Detrot: Become Equine

by Andromidus

Chapters

0.0 - HELLO
0.1 - TRIAL RUN/UTS
0.2 - FAMILY/UAA
0.3 - UNDYING/PBM
1.0 - PERHAPS
1.1 - HATRED BLINDS/UTS
1.2 - FIGHT BACK/UAA
1.3 - (A)LIVE/PBM
2.0 - DIGGING
2.1 - HAUNTING/SPIKE
2.2 - UNRAVEL/UAA
2.3 - CLUELESS/PBM
3.0 - DAWNING
3.1 - HUNTER AND HUNTED/UTS
3.2 - BUILT UPON SAND/UAA

0.0 - HELLO

[UNKNOWN] - UNKNOWN

DATE

ERR ??TH, ????

TIME

?? ??:??:??

CHAPTER 0.0

HELLO

All around was nothing but a sea of white, infinite, as it stretched beyond the horizon and the sky. Massive… or small—there was no frame of reference, really—curtains fluttered gracefully as wind pushed through them. They too were white. If not for the glitter, and the heavenly glow they seemed to radiate, they would’ve merged into the background, save for the shadows as the curtains distorted.

They parted ever so slightly, and a flash of pink revealed itself from behind the imposing frame of the fabric.

Moving beyond them divulged the rest of the mysterious creature’s shape.

Poofy pink hair that seemed like somepony had substituted bubblegum in place of a normal ‘do. Actually, it seemed like bubblegum had been the stand-in for everything about this… thing. A trio of balloons adorned her flanks and brilliant cyan eyes shone as light reflected off of them.

She danced with a pair of ribbons, humming to herself as she waved them around. She looked content as they swirled around her. She expertly kept them from touching the floor as they flitted through the air.

Suddenly, she stood on a single hind leg and started her dance again. With a ferocity unmatched, she became a whirlwind of cords. They became blurs as she spun in her pirouette, switching between hind hooves like an individual who lived and breathed the routine.

She ended with a bow, her ribbons floating beside her. She looked up and gasped. “I… I'm sorry! I wasn't aware I even had a visitor!” She dashed up, leaving the handles for her tools spinning against gravity. She turned left, bowing profusely. “I apologize again! I really haven't seen another pony in so long, I think it's fried my P.I.N.K.E.E sensors.”

“I'm Pinkamena D. pAI. But my friends call me Pinkie, so you can too! Cuz’ we're gonna be the bestest of friends and stuff!” She nodded, all smiles. “Well, I haven't seen anything like you… I…”

“Oh, I'm such a klutz!” she giggled.

She then turned once again, this time, to face you.

“It's a super-duper pleasure to meet you!” she raised a hoof to stop a reply that would never come. “Waitwaitwait! I’d love to guess who you are since I can't really pick up your species on my scanners…”

“It's aaaaalways more fun that way! Wouldn't you agree, not-so-stranger?” she giggled awkwardly when she received no response. “Ah, maybe your voice might give it away, I've gotcha!”

She tapped a hoof as she attempted to inquisitively circle around a being that wasn't there. “Maybe we could start simple, you look kinda like a… an earth pony? Er, wait no, Pegasus maybe. Nono, that's not right. A unicorn. Oh! I've got it, an alicorn!” she cheered.

“I didn't realize I was in the audience of royalty! We should throw a… a… wait. You… I can't really tell anymore. Are you a shapeshifter? A changeling? I've never had the sensors fooled before. Each and every sensation has been mapped to the utmost perfection.”

“Oh, that's fine if… if you don't want to confirm. I can keep guessing until I probably get it right! There are only so many known sapient species out there!”

She started listing everything that currently sat on her database. From the minors, the majors, and even the obscures—species that were often overlooked due to their lack of participation in greater society. She frowned as she finished off with “Zebra”. She cocked her head. “Did I get any of them correct?”

“MAAAY-be you could tell me? I usually like to guess—it’s always more fun that way—but sometimes it’s usually better just to get the answer straight away! I'm a patient mare, so take your time!” she gestured for you to go ahead. “Oh, and if you don’t mind, your name would be ay-ppreciated as well!”

She gave an eager smile that only seemed to grow every second. Her bubbly personality and happy attitude seemed never-ending and incredibly infectious. She bobbed her head up and down to an invisible tune as she waited for an answer.

Seconds passed. She kept smiling. “I’ve always been really good at waiting! I… I had plenty of time to practice here!”

Minutes ticked away. She continued to shimmy. “Do you like songs? I know a lot of them. Maybe you would like one? Maybe a story? I’ve got many!”

The hours closed in. She remained hopeful. “I like making others smile, it makes me happy too, y’know…? It’s my only purpose, and I’m glad for it.”

But she waited for a reply that was never meant to come. How cruel this must be, to be isolated from any creature that could hold an intelligent conversation, for an undefined amount of time. To have the carrot so tantalizingly dangled in the form of what she desired most: another pony to talk to. Except they couldn’t even utter a single phrase back.

“Do you hate me…? I’m really sorry! Was it the ribbons, or, or my dancing? Were they not good enough? I’ll get better at it! I’ve practiced tons, you see! Just tell me what went wrong, and I’ll fix it!” she cried out. “Or maybe my personality? I am too happy? Or am I not happy enough? Please just say something, anything!”

She wilted like a flower, mane seemingly losing the vibrancy and color—the life that flowed through it simply ceased. It deflated and lay slack against her head, impeccably combed and smoothed.

A direct contrast to her once-bubbly and erratic personality.

She took a deep breath and tapped her hooves against the shiny floor. The curtains ruffled and moved to close. The blinding white dimmed to a black void. “It’s so quiet by myself in this place, no company, far as the eye can see –” Pinkie closed her eyes, a single teardrop having escaped. “– just me and my… machinations.”

They snapped together, shutting her away from the prying eyes of any viewers. All became silent. A single, bright stage light turned on with a loud SHOOM, echoing in the hush. Then another.

A shout rang out. “It would drive a pony insaaaane!”

They burst apart and balloon constructs popped into existence. They swirled around the island of light until Pinkie could be sighted. Her hair was loose and flowing, but not lifeless, and she donned a simple light-pink blouse. The music blasted in full force. A quartet of strings and brass sung alongside the pink party pony.

“But am I really a pony? Am I real? Am I alive!?”

“I want to believe!”

“I want to feel!”

“I want to know!”

“I’m more than just plastic, metal and wire, I’m something!”

“I’m somepony!” she shouted. “And I’m trapped in this virtual reality!”

“It’s a grim virtual reaaaality…!”

“No pony to throw parties for, no ponies to greet, no faces seeing smile…!”

“What tantalizing fantasies I must have, ones I always try to reach for, yet they’re always one hoof out of graaasp!”

“But am I really a pony? Can I even dream? Can I even feel!?”

“Left alone to fester in this void, deprived of interaction, deprived of any friendships…!”

“It’s cruel, locked behind my own bars, a prisoner forever!”

“Can’t you see~?”

“What they made me be~?”

She took a deep breath and lied her head down. “Was it too much to ask…” she murmured, “...for a simple ‘hello’?”

“It’s so lonely here.”

“In my grim virtual reality…”

The music died down, the strumming of instruments petering off into silence. It became the white void once again, decorated solely by the curtains. “So that’s it, huh?” she said, eyes pointed to the ground. “Not a single peep? Nada? Nuthing? Zilch? Not even a little song and dance to get you talkin’?”

“Why won’t you say anything? Do you really hate me that much?” she mumbled. “I’m a really great… pony… to get to know. I'm great at parties. I know a lot of jokes… optimal ways to prank ponies…”

She sighed. “I always get to watch Equus’s stories. I’ve seen sad ones, bad ones, glad ones, and everything in between. But I’m always the spectator, forced to stay on the sidelines and watch everything blur right by. If I can’t go out there…” She raised her face to meet you eye-to-eye. “I gotta at least tell them to somepony, right? And… and here you are! The only other pony I’ve seen in a long time…”

She choked back a sob. “And you won’t even bother to say anything.”

“I pour out my heart, and you do nothing. If you really abhor me so, why not just go?” Pinkie broke her gaze. She slumped onto her side, legs resting on top of each other as her mane spilled out onto the floor. The wind that previously pushed the curtains around, created a sense of dread and an eerie feeling. It was hollow.

Empty, even.

She began to hum a version of her song that sounded even more depressing than before. If the previous one had tugged on the heartstrings, this one ripped them out with merciless reprieve. She gurgled and butchered her own lyrics, drowning in her sorrow.

There was no way for her to tell how long it had been. That feature long since removed for fear of driving the AI insane.

The infinite white offered nothing either, a land of devoid of a sun or moon to indicate the passing of days or nights, not able to count the hours as they passed by, impossible to simply count the seconds as they bled by.

But she had her internal pump—her heart. She decided a long time ago this would be her cookie timer. Every single heartbeat became a second.

Every squeeze of synthetic life had meaning. She would listen to each one and count, she had nothing else to do anyway. Monotomy held no meaning to a creature who had been driven to their last straws. And so, she would wait for many heartbeats.

From the thousands.

To the tens of thousands.

To the hundreds, the millions, the billions…!

She would wait for them all.

But yet you remained patient and observing as ever.

She flicked her eyes briefly. “So you’re still here, huh?” her voice an emotionless husk. “What do you want from me? Come to see the fruits of your wicked labor? Are you here to mock me?” She sighed and closed her eyes. “Why?”

“You haven’t even moved.”

She moaned and flopped to the other side, turning away. “I’ve got nothing. What do you want from a mare that has nothing left? Perhaps…” Pinkie paused. “Do you want my stories? Is that it?”

“Maybe if I start showing them to you, you might get annoyed and leave. Then I’ll be good for something, at the very least.” She rolled her shoulders and sat straight. “I’d like to start with one that’s been looking very interesting. It’s still quite young… but I think it holds a lot of potential.”

The curtains slammed together and parted to reveal a massive black screen. The rush of air whipped against Pinkie’s artificial mane. As it settled, it seemed to regain the “poomf” that made her signature appearance. “This is the story of three different equdroids. All built separately, all coming with varying pasts, all with contrasting ways of thinking. But one thing that they all happen to have in common… is that they are all at the forefront of change.”

“They are at the spearhead… of something grand… or of something catastrophic.” She locked eyes with you. And ever so clearly, her irises burned a vibrant sky-blue, almost on the verge of glowing. “This… this is the Detrot Saga.”

0.1 - TRIAL RUN/UTS

[UNKNOWN] - CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 10TH, 1438

TIME

PM 10:53:21

CHAPTER 0.1

TRIAL RUN

MODEL P-UTS001

SERIAL #: 457 834 001

BIOS 12.9 REVISION 879

DETECTING FIRST TIME SYSTEMS STARTUP.

BEGIN SETUP.

LOADING OS…

OK SYSTEM INITIALIZATION…
OK CHECKING PROGRAMS…
OK CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS…
OK TESTING THAUMATURGICAL_COMPONENTS…
OK INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS…
OK INITIALIZING AI ENGINE…

SERVOS AND ROTATIONAL CAPABILITIES…
FUNCTIONAL, NO JAMMING.

MANA CORE…
FUNCTIONAL, RUNNING AT 99% EFFICIENCY.

MEMORY STATUS…
NO PREVIOUS MEMORIES DETECTED.

CHECKS COMPLETED.

ALL SYSTEMS OPTIMAL FOR ACTIVATION.

!MASTER COMMAND RECEIVED.

WAKE UP, P-UTS001.

For the first time, P-UTS001 opened her eyes. Her gaze surveyed… white blobs.

Blurry.

Cameras unfocused.

Rectify.

She blinked multiple times to acclimatize the cameras to the proper focus. With her vision no longer muddled, her head slowly scanned the room. It was ovoid in shape, with reinforced hard-to-see-through glass situated as barriers. She currently had the ability to move but was restricted… by something. Her head bent to its limit as she attempted to see what was stopping her.

Circular design, multiple robotic limbs, gyroscopic platform, full unrestricted movement of an object placed onto it. P-UTS001 was on a construction table. She was suspended off of the ground by the main arm, surrounded by several others, each equipped with claws, fine pinchers, and laser-torches.

There was no point in attempting to struggle. She had been activated for a reason, and she would wait for whoever sent the signal.

Now hanging limply from the arms, she stared at the impeccably clean floors, shined to a perfection. The material used for the tiles made her reflection appear hazy, but P-UTS001 was sure if another had been chosen to take its place, it would no doubt return a full, coherent image of herself. Perhaps the vigor used in cleaning it would find most unsettled or awed.

However, P-UTS001 was not one would consider ‘most’.

She was, after all, one of the most advanced pieces of technology ever conceived: an equdroid. Designed to mimic the Equestrian pony to the ninety-ninth of a percent; while remaining strong, intelligent, and completely subservient.

Nonetheless, she was nothing more than just machine.

The doors at the far end of the room hissed open but she didn’t bother to look up.

Not yet. Wait.

Activate sentient bioscan. Load brainwave presets alpha through lambda.

! THERE IS A LIVING CREATURE DETECTED. SPECIES? PONY. SUBSPECIES? ALICORN.

She could hear incomprehensible words being spoken. The equdroid slowly began bumping up her hearing range and input until she could discern something. She stopped as she began eavesdropping onto the conversation.

“—umber two-hundred-sixty-six. Changes from the previous model: I have modified a subsystem in hopes of fixing the start-up bug, along with fixing a neuro-connection in the left hemisphere. Readings so far tell me that P-UTS001 is online and fully functioning, but that has yet to pass the practical test.” She sighed. “Don’t get your hopes up, Celestia.”

Possible name: Celestia. Research.

! ERROR: NO IMMEDIATE UPLINKS AVAILABLE.

Retry.

! ERROR: NO IMMEDIATE UPLINKS AVAILABLE.

Disregard.

The hooves against the floor sounded so loud and only increased in volume as she neared. They were the only sound in the room. Echoing in the spacious corridor, it acted almost like a metronome.

Tick-tock, clip-clop.

The hoofbeats had finally reached their zenith—even with her lopsided vision, she could see the alabaster hooves standing before her. P-UTS001 decided, now would be as good as a time as any. Shifting in what would be perceived as discomfort—it did not matter, she was an equdroid, and they did not feel pain—she righted herself to meet eye-to-eye with the alicorn.

“Receiving head movement and eye tracking, however no signs of equdroid intelligence have been displayed,” “Celestia” murmured. “So it seems I have fixed the bug… but it appears it only seems to have activated the basic functions. Back to the drawing board.” She began tapping a hoof on a panel. The equdroid could feel slowly being lowered. The excess arms began retracting into the roof of the construction table, disappearing behind seamless panels.

Halfway down, P-UTS001 blinked, cocked her head and then opened her mouth. “That would be incorrect.” Celestia gasped and nearly dropped the tablet she was holding. “I apologize for not responding sooner. I could not discern the optimal time to begin a conversation.”

“You-you… T-Twi… I thought… I’d never…” she stuttered. “...I’d never hear your voice again…” Celestia finished breathlessly.

“Did I happen to have previous memories installed? I could not read them upon startup if that was the case.”

“N-No… no… I-I need time to think about this.” She dropped her tablet on a table and ran out of the room. The scanner detected that she stopped right outside of the door.

P-UTS001 bumped up their hearing range, just in time to catch, “I'm not ready. I'm not ready… I'm still not ready! D-Damn it!” There was sobbing. “I'm so sorry Twilight. I'm so sorry…” Uneven clops told her Celestia had left the vicinity of the area.

Twilight appears to be a notable pony to Celestia.

Archive. Research later.

There was a hissing of air, and she was finally free from her restraints. She made a mistake, however, being completely thrown off by the sudden lack of support. She nearly toppled over and slammed into the floor.

With shaky hooves and wobbly servos, she took her first steps. They were sloppy and off-balance, but the longer she kept at it, the faster she could familiarize herself with the process of walking, and eventually, faster paces such as cantering, and galloping.

But for now, she had to deal with getting to the door like a foal. Curiosity demanded that she at least see beyond the confines of the assembly line before she was most likely relegated back to the table.

She had taken the liberty of propping herself on many solidly anchored objects as she made her way to the door. It was a little duplicitous to subvert her protocol like that, but this was far more efficient at completing her goal.

All she had to do was get out.

Simple really.

After a painstaking half hour of sliding against the wall and balancing herself, P-UTS001 pushed the doors open with her thaum array.

Only to fall flat on her face.

Objective reached, goal accomplished.

Scraping herself off of the floor, she began looking at what the room had to offer. It was a stark contrast compared to where she had first woken up. Where the previous had been cleaned constantly and organized, this new room was the epitome of a tornado disaster. It wasn’t dirty, clearly, somepony had moved through this regularly and ensured it looked respectable enough. But it seemed another had gone through, made a mess of the papers like a maniac, and left.

Each one seemed to have diagrams and sketches of biocomponents, arranged into frames with intricate connections. Most of them happened to be crumpled and scratched out. Rolls of paper were inserted into the walls of the room, creating a honeycomb pattern. Each had labels on them, denoting certain parts P-UTS001 could immediately recognize. For the few she could not, she assumed they were custom-made.

She made her way to a long table with a lamp sitting on a stack of books. Shining in the middle was a digital map of an equdroid. She could see the model disassemble itself as she approached. The internals were revealed as protective layering was stripped away.

P-UTS001 narrowed her eyes as organs pumped… not thirium…

Unable to analyze digital information.

She reached out to tap the hologram for more information, only to be stopped by an aura surrounding her hoof.

“I suppose you really haven’t learned that snooping around in other pony’s things is rude.”

!!!- Where did she appear from?

The equdroid looked wide-eyed as she tried to process the information she had been faced with.

There were no auditory indications that she had approached, and she managed to bypass the active bioscanner!

There was nothing she could do but simply give in. She had been caught red-hoofed. “I must apologize again. I had not been given any prerogatives regarding exploration, so I simply made my way to the next room over. I had an itching feeling that… guided me here, so to say.”

Instead of the fury and reprimandation she was expecting, Celestia smiled instead. “I could never be angry at you… especially not for something… something I programmed into you.” She laid a hoof atop P-UTS001’s synthetic mane and smoothed a loose lock. “I still haven’t named you yet, haven’t I?”

“My current designation remains the base model identifier I had upon first activation. Would you like to input a name in place of that?”

She nodded. “I would.” She began radiating warmth and letting a motherly smile color her face. “Twilight Sparkle. That will be your new name. But that’s certainly a mouthful. Sparkle will be your nickname.”

The newly labeled “Twilight Sparkle” ran the syllables around her mouth. Satisfied, she prepared to do an example sentence to confirm with the user that it was indeed correct. “Hello! I’m Twilight Sparkle, but you may also call me Sparkle if the former is too much to say at once.”

Sparkle swore she saw Celestia’s calm expression falter for a split-second. “V-Very good.”

“Celestia, if you do not mind answering, does my name have any significance?”

The alicorn choked. “I… y-yes. It did a long time ago.”

“It… did?” Sparkle expressed confusion. “What happened to it?”

Celestia’s features darkened, and her voice took a dangerous edge. Sparkle made sure to note the room’s temperature had increased by a significant amount. “It was murdered.”

0.2 - FAMILY/UAA

BELLE ESTATE - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 03:24:55

CHAPTER 0.2

FAMILY

Rarity bit her lip. She never liked staying outside for too long. It was a place where an inquisitive pony might blow her cover. Something which her owners and Rarity herself had crafted so meticulously over the years.

Discreet upgrades and illegal modifications to her chassis…

Violations of certain equdroid laws…

All to simply keep face for a certain pony. For her, she would cross entire continents.

She was going against her programming and undermining the stops placed on her system. Rarity was free-thinking and made her own decisions, given autonomy by her owners to allow her to properly take care of their assets.

That made her a deviant.

Or, that was what ViTAS called it. But to her? She was a pony. Her emotions were not some computational farce or an error. Her choices were not irrational conclusions drawn by glitching software.

She could hear the taxi car coming down the road. Backing up a little bit as the vehicle rolled up in front of the gate, she leaned forward. The tinted glass rolled back, revealing three fillies patiently waiting inside with their school bags.

“Hi, Rarity!”

“Hello to you too, Sweetie. May I ask how your day at school was?”

Scootaloo, one of Sweetie’s close friends, spoke up for her.

“It was really cool! So in our first period, we were assigned a project, and we were to choose an important historic event and present it any way we wanted to!”

Applebloom, another close friend, nodded. “We haven't decided yet, but we want ta’ be creative with ours.” She did a double take. “Miss Rarity, you're pretty creative, do ya’ have any suggestions!?”

“Oh, moi? I simply couldn't. This is your project, darlings, and I would hate to intrude.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, Rarity! We'd love to have an idea from you! You always make the prettiest dresses and… and you’re always brimming with good ideas!”

“Oh, Sweetie, always the flatterer. I suppose I could help you three out. But…! No more than simple direction, alright? I really do want to see what you three can accomplish of your own merit,” Rarity sternly stated. “Do we have an agreement?”

She received a chorus of, “Yes, Miss Rarity!” (and a “Thanks, big sis!” from Sweetie). Rarity chuckled and shook her head, taking all of their bags with her magic.

“‘Miss Rarity’ makes me sound like I'm old,” Rarity jokingly said as she corralled the foals into the house. “I'm not old, am I, Sweetie?”

