Spike woke up with a stir and a moan.
The young dragon waddled down the stairs and into the kitchen. The new castle was strongly similar to the library. Except it was made out of crystals… and had a throne room… and a lot of other rooms he hadn’t seen yet. The point is Spike knew where he was going… he thought…
“This isn’t the kitchen,” he muttered to himself.
Spike was in the library of the libr- castle. Out of the corner of his sleepy eye was Twilight snoring under a white sheet. The sheet covered something that was pony shaped. Spike giggled at the images that emerged from his imagination. Twilight jolted up.
“How long was I asleep?!” she shouted.
Spike took a step back, a bit concerned about what the easily panicked alicorn would do.
Twilight rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. She turned to Spike and greeted him with a warm smile.
“You remember that package we got yesterday?”
“I had to carry that thing in here,” Spike growled.
Twilight squeaked with blush, “Well it was a robot from Celestia.”
She unveiled the robot in a spectacular display. One which would’ve made Rarity envious.
There… it stood. A pure purple unicorn with a black mane and tail with an equal purple streak going down the middle. The eyes were blank white as though they were painted on. Spike eyed the thing and noticed it didn’t have a cutie mark. Pretty strange on a pony, even if it was a robotic one.
“So… what’s it do?”
“This is the Document Organization Remote Navigator, DORN for short.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Twilight groaned a little annoyed, “That means it keeps the library clean and in perfect condition.”
Spike examined the contraption a little skeptical, “Doesn’t look like it does anything but collect dust.”
“That’s because we have to turn her on.” Twilight held a blue floppy disc in a dramatic display. She proceeded to insert the disc into the back of the machine’s head.
The head quickly ate the disc. A surge of energy flowed through the contraption. Bright blue light created a wireframe like coat around it. When it reached its flanks a bright blue slash flashed upon both sides. The eyes finally focused into two golden circles. The machine came to life and gave a salute.
“TRON reporting for duty!”
The only organic beings in the room stared with confusion.
“TRON? What does the T stand for?” Twilight asked.
The machine known as ‘TRON’ eyes flickered as they became cross eyed. Making him… her… it look like Derpy in unicorn armor.
“I don’t know…”
Spike began laughing as the defective robot started messing with the books. The horrified look on Twilight’s face made him laugh even more.
“Spike, take a letter,” she ordered her little dragon.
Spike obeyed and got a pen and parchment ready. The letter simply stated…
“Dear Princess Celestia;
This new robot you sent is defective. It refers to itself as TRON and has a stallion voice.
Please reply as soon as possible; Twilight Sparkle”
Within seconds Spike belched out a new scrolls. Twilight violently snatched the piece of paper and read it.
“Twilight;
There seems to have been a mistake with the software and hardware. While you do have the DORN unit’s hardware, I’m afraid you downloaded software for the Tactical Reconnaissance Operation Navigator (TRON) your brother was meant to have. He has notified me that the unit he has is cleaning the Crystal Castle with napalm, missiles, and buzz saws. I had to send several guards just to get close to that thing! Thankfully the unit you posses is none lethal and 100% safe even with software designed to harm others without remorse.
Keep the unit entertained; Tia”
Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle at the ending statement. Seemed so long ago that she always referred to Celestia as ‘Princess’ and now she sees her nickname nearly enough to accidentally call her by that name. Then she remembered about the robot.
She turned to see Tron was nowhere to be found.
“SPIKE!”
“Huh, oh, sorry,” Spike crawled out of a pile of books, “That guy is faster than Rainbow!”
“Rainbow?”
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash. She’s a pegasus and element of- HEY!”
Spike had very little time to think about grabbing Tron in the instant the defective machine teleported under Twilight.
“I read all the books. What now?”
Looking around, Twilight saw thousand upon thousand of books scattered across the floor. She felt rage, sorrow, and annoyance. This machine was equivalent to Pinkie Pie in terms of impossible feats and sheer irritation.
“Is it too much to ask you to clean this up?”
Tron gave a salute and teleported out of her sight.
“I swear, If I see that infernal contraption again, I’m going to demolish it!”
“You almost sounded like Applejack,” Spike laughed.
“It took seconds, SECONDS! For it to scatter ALL of the books in the library!”
“I have a name, you know?”
Twilight blinked. Once again she scanned the room to find it nearly spotless. She also saw Spike in a tuxedo, monocle, top hat, and cane. Much to the confusion of both. Before Twilight could say a syllable, Tron put a metallic hoof in her muzzle.
“You don’t have to say every word,” it sighed, “Just call me Tron the prototype.”
Spike coughed, “Do we have to call you the prototype? Not every pony is going to remember that. It’d also make the ‘flower trio’ panic. We may as well call you ‘Test’ it’s shorter and practically means the same thing.”
Tron processed the thought and smiled, “Affirmative! My name is Tron Test! How may I be of service today?”
Twilight felt a blood vessel snap. She foamed at the mouth and was unable to speak properly.
“You uh… feeling alight Princess?”
Without warning, Twilight exploded in a rather destructive teleportation spell. Spike’s knees buckled with fear. Tron Test merrily blinked and giggled.
“Hide and seek mode activated,” its eyes glowed a brilliant blue, “Princess has teleported to her bedroom, screaming into her pillow.”
“Woah, you can track Twilight?”
“I am able to locate any living organism that I have scanned. It also helps to have x-ray vision installed,” Tron put a hoof under its chin, “Strange, this unit was not meant to have that application installed.”
Spike thought about getting Tron away from Twilight. Celestia said the software was designed to harm ponies without remorse and that would be very bad for a town of simple, easy to scare, ponies. However, he managed to think of one thing to do.
“Hey, would you like to help Rarity with me?”
Tron Test stared into space for ten minutes before replying with a nod.
“Let’s move out!” Tron shouted before running straight through the castle wall.
Amazingly, the wall retained the pony shape hole Tron made before crystals grew around it.
Spike was pleased with himself for less time when he finally realized the most important detail was stated.
“He has no idea where Rarity is…”