~1~
Rock’s systems began to reactivate, opening his eyes slowly. He met a very elder man with white hair and a big and white beard, smiling at him. He blinked, and returned the smile. He knew that man; it was his “father”.
“Good morning, dad” Rock said, looking better at his father. He looked older and tired than he remembered. “It’s morning, right? I think my internal clock just deactivated at some point…”
The man, who responded by the name of Dr. Thomas Light, just smiled gently.
“I needed to deactivate some of your internal system in order to perform your checkup… and some upgrades” he coughed a bit. Rock looked worried
“Dad, are you ok?” He then looked better. His father really was much older, it wasn’t a perception error. “How long I have been out?” he asked, a bit worried. Dr. Light smiled at him again.
“Sorry if I lied to you, my dear Rock. This wasn’t a normal checkup. I wanted to give to you near the same capabilities that your brother holds” he coughed a bit again.
“My brother? You mean Protoman?” Rock replied
“No, my dear boy. I’m talking about your younger brother… and your biggest brother in some way” He said with a smile
Rock’s eyes lit up with energy and a smiled “You mean… you are saying…?”
“Yes Rock, I gave you a new body, a body capable of great achievements”
Rock suddenly frowned a bit, with a sad expression “But… Wily’s no more, he died from old age… Why did you do this, dad?”
Dr. Light putted a hand over Rock’s right shoulder
“You see, my dear Rock… I’m getting a bit old, and your former body wasn’t capable of self-repair. It was also a body built decades ago, and with no one capable enough to repair you...” He coughed more, alarming Rock
“Don’t say that, dad! We are always going to be together!”
Dr. Light’s eyes returned to rock a soft expression “You are right, my boy…” He pointed at Rock’s heart “I’ll live always there, and as long as you survive, I’ll be alive. That’s why I did it Rock. It took more time than I thought… but your body it’s fully upgraded”
Rock nodded and jumped out of the reparations capsule. He felt very light. He wasn’t wearing his combat armor, but it was inside on him like every time that he wasn’t fighting “Whoa! What’s up with my body? It looks the same, but…”
Dr. Light laughed a bit. “Well, your former body was too heavy for a normal boy, so with the new armored skeleton and the lightweight Titanium-X alloy you lost near two thirds of your original weight, so now you weight as a normal 10 years old human” He said with a smile. Rock smiled with him, jumping around, testing his new body.
“I feel funny inside dad. What more things you upgraded?” Rock asked. Dr. Light smiled at him.
“Well, I enhanced your vision and hearing sensors, so you can perceive your environments better than before.” He coughed a bit and continued “I improved your internal reactor too. You have a smaller version of the energy systems that I installed in X. That leads me to the next upgrades. The first one it’s an emergency acceleration system in your legs that allows you to move quicker than ever. I think that combined with your slide ability it could come really useful in a lot of situations. The second one is a new brand version of the Megabuster. It’s a lighter version of the Mark XVII that X has in him to keep with your reactor output.”
He stopped, thinking a bit “Ah, I also gave you the same artificial internal organs as X, so you can experience things like food. You don’t need to eat as a human, but I think that you always wanted to taste sweets, don’t you, my dear boy?” he said, with a smile. Rock nodded happily “You have also the same artificial cardiovascular system. Your new auto-repair systems works like the natural organic cells, and they needed this new system to operate correctly. That means you can bleed in a way of speaking, because in that blood were the nanites that keep your body running” he coughed a bit more “And I think it’s all, my boy. You are a little version of your brother now, so after he awakes you can be with him and help him with your experience”
Rock gasped at all that info, his digital brain processing all the information. Dr. Light laughed a bit.
“Worry not, Rock. I thought you needed someone to keep your rhythm until your brother awakes…” He smiled at him
“Dad?” Rock asked. Suddenly a pair of hands covered his eyes and a familiar voice spoke right into his ears.