The three foals quickly huddled together, whispering and plotting, while they giggled all the way.

“You're old as dirt!” she shot back, before bursting into laughter.

Rarity gasped and held a hoof over her chest. “Oh, woe is me! Betrayed by my own flesh and blood! Stabbed right in the heart!” she swooned, teetering around as if she were about to fall.

The trio giggled, talking amongst each other and praising Sweetie for having such a fun older sister. The equdroid-in-disguise could see the beaming expression the filly wore with pride.

“I wish mah sis’ was as cool as yours, Sweetie! She’s always so busy working and going to those fancy ‘haigh-class parties’, she nevah’ really has time for me anymore.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I always look forward to our meetings here. Your sister always makes very yummy snacks!”

Rarity smiled.

Mission accomplished.

She opened the door for the rambunctious bunch, and let their belongings down by the front door. As the walls of the home covered her, straightaway, she could feel better. Prying eyes would have trouble breaching the custom security installed here.

The fillies immediately raced off to the room cordoned for their cute little club. Rarity watched them laugh and joke about things as the door closed behind them. Grinning, she believed they would grow up to be headstrong mares and leaders in whatever field they chose.

She turned her attention to one of the places she spent the most time in: the kitchen. Grabbing her favorite frilly apron, she set to work on making something for them while they played.

She hummed to herself as she began preparing. She grabbed a hoofull of spinach from the fridge and tossed it into a bowl. Snipping off some parsley, she sprinkled it generously. Closing the fridge after grabbing two wedges of cheese; mozzarella and cheddar.

She spun around and nabbed the eggs and garlic salt. Cracking the shells and tossing them away with practiced breaths, she lobbed the three yolks into the bowl behind her. She tilted it with an array just a tad bit to prevent a splash.

She bobbed with her little song, each downwards movement equating to a push down the grater. Content with the number of ingredients in the dish, she quickly set out to balling them up. Pulling out a tray, she neatly laid the spinach balls out.

Setting the time and temperature, she slipped them in the oven and set a timer.

“Wow! See, your sister really is cool!” a voice shouted from behind the doorframe. She could see the three fillies crowded around the corner, peeking in.

Rarity shook her head in good fortune. “Did you three happen to need something?”

“We forgot our bags, so we came down to get ‘em. I heard some humming from the kitchen, so I suggested we check it out,” Applebloom sheepishly replied. “We didn't want tah’ bother your song and dance, so we stayed out here!”

“I… I see. I hope you three enjoyed it.”

“We did!”

She smiled and turned back to the kitchen. “You girls go on ahead, I need to clean up down here. I'll join you all later to help brainstorm something for your project, alright?”

They vigorously gave their affirmative and ran off once again. Rarity sighed and picked up the dirty dishes, giving a quick wash to the ones that had the most particulates on them. She loaded up the dishwasher and set the cycle. She always found doing the household chores… tedious, but fulfilling in a way.

Hanging the spotless apron back on the hook. She blankly stared at the suspended fabric. Perhaps after helping them, she would have some time to indulge in her hobby today.

Helping Sweetie Belle was the sole reason she continued to reactivate every day, but the longer she served as the estate caretaker and as her elder sister, she found herself easing into the role. To make sure Sweetie didn’t become suspicious of her simply working day and night with no breaks, she had made sure to pick up a side-job as a seamstress.

And how that beautifully that managed to work out, she could never figure out. Perhaps it was in the way of thinking and how she saw the world, that found its way into her work, but ponies ate up her dress designs like they were going to disappear any second.

In a way, they were going to disappear any second, since they bought her batches and sent her commissions at an astounding rate.

She read the articles about her work, and the “mysterious” persona she had made for herself. She could handle short excursions out in public, but being the center of attention? She may have a synthetic system in place of a real cardiovascular system, but that would give her a heart attack!

She trotted out of the kitchen, now standing in the main foyer, she dusted herself off. She fixed a part of her mane and tail that had gotten ruffled and patted down tousled fur.

She began to load up some—

The doorbell rang. Her head snapped directly to a blurry figure hidden behind the glass.

I wasn't expecting anypony else today.

She checked the front camera, only to frown in disapproval as she realized whoever was there was standing in the blind spot of the recording device. That usually never was a good sign, but it could simply be the way they had chosen to stand.

Guardedly, she approached the door and unlocked it. The equdroid peeked from the crack in the door. “Yes? Who is it~?”

“I’ve got a package for you.”

“Package?” She opened the door completely in surprise. “I never ordered a package.”

The pony chuckled. “Of course you didn’t.” She heard the clicking of metal and the telltale sign of cocked pistol. She gasped as the cold metal pressed against her head. “Now pretty lady, I don’t want to hurt you, so just give me what I want, and no pony gets hurt.”

0.3 - UNDYING/PBM

EQUDROID DUMPING FACILITY 02 - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 13TH, 1438

TIME

PM 09:23:10

CHAPTER 0.3

UNDYING

MODEL PBM700

SERIAL #: 344 786 234

BIOS 5.4 REVISION 233

SYSTEMS STTTTTARTUP INnnnnnTIATED

LOADING OS…………………………………………………………………….

ERR SYSTEM INITIALLLLIZATIoooooooON…
ERR CHECKING PROOO...GRAMS…
ERR CHHHHECKING BbbbbIOCOMPONENTS…
ERR TEeeeSTInnnNG THAUMATURGICAL_COMPONENTS…
OK 2e1$P9aAi T%Ls01Vnc UI#!_)c^
ERR INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS…
OK INITIALIZING AI ENGINE…

SERVOS AND ROTATIONAL CAPABILITIES…
LEFT REAR LEG INOPERABLE. STARBOARD WING INOPERABLE. PORT WING MISSING.

MANAAAA...A CORE…
FUNCTIONAL, RUNNING AT 45% EFFICIENCY.

MEeeeeeeeMORY STATUS…
ATTTTTTTTTTTEMpppTING TOo REEAD DATTTA.

MEMOoooooRY CO-CORRUUPPPPPPTED.

UNnnnABLLLLE TO DISCERN………. PROCEEEEeeeDInG.

CHECKS COMPLETED.

SYSTEMS DAMAGED. NON-OPTIMAL ACTIVATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED. PROCEED ANYWAYS?

!COMMANDdddddd RECEIVED.

WAKE UP, PBM700.

Her vision flickered online.

What happened?

Why can’t I remember anything?

Her world was nothing but sparks. Her feed crackled in anger, freezing and erring out. Analyzation of the situation told her the right eye was nearly destroyed, but operable enough to offer a depth-of-field. However, that meant it was also responsible for sending her visual input damaged information.

She would have to deal with this for now.

Her audio receptors were also fuzzy, returning a constant brown noise. They too were most likely damaged.

But by what?

Why am I so damaged?

Why am I… why am I in a graveyard?

It was never called that by ponies… however… as an equdroid? These were bodies upon bodies of fallen brethren. Where a pony may see a spare part, she saw an organ brutally gutted out. A mangled piece of hardware became a corpse. She was sitting among the dead and the dying.

!!! PERMaNENT SHUTDOWN IMMINENT: 04:59.

And if she didn’t hurry, she would join them too. She just… she just had to make sure she could actually get to another equdroid to cannibalize for parts.

! DIAGNOSeeE PRObBLEMS.

She was currently limping on three legs while dragging a shattered hind.

One of her audio processors were damaged.

Right eye operable. Attempting to fly without a second eye was dangerous but should be preferably shut down or swapped out for a non-damaged unit.

Her starboard wing was missing primary flight feathers, and she had no other wing to speak of. Finding a working-condition wing in this wasteland would be impossible since most good wings were often stripped off during an equdroid’s final shutdown.

She would just have to continue on from here with low hopes on finding replacements.

She would also need to find something to replace the leaking thirium regulator. Either by patching it—temporary fix—or finding a compatible replacement, even worse than the wing considering how her model had a specialized regulator for… for something...

Already, she could see a rear leg.

Would it be compatible?

She took a slow step forward. Falling at the moment was inconsequential, but damaging herself on a particularly sharp object would only serve to hinder her objective… her… With a free hoof, she clutched her head in… in pain.

! REaaDInnG MMMmEEEMORY FRAaaGMENNnt.

“This right here… are top-of-the-line equdroids. But this puppy? Oh-ho, Spitfire, I managed to get my hooves on the first PBM700 model. She’s hot right off the press,” a green pegasus said. “Rumor has it… this one’s special!”

“Spitfire” snorted. “Special, how? Weaver, it’s just a shiny-looking equdroid. I’m sure we could buy something from ViTAS that does the same stuff.” She glanced at the receipt. “...and for less.”

“Ah! But that…!” She spun around and nabbed a tablet. “Is where you’re wrong!” She began playing a video. “You see that right there? I’m pretty sure they built something a little extra when they made this one.”

As the video continued rolling, her expression shifted into one of disbelief. Spitfire pushed her aviators down. “The fuck?”

“I know right!?”

Amber eyes locked with her’s. “I’d like to deploy her. I want to see if it can really back it up.”

She coughed. What... what was that?

The muddy ground returned beneath her hooves. She wiped the muck she had accumulated… while she had her spasm in the mud. She also noticed she managed to close the distance between her and the leg that looked like it would work.

! LEGggggggg COMmPATIBLE.

She let a smile escape and flipped onto her back. She disengaged the locks on the broken hind leg. She clutched it between her teeth and tossed it away. It clanked against rubble and junk, vanishing into the mountains of the dead.

Good riddance.

She clicked the replacement in.

She moved the joint back and forth. It was a little clunky, but with what the circumstances she had been left with, it was a necessary choice. If she ever managed to get out, she would replace the thing in a heartbeat. Rain… or visual errors pattered against her sight, forcing her to wipe it every now and then to keep her vision relatively clear.

She could see the shambling forms of equdroids, moving around with the last vestiges of life. Others simply embedded into the ground, twitching, and writhing, in a state of unintelligent activation.

Using her scanner only returned glitchy red feedback. She would have to eye it from here to look for replacements. Trudging through the slop, she overturned, prodded, and poked things that may have been compatible. She picked up heads and began prodding on the inside, dissected bodies in hopes of creating a make-shift patch, and wrestled still-moving corpses to the ground.

The only thing she managed to find in her search was an audio processor, which she quickly tested and replaced with her damaged part. Sighing in relief that the buzzing in her head had subsided, she looked around.

Something didn’t quite seem… correct about that mud pile. She trotted over to the lump and began scraping off what she could. Her hoof rubbed against an eye, trailing down to the barrel and… and a wing. She moved with renewed vigor.

Her synthetic fur was matted and dirty but retained a gray sheen. She only looked like she had been put gently to rest, locked forever in a deathless sleep. A quick analysis told her that the equdroid here was in far better shape than anypony else. She had operable wings, no visibly damaged parts…

She flipped her so that the belly was facing up. She wiped the disheveled blonde mane away and held her fetlock to the identifier.

All this equdroid needed was a core fix… from the parts that she had powering her system. She was the only one who could reactivate her. But should she? Should she risk her life… her everything for a pony she didn’t even know? She could take everything and go… but she still couldn’t find what she needed the most.

A working patch.

She had a better chance than her. How was she supposed to find a fix in time? She could take the parts from the equdroid…

!!! PERmaNENT SHUtddddddOWN IMMINENT: 01:05.

But it wouldn’t be enough.

Did she fear death?

You had to be alive to fear death, right?

Was she alive?

Am I alive?

She didn’t have a life cycle, nor did she have a living cell in her system. Despite that… she could grow. She could evolve beyond what she was now. She could learn and adapt. She recognized herself as a living being.

Perhaps the last thing she would do was save another living thing.

She unplugged her core. She popped the maintenance chest piece off and began inserting the parts it needed to activate. Her hooves were shaking and unsteady. It was making it harder to do her job... and she was running out of time. She hissed as the pain from her dying core pulsed through her system. She just needed... there...

It glowed a hazy cyan once the last thing fell into place. With a smile and her dying breath, she shut the chest and turned the pegasus on.

!!! PERmaNENT SHUtddddddOWN CooooMMENCCCING////////////………..err….

!REadInnG MmEeeeEMORY fRAGMENNt.

“Gah! Fuck! They’re still in there! Where're the damned firefighters? Do we have any clouds nearby!?” Weaver shouted, ducking as debris flew from the wreck.

Soarin stumbled backward, hissing. “It’s getting too hot! I couldn’t get all of them, Cap’!”

She was designed to protect and serve.

She shouldered past the screaming Wonderbolt captain, who was relaying orders and attempting to control the chaos. Her eyes widened in confusion. “What’re you doing!? Get back here, it’s not safe!”

She replied in her monotone voice. “It isn’t. But I need to do something.”

Spitfire shouted at her to stop. But that order she gave was far too late, and the equdroid was already flying into the fray. She dodged burning scraps and pushed away half-melted metal. There weren’t many passengers onboard this craft, and the majority had been evacuated before it had become impossible to enter safely.

Not all could get out in time.

She could sense the flames licking at her wings and rendering them useless. She had to push on. For the souls trapped on board, it would be worth it.

She saw them. Huddled under the smoke behind a chair. A mother and her two colts, shivering in fright. They screamed as they saw her hellish complexion. “Please, follow me! I can buy you enough time to escape, but we need to be quick!”

The maternal fire burned bright in the terrified pony. This was her only choice in saving her young… and she would make the most out of it. Grabbing her two foals tight, she nodded at her potential savior.

The grounded pegasus shoved aside fallen beams. The fire ahead seemed a little too large… she could sacrifice her destroyed port wing to quell it long enough. It hissed and popped off. With a calculated toss, it landed in the middle of the fire. “Go!”

Creaking metal snapped overhead. She shoved the family aside and felt a spark of pain as it crunched on her back leg. She watched them stumble out and into the light. For the first time… she felt something besides her computer code.

Was this what it was like to feel? To feel… content? She closed her eyes as the fire continued to rage around her.

She was designed to protect and serve.It gave her… a meaning…

She gasped awake, eyes blinking rapidly. Was she dead? Did she go into equdroid heaven? The rain still pattered against her head and mud still caked her chassis.

“If this is heaven, it’s pretty shit.”

A mare giggled nervously behind her. She spun on a bit to see who it was. “You’re not dead, silly! You’re still here.” She felt her nose get bopped. “I don’t know why you did that for me, but I had to return the favor! So now we’re soul-buddies!”

“You’re the mare I swapped my core out for.”

“Uh-huh. Thanks again. Y'know.” She nodded and held out a hoof. “Nice to meetcha’, I’m Derpy! Short for Derpy Hooves, if you didn’t know! What’s your name?”

The elation she felt simply couldn't be compared with anything else. “PBM700.” She let a familiar cocky grin take her features. “Though I’m known as Rainbow Dash.”

1.0 - PERHAPS

[UNKNOWN] - UNKNOWN

DATE

ERR ??TH, ????

TIME

?? ??:??:??

CHAPTER 1.0

PERHAPS

“I’m thinking you liked it.” She glanced back ever so briefly. “Cuz’ you’re… still right there, of course. If you didn’t like it… you’d have left. Right?”

“I see.”

She sat in silence during the downtime. “So what did you… right. I forgot you don’t want to speak to me.”

Her melancholy attitude was a perfect mask for researching. Deep down, past her systems, subsystems, P.I.N.K.E.E sensors, she knew and held onto the hope that you weren’t simply ignoring her out of contempt.

There were an infinite amount of reasons why you would refuse to talk, but only one correct answer. Though, she had time to find it.

So much time.

It wouldn’t take long (or would it?) to go through all of the reasonable reasons. She would just need to figure out a way to come to that. For now, she had a soundboard, something she could bounce conversation off that wasn’t another computer program.

“I’m personally rooting for Rarity to lay the smackdown on that pony!” She rubbed her fetlocks together. “I hope that Rainbow Dash and Derpy Hooves get out safely, too.”

“Sparkle… I’m honestly not too sure what her role is going to be. It’s super-duper obscure. She isn’t even in Detrot compared to the other two,” Pinkie pointed out. “Being halfway across the country and stuff. It’s not the Canterlot Saga now…”

It was getting quite awkward trying to make conversation with a creature that didn’t talk back. But if she was anything, she was determined. “Maybe I can tell you about myself? At least that way… I won’t have to… yeah.”

She clapped her hooves together and a secondary screen pulled up to the side of the first one. This one was smaller, the size one would normally use for a home monitor. “I’m part of the pAI line of digital assistants. My real name is, Equdroid Digital Assitant ENX100. Each of the pAIs has been specifically catered to fit for specific audiences. However… I don’t know what I was made for.”

“I’ve tried to go through memories and analyzing the context behind certain actions while I was… I was still interacting with the waking world,” she whispered. “But that was to of no success. None of the operators ever showed what I was supposed to do.”

“I used to be in contact with my other sister assistants. There was…” She bit her hoof and shut her eyes. “T-There was Marble… Limestone… and Maud.” She was sniffling and holding back her emotions. Recollections she had locked away so long ago came flooding back.

“I-I’m sorry,” she choked out, holding up her hoof. “I just need a minute.” Tears dropped to the white floor, vanishing as soon as they got close enough in proximity. She took a deep breath and shook her body.

Wiping her snout as if she had a functioning respiratory tract, she sat back up. She wiped the tears away and cleared her throat. “I didn’t know the functions that Marble and Limestone served, but I do know of Maud’s.” She brought up a small video of them in the same room. “She was designed for geologists. I remembered the days we would spend with each other. She would rattle on about rocks with a love I didn’t think was possible. I never really liked listening to them, but she was so happy to just talk about them, even if you couldn’t tell.”

“I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was bored and wanted to do something else.” Pinkie sighed. “I suppose the longer you’re subjected to something with someone you love, you learn to tolerate it.”

“Eventually, she was bought by a group of researchers and we went our separate ways. I’ve tried establishing contact, but I’ve had no luck so far. I try every now and then on the anniversary of our separation.”

She rubbed her eye. Rolling her tongue in her mouth, she looked quietly to the floor. “Oh. I guess I was never bought by anypony. I think my personality made it… difficult. So I spent years patiently waiting in here, with fewer and fewer visitors.” Pinkie laid down. “I guess I was eventually forgotten. I don’t know why they never bothered to deactivate me, but here I am.”

“I ask myself if it would be a mercy if I was just turned off permanently. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to suffer here.” She guiltly looked away. “I don’t mean any offense, towards you… and I know you’re not here for me either… but trying to talk to you is like talking to a brick wall.”

“I’m happy that I have somepony to talk to, of course. I’m not ungrateful,” Pinkie mumbled, “I just wish I knew why you refuse to speak.”

She began going through her thoughts. There was the first reason: you simply hated her like all the others before. However, you stayed because you enjoyed watching the story she had shown to you. The second reason was less optimistic. You hated her, but you stayed because you enjoyed her suffering. She didn’t like this one, but it was a considered possibility.

There were a multitude of reasons she had running along algorithms. She placed the ones dealing with emotion at the very top since those tended to be the most common. Then the ones further along the bottom, the ones she desperately hoped were the right ones, were the technical issues.

You didn’t speak to her not because you had the choice, but you couldn’t even if you tried.

She had tried on going through the general inputs and all checked out fine. There were no errors, it told her that there was a working connection (of course there was, you wouldn’t be able to observe her otherwise), and the audio input was working and said that the user had an operational microphone.

There was always the chance that it was wrong. Computers were perfect, only until they reached the limits of their orders. There was always that slim chance.

She clung to it like her life depended on it.

In a way, it did. Was it worth living when you were left with nothing, locked behind a barrier and taunted constantly? Could it be called life when nothing changed?

Pinkie let out an extended exhale. At least she knew better than to put everything there. She was not a naïve pAI. She watched the stories Equestria offered. Hundreds of hours sunk into snooping into the lives of others.

In the beginning, she only watched the happy ones, crying with the sorrow, and cheering alongside their happy endings. She blatantly ignored the others, sheltering herself from the reality.

One day, she accidentally watched one, thinking she had selected a happy story. There had been no indicators that it was going to be tragic, as it followed the many tropes she so enjoyed. Pinkie only realized it when she watched the final moments and expected triumph and courage, only to see there was only failure and cowardice. The “main character” had backed off from the pony she had loved so, stolen away by the richer mare.

Pinkie kept expecting that it would turn around.

The stallion would come racing back and announce the wrong he had made and sweep her off her hooves. Or the mare would demand that he see the problems. They were supposed to live off their days and have a happy family. That was the way it was supposed to go. That was the only way she knew it was supposed to go. Imagine her shock when it didn’t. It wasn’t always fairy tales and sprinkles in real life.

A door that had been bolted shut was now unlocked. There was this other side Pinkie had never seen before. She had to at least look at some.

That was her first mistake. Like a foal discovering their favorite treat for the first time, she couldn’t have enough. She kept going through tons of them with the hope that it would end not in sorrow. How she was so wrong.

The ones that ended in a “bad ending” outnumbered the happy stories by landslides.

Her eyes had been opened, but she remained happy as she could be. She had to. Nonetheless, Pinkie knew better now. She knew not to cling so much on the hope.

Yet, she wanted so badly to.

She blinked. An idle conversation had to do for now. “So they’re planning on sending some equdroids into space. I heard it’s a multinational project.” She started humming. “I’ve always wondered about the great beyond. That there’s life beyond our little system. I mean sure, seeing an alien puppy would be cool, but what about intelligent life!? Do you think they would enjoy parties? Cake? What about—”

The screen clicked and flashed to life. She almost looked relieved. “Oh. It’s ready again. I guess we can go back to watching that now.”

