Horizon Falls

Andromeda frowned as she stared into a large metal face. The creature’s angular head tilted as it stared at her. But there was something different about it that made it stick out from the other creatures that lived in the forest.

Its body was mechanical in appearance. Thick sections of silvery grey metal plating covered most of its inner workings and mechanics like armor yet still allowed for smooth fluidic movement. It wielded six limbs, two what would qualify as legs and four arms with six ‘fingers’ at the end of each hand. The creature’s head was shaped like an upside down knife with plating that covered its face extending out along its mandible, hiding most of its face from view allowing only the ‘eyes’ to be seen. The head was attached to a medium length neck that it craned forward at the intruder.

Its eyes blinked from red to blue as it recognized that the pony standing before it didn’t appear to be hostile. It extended one of arms towards Andromeda, slowly, like a cat curiously pawing at a ball of yarn.

Andromeda blinked and slowly backed away.

“No! Bad robot!” She fumed.

The machine let out a series of squeaks, pops, and whistles before it backed up.

“Sit…” Andromeda said as she picked up her books and levitated them back into her bag. The machine sat down in a fashion similar to that of a dog or cat before cocking its head at her; sitting down, it about two meters tall. It went to raise two arms but Andromeda shot it a glare.

“That’s not very nice,” the machine said, its voice sounding heavily synthesized, “I’m not some guard dog, you know.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t act like one,” Andromeda smiled.

“Hey,” it said standing up and walking hexapedally, “While you’re down in that little village of yours having fun with that teacher and that new princess of yours, I’m up here guarding our little secret.”

“How do you know she’s a princess now?” Andromeda asked as she turned and resumed walking back up the trail.

“When your existence is confined to crawling around trees like a monkey you learn to listen as much as you can.”

“Huh. And for the record, you jumping down from that tree wasn’t very nice either.”

“Aw come on,” the machine said as it walked with her up the trail, “I get bored up here. Trillions of calculations per second and I just sit up here most of the time watching the sun go up and come back up again, day after day.”

“So that means you don’t spend time at the cave?”

The machine let out a sigh, “I get boooorrrred. Sitting up there hacking into systems I barely understand can get to you. I do take breaks sometimes.”

Andromeda closed her eyes and laughed, “Oh? And what does Aphelion do on his breaks?”

“Don’t talk about me in the third person like that.”

“Oh? So you’re picking up on that.”

“Yes I am.”

“Hmm, so back to the question. What does a robot like you do on his breaks?”

Aphelion let out a computerized sigh, “I walk around the woods up here. Climb trees like a monkey. Go swimming when I can. Paint a bit. I tried sleeping one time but… I guess I don’t have the parts necessary for that.”

Andromeda let out a giggle that erupted into full blown laughter.

Aphelion cocked his head, “If I could frown I would. What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Andromeda put a hoof to her mouth, “Just trying to imagine you painting and sleeping.”

“And how is that funny to you?” he asked.

“Look at you. Standing up, you’re like nine meters tall! You have four arms and you walk around like a cat.”

“Yeah and your point is?”

“It’s funny to imagine.”

“Don’t you have your languages to decipher?” he asked.

“Yeah. I don’t understand why you can’t do this, though.”

“Uh, I think you know why. And if you’ll pardon me for saying but I can’t just waltz down the mountain, walk into the library and say, ‘Hello Ms. Twilight. I would like to take out a book on ancient languages. Oh and by the way, ignore the fact I’m a hexapod robot that’s been living like a hermit in the mountain for the last ten years.’ Yeah, that would go over real well with the locals,” he said rolling his eyes.

“You could have easily been up there for longer than ten years,” Andromeda smiled.

“I know. But our relationship and my memory both begin around there so... I’ll stick with ten years.”

“You’re a piece of work, Aphelion.”

“The same could be said about you. And I’ve been wondering. Where did you get that name for me?”

“It sounded cool for a robot like you.”

“Yes I know that, Andy. But that doesn’t answer the question.”

“It’s a word that means a point farthest from the sun. I found you at midnight on the winter solstice so I figured the name fitting. Didn’t get you working until like three months later. I guess I could say you were a problem child.”

“You’re not my mother. You’re just the filly that found me lying in the center of our little facility.”

Andromeda smiled, “And you tried following me home like a dog the first few days I got you up and running. And when I told you to stay, you stayed in the same spot and position until I came back, be it a few hours or a few days.”

“I was a blank slate. And if you recall I picked up your language within a week, as well as several others with the books you brought up AND I know your history better than you do.”

“Brag all you want, robot boy,” Andromeda winked, “On technicality I’m your mother.”

“Yeah, the eight year old tinkerer who found a magic robot buried in a mountain is automatically its mother. Makes total sense.”

“Whatever. You can think that,” she grinned.

“Ha, ha. Let’s just get to solving the mysteries of the mountain before we get too off topic.”

“You started it.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Oh act your age for once.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m your mother, remember?”

Aphelion hung his head, “I’m scowling on the inside.”

“Sure you are.”

“Would you shut up and get working on your books?”

“It would help if the robot with pattern recognition software actually used it for once,” she taunted.

“I do use it. Unless you want to try to interpret all those lines of code written in another language as well as those infernal circles and ovals littering the system.”

“Maybe I do,” she said smugly.

“Be my guest,” he replied.

“Alright, boy genius. Today we switch jobs.”

