To Be Humanby SuperPinkBrony12ChaptersChapter 1 (The Shocking Truth)Chapter 2 (Breaking the News)Chapter 3 (Sweetie Belle or Sweetie Bot?)Chapter 4 (Questions)Chapter 5 (Seeking Advice)Chapter 6 (Fear Me if You Dare!)Chapter 7 (Crush! Kill! Destroy!)Chapter 8 (Decisions)Chapter 9 (Confrontation)Chapter 10 (Set Phasers to Hug!)Chapter 1 (The Shocking Truth)Rarity looked over the letter she had received from Derpy. Already she could tell that there was something unusual about it. Unlike most letters this one contained a special seal, she recognized the seal as the logo of the Equestrian Science Center. "I wasn't expecting any mail from them." Rarity thought to herself. She didn't dwell on the matter though as she simply assumed that it was a request for a dress from one of the scientists. Wasting no time she used her magic to bring the letter opener to her and proceeded to rip the envelope open. Upon reading the letter her joyous mood quickly sorrowed. She read it over again, just to be sure she hadn't possibly missed anything. The words hadn't changed, it was there for all to see. Rarity wasn't sure what to think at first. She was still in a state of shock. Surely this couldn't be true. Surely it was all an elaborate joke from Rainbow Dash. There was no way it was possible and yet there it was. No matter how much Rarity tried to deny it or pretend like it didn't exist she knew in her heart that it was the truth. Now that she thought about it everything made sense. She knew her parents had been having trouble creating another child, and they would've had no reason to hide a pregnancy or another child. Being their usual selves they never would've noticed anything was wrong with Sweetie Belle. Or perhaps they did but they had intentionally kept it to themselves. Perhaps a certain part of them actually considered Sweetie Belle to be their own flesh and blood. Rarity sighed, it was no use dwelling on the matter. Especially not when it gave her a headache. Using her magic she disposed of the envelope and the letter in the trash can. She then set to work on a dress order that her dear friend Fluttershy had requested. However she found that she couldn't really get into "The Zone". Every few seconds her mind would drift back to the letter she had received. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the letter out of her mind. She tried everything she could think of but nothing worked. Oh why did this have to happen to her? She felt so compelled to summon her fainting couch and plop right down on it but she restrained herself. Deciding she was done with dressmaking for the day she put down the sewing needle and took off her ruby red sewing glasses. The sounds from upstairs confirmed that "Sweetie Belle" was still here, and of course she still believed that she was human. Oh if only this was all just a bad dream. Alas it wasn't and Rarity knew that at some point someone was going to have to break the news to "Sweetie Belle". But she was still torn over whether or not she should tell her "little sister" the truth about where she had come from. For that record would she even believe her? Perhaps a nice cup of hot tea would help her sort things out. It had always worked in the past. Sighing once again Rarity went into the kitchen and levitated the tea kettle over to the stove. She proceeded to whip up a batch of Everfree Green Tea, Zecora had said it was great at relieving stress and helping you think. As Rarity waited for the kettle to boil she suddenly felt hungry. She didn't know why, she hadn't really done much of anything today. Normally she would've tried to whip up something really fancy but today she just felt like making a simple sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. A few minutes later her sandwich was complete and just after she had put it on a plate she heard the familiar whistle of the tea kettle. Carefully levitating the kettle off the stove Rarity poured the tea into a cup that she held in her right hand. She then set the kettle off to the side and put the cup on the table. She then did the same with the plate. After the meal Rarity felt slightly better about the situation, she knew it wasn't going to be easy and chances were that "Sweetie Belle" would have some emotional tramua when the truth was revealed, but overall she felt pretty confident that she could explain things without causing too much trouble for anyone. "I hope you can forgive me Mom and Dad." Rarity thought to herself as she retrieved the letter she had discarded not that long ago and headed upstairs to confrot her "little sister". Author's Note Allow me to explain the tags. Dark is for later on and because of the emotional tramua inflicted on Sweetie Bot. Since this fic is not rated Teen it won't be anything major. Alternative Universe is because Sweetie Bot is not cannon no matter what you want to believe. And Human is simply because I think this headcannon fic works with Humanized ponies. Chapter 2 (Breaking the News)Sweetie Belle was completly unaware that anything was wrong. She was upstairs playing with her doll set, happily ignoring the world around and playing pretend. Little did she know that in a matter of minutes everything would change. It very nearly broke Rarity's heart seeing her "little sister" so happy and carefree. She very nearly felt compelled to just leave Sweetie Belle alone and not break the news to her but she knew she would have to do this sooner or later. Taking a deep breath she opened the door slightly. "Sweetie Belle?" she called gently, trying not to give her "little sister" any reason to be worried. "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked. She put down the dolls and turned towards the door. "We have to talk about something." Rarity said, opening the door further and entering the room. "Is something wrong sis?" Sweetie Belle asked. She never did like seeing her big sister unhappy. Rarity paused, unsure of how to proceed. After looking around, just to ensure that no one else could overhear her she sighed and took a deep breath. "Have you ever wondered where you came from?" she asked Sweetie Belle. "Well, yeah. At least I think so." Sweetie Belle said. "Did Mom and Dad ever tell you anything?" Rarity asked. She was trying her best to tiptoe around the subject, hoping to avoid what she knew was inevitable. "No." Sweetie Belle said "They just told me that I was a special case whenever I asked." "Well you're probably not going to believe this but you're not actually a human being." Rarity said. "What you do mean I'm not human?" Sweetie Belle asked "I have emotions and I can think and feel. Though whenever I take a bath the water always makes me feel funny." "I know this is probably going to sound weird but you're a robot." Rarity said "That's why water has always made you feel funny." "But I can't be a robot." Sweetie Belle said "I don't sound like a robot or feel like a robot." "I know that Sweetie Belle." Rarity said "But it's the truth. I have a letter to prove it." She proceeded to show Sweetie Belle the letter she had recently received. Sweetie Belle read it, but she still couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true, there was no way. How could she possibly be a robot and have all these emotions? Didn't Miss. Cheerilee teach her that robots could not think or feel on their own? How could she be a robot and yet be capable of thinking on her own? "You still don't believe me do you?" Rarity asked. "Yes." Sweetie Belle said "This is all some kind of joke isn't it? This is your way of getting back at me for putting dye in your hair shampoo." Rarity sighed once again. She had expected Sweetie Belle to deny all of this. She was certain she could find a way to reveal the truth to Sweetie Belle but she didn't want to do anything that might inflict more emotional trauma on her "little sister". Reluctantly she decided to admit it was a lost cause. "I'm sorry Sweetie Belle." she said "I guess there's no way to convince you. Perhaps I'm wrong after all." and she left the room. Sweetie Belle tried to play with her dolls again but she found that she just couldn't get into it. She put the dolls away and went downstairs. She was so distracted that she didn't notice Opal, who was lying at the bottom of the staircase and stepped right on her tail. Opal hissed and swiped her claws at Sweetie Belle who raised an arm to defend herself. Sweetie Belle screamed and Rarity came running. Using her magic she pulled Opal away before she could do any more harm. "Are you alright Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked. Sweetie Belle didn't respond, she was too busy looking at the scratch marks on her arm and gasped as did Rarity. Instead of drawing blood the marks revealed wires of various colors. Rarity had been right all along. "I really am a robot." Sweetie Belle said to herself. Chapter 3 (Sweetie Belle or Sweetie Bot?)Sweetie Belle just stood there in shock. Looking at the exposed wirings as if though they were the only thing of importance. She didn't want to believe it and yet there it was. The proof of who she really was. "Here Sweetie Belle allow me to patch that up for you." Rarity said calmly. She didn't know a lot of healing spells but after being scratched by Opal several times, as well as occasionally stabbing herself while sewing, she had learned how to repair minor cuts and scrapes. "No Rarity leave it alone, it's fine." Sweetie Belle said. Her voice lacked her usual emotion, the shock of what she had just been made aware of was still fresh in her mind. "Sweetie Belle it is most certianly not fine." Rarity said "Your wiring is exposed for everyone to see." "But what if I want it to be exposed?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What if I want everyone to know who I am?" Rarity stopped. She had just lit up her horn and had been preparing to close up the scratch marks with her magic. She hadn't really thought about what "Sweetie Belle" wanted, or should she call her "Sweetie Bot" from now on? Rarity herself would've prefered to have something like this kept secret but she knew that "Sweetie Belle" was different. "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked. Her "big sister" hadn't responded in several minutes and she was starting to grow worried. "I'm still here Sweetie Belle." Rarity said "I'd like to patch up that scratch you got from Opal. If that's what you want." "What I want?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes." Rarity said "This revelation doesn't mean you don't have your own free will anymore. Whatever you want is fine. So do you want me to 'heal' you or do you want to leave the wound alone?" "I...guess you can patch me up if you want to." Sweetie Belle said, needless to say she didn't sound very sure of herself. "O.k. just hold still for a little bit." Rarity instructed and lit up her horn again. A few seconds later she had managed to close the flesh wound on Sweetie Belle's arm. You never would've guessed that underneath it were wires and circuits of all sorts. After that Rarity decided to take some time to try and understand what, if any sort of changes would occur now that "Sweetie Belle" knew the truth. "This doesn't have to change anything between us Sweetie Belle." Rarity said. She wanted to give "Sweetie Belle" a hug but one look at her "sister's" face told her that she was in no mood for such a thing. "It doesn't?