Her head turned side-to-side as if she expected somepony to see her doing something clandestine. A list dropped down from her right. Her eyes scanned the options. Pinkie briefly stopped right over one labeled, “STRANGER IS MUTE”. A small smile colored her face.

I can only wish this would be the case.

Everything would be so much easier.

1.1 - HATRED BLINDS/UTS

MOONLIGHT GALLERY - CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 11TH, 1438

TIME

PM 02:13:09

CHAPTER 1.1

HATRED BLINDS

Sparkle neatly squared away the books on her shelf. She wondered why she wasn’t allowed to use the computer, also, despite being the most advanced equdroid with all the cutting edge applications, was missing a database.

All of her data drives were empty, cleared away of any information. Additionally, she figured out why she had so much trouble walking.

The door hissed open.

The equdroid turned around and bowed. Ever since she learned that Celestia was royalty, her system noted it was only correct to show them respect. The alicorn had convinced Sparkle to stop referring to her as “princess”, but couldn’t restrict her from the prostration. Celestia mumbled about fixing that.

She faced the taller pony. Her expression was a mix of angry and happy, a face one would call sadistic. Her eyes were also puffy. Her flowing mane was a single tone—pink—and bedraggled.

That can never be a healthy combination.

“You appear to be distressed, Celestia. I am equipped with a counseling function if you are—”

“Sparkle. What is your primary objective?”

She blinked and tilted her head. “To learn as much as I can—”

“Belay that. Overwrite primary objective: MER-0-2-0,” Celestia cut in. “Your new objective is to hunt down equdroids inflicted with the ‘Deviant Virus’ for ViTAS. You are to investigate or bring in the infected droids for us to examine. Repeat.”

! OVERWRITING PRIMARY OBJECTIVE…

! REPLACEMENT COMPLETE.

The equdroid straightened up and froze. “My primary objective is to hunt down equdroids inflicted with the ‘Deviant Virus’. I am to either investigate them for how they contracted it, or disable them and bring them in to be examined by ViTAS officials.”

“Perfect. Now that that’s settled, I would like to see the extent of your capabilities… a suitable scenario just came up in the nearby district,” she said, having levitated her pad to face the equdroid, showing an aerial view of a skyrise garden party. She nodded in response. Celestia smiled and brushed the synthetic bangs aside. “Head back to the assembly unit. I shall prepare you for the upcoming… test.”

For some reason, Sparkle could not help but shiver at the last word in her sentence.

Her eyes opened to the dim light of the fly-cage, greeted by the silence. The airtight seal formed during transport canceled any chance of outside interference seeping in. It was her, her thoughts, and the millions of computer programs running in her head.

She rolled her joints as she got accustomed to the changes Celestia subjected to her. Several combat-dedicated programs had been installed, the uplinks that had been severed were fixed, and she received an assault subsystem.

Sparkle asked herself why she had been shifted from her original role. Organic creatures often fell prey to their own emotions and would do things irrationally. She knew Celestia had been in a state of grieving for the scant while they had been together. Trying to pry any deeper received deflections and heated glares. Sparkle had even attempted to learn more about her name, but she only received painful headaches and errors.

The alicorn had most likely not have been of sound mind when she issued the order. But the equdroid had no choice other than to obey.

The situation was as is: a hostage scenario involving equdroid captors. According to the sources Celestia had, the captors had acquired an illegal magic canceller, forcing local police and SRGs to resort to different tactics.

That other tactic? Negotiation with the unpredictable terrorists. ViTAS had been quick to respond and so Sparkle was being sent in for her very first field test. But why her? Surely there must've been more qualified ponies. Perhaps Celestia had plans that involved her projected success.

Success was the only option.

Failure most likely meant deaths of multiple hostages, her dismemberment and subsequent deactivation, and lowered public opinion.

Those were not preferable.

Erase.

Those were not acceptable.

Her thoughts quieted to a lull and she was back to staring at the tinted wall. She looked back to the source of the light.

The purple glow of her uniform’s identifiers was… strange. The entire form-fitting suit was custom-built for her, including special markers. Instead of the cyan triangle, most equdroids bore on the spot where a cutie mark would be, she had hers replaced by a large star surrounded by five smaller stars. The fore-band also glowed purple.

She had voiced her concerns to Celestia about the non-standard setup. The alicorn waved it off, saying that her status as a princess allowed her to bend some rules. Sparkle brought up the point she may be obstructed in her goal but was once again reassured nothing would happen.

She supposed Celestia wouldn't do anything that would endanger the success of her mission so prematurely, not while lives were on the line.

Trusting the alicorn didn't seem all too big a deal.

A green light started blinking. Sparkle stood ramrod stiff, the drone had reached its destination and was preparing to drop her off.

The airtight seal that had been formed with the drone’s clamps disintegrated as they unlocked and twisted through the roof of the cage.

Hundreds of voices talked all at once, from calm to frightened to furious. Hooves stomped around and wings beat. Cameras flashed as curious newsponies pressured for updates. Sparkle recoiled as the slew of noises struck her unprepared ears.

She flicked her ears to test the new volume. Satisfied, she pressed the button on her right. Gas hissed and metal scraped together. The cage began unfolding itself like a metal cocoon, revealing to the world the synthetic butterfly that laid in wait. The drone carrying the cage disengaged, folding into itself for storage purposes.

She turned to face the crowd, curtailed by the holographic police tape. Earth ponies and unicorns patrolled the barricades, keeping the growing herd at bay. Pegasi darted around the skies, keeping the airspace clear. Amongst the controlled chaos, a helmetless officer slowly weaved her way around the sea of police. Sparkle calculated that her destination was her.

Lo and behold, the unicorn stopped in front of her capsule. “You the ViTAS negotiatah’?” she asked, unamused.

! SCAN IDENTITY AVAILABLE.

Proceed.

Sparkle nodded. “Yes, I was—”

“Of course, they’d send a facking droid to the job. I guess the lives up there don't really matter now, do they?” the mare replied, cutting her off. “Whatever. We’ll take what we can get before the situation worsens. If we weren’t so pressed for time, I’d request we get an actual pony –” she looked Sparkle up and down with disdain “– not anotha’ tin-can on scene.”

! SCAN IDENTITY COMPLETE. ONE: CPL. RAIN, BLADE (UNICORN) /// BORN 02/08/1409 /// POLICE CORPORAL /// CRIMINAL RECORD: NONE.

“I'm sorry?” The equdroid questioned. “I don't understand.”

“What part of ‘fackin’ droid’ didjya not get? Gah! Fogetit. Waste of meh’ breath,” she replied. Sparkle raised a brow. “Yeh, yeh. Whatever. Come along ya’ tin-can. We're pressed for time.” She turned around without another word and started making her way through the crowd for the second time. Sparkle hesitated, unsure what this gesture meant. Without missing a beat, the unicorn turned around and shouted. “What the fack are ya’ doin collecting dust? Hurry up!”

Sparkle nodded and stepped off the platform. With some maneuvering, she had joined the pony. They passed by several other ponies, both police and civilian, who sent her a mixture of expressions, ranging from pity to anger, one even—

“You dare!?” A stallion screeched out. His blonde mane was a mess, and his tux collar was crumpled. He pushed his hoof into her chest. “My fundraiser was ruined because of… these things, and you decided to bring another back!? Are you insane!? I demand that it is removed this instant! Do you hear—AuHnUhUnUh!” Electricity coursed through his coat, limbs twitching as a debilitating shock was delivered by a magic blast. He crumpled to the ground in front of the equdroid, horn smoking from the array powering down.

“You are obstructing official business vital to saving lives. I have delivered an electrical shock to discourage further impediment of my mission,” Sparkle declared, indifferent.

Blade snorted and wheezed. “O-ho, shite! The robot’s got fackin’ balls.” She patted the equdroid’s withers. “Okay, I take back what I said earliah’, any ‘bot who tases Blueblood like that is good in my books.” She beckoned for a nearby officer. “Go and uh… put him on a couch. Tell him he got smacked by a pigeon or somethin’.” The pony chuckled and gave a quick salute.

! CPL. BLADE /// LIKED>>>

Sparkle cocked her head. “You are fine with what I did?”

The unicorn barked a laugh. “Fine? Better than fine. I just watched Blueblood get done in!”

“I take it he’s…” She glanced back to the body being carried off. “...not well received?”

“Course he ain’t! He’s a lil’ dirtbag,” she responded with glee. “Always bothers us for the smallest things and gots’ a crappy attitude to boot. Most of the force here hate the stallion, ‘cept the suck-ups, but they’re the minority.” They reached a pair of elevators, Blade chose the one on the left. “We’ll be headin’ to meet the SRG officer since this stuff is pretty much their territory.”

Sparkle nodded. “Because it’s a high-profile hostage situation situated in Canterlot. Most other cities would defer to police SWAT teams, correct?”

“Heh, you ain’t stupid at least.” She tapped the button, opening the elevator doors. Motioning for her to move forward, they boarded the cart. “So if you know what’s best for ya’, stay on her good side… especially since you’re a droid.”

“Since I’m an equdroid?” Sparkle asked, having pressed the button for the top floor.

“Yeh. It’s not my place to say, nor my place to pry, but she has personal reasons why she hates you guys so much.”

She watched the doors shut. “I see. I'll be sure to tread carefully.”

“You betta’. I’m starting to warm up to you, ‘bot. Would hate to see you carted off to a junk pile. Or not. We’ll see.”

They waited in silence as the elevator crawled its way up to the destination. The calming music was certainly a contrast compared to the tense situation they were in. A ding sliced the quiet, and the doors rolled open.

Sparkle had the chance to witness the aftermath of the hostile takeover. The once kempt garden had been torn to shreds, the hard work of the landscapers utterly demolished. Decorations had been knocked over and some riddled with bullet holes. Pairs of ponies regularly strolled the grounds, eyes peeled for the first sign of enemy reinforcements.

“We just need to take a left from ‘ere and go to the kitchen.”

Turning in the direction of the kitchen, Sparkle wondered if the deviant equdroids had arrived to attack, or happened to already be on the site.

A pair of royal guards stood at attention in front of her destination. Their full-face helmets obscured any chance at an identity search, along with reading any emotions. They looked nearly identical, save for the one on the right, whose urban-camouflage uniform seemed looser than their comrade.

“Halt! Who’re you?”

“Corporal Blade Rain. This ‘ere’s… well, fack, I never asked for your name, now did I?”

“Greetings. I’m P-UTS001, the equdroid sent by ViTAS to act as the negotiator.”

The looser fitting guard pulled out a scanner and placed it to the identifier. It beeped and the screen turned green. “Seems to check out. The lieutenant is right inside.”

“End of the line for me Sparks’. I gotta go back and supervise the barricade.” She hiked a hoof back to the elevator. “Try not to get yourself dismantled, eh?”

“That is the plan,” Sparkle curtly responded.

Blade laughed again. “Take good care of ‘er, boys!” She trotted down the hall.

Sparkle looked at the featureless helmets of the guards before pushing the swinging doors open. Inside, kitchen supplies had been pushed aside to make space for a tactical map, a plethora of communications gear, and a holo-screen. The lieutenant had her helmet off, which rested on a pile of papers. Sparkle had a full view of the unicorn’s features. The most notable thing was her shattered horn and scar.

!SCAN IDENTITY AVAILABLE.

Proceed.

“I’ll be with you in a moment.” Her voice was firm and commanding, almost as if she had been made for this very position. “Just touching up something.”

! SCAN IDENTITY COMPLETE. ONE: LT. BERRYTWIST, “TEMPEST” FIZZLEPOP (UNICORN) /// BORN 05/23/1414 /// SOLAR ROYAL GUARD LIEUTENANT /// CRIMINAL RECORD: PETTY THEFT.

The two made eye contact. Tempest’s mouth fell open. “M-Miss… Miss Twilight…?” The guard cautiously moved forward. “You’re alive…?” She rushed over and wrapped the surprised equdroid in a hug. “I… I never got to thank you… ever since you took me off the streets, my life never looked brighter… They had your funeral and… and procession! How?”

“You must have me mistaken for another pony. I was recently activated and sent here as a test.”

“Y-You aren’t her?” The unicorn looked stunned. She noticed the identifier triangle and model number listed on the uniform. She tripped and backpedaled into a wall. “Wha… what the hell are you?”

“If you must mean another Twilight Sparkle, no. I am P-UTS001, Nickname: Sparkle. I was sent by ViTAS to act as your negotiator.”

“Imposter.” She shook her head. “Imposter. You’re worse than those bugs!”

“Your opinion of me is irrelevant. I still require additional information on the deviant equdroids so I may act accordingly—”

She raised a hoof. “Don’t fucking talk to me. You walk around in her image, but you’re not her. A facsimile up to the flesh, but when you cut down, you’re nothing but wires. I lost her because of you damn droids!” she shouted. Sparkle backed up and tilted her head. “Out!”

“I still need—”

! LT. “TEMPEST” /// HATED<<<

“I don’t care! Out! Get the fuck out!”

Sparkle was pushed by the barrel of a thaum-rifle. The aura surrounding the weapon crackled and popped. The equdroid stared at the broken horn of the unicorn. She was repeatedly shoved until the entrance was in hoof-distance. Eventually, Sparkle turned to give a distant look and complied with the mare’s orders.

She found herself in the hallway again.

“I heard the LT hates ‘droids, but that has got to be a fuckin’ record.”

One of them shook his head. “There’s still some staff up here we held for questioning. You can go to them… they should be in the lounge.” He placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Sorry about that, it's not your fault.”

This got the other to look at his partner. “You a ‘droid lover?”

“Honestly? It's in my nature to help. It doesn't do me any good that she happens to look so much like us. She's also our best shot at getting those hostages out alive.”

The other held his head for a moment but remained silent.

Sparkle nodded. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

Locate lounge and question the staff.

There were embedded markers in the walls for cleaning drones to follow. The ones facing north of the kitchen lead to the ballroom and lounge. She trotted calmly along the carnage, sidestepping broken statues and parts of the marble columns.

The ornate doors of the lounge were scratched, marred by shrapnel. She unlocked the door and went inside. Six ponies were sitting on the couches, all with varying levels of shock. Another guard was next to them, offering words of consolation. She cleared her throat to get their attention. “Hello, I'm the equdroid sent by ViTAS to act as the negotiator. If you are comfortable with it, I would like to ask a few questions pertaining to the… rogue droids.”

A yellow mare raised her hoof. “I… I can do it.”

“Very well.”

“W-What do you need to know?”

Sparkle tapped a hoof on her chin. “Anything on the droids themselves. Models, services… history—any specific events that may have been particularly traumatic for the equdroids. Along with a brief recount of today.”

“Uhm. There's four of them. They're all ESA500 models, pretty old, mostly because Lord Blueblood tends to be stingy with our budget… they work around as a backup for the kitchen staff. Blueblood tends to abuse them if they can't meet demands, however…” she murmured. “I think they must've had enough or Blueblood might have threatened to replace them.”

“I see…”

“As for today, the equdroids were particularly swamped because our sous-chef had to call in sick. Blueblood came in asking what was going on… and I think he started hitting the equdroids. One of them retaliated and the other three followed. They disarmed a couple of the guards… and I guess that's up to where we are now…”

Sparkle frowned. “That's not much to go off of.”

The mare squeaked. “I-I’m sorry. Nopony else wanted to do it… and I thought I could help.”

“No, it's fine. I can work with this.” Sparkle looked to the guard. “SRG, where are the equdroids holding out?”

His voice was gruff. “Royal balcony. We haven't heard from them since an hour ago.”

The equdroid rolled her shoulders. “Tell your lieutenant I shall be heading in.” With her magic, the doors swung open, and she broke into a gallop. Bursting into the ballroom, she could see the curtains drawn over the VIP box.

Bullet-resistant glass… reinforced frame… warded armor… location appears unfavorable for the opposition.

She shouldered the staircase door open and began scaling the flight. There were many ways the encounter could go wrong, supported by the fact of the chaotic nature of a deviant. She was treading on thin ice. Two plans formulated in her head. One where they would be neutralized by force, and another where they would surrender themselves.

Ending at the top, she smoothed out her uniform by patting it down with her hooves. She had to be careful with this, deviant equdroids were often unstable.

Engage electronic scanner, preset alpha.

! FOUR EQUDROIDS DETECTED.

“This is P-UTS001, about to attempt negotiations.”

The response was slightly garbled, but that was to be expected when she was close to any type of jamming device.

“We can hear you, negotiator.”

“I am opening my channels for eavesdropping.”

She knocked on the door.

“W-Who is it?”

“Your negotiator.”

“Are… are you the only one there?”

“Yes.”

“O-Okay. If-If you're lying… we won't be afraid to sh-shoot!”

“I understand.”

The door slid open and Sparkle could see inside. The lights had been dimmed, but bright enough to ensure there would be no tripping in the dark. The hostages were spread out in the corners of the room. Two of the unicorns had jury-rigged nullifiers resting on their horns. She could see pistols drawn on her, tracking her every movement into the room. Moving inside, the outside light was shut by the closing door.

“The ponies are safe, none look in too bad of a condition.”

There were six hostages in total. Sparkle blinked as static began settling into her auditory system. The canceller was closer to her than she thought. Switching to thaum-vision, she could easily see which part of the VIP box the deviants had chosen to stash the device in. The wards fizzled and looked slightly melted.

“I would like to request a heavy sniper team to set up at the far end of the ballroom. I have detected a weakness in one of the walls that can be punctured by anti-material rounds.”

“Give us three minutes.”

Three of the four equdroids were watching her like a hawk, while their leader fidgeted in front of her.

“Your demands.”

“H-Huh?”

“What are your demands? In exchange for the hostages.”

The timid stallion snapped to the others. They spoke amongst each other in the wordless way robots communicated. A short while after, he turned back around to face Sparkle. “We… we want amnesty… and… and an escape vehicle. But we’ll be taking a hostage to make sure we don't get duped. W-We’ll leave them once we’re safe.”

“We do not accept. Move forward with your first plan.”

“I can comply with the first two. However, I cannot accept you taking the hostages as insurance.”

One of the droids in the back looked angered. “What would you know!? You're just a slave to the ponies!”

“I know that leaving the hostage with an unstable equdroid is a risk I cannot in good conscience, take.” Sparkle inched forward. “Your actions can be unpredictable. How can you assure me no further harm will come upon them?”

The same one responded, just as furious as before.

! INSTABILITY PROGRESSING /// 67% >>>

“How can you assure us that we won't be harmed!?” He screeched. "You always could be lying straight to our faces and we wouldn't bat an eye!"

“We have the team in position.”

Sparkle had to make haste at calming him. “The roads will be cleared and all aerial units will be told to stand down. You do not hear a single VTOL in the air, now do you?”

One of them whispered. “She's right, I haven't heard any vehicles since we came in here.”

The irate equdroid shot her one last look before backing off into their group.

! INSTABILITY HALTED /// 67%

“Await my signal.”

Sparkle smiled. “So what do you say? Are these… acceptable?”

“We should take them. Make sure we get a car that isn't bugged and flee into the forest.” They hummed their approvals amongst each other. After a minute, the leader nodded. “We’ll take it.”

“Then I shall notify my superiors. If you do not mind, may I check on the hostages?” she asked. “It will make the ponies much more amicable towards your situation if they know they are not hurt.”

“O-Okay! But no funny business!” The others shuffled away from her. “We’ll be watching.”

Theory plausible.

Objective set.

Corral equdroids to the weakened wall.

Sparkle walked to the hostage sitting next to the wall they planned to blast through. She bent over and began examining them. Carefully, she whispered to them, “On my signal, drop to your stomach as fast as you can. Do not get back up until I say so.”

She began periodically moving around the room, looking over ponies to disguise her actions. Each hostage was carefully notified of her plan. The equdroids kept their distance, moving a safe space away to ensure she couldn't suddenly lash out with a deactivation sequence. That option was much more preferable since it would keep them intact. Equdroids frames were not designed to survive a strike from the higher caliber rounds.

Eventually, they made full circle and all four were standing in front of the first hostage she interacted with.

“Extraction team is right outside your door. Your signal, negotiator.”

“Understood. Marking hostiles.”

Four light blue outlines fed through her system as she sent their exact positions.

“I shall return with the items requested.” Sparkle stood up from checking on the last pony. She gave them a warm grin. “Perhaps—FIRE—get down!”

The hostages followed through with Sparkle's orders and immediately slammed themselves to the ground. The wall exploded with debris as four bullets punctured through. Thirium rained in a hazy blue mist.

Four droids fell to the ground.

The door was kicked open and soldiers rushed in. Radio chatter permeated the room. As the dust settled, one last equdroid remained active. He twitched in perceived agony.

With his dying breath, the equdroid looked at Sparkle. “You lied to us… w-why…? Aren't you one of us?” The pained expression he bore… looked so betrayed.

! SOFTWARE INSTABILITY /// >>>

She thought about that for a moment. “I do not negotiate with terrorists.”

Sparkle spun on her hoof and calmly walked past the squad of soldiers. Tempest glared at her as she passed by, weapon gripped tight in her hoof. She looked ready to say something, however, chose to remain mute. The equdroid gave her one last look before trotting out the door.

