy... This continued for a short while before finally the arm disconnected itself from me and moved back to work on another droid that was further behind me on the conveyor. The wires were disconnected from me shortly afterwards, and the conveyor turned into a ramp to the floor beneath it.

Another worker walked up to me, clipboard in hoof, and asked me to do various movements to make sure my gyros were fitted properly. Of course, rotate this leg, bend that one, move your head forward and back. Just to show off, I got up on one hoof and spun a circle or two before coming back down on all fours. Seeing I was more than capable of performing simple motor-coordinated tasks, he marked off that I passed gyro inspection with a grin on his face, and led me to a polishing station where other droids were located as well.

"So, out of curiosity, is this the final spot before I get sent out to the nearest customer?" I asked, breaking the silence. The stallion looked up at me and nodded before looking back down at his clipboard. He stopped at a station that was open and opened the doors leading into it, motioning for me to enter. I stepped in and automated brushes and buffer wheels descended upon me, quickly beginning their work.

As I stepped out to the shipping bay, I noticed more workers running about with boxes full of spare parts and large bundles of wires. Even though they carried the boxes in front of their faces, they dodged around each other with the greatest of ease, as if they've been doing this for their whole life. The worker escorting me was constantly staring at a transparent clipboard that was mounted to a harness that she wore. Where she was headed was another part of the facility; the Loading Dock, where I would be sent out to the consumer who ordered me and my services. I heard commotion off to the side, hearing shouts regarding Princess Twilight being in the facility. Of course, that wasn't what I was to be involved in. After dodging through more corridors, and nearly bumping into a custodial droid, we made it to the Loading Dock. My escort motioned for me to get into the back of a van, where other Beta Sevens were in containment stalls connected to wires leading to a charger unit at the front of the storage compartment. As soon as I stepped into an open stall, the worker who led me here hooked me up to the charger unit and opened a panel on the back of my head. I felt something click and everything went dark.

Author's Note

The reason I named this chapter what I did, is because that's when the tap implanted in the droid's memory log started transmitting. It's not how long the whole ordeal here took, because of a few things.

1.) There's a transition. Transitions always signify passage of time.
2.) Since when would walking a droid with emotions to a delivery van take less than a minute? It's bound to stop and admire something or other along the way.

And that's that.

Second 32, minute 80, Day 1 (Tuesday, 6:57am)

"Alright, we've reached our stop. Bring number 49 out of stasis mode." rang the voice of a mare.

"Got it, rebooting now. Unit 49 functioning at full capacity ma'am." A stallion's voice now.

"Great, now let's bring him to the customer. She should be in this rickety old building here." The mare saying this wore a jumpsuit in place of the coats and gloves that were the norm at the factory I came from. She was a white-maned orange pegasus, who seemed like she was new to delivery work.

"That's a barn ma'am." the stallion retorted. He wore the same jumpsuit, but had a cap as well that bore the logo that I had on my leg casing.

"Right... I knew that... And seriously, just call me Weathervane!"

"Let's just take this service droid to the customer who ordered it and stay ahead of schedule so we can get paid more? Last thing I need is to be a few bits short this week, what with bills and repair costs back home."

"Right, sorry." said the pegasus, somewhat embarrassed. She opened the storage pod I was in and unplugged the charger cords that kept me from moving. Her partner was looking over a holopad that was held in front of him by a mechanical apparatus worn around his waist and checking information about two ponies that lived here. One had a pale blond mane and a slightly pale orange coat due to age, and the other had a bright red mane and a soft yellow coat. I assumed these were the customers I was being given to. The stallion put away the holopad and another arm from the same apparatus grabbed a large case. Weathervane motioned for me to follow.

We walked for a while before coming upon a rather decrepit house in the field, of which Weathervane knocked on the door twice before stepping back. I could hear hoofsteps approaching the door at a brisk pace, mainly due to the old but solid wood floors within the home, and the door soon opened, revealing the aged mare that I saw in the customer profile the stallion next me had accessed earlier.

"Howdy." She had a thick drawl when she spoke. Weathervane held a clipboard out towards the customer in her teeth, and the mare in the doorway signed it before calling out for someone named Applebloom.

"Comin' sis!" Evidently the drawl is present in most of the family. A mare with a coat color matching the second profile I saw came down the stairs, and when she saw me, I swore she turned into a blur with how fast she ran towards the door.

"Golly Applejack! You got me a robot fer my birthday? This is the best gift ever!" Apparently I was a birthday present of sorts?