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Indeed." Rarity said "If you like this can just stay our little secret. No one else will ever need to know that you're a robot. I can still call you Sweetie Belle and we can still be sisters. Of course you'll need to be more careful around our friends from now on, especially around Apple Bloom and Scootaloo." "And what if I don't want to keep this a secret?" Sweetie Belle asked "What if I want everyone to know who I really am?" "Then you can do that." Rarity said "Whatever you decide to do I'll support you 100 percent. And I'll be more then happy to patch you up whenever you need me to. I can even call you Sweetie Bot if that will make you feel better. Like I said it's all up to you." "Really? You'd do that for me?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity nodded "I only want whatever makes you happy. If you want this to be a secret then I can keep it secret, and if you want everyone know then I can help spread the word. But you need to think about what makes you happy and what you want. I can't decide for you." Sweetie Belle thought to herself for a little bit, trying to decide what she wanted to do. On the one hand if it remained a secret between her and Rarity life would pretty much just go back to the way it was. She'd just need to make sure she played a little more cautiously to avoid exposing her secret to everyone. On the other hand if she told everyone she knew and Rarity told everyone she knew she wouldn't need to hide who she really was or lie. But some people might not believe her and some might even began to fear her. And there was the whole Sweetie Belle/Sweetie Bot issue. Sweetie Belle held sentimental value to her and was the name she had gone by for as long as she could remember. But Sweetie Bot was the name that she had been given when she was "created" and was the name she had probably been intended to be known by. The more she thought about it however the more confused she became. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn't she just make up her mind? It was so unfair. "Well?" Rarity asked. "I just want to be left alone for right now." Sweetie Belle said and she went upstairs without saying another word. Rarity did nothing to stop her. She didn't want to make a potentially bad situation even worse. If "Sweetie Belle" decided she needed some alone time to think things over then Rarity would respect her wish. Perhaps now she could actually do what she had set to do before the events of the past half hour had occurred. Author's Note And now we have chapter 3. Next chapter the emotional tramua starts to come into play. Chapter 4 (Questions)Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Bot? Human? Robot? What did it all mean? Nothing in "Sweetie Belle's" head made any sense. She knew now that she was a robot, or at least she thought she was a robot. But when her head told her one thing her "emotions" told her another. That only served to further complicate matters, if she was a robot how was it possible that she could express emotion? She could've sworn that robots were never capable of crying or laughing. Hadn't that been what Miss. Cheerilee had taught her about robots? And yet somehow for as long as she could remember any time she'd been with Rarity or with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders she had expressed genuine emotion. Though there was that comment from Apple Bloom about a compass pointing to her. Or was it a metal detector? Suddenly all the memories she had became blurred, she could no longer remember certain aspects. She couldn't remember when she'd met Scootaloo for the first time or what she had said to her. And yet somehow Scootaloo seemed to instantly bond with her. Would they ever have suspected something if Sweetie Belle never earned her cutie mark? So what did it all mean? Was Sweetie Belle really a robot? Perhaps she was actually an android? After all Miss. Cheerilee had said that androids were different from robots, and she swear she could remember a certain video game that Rarity hadn't been keen on letting her play. The game had featured a spikey black and red hedgehog, who had assumed at one point that he was an android, though she never made it far enough to find out if that was true. Was she even the prototype that the letter said she was or was she just one of the many lookalike "models" that had been rolled off the assembly line? Why didn't anyone have the answers she wanted so badly? Rarity had said that she only wanted what was best for her. But could Rarity be trusted? For that matter could anyone she ever knew be trusted? Miss. Cheerilee had made it perfectly clear that most people (herself included) considered robots to be evil and that they were even worse then people who practiced witchcraft, like that gypsy pastry chef. But did she actually mean it? Did some people actually despise robots so badly? Would they look down upon her and cast her out if they found out who she really was? It seemed like more questions kept popping up every second and yet she didn't know the answer to any of them. So what was she suppose to do? Should she just ignore all the questions? Could she trust anyone? Curiously she attempted to use magic only to find that she couldn't even produce sparks. She could disctintly remember that by this age every unicorn colt or filly was expected to know some magic. Any doubts she made have had were completly erased upon realizing this fact. There was no denying it, she was a robot. If only she knew what to think and what to do. Even if she just kept it all a secret at some point chances were that someone would find out. But if everyone knew she was a robot they might grow to fear her. It wasn't fair, she didn't want them to fear her. She just wanted them to love her. But did anyone ever ask her if that's she wanted? Suddenly she began to feel a feeling she had only felt once before. When she yelled at her "big sister". And she could still remember the words she had said on that faithful day. "If the world isn't going to love me then I'll teach it TO FEAR ME INSTEAD!" Without even thinking "Sweetie Belle" walked over to one of her dolls and picked it up. She then proceeded to crush the miniature human with her bare hand, and she didn't even seem to care. If anyone had been watching they would've noticed "Sweetie Belle's" eyes glowing bright red. A sure sign of trouble. "Fear me Equestria! For I AM 'Sweetie Bot'!" Sweetie Belle said to herself. Author's Note I'll bet you can spot the reference I slipped in. This is where things start to get a little dark and this fic earns the "Dark" tag. Next chapter will actually involve Rarity as she decides to seek some answers. Chapter 5 (Seeking Advice)At first Rarity waited patiently for "Sweetie Belle" to return and announce her decision. She was certain that it wouldn't take her very long. However as the minutes ticked by Rarity began to grow worried, though only slightly. Her first thought was to go and ask "Sweetie Belle" what was wrong but she quickly decided against it. She didn't want to make a potentially bad situation even worse and her "little sister" had specifically asked to be left alone. All the same as yet more minutes passed by without even a peep from "Sweetie Belle" Rarity knew she had to do something. But what could she do? She still didn't know whether "Sweetie Belle" wanted her secret to be revealed, and if she had decided against such a thing Rarity wouldn't want to break the news to her that she had already told someone. She was nearly tempted to call her parents and ask them, but the fear of what they might suggest or how they might react to the news quickly prompted her to scratch that idea off her list. She couldn't just do nothing because she knew that the nagging feeling inside of her would never leave her alone even if she tried to ignore it. And she knew she wouldn't be able to just distract herself until "Sweetie Belle" came back. Heck she still wasn't sure whether to call her "little sister" "Sweetie Belle" or "Sweetie Bot". She wasn't even sure if she still wanted to call that "being" her "little sister". But she knew she had to do something. "Oh Opal what am I do?" Rarity said. Normally the fashionista would find it very weird to be talking about her problems to her cat (even if she did it on a regular basis) but she was desperate for answers and at this point she was willing to consider anything. Opal either didn't seem to notice or seem to care about what Rarity had to say and simply walked away to go lay down somewhere. After all prior to being stepped on by "Sweetie Belle" Opal had sleeping peacefully. "Opal please! Don't leave me!" Rarity pleaded, to no avail as Opal left the room leaving her owner on her own once again. Rarity sighed, what did she expect? Opal was but a humble cat and though at time she had helped Rarity out there was only so much she could do, and this was one situation where she couldn't help her owner at all. So that left Rarity at square one again. Unsure of what to do and growing more worried as the minutes continued to tick by. Eventually half an hour had passed and Rarity had not heard anything at from "Sweetie Belle". As her friend Twilight had once said "Enough is enough!" She needed some good advice and just sitting around on her rear end all day wasn't going to solve anything. (All it would do was make her fat, though only if she made a habbit out of it.) Deciding to press her luck a little she decided she would tell someone about "Sweetie Belle's" situation, though only someone she knew she could trust. The only question now was who should it be? Rainbow Dash was already out of the question. As far as Rarity was concerned that brash tomboy couldn't be trusted with a secret and chances were that she'd probably just assume Rarity was joking anyway. Pinkie Pie had hung out with Rarity a little bit but she could've sworn that pastry chef to be didn't tell her everything about her past as she had said it wasn't important. Perhaps because of that Rarity felt like Pinkie Pie would only make things worse so a little bit reluctantly she crossed her off the list as well. Then there was Applejack, that down to earth farm girl always valued honesty. But said honesty was often a double edged sword and that meant it was possible she might spill the beans. So that left either Fluttershy or Twilight and of the two Rarity knew Fluttershy a little more personally. Fluttershy and her had planned on bringing about the end of the world once but Rarity had ultimately ruined it in order to save her sister's soul, back when she had no reason to believe that her sister didn't have one. Unfortunately Rarity knew that unless "Sweetie Belle" was inducted into Fluttershy group Fluttershy might not feel all that compelled to help. So that left Twilight, Concentrating on the Ponyville Books and Branches