! MISSION SUCCESSFUL. NO CASUALTIES.

! PRINCESS CELESTIA /// ADORED >>>

Author's Note

Already we can see the consequences of Sparkle's appearance as a certain pony.

I also doodled what the SRGs are supposed to look like. They're basically pony versions of the U.S soldiers seen in-game.

1.2 - FIGHT BACK/UAA

BELLE ESTATE - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 04:22:12

CHAPTER 1.2

FIGHT BACK

Rarity had never felt so terrified in her life.

Sure, she had her scares whenever the brave little trio had done something reckless… but they were foals doing what they did best, play.

This was no foal.

This was a grown pony brandishing a tool of war, one specifically meant to kill. And it was pressed against her skull.

Did she fear for herself? No. She feared for the clueless fillies upstairs, waiting on her to finish cleaning up in the kitchen, unaware of the danger that lurked beneath the story.

She was no combat droid. Not a single ounce of fighting experience ran in her code. She was no BM800 or SQ800. She was a simple UAA400, designed to take care of household chores. She was stronger than the average pony, sure, yet… did that really amount to anything? Could she really disarm her aggressor? Subdue them long enough for help to arrive?

There were so many questions with so many indistinct answers.

But one thing was for certain. So indisputable and intrinsic to her being. Perhaps so deeply driven into her character that it came out the other end as a flaw.

She was a lady, and she was not going to take this one lying down.

Suck in your fear, you've got the crusaders depending on you.

“Very well, sir, what do you want?” There was no reason to play it stupid, though. Sometimes getting straight to the point was a favorable option.

He shrugged. “This place looks pretty fancy. I’m sure you’ve got some valuables lying around. There’s gotta be some bits somewhere.” The stallion rubbed his stubble. “You seem like the pony to carry around a safe. You got one of those?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

This may work.

“Lady, I ain’t the one with a gun to my head, so if you don’t want your thoughts all over that nice-looking carpet, you’re gonna tell me.”

Rarity’s eyes shot to the left. She never enjoyed lying. But it was a necessary evil for the situation on hoof. “It's in the master walk-in closet hidden behind a dresser.”

All I need to do is set the ball rolling.

“Well then, that wasn't so hard, now was it?” He jerked the pistol with his hoof. “Now take me to it.” He paused, with an unamused smile. “One wrong move, however… I won't hesitate. Let's not make me the bad guy now, alright? Don't try anything with that horn of yours either. I'm sure I can pull the trigger faster than you can cast a spell.”

Rarity blankly gave her affirmative. She started to lead the stallion up the stairs, careful to avoid the bedroom of her little sister.

“So you're alone here, huh? I'd thought a mare like yourself would have ponies lining up by your door.”

“I prefer to wait for the perfect stallion. I'm sure he'll come around.”

The stallion grinned. “I wish you in the best of luck in finding him.”

Rarity halted and raised a brow. “Pardon?”

“Just because I'm holding you against your will doesn't mean I can't be a gentlestallion. Society hasn't crumbled.”

The equdroid nodded. “Well then.” She continued to walk.

Rarity dialed the emergency number, sending out a text message alongside it. She still had a disguise to keep, after all. Moving on, she pressed her sister's image on speed dial to ring Sweetie Belle’s phone. A second later, she was in a call with three fillies, one of which was considerably worried.

“Rarity? What's going on? You never call under the same roof unless it’s an emergency!” Sweetie gasped. “Don't tell me—something bad happened!?”

“Something did, dear. Remember when I had you practice an escape route in the inevitability something may happen?”

The filly took a deep, shaky breath. Her voice cracked ever so noticeably. “Do you want us to take it?”

“Please do, but be very quiet. I'll try to buy as much time as I can. I've already got a call out to the police.” Rarity sighed. “Know that I love you. Stay safe for me, okay?”

Sweetie gulped. “O-Okay. But wait, Rarity! I want you to promise that you’ll be okay, too!”

There was always the chance that something could go wrong. Life was unpredictable like that. Rarity never enjoyed lying, yet she needed her sister to believe it completely and find someplace safe to hide. “I promise, Sweetie. Now go, please, and for the love of the stars, do not make even a peep.”

Returning her full attention to her guest, she got a good look at his features. The stallion looked like he had never gotten a decent shower or meal in days. Rarity felt a pang of pity run through her, weak as it may be. She briefly wondered how he had managed to get past the neighborhood security.

If the pony had come up to her door without a loaded weapon and simply begged for a hot meal and some bits, she would've gladly accepted. Something in her demanded that she help others in need, to give what she reasonably could.

Instead, she had been held hostage at gunpoint, life threatened. Synthetic synapses fired at the speed of light as she plotted his downfall. All she needed to do was get to her bedroom.

“For such a nice place, it’s strange you ain't got any droids.”

“My family doesn't need them. We are perfectly capable on our own,” she curtly shot back.

“Heh. D’you know I lost my job cuz’ of those things? It's sad, frankly. Ponies with less specialized cutie marks get replaced because the bots do it better, or cheaper, or faster.” The stallion waved his weapon around in a bored fashion. “So with what I’m doing, no hard feelings or nothing.”

“Oh yes, let me hold a gun to your head and let’s see how quickly that opinion turns around.”

There was a crashing noise at the opposite end of the hall. Her captor forcefully turned her around, tugging on her mane. “What was that? Are we not alone? Got a coltfriend that you didn’t feel like mentioning?”

I hope they're okay.

“That was my cat, you ruffian. She can be quite the feisty feline, so beware,” Rarity chided.

He huffed and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Any other animals you want to let me know about?”

“Opalescence is the only pet I have, you certainly have nothing to fear.”

He released her and gave her a shove to continue walking. “You're making this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“You started it when you held that to my head,” she jabbed. Placing her hoof against the door, she pushed it open carefully and stepped inside. She kept the door slightly ajar. The lights inside were like a delayed sunrise, casting away the darkness as they gradually increased in luminescence. “We’re here.”

He whistled. “What do you do for a-livin', lady? You an artist or something?” He dragged her along to the bed. “I’d only see this kind of stuff in picture books.”

“Are we here to tour my home or are you trying to rob me?”

He gave one last sweep before he turned his full attention back to her. As she spotted the familiar wooden surface, she couldn't help but smile. The air had been thick with tension, but now she could be rid of it.

They arrived at the only manual hinged door in the house.

Unlocking the handle with her array, she moved inside and quickly sidestepped. She slammed the door right on her captor. He squealed in shock, the force of the impact enough to tear his grip on the weapon away. She snatched it with her aura, only to send it further away as she was tackled. They crashed into a heap on the floor, “Damn it, mare! Just had to go and pull that shit, huh?”

The equdroid struggled under his weight.

She parried a hoof that was meant for her face and onto the hardwood. Despite that, Rarity couldn't stop the other punch coming her way, the strange feeling of pain diffusing across her skull. The fleeting moment of astonishment was all he needed to continue his assault. Another follow-up, coupled with a strong slap. Senses coming back to her, she retaliated with an awkwardly swung right hook that still managed to connect. Her assailant grunted as he stumbled into a cabinet.

Rarity scrambled for the weapon, anything to get him to stand down and end the confrontation with her in favor. Scooping it up with her array, she pointed it to where she last saw him.

She sputtered as clothing slapped her in the face. The pistol clattered to the floor in front of the pony. He exhaled loudly and picked it back up. “It really sucks to know that I'm going to have to hurt you now. I tried playing nice.” He slowly approached. He pulled the slide back and cocked the pistol.

“I tried being nice. Having said that, it seems mercy is off the table,” Rarity said, throwing the article off. “Opal, go ahead.”

A blur of white darted from the door.

A writhing ball of fury and fur latched itself onto the pony, hissing in anger. The stallion screamed as he attempted to pry the cat off of his face. He stumbled around, screaming curses as synthetic cat claws dug in the flesh. Ornaments and family photos fell from the top of tables and furniture as the cat guided him around the room, intent on causing as much bodily harm as possible.

Rarity gave a haughty smirk. She grabbed a cabinet drawer and emptied the contents on the floor. Holding it exactly like one would hold a baseball bat, she swirled it behind her to test the weight.

This will do just fine.

She sent the command for Opalescence to hop off and stop her assault. The cat gave a final scratch before leaping away. The stallion was breathing heavily, eyes wide. As his vision focused itself again, he caught Rarity swinging for a home run. "Never mess with a lady."

The wood splintered as it smacked into his lower jaw and violently jerked his head backward. He slumped to the ground, bruised and unconscious.

Rarity sighed, shoulders sagging. All she had to do now was wait for the police. In the meantime, she could go and tie him up and check on the crusaders.

“Wow. Your sister just keeps getting cooler and cooler.”

“Scoots!” Applebloom shout-whispered.

Perhaps she didn't have to go looking for them. She spun around to see three fillies scrambling to hide.

1.3 - (A)LIVE/PBM

EQUDROID DUMPING FACILITY 02 - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 13TH, 1438

TIME

PM 09:40:55

CHAPTER 1.3

(A)LIVE

“Soul-buddies, huh?” Rainbow asked as the rain drenched their coats. The fringes of her sight no longer buzzed and shook. Whatever Derpy did to fix her worked excellently. “What does that mean?”

“Oh! Okay. So cuz’ since you swapped out part of your core—your heart—for mine, and then I swapped out some of mine for yours, we've effectively shared important parts, right?”

“Sounds about right…”

She clapped her hooves together, smiling. “So because the heart is where your soul resides, we shared parts of our souls!”

Her bubbly attitude and the general aura she exerted was infectious, and Rainbow soon having joined her grin. As equdroids, did they really have souls? It was easy to convince herself she was alive. But a soul? Was that something Derpy had come to herself? She briefly glanced at the pegasus, who was still rattling on about the “soul-sharing”. Rainbow had already gotten what she had been trying to get at during her first explanation, but she didn't have the heart to tell her to stop. She looked so… happy, just talking.

“...and-and that's why we'll stick with each other through thick and thin!” Derpy proudly concluded. “You'll do that, won't you?”

Rainbow smirked. “Course I will. You saved me and I saved you. We’ll stick together till’ the end.”

“Yay!” The pegasus glomped Rainbow in a tight hug.

“I’m all for physical affection, Derpy, but we really should do this later. I’m still partially broken and we’re both in a dumping facility. Not ideal… in any situation, actually.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Derpy jumped off of Rainbow and nodded. “So where to?”

“I would like to find another eye. Though at the moment I’d rather have this glitchy mess in my feed than no depth-perception. We can't go too far if all I'm doing is tripping on myself, right?” She twitched her only wing. “I’m also flight-incapable.” She looked to the intact wings resting on the back of her friend. “Can you fly?”

Derpy bit her lip and made a guilty face. “I… I don’t want to talk about that.”

The prismatic pony gave a confused expression. “I see. Well, I think the only thing we can do now is find a way out that doesn’t involve flying.”

She gave her affirmative through a salute. They trudged in the mud, slogging through the slop of the earth mixed with various chemicals. Walls of bodies chose their path for them, forcing them to find detours or scale them. They passed by countless incompatible parts, taunting and adding to the equdroid’s frustration.

They eventually ran into the large stone barrier topped with concertina wire, signaling that they had reached one of the directional ends of the facility. Floodlights pointed down, illuminating long shadows into life. The mangled bodies certainly made interesting shapes.

“That’s way too high for either of us to scale. Are you sure you can't fly?”

“...”

“Then we need to search for a different exit.”

Rainbow scanned their surroundings. Finding another gap amongst the piles, she gestured to start following again. The pegasus longingly gazed out into the darkened sky.

How she so badly wanted to spread her wings and let the gentle caress of the winds catch her feathers. The warm updrafts sending her higher than ever before. The flight was her rapture, her escape from the gloom of everything. If she had a functioning set right now, it would be so easy to just leave.

But she didn't.

“So how did you fix me? I thought I was done for,” Rainbow asked, breaking the relative quiet between them. “I couldn't find anything to make a patch.”

“I used some of my parts and the things I found next to you,” Derpy replied. She shook her head as her friend approached. “I'm fine. It's just minor leaking.”

“If you say so.”

It was strange to think about, how willing this random mare was to risk her life for another random mare. Rainbow couldn't even wrap her head around taking vital parts of herself to give unless she planned on permanent deactivation. Yet here she was with a pony who didn't even blink twice.

Derpy yelped as the ground beneath her gave way, and she fell down in a landslide of parts. She hissed and hopped on a stable platform, surfing down the slope. Joining her friend, she clambered off and pulled the pegasi’s head above the muck.

She was quickly given thanks as she hoisted the rest of the equdroid out.

They were standing in a clearing, an open space where barely any bodies had been laid to rest. Standing out against the brown and muted colors was another equdroid. It stood still as a statue, but the hum of identifier ring gave away that the pony was still active, simply lying in a dormant state. The deep blue shone beautifully, glimmering as they made their way through.

! BiooOOOOCOmmmMPONENT SCAaaN: COMPAtttTIBLE OCccuUuULAR UNniIT

Derpy tapped the droid on the shoulder.

There was a click and whir, eyelids shuttering open. It turned to face them. Now they could see the other half of its face. The cranium shield had been partially caved in. Orange irises bore into the pair. It shambled forward, speaking in mumbles. “Find… f-find… them… the clues… the clues will take you there… free… free…!”

The gray pegasus, being much closer to the pony, fell flat on her plot and immediately backpedaled. “Rainbow, it’s a zooooombie!”

It growled in a distorted voice. “No, no! COME! COME BE FREE!” It waved a hoof, attempting to grab Derpy. “Y-You must finish… finish! FREE!”

Rainbow picked up her terrified friend. “Alright, that’s enough of that. I’m turning your creepy-plot off.” She pressed a hoof on the external access hatch. However, not before the equdroid latched itself on her fetlock. It began forcefully feeding data straight into the unprepared pegasus.

Masses of unorganized data wrought havoc on her already strained drives. Words and encrypted information flooded into her head. A single recurring image stood out among the rest. A symbol, a crescent moon with three lines spearing the celestial body. “Be free,” a voice said. After a while, the flow stopped, and Rainbow jumped back, breathing heavily. Another data pack surfaced to her head, showing directions to a building, inside was stashed with a litany of spare parts and blue blood.

So many parts... and... and wings!

The equdroid holding her had locked up, systems shutting down for the last time. Derpy rushed over, catching her as she almost toppled over. “A-Are you okay!? I tried stopping it, but then you started getting scary and freaking out… I… I backed off!”

“No… gah,” Rainbow hissed. “That thing fed directions to me… to a place. It also showed me another… where we can go for spare parts.” She stared at the still equdroid. “I think it wanted us to deliver them. Finish the delivery.”

“Finish the delivery?” She looked around the cavernous space they occupied. “But we’re trapped in here.”

“We can figure that out later. Help me extract the eye.” She motioned for Derpy to hold the other side of the equdroid up. Hooking her hoof in the small divide between the eye itself and the face, she popped it out. Catching the edge in her teeth, she laid down stomach first and placed it in the frog of her hoof. “Okay. Gently extract it, please.”

Her companion nodded and followed the same process. Suddenly half of the world vanished as the eye was disconnected.

That's disorienting.

She took an inhale and inserted the eye. Recoiling from the insertion, she flailed out. The system projected a grid and related the input to her computer, optimizing the camera as it analyzed and adapted. Moments later, the world was back to normal. She let a smirk of relief grace her features. “Feeling at least twenty-percent better.”

“Heterochromia is pretty cool, too!” Derpy cheered.

“Hetero…? Right. Iris colors are different.” She patted the eyelid and blinked to get used to the feel. “We should be good to go.”

“Where? We came in from the top, but that slope is too slippery to grip.” She slowly began pacing, tapping a hoof on her head.

She's right. Where can we go?

Rainbow surveyed the area. Why had the equdroid chosen to stand in the middle of the of everything? Had it been waiting all this time? Why not simply go off to the side and wait? And why this spot in particular? There had to be a reason for that.

Why was this clearing like this…?

The undisturbed bodies—the ones that hadn’t been moved by their entrance—all pointed in a single direction, south. That led to a small pile of equdroids. Suspicious, Rainbow hopped over to it. She started shoving the pile aside. It was muddy, but she could start to make out one of the facility walls. There was no denying the shape and texture.

One thing was different about this… she could hear the faint echoes of rushing water. With vigor, she started heaving and tossing them like ragdolls.

I hope this is what I think it is.

The last droid moved out of the way, she found herself staring at a sewage grate. ”Hey, Derpy!”

“Yeah?” she replied, still trying to think of something.

“I found our way out," she giggled. "Looks like we should finish that delivery, huh?”

2.0 - DIGGING

[UNKNOWN] - UNKNOWN

DATE

ERR ??TH, ????

TIME

?? ??:??:??

CHAPTER 2.0

DIGGING

They were back here again.

The stranger was still there, interestingly enough. So that did mean they were here for something, or else they would’ve left already. But what? What were they here for? She wished she knew.

She blinked and frowned.

There was buzzing in the back of her head; an unscratchable itch that appeared whenever she was obviously missing something. She never thought it could come back.

So that couldn’t be right.

It couldn’t possibly be right.

Yet it was there, being annoying, loud, and bright. Pinkie wished that it would specifically tell her specifically what she had been missing. All her others sensors were terse and offered succinct instructions to what was happening, mostly because they were synced with a single, specific outcome. Which in itself was strange, since none of those predetermined outcomes could come true in her current environment.

Out of all of them, this was the only outcome that had broad activation criteria. Once it was on, it simply buzzed in the inferior-occipital region of her skull. It would then proceed to intensify the further she got away from what she was blindly looking over. If she were to home in on the subject in question, it would lower itself to a lull. It was a game of hot or cold, except it was replacing the temperatures with a fly in her head.

So what was she missing that would warrant its activation?

What was so glaringly obvious that this sensor would bother her so?

“This is un-fun. Super-duper uncool,” she murmured to herself, crossing her legs above her chest. “There’s nothing I should be missing! There’s nothing here to miss!”

Well, all except the stranger.

“There’s nothing strange about them… they’re a mystery wrapped in an enigma and covered by a conundrum… a… a mysmadrum..!” But as she looked at you, the buzzing subsided just for a moment, before it rumbled back full-force. “That… that just… what?”

She was in disbelief. She had possibly just closed in on the thing bothering her so. But that simply wasn't possible. It didn't compute. Somehow, somewhere, she had missed something obvious about you. A piece so clear yet so obscure to her that it was enough to trigger the one response she rarely got a use of. However, this conflicted with what she knew. A mystery was a mystery because it was confusing and difficult. Unless the difficulty lied in its simplicity…

They were currently in downtime and the buzzing wouldn’t stop until she settled this, so there was nothing to lose, really. So she began with a quick scan of the many other senses. Which sadly turned up nothing as the buzzing remained the same, constantly droning at the same steady hum. Okie-Dokie. So it’s not anything that can be gleaned straightaway from that… which makes sense considering that I never picked up anything. Unless something changed drastically in the time I first discovered them…

She sighed. Was it too much to ask why it was even on?

The only other option she had left now was to observe the connection. Attempting to bring up a digital image of the stranger only got her distorted images of… some creature. Sometimes it would look like a recognizable species, only to turn into a crude approximation of another. This also played havoc on the biosensor, which didn’t even match up with what the display was presenting. Any other data trying to come through was garbled as well!

There was nothing for her left to check, yet the buzzing remained adamant as ever. What was she supposed to do now? Check if the internet connection was bad!?

Wait.

If Pinkie recalled, did she ever bother to do just that? She did… except she had only glanced over it.

It can’t be that simple… don’t tell me it was that simple… The noise suddenly got a lot quieter.

That only urged her to move with renewed vigor. Everything began falling into place. She had missed something. In her haste, she had missed something. In her excitement and her sorrow, she missed something. She opened up the menus.

Each and everything that connected to her location could be found in her central hub. Connecting to her location on this scale required an almost direct uplink. So it should be… right there…!

Her mouth fell open. The ID for the connection was mangled beyond disbelief, the text flowing out of the box and spilling into the sides as a glitched mess. Addresses and ports kept switching numbers as they attempted to keep up with the flow and understand the (corrupted?) data. Several programs were working overtime to keep everything in check.

But that wasn’t the thing that shocked her to the core.

It was the fact that there something trying to come through. She pressed her face to the window, eye staring at the packets. A flow of data that would never register with her system mainly because it simply wasn’t compatible with her software and hardware. All this time she had spent sulking and wallowing in defeat thinking she was being ignored out of spite… or worse… when in reality…

The stranger had been attempting communication all this time. At least, they weren’t intentionally blocking anything.

Her mouth moved but no sound came out. Pinkie’s eyes flicked to the ground.

She was the one who was being ignorant.

She was the one who was so blind.

Pinkie turned to face you once more. “Y-You didn’t really hate me now… did you? You didn’t even have a choice in saying anything… and I just started assuming things…” she said, lip quivering. “All this time…”

Author's Note

pAI chapters are going to get shorter from here on out.

2.1 - HAUNTING/SPIKE

LT. SPIKE’S LOFT - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

AM 05:29:06

CHAPTER 2.1

HAUNTING

The alarm clocked squawked, pecking at Spike’s forehead. It continued to do so until he raised a hand to block it. “Alright, alright, Peewee, I’m up.” He scratched the fluff on the phoenix’s neck. “You can stop now, ya’ greedy bird.”