“Why do you always assume I’m a boy?”

Andromeda blinked, “Well you’ve never indicated otherwise.”

Something that looked like it could be a smirk flashed across Aphelion’s face. His voice changed and lost its synthetic noise and became more fluid and smooth and feminine.

“Oh?” came a sexy female voice, “How about now?”

“Stop messing with me,” Andromeda frowned.

“Aww, come on. Are you gonna start referring to me as a she if I don’t? You know… I don’t recall ever telling you which gender I preferred or even adopted. For all you know, I could have female programming.”

“Well, uh, I just assumed that that’s what you were. A boy.”

“Does it look like I have the parts for that?” he continued, using his newfound female charms.

“You don’t have the parts for anything! Now cut it out. It’s getting weird.”

His normal synthesized voice returned, “Fine, be that way. Just having a little fun is all.”

“Hmph… Do you mind it when I refer to you as a boy?”

“No,” he said smugly, “I never really even knew what genders were until you brought up that weird book with the messy images in it. You always just referred to me as a he or a boy or some other masculine adage. Guess it stuck.”

“You can be such a dick sometimes.”

“Yes mom.”

Andromeda simmered, “You are such a bucking wise ass sometimes. You know that?”

“I know everything.”

“Oh really? Then tell me all about our little secret up the mountain.”

“I have a few theories.”

“Then tell me.”

“Maybe it’s a data storage facility or something. Or possibly an ancient military installation. Maybe it was a scientific outpost.”

Andromeda gave a cocky grin, “Those are all real good theories, but there’s just one problem with them.”

“And what is that?”

“You know exactly what.”

Aphelion sighed, “Humor me.”

“None of those theories explain our little rift.”

“Ha, little.”

“Why would a science outpost need a hole to the bottom of the bucking world?”

“We don’t know how deep it goes, filly.”

“Well before you go into conjecture like that you should at least come up with an explanation for that.”

“Jeez, what crawled up your ass?”

“Nothing. Just that we’ve been at this for almost a decade and we aren’t any closer to solving this thing. It’s a little maddening don’t you think?”

“I guess.”

“Come on, you can’t tell me that you don’t feel it too?” she said staring at him.

“Feel what?” he asked returning her gaze.

“That something isn’t right here! Come on! You most of all have to feel it. Doesn’t it bother you that some eight year old filly found you in the middle of an ancient base embedded in the surface of a mountain? Haven’t you ever wondered where the sun goes at the end of each day? Don’t you want to know more about those oceans at the poles?”

“I guess.”

“You mean that doesn’t bother you?!”

“Not as much as it’s bothering you. I mean, the other things bother me but the first thing doesn’t disturb me as much.”

She frowned, “Explain.”

“Do you ever wonder why you’re here?”

“What do you mean?”

“My situation and yours aren’t as different as you think.”

“Don’t be silly. Of course they are.”

“Are they really? Think about it. I don’t know where I came from. And you don’t have any answers as to where your race came from. These are basic questions that everyone’s been asking since the beginning of time.”

“Hmm, alright point made.”

“And for the record, yes I’ve been able to recognize that something doesn’t feel right. Sometimes when I get bored, I think about just jumping down the chasm and seeing where it goes. Also something that I find weird is that the sun rises from the same place each day.”

“You and me both,” Andromeda laughed.

The pair continued walking along the trail, moving up and around the mountain. Soon they rounded the mountain, Canterlot no longer being visible. The mountain continued up. A steep rocky trail wound its way up the mountain to a dark cave that sat just behind a small rocky plateau.

Andromeda frowned and stared at the rocky trail. She heard her robotic friend sigh.

Aphelion crouched down, “Hop on.”

Andromeda grinned, “Thanks.”

She clambered up onto the robot’s back, resting herself on what settled for spinal plating. A series of spines extended up from his head and stopped just short of her hooves.

“Hold on,” he said.

Andromeda barely had time to settle in and grab one of his spines before he stood up bipedal and leapt into the air. She let out a gleeful scream as she felt the air rush through her mane and tail. Heavy metal claws extended outward and gripped the rock. He leapt up, barely stopping to even climb as he ascended with his cargo. The machine’s arms worked like catapults as he scaled the nearly vertical surface. He eventually slowed down as he neared the entrance to the cave.

The robot climbed up onto the platform and set himself down, letting Andromeda climb off.

She giggled, “That was fun.”

She visibly saw his blue eyes roll, “Come on. I’ve calculated the weather for this side of the mountain. We’re supposed to get rain tonight.”

“Ooh, cozy.”

The pitter patter of steps could be heard as the duo walked along the rocky surface until they came to a large smooth surface.

Aphelion stepped up and tapped the surface with one of his claws. The surface lit up with a collection of geometric patterns and glyphs. A large glowing line ran down the center. A circular rotary appeared on the line. Recognizable numbers appeared on the circles, each ring decreased the number by three, starting from the first nine digits all the way down to the first three.

“Can I do it?” Andromeda asked.

Aphelion sighed, “You did it last time. Let me have a turn. Besides, I have your fat flank a ride up here.”

“Humph.”

He entered a nine number combination before rotating the first ring counter clockwise three times. He entered in the next six number combination before turning the next ring twice clockwise. He entered in the final three digit code before turning it counter clockwise once before tapping the center glowing circle.

The door split along the lateral line and silently opened.

“Let’s get inside, shall we?” Andromeda smiled.