The blazing circle of a sun glared down on the earth, leaving a burn upon anyone who stayed underneath its gaze few minutes too long and blinding anyone stupid enough to look at it long enough. Inhabiting one of the many small houses lining Pasture Street, Ponyville, was a particularly bored unicorn.
His name was Ace Amethyst. He had a long purple mane, tied back in a minor attempt at combating the mid-summer heat. His coat was a cool shade of light blue, not quite baby-blue or cobalt. It straddled the line along the middle
The stallion was sprawled out on his back in a recliner, currently pondering what to do with his free, mid-summer day. The stallion had already memorized many of the books in his possession and the book store seemed like a daunting trip in the heat.
Ace leaned back in the recliner in an attempt to sleep, hoping to pass the time. A few minutes of squirming later, he finally admitted defeat in the form of a largely aggravated sigh.
Ace shrugged out of the recliner, the heat having drained his energy. He had a working A/C, but it wasn't enough to beat down the viscous heat seeping into his home. He absently gazed out the window, noticing the mail mare delivering letters and packages to the inhabitants of Pasture Street. Her hair was tangled into locks, clinging to her neck.
The unicorn felt a slight sense of pity for the mare, having to work in such heat, likely only being given minimum wage. Shrugging off the thought, Ace made his way from the study to his kitchen. The inside of his throat stuck to itself as he swallowed, so he focused his magic into levitating a glass from one of the cupboards. He poured some glass and ice into it, taking a sip quickly just to soothe the sticky sensation of his throat. Sighing, he turned around and trotted back into the study.
His gaze shifted to the oak wood desk which he had organized out of boredom a half hour ago.
He gazed at the neatly stacked parchment, row of quills, the stout deep blue bottles of ink lined up on the side. Ace would have written a letter, if he had someone to send it to. He walked over to the fireplace which had long since been cleaned of the ash and soot that normally lined it. Boredom was a great motivator.
He remembered how cool the previous day had been, compared to today. Ace took a sip of the water, savoring the temporary coolness it brought to him. Curious, he looked over to the grandfather clock which was in the space between the entryway and the bookshelves.
2:30 Ace huffed, looking at the books that filled the shelves, internally reading the titles until they became one somewhat consistent blur of shapes meant to be Equestrian. Blinking, he looked down at the rug, tracing the designs in the deep green fabric. He began to subconsciously play a game with himself on how many shapes he could find in it.
He'd discovered around fifty-three before his attention was captured by three loud thumps against his door. He nearly dropped his water, the magic briefly slipping with the lack of focus on it.
Ace turned around, quickly setting his drink down on a clear space on the desk before leaving his study and stopping at his door.
A quick glance through the peephole showed the mailmare, smoothing her mane back with a spare hoof.
Ace opened the door and greeted the mare with a smile. "How are you today?" He asked in an attempt at politeness.
"I'm good, except for the heat. How are you?" Ace smiled, This mail mare was with a long silver mane, her cutie mark being a cluster of snow clouds. Her name was Cloud Cluster, her talent was to bring clusters of clouds along with winter, despite the fact many other pegasi could do so, she seemed best. She worked as a mail mare when the winter season was over.
"I'm fine, just bored. So do you have anything for me?" Ace asked, not wanting to put the mare off schedule.
"Well. You got this big ol' thing from some random person, I couldn't read the return address." Ace stared at the giant package which lay beside Cloud Cluster.
"Thanks Cloud Cluster. " he levitated the box and nodded a thanks, retreating to his comfortable home and out of the heat.
Once inside his study, Ace studied the box, looking at the note that held his name, address, and city.
Wonder why Cloud Cluster couldn't read the return address Ace though to himself, scanning the address print only to be greeted by something strange.
The writing was strange, looking more like symbols than words. Ace lifted the writing closer to his face in order to read it.
Ace lifted the box and scanned all the sides, being careful not to break anything fragile that may be inside the package which was as large as a full grown stallion.
He heard a small clanging sound come from inside the box. Intrigued Ace set the box down, the mysterious address drifting to the back of his mind.
He opened the package, lifting everything out. He stared at the hunks of metal which had been stored in the box. He observed the pieces which reminded him of the skeleton of a pony. Confused, he pushed the pieces around, only to have his thoughts confirmed. If set together correctly, they made the shape of a pony skeleton, the torso seeming to be the only full part of the metal body.
Ace lifted the instructions up from the box, reading them. He looked at the metal body before going to his room and under his bed were he stored his toolbox.
may as well figure this out.
Ace read the greatly detailed instructions and slowly began to piece the mysterious kit together.
Ace wiped beads of sweat from his brow as he put the last thing together. He questioned the mysterious blue fluid which ran through the see through pipes that gave an appearance of veins. He wanted to take some and observe it, figure it out,but he was only given a certain amount and didn't want to damage the metal pony-shaped thing's programming with insufficient amounts of the fluid.