Library Rarity teleported. Intending to have a little discussion with Twilight, who she was certain would give her the advice she needed. She was unaware that as she was teleporting "Sweetie Belle" was descending the stairs, having made up her mind about what she wanted to do. The situation was about to get ugly. Chapter 6 (Fear Me if You Dare!)"Sweetie Belle" felt nothing but anger as she descended the stairs. At this point she didn't care what she did or who got in her way. All she cared about was making a statement. If the world as she knew it was going to fear her then she was going to give it a reason to fear her. She intended for her first target to be her "big sister" Rarity but Rarity wasn't in the living room. Running a quick scan for any sentient life forms "Sweetie Belle" (who had decided to call herself Sweetie Bot) the only being she found was Opal who was snoozing peacefully. It seemed that Rarity had somehow predicted that Sweetie Bot would attack her and had fled. Oh well, Rarity could wait. Luckly for Opal she was of no intrest to Sweetie Bot, in fact she even considered Opal the only friend she had right now. Sweetie Bot then decided to lay waste to Carousel Boutique to some extent. She wasn't intrested in burning it to the ground, nor did she wish to ruin Rarity's dresses though the urge to do so was very strong. Instead she decided to just ruin every last room as best as she could. That would show the world she was not one to be messed with. "Initiating destruction sequence." Sweetie Bot said, her voice starting to become more monotone and computer like. Within seconds bright red laser beams began shooting out from her eyes and arms, frying everything they came into contact with. Now one would think that such actions would be very alarming to Sweetie Bot. Especially since she had only just recently become aware of her origins. But if she did have any sort of remorse or regret for what she was doing she sure didn't show it. She just kept firing laser after laser at anything she wanted, all the while shouting "Destroy! Destroy!" as well as occassionally "Crush!", 'Kill!", or "Exterminate!". She also let out a very maniacal and evil laugh from time to time. Opal was usually a very heavy sleeper, she could practically sleep through one of her owner's many high pitched shrieks whenever something went wrong. But even Opal had her limits and all the noise that was coming from "Sweetie Belle" was too much for her poor sensitive ears. She woke up with a start, very unhappy at having been woken up from her nap. Whoever had the nerve to do all of this was practically begging to be scratched and far be it from Opal to let such an oppertunity slip by. Besides as far as she was concerned the person or creature that was doing this was asking for it. Sweetie Bot continued her rampage of destruction. She had already wrecked pretty much everything and anything that wasn't a dress and she showed no signs of stopping any time soon. Just as she was about to move on to her room upstairs however she heard a familiar hiss. She looked down and saw a white ball of fur leap up and without warning it started scratching her on her left arm. It seemed like she had aroused Opal who was less then happy about her very rude awakening. However Sweetie Bot didn't to notice or even care about Opal was doing, all she knew was that the cat was stopping her from carrying out her rampage. She was tempted to hit Opal with her lasers, just enough to singe her tail and teach her not to mess with her, but she found that upon looking into Opal's eyes she couldn't bring herself to do so. "Life form known as Opal, please stop attacking me." Sweetie Bot said. It soon became quite obvious to Opal that she somehow held a special place in Sweetie Bot's head and that Sweetie Bot could not or would not hurt her. Normally she would've felt compelled to take advantage of such a situation, but one look at Sweetie Bot's eyes told her she was lucky to be spared any sort of aggression. She ceased her "attacks" at once and jumped down. "Thank you life form known as Opal. You shall be rewarded for your act of kindness." Sweetie Bot said, her voice breifly returned to it's normal human tone as she leaned down to pet Opal. The Persian cat felt very happy to recieve some attention for once and soaked up every moment of it. She even briefly rolled over, exposing her soft belly in the hopes that "Sweetie Belle" would give her a belly rub. Which she did. For a brief moment "Sweetie Belle's" eyes returned to normal. It seemed like somehow Opal had some sort of calming effect on her. Unfortunately the moment soon passed and Sweetie Bot resumed her rampage without any further interruptions. Some time later Sweetie Bot had wrecked just about everything in Carousel Boutique that wasn't a dress or a dress design. At first she was content to just let the smoldering remains burn to ash, but some unknown reason she instead made use of the fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink and put out all the flames. But her vendetta didn't end with Carousel Boutique. In fact it was just the beginning. She believed that the world had chosen to fear her and she would see to it that it was punished for doing so. She wouldn't stop until Ponyville, no the entire universe bowed down before her. She could care less about what might happen or who got in the way. It seemed like the citizens of Ponyville were about to be the unfortunate victims of yet another disaster. But this one would be one that they wouldn't soon forget. Author's Note Basically the idea with Opal is to reflect a struggle for control between Sweetie Belle and Sweetie Bot. Sweetie Belle is currently the dormant personality and Sweetie Bot the dominate personality. Sweetie Belle is the one that cares about Opal which explains why Sweetie Bot was unable to hurt her. This will pop up again. Chapter 7 (Crush! Kill! Destroy!)No one in Ponyville knew that anything was wrong. Not even Pinkie Pie, who surprisingly enough was known for her psychic visions as well as her 'Pinkie Sense'. As far as everyone was concerned it was just another average day in Ponyville. For despite all the high profile and even low profile disasters that occurred Ponyville was actually a very peaceful town in the middle of Equestria. If it weren't for the fact that it was the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle chances were that no one would even know it existed. The citizens of Ponyville went about their daily business. Walking from place to place to buy and sell various goods. Or to just relax and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately the peace and quiet that was present over the town was about to be disrupted. Without warning there came a loud shout that might have reminded a few of Princess Luna (or Molestia as some called her) and her "Royal Canterlot Voice". But the voice that spoke proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not Princess Luna that disturbed the peace. "Attention all sentient life forms of the town of Ponyville!' the robotic voice shouted. As people turned to look they noticed what appeared to be "Sweetie Belle" but something seemed different about her. As she drew closer people could see that her eyes were glowing bright red, and in various places along her left arm scratch marks revealed wires of all shapes and sizes as well as colors. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong. Sweetie Bot continued "Knowing full well that you intended to fear me I reveal myself as Sweetie Bot! And as of today I am your worst nightmare! I offer you this warning! Resist me at your own risk! All sentinet lifeforms that do so will be destroyed!" Just about everyone started laughing. Surely this was all some sort of joke. As far as they knew Sweetie Belle would never do something like this. But they didn't realize that this was not Sweetie Belle they were dealing with. "So you choose to mock me?!" Sweetie Bot said "You shall pay dearly for your ignorance! Set phasers to destruction!" Lasers suddenly started shooting out from Sweetie Bot's eyes, as well as from cannons on her hands and knees. As the first couple of buildings were completly annihilated people began to realize that this was serious and that Ponyville was once again in danger. But no one (not even the most heartless of criminals) could bring themselves to hurt Sweetie Belle, or Sweetie Bot as she was calling herself. Everyone either believed she didn't know what she was doing or that she was possed. As a result Sweetie Bot fired laser after laser and destroyed building after building but no one could do anything to stop her. Cries of "The horror! The horror!" and "We're all gonna die!" echoed throughout all of Ponyville even though for now Sweetie Bot's rampage was mostly confined to the market place and town square. Sweetie Bot herself continued to shout out warnings and sayings such as "Don't make me destroy you inferior life form! or "Bow down to me worthless human!" but she also occassionally shouted lines such as "Crush! Kill! Destroy!" and "Exterminate! Exterminate!". When word of this incident reached The Mayor she tried her best to remain calm. "We must not allow fear and chaos to regin supreme." she was heard to say. But her words did nothing to make anyone feel better. As far as everyone else was concerned Sweetie Bot was on an emotional rampage and the best course of action was to scream and run helter skelter (or in circles if people had nowhere to run). Throughout all of this Sweetie Bot didn't seem to care about who or what got in her way. She simply continued her seemingly unstoppable rampage of destruction. From an outsider's perspective it seemed like Ponyville was doomed. And chances were that Sweetie Bot would not stop there. But the big question was, would even the royal sisters be unable to neutralize this threat? No one knew the answer but the very thought that the rulers of Equestria could be defeated was enough to send shivers down the spines of even the bravest of humans (Big Macintosh and Roid Rage/Snowflake were among them). Chapter 8 (Decisions)As Equestria's newest Princess Twilight had been very busy lately. Sure most ponies still went to The Mayor with their problems but it seemed like there was always at least one person each day that would be coming to her. Asking her to do something. So needless to say when Rarity suddenly teleported into her living room she was more then a little upset, though she did her best to remain calm. "Sorry to drop in unannounced." Rarity said "But I need your help with something." Twilight sighed "What is it this time?' she asked, trying not to come across as rude. "Can you keep a secret?" Rarity asked. "Depends." Twilight said "Just don't make me 'Pinkie Promise' I'm still not good at those." "I wasn't going to make you 'Pinkie Promise' anyway." Rarity said "The way I see it the less people that know about this the better. So can I trust you to just keep to this yourself? And possibly Spikey Wikey as well?" "I guess." Twilight said "What's the secret?" Rarity proceeded to whisper it into Twilight's ear. The shock