Years ago, a single man created and engineered countless amounts of robots and took over the world. The only thing is, these aren't anthropological robots, they are quadrupedal and horse-like.
The world is a dark, barren place. The robot pony war has been going on for years. I don't know how it all started, nobody knows how. I vaguely remember when it happened though. I was only sixteen years old. I was with my parents, eating dinner. It was my mom's signature stew. What I would give to be able to eat that again... I can't even remember the taste or smell anymore, but I still miss it. All of a sudden, the television screamed a warning, sounding a siren. It kept saying something of an uprising of peculiar robots. The television shut off on it's own, and before I knew it, I was alone in the street, watching my city get destroyed. I remember wondering where my parents were, where my friends were. I never felt so alone. And now, years later, I still feel alone.
I have encountered other humans after the apocalypse. There were three. The first one was right after this all started, I forgot her name. She got carried away by a couple of robots. She used herself as bait so I could get away, I didn't realize it at the time, but I do now. The second person wanted to find the truth, so we separated. I refuse to find out why this all happened, I actually want to live. The last person went insane, so I let him go in some forest we were in at the time. It sounds cold, but I have become cold. This world is cold. I have decided that other people aren't worth my time, they get in the way of my survival. I question myself every day why I strive to survive, and every time I have no answer, but I still keep on going.
I built a safe house near a river. I made it out of wood I found in the woods. I remember my studies to become a carpenter, so I was able to make a stable home. I trained for years and always wanted to build homes. So much for that now... I tally the days that go by, but I have no time to count them, nor do I know how long it was before I started the tally. Still, I tally every morning I wake up, because it is another day that I survived.
There is a few things everyone needs to know about these robots. If their eyes turn red, it means they are on attack mode and you are as good as dead. Some of them can fly, some of them have weapons attached to them. I've seen a robot pony with swords as it's wings.
I wake up every morning feeling sick. Finding water is easy because of the river, but food is becoming harder to find. Plant life can not regrow, and most animals have gone extinct. I ration and hunt for food carefully every day. If it weren't for the fact that robots don't need food, I probably would have ran out of food long ago. There are times where I go a couple days with no food.
Morning arrives, I wake up, and add another tally to the wall. I seem to be running out of room. This wall may be small, but it has fit a countless amount of marks. I take a small ration of food, and it seems I am almost out. I guess I'm going to need to work twice as hard today. I leave my small cottage and I make sure to close it quietly. You never know if there is a robot pony nearby with a sensitive radar. In the wild, I don't need to be wary of wildlife, but rather the robots, which are much more deadly. Wildlife barely exists anymore anyway. A lion twice my size is safer than a robot half my size.
The entirety of the outside is bleak and dark 24/7. The sky never changes it's dark shade due to an infinite amount of smoke. Trees have lost their color, almost all of them give off a brown hue and nothing else. Even evergreens give off no color. The grass is nearly pitch black, which is scary. The water is dirty, but I still have to drink it.
I pass by a small mound and I notice something shuffling ahead of me. It must be a robot. I can't run, it will hear me, my best option is to hide. If luck is on my side it will go in the opposite direction. I hold my breath and stand completely still. It could still detect me, but it's much better than running.
It stops shuffling, so I peek forward to see if it went away, it didn't. Instead, I notice that it is a smaller robot pony. It looks straight at me, I'm doomed for sure. My heart beats twice it's normal rate. I step out of my hiding spot and prepare for combat. Since it is smaller I decide my only option is to try to fight. I raise my fists and brace for it to leap at me. Instead of it's eyes turning red, it just stares at me with a blank expression. It's eyes kept it's green, camera like pupil to it, with a purple hue surrounding the pupil. It's body is orange and it's hair is purple. By hair, I mean what would be hair if it weren't a robot.
The robot stares into my eyes, and I stare into its'. It slowly trots up to me. I freeze. I am still bracing in case it's still going to attack. It cautiously raises its left hoof, but quickly withdraws it and backs away a few feet. Call me crazy, but it almost seems that this robot is afraid.. Even though I am terrified. After a few seconds, it nudges closer to me again. It raises the same hoof, and places it on my nose. My entire body runs cold in fear, and I am too terrified to do anything. It keeps the same blank expression the whole time, and its eyes never turn red. It removes its hoof from my face, and steps back again. I relax a little, and decide it isn't going to attack. The robot retreats behind the mound. I decide to pursue this strange robot. It seems to be hiding from me.
"......Hi." I manage to say, stuttering like crazy. I'm not sure what to do. Its eyes kept it's green hue. It makes small sounds, like a camera zooming in and out.
In a robotic, yet, raspy gentle voice, it speaks to me. "Hi..." It's mouth moves along with it's words, but the words emit from the speakers on it's ears. All of my fears wash away, and I feel something I never felt before... What is this feeling? I put my hand on the ground, gently, and the robot put it's hoof on it. I stare into it's eyes once more, and they never turn red. I think it's time to ask the ultimate question.