"Now Applebloom, I dunno what makes these newfangled contraptions tick, so if he breaks down, either try and fix 'im yerself, or send it to this uh..." the aged mare turned her head sideways to read the logo on my leg. "Star.... Corn... Industries place. Ah'm sure they'll fix 'im right up."

"No need to worry ma'am. These Beta sevens are our finest machines yet, with a point one percent chance of failure, as shown during initial development tests. The need to repair a Beta seven is rare, if ever at all." said the stallion next to me. Both Applejack and Applebloom looked rather confused.

"I think what my partner's trying to say is that you'll hardly ever have to fix him." Weathervane explained.

"Ohhhh." said the sisters in unison. Both of the delivery ponies escorting me returned to their truck and drove off to their next destination rather quickly.

"Alrighty then. Lemme show ya 'round the farm!" Applebloom said excitedly.

"Who's that over there madam?" I asked, pointing to a red stallion dragging a plow.

"Huh? Oh that's my brother Big Mac. He doesn't really say too much, but if ya need someone to talk to, he'll listen to ya just fine. If you want, I could take ya to meet 'im!"

"Gladl-"
"Okay!" she said as she grabbed my hoof and almost dragged me over to meet her brother. I have to say, he was rather intimidating. A large stallion, and a sturdily built one at that. I looked over to Applebloom nervously. She just looked at me with the largest, most ridiculous grin I've seen so far. I turned my gaze to meet Big Mac's just as he stopped plowing.

"Um... Hello sir. I am your sister's service droid, given to her as a gift by Miss Applejack." I said as casually as possible. He leaned in close and examined me. This wasn't helping to calm me down at all. Big Mac cleared his throat.

"Name's Big Macintosh. Looks like ya already know mah sisters Applebloom and Applejack, so no point in introducin' ya to them again." he said in a particularly laid-back manner, as if I'd been here for years.

"You seem more accustomed to modern innovations than your sister Applejack, Mister Macintosh. Am I right?" I asked.

"Eeyup." he said.

"Then I don't necessarily come as a shock to you, do I?" I pressed further.

"Nope."

"Forgive me for stopping you. I'll leave you to your task sir."

"Eeyup." he said again before resuming his work. Applejack sauntered over to me and her sister, wearing a heavily worn Stetson hat.

"AJ, ah haven't seen you wear that thing since a few years back before Winona... You know."

"Yeah, ah know, but ah figured what's past is past. Anyway, how's everythin' goin' with yer new robo pal?" she asked.

"Great. Ah'm still givin' him the tour of the farm, so ah'm gonna be a while. He just met Big Mac." Applebloom leaned closer to her sister. "I think he's scared of Big Mac." she said, and they both giggled.

"Well uh, heh, if ya'll got the time, breakfast's fresh outta the oven." Applejack stated. Applebloom sniffed the air a few times

"Hey, ah don't smell anythin' burnin' out here! Ah think you're finally gettin' the hang of that fancy new stove we got a couple o' months back sis."

"Well shoot Applebloom, that sure means somethin'. 'Specially since ah'm not good with all these fancy new gadgets and gizmos. At least ah don't need no control thingy fer him." Applejack said, motioning to me.

"Well, ah'm gonna go eat. There's still a good bit of the farm ah haven't shown you yet, but that can wait for a bit, seein' how it's gettin' late and all. Come on, I'll take ya back to the house!" Applebloom said.

Author's Note

One of the more dialogue-heavy chapters of this story that I thought up as I went. I was thinking of having Applebloom mention that Big Mac and Cherilee were coltfriend and marefriend, but I'll do that another time. For now, it's freakin' 2 something in the morning, and I gotta get some sleep because my eyes are starting to sting from lack of sleep. Goodnight folks.

Second 01, minute 0, day 2 (Wednesday, 12:00am)

My first full 24-hour cycle since I was activated. My owner and her family are very hospitable, even though Miss Applejack is still learning how to use one of the modern stovetops properly. She somehow managed to dissolve celery in boiling water! How one could manage that, I'll never know. I think I could teach her how to use the stovetop later today if she likes, so there isn't a repeat of the fiasco we had yesterday evening with the exploding apple pie. At least it was contained, unlike some of her other cooking mishaps.

My optics began to wander about the room, seeing as it was impossible for me to truly sleep, and soon came to rest on the moon outside. Its light was faintly outlining a shape that was rising and falling steadily on the bed. It was Applebloom, of course. My charging pod was placed in her room since I was a gift to her from her older sister. It's interesting how the light of the moon can make everything seem so different.

I'd best shut down, it's still very close to midnight and there are many things I'll need to do later on.

Author's Note

A really short chapter to add to this story, just to keep it alive I suppose.