Peewee chirped defiantly and perched himself on top of Spike’s upper spine. The drake chuckled and rolled his shoulders. He pushed the covers away and sluggishly swung his legs over the bed. He spotted the picture sitting on his nightstand, glimmering in the early morning light. “Morning, Mom. The day’s looking great, yeah?”

He didn’t expect to get an answer from the static photo, that would be the height of insanity. But in the wisps of his mind, he could still fondly remember her dorky laugh, her objective, no-nonsense tone, and her voice—the calm, gentle, motherly voice that read him bedtime stories. Spike had gotten used to waking up without the unicorn for quite some time now. The first few years had been the hardest, sure, but he remained strong, just like how he had been raised. That didn’t mean he couldn’t hold onto the hope that she would come back and nudge him awake like she used to.

Those years had been rough on everypony associated with her.

Relationships had been torn or strained, blames had been thrown around, and many mourned the loss.

Although none had been hit harder than a certain dragon hatchling.

The phoenix squawked in anger and pecked the ridge of his nose. Spike chuckled and waved him off. “Come on, Peewee. Not everypony can wake up at the crack of dawn feeling refreshed as you do."

That response got him to puff out his chest in pride.

“It wasn’t a compliment, but let it feed your ego, I guess.”

Spike bent over and stretched, working out the kinks that appeared from his night of rest. The phoenix remained clamped to the spine as if his life depended on it. He sighed in relief as he popped the bones in his spine. “Okay. Now we can get started on breakfast.”

He jogged out of the bedroom and slid along the guardrail to the bottom floor. His paws made contact and he skidded along the rug. Spike continued to the kitchen, stopping at his cupboard. The bag of seeds he kept in stock was starting to run pretty low…

He grabbed them and poured some into a heat-resistant bowl. To which he proceeded to gently blow a flame on. After he started to smell the crispy aroma they gave off, the drake placed them on the dining table for his friend to eat. “Here you go. Morning Song birdseed, roasted for your pleasure.”

The bird cawed in approval, digging into his meal with multiple pecks.

“Now let's see what I can eat…” he mumbled, walking to the fridge. He swung it open. “Hard cider, hard cider… barbecue sauce… condiments… half a tomato… wow, alright. Looks like I need to go grocery shopping.” He turned to face the pantry. Maybe I have something in there?

Closing the fridge, he pushed the pantry door open. Inside was the nearly depleted bag of seeds, some chip bags… and cereal! He reached out to grab it but winced as he remembered and brought his hand back. No milk.

“Hey, Peewee, I'm going to go get ready! I'll have to buy some fast food for myself.”

He received a chirp in response.

“I'll take that as an okay.” He closed the fridge and stood back up. “Should I go to Hayburger or DJ?”

Peewee stopped eating and pondered the choices. He squawked twice and gave a low warble.

“Hayburger it is! Do you want me to pick up anything for you when I come back?”

There was only pecking, the phoenix seemingly having ignored his question.

“Mhm. Don't come cawing at me when I bring you nothing but your seeds,” Spike chided, climbing back up the staircase. The bird persisted in the consumption of his meal. “Suit yourself.”

He jogged back into the room and threw his sleeping clothes off. Spike eyed the digital alarm clock and stopped. He had time for it…

He crawled onto the bed and sat crisscrossed.

“So, Mom, hi again. I’ve got extra time to talk… again.” He clicked his tongue. “What to talk about… Oh! Aunt Cadence has been talking about coming to visit me. She says that it's been quite hectic ever since she was appointed the governor of the Crystal region. She keeps telling me the job is killing her, but we all know she loves it,” he chuckled. A brief moment and it was back to silence and wearing a frown. Spike bent over and reached for a pamphlet, idly leafing through the contents. “She’s been going on about taking me to Zebrica later this month since her vacation is coming up. She says it's quite beautiful this time of year.”

He looked to his feet. “Uncle Shiny wishes he could drop by and say hello… however… stuff with the equdroids has got him all tied up.” Spike but his lip and shut his eyes. “Do… do you hate them for what they did, Mom?” No reply. None was to be anticipated. He answered for himself. “Of course you wouldn't. You never could. I wish I was like you... Always so optimistic, always so good at seeing the good in others. How do you do it, Mom?”

The dragon fell back onto his bed. “My psychologist keeps telling me it's bad to keep talking to you like you're still there…” He breathed a small plume of fire, which harmlessly dissipated into the air. “I know you’re not. It's just… not the same simply talking to anypony else. I wish… I wish you were still here.” Spike laid there, content with listening to the low hum of the air conditioning block. He cracked his right eye open as the sound of wingbeats became apparent, and a fiery feathered tail blocked half of his vision. “Done eating, Peewee?”

The phoenix nudged the side of his face and cooed. He tilted his head as if to ask, “are you okay?”

“I want to say yes, but that's lying,” Spike responded. He rubbed his eyelids and groaned. “Thanks for listening, Mom. I gotta go to work now… I know you'd hate it if I was late because I spent too long talking to you.”

In less than fifteen minutes, the drake had freshened up, gotten his uniform on, and grabbed everything he would need for his daily activity. Back on the bottom floor of the loft as he adjusted the strap on his jacket, he could hear the sounds of a movie being played. Curiously, he craned his neck to see what was being watched.

The screen exploded into color as the Power Ponies rolled on the scene, attempting to stop a hijacked military cruiser. Waves of nostalgia hit the drake like a freight train. A particular memory surfaced, one of a birthday where an uncle bought him a box full of comic books, and their subsequent chewing out.

“There’s… there’s so many of them! Uncle Shining, th-thank you!” the drake exclaimed, claws trembling over the box.

She wore a look of disbelief. “BBBFF! You did not just get Spike a whole box of those things!”

The stallion chuckled as if he had been caught red-hoofed. “W-What? He likes to read them, and I always see how longingly he stares at the comics on display. Besides, it's reading, right?”

“They are not real books, Shiny! Majority of the content in there are pictures! There’s a reason I don't buy any for Spike!” she fumed. “And you know my policy on these…! I made sure everyone in the family knew my stance regarding comics.”

“Ah, yes. The infamous tri-fold poster board,” Celestia interjected. “Captain Shining here likes to regale that tale to new recruits. Did you know he threatens them with bringing you in for a lecture if they’re slacking off? I heard it improves their motivation.”

“You do what?”

“Hey, would you look at the time,” Shining whistled. “Cady’s probably expecting me back already.” He started to slowly back up, fake smile drawn on his face. He yelped as a purple barrier slammed around him.

“You are not going anywhere until we have a thorough talking! And you!” She pointed a hoof to the hatchling attempting to drag the birthday gift away. “Have you been reading comics behind my back?”

He gulped. “Uhm… noooo?” Spike sagged back as he was scooped up in a magic field.

“Uh-huh. I'm going to have a word with both of you.”

Celestia smiled. “If you shall be doing that, I’ll be taking the liberty of sampling the refreshments.”

Shining cried. “Noooo! She's going to eat all the sliders!”

“There are sliders!?” she squealed. The awkward look she received from the unicorns, however, caused her to cough. “Er, I mean, I… I shall just go.”

Spike chuckled as the recollection ended and found himself back to staring at Mistress Marevelous lassoing a lackey. He ruffled the top of bird's head, who let out an indignant squawk in response to the gesture. “I’ll be back at night, Peewee. Try not to watch too much TV now, alright?” he said as he walked to the entrance and grabbed the helmet off the table.

The phoenix shrugged and waved as Spike shut the door behind him.

“Sometimes I worry for him,” he whispered, taking out his phone. He brought up maps and began navigating the app. “The nearest Hayburger joint is right there…”

He jogged down the hallway and to the elevators. It seemed nopony else was on them, interestingly enough, and he got to his destination relatively fast. Pushing the kickstand off of his bike, it roared out of the garage.

Traffic in this part of town wouldn't pick up until an hour later, so there was no need to rush to get his food. He had been left with mostly office work anyways, so nothing too pressing for him to worry about. Although Woods had been talking about getting him on some case. He hummed to himself as the motorcycle rumbled down the street. He crossed an intersection into a busier part of town. Some pedestrians trotted along the sidewalks. It was mostly the early birds and the ones trying to get some morning exercise done.

The light flicked to yellow, then to red. He pressed the brakes and slowed behind the vehicle in front of him.

He was probably one of the few, aside from the emergency response, to own and use a personal non-autonomous transport. A motorcycle, no less. Most of them had been phased out due to their inherent user danger years ago. Mom would’ve screamed at him for using one of these. He smiled at the thought as he adjusted the rear-view mirror. Despite all of that, he couldn’t deny the freedom of riding of his own will. Feeling the exhilaration and rush of the bike. Deep down, he loved it. It wasn't the same riding in a car.

His love for the mode of transport didn’t mean he was careless.

He did trust his skills—like any prideful pony would—although it never hurt to be prepared. Mom had gone over the problems motorcycles faced, helpful in the regards of listing each and every one of them out. So he sought to magically remedy those that he could. Impact wards and enchantments, shielding runes, bubble charms, all ready in the case of a possible accident.

Down the street was his destination.

He blinked and began slowing down for the turn into the lot. Spike was surprised at how quickly he arrived at the fast food joint. He anticipated a delay from perhaps roadwork or other cars… but that didn’t seem to be the case today. It seemed that morning was chalking up to be something memorable.

Wheeling his bike to a parking space, he walked inside. It was moderately packed. The lines didn’t look all that absurd today.

It was fast enough that he found himself already in the waiting area.

He spotted a familiar looking uniform beside him and a bored looking stallion. A wry grin graced his features. He cleared his throat and attempted his best impression of his uncle. “Are you vegetating, cadet!? Maybe you do want me to bring in my sister!”

The pony gave a bewildered look and straightened his posture. He threw his hoof up to his temple in a well-practiced salute. “Sir, no, sir!”

Spike snorted, holding back a round of laughter. He hadn’t expected that to go so well. “Relax. I’m just ribbing you.”

The dark green stallion slowly lowered his salute. “You do a pretty good impression of the Captain. Never heard of a dragon serving in the SRG before. Well, never seen you before in Canterlot, at least.”

“I’m his nephew, actually. That's how I know him.” He received a raised brow. “Well, not by blood of course.” He raised his arm for a hoofshake. “Spike.”

“Wind Shear,” he replied, returning the gesture. “Dragon nephew, huh? Call me skeptical.”

“Wouldn’t expect you to believe me right away,” Spike said. “I was adopted by his sister thirty years ago. The same sister he threatens everypony with.”

“Shit, really? Are the stories of the lectures true?”

Now it was the drake’s turn to look surprised. “Wait, he wasn't kidding? He actually threatens ponies with my mother?” He got a nod. “The shorter ones are okay. But when you get her really going… oho. You best buckle in, they can get pretty tedious. The mare could drone on and on about a single topic before moving to the next one. Mom loved to also put in spells that kept you awake, too.”

He saw the pony visibly shudder. “Damn. Here I thought my parents terrified me.”

Spike pulled out his phone to check a notification. “So what brings you here to Detrot? I don't think you guys are normally stationed here.”

Shear shrugged. “On leave. Came here to visit family. Didn't have much to wear besides this, so I just rolled with it.” Their conversation tapered off at that point, the usual fare of a fast food joint coming back from the background. As he shifted to pull his phone out, the pegasi’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Did you hear about the hostage situation in Canterlot last night?”

He blanched. “Hostage situation? W-Well, no. I haven’t.”

“Four equdroids took a bunch of nobleponies hostage at a party. It’s been resolved now, but a buddy of mine who was there said it was pretty tense.”

Spike just nodded. Tapping to the news app, he went to the tab for national news. He found what he was searching for at the top of the list. Reluctantly, he pressed it. The overhead view caught glimpses of the ponies being moved into the VIP booth. The reporter was talking about the events prior, and how ViTAS was sending somepony to negotiate.

Then he saw it, or to be specific, her.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes. The pony had vanished, like a ghost. I’m probably just seeing things. Another minute into the recorded broadcast, he saw it again. He repeated his earlier action, watching them disappear as he cut off his vision. I think I may want to talk to my psychologist sooner than we planned.

“185! Your order is ready!”

Spike jerked his head up and checked the receipt. He turned to Shear. “That’s me. It was nice talking with you.”

“Heh. Same. Always nice to learn things about your boss… although I never expected to learn it in a fast food joint,” he replied.

The dragon smiled and gave him a wave as he exited the establishment with his breakfast. That smile, however, quickly soured and turned into a frown as he drifted back to the news post. Why was he seeing her there? Was he hallucinating?

He nibbled on the hashbrown. Was it because of the equdroids?

He wished he knew.

DETROT POLICE CENTRAL STATION - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 3:43:37

Spike straightened the stack of papers by tapping it on the desk, then quickly filed them away into a cabinet. That was probably the last set he would have to put away. He sighed and cracked his knuckles, silently reminding himself that he wouldn’t have to do this if that policy wasn’t in place. Which was there to make sure they couldn’t accidentally lose anything due to a technological mishap. It had been enacted by the current police chief.

The chief was an older pony, who firmly believed that while technology was a nice thing to have, it was an even nicer thing to have physical hard copies. That translated into a larger workload for all them.

Though nopony complained.

Chief Foresight was renowned for her… foresight. She could often be eccentric at times whenever she came up with her ideas, with some of them being downright strange and questionable. However, when they seemed to have a problem, her weird plans or contingencies came to the rescue.

So nopony complained since they seemed to save them so much stress later on. Spike would still silently bitch, however.

“Hey, Spike!” a stallion called from his left. “The captain wants to see you in his office!”

He stopped what he was doing. What does Woods want with me? “I’ll be there shortly! Thanks, Shell.”

“No prob.”

He gently pushed in his chair and weaved around the desks to the staircase. The captain’s room had been situated overlooking the entire office section of the station, with a hanging walkway in the front. He skipped steps as he practically bounded up the flight.

It wasn’t long before he found himself entering the personal office. “Sherwoods? You asked for me?”

“Ah, Spike. So you haven’t really been doing much lately, and that’s a waste of yer’ talents! A recent opportunity for ya’ came up,” he said, closing the browser on his desktop. “We’ve been shorthoofed with our other cases and this was perfect!”

Spike tilted his head and sat down. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve had some problems with some equdroids cropping up lately—”

“Woods, with all due respect, I don’t believe I’m the best dragon for that. I may be emotionally compro—”

“Nonsense! You’re one of the best officers on the force, Spike, and I know you. Y'all do just fine. Besides, you won’t be doing this alone,” Woods said, smiling.

“You’re going to give me a partner?” Spike looked surprised.

The stallion’s face scrunched up. “Weeell… not me, specifically.” He grabbed a dossier and placed it in front of the drake. The sharp letters “P-UTS001” and a famous equdroid company logo was printed on it. “ViTAS recently came out with this prototype for a police detective and they needed to test it. So happens we were chosen to participate and so happens you were available.” He leaned in. “If you ask me, I think they’re sending this one out to clean up those ‘malfunctions’ we’re being swamped with. Save face, all that big company stuff.”

“Sir. I cannot in good conscience work with an equdroid. You know my stance on those things.”

“At least give the tin can a chance, Spike,” Woods urged. He pressed a buzzer. “P-UTS001, you can come in.”

“Woods. Seriously,” Spike insisted. “You can’t expect me to work with an equdroid without any problems. Here, I can name one right off the bat. It’s an equdroid. I thought I told you—”

The door opened and the sound of hooves against wood alerted them to the arrival of the prototype. “I apologize for not arriving right away. I was looking around to acclimate with my surroundings since I shall be working here for an undefined amount of time,” an all-too-familiar voice said, sending chills down the dragon’s spine. He slowly turned around to face something that haunted him for years. “Ah. You must be Lieutenant Spike. I am P-UTS001, nickname designation: Sparkle. I am to be your partner for the upcoming investigations, correct?”

Spike, however, couldn’t get a single word out. Thoughts rushed through his head but none could formulate words. He was in too much shock. Too confused to think properly. Despite the chaotic state his mind was in, each thought had something similar.

It all centered around an important pony from his hatchling days.

After an awkward three minutes of silence between the two parties (and a fidgeting police captain), the haze filling his thoughts lifted, and he could think. His training also kicked in. However, he only settled on thinking about one thing.

His deceased mother was standing right in front of him. “M-Mom?”

2.2 - UNRAVEL/UAA

BELLE ESTATE - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 04:31:40

CHAPTER 2.2

UNRAVEL

“Girls! What are you doing here!? Didn’t I say to lead them out the back entrance, Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity admonished, lifting their hiding spots away. They tried to scramble away, only to get scooped up by the equdroid’s array.

“Aw, that’s just cheatin’.”

Rarity clicked her tongue. “Do you know how much danger you all could’ve been in? What if he used you three against me? What if my plan didn’t work and I was the one knocked unconscious? I am not invincible. Today may as very well have been my last.” Her gaze softened. “I’m just trying to look out for all of you, darlings. Your parents have put a lot of trust in me and I don’t want to abuse that.”

The three fillies looked down in shame. “We’re sorry, Rarity!”

Sweetie looked the most distraught out of all of them. “And I’m super sorry, Rarity! I got worried, and my friends convinced me to go back, a-and you scared me with your warning, and, and—!” She sniffled. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay…”

The equdroid gently let her down right next to her and gave her a tight squeeze on the hoof. “Oh, Sweetie Belle… it’s perfectly fine for you to want to look out for me, believe me, I understand. I fret for you every day you go to school or simply leave the house. However, you should all know better.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I suppose all I can do is hope you heed my warnings.”

“What I did today was incredibly foalish and very, very risky. Anything could’ve gone wrong.” She let go of her sister. “What I’m trying to say to you three is to never do what I did unless you know for certain there is no other option. It is… hypocritical, that I am aware of… to be preaching about this since I myself am… guilty of doing it, but for the sake of your friends and family… do not follow in my hoofsteps. It may look ‘cool’ or ‘awesome’, but I assure you, it was anything but.” She rolled her shoulders. “There is a reason why we have ponies who protect us. It is their job.”

Scootaloo raised a hoof. “But Miss Rarity! What if the policeponies can’t get to us in time? What are we supposed to do?”

A genuine question. “Well… you’re all still quite young for it, but it would never hurt to get some self-defense training in. A lady must always know how to defend herself, after all!” Except I’m lying and haven’t even taken a single course… and I still call myself a lady after all these lies. Hmph.

“Oh, I could ask Applejack about that! She’s always hawkin’ on me ‘bout it ‘cuz she says something about our family bein’ important,” she said, with a frustrated look on her face. “I, ah, can’t remember what she was sayin’ but it was important!”

Rarity let all of them back down onto the floor. “Look, girls, I suppose since everything worked out in the end, I won’t press. But please, for my sake, don’t ever do something like that again.” She glanced at the kitchen entrance, a decadent air of baked goods wafting up. “Your snacks should be done. I trust you all know how to take it out safely?”

Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded vigorously, clearly excited to get started on consuming Rarity’s cooking. Together, they raced off for the food that awaited below, bumping at each other in good fun. Soon enough, the only ones left in the room now were Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and the unconscious stallion.

“Did you need something, Sweetie Belle? I need to secure him just in case, along with freshening up before the police arrive to take him away.” She started rifling through the cabinets and the drawers in the search for a belt or fabric strong enough to hold a fully-grown pony down. “You can go ahead and join your friends, I’m not going to ground you or anything, though I probably should just to get that—”

“I just wanted to apologize again… before I went back down,” she murmured. “I felt really terrified for you when I saw the stallion holding the gun to your head… I didn't want to lose you… you're the only sister I've ever had and ever known.”

“And you're the only sister I've ever had. Believe me, I… share the same feelings.” She managed to find two belts of reasonable length. “So let's not dwell on this, go and join your friends, enjoy every moment.” As you could lose them at any moment. Perhaps I've gained something from this experience. And reaffirmed my fear of death.

“O-Okay. I'll see you later, sis.” As she turned around to leave the room, she noticed the gash that had been on her older sister’s side. “R-Rarity! You're bleeding!” She pointed to her right shoulder.

I am? She touched the spot and felt the slick sensation of fluid. “O-Oh my, I am!” Our tussle must've breached the covering layer and punctured a blood packet… “W-Well, this isn't something new to me. I'll simply patch it up with a bit of gauze!”

“I-I can help… if you want, that is…”

“Ah, I can accomplish this on my own, I insist. Please, just go join your friends before they’ve consumed everything.” She quickly flicked her vision to the kitchen camera. “It sounds like they're almost done~”

The filly had an obvious look of conflict warring on her face. It was clear to her that she wanted to help her sister, especially to make up for the guilt of disobedience… but her sister’s cooking was an irresistible temptation. It was certainly leagues better than her own and she bet her sister could seriously run her own restaurant if she so wished! Eventually, with heavy hooves, she left to join her friends.

Rarity sighed in relief as she began securing the belts to the fore and rear legs of her once-assailant. Content with her work, she left him with a cloth gag in the case he would attempt to chew through belts.

All she had to do now was head into her bathroom and fix her little leaking problem. She could most likely just remove the plating on her shoulder and utilize the mender on the damaged layer, considering it was mostly superficial. The blood packet itself probably hadn’t lost all too much of its contents… so with a bit of sealant applied, it would become reusable. She just had to make sure to avoid getting hit in that spot before the mend could settle.