caused her wings (which had been folded against her sides) to fold outward in shock. Twilight quickly used her magic to fold them back down. "Sorry about that." she apologized. "That's o.k." Rarity said "I expected the news to catch you off guard. I'd have been more concerned if you weren't shocked at all." "Well I suppose I can keep this a secret." Twilight said "But I hope you didn't come here just to make me swear to secrecy." "Of course not." Rarity said "I came here because I needed some advice and I figured you were the best person to turn to." "What do you mean by advice?" Twilight asked "I know I'm a princess but that doesn't mean I can solve every problem that gets brought to me." "The thing is I really don't know what to say or do." Rarity admitted "This is a very delicate situation and I'm afraid if I say the wrong thing I might upset 'Sweetie Belle'." Rarity still wasn't sure whether she wanted to keep using "Sweetie Belle" or start using "Sweetie Bot", and this confusion was part of the reason why she felt so conflicted. "Look Rarity I appreciate that you have faith in me but I really can't help you out here." Twilight said "You have to decide for yourself what you think is best. No one else can make the important decision for you." "But I dont know what to do." Rarity said "Please you have to help me." "I'm sorry Rarity but I can't do that." Twilight said. "Even if I gave you one of my fashionable gaint hats for free?" Rarity asked. Twilight merely shook her head. Rarity sighed "There's just no convincing you is there?" "Nope." Twilight said "You and you alone have the power to decide what you want to do." "Can you at least offer me some advice?" Rarity asked. "I suppose so." Twilight said "Basically you need to ask yourself 'What do I think is the best course of action?' and go from there." "I see." Rarity said. "And remember there's no solution that's perfect. Every solution will have some sort of consequence. So you need to think carefully." Twilight explained. "Right." Rarity said and she started to think. But only a few seconds later she was interrupted by Spike. "Just got an urgent letter from The Mayor." he said panting. He had been given the letter only a few minutes ago but he had covered a lot of ground to bring it to Twilight and that had taken a lot out of him. Twilight unfolded it with her magic and read it aloud. Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, It has come to my attention that the younger sister of Rarity Belle is rampaging through town. No one is willing to get close enough to do anything about though. I would appreciate it very much if you could put a stop to this nonsense before somebody gets hurt. If not I'm afraid I will have to resort to drastic measure to protect the town, I really don't want it to have to come to that. Sincerely, The Mayor of Ponyville a.k.a Mayor Mare[ /i] "Why would Sweetie Belle do such a thing?" Spike asked. "Because she just found out she's a robot." Rarity said and explained to Spike what had unfolded a short time ago. "Sounds like she's really hurting." Spike said. "Indeed she is." Rarity said "And I'm going to do something about!" Upon saying these words she headed for the door and opened it. "Rarity where do you think you're going?" Twilight asked. "To comfort my little sister of course." Rarity said. "Are you nuts?!" Spike shouted "Do you want to get killed?!" He raced forward but Twilight put a hand in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "Let her go." Twilight said "I think I know what she's doing." Author's Note In case you can't already tell I'm blending the cannons of FiM and FiW a little. Chapter 9 (Confrontation)Rarity ignored all the screaming and shrieking from people running away as she made her closer and closer to the center of town. Right now there was only one thing running through her mind. She had to get to "Sweetie Belle" before it was too late. It didn't take her very long to find "Sweetie Belle" but when she did she could easily see that she already had her work cut out for her. Trying to patch things up with her "little sister" wasn't going to be easy but if she didn't at least try she'd never forgive herself. Sweetie Bot had showed no mercy to anything that she had encountered. Building after building had been destroyed and she was just getting warmed up. "Sweetie Belle please stop this at once!" Rarity shouted "This isn't you!" "Do not attempt to stop me sentient life form known as Rarity." Sweetie Bot said "You will only be destroyed." "Sweetie Belle you have to listen to me!" Rarity said "You and I both know that you'd never do something like this!" "You don't know me at all!" Sweetie Bot said "No one does! All they see is a robot and they instantly fear me! They will pay for their silent judgements when they are eradicated." "Sweetie Belle that's not true!" Rarity said "I know a lot of people who don't believe robots are evil. You can't punish everyone for the actions of a select few!" "You cannot stop me nor can you make me change my mind!" Sweetie Bot said "Now stand down or face my wrath!" "Do whatever you want to me but I'm not going anywhere." Rarity said "Not until the sister I once knew is back!" "Then you will be exterminated!" Sweetie Bot shouted "Set phasers to destroy!" She began to build up power for an ulitmate attack. If it was allowed to reach full power Rarity and most of Ponyville would be doomed." Rarity refused to move, despite the protests of those who were watching her. She continued to plead with Sweetie Belle, begging her not to do it. Nothing was working. "Super laser 90% charged." Sweetie Bot said. Time was running out, in a matter of seconds it would all be over. "At this point it's all or nothing!" Rarity thought to herself "I love you Sweetie Belle!" she proclaimed, wrapping her arms around Sweetie Bot and hugging her as tightly as she could. "I always have and always will! Nothing you say or do will ever change that! Even now I still love you! And I know you're there in somewhere so listen up! You've got to fight this! You've got to resist! If you don't you'll destroy the only person who ever truely loved you no matter what!" Suddenly Sweetie Bot cried out in a non robotic voice "Help me Rarity!" "Don't give up Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "You can do it! I believe in you!" "I...can't...control...myself!" Sweetie Belle said her voice slipping back and forth between robotic and normal. It was obvious that "Sweetie Belle" was trying to take back control from "Sweetie Bot" but "Sweetie Bot" wasn't about to give up so easily. "You're almost there Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said. "I...feel it slipping!" Sweetie Belle said. "I know you can do it!" Rarity said "You're a fighter!" "It's no use!" Sweetie Belle said her voice starting to slip back into a robotic tone. "Don't say such things Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "I can sense you with my magic, and it's telling me that you've almost regained control! You've come so far, don't let it be for naught!" "Help me, please!" Sweetie Belle pleaded. "I can't do that Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "You have to be the one to put a stop to this! You're the only one who can control yourself!" "Don't leave me Rarity!" Sweetie Belle said. "I'm right here!" Rarity said "Don't worry, I'm not leaving your side until I know you're back for good!" And she proceeded to hug Sweetie Belle even tighter. "Sweetie Belle's" eyes started to revert from red to their usual green color. But at times the red began to flare up again. The battle for control was nearing it's end, but only one would walk away victorious. The question now was who would it be? No one knew the answer but they all knew the very fate of Equestria would be determined by the outcome of this battle. Chapter 10 (Set Phasers to Hug!)Time seemed to stand still as everyone waited to see what the outcome would be. The whole time Rarity refused to let go of Sweetie Belle and continued to hug her firmly. Finally after what seemed like forever but had actually only been a few seconds Sweetie Belle suddenly said "Set phasers to hug!" in a robotic tone, however her eyes were no longer glowing bright red. She hugged Rarity back and anyone watching couldn't resist letting out an "Aw." as they observed the heartwarming scene in front of them. "Sweetie Belle? Is it really you?" Rarity asked. "Yes Rarity." Sweetie Belle said, still in a robotic tone. "You sound a little bit different." Rarity said. "Well that's because I'm not completly myself." Sweetie Belle explained "I now have a bit of 'Sweetie Bot' inside of me." "That's going to take some getting use to." Rarity said "But for right now I'm just glad you're o.k." "Thank you Rarity." Sweetie Belle said "I shudder to think of what might have happened if you hadn't showed up when you did." "Let's not dwell on the 'what could've been'." Rarity said "And focus on the 'what could be'." She stopped hugging Sweetie Belle and used her magic to patch up the wounds. Within seconds you never would've known they had even existed if you hadn't seen them yourself. Before long the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Within hours everyone in Ponyville knew the truth about Sweetie Belle but surprisingly none of them feared her, or considered her evil. Cheerilee even said Sweetie Belle was an exception and that not all robots were evil. Of course Sweetie Belle still had to apologize for all the destruction she had caused but because nobody had gotten hurt the citizens of Ponyville were quick to forgive and (for the most part) forget. The only punishment Sweetie Belle received was being forced to help rebuild the sections of town that she had destroyed during her emotional rampage. Within a few weeks life went back to being normal in Ponyville. At least for the time being. Sweetie Belle had not insisted on being called "Sweetie Bot" but on occassion Rarity or someone else would slip up and call her that. Thankfully Sweetie Belle didn't mind it at all and always shrugged it off. She still hung out with her friends and they still called themselves The Cutie Mark Crusaders but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo knew and understood that as a robot Sweetie Belle couldn't get a cutie mark. That didn't stop her from tagging along on their crusades and offering ideas and in the end she managed to have just as much fun as she had before. For the most part Rarity was the only one she allowed to patch her up whenever she cut herself and revealed her wiring and circuitry, but on occassion she allowed someone else to do it as well. A month following the incident there was no trace or hint of the event and everyone made sure it stayed that way. Sometimes however people would ask Sweetie Belle to help them out with various tasks, because they knew that as a robot she would be able to help them. Whenever that happened Sweetie Belle was always happy to help. Before long everything had gone back to being normal and life went on as usual in Equestria. For now anyway. Author's Note And we are done. Hope you've enjoyed this fic.