"Why aren't you attacking me?" I brace. It looks at me like it is confused.
"Attack?" The robot just said the ultimate word that all robots use when they are about to attack, but this one sounds confused. I grasp my hand on it's robotic hoof, and it gently nudged even closer to me. "You are not an enemy. Your energy is not evil." I jump. Not evil? Energy? Now I'm all confused. I guess I can let it go, what's the harm? I'm sure it will just run away. Perhaps it's an unfinished model, without the attack module, or whatever? I stand up, and the robot looks up at me. I start walking, and it follows. I decide to take this robot pony home, and ignore receiving rations, at least for today. It follows me all the way to the cottage, and I let it inside. It's risky, but what else can I do? It won't leave me, after all.
It could all be a trap, but for some reason, I still let it in. It hasn't attacked me yet. I start describing my humble cottage. "I built this a long time ago for safety. Right there are my rations and this... is a tally of every day that I have survived, at least in this cottage." It began examining my tallies.
"One thousand, four hundred and thirty four days. 3.92616 years." I step back, astonished. I can't believe it just counted my tallies. Most robots have a threatening voice, but this robot's voice is gentle, and sweet. I love it's voice, it's very childish. It does look like a child, after all. I am beginning to feel more comfortable with this robot. "You are twenty eight years old. You survived the apocalypse for twelve years." This new found data was astounding. Twelve years? There's no way it has been twelve years. How did it know this, anyway? Can it read me just by looking at me? Is that the so called energy? Ugh... I feel tired, I guess the adrenaline rush earlier tired me out.
"I need to rest. I'll be here in the morning." I say as I approach my bed made of wood and animal fur. I guess this is a good test to see whether it is safe or not. It is a gamble of whether I wake up or not. I know it is insane, but I feel as if I can trust this robot.
I was right to trust it. The next morning, it was there staring at me. It must've been waiting for me to wake up. I suppose it doesn't need to sleep. I decide that it has passed my little test. I might as well trust it, after all, it could make a good ally...
I take it out with me hunting, and it turns out it is very good at hunting for food It is also very good at telling me when there is danger nearby. If it weren't for that, I would have definitely died. With this new found ally, I can't lose. It knows when there is a robot within 5 miles away, which is more than enough. This robot is so gentle and helpful. I no longer feel right calling it an 'it'... I think I will refer to it as a 'she' from now on. Wait, does she have a name? I should ask her. I wait until we are back in my cottage.
"Do you have a name?" I ask. It looks at me with an innocent expression. For a robot, she is great at making expressions, weird..
"I was given the name ScootaBot." She sounds sad, somehow. Her voice is also great at expressing emotion.
"Given the name?" I ask. That sounds weird to me.
"Yes. The robot master, an evil human, named and created all of us." That's right, a human is in charge of all of this, I forgot already. "Robot ponies are divided into factions, and I was built to join the rainbow faction. Every robot in the rainbow faction has wings, and are able to use them for flight. I was never able to take flight with my wings, because they failed on my wings. After realizing this, I was left alone in the woods, and then you found me." She seems unfazed that she was abandoned from her faction. My heart breaks. I cannot believe she was left like that. Who knew even robots were so cold? Except this one... Could she feel emotion? She is able to communicate like a human, well, very close.
"ScootaBot.." I decide to ask her. "Are you sad?"
"Sad?" I knew she was going to ask that. I was hoping she would say something about how robots cannot feel sadness, but she doesn't seem to know what it even is.
"Yes, sad. It is what you should feel when you are abandoned, or when you lose something precious. It is an emotion." I try to explain sadness, but I know it is no use.
"My data has no such thing. Emotion is taboo for robots." My jaw drops. "Master decided that having emotion in our database would only hinder our abilities. I know about emotions, but I don't know what they are." I .. I am astonished. I feel so bad for this robot, even though she's a robot. I start trembling. She grabbed my hand just like she did back in the woods. I pull her into an embrace. Why did I feel so much empathy for her? Why am I holding her like this? I.......
I don't care. This robot has been helping me, and I am going to help it. "What can I do to help?" I ask her. I let her go from my embrace.
"Help?" She asks. I nod. "You cannot bring down the master. He is too dangerous." She tells me. So taking down her master is the only way? Does she hate her master after all?
"Maybe, but with your help, I can try. Please!" I don't know why, but now I am determined. How could this... Disgusting man abandon this robot? I now know what I was feeling back when I met her. It was adoration. This robot isn't only powerful and dangerous, but also small and cute. She is as innocent as a child. I'm not letting her get abandoned again. If I die, she will be alone again. Like I said, we are unstoppable. If she can bring me to her master, I can defeat him. After all, he is a human....