“Guess who was also upgraded?” said the girl’s voice. Rock smiled widely
“Roll! You too? That’s really awesome!” he replied, turning to his sister and giving her a hug. Dr. Light smiled to them. He felt accomplished as an inventor… and as a father, because those two robot kids were with no doubt, his sons.
Dr. Light coughed again a bit “So, why don’t you teleport to Dr. Cossack’s Lab and test your new bodies there? I’m pretty sure that Kalinka will love to see you both”
“Are you coming too dad?” Roll asked, but the elder man shook his head.
“Sorry, my dear Roll, but I must finish X and seal him to start the checkup process. Say hello to Dr. Cossack for me, ok kids?”
They nodded happily “See you later dad, we will be back soon” Rock said. He grabbed his sister in a family hug and teleported away. Dr. Light was still smiling.
“They are now prepared for the future. A future that they must enjoy in peace” He walked slowly to X’s capsule, and looked at him.
“A future that is on your hands, my dear X. Their war was long over, and they must rest from it. Roll and Rock deserve it, after keeping the world’s peace over all this decades...” He looked around to see a very familiar robot dog, with his cybernetic inner circuits open “I need to work on you now, right Rush? Then you, Roll and Rock will be a complete family…” Dr. Light’s expression turned into a sad frown.
“I hope that both of them will be capable to deal with my death… I don’t have much time left and they are kids after all…”
The elder doctor made a long sigh, coughing again after it, and began to work on the upgrades for Rush. After performing the upgrades on Rock he got a lot of experience to adapt the new systems.
Time flew for the old doctor. Installing the new components to the old Rush was a challenge, and kept up his mind out of grim thoughts. When he finished most of the work, Dr. Light looked up to a window. It was dark outside and looked to his watch with a surprised expression.
“It is that late? Where are Roll and Rock?” he asked.
Thinking that it was better to be safe than sorry, the elder man went to his personal computer and made a video call to his colleague, Dr. Cossack. Soon enough a well known face appeared in the screen.
“Well, but isn’t my old friend Thomas Light! How have you been? I thought you were totally devoted to your “X” project…”
“Thanks for the concern Mikhail. Are the kids going to sleep at your house? They didn’t return yet and I was afraid…” Dr. Light stopped at the confused look of his friend.
“Are you talking about Megaman and Roll? Last time I saw them was years ago, Thomas…”
A pain struck in the old man’s heart. He used his lab’s sensor array to search Rock or Roll’s personal location chips. But there were no traces on the screen. Dr. Cossack was now also with a concerned expression.
“It’s all allright there, Thomas? You look pale”
“It’s… nothing. I’ll call you later…”
He was looking in disbelief at the screen. “No Signal” was the only response he got from the computer. It never happened. It was impossible. Even if any of them were destroyed, the tracking chip will allow him to locate them. But they were simply… gone. Like if they never existed. Just an odd energy signature was left, making very small interferences with electrical systems.
The old doctor was at the verge of crying, but he stood firmly. He coughed a bit, walking with his heavy heart and the painful thought that his sons just disappeared from the planet’s surface. He looked at X, and executed the boot program. He needed to give X his last wishes.
X began to open his eyes, looking at the worried doctor. He returned him a sad, tired look.
“I am sorry X… I didn't have enough time to see you enter the world…”
Rock and Roll arrived, feeling both a bit funny. They looked each other.
“Did you felt that too, Roll? While we were teleporting?” Rock asked to his sister. She nodded.
“Yes, I felt an odd energy around us. But maybe it’s because our new systems”
Rock sighed a bit “Yeah, anyways…” He took breath and yelled “Hey! Mr. Cossack! Kalinka! We are…!” He didn’t end the phrase, as he looked to his surroundings. “…Here?”
They were in a great hall, with columns and walls made out of stone, like in those old cities on Europe. There was an higher floor with two big seats… no, thrones, Rock thought. And two equines, each one seated on one throne, wearing perplexed expressions. One of them had a tri colored mane and an alabaster coat while the other one had a deep blue, translucent mane and a dark blue coat. They looked like Day and Night. Roll looked at them in awe.