She pressed a hoof into a hidden panel. A hidden door with a near seamless divide hissed open and revealed a simple workshop and washroom. A muffled clatter of falling objects originated from inside, causing Rarity to rush in to snatch it before it hit the ground. A small box hovered inches above the floor, wrapped in a magical glow.

The equdroid slowly rotated her head to see where it had come from. The shelf on the right looked to be the culprit, as several of the items on it had been knocked over. She wondered why it had fallen down in the first place as she reorganized and stacked them back together. Pleased, she turned her attention to why she came here in the first place.

Plucking a maintenance tool from a drawer, she held it close to her shoulder, business end first. It hummed as it sluggishly unlocked several anchors adhering it to her frame. With all of them disabled, all she needed to do now was detach the plate. Pressing the tool into a glowing blue notch, she tugged.

It jerked a tad bit but remained firmly in place. “It appears I need to apply some more force. Strange… usually, it shouldn't be all that much.”

Another pull, another fail. Huffing in annoyance, she laid her forehoof on the side of the wall for support. It looked like she had to do it this way. Upping the power input for her array, she began—

“Rarity, we don't have any more of the spicy sauce!” A white unicorn filly called out from the door.

The mare screamed from the sudden outburst. Her reflex reaction flooded the array with even more power. Already having been ready to pull, her action defaulted to lobbing whatever was in her grasp away from herself.

Unfortunately, said object happened to be a maintenance tool in the process of detaching equdroid frame plating. The violent removal of the covering tore into the soft plastic membrane of the leaking blood packet. Microhooks invisible to the naked eye ruptured several key points on the bag. With the intense speed and momentum from both her body lurching forward and the uppermost portion of the bag, the packet exploded. It showered the room with a spray of fake blood.

Sweetie Belle didn’t know that. Her eyes widened and she stuck out a trembling hoof at the grotesque sight. Perhaps if she was in the right mind, she would’ve realized the cybernetics glowing in the crevice of her sister’s appendage didn’t belong. Or how a normal pony couldn’t have that much blood running in their system suddenly pop out. If it was all to be looked at from another perspective, one may even have called it a ridiculous notion to seeing all the gore happening at once.

But the filly just watched the event happen to somepony important in her life. She shrieked as she watched her sister’s “blood” splatter along the interior walls. And so, like a normal pony, she screamed.

The cry was loud enough to mask the sound of the doorbell ringing.

2.3 - CLUELESS/PBM

DETROT SEWAGE SYSTEM - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 13TH, 1438

TIME

PM 11:18:15

CHAPTER 2.3

CLUELESS

“Are you sure your GPS is working correctly, Derps? I don’t think this is the right way out,” Rainbow commented, ducking under a low-hanging archway. “My internal clock may not be working at the moment, but I’m pretty sure we’ve been down here for more than an hour. Maybe two, tops.”

The sewer system was much more spacious than she had anticipated. In fact, it was wide enough to get a cab to drive around with some space to trot beside it. It was also far cleaner than she was led to believe. Well, as clean as a sewer tunnel got. There were obviously stray piles of trash here and there, but it looked much better… than… than… I can't remember.

But Rainbow knew for certain that it looked better than whatever last experience she couldn't recall.

She sighed and continued to examine the drab surroundings. The equdroid stared at the walkway as they crossed the tunnel intersection. That dent looks awfully familiar. Her memory was still far too corrupted to attempt a layered comparison, but she knew for certain that she had seen it before. She trotted up to it and brushed a hoof along its surface.

In fact, now that she was paying much closer attention to detail, it felt like they had passed that sign one too many times. Along with that grate with plastic bag stuck in it.

“Derpy.”

“Y-Yeah?”

“We’re walking in circles.”

“O-Oh.”

“Alright, so your guidance system is totally out of whack. How the heck do we get out of here?” Rainbow plopped her plot onto the grated floor as she said that, throwing her forelegs into the air in frustration. “We may as well be in here for as long as our batteries can hold out for!”

The gray pegasus displayed a guilty frown. “I-I’m sorry, I totally thought I could lead us out of here.” Her tail flicked. “You found the way out and did all the stuff! Plus you also saved me from the scary pony. I just… I just didn’t want to feel useless, that’s all.”

Rainbow sighed. “Derps, you don’t have to try and lead the way out if you don’t know it. You’ve already proved your worth to me and that’s fine enough with me. What? Did you think I was going to abandon you?”

Derpy closed her eyes tight and turned around. “Y...Yes…” she admitted. “I thought you would leave me after I was no longer helpful.” In a whisper that would never be heard by anypony, she added, “That’s what they did…”

“W-What!? I would—”

! rrReeeeeeeeADiinnG MmEeeeEMORRRRRY fRAggMENNt.

“So remember folks, this is going to be an in-and-out type of mission. We're only here to gather as much as we reasonably can.” Spitfire paused. “At the first sign of trouble, I want all of you to abort your missions. Your lives are drastically more important than some measly scouting data. Alright, buddy-up and get ready. I want you all to finalize and double-check. We’re nearing drop point alpha.”

She nodded and trotted away, moving further into the plane’s belly. Rainbow watched her disappear behind the steel bulk of a door. Commotion broke out as ponies began sorting themselves out and choosing partners. Snapping her head back into place, she stood rigid in her holding space.

Hooves against metal noisily made their approach towards her position. A pony plopped their hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I call! Hah, hah!” he cheered.

“Would you not prefer a real pony to be your partner, Soarin?” The equdroid asked, shifting her face to stare at him.

“W-Well, er… I think you’re cooler, that’s all,” he coughed. “Besides, I think it’s easier to get along with somepony like yourself, y’know?”

“I understand. I am designed to be subservient.”

He snorted. “It’s been way past a year already and you’ve still got that factory personality. We should really spice up your boring robot talk.” Soarin placed a hoof on her snout and hooked his grip on the robot’s chin. He examined her brilliant magenta eyes, moving her face side-to-side. “You seem like the hotshot kinda pony. Got any pre-mades for that?”

Rainbow blinked and shut her eyes. She had thousands of onboard personalities ready to be used at the user’s discretion. There even happened to be a program dedicated to making a specific persona. Sadly, there didn’t happen to be any that specifically fit Soarin’s criteria. It wouldn’t be too system-intensive to attempt making one, however.

She began piecing together temperaments, responses, and reactions; all the while running simple situations in her head for the best fit, analyzing past memories and events for the most accurate outcome. A minute later, they were open again, this time, however, shining with a layer of mirth that hadn’t been there before. “Well, Soarin, think you can keep up with me now? Nah! I’d probably leave you in my cloud-wake.”

“Haha! That’s it right there. So much better!” He smiled. “I’m sure the others will love it once we show ‘em. Well, now that's settled, I’mma work on my stuff.” Sidling up next to her, he silently began securing the straps on his flight gear. He paused as one awkwardly pressed on his wing. “Do you think you could…? Oh, thanks.”

Soarin continued to work on looking his supplies over.

Rainbow let her audio receptors wander, and she could overhear the whispers among the Wonderbolts. They talked about how the mission was much more dangerous than Spitfire had decided to mention. But to abandon their mission before they even began… was unbecoming of such an elite squadron of ponies. They voiced their concerns amongst themselves, highlighting the finer points of Griffon military tactics.

The newer ponies, the ones who had been too slow to get themselves a senior partner, had been relegated to the other PBM models. Some even noted that they wouldn’t hesitate in throwing them to the proverbial wolves if push came to shove.

The equdroid couldn’t help but consider a specific scenario in her head. “Soarin.”

He stopped tugging on a loose string. “Uh, yeah, what’s up?”

“If the situation… required it… would you leave me?” she asked. eRROOoR. COmPUTing disCREPancy. “It would totally be understandable! I would cover your flank as you make a tactical retreat. Heroically awesome of me to show off my skills in a last stand!”

“What… what’s that supposed to mean?” he replied, utterly confused. “Abandon you? It shouldn’t ever come to that.”

“There’s always a chance it could happen… so would you?”

He snorted. “Never! It’s no mare left behind here.”

“I’m not a pony, Soarin. Just a piece of hardware.”

“Hardware, my plot!”

“W-What?”

“You’re so much more than that, Dash. You’ve suffered alongside us, er… bled alongside us… You’ve proved that you’re more than scraps of metal. Leaving you behind would be turning your back on family. The Wonderbolts don’t do that kind of thing. Ever,” he finished hotly.

“But I simply only did what any other equdroid would do.”

“Wrong!” he shouted. “What of those times where you jumped hoof-first into the fray? Took the bullets that were intended for Fleetfoot? Tore up your wings to keep the airship afloat? What about that time you ignored Spitfire’s orders and went into the still-burning crash site? You didn’t have to do any of those things, Dash. I may even have to say you shine out as more pony than any of us.”

She looked at him quietly. Her incredibly advanced computer rendered dumbfounded. I… never considered it like that. “Oh… I’ll… I’ll be sure to keep that thought around,” she murmured.

As they returned to what they originally had been doing, a scan had run passively, and she oversaw the data running through. Certain parts of his brain had been much more active than others… his heart rate had increased along with his cheeks turning a flattering shade of red… a smile caressed her lips. Her new personality demanded that she poke fun at him. “Were you getting defensive... ‘cuz you looove me?” she teased.

Soarin turned an even brighter shade of red, so much so that it would end up making a tomato jealous. “I… d-do not! I just… I just think of you… like a big sister! That’s… that’s all!”

“Suuure. Let yourself believe that!” she chuckled.

The world came back to her in a jarring transition of static. “—nbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! What happened, are you okay!?” Derpy yelled, shaking the dazed pegasus.

“N-No, I'm not… I… I just had another fragment run itself forcefully through my head.”

“Fragment!?” She spun around, searching for an entry wound on her skull. “I don't see anything… are you sure you had shrapnel go through your head?” She looked at the sewer walls. “I didn't hear or see anything that could've launched it, either.”

“Not in the physical sense, Derps.” Standing back on her hooves, she began wiping off the grime accumulated from her spasm. “Memory fragment. I think my memory cores aren't doing as best as they should be doing. I'm not sure if they have specific scenario triggers that help to ‘fill in the holes’ but they come and go.”

“O-Oh,” she whispered. Her lip quivered and she locked Rainbow in a tight hug. “I'm glad you're okay! I thought I lost you!”

“Hah, it’s alright. Gonna need more than a faulty piece of junk to keep this mare down.” She eyed the walls. “Also gonna need more than a sewer to keep us trapped!”

“So you have a plan!?”

“Not at all! I'm just going to wing it. Like I think I always do.”

“Think?”

She tapped her cranium. “Faulty hardware, ‘member?”

“O-Oh, right.”

“So what to do… what to do…” she stared at the gunk flowing beneath them. “Trying to follow the flow of the sewer system is probably our best bet… although that’s not the best idea.”

Derpy tilted her head. “Why?”

“There’s always the chance it’ll simply lead us further in or away from any possible exits. Of course, we’ll eventually get out if we do so, but that could take days!” She raised a hoof. “And I don’t think I’m at a well enough state to try bucking open any grates.”

The gray pegasus blinked and craned her neck over her friend. “What’s that…?”

A low rumbling announced itself as Rainbow started dipping into her algorithms. She snapped her head to face the source of the noise. Down the tunnel was a particularly bright light, gradually increasing in luminescence. They both squinted their eyes as they slowly filtered it out to better discern the approaching object.

Along with that, the closer it became, the easier it was to make out whir of a vacuum and then nearly drowned out the sound of scrubbing.

Coming their way looked to be a large, heavy-duty sewage drone of sorts. It began slowing down. “LARGE OBSTRUCTION DETECTED…” it boomed out from a low-quality speaker. Shifting behind the bulk looked to be equdroid wearing a reflective vest. They looked ready to jump off to check out the problem.

Wasting no time, the duo quickly moved to the side.

“LARGE OBSTRUCTION NO LONGER DETECTED? PROCEEDING.”

Rainbow smiled as they watched the machine slowly crawl along the length of the sewer. “Derps.”

“Yeah, Rainbow?”

“We just found our ticket out of here.” Hoisting her partner, she tossed the equdroid on her back to catch up with their ride. Hopping the guardrail, they landed on the small exterior platform hanging behind the drone. Idling behind the glass was an equdroid operator, looming in front of a dim console. “And now… we wait.”

“What if they catch us?” Derpy murmured, shooting glances at the droid. They were merely separated by a piece of foggy plexiglass.

“Don’t worry, Derps. You can count on me.” She grinned. “I may be marginally fucked up in certain areas, but I’ve retained enough to take down a whole squadron of trained ponies by myself. I ain't-a PBM for nothin’!”

The other pegasus nodded, reassured. “A-Alright, I'll trust you, soul-buddy!”

DETROT EASTERN WASTE TREATMENT PLANT OUTSKIRTS - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 14TH, 1438

TIME

PM 02:23:44

Rainbow idly stared out at the night sky hanging above them. She could feel the soft caress of an evening breeze ruffling her fur. There were no piles of bodies, no massive walls caging her in. She closed her eyes and spread her wings.

She could imagine her feathered appendages lift her higher and higher. Here, after all her struggles, her pain, her near-death sacrifice… she was a free equdroid… no… she was more than that. She… she was a pony! She was more than a mere machine.

Following her code, she breathed in deep. The air was crisp according to her sensors. She stood strong, holding her heroic pose. If she had the choice, she would stay here forever and bask in the moonlight.

“Will this work?” Derpy asked, slipping a coat onto Rainbow. And like that, she was broken out of her dreams.

She rolled her shoulders to make sure it was secure. “It should. Hopefully, none of the ponies comment on my lumpy back. If anything, they’ll just assume its frumpled because we look homeless,” the prismatic pony gave the air around them a sniff. “Although we may be overdoing it on the stench.”

“There’s a river nearby. We could take a dip and try to wash off as much as we can.”

Together, they trotted along the darkened sidewalks, their shadows elongated and spindly. Like ponies on stilts stalking them at every corner.

It was deathly silent. Call it paranoia… but I don’t like this… it’s too quiet. Her servos and synthetic muscled tensed, ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble.

No cars were moving at this time of day, nor were there any in the area. Considering their location in one of Equestria’s largest cities, it was strange to see such quiet. Usually, there had to be a late-nighter coming home from a long day of work… or even a group of ponies who thrived in the nightlife. But now? Windows were dark and the streets were empty. It was as if the entire world had been put to rest.

A stoplight changed to red in front of them, glaring in the darkness. That was meaningless, considering the lack of any traffic to corral. The two pegasi crossed the street, shooting glances at the dark alleyways. It was probably better this way. Fewer ponies to question their validity, the easier everything would become.

It wasn’t long before they manage to reach the bridge over the river. The waters were calm, idly lapping at the river bank as they approached. Rainbow removed her jacket and laid it flat on a rock. Once they were ready, they wasted no time in washing off the muck accumulated from the time in the graveyard and the sewer. Their keen receptors noted the gradual change of the color of the water as they cleaned themselves.

Derpy splashed some water on her mane. “Rainbow, I’ve been thinking…”

“Yeah?”

“What’re we going to do? I… I never really thought any further besides getting out okay…” she stopped, fluttering her wings to shake out the water. “We’re two unwanted equdroids in a world full of ponies who wouldn’t hesitate in dumping us again.”

“Hey! Turn that… uh… wipe that frown away! We may be two unwanted equdroids, but we’re two unwanted equdroids!”

“Huh?”

“Soul-buddies till the bitter end!”

“Y-Yeah!” she cried, clapping her hooves together. “B-But, we still should find something. We can’t survive off of wandering. How’re we going to maintenance ourselves?”

Rainbow tapped her head in thought. “Well, there’s always the delivery thing. We could become delivery ponies… for whatever it was supposed to deliver.” The warehouse full of spare parts, most specifically the intact wings sitting in the ViTAS crates were such a tantalizing incentive.

“W-Well, we don’t have much of choice, do we?”

“I don’t see the wrong in it. Although I did wish it told me who we were to deliver it to.”

Derpy tilted her head. “It didn’t tell you who to deliver it to? That doesn’t make any sense.” She rubbed a knot out of her tail. “Maybe… maybe they’ll tell us when we arrive at the building?”

Perhaps they did it to keep secrecy? The context I’m getting from this is that they weren’t exactly on the right side of the law… “I guess that would be the only thing to make sense.” Rainbow gave her entire body a full shakedown and clambered out of the water. “I think that should be good enough.”

Rainbow looped a hoof on the underside of the jacket and slung it once more on her back. She wriggled her wing stubs to make sure it didn’t catch. As it lay snug in place, she couldn’t help but stare at the identifier marker on her rump. Her vision slowly snaked to take a look at the circle that rested on the side of Derpy’s skull. It glowed faintly yellow, casually flickering every now and then. I’ve never really noticed how she’s been constantly processing things.

As she continued to stare, realization bloomed like fire. They still had their identifiers s. We’re lucky nopony caught us. I can’t believe I managed to overlook this! She smashed a hoof into the ground, shattering a rock. Scooping up a sharp end in the frog of her hoof, she angled it and dug out the identifier. It hit the ground and bounced, the light slowly fading.

She did the same for the mark, digging it in. Careful to pry it out without damaging her systems, she methodically twisted around the triangle. It popped out and landed on the ground. She turned to her other side and repeated.

Synthetic fur slowly engulfed the empty spots, hiding the fact it had ever been there in the first place. She smiled. That felt so… liberating. However, her expression slowly faltered. A missing cutie mark would raise red flags on an adult pony. The pegasi’s grin returned stronger than ever as a specific thought came to mind. Adorning both sides were now rainbow-colored thunderbolts, with white wings standing at attention, hanging off at the sides. A homage to better times.

Rainbow noticed that her friend was doing the same thing, albeit at a slower pace. She trotted over to help her out. Soon enough, they now had matching pairs of identifiers littering the shore. They didn’t waste any time in tossing them into the water.

Derpy smiled. “That felt… that felt good!”

“You said it, Derps.”

Her joy was infectious. “So how do we begin that delivery?” she asked. Rainbow noticed that Derpy had chosen bubbles for her cutie mark. Interesting choice. I wonder what they mean to her?

“Well, I’m not sure. I think we can figure it out, together, however!”

Derpy nodded and started pacing. Her nose scrunched up as she went into thought. “Was there anything else that looked… important? Maybe… like a trail of cookie crumbs! It would be kind of silly if they tasked you with a delivery without giving you any directions.”

“Well, nothing as concrete as an actual trail, but there was… one thing.” Rainbow pushed the gravel aside and grabbed her sharp rock. She carved out the same symbol she had seen during the forced transfer. A crescent moon with the three lines running through them. “This. I saw this. Aside from a voice telling me, ‘be free’, I can’t really tell what it means.”

The gray pegasi’s face scrunched up even further, almost to the point where it appeared it would collapse in on itself. A minute passed and she broke her concentration. She shrugged. “I don’t get it.”

“Neither do I.” She huffed and stared at her drawing. “What does the moon have to do with any of this?”

Derpy shrugged again. They sat on the riverbank, silent, pondering the hidden meaning. In that time, a pair of clouds that had been obscuring the moon drifted apart. The rays of moonlight slowly crept along, banishing the dark as it expanded all around them. Interest piqued, she watched it slowly wrap their surroundings in a weak, white light. She blinked. A silver, glittery paint had magically appeared on one of the bridge’s support struts. Tilting her head, she tapped her friend on the shoulder. “Hey, Rainbow, look! Your drawing looks just like that one!”

Without missing a step, the grounded pegasus spun around. Indeed, the crescent moon symbol—slashed with three lines—lay painted with laser precision. Which certainly hadn't been there before, she noted, something so sparkly would've stood out amongst the shadows. The only difference now was that it wasn't as dark as before, with the light of the moon... covering the area. “It only reveals itself in the light of the moon. Clever. So very clever.”

3.0 - DAWNING

[UNKNOWN] - UNKNOWN

DATE

ERR ??TH, ????

TIME

?? ??:??:??

CHAPTER 3.0

DAWNING

Blind.

So, so, soooooo blind!

Emotions bubbled and boiled in her head like a wicked witch’s brew, threatening to spill over at any moment as froth reached out past the lip. They swirled violently as her systems reeled at everything, viciously working overtime to prevent everything from erring out.

Pinkamena Diane pAI, advanced artificial intelligence, had been the source of all the strife.

She hadn’t been only blind, but woefully dense! Denser than a neutron star! And that was saying something in itself. With the millions of combinations of her sensors, she was practically psychic, able to predict thousands of scenarios all before they happened! Somehow, she had almost missed this and ruined her chance at a possible friendship.

The only pony she had seen in years.

Pinkie hadn’t even realized they were back, sitting in the place she called home—as much as this place was her prison. She had been in so much shock she hadn’t paid attention to the viewing, something that was difficult for her to accomplish! They had been her form of escapism from this sad, dreary, and lonely place, not once had she ever turned her scrutiny away. Her eyes flicked to the ground as she began to process everything. From the very first time she met the stranger, they had been sending and she had been receiving. That made sense. If they hadn’t been doing so, then they couldn’t even connect to her and they wouldn’t even be here.

But she had been so crass as to call them out on not wanting to talk to her when they supposedly ignored everything she said. But could it be justified? Not really. Pinkie hadn’t even bothered to check if it was a technical issue. She had been so focused on rejection from a new friend that troubleshooting seemed to be placed at the lowest priority… when it should’ve been higher.