Chapter 1 (The Shocking Truth)Rarity looked over the letter she had received from Derpy. Already she could tell that there was something unusual about it. Unlike most letters this one contained a special seal, she recognized the seal as the logo of the Equestrian Science Center. "I wasn't expecting any mail from them." Rarity thought to herself. She didn't dwell on the matter though as she simply assumed that it was a request for a dress from one of the scientists. Wasting no time she used her magic to bring the letter opener to her and proceeded to rip the envelope open. Upon reading the letter her joyous mood quickly sorrowed. She read it over again, just to be sure she hadn't possibly missed anything. The words hadn't changed, it was there for all to see. Rarity wasn't sure what to think at first. She was still in a state of shock. Surely this couldn't be true. Surely it was all an elaborate joke from Rainbow Dash. There was no way it was possible and yet there it was. No matter how much Rarity tried to deny it or pretend like it didn't exist she knew in her heart that it was the truth. Now that she thought about it everything made sense. She knew her parents had been having trouble creating another child, and they would've had no reason to hide a pregnancy or another child. Being their usual selves they never would've noticed anything was wrong with Sweetie Belle. Or perhaps they did but they had intentionally kept it to themselves. Perhaps a certain part of them actually considered Sweetie Belle to be their own flesh and blood. Rarity sighed, it was no use dwelling on the matter. Especially not when it gave her a headache. Using her magic she disposed of the envelope and the letter in the trash can. She then set to work on a dress order that her dear friend Fluttershy had requested. However she found that she couldn't really get into "The Zone". Every few seconds her mind would drift back to the letter she had received. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the letter out of her mind. She tried everything she could think of but nothing worked. Oh why did this have to happen to her? She felt so compelled to summon her fainting couch and plop right down on it but she restrained herself. Deciding she was done with dressmaking for the day she put down the sewing needle and took off her ruby red sewing glasses. The sounds from upstairs confirmed that "Sweetie Belle" was still here, and of course she still believed that she was human. Oh if only this was all just a bad dream. Alas it wasn't and Rarity knew that at some point someone was going to have to break the news to "Sweetie Belle". But she was still torn over whether or not she should tell her "little sister" the truth about where she had come from. For that record would she even believe her? Perhaps a nice cup of hot tea would help her sort things out. It had always worked in the past. Sighing once again Rarity went into the kitchen and levitated the tea kettle over to the stove. She proceeded to whip up a batch of Everfree Green Tea, Zecora had said it was great at relieving stress and helping you think. As Rarity waited for the kettle to boil she suddenly felt hungry. She didn't know why, she hadn't really done much of anything today. Normally she would've tried to whip up something really fancy but today she just felt like making a simple sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. A few minutes later her sandwich was complete and just after she had put it on a plate she heard the familiar whistle of the tea kettle. Carefully levitating the kettle off the stove Rarity poured the tea into a cup that she held in her right hand. She then set the kettle off to the side and put the cup on the table. She then did the same with the plate. After the meal Rarity felt slightly better about the situation, she knew it wasn't going to be easy and chances were that "Sweetie Belle" would have some emotional tramua when the truth was revealed, but overall she felt pretty confident that she could explain things without causing too much trouble for anyone. "I hope you can forgive me Mom and Dad." Rarity thought to herself as she retrieved the letter she had discarded not that long ago and headed upstairs to confrot her "little sister". Author's Note Allow me to explain the tags. Dark is for later on and because of the emotional tramua inflicted on Sweetie Bot. Since this fic is not rated Teen it won't be anything major. Alternative Universe is because Sweetie Bot is not cannon no matter what you want to believe. And Human is simply because I think this headcannon fic works with Humanized ponies.
Chapter 2 (Breaking the News)Sweetie Belle was completly unaware that anything was wrong. She was upstairs playing with her doll set, happily ignoring the world around and playing pretend. Little did she know that in a matter of minutes everything would change. It very nearly broke Rarity's heart seeing her "little sister" so happy and carefree. She very nearly felt compelled to just leave Sweetie Belle alone and not break the news to her but she knew she would have to do this sooner or later. Taking a deep breath she opened the door slightly. "Sweetie Belle?" she called gently, trying not to give her "little sister" any reason to be worried. "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked. She put down the dolls and turned towards the door. "We have to talk about something." Rarity said, opening the door further and entering the room. "Is something wrong sis?" Sweetie Belle asked. She never did like seeing her big sister unhappy. Rarity paused, unsure of how to proceed. After looking around, just to ensure that no one else could overhear her she sighed and took a deep breath. "Have you ever wondered where you came from?" she asked Sweetie Belle. "Well, yeah. At least I think so." Sweetie Belle said. "Did Mom and Dad ever tell you anything?" Rarity asked. She was trying her best to tiptoe around the subject, hoping to avoid what she knew was inevitable. "No." Sweetie Belle said "They just told me that I was a special case whenever I asked." "Well you're probably not going to believe this but you're not actually a human being." Rarity said. "What you do mean I'm not human?" Sweetie Belle asked "I have emotions and I can think and feel. Though whenever I take a bath the water always makes me feel funny." "I know this is probably going to sound weird but you're a robot." Rarity said "That's why water has always made you feel funny." "But I can't be a robot." Sweetie Belle said "I don't sound like a robot or feel like a robot." "I know that Sweetie Belle." Rarity said "But it's the truth. I have a letter to prove it." She proceeded to show Sweetie Belle the letter she had recently received. Sweetie Belle read it, but she still couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true, there was no way. How could she possibly be a robot and have all these emotions? Didn't Miss. Cheerilee teach her that robots could not think or feel on their own? How could she be a robot and yet be capable of thinking on her own? "You still don't believe me do you?" Rarity asked. "Yes." Sweetie Belle said "This is all some kind of joke isn't it? This is your way of getting back at me for putting dye in your hair shampoo." Rarity sighed once again. She had expected Sweetie Belle to deny all of this. She was certain she could find a way to reveal the truth to Sweetie Belle but she didn't want to do anything that might inflict more emotional trauma on her "little sister". Reluctantly she decided to admit it was a lost cause. "I'm sorry Sweetie Belle." she said "I guess there's no way to convince you. Perhaps I'm wrong after all." and she left the room. Sweetie Belle tried to play with her dolls again but she found that she just couldn't get into it. She put the dolls away and went downstairs. She was so distracted that she didn't notice Opal, who was lying at the bottom of the staircase and stepped right on her tail. Opal hissed and swiped her claws at Sweetie Belle who raised an arm to defend herself. Sweetie Belle screamed and Rarity came running. Using her magic she pulled Opal away before she could do any more harm. "Are you alright Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked. Sweetie Belle didn't respond, she was too busy looking at the scratch marks on her arm and gasped as did Rarity. Instead of drawing blood the marks revealed wires of various colors. Rarity had been right all along. "I really am a robot." Sweetie Belle said to herself.