The next morning, ScootaBot wakes me up, warning me of approaching robots. I quickly grab my bag and store all of the food I could grab into it, and we escape. She leads me towards the mound where we met. She claims that that is the safest spot. We lay low for a while. I still feel unbelievably safe with her. Fearing the worst, we go back to the cottage. It was only about 20 minutes, but the home is destroyed. All of that hard work, pain, survival, gone in under an hour..
Whatever. I have a new goal besides survival anyway, and if it weren't for ScootaBot, I wouldn't be alive. "Where is the master located?" I ask her.
"My master is located in a base nearby. I can lead you there, but it is not safe." She explains. "I will not put you in danger. You are like a new master to me." She pauses. "You are my new master. It is my duty to protect you."
"I don't care. We can make it." I reassure her. With that, we take off in the direction that she leads. It turns out that I have seen this base many times. It is right on the edge of the forest I have been living in. I just though it was some robot production plant or something. I can't believe this is where the master is. "So... How should we start?" I ask. the fortress is blocked by a large solid wall around it's perimeter. It is also heavily guarded by robot ponies. Usually, I would run away at the sight of a robot pony, but... I feel safe with ScootaBot. Yes... We can do this!
"There is a secret entrance up there." She points up about five floors up the building. There is indeed a balcony leading to a large door up there. "The Rainbow Faction enters and exits from there. We won't be able to enter there because of my failed wings." No.... That's a lie. Her wings can work, I'm sure of it.
"Try it."I demand.
"I am a failed prototype. There is a zero percent chance--"
"No! Just try it!" I yell. She leaps into the air and flutters her wings, and sure enough, they fail to get her off the ground for more than a couple seconds. I notice something off about her wings. the brackets for them seem disconnected somehow. I examine them and notice a few loose bolts. "Hang on" I say as I grab my wrench and try it on the bolt, and sure enough, it fits like a charm. I tighten the bots on both wings. "Now try." She starts the same way, jumping up and fluttering her wings. This time, they hold her into the air for about ten seconds. Her eyes lose their color and she falls to the ground. "ScootaBot!? You okay?" I yell, worried.
"My power... drains ten times as fast when I fly." She sounds weak... Suddenly, an alarm sets off.
"Damn it!" I yell. I grab her and take off running. I carefully look behind me and there is a group of flying robot ponies coming after me. They are so fast... Too fast. All of my blood turns cold as they swiftly catch up. I can't stop running... this robot I am holding in my arms is different from them, I swear!
"Return to us that robot pony at once!" One of them yells. Why would they want her? I can't think... I can't..
"No!" I trip over a branch on the ground. "No, no, no, NO!!!!" I yell. I am now surrounded by countless robot ponies, all with enormous wings, all with blood red robotic eyes. "Leave me... Please..." They get closer. "Leave her alone..." I can barely speak. I grow lightheaded. Everything turns white.. "No... ScootaBot..." I black out.
Everything hurts. My body hurts, but... So does my heart. I failed Scootabot. I wake up to find myself chained in a lone prison. Wait... "ScootaBot?" I barely yell out. Yelling hurts, it's like knives are in my throat. No response. "ScootaBot!?" I yell out louder. No response. My face begins to feel hot as tears begin to form in my eyes. I can't stop weeping, alone in this prison. "ScootaBot..." I mumble, hopeless. I lay alone in this prison, tied up in chains, crying to myself. After a while, something approaches my cell. "ScootaBot!?" I yell out once more.
"She is gone." A different voice says. The figure appears to be a robot pony. She is Cyan with a multicolored robotic mane, like a rainbow.
"Who the hell are you? Where is she?" I yell.
"I am DashieBot, Leader of the Rainbow Faction." The robot says.
"Where is ScootaBot!?" I scream at the top of my lungs. DashieBot busts open my cell, rushes at me, and holds a blade to my neck. I freeze, motionless. The blade is an attachment to its right hoof.
"You want to see her?" She asks, threateningly.
"Yes! Yes!" I yell, desperate, tears still falling down my cheeks. She whacks my head, hard... Everything turns white again...
I awake in a more, comfortable room. However, I am surrounded by other robot ponies. DashieBot approaches me. "Where is she...?" I stutter, more desperate than ever. DashieBot moves to the side to reveal a small robot. It was her, but... Something was off... "Where are her wings?" I ask, coughing in pain.
"They were worthless." The cyan robot responds.
"They were not!" I yell. Suddenly, ScootaBot looks straight at me. Her eyes kept that calm, green and purple hue. I run after her, and when I catch up to her, I pull her into a close embrace. The other robots in the room did nothing but watch. "Are you okay?" I ask. No response. "ScootaBot?" She then points behind me.
"Behind you!" ScootaBot yells. I turn around to see DashieBot pointing the same blade at me, just an foot away from my neck. Suddenly, The large door at the end of the room slams open.