“They are beautiful, Rock. Look at their manes… I didn’t knew that Dr. Cossack liked to build robot horses”
Rock used his new eye sensors to pick readings on these robots, closing his eyes a bit while doing so. He soon gasped and tried to cover Roll with his arm. “Roll… they aren’t robots… those odd creatures are organic”
The equines looked to each other and started to talk.
“Tia… are you seeing the same as me?” The darker one said.
“Yes, little sister. I see two odd creatures that just teleported in our throne room”
What they looked were a couple of bipedal creatures, as tall as one of their ponies. But for the proportions of their head and limbs they looked like just young foals, and for the way they were interacting, the one that had brown mane and blue clothes was a colt, and the one with blonde hair and a simple red dress was a filly. Celestia and Luna, the alicorns that the robots were looking at, thought that those creatures were related by family, because they looked similar and had the same light blue eye color. They were more curious about the colt, because he was wearing a huge blue armor on his hind legs.
Rock and Roll looked puzzled. They were actually speaking, even if they didn’t understood a word. Both wore surprised expressions.
“Roll… they… they are talking” Rock said
Roll just nodded
“Uh… I think we must go. Hold tight, sis” He said. They tried to teleport away, but they didn’t move. “Uh? I can’t detect any satellite signal… we can teleport back!” He said, worried. Roll just gasped in fear.
“Please, young ones calm down” Said Celestia, with a calm voice and a smile.
They didn’t understood, but the tone of her voice vas calming. Roll and Rock looked to each other again and waved shyly to the alicorns.
“Hum… Hello… Sorry for come in unannounced” Rock said, looking embarrassed
Celestia walked near them, looking to them, inspecting them with a kind eye.
“Can you understand us?” She tried. Roll and Rock shrugged and tilted their heads.
Rock was amazed. A creature that could talk and think like humans! He then remembered a scene from one of the tales that he used to read in home. He patted Roll’s head and looked to Celestia. “Roll” he simply said. Celestia was watching the scene with interest. She thought that the colt was trying to say their names, and smiled, nodding. He then put his right hand on his chest, tapping it a bit “Rock” He said. After that he looked at her waiting, with a smile on his face. Celestia emulated Rock’s movements and tapped her own chest. “Celestia” she said, smiling. Then she pointed at Rock and said his name, and did the same for Roll.
Rock jumped with joy and pointed at her “Celestia?” He asked. Celestia nodded, and pointed with her hoof to his sister. “Luna”
Roll pointed at the dark alicorn and said “Luna” with a shy smile.
Celestia looked to her sister.
“They seem really smart, don’t you think? But this can take too much time, so I’m going to speed things a bit” Celestia said
Luna nodded “It’s for the best. I want to know what kind of creatures they are.”
They were looked at them with curiosity. Celestia’s horn began to glow and they jumped a bit, surprised. Rock frowned and covered his sister with his arm again.
“Don’t worry” Celestia said with her calm voice. Rock relaxed a bit, not understanding at full what she was saying, but nodding. Her tone wasn’t menacing.
Celestia touched Rock’s forehead to read his mind. She felt an odd felling. The brain of the young colt wasn’t like any other thing she saw before. It was, somewhat, tidy. Usually minds were more scattered by feelings and hard memories. But she was reading his mind like a book, totally ordered by time and in perfect shape, from the very first day of the life of this colt. She thought that it wasn’t natural, but went through it. She saw how he fought during decades against other like him… No, not like him at all. They looked artificial, like machines, with contraptions added to their bodies. But always, between them was an old stallion of this creature’s race, with a hideous mustache and mane, laughing like a mad pony. But he never attacked him, even saved him…
After some point She began to feel remorse, guilt… feelings attached to his memories, like if he didn’t had those before some point. Celestia was amazed by the brave actions of this colt, and more amazed that even being near fifty years old he was still a foal. She knew now that they were kind creatures, and she felt a strong sense of justice inside of him. She then implemented the knowledge of the equestrian language on the colt’s mind. There was a little spark and the link between then broke suddenly. She backed away, surprised. Rock fell to the ground, sitting there a bit confused.