Chapter 3 (Sweetie Belle or Sweetie Bot?)Sweetie Belle just stood there in shock. Looking at the exposed wirings as if though they were the only thing of importance. She didn't want to believe it and yet there it was. The proof of who she really was. "Here Sweetie Belle allow me to patch that up for you." Rarity said calmly. She didn't know a lot of healing spells but after being scratched by Opal several times, as well as occasionally stabbing herself while sewing, she had learned how to repair minor cuts and scrapes. "No Rarity leave it alone, it's fine." Sweetie Belle said. Her voice lacked her usual emotion, the shock of what she had just been made aware of was still fresh in her mind. "Sweetie Belle it is most certianly not fine." Rarity said "Your wiring is exposed for everyone to see." "But what if I want it to be exposed?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What if I want everyone to know who I am?" Rarity stopped. She had just lit up her horn and had been preparing to close up the scratch marks with her magic. She hadn't really thought about what "Sweetie Belle" wanted, or should she call her "Sweetie Bot" from now on? Rarity herself would've prefered to have something like this kept secret but she knew that "Sweetie Belle" was different. "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked. Her "big sister" hadn't responded in several minutes and she was starting to grow worried. "I'm still here Sweetie Belle." Rarity said "I'd like to patch up that scratch you got from Opal. If that's what you want." "What I want?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes." Rarity said "This revelation doesn't mean you don't have your own free will anymore. Whatever you want is fine. So do you want me to 'heal' you or do you want to leave the wound alone?" "I...guess you can patch me up if you want to." Sweetie Belle said, needless to say she didn't sound very sure of herself. "O.k. just hold still for a little bit." Rarity instructed and lit up her horn again. A few seconds later she had managed to close the flesh wound on Sweetie Belle's arm. You never would've guessed that underneath it were wires and circuits of all sorts. After that Rarity decided to take some time to try and understand what, if any sort of changes would occur now that "Sweetie Belle" knew the truth. "This doesn't have to change anything between us Sweetie Belle." Rarity said. She wanted to give "Sweetie Belle" a hug but one look at her "sister's" face told her that she was in no mood for such a thing. "It doesn't?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Indeed." Rarity said "If you like this can just stay our little secret. No one else will ever need to know that you're a robot. I can still call you Sweetie Belle and we can still be sisters. Of course you'll need to be more careful around our friends from now on, especially around Apple Bloom and Scootaloo." "And what if I don't want to keep this a secret?" Sweetie Belle asked "What if I want everyone to know who I really am?" "Then you can do that." Rarity said "Whatever you decide to do I'll support you 100 percent. And I'll be more then happy to patch you up whenever you need me to. I can even call you Sweetie Bot if that will make you feel better. Like I said it's all up to you." "Really? You'd do that for me?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity nodded "I only want whatever makes you happy. If you want this to be a secret then I can keep it secret, and if you want everyone know then I can help spread the word. But you need to think about what makes you happy and what you want. I can't decide for you." Sweetie Belle thought to herself for a little bit, trying to decide what she wanted to do. On the one hand if it remained a secret between her and Rarity life would pretty much just go back to the way it was. She'd just need to make sure she played a little more cautiously to avoid exposing her secret to everyone. On the other hand if she told everyone she knew and Rarity told everyone she knew she wouldn't need to hide who she really was or lie. But some people might not believe her and some might even began to fear her. And there was the whole Sweetie Belle/Sweetie Bot issue. Sweetie Belle held sentimental value to her and was the name she had gone by for as long as she could remember. But Sweetie Bot was the name that she had been given when she was "created" and was the name she had probably been intended to be known by. The more she thought about it however the more confused she became. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn't she just make up her mind? It was so unfair. "Well?" Rarity asked. "I just want to be left alone for right now." Sweetie Belle said and she went upstairs without saying another word. Rarity did nothing to stop her. She didn't want to make a potentially bad situation even worse. If "Sweetie Belle" decided she needed some alone time to think things over then Rarity would respect her wish. Perhaps now she could actually do what she had set to do before the events of the past half hour had occurred. Author's Note And now we have chapter 3. Next chapter the emotional tramua starts to come into play.
Chapter 4 (Questions)Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Bot? Human? Robot? What did it all mean? Nothing in "Sweetie Belle's" head made any sense. She knew now that she was a robot, or at least she thought she was a robot. But when her head told her one thing her "emotions" told her another. That only served to further complicate matters, if she was a robot how was it possible that she could express emotion? She could've sworn that robots were never capable of crying or laughing. Hadn't that been what Miss. Cheerilee had taught her about robots? And yet somehow for as long as she could remember any time she'd been with Rarity or with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders she had expressed genuine emotion. Though there was that comment from Apple Bloom about a compass pointing to her. Or was it a metal detector? Suddenly all the memories she had became blurred, she could no longer remember certain aspects. She couldn't remember when she'd met Scootaloo for the first time or what she had said to her. And yet somehow Scootaloo seemed to instantly bond with her. Would they ever have suspected something if Sweetie Belle never earned her cutie mark? So what did it all mean? Was Sweetie Belle really a robot? Perhaps she was actually an android? After all Miss. Cheerilee had said that androids were different from robots, and she swear she could remember a certain video game that Rarity hadn't been keen on letting her play. The game had featured a spikey black and red hedgehog, who had assumed at one point that he was an android, though she never made it far enough to find out if that was true. Was she even the prototype that the letter said she was or was she just one of the many lookalike "models" that had been rolled off the assembly line? Why didn't anyone have the answers she wanted so badly? Rarity had said that she only wanted what was best for her. But could Rarity be trusted? For that matter could anyone she ever knew be trusted? Miss. Cheerilee had made it perfectly clear that most people (herself included) considered robots to be evil and that they were even worse then people who practiced witchcraft, like that gypsy pastry chef. But did she actually mean it? Did some people actually despise robots so badly? Would they look down upon her and cast her out if they found out who she really was? It seemed like more questions kept popping up every second and yet she didn't know the answer to any of them. So what was she suppose to do? Should she just ignore all the questions? Could she trust anyone? Curiously she attempted to use magic only to find that she couldn't even produce sparks. She could disctintly remember that by this age every unicorn colt or filly was expected to know some magic. Any doubts she made have had were completly erased upon realizing this fact. There was no denying it, she was a robot. If only she knew what to think and what to do. Even if she just kept it all a secret at some point chances were that someone would find out. But if everyone knew she was a robot they might grow to fear her. It wasn't fair, she didn't want them to fear her. She just wanted them to love her. But did anyone ever ask her if that's she wanted? Suddenly she began to feel a feeling she had only felt once before. When she yelled at her "big sister". And she could still remember the words she had said on that faithful day. "If the world isn't going to love me then I'll teach it TO FEAR ME INSTEAD!" Without even thinking "Sweetie Belle" walked over to one of her dolls and picked it up. She then proceeded to crush the miniature human with her bare hand, and she didn't even seem to care. If anyone had been watching they would've noticed "Sweetie Belle's" eyes glowing bright red. A sure sign of trouble. "Fear me Equestria! For I AM 'Sweetie Bot'!" Sweetie Belle said to herself. Author's Note I'll bet you can spot the reference I slipped in. This is where things start to get a little dark and this fic earns the "Dark" tag. Next chapter will actually involve Rarity as she decides to seek some answers.
Chapter 5 (Seeking Advice)At first Rarity waited patiently for "Sweetie Belle" to return and announce her decision. She was certain that it wouldn't take her very long. However as the minutes ticked by Rarity began to grow worried, though only slightly. Her first thought was to go and ask "Sweetie Belle" what was wrong but she quickly decided against it. She didn't want to make a potentially bad situation even worse and her "little sister" had specifically asked to be left alone. All the same as yet more minutes passed by without even a peep from "Sweetie Belle" Rarity knew she had to do something. But what could she do? She still didn't know whether "Sweetie Belle" wanted her secret to be revealed, and if she had decided against such a thing Rarity wouldn't want to break the news to her that she had already told someone. She was nearly tempted to call her parents and ask them, but the fear of what they might suggest or how they might react to the news quickly prompted her to scratch that idea off her list. She couldn't just do nothing because she knew that the nagging feeling inside of her would never leave her alone even if she tried to ignore it. And she knew she wouldn't be able to just distract herself until "Sweetie Belle" came back. Heck she still wasn't sure whether to call her "little sister" "Sweetie Belle" or "Sweetie Bot". She wasn't even sure if she still wanted to call that "being" her "little sister". But she knew she had to do something. "Oh Opal what am I do?" Rarity said. Normally the fashionista would find it very weird to be talking about her problems to her cat (even if she did it on a regular basis) but she was desperate for answers and at this point she was willing to consider anything. Opal either didn't seem to notice or seem to care about what Rarity had to say and simply walked away to go lay down somewhere. After all prior to being stepped on by "Sweetie Belle" Opal had sleeping peacefully. "Opal please! Don't leave me!" Rarity pleaded, to no avail as Opal left the room leaving her owner on her own once again. Rarity sighed, what did she expect? Opal was but a humble cat and though at time she had helped Rarity out there was only so much she could do, and this was one situation where she couldn't help her owner at all. So that left Rarity at square one again. Unsure of what to do and growing more worried as the minutes continued to tick by. Eventually half an hour had passed and Rarity had not heard anything at from "Sweetie Belle". As her friend Twilight had once said "Enough is enough!" She needed some good advice and just sitting around on her rear end all day wasn't going to solve anything. (All it would do was make her fat, though only if she made a habbit out of it.) Deciding to press her luck a little she decided she would tell someone about "Sweetie Belle's" situation, though only someone she knew she could trust. The only question now was who should it be? Rainbow Dash was already out of the question. As far as Rarity was concerned that brash tomboy couldn't be trusted with a secret and chances were that she'd probably just assume Rarity was joking anyway. Pinkie Pie had hung out with Rarity a little bit but she could've sworn that pastry chef to be didn't tell her everything about her past as she had said it wasn't important. Perhaps because of that Rarity felt like Pinkie Pie would only make things worse so a little bit reluctantly she crossed her off the list as well. Then there was Applejack, that down to earth farm girl always valued honesty. But said honesty was often a double edged sword and that meant it was possible she might spill the beans. So that left either Fluttershy or Twilight and of the two Rarity knew Fluttershy a little more personally. Fluttershy and her had planned on bringing about the end of the world once but Rarity had ultimately ruined it in order to save her sister's soul, back when she had no reason to believe that her sister didn't have one. Unfortunately Rarity knew that unless "Sweetie Belle" was inducted into Fluttershy group Fluttershy might not feel all that compelled to help. So that left Twilight, Concentrating on the Ponyville Books and Branches Library Rarity teleported. Intending to have a little discussion with Twilight, who she was certain would give her the advice she needed. She was unaware that as she was teleporting "Sweetie Belle" was descending the stairs, having made up her mind about what she wanted to do. The situation was about to get ugly.