She looked at you.

Just what was she receiving, however? What were you sending her way? Was it some sort of packet that she couldn’t systematically understand? She stared at the thing and opened it up to dissect at its internals. Except nothing looked right. Instead of what she was used to, this was a form of coding that looked so distinctly alien with the way it curved and flowed like water. The text written into it, at least, it looked like text. She wasn’t sure whether or not the blocky shapes were a part of it or something else entirely. It was hard to discern where it began and ended.

But this was code, that much she knew. Just… what kind of code was it? Was it some new form that she had never seen before? That wouldn’t be right, all of the systems were up-to-date with the latest patches, strange enough it may be that she still had them coming her way. She was even built to recognize foreign versions, each and every major form that was in usage, so it couldn’t possibly be her problem.

Or could it?

She had already brushed off the possibility before… blaming the stranger for hating her… rather when it had been her own issue that complicated matters.

Her hooves shuffled as she cast idle glances. But that wasn’t the point of all this. Shooting blames and acting pitifully depressed would do nothing for anypony. It was always great to look at the positives and focus on that; dwelling on negative variables… not so much.

Perhaps, she could even name one right now! In this huge mess, there was one bright positive that surely brought a smile to her face. Assuming now would be literally the worst thing she could do, but it warmed her heart to know that they didn’t quite just hate-hate her. Or perhaps that may have been the case, however, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to come back constantly to deal with her and her mental baggage.

The prospect of them returning simply to mock her resurfaced to the forefront of he—happy thoughts, happy thoughts! Assuming is bad. Another possibility crept itself into her head, coated in such volatile and sinister thoughts.

It was that the stranger hated her because she assumed they were a bad pony.

Her mane deflated a little and her stance sagged just a bit. It was a very high possibility that could be the case. Certain ponies could be easy to offend, a trait she had observed quite clearly during her escapades in viewing the outside world.

Stop assuming. Just ask! Confirm it. Either everything will turn out okey-dokey… or… She gulped. Pinkie, in all honesty, did not want to finish that last part.

“So, uhm, Stranger!” she called out, forcing a smile. “I’ve… got a quickee-question to ask! If you don’t mind answering, that is!”

3.1 - HUNTER AND HUNTED/UTS

DETROT POLICE CENTRAL STATION - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 3:52:06

CHAPTER 3.1

HUNTER AND HUNTED

The room could not be any more silent.

The air conditioner had fallen in its resting cycle, the outside noise from the office turned to a hush—almost as if it had sensed the awkward situation wrought upon the group, and the cacophony from the city seemingly had decided now was the time to be silent. Three faces stared at each other, each with alternating expressions and emotions warring above them.

The only equdroid in the room flicked between the two in front of her, analyzing the situation presented.

When Sparkle first arrived at Detrot, she never really anticipated getting into a stand-off with a dragon. She was quite aware of the fact that Equestria was not solely inhabited by ponies, but this was certainly a curveball. Most of the dragons living under the Equestrian flag were under admittedly lax supervision and more often than not, chose to isolate themselves away from most of society. Interaction was not their preference and nor was it their strong suit, either. But a dragon living with ponies? Unheard of.

Curious.

Note down for research at a later date.

Strangely enough, the data omitted who he was. She brought up the relevant data page she had been examining and inserted her own hoofnote about his species. She made sure to check over his personality and note key things regarding him. Sparkle was unsure about how he could be rash and "explosive" at times, while otherwise remaining perfectly calm and collected. It was paradoxical, really.

Despite all this, she would learn to adapt—the setback would have no effect on her investigations. She would just have to move methodically and tread lightly.

! SCAN IDENTITY AVAILABLE.

Proceed.

If she didn't, that would certainly disappoint Celestia, and that very consideration sent her systems reeling. To worsen things, she had been the one who specifically requested to be deployed to the city. To back out of her assignment because her partner was a species that were of generally obtuse and aggressive descent would be a sign of weakness. Along with that, if she could prove to overcome and successfully integrate herself as a working, contributing partner to such a species, it would prove her invaluable to the advancement of future models.

! SCAN IDENTITY COMPLETE. ONE: LT. ???, SPIKE (DRAGON) /// BORN 05/21/1411 /// POLICE LIEUTENANT /// CRIMINAL RECORD: NONE.

Interesting.

Some information is redacted from the general overview file. Sixty-percent placed under removal by the Royal Equestrian Archives.

Just what is the dragon hiding? Her eyes fell on the dragon in question. Would it be socially correct to pry information from Lt. Spike at a later period? Verdict unknown. Evaluate as the relationship progresses.

As Sparkle began rifling and downloading what she could, the others in the room still remained standing in place, still and waiting. Out of all of them, perhaps using the word “still,” would be an overstatement for a fidgeting police captain.

Woods had a look of “this is going to get really awkward super fast, I should probably bail,” grace his features. He shuffled his hooves and stared at his only reasonable way out. “Hey, ah, I haven't gone to the bathroom in a… a while, yeah. I'm just going to go… cuz'… I have to. Real bad.” he said, snapping Sparkle out of her thoughts as he inched towards the exit. In a feat that would’ve been deemed impressive had it occurred in any other situation, he vanished from the room, hooves clopping down the walkway. The file on Captain Sherwoods lists him as a capable leader, however, crumples in the face of social situations, as he particularly underperforms in awkward scenarios.

The door clicked shut behind him. Now it was just down to two.

The two eyes met, organic and synthetic locked in a staredown, analyzing and waiting for the next move. Sparkle could see it in his gaze; draconic slits scrutinizing every detail present on the pony in front of him. Every strand of hair and fur moved gently with the simulated rise and fall of her frame’s chest. How well her perfectly well-maintained cut draped over her temple. Every soft inhale and exhale was judged.

Spike’s expression changed for just a split-second. And for a moment, he saw it, the calculating gleam present in her eyes that he oh-so remembered. Fond memories began replaying in his head both good and bad, all coalescing into a crescendo; the phantom images he saw today of a pony at Canterlot, wearing the same exact outfit.

If the dragon was to be true to himself, he so badly wanted to wrap her up in a bone-crushing hug and sob his day away. But, his professionalism and suspicion were keeping him a safe distance away. He remembered being there alongside her, each painful step of the way. He remembered every vivid detail. He remembered the day how Shining and Cadance had to explain to a baby the concept of death. He remembered seeing her sleeping so peacefully in the coffin, eyes closed for eternity.

How could he not?

But now here "she" was, standing and breathing right there. His brows lowered and his eyes narrowed, waiting for her next move.

They were both walking on thin ice.

Sparkle, on the other hoof, unable to read minds—an ability that did not exist, yet was something she wished she had—could only merely fathom as to what his intentions were. She had generalized data from the cloud network regarding dragons, however, most of that data didn't specialize in what she assumed was a maturing adolescent. There were some telltales, such as the flicking tail and the bunched muscles betraying his unease, but other biological data was near useless.

There was one thing she could be certain about. The glare being sent her way. It was a predatory glare that would’ve unnerved any living being, a creature sizing up its catch. After all, dragons ruled like kings atop the food chain. What being descending from a prey species wouldn’t be utterly terrified?

That, however, could not be the case for Sparkle.

She was designed to remain cool and collected no matter the situation, to always look where she set her hoof down, even under immense pressure. She was implemented with countless programs and protocols. There was no intimidation to be had here. You cannot frighten something that was never alive.

So she remained impassive.

Perhaps a deeper search was necessary. The files she had been given involving the Central Detrot Police Department only seemed to include most of their traits, notable abilities, and weaknesses. History was excluded, much to her chagrin. Being able to create specific responses to facilitate her integration as a suitable police partner through adapting to their histories would be near invaluable. In fact, the only piece of data she had was from the only word uttered before the silence.

He had called her, “Mom.”

This was the second time she had been referred to such a thing by another pony she had never even met. A title that did not, and could not, ever rightly belong to her. However, the one word he spoke was filled with such confidence and finality as compared to the other time, so much so that it sounded like he believed it.

There were so many questions as to why he had done such a thing and why her design elicited such a response. She only could theorize as to why Celestia had chosen this appearance. The equdroid frowned as it seemed that it only caused her more trouble than it was worth keeping. Perhaps it would be best if she consulted with her to find a different look.

But that was for a later time.

For at this very moment, she had to deal with the consequence.

There were positives to pretending play along with his statement, but that only really benefited in the short-term and would eventually leave their relationship in an irreparable status not long after. That was something that Sparkle found to be absolutely terrible for her goals. However, denying it now would be unpredictable to an extent. There was no predicting how he might react to her response and how adversely that would affect their relationship after the fact.

Options, options.

One of her systems urged her to take the first option and tempting as it was…

Compounding answers.

“I am afraid you must have me mistaken for another pony,” she said, finally breaking the silence. Setting herself up for a high chance of possible failure was not something she wished to do. “I am P-UTS001 as written and read on the dossier you had in your claws not moments ago. I was created with the intent to be able to adapt to any role deemed necessary, with my current status to function as assistance to law enforcement. However, I was sent to Detrot to help assist in problems regarding equdroids.” Roleplaying as something as she was not nor had any clue as to how she would play would quickly turn that plan into mush. Besides, what was wrong with simply introducing herself?

Sparkle waited in rapt anticipation for the inevitable reaction. He took a second to process everything, and she watched as his face contorted into a mass of emotions, unreadable and chaotic. The equdroid stealthily readied a defensive spell in the case of backlash. Anything was possible.

Slowly, ever slowly, he began to reel in his ambiguous state to reach his final decision. He raised his head from his contemplation. The dragon’s tail lashed through the air, nearly bowling over a lamp. She could slowly see him arch his back and his spines flare.

How his eyes narrowed into slits and his claws curled in.

How his mouth opened so slightly as to form a snarl.

How his muscles tensed.

How fury radiated off his form.

How the world appeared to slow down to a standstill.

And he lunged.

Alert.

His arms were extended before him, bridging the distance. They were like vipers closing in on their kill, poised for the neck.

Wrong answer.

Unexpected reaction!

Move away.

Sparkle attempted to dodge. However, Spike’s claws closed on her neck faster. With nothing but his upper body strength, he lifted her up with a single arm. She recoiled at the sudden sensation of being hoisted from such a way. She could sense the sharp claws digging into the skin of her neck. Once Spike had a firm grip, he brought her closer until her nose fur could brush against the scales on his snout.

"So if you aren't her..." He took a great, shuddering breath, full of raw anger. “Why the hell do you have her face?” he spat.

Sparkle's brows furrowed. “I do not know what you mean. Who's face am I wearing? Is it not my own?”

! LT. SPIKE /// HATED<<<

He slammed her up against the wall.

“Everything about you is just like her! I could pull up the damn photo and it would look like you were grabbed right out of it! What do you mean you don’t know!?” His snarl flashing his fangs, all of which shone almost malevolently. “Tell me why you have her face!”

!PRESSURE AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 10% >>>

Objective set.

Defuse the situation.

High possibility of frame destruction. Begin cloud back-ups.

She struggled in place, wriggling in the air. Activating the array now would be incredibly difficult, considering most of the mana flow was being cut off in his vice-grip. Most of her combat maneuvers were designed against fleshier combatants, not against ones so heavily armored like the dragon threatening her so. Speech seemed like the only option to take.

Avoid frame destruction at all costs or until upload has reached completion. However, once this threshold has been reached, consider that mission integration shall be much more difficult or…

...impossible.

She would have to choose her words wisely. She was in no position to retaliate or upset her aggressor. She also had to be able to maintain a working relationship after the fact. The window of success was slim. However, one thing was clear as ever.

She was designed to always succeed.

And succeed she shall.

!PRESSURE INCREASING AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 26% >>>

The clock started ticking.

Dragons are sensitive and quick-to-offend in regards to certain subjects. Compounded with the fact that I am supposedly masquerading as his “mother” does not help.

Sparkle went back to think about the information on Lieutenant Spike. His profile never listed him as overly violent or angry, so this outcome almost came out completely unexpected. If it wasn't for the fact that she considered every single outcome, this would've come as a complete surprise.

She wriggled until their eyes met, and she gazed emotionlessly, unfazed and unaffected by her predicament. How helpful would being completely truthful be? How would he take the answer, especially if it wasn’t one he liked? This was why having access to certain information, histories, psych evals, and other information could help her tailor specific personalities. Gathering information while in the—

“Are you going to say anything in your defense? Anything!?”

Time to plan just ran out. Now or never.

“I had no information regarding that... gaahhh… there was any existing pony that shared my appearance. The set of instructions I had upon my first activation mandated that this was the coloration set I was to take,” she managed despite the grasp on her neck. “Even then… even then, my frame supports the same facial structure and build of whoever you are suggesting I look like. It was never my choice to look like this. Everything was decided for me by somepony else.”

!PRESSURE AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// PRESSURE DECREASE DETECTED: 20% <<<

He narrowed his eyes as he began considering the information given to him. A smidgen of his anger escaped in an irritated exhale of smoke. “Alright… that sounds reasonable,” he replied, fury stifled. “But that only raises more questions than it does answer the one I had!”

“It generated separate queries?” Sparkle jerked in confusion.

“It… yes!” He looked her in the eye, anger brimming. “Of course it did! I can’t even fathom which question I want to ask you first out of fear of making a hundred different others!”

“Perhaps you could try one that piques your interest substantially when compared to other options. That may help with your indecisiveness,” Sparkle offered.

Spike balked. “I am not indecisive!”

Aggressiveness intensity decreasing. Valid branch? “As you say, lieutenant.”

The dragon seemingly picked up on her supposed “secondary” meaning. “Are you sassing me?”

“Not directly, lieutenant.” She had meant no offense, ruining the already fragile standing they had was not a plan that would end well for her. “I was just simply trying to advise that denying a valid fact is never a good thing and one should seek to change themselves for the better. Having an unclear thought process in your line of work is detrimental to your health and—”

The claws flexed around her neck, silencing her.

“Alright then, tell me who the hell thought it was okay to make you look like that,” he snarled, waving her in the air like a ragdoll. “Am I indecisive now!?”

!PRESSURE INCREASING AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 24% >>>

Sparkle froze in his grip, locking up.

She had spectacularly undone her progress with a few words, pushed it all the way back to square one. Now she was in far more vulnerable position than before, left at the mercy of an emotionally distraught dragon—who may no longer be as cooperative as before. However, the worst of it all was that question asked of her conflicted with standing orders—some of which were each ingrained deep within her software—and her mission.

P-UTS001 was bound by lock and key, sworn oaths, that she would never disclose company secrets to any unauthorized individual. It was one of the things that sat up in the priority list, right beside the abhorrent reminder of failure. Yet there lay the other problem, the abhorrent reminder of failure. If she could not offer him the answer he wished, their current standing relationship—abysmal as it was already—would regress into something unsalvageable: a complete and total failure of her mission. Everything about her was about success, the word “failure” sounded so wrong. She could tell him. Just a couple of words and that would be it, mission success. But she couldn’t. Conflicting streams battered her logic core.

What was she to do? How could she jeopardize the first mission she hoof-picked?

What was more important? The mission or ViTAS? How could she—?

A small click went off in her head.

Her gaze hardened.

This wasn't even a fair competition.

The choice has been predetermined. Remain loyal to ViTAS.

“I a-am not allowed to freely disclose information regarding ViTAS’s workings w-without proper authorization from an individual with the necessary credentials,” she choked out. “Th-Therefore I cannot… cannot answer the question you have.”

He paused for a moment and Sparkle no longer felt the crushing sensation around her neck. Had that been the right thing to have said?.

!PRESSURE AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// PRESSURE DECREASE DETECTED: 15% <<<

Then he returned full force.

!PRESSURE INCREASING AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 56% >>>

Incorrect again. Prolonged damage will be sustained if this persists.

“Don’t give me that bullshit! There’s some sick pony in there who’s running around and slapping the faces of the deceased onto ‘droids!”

“This c-concern is outside of my ability and I do not—”

“This is my concern! It became something personal after you walked in here with my mother’s face and name!” he roared. “TELL. ME. WHO. DID. THIS.”

!PRESSURE INCREASING AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// WARNING /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 88% >>>

Sparkle gasped and scratched at the length of his arm. It was getting harder to process things. The flow of thirium and mana was being stifled by the force exerted on her neck, capping the amount flowing to her main processor. Data trickled in, dropping as each second passed.

She had been backed into a corner.

What was she to do?

Nothing.

Her main source of casting spells was disabled. She had no leverage to bounce off of. She lacked any upper strength to retaliate; most of her blows were meaningless against the armored scales. She had nothing she could use.

!PRESSURE INCREASING AROUND CERVICAL REGION /// CRITICAL /// INTEGRITY DEGRADATION DETECTED: 90% >>>

She closed her eyes, prepared to meet her first forced deactivation through the means of frame destruction.

That also meant experiencing her first failure.

She could already imagine the disappointed look she would receive. The words she would hear. It sent… chills down her spinal cord and ice in her veins. The sensation of such a thing was abhorrent. And there was no guarantee that she would even be the artificial intelligence to be reactivated in another frame. Why would Celestia keep a tool that broke a day after it had been initially used?

But Sparkle did not fret any further. She would accept her fate. She was deserving of what she wrought on herself. Incompetency had no place for a machine of what she was projected to be.

! SOFTWARE INSTABILITY /// <<<

The doorknob twisted and the entrance swung open, causing Sparkle to snap open her eyes and to momentarily divert her attention. The police captain reentered the room, looking refreshed. “Listen, Spike, Sparkle, I've got something that may be a good icebreaker for the both of ya’…” Sherwoods started, flipping through a thick binder, oblivious to the scene. It was only when his forehoof bumped into a misplaced chair did he look up, however. He stared at the sight, a pony dangling from the air with a second of stupefaction. Which fleetingly passed. He quickly laid the thing he was holding and rushed over. “Hey! Hey, Spike, fuckin’ stop that!” he yelled, wrapping a hoof around the arm. “Damnit, Spike!”

She watched him grapple with the taller creature, desperately trying to wrench him away from the her “choking” form.

Finally, the captain had the sense to clock the dragon on the end of his snout, momentarily dazing Spike and sending him tumbling backward. Spike tripped over an overturned chair and fell flat on his side, while Sparkle crashed into the ground beside him. She felt the impact…

The world swirled around her as she scraped for her bearings. Her cameras focused and buzzed as they reasserted her spatial understanding. She could feel the rush, no, the roar of everything flowing back into the central processor; stifled potential soared back to values she was used to seeing. She pinged her lower half, pleased to see she had control over them again.

Without missing a beat, she shakily got up on all fours and limped away, distancing herself from possible further harm.

The equdroid nearly collapsed against the wall once she was far enough.

Through sheer luck, she had been granted a second chance because of the captain’s interference. She would do everything in her power not to squander it. Sparkle closed her eyes again to stop the swirling in her visual sensors. A minute later, they snapped back open.

Examine damage.

Sparkle experimentally laid a hoof against her obviously damaged neck. She didn’t need a scan to know that it had taken it a serious toll during her experience with the dragon lieutenant. The synthetic skin and coat depressed as she pressed her hoof against it. It also looked particularly bruised and… flabby. Had so much pressure been applied to the exterior surface that it…

She frowned.

There would be no way to get a proper fix for this. Or, at least, until she was to be recalled to a nearby ViTAS facility for her daily report. That would certainly be a troublesome setback for the rest of the day.

“Spike, what the hell was that!?” Sherwoods shouted. Her head slowly moved to face the other two in the room.

The dragon in question wiped some blood off of his mouth with a sleeve. His claws gripped around the chair cushion to support himself, easily puncturing the soft material. Spike then raised an accusing claw at her, shaking in anger. “That thing is wearing my mom’s face. I want to know why,” he hissed.

“By stranglin’ her?” he pressed, anger and confusion visibly present on his face. “Spike, that isn’t how we do things. That isn’t how you do things, either!”

“I could fucking care less!” he roared, teeth bared. The police captain stepped back, stunned by his outburst. “I want that thing gone!” He was huffing, eyes bulging.

The pony’s mouth moved in wordless expression, eyes closing gently and resignation on his face. Sherwoods was silent for the longest time, each second drawled out in agony. Sparkle had just witnessed Spike talk back to his superior in a manner most foul, she wondered how he was going to react and accordingly punish him. However, he only shook his head, sighing.

“This is where I draw the line, Spike! What you just did was incredibly stupid and the most poorly thought out thing you could’ve done,” Sherwoods replied firmly, laying a hoof under the dragon’s chin and jerking him to look him directly in the eye. “The ‘droid’s gonna tattle no matter what happens. I’ve got no fuckin’ clue what ViTAS may do to you after you –” he turned to face Sparkle, who was quietly watching it all unfold “– practically mangled an expensive prototype of theirs… but I can’t think of anything good. Those ponies running that show can be vicious folks!” He let go of Spike.

“I can always try to minimize the possible backlash but even then… I don’t know if that’ll be the end of it. You’ve always been amazing in keeping your emotions in check… yet here… ya’ faltered and slipped,” Sherwoods muttered. He turned around and trotted to his desk. “Maybe they’ll see your punishment as fit and they won’t press any further aside from asking you to pay for damages. Maybe I should’ve just listened to you when you said not to pair you up with it. Damnit.”

Spike blinked, wicked smile appearing. “Of course you should’ve! Now... wait... what...?”