As he screwed the last piece in place he smiled at his handiwork. It looked like a pony skeleton with a metal encased torso where Ace assumed the more complex machinery was held. Ace scanned the thing, trying to figure out how it would move or work. It seemed rather advanced technology compared to that of Ace's town.
He looked at the robot, its face neutral and its eyes closed. He frowned at it. There was no instructions on how to turn it on and it appeared there was no buttons or switches to bring the thing to life. Ace turned away and began to clean up the mess he had made by building the thing.
As he began to leave the study, toolbox in hoof, he heard the sound of machinery whirring to life.
"Is anyone there?" Ace froze, his heart rate speeding up slightly. The voice sounded rather pony-like.
"H-Hello?" Ace stammered, slowly turning around, shocked at what he saw.
The robot had come to life, standing and staring at him like a confused puppy.
"Hey!" the robot greeted with a happy tone in its slightly monotone voice.
"Uh......." Ace began to back away from the robot which just stared at him.
The robot stared back, its eyes glowed a bright blue. "Greetings. Are you the one that put me together?"
Ace's jaw dropped, his throat had a giant lump in it. All he could do was nod.
"It is nice to meet you, Ace Amethyst." the robot nodded slightly.
Ace stared at the robot. "H-How do you..." the unicorn attempted to swallow the lump in his throat before he continued speaking. "How do you know my name?"
"I am hooked up into a system. I am set with facial recognition and legal records so I may not confuse one pony with another."
Ace nodded, his neck seeming to lock up due to his fear. "W-Who sent you? I-If I may ask.." Ace's voice cracked slightly.
"I was sent to you as a test. I am a prototype and I was sent here as a test for my stability and any errors there may be in my programming."
Ace narrowed his eyes. "A prototype from who and for what?" he asked, his voice recovering from the shock he had endured.
"I am a prototype for a type of android. As for from whom. I have been erased of that information."
Ace blinked at him. Now unsure of what to do now. He had no clue how to shut the robot off and it appeared to be curious about its surroundings.
"May I have a tour of your residence?" the robot inquired and Ace paused.
"Um...Sure...uh..what's your name?" Ace asked, realizing the robot knew him but he didn't know him.
"Well.....I a have no name. But I am programmed with a holographic recreation of a changeling's tissue. Yet I am limited to only one pegasus at the moment."
Ace stared at themachine in shock. Holographic changeling tissue? How high tech was this thing!?
The robot's body glowed a gold-like color and through the blinding light Ace could see a layer of flesh coat over the robot's body.
Ace blinked to regain his vision as the light faded, revealing a coal black pegasus with light gray mane and muzzle. His eyes were a rose color and his cutie mark was a cluster of black clouds as if ready to release a storm of torrential rain.
The machine looked over its new appearance. lifting his forelegs and hind legs to get a good look. It stared at its wings as it folded and unfolded them multiple times.
It turned to Ace, its face no longer a one of stiff solid metal but one of feeling and soft flesh.
"I don't mean to be vain. But may I see a mirror so I can see my reflection?" Ace nodded and led the disguised robot from his study to the hall were he had hung a mirror.
It observed its reflection, seeming to take in every tiny detail. Ace heard a click and he turned and stared at the pegasus quizzically.
"Black Cloud." IT murmured, turning to Ace. "I have taken the form of Black Cloud. You may call me such." he got down from the mirror and stared with expectation at the blue unicorn that had built him.
"Time for the tour?" he asked and Ace nodded, leading Black Cloud to the kitchen.
"This is the kitchen. Its small but its decent." Ace whisked his hoof at the small room before leading Cloud to the next room.
"This is the bathroom. There are two in the entire house." Ace looked at Cloud although the disguised pegasus just stared around,
More than likely absorbing the area into his memory banks some where Ace assumed in his mind but shook away the distracting thought so he could continue the tour.
The unicorn led the pegasus up the blue carpet stairs to the second level of the simple cottage.
"This is my room. Of course I have even more books in here." Ace gestured to the oak wood book shelves which contained countless amounts of different volumes of books.
His bed was generic light blue with a purple blanket. The visible parts of the plain grey walls were decorated with art and portraits of multiple ponies, several were of a grey unicorn with a long white beard and star spangled hat and cape. Beneath the picture were the words in a deep blackish blue.
The Magnificent Star Swirl The Bearded
Cloud looked around and turned to Ace. A sort of signal to continue the tour. Ace led Cloud to his bathroom which had white washed walls and tan tiles on the floor. Once Cloud had scanned that room, Ace led him to the last room.
"Here's the guest room. You can stay here." Ace pushed open the door and led Cloud inside.
"This is suitable living quarters. I would like to thank you for allowing me to stay here." Cloud said with a smile and Ace nodded in reply.
"Its not really a problem. You can stay as long as you feel like." However long that is.
Cloud nodded and walked around his new space while Ace went to his room, rummaging through his bookshelves for any book about technology. He had to figure out why this robot was sent to his house, and what purpose it served.
Author's Note
I do good for my first original story? I'm still figuring a few things out buts its all solved otherwise. Thank you, DerpyMuffin7 for helping me with the story name.