Chapter 6 (Fear Me if You Dare!)"Sweetie Belle" felt nothing but anger as she descended the stairs. At this point she didn't care what she did or who got in her way. All she cared about was making a statement. If the world as she knew it was going to fear her then she was going to give it a reason to fear her. She intended for her first target to be her "big sister" Rarity but Rarity wasn't in the living room. Running a quick scan for any sentient life forms "Sweetie Belle" (who had decided to call herself Sweetie Bot) the only being she found was Opal who was snoozing peacefully. It seemed that Rarity had somehow predicted that Sweetie Bot would attack her and had fled. Oh well, Rarity could wait. Luckly for Opal she was of no intrest to Sweetie Bot, in fact she even considered Opal the only friend she had right now. Sweetie Bot then decided to lay waste to Carousel Boutique to some extent. She wasn't intrested in burning it to the ground, nor did she wish to ruin Rarity's dresses though the urge to do so was very strong. Instead she decided to just ruin every last room as best as she could. That would show the world she was not one to be messed with. "Initiating destruction sequence." Sweetie Bot said, her voice starting to become more monotone and computer like. Within seconds bright red laser beams began shooting out from her eyes and arms, frying everything they came into contact with. Now one would think that such actions would be very alarming to Sweetie Bot. Especially since she had only just recently become aware of her origins. But if she did have any sort of remorse or regret for what she was doing she sure didn't show it. She just kept firing laser after laser at anything she wanted, all the while shouting "Destroy! Destroy!" as well as occassionally "Crush!", 'Kill!", or "Exterminate!". She also let out a very maniacal and evil laugh from time to time. Opal was usually a very heavy sleeper, she could practically sleep through one of her owner's many high pitched shrieks whenever something went wrong. But even Opal had her limits and all the noise that was coming from "Sweetie Belle" was too much for her poor sensitive ears. She woke up with a start, very unhappy at having been woken up from her nap. Whoever had the nerve to do all of this was practically begging to be scratched and far be it from Opal to let such an oppertunity slip by. Besides as far as she was concerned the person or creature that was doing this was asking for it. Sweetie Bot continued her rampage of destruction. She had already wrecked pretty much everything and anything that wasn't a dress and she showed no signs of stopping any time soon. Just as she was about to move on to her room upstairs however she heard a familiar hiss. She looked down and saw a white ball of fur leap up and without warning it started scratching her on her left arm. It seemed like she had aroused Opal who was less then happy about her very rude awakening. However Sweetie Bot didn't to notice or even care about Opal was doing, all she knew was that the cat was stopping her from carrying out her rampage. She was tempted to hit Opal with her lasers, just enough to singe her tail and teach her not to mess with her, but she found that upon looking into Opal's eyes she couldn't bring herself to do so. "Life form known as Opal, please stop attacking me." Sweetie Bot said. It soon became quite obvious to Opal that she somehow held a special place in Sweetie Bot's head and that Sweetie Bot could not or would not hurt her. Normally she would've felt compelled to take advantage of such a situation, but one look at Sweetie Bot's eyes told her she was lucky to be spared any sort of aggression. She ceased her "attacks" at once and jumped down. "Thank you life form known as Opal. You shall be rewarded for your act of kindness." Sweetie Bot said, her voice breifly returned to it's normal human tone as she leaned down to pet Opal. The Persian cat felt very happy to recieve some attention for once and soaked up every moment of it. She even briefly rolled over, exposing her soft belly in the hopes that "Sweetie Belle" would give her a belly rub. Which she did. For a brief moment "Sweetie Belle's" eyes returned to normal. It seemed like somehow Opal had some sort of calming effect on her. Unfortunately the moment soon passed and Sweetie Bot resumed her rampage without any further interruptions. Some time later Sweetie Bot had wrecked just about everything in Carousel Boutique that wasn't a dress or a dress design. At first she was content to just let the smoldering remains burn to ash, but some unknown reason she instead made use of the fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink and put out all the flames. But her vendetta didn't end with Carousel Boutique. In fact it was just the beginning. She believed that the world had chosen to fear her and she would see to it that it was punished for doing so. She wouldn't stop until Ponyville, no the entire universe bowed down before her. She could care less about what might happen or who got in the way. It seemed like the citizens of Ponyville were about to be the unfortunate victims of yet another disaster. But this one would be one that they wouldn't soon forget. Author's Note Basically the idea with Opal is to reflect a struggle for control between Sweetie Belle and Sweetie Bot. Sweetie Belle is currently the dormant personality and Sweetie Bot the dominate personality. Sweetie Belle is the one that cares about Opal which explains why Sweetie Bot was unable to hurt her. This will pop up again.
Chapter 7 (Crush! Kill! Destroy!)No one in Ponyville knew that anything was wrong. Not even Pinkie Pie, who surprisingly enough was known for her psychic visions as well as her 'Pinkie Sense'. As far as everyone was concerned it was just another average day in Ponyville. For despite all the high profile and even low profile disasters that occurred Ponyville was actually a very peaceful town in the middle of Equestria. If it weren't for the fact that it was the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle chances were that no one would even know it existed. The citizens of Ponyville went about their daily business. Walking from place to place to buy and sell various goods. Or to just relax and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately the peace and quiet that was present over the town was about to be disrupted. Without warning there came a loud shout that might have reminded a few of Princess Luna (or Molestia as some called her) and her "Royal Canterlot Voice". But the voice that spoke proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not Princess Luna that disturbed the peace. "Attention all sentient life forms of the town of Ponyville!' the robotic voice shouted. As people turned to look they noticed what appeared to be "Sweetie Belle" but something seemed different about her. As she drew closer people could see that her eyes were glowing bright red, and in various places along her left arm scratch marks revealed wires of all shapes and sizes as well as colors. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong. Sweetie Bot continued "Knowing full well that you intended to fear me I reveal myself as Sweetie Bot! And as of today I am your worst nightmare! I offer you this warning! Resist me at your own risk! All sentinet lifeforms that do so will be destroyed!" Just about everyone started laughing. Surely this was all some sort of joke. As far as they knew Sweetie Belle would never do something like this. But they didn't realize that this was not Sweetie Belle they were dealing with. "So you choose to mock me?!" Sweetie Bot said "You shall pay dearly for your ignorance! Set phasers to destruction!" Lasers suddenly started shooting out from Sweetie Bot's eyes, as well as from cannons on her hands and knees. As the first couple of buildings were completly annihilated people began to realize that this was serious and that Ponyville was once again in danger. But no one (not even the most heartless of criminals) could bring themselves to hurt Sweetie Belle, or Sweetie Bot as she was calling herself. Everyone either believed she didn't know what she was doing or that she was possed. As a result Sweetie Bot fired laser after laser and destroyed building after building but no one could do anything to stop her. Cries of "The horror! The horror!" and "We're all gonna die!" echoed throughout all of Ponyville even though for now Sweetie Bot's rampage was mostly confined to the market place and town square. Sweetie Bot herself continued to shout out warnings and sayings such as "Don't make me destroy you inferior life form! or "Bow down to me worthless human!" but she also occassionally shouted lines such as "Crush! Kill! Destroy!" and "Exterminate! Exterminate!". When word of this incident reached The Mayor she tried her best to remain calm. "We must not allow fear and chaos to regin supreme." she was heard to say. But her words did nothing to make anyone feel better. As far as everyone else was concerned Sweetie Bot was on an emotional rampage and the best course of action was to scream and run helter skelter (or in circles if people had nowhere to run). Throughout all of this Sweetie Bot didn't seem to care about who or what got in her way. She simply continued her seemingly unstoppable rampage of destruction. From an outsider's perspective it seemed like Ponyville was doomed. And chances were that Sweetie Bot would not stop there. But the big question was, would even the royal sisters be unable to neutralize this threat? No one knew the answer but the very thought that the rulers of Equestria could be defeated was enough to send shivers down the spines of even the bravest of humans (Big Macintosh and Roid Rage/Snowflake were among them).