“Ow! That hurt! Why did you do that?” He said, in equestrian. He gasped “Wait… how I know to speak like you?” Celestia chuckled a bit.
“I gave you my knowledge of my language, so we can speak. I’m going to do the same for your companion”
He smiled widely “Thank you! And don’t worry Celestia, I got this” He said with proud. Celestia looked confused and interested at the same time. Rock looked to his sister.
“They gave me databanks about their language. Hold still Roll, I’ll transfer you the data”
He putted his hand on Roll’s forehead, and both closed their eyes. Celestia felt something happening between them, but it wasn’t magic. That puzzled her.
“It’s finished” Rock said, proudly. Then he turned to Celestia and looked too at Luna. He stood a bit in front of them, and then lowered his head bowing.
“We are so sorry for entering in your home!” He said. Roll walked in line with him and lowered her head like Rock. “We are sorry for the inconvenience” She said.
Celestia smiled gently at them
“Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. But please, can you tell us what kind of creature you are? We didn’t know about any creature like you before”
Rock and Roll looked at her in disbelief
“You mean you never heard about humans, or robots?” He asked to Celestia. She shook her head.
“I am sorry, but I never heard about those creatures.” She replied
Both robots were shocked at this. Rock tried to speak “Where… where are we?”
“You are in Equestria. Why do you ask?”
Rock looked into his memory banks about geography. Equestria wasn’t a country he knew, like the existence of talking horses.
“Do you know how can we return to North America? We were travelling and I think something made interference with our teleportation” He asked. Celestia looked concerned.
“Rock… There isn’t such a country called North America… Not in…” She realized then what she had in front of her. Rock didn’t need to hear the end. He fell to his knees, looking down to the ground.
“Rock! Rock! What happened? Are you ok?” Roll asked, worried. She was very smart but she didn’t the same databanks as Rock, since she didn’t travel around the world, unlike his brother. Rock shook his head.
“Roll… we aren’t on Earth anymore…” He took a deep breath a bit. He was about to cry? That must be some of the new enhancements. But he felt too sad to think about it. “We can’t go back home…” Roll began to cry too.
“Don’t say that, Rock. We still had hope…” Roll looked with pleading eyes to Celestia. “Right?”
Celestia felt heartbroken. After seeing all the courage on the young colt, she felt very bad for him. They just got ripped out of their home, their parents… Luna walked near them too, looking also dreary at the situation.
“Tia… can we do something to help them? We cannot perform such a powerful teleportation spell… we must know first what happened”
Celestia nodded at her sister. “I know, and we cannot take care of them, we had duties to do…” Roll looked down to his brother, hugging him, both crying quietly “But I know somepony who can help, with a group of friends that will be more than happy to help them while we do our research” Celestia said, smiling at them. Roll looked up with a shy smile, while Rock tried to get up and covered his eyes with his left arm.
“Thanks… really… You didn’t need to…” Rock said, crying a bit.
“Say no more, please” Celestia replied, with a gentle smile
Roll suddenly jumped at the alicorn who was in front of her, Luna, and hugged her. Rock did the same to Celestia, leaving the alicorn sister a bit startled.
“Thank you, truly, thank you” Rock and Roll said at the same time. Celestia couldn’t help but smile at the affection of the young foals.
Then, something happened to Rock. He felt his solar batteries charging a lot. He started to glow a bit, his clothes and boots changing color to white and golden only a moment, and then returning to normal, leaving Rock puzzled and full of energy.
Celestia looked at him, intrigued. “What happened?” she asked
Rock was looking at his hands “I don’t know, Celestia. My solar energy reactor charged energy out of scale after I hugged you”
Celestia looked pretty confused “Your… Solar energy reactor?”