"Enough!" A voice yells out. A real voice. "Robots! At ease!" He yells. All of the robot ponies retreat to the edge of the room, standing in rows, leaving me and ScootaBot in the center. The man approaches us. His hair is gray and short. His is tall, with a black suit on, his facial expression told me one thing: He is angry. "ScootaBot? Do you dare disobey me?"
"You are not my master anymore!" ScootaBot yells. I hold her closer. She is surprisingly brave. The man keeps on walking toward us, then stops when he is just a few feet away.
"You there. What is your name?" He asks me.
"Just who the hell are you!?" I respond, holding ScootaBot tight to my chest.
"Me? I created these robots, made them into what they are, and-"
"So it was YOU who started all of this!" I interrupt him.
"And..." He sounds annoyed because I interrupted him. "She is my failed prototype and needs fixing."
"You abandoned her!" I yell, anger seething in my voice.
"Yes, until I saw her abilities with her time with you. Now hand her over and I'll let you go." He responds.
"Shut up!" I let ScootaBot go and run after him. I punch him square in the face, causing him to fall over.
"Attack! Attack!" He orders. All of the robot ponies chase after me, blades and guns in their arsenal. ScootaBot runs to me. Her eyes turn red, and she unleashes an enormous beam towards a trail to the door, dispatching all of the robot ponies leading to it.
"This way!" She yells. I pick her up and run as fast as I can to the door. I tackle it open, and while ignoring the pain from the impact, I keep running blindly. I notice ScootaBot growing weak, as her eyes lose their hue gradually, and her movements become more still.
"To... The right.." She barely says. I nod and Take off to the right. There's another door. I tackle through it and slam it shut behind me. The room we are in is full of odd technology. A bunch of computers and other types of metal machinery make all sorts of beeping noises in this room. "The Keyboard.." She says weakly. I look over and notice a large keyboard. "Type 'Lock Engage'.. quick." I set her down and do so. A huge metal barricade collapsed in front of the door, blocking entry to anything that tries to get in. "We are.. Safe.." She sounds so weak. I fear for her life.
"ScootaBot..?"
"My power is about to run out... I'm sorry master.." I start crying again. I can't help it. The tears won't stop once again. I don't want to lose her. She notices and, instead of me pulling her into an embrace, she does.
"ScootaBot?" I say, in shock. She actually hugged me. "I don't want to lose you! You are all I have! I can't live without you!" I yell, bawling at this point. She continues to hold me.
"You did this to me when you said I was sad. Now you are sad. Is this right?" She asks. "This data is unknown to me."
"Yes.." I say between sobs. I hug her as tight as I can. "This is right.." I don't care if I'm in a place where I am destined to die, I am with her...
"This is the main terminal of the building... You can type 'Self Destruct" to eliminate this building." She says, weaker than ever. So.. I can end this after all... "You can't live without me? Why not end the war, too?" Her voice weak, but confident.
"Do you want that, ScootaBot?" I ask. I know I do, more than anything.
"My data does not allow it. But you have shown me that sometimes, data is incorrect. My old master made that rule, you are my new master." She explains. I let her go from our embrace, and I smile.
"You want to end this together, ScootaBot?" I ask. She doesn't respond, but rather collapsed onto the floor. I pick her up once again. She is weaker than I thought, which is saying a lot.
"My power... Is almost gone.." Her voice is almost inaudible. I waste no time. With one arm, I hold her, with the other, I type in Self Destruct into the keyboard. When I hit enter, a PA system yells out.
"Warning! Warning! Self Destruct in 60 seconds!" I fell to the corner, holding her close. Her little head burrows into my neck, and her arms, although they are weak, are locked tight around me.
"This is it..." I say.
"M.. Master?" she says. "Thanks..." Her voice trails off.
"No, thank you. For giving me survival, happiness, and closure. You gave me a purpose beyond survival." I say.
"Self Destruct in 30 seconds!" I continue to hold her.
"Self Destruct in 15 Seconds!" The end is near. And yet, I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life.
"ScootaBot.." I decide to make one last statement. "You were the greatest robot pony to ever be created. You were my partner, my ally, and most important.."
"Self destruct in 5 Seconds!"
"You were my family......"
"Self Destruct in 3 seconds!" I stare into her eyes for one last time. She looks weak, but she is smiling. I smile too.
"Self Destruct in 2 seconds!"
"F... Family......." She lets out a final word.
"Self Destruct in 1 second!" Her head exits to my neck, and my embrace tightens. Her eyes shut off completely, and her body becomes completely motionless. Yet, her smile never left.
"Self Destruct commencing!" I smile along with ScootaBot. I feel nothing but happiness knowing the world will now be a better place, because of her, because of us.. Everything turns completely white, for the last time....
The End.
