Metallic Marionette

by Raackman

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Human, Sad, Alternate Universe
Length: 1270

A self aware automaton struggles to fit into a world filled with happy ponies.

An automaton which has forgotten it's name and purpose seeks to find both in an unrecognizable world. After several months of inactivity, the monotony of the automaton's days is broken by a group of ponies.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-10-27 00:20:47 UTC

The shack

Fluttershy calls out to a rabbit, swiftly running after it. The rabbit continues further into the forest ignoring her and barely staying in her sight. Just as she seems to be gaining on the rabbit, the agile creature disappears into a hole in the wall of an old shack. Fluttershy stops next to it and leans down, cautiously peering into the hole. Seeing nothing, she gets back up and looks at the shack. It’s rotten wood covered in leaves and overgrowth. Fluttershy slowly steps around around the shack, searching for a way inside. She soon finds a door leading into the shack, with two plant infested windows on either side of the door.

The yellow pony nervously approaches one of the windows. She slowly gets up and peers inside of the shack. Thick brown dust covers everything inside, and aimlessly floats around the room, visibly disturbed by recent movement. Her eyes scan the room, and lock onto the rabbit in a corner, but the rabbit immediately notices her. It suddenly darts underneath a large object covered by a faded white sheet. She sighs and moves back in front of the door. She gives it a gentle push, but it doesn’t budge. Putting both front hooves on the door and giving it a more powerful push causes the door to creak loudly and open. She slowly steps inside avoiding several spiderwebs around the room which looks far smaller. The dust threatens to make her sneeze before she can reach the object and she barely avoids doing so.

Even slower than before, she approaches the sheet, crouching down and silently putting one hoof in front of another to avoid startling the rabbit. The wood bends and creaks softly under Fluttershy’s feather-like weight, and she knows that the rabbit will run as soon as she gets too close. Without hesitation, her hoof reaches the sheet and carefully but quickly lifts the very bottom up to look inside. There is the rabbit sitting underneath what appears to be a chair. She quickly reaches for the rabbit. The sheet over the chair suddenly falls off, blocking the rabbit from moving away from Fluttershy. The surprised rabbit attempts to run, but before it can move, Fluttershy has her hooves around it. She quickly brings the rabbit into an embrace to prevent it from moving. Holding the rabbit in one hoof, she looks at the thing originally placed beneath the sheet.

Fluttershy steps back upon seeing something unlike anything she had seen before. She stares at it for a few moments, unsure if she should run. She realizes that it is an inanimate doll, though she still finds its appearance somewhat unsettling. The sheet had been covering a finely dressed life sized wind-up doll which sits stiffly propped up in the chair. Both of the machine’s hands lay on its lap, and between them sits a small wooden box. Fluttershy looks closely at it and notices several holes in the finely made clothes that cover the doll. Rarity comes to mind, and Fluttershy thinks that she should tell her about this thing in the forest. She then returns her attention to the rabbit and carefully makes her way out of the room, then takes to the air, still holding the creature.

Fluttershy sits at a table with Rarity outside of a restaurant, Rarity is wearing a particularly fancy hat with stylish sunglasses.

“So Fluttershy, what did you want to talk about?” Rarity asks as she leans back in her chair as Fluttershy clears her throat.

“Well, I was chasing a rabbit through the forest when I found an old shack out there I found something kind of weird.” she says somewhat nervously.

“I’m not sure if I can help you with identifying a strange creature in the woods, perhaps Twilight could help you with that.” Rarity says, somewhat disinterested already.

Fluttershy laughs slightly “Well, I actually found a…” she thinks for a moment to decide what to call it. “...Big doll in an old shack in the forest. It’s not too far out, and I thought you might like it because it had really nice clothes on,” Fluttershy says.

Rarity lifts her head and sits upright in her seat “A big doll? What are you talking about?” she asks.

Fluttershy rubs the back of her head with a hoof “Well, I’m not sure what to call it, but it was very pretty, and looked like something that you might make,” she explains.

Rarity slowly stands “Hmm, I will first need to change, then I’ll go out and see this so-called doll,” she says as she pushes the chair back into it’s place.

Fluttershy’s eyes grow wider “Really, you will?” she asks as Rarity starts to walk away.

Rarity looks back “Of course, and I’ll need you to help me find it,” she smiles back to Fluttershy and continues walking.

Half an hour later, Rarity arrives at Fluttershy’s home, knocking at her door. Several moments pass, and the door cracks open, then Fluttershy slowly steps out.

“Are you ready? I’ve got my bags and forest hat.” Rarity says as she steps back from the door.

Fluttershy slowly nods, then begins to walk in the direction of the shack in the woods. It is still noon, the sun sits high in the sky, the trees absorbing the bright light from the sun. Fluttershy and Rarity make their way towards the shack, with Fluttershy slowly retracing her steps. Soon, the shack comes into view.

“Is this it?” Rarity asks Fluttershy as the two of them approach the shack.

Fluttershy nods, and they circle around in front of the shack. Rarity moves closer to the open doorway and sees the doll. Not long after, she has second thoughts about entering the shack.

“It’s quite filthy in there. Look at all that dust,” She says, eyeing the thick layer of dust covering the whole room.

“The doll is cleaner, it was under a sheet that kept the dust off. Although the floor is still covered in it,” Fluttershy says as she steps inside the room and causes dust to float up from where she placed her hoof.

Rarity carefully steps inside towards the doll, eyeing it carefully. She notices the holes in the outfit that it wears, and the finely crafted glass face of the doll. After a few more careful steps inside the shack, she sees the box on the lap of the doll. Rarity’s horn glows, and she carefully lifts the box out of the doll’s lap with her magic and takes a closer look at it. The box is white, and made of wood with a simple switch to close the box, and hinges on the opposite side. Rarity flips the switch and slowly opens the box. A strange key is inside, along with the instructions on how to use it. The instructions on the paper show to put the key into the back of the head of the doll, and twist it to the right three times. Rarity looks to Fluttershy, then back to the doll.

“Should I use the key on it?” Rarity says to both Fluttershy and herself.

“Well, why not?” Fluttershy asks.

Rarity shrugs, and carefully steps around behind the doll, then carefully lifts the wind-up key out of it’s box. She brings the key to the hole in the back of the doll’s head, then pushes it in. She twists the key around three times, and the innards of the doll begin to click and whirr. A screeching sound fills the room as the doll begins to move on it’s own.