Chapter 8 (Decisions)As Equestria's newest Princess Twilight had been very busy lately. Sure most ponies still went to The Mayor with their problems but it seemed like there was always at least one person each day that would be coming to her. Asking her to do something. So needless to say when Rarity suddenly teleported into her living room she was more then a little upset, though she did her best to remain calm. "Sorry to drop in unannounced." Rarity said "But I need your help with something." Twilight sighed "What is it this time?' she asked, trying not to come across as rude. "Can you keep a secret?" Rarity asked. "Depends." Twilight said "Just don't make me 'Pinkie Promise' I'm still not good at those." "I wasn't going to make you 'Pinkie Promise' anyway." Rarity said "The way I see it the less people that know about this the better. So can I trust you to just keep to this yourself? And possibly Spikey Wikey as well?" "I guess." Twilight said "What's the secret?" Rarity proceeded to whisper it into Twilight's ear. The shock caused her wings (which had been folded against her sides) to fold outward in shock. Twilight quickly used her magic to fold them back down. "Sorry about that." she apologized. "That's o.k." Rarity said "I expected the news to catch you off guard. I'd have been more concerned if you weren't shocked at all." "Well I suppose I can keep this a secret." Twilight said "But I hope you didn't come here just to make me swear to secrecy." "Of course not." Rarity said "I came here because I needed some advice and I figured you were the best person to turn to." "What do you mean by advice?" Twilight asked "I know I'm a princess but that doesn't mean I can solve every problem that gets brought to me." "The thing is I really don't know what to say or do." Rarity admitted "This is a very delicate situation and I'm afraid if I say the wrong thing I might upset 'Sweetie Belle'." Rarity still wasn't sure whether she wanted to keep using "Sweetie Belle" or start using "Sweetie Bot", and this confusion was part of the reason why she felt so conflicted. "Look Rarity I appreciate that you have faith in me but I really can't help you out here." Twilight said "You have to decide for yourself what you think is best. No one else can make the important decision for you." "But I dont know what to do." Rarity said "Please you have to help me." "I'm sorry Rarity but I can't do that." Twilight said. "Even if I gave you one of my fashionable gaint hats for free?" Rarity asked. Twilight merely shook her head. Rarity sighed "There's just no convincing you is there?" "Nope." Twilight said "You and you alone have the power to decide what you want to do." "Can you at least offer me some advice?" Rarity asked. "I suppose so." Twilight said "Basically you need to ask yourself 'What do I think is the best course of action?' and go from there." "I see." Rarity said. "And remember there's no solution that's perfect. Every solution will have some sort of consequence. So you need to think carefully." Twilight explained. "Right." Rarity said and she started to think. But only a few seconds later she was interrupted by Spike. "Just got an urgent letter from The Mayor." he said panting. He had been given the letter only a few minutes ago but he had covered a lot of ground to bring it to Twilight and that had taken a lot out of him. Twilight unfolded it with her magic and read it aloud. Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, It has come to my attention that the younger sister of Rarity Belle is rampaging through town. No one is willing to get close enough to do anything about though. I would appreciate it very much if you could put a stop to this nonsense before somebody gets hurt. If not I'm afraid I will have to resort to drastic measure to protect the town, I really don't want it to have to come to that. Sincerely, The Mayor of Ponyville a.k.a Mayor Mare[ /i] "Why would Sweetie Belle do such a thing?" Spike asked. "Because she just found out she's a robot." Rarity said and explained to Spike what had unfolded a short time ago. "Sounds like she's really hurting." Spike said. "Indeed she is." Rarity said "And I'm going to do something about!" Upon saying these words she headed for the door and opened it. "Rarity where do you think you're going?" Twilight asked. "To comfort my little sister of course." Rarity said. "Are you nuts?!" Spike shouted "Do you want to get killed?!" He raced forward but Twilight put a hand in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "Let her go." Twilight said "I think I know what she's doing." Author's Note In case you can't already tell I'm blending the cannons of FiM and FiW a little.
Chapter 9 (Confrontation)Rarity ignored all the screaming and shrieking from people running away as she made her closer and closer to the center of town. Right now there was only one thing running through her mind. She had to get to "Sweetie Belle" before it was too late. It didn't take her very long to find "Sweetie Belle" but when she did she could easily see that she already had her work cut out for her. Trying to patch things up with her "little sister" wasn't going to be easy but if she didn't at least try she'd never forgive herself. Sweetie Bot had showed no mercy to anything that she had encountered. Building after building had been destroyed and she was just getting warmed up. "Sweetie Belle please stop this at once!" Rarity shouted "This isn't you!" "Do not attempt to stop me sentient life form known as Rarity." Sweetie Bot said "You will only be destroyed." "Sweetie Belle you have to listen to me!" Rarity said "You and I both know that you'd never do something like this!" "You don't know me at all!" Sweetie Bot said "No one does! All they see is a robot and they instantly fear me! They will pay for their silent judgements when they are eradicated." "Sweetie Belle that's not true!" Rarity said "I know a lot of people who don't believe robots are evil. You can't punish everyone for the actions of a select few!" "You cannot stop me nor can you make me change my mind!" Sweetie Bot said "Now stand down or face my wrath!" "Do whatever you want to me but I'm not going anywhere." Rarity said "Not until the sister I once knew is back!" "Then you will be exterminated!" Sweetie Bot shouted "Set phasers to destroy!" She began to build up power for an ulitmate attack. If it was allowed to reach full power Rarity and most of Ponyville would be doomed." Rarity refused to move, despite the protests of those who were watching her. She continued to plead with Sweetie Belle, begging her not to do it. Nothing was working. "Super laser 90% charged." Sweetie Bot said. Time was running out, in a matter of seconds it would all be over. "At this point it's all or nothing!" Rarity thought to herself "I love you Sweetie Belle!" she proclaimed, wrapping her arms around Sweetie Bot and hugging her as tightly as she could. "I always have and always will! Nothing you say or do will ever change that! Even now I still love you! And I know you're there in somewhere so listen up! You've got to fight this! You've got to resist! If you don't you'll destroy the only person who ever truely loved you no matter what!" Suddenly Sweetie Bot cried out in a non robotic voice "Help me Rarity!" "Don't give up Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "You can do it! I believe in you!" "I...can't...control...myself!" Sweetie Belle said her voice slipping back and forth between robotic and normal. It was obvious that "Sweetie Belle" was trying to take back control from "Sweetie Bot" but "Sweetie Bot" wasn't about to give up so easily. "You're almost there Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said. "I...feel it slipping!" Sweetie Belle said. "I know you can do it!" Rarity said "You're a fighter!" "It's no use!" Sweetie Belle said her voice starting to slip back into a robotic tone. "Don't say such things Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "I can sense you with my magic, and it's telling me that you've almost regained control! You've come so far, don't let it be for naught!" "Help me, please!" Sweetie Belle pleaded. "I can't do that Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said "You have to be the one to put a stop to this! You're the only one who can control yourself!" "Don't leave me Rarity!" Sweetie Belle said. "I'm right here!" Rarity said "Don't worry, I'm not leaving your side until I know you're back for good!" And she proceeded to hug Sweetie Belle even tighter. "Sweetie Belle's" eyes started to revert from red to their usual green color. But at times the red began to flare up again. The battle for control was nearing it's end, but only one would walk away victorious. The question now was who would it be? No one knew the answer but they all knew the very fate of Equestria would be determined by the outcome of this battle.
Chapter 10 (Set Phasers to Hug!)Time seemed to stand still as everyone waited to see what the outcome would be. The whole time Rarity refused to let go of Sweetie Belle and continued to hug her firmly. Finally after what seemed like forever but had actually only been a few seconds Sweetie Belle suddenly said "Set phasers to hug!" in a robotic tone, however her eyes were no longer glowing bright red. She hugged Rarity back and anyone watching couldn't resist letting out an "Aw." as they observed the heartwarming scene in front of them. "Sweetie Belle? Is it really you?" Rarity asked. "Yes Rarity." Sweetie Belle said, still in a robotic tone. "You sound a little bit different." Rarity said. "Well that's because I'm not completly myself." Sweetie Belle explained "I now have a bit of 'Sweetie Bot' inside of me." "That's going to take some getting use to." Rarity said "But for right now I'm just glad you're o.k." "Thank you Rarity." Sweetie Belle said "I shudder to think of what might have happened if you hadn't showed up when you did." "Let's not dwell on the 'what could've been'." Rarity said "And focus on the 'what could be'." She stopped hugging Sweetie Belle and used her magic to patch up the wounds. Within seconds you never would've known they had even existed if you hadn't seen them yourself. Before long the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Within hours everyone in Ponyville knew the truth about Sweetie Belle but surprisingly none of them feared her, or considered her evil. Cheerilee even said Sweetie Belle was an exception and that not all robots were evil. Of course Sweetie Belle still had to apologize for all the destruction she had caused but because nobody had gotten hurt the citizens of Ponyville were quick to forgive and (for the most part) forget. The only punishment Sweetie Belle received was being forced to help rebuild the sections of town that she had destroyed during her emotional rampage. Within a few weeks life went back to being normal in Ponyville. At least for the time being. Sweetie Belle had not insisted on being called "Sweetie Bot" but on occassion Rarity or someone else would slip up and call her that. Thankfully Sweetie Belle didn't mind it at all and always shrugged it off. She still hung out with her friends and they still called themselves The Cutie Mark Crusaders but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo knew and understood that as a robot Sweetie Belle couldn't get a cutie mark. That didn't stop her from tagging along on their crusades and offering ideas and in the end she managed to have just as much fun as she had before. For the most part Rarity was the only one she allowed to patch her up whenever she cut herself and revealed her wiring and circuitry, but on occassion she allowed someone else to do it as well. A month following the incident there was no trace or hint of the event and everyone made sure it stayed that way. Sometimes however people would ask Sweetie Belle to help them out with various tasks, because they knew that as a robot she would be able to help them. Whenever that happened Sweetie Belle was always happy to help. Before long everything had gone back to being normal and life went on as usual in Equestria. For now anyway. Author's Note And we are done. Hope you've enjoyed this fic.