Rock nodded “Yes, Roll has one too. That’s our power source” He gasped a bit “Oh, it’s true, you didn’t knew about robots…” He cleaned up his tears, feeling a lot better “You see, Roll and I look like humans, but we are artificial. We were built by our father, Dr. Thomas Light” He said, smiling a bit. “We gather our energy from the sun and store it to use it when we are indoors” he explained. Celestia and Luna looked surprised. They were talking to artificial, sapient machines… Definitely they weren’t from Equestria or other known country.
“Amazing! So you are walking machines? Can you tell us how do you work?” Luna asked, losing her regal presence and looked at them with wide curiosity and amazment. Rock laughed a bit.
“Well, we can try, but we don’t have any blueprints of our systems, at least the actual ones.” He thought for a moment “I have my original blueprints though. They are the basic model for a Robot Master”
Celestia interrupted raising her hoof “Sorry for interrupt you, but I need to write a letter right know. Luna please, take care of them meanwhile”
Luna nodded wildly and looked back to Rock. “So… what is a ‘Robot Master?” she asked, sitting right in the floor. Rock sat too, followed by Roll.
“Well, a Robot Master it’s a robot who can think for himself in a way of speaking, controlling other lesser robots who don’t have sapience.” He explained.
“Why do you say “In a way of speaking?”
“You see, Robots are tied by the Three Robot Laws of Robotics” He said. Luna looked confused, so he proceeded to elaborate
“Rule One: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Rule Two: A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Rule Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.” He finished, smiling.
Luna looked thoughtful “So, you can harm other living beings beside these ‘humans’”?
Rock shook his head “No, I’ll never harm a living being, even if someone told me that I must do it”
“But the rule two says that you are forced to do whatever a human say, even hurting other living beings” Luna retorted. She was fascinated about robots, but she must be sure that these robots aren’t dangerous, even if Celestia trusted them.
Rock looked to Luna with a spark in his eyes “I am more than a robot. I’m not going to harm any creature. Not now, not never”
“But then you are not tied by this laws?” she replied
Rock was going to reply, but he stopped, thinking. Was he tied to the robotic laws? He tried to kill Dr. Wily once… and he felt different since the upgrade”
“I… don’t know, Luna. I don’t know anymore” He sighed “I was, but changed. I got feelings, and I can think for myself, not like other robots” He was thoughtful. Luna watched him. She felt energy inside him. Not that solar energy he talked earlier, but magic energy. They both had magic inside them. They both were alive and had a soul. She felt it, even if they were built from metal they were like any other creature. She smiled at Rock.
“Don’t worry, sorry if I made you uneasy with my questions. I needed to know that you weren’t a potential danger to our subjects”
“Subjects?” Rock asked
“Well yes, I and Celestia are princesses of Equestria” she said
Rock and Roll were totally surprised. Roll smiled widely
“I can’t believe it. We met real princesses, Rock!” she said, happily
“I know Roll, I’m surprised too…” He looked away of Luna a bit, embarrassed “I don’t know royal protocol. I… hope we didn’t…”
Luna laughed at that “As I said, don’t Worry, Rock”
They talked a bit about everything while waiting for Celestia. They talked about some special features that robots could do that organic beings can’t, about human and equestrian societies and about technology. The dark alicorn was very interested in that. Maybe with the help and inspiration of those robots she can learn how to improve equestrian technology. A entire revolution just watching how they work, she dreamed while talking to them. As Celestia said, they were foals. Their language, their behavior… But she was sure that Roll was shy but determined to help and Rock was polite and smart.
Celestia came after a while, smiling at all of the presents in the room.
“Rock, Roll… I want to show you the pony who are going to help you while living here in Equestria, and she is eager to see both of you”
Rock and Roll looked at Celestia while a purple unicorn appeared behind her, with excitement in her eyes.