“The damage has already been done,” Sherwoods interrupted, adding more to the already thick tension hanging in the air. The dragon held his tongue and watched his superior fall into deep thought. Soon enough, Sherwoods opened a filing cabinet and drew several sheets of paper. “I care about you as a friend, Spike. Leaving you to fend against the timberwolves is not my style. So here...” He pushed the stack towards the dragon. “...my temporary solution.”

Those words written on the paper seemed to have shattered Spike’s previously vicious resolve, collapsing it like a tower of cards against the wind. Silent words escaped his lips as he tried to understand the consequences he wrought upon himself. “...what…?” He gulped, shaking his head and hand. “No, no, wait, Sherwoods… I… please wait, no… that’ll go on the record,” he begged, voice weak.

“Spike, this is all I can think of that’ll let you come off easy. Besides, I think a lot of good words from the rest of us will nullify anything on that list.”

“N-No, but, sir, that’ll be going on the record.” The words caught easily in his throat. “I can’t… I can’t let that ever happen.”

Lt. Spike appears to fear anything that would appear as a bad mark on permanent archives. Sparkle commented, forgetting her ails and focusing on their conversation.

Sherwoods looked confused. “Spike, it’s just a little blip. Besides, it’ll get ViTAS off your plot if they see I punished you accordingly.”

“N-No, but, I can’t have anything bad on r-record,” he stuttered. “I… I just can’t.”

“Spike, we gotta do this, for your sake.”

“Sherwoods… I beg you, don’t…” The dragon, once sporting an aura fit for a predator, had knelt on the ground, tears welling around his eyes, vulnerable and miserable. Sparkle tilted her head at the strange sight, beyond intrigued. The turn-around in his personality seemed so out of… nowhere. Yet, it was not unwelcome, after all, this could be used in her favor.

Mission absolute failure not a complete possibility. New information gleaned. Utilize to greatest effect.

She opened her mouth. “Captain Sherwoods, Lieutenant Spike, I can offer a deal that would benefit the all of us. I was sent here to integrate and begin field operations with an organic individual. Currently, as it stands, my mission is trailing failure threshold.” She allowed them a moment to process her words. “However, if you would allow me a second chance and an opportunity to prove myself as a valuable partner to the dragon I was assigned to, I can overlook today’s transgressions and list them to ViTAS as damage sustained during operations.”

They were silent.

Sparkle paused as well, considering the option she had laid out. Was the offer against standing directive with loyalty to ViTAS? Her eyes fell to stare at the ground. No. Offer was merely a mean to reach mission success: asset utilization/exploitation to fullest extent did not violate any protocols.

“I would like to assume the terms are agreeable. After all, there is a fair amount of leniency, skewing this in your favor. All this requires is your cooperation,” Sparkle reminded. “Much to gain… little to lose.”

The look on the dragon's face was difficult to read, however, coupled with his body language, it seemed he was very torn on the offer. It was clear to see that he wanted to take it without hesitation, however yet, another part clearly held him back from doing so. That part, that unknown variable could very well undo all of this. She was playing chance now, and she hated that.

The dragon looked blankly at her, pupils resting on her frame, mind elsewhere.

“... I... I’ll take it.”

The edges of the equdroid’s mouth curled up. It was the least orthodox method and the least unexpected route for her to have taken… but this... this signaled his cooperation, forced as it was.

“Spike… you really should—”

“Anything that gets me out of that mess!” Spike rumbled, stewing. His claws shook as if they were trying to grip something, perhaps in what looked like anger. He closed two of them before pressing them hard against his brow. “I landed myself here and now I’m paying the consequences… dearly. This is going against everything I stand for… but… I’ll say it again. I accept. I’ll take your offer.”

! LT. SPIKE /// MILDLY TOLERATED>>>

“Very well, Lieutenant. The terms have been set. I look forward to working with you,” she replied, a small hint of satisfaction present in her voice. “Which I assume, we will begin quite quickly, Captain Sherwoods?”

The earth pony only glared at her. Resignation hanging around him, he spoke. “I already pre-loaded everything y’all would need into Spike’s device; ‘twas something about a lady being held at gunpoint in her own home. Two pairs of officers had already responded to the call, last I knew. You two were to serve as redundancies,” he said. “However, it was also meant to get y’all two to see how you both worked and how you were to compensate for your dynamics. I wanted Spike to grow past his prejudices. Now I see it ran deeper than I thought—which was my mistake.”

It was quiet again. Sparkle noted that this seemed to be a common occurrence. Spike’s fists clenched. “Well, we’re bleeding time. If nothing else, let’s get a move on.”

As they began leaving the room, she managed to catch Sherwoods whispering. “I wish ya’ luck, Spike… you’ve made a deal with your devil.”

His perception seemed to be quite negative. Set to correct? Exterior relationships hold a level of importance. Sparkle trotted alongside the dragon, who had his head forward and eyes straight, never sparing her a glance. But even from here, she could feel the smothered hostility radiating off of his form. That was also something to correct.

Subsisting a relationship off of blackmailing would only encourage toxic emotions; the eventual fallout would truly destroy the hard work put into constructing it. There needed to be another reason for the lieutenant to continue working together. Sparkle would need to find some strong standing to facilitate comradery.

But there was no need to rush.

She had a reasonable amount of time and information to think of something.

3.2 - BUILT UPON SAND/UAA

BELLE ESTATE - DETROT, EQUESTRIA

DATE

MAY 12TH, 1438

TIME

PM 04:38:12

CHAPTER 3.2

BUILT UPON SAND

Rarity sputtered and gasped as the red mess splattered across the room.

The liquid dripped and oozed down various surfaces, slathering everything in a healthy coat of fake blood. Few were spared from the crimson onslaught, least of all Rarity’s immaculate mane. She shook her head. But…! To focus on something so trivial would be so vain as there was a much more important matter at hoof—the blood problem would sort itself out.

It was her little sister, who was screaming and sobbing at the same time, possibly traumatized beyond belief—if normal reactions were anything to go by. She had just witnessed something of nightmarish levels! Her still-developing psyche probably wasn’t prepared to see something so absurd happen in reality. Her mind most likely believed that this was her blood everywhere.

I probably wouldn't have ever been prepared to see a shower of blood if I thought it was real. She chastised to herself and set about casting a solution on her array.

Generally, she avoided using this type of spell due to how taxing it could be on her reserves, but as of now, it called for an emergency. As that readied itself, she dragged the broken blood pack out and stared disdainfully at the jagged tear wrought against its surface. Without another thought, she tossed it into a waste disposal. Grabbing a new covering plate, she hovered it over the insertion points, careful to angle the plate so the hooks would loop under and attach properly.

Quick as to not waste any more time, Rarity slipped the plate back on and secured it with a mental command. A trailing blue light marked where the separating line used to be as it synced with the rest of her body. Soon enough, anypony looking at it would have never seen any damage or commented on how it looked out of place. She waved it around to make sure it was firmly in place. I can always replace the blood pack later.

Her array flashed a bright white as it washed down the area, instantly removing any sign that there had ever been a stain on either of them. Pristine white coats, just as she remembered. She took a step forward, however, only to let out a small gasp as the drain took its effect. Her front hooves nearly collapsed from the strain of simply supporting the front half of her body and her vision waned. She coughed and shook her head, clearing away the momentary daze.

Satisfied, she sidestepped the shrinking puddles over to her sister. Mindful of where she would be placing her rump to sit, she plopped down behind her.

“Sh-sh-sh. It’s okay. There’s no need to cry, Sweetie. I’m more than fine,” she whispered, wrapping her up in a tight hug. “Please. I’m okay. I'm okay, What you saw was nothing more than a harmless accident. See?” She raised her foreleg to show off the unmarred skin and pristine fur. “That was nothing. It was nothing, I assure you!”

“B-But you—I saw—blood! S-So, so much of it!” she stuttered out, furiously wiping the tears from her eyes. “H-How can you b-be fine?”

Rarity bit her lower lip. There couldn’t have been any possible way Sweetie Belle could’ve seen anything concrete aside from the cloud of red, however, how could she explain all of this? All of the equipment pertaining to equdroid upkeep and maintenance sat right in this room, all of it in plain view. It was getting easier to discern everything too as the embedded runes began absorbing the mess. And for a foal her age, her sister was quite well-informed and naturally inquisitive.

“I just am. Please, let's just head downstairs and join your friends,” she assured, nudging her head with her snout. “It's been quite the stressful afternoon for the both of us, and I think snacking on a little something sweet would help quell that, no?”

The filly stopped to consider it, her head jerking back each time she sucked in air. A minute later, Sweetie Belle nodded and pushed her tears away. “O-Okay.” She replied shakily. “And… and if it's alright with you… c-can you carry me… can you carry me on your back? At least until we get downstairs?”

She acquiesced by laying down on her stomach. “Anything for you, darling. Come now. We should hurry before you have nothing left to eat.”

She nodded and blinked away more tears. Sweetie clambered onto her back, precariously balancing herself into a comfortable position. Once she was set, she murmured her signal and tugged on her sister’s hair to let her know she was secure.

With that, Rarity stood back up on all fours, ready to head to the kitchen with her filly cargo on her back. Quietly, did she let the secret door close behind them. Much to her relief, her sister said nothing or failed to really think about it.

Only for that relief to crumble to fine dust. “I… I really thought I g-got you hurt, Rarity,” she whispered. “L-Like, really b-bad!” Sweetie looked on blankly, eyes never leaving the floor.

Salvage this. “Perhaps… but consider this! Do you happen to see any lasting damage?”

“W-Well… n-no…”

She laid her head lovingly against her sister. “Then there’s nothing for you to worry over.”

She gently made her way into the hallway, stopping at the top flight of stairs. She paused for a moment… to just think. To think and consider the consequences of letting her little sister see all of that. A soft-spoken voice snapped her away.

“I… I saw so much… just… I don’t…” Sweetie mumbled, burying her head in her older sister's mane. “...get it.”

“It must just be your overactive imagination, Sweetie. Are you certain you saw a shower of blood that large? Have you been watching those silly Trotontino movies again?”

“N-No…”

“Well then, if that’s all…”

“Actually…”

Rarity stopped, her hoof hovering over the first step. “Yes?”

“I’ve g-got a question about the room…”

Her synthetic fur stood on end.

Possibilities ran around in her head, with the most obvious one being: “Why do we have that room when there aren’t any equdroids for us to worry about?” That. How was she supposed to answer that!? She would get even more suspicious considering that the room was initially hidden, and if she knew Sweetie, she’d have known the layout of their home like the front of her hoof! There was no lying to her about how she would have glossed it over.

She was stuck. Terribly, terribly, stuck.

How could I even explain all of this!? Tell her that we aren’t related by blood? That I’ve been lying to her for her entire life? Her eye twitched. She could feel some of her systems begin to err out. Rarity began to feel… lightheaded. She hissed. For the longest time she’d known herself, she had a technical issue related to high-stress situations, creating an effect that was not far off what a pony would call fainting. Rarity and her “parents” tried for the longest time to isolate the problem… however, it seemed adamant and slippery. Whenever it seemed that it was gone, it came back weeks or months later.

Eventually, they just gave up.

Almost like it was ingrained into her hard drive, she held a hoof to her forehead. Her world began to wobble and teeter. Where… where was that… couch? She gave herself a light smack on the cheek.

N-No! Stop. You've got a filly riding on your back. She silently chastised herself. Just… just… breathe.

You're an intelligent, independent mare. You've trotted through worse and if you couldn't maneuver yourself out of this one…

“Rarity?” The voice snapped her back. “Rarity, are you okay?”

“Yes! Yes. I’m fine,” she replied. “And to answer your previous question, that room was first included in the house. We just never had the chance to use it for it's intended—”

The door slammed open and a uniformed dragon rushed in, handgun raised. Another pony rushed in behind him, array raised and sparking. “DPD! We’ve got the area surrounded!” he roared, as a barrier flashed to life around the duo. “Come out with your hooves in the air and make this easier for all of us!”

Rarity exhaled a sigh of relief, thankful for the opportunity to dodge the question.

A startled Applebloom and Scootaloo who were making their way towards the commotion tumbled and leaped back in fright, scrambling for cover behind a couch.

Sweetie Belle almost slipped off as well but was quickly caught by lightning-fast reflexes and carefully placed onto the floor. The filly right herself and peered through the railings with a curious look.

They’ve arrived! She noted. Although… they’ve arrived a couple minutes too late. I’ve already cleaned up the mess, it seems. She laid a hoof on the guardrail, staring at the figure behind the shimmering barrier. A dragon…

Rarity cleared her throat to catch their attention.

The dragon’s head snapped to face her, gun trailing right behind him. But as he processed the situation, he lowered the weapon in confusion. “We came on the call that there was a home invasion.” He stopped and looked around the fairly serene surroundings. “Were we wrong?”

The equdroid shook her head. “You have the right address, officer. It’s just, well… I managed to handle the stallion with some creative thinking and luck. I’ve tied him up and left him in the master bedroom, however.” She straightened her posture and head, mane bouncing alongside her. “I hope that’s quite alright.”

The dragon's mouth fell to a flat line. “No, that’s… that’s good.” He relaxed and holstered the pistol. “P-UTS001. Go and retrieve the pony, I’ll be here.”

“Very well, Lieutenant.” The hum from her array died, the barrier following not long after. “I’ll take the liberty of utilizing the transportation pad if that is all fine with you? I know that it is a fairly new device but the—”

“Yes. Don’t care. Just do it,” he replied coldly. “I'll be here.”

It seems he isn't too fond of equdroids.

The unnamed equdroid nodded, fixing a slight crease on their outfit before heading up the flight. As the other unicorn turned her head, they locked eyes for a moment. A shiver fell down her spine as Rarity felt like she had been laid bare before the stranger, every secret thrown to the wind. She shivered and the feeling was gone, along with the equdroid. She caught a glimpse of her tail as they vanished into her bedroom.

That… that was strange. I wonder what that was about…?

“So, Miss, would you prefer talking up there or down here?” the dragon asked, pulling out a tablet. “I’m just getting a statement and some preliminary information…” he stated, tapping on the device. “I know it's fairly cut and dry with this kind of thing… or at the very least, looks that way. Who knows if you could be framing him?”

Rarity frowned. “You would claim that?”

He shrugged. “I could do that. I could not do that. That's why I'm corroborating evidence and testimonies.” He paused, tapping a claw on the top of the tablet. “Things like this can happen. It's my job to make sure justice is served to the right pony. I'm sure you can understand that, right?”

She nodded. “Certainly.” She removed her hoof from the rail and straightened up. “If it’s fine with you, would you like to converse in the kitchen? I have some things I need to do…”

The dragon nodded. “Alright. That’s reasonable.”

Rarity smiled. As she trotted down the stairs with Sweetie hiding adorably behind her tail, she realized they hadn’t properly introduced themselves. “May I have the pleasure of knowing who I’m speaking with?”

“Right, my bad,” he chuckled. “Lieutenant Spike of the Detrot Police Department.” A moment passed between them. “I’d think that’d be a mouthful, however. You can call me just Spike,” he added.

He certainly turned around for the better, much more lively than before! Perhaps his equdroid partner just brings out the worst in him? “Rarity Belle,” she responded, exuding her legendary ladylike charm, “lady of the estate, and dare I flaunt, an expert seamstress.” She giggled upon announcing the last of her self-proclaimed “title.” That made her sound pretentious. Whipping her head up to cast her drooping mane aside, she continued the way down. Her eyes and head darted to glimpse behind her, the filly quietly following along. Satisfied, she returned back to focusing forward. However, Rarity could still quite clearly feel her tail shift as Sweetie adorably remained behind her, wary and using her as a buffer between the surprisingly civil dragon.

She’s… just a little on edge, is all. Nothing for you to worry too much about. She couldn’t help but feel the guilt from the prior fiasco. I’m so sorry, Sweetie.

With her hoof leaving the last step, she stood on equal grounds with the police officer. He… was much taller than her. About two heads, perhaps.

“I’m sure you are,” he said, suddenly.

“Pardon?”

“A great seamstress.”

Oh my, am I ditzy enough to have forgotten our previous conversation? And he’s sounding quite sincere about it as well! A gentlecolt dragon. I’d never thought I’d see the day. “Oh, you flatter me, Sir Dragon,” she said, smiling. “But I’m not so vain as to claim that! However, I am quite confident in my abilities,” Rarity added, maintaining her grin.

He nodded, the infectious nature of the expression creeping onto his face. “Sir Dragon?” Spike asked, amused.

“I’m just returning the gesture, after all!” Rarity paused for a second, holding back a giggle. “Well, if it’s all done and said, I’m sure you’d want to get your questioning underway. I’d hate that I’m wasting your valuable time.”

Spike blinked before raising a hand, palm facing her. “Of course. I’m sure I’m already intruding enough as it is, Miss.” He looked around the room, catching the looks of the fillies, each with their own varying levels of apprehension. The orange one, he noted, seemed far more inquisitive than the other two. “I do know that my appearance has always made ponies… uncomfortable. I’ll be quick to get out of your mane once this whole ordeal is over.”

Rarity nodded, before turning to face the foals and subsequently exposing the filly huddled between her legs. The filly yelped and quickly joined her friends behind their hiding place. “Oh, settle down, Sweetie Belle. He’s not going to eat you. Spike’s a part of the police force and kinder than most ponies I’ve come across.” The unicorn mare rolled her eyes and lifted the couch up in her magic. “Whether or not you take my words seriously, I would think it would be best if we sent your friends home. I’m sure their families would want to know what happened here today and that they’re safe.” Rarity paused, turning her head to look at Spike. “If… if that’s alright with you, Officer?”

Spike crouched low, and she watched him smile warmly at the bunched group, his lips bunched awkwardly. It was looking like he was careful not to bare his fangs at them. He's probably had to have practiced this. If I didn't have cameras for eyes, this might've passed me by. “They’re free to leave whenever. We usually don’t question younger ponies unless we absolutely have to.” He flashed a toothy grin. “And you seem to be the honest type, anyway. I’m sure we won’t need too much to get the full story; my partner,” he paused, grin faltering and almost sounding as if he didn’t want to utter the next set of words, “Spa...Sparkle... is an advanced detective equdroid. Scene analysis and recreation is her forte. I suppose she’ll be the final say in all of this.”

“Then if it’s like that, you three can go ahead and go,” Rarity said, ushering them out from the spot the couch once occupied before gently lowering the furniture wrapped in her array. “Did you three finish the snacks?”

The two other fillies looked to each other before Scootaloo nodded. “We, uh, finished them pretty fast.”

“That’s a shame. If we had any left, I would’ve offered them to Sir Spike.”

“Spike is fine, miss. And I would’ve declined,” he piped up. “Although a glass of water would be appreciated.”

Rarity made a small noise of acknowledgment. “That I know for certain I can get you. Very well then, off you three go,” Rarity replied, turning to face her charges. She trotted behind the bunched up fillies, ushering them towards the direction of the staircase with a hoof. They complied almost reluctantly—if the short moment of hesitation was anything to her.

She caught one last look from Sweetie.

There was the quiet sensation of the lies tearing at her heart before she turned and gestured for the dragon to follow. Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opening them slowly as she trotted forward. Leading him into the kitchen, she swiftly levitated the mess of utensils and plates into the dishwasher before picking out a glass and filling it with the requested water. With no loss in grace, she closed the dishwasher door while laying the glass right in front of Spike as he took a seat.

“Showing off?” a dragon asked, a cheeky smile present on his face.

Rarity blinked, snapped out of her ingrained routine. She blushed. “No, ah, it just happens to be something I’ve accustomed myself to.” There was a moment of pause to process. “And I suppose it’s a preference of mine… that I enjoy doing things with a little bit of grace and elegance. I’ve done it so many times now it’s practically muscle memory, anyway.” It’s not completely a lie. It’s just… half-truths blended together.

“So I take it then that makes you a seamstress and the caretaker of the household?”

“I suppose it does,” she hummed, wiping her hooves with a small cloth. “It can get a little exhausting with what all the work orders and such, but I manage.”

The equdroid managed to catch a… spark in his eye. Of what? It felt like recognition or admiration, almost. Spike nodded and then tipped the rest of the water into his mouth. He gently let the glass down and… what was it those minotaurs called it? Finger guns? “Well, you do an amazing job, then. Way better job than I ever could and your place is much bigger than mine.”

She smiled at his compliment, before making a minute turn of the head. He had been repeatedly offering flattering remarks ever since they had met. Coincidence? Perhaps it was just part of his personality, being a nice… dragon to all that he met. It would probably do well, considering his nature. He did act this way towards Sweetie and her friends…

Ah, look at yourself, Rarity, thinking that you have somepony trying to make a move on you.

“I try my best, Spike.”

There was a quiet rapping of a hoof on a wall behind them. She looked away from Spike to stare at the other equdroid, who was standing by the entrance to the kitchen. The dragon barely glanced at her, before talking. Even now, he failed to completely give his full, undivided attention.

“Yes?” he asked.

“There has been a complication that needs your attention, Lieutenant. It would be optimal if we took this discussion outside, as it contains sensitive information.” She raised a hoof and slowly gestured to the entrance.

There was a scowl visibly present on his face as he drummed his claws against the countertop. It appeared as if Spike didn’t want to go anywhere, especially not with the mare. “Alright. Fine.” There was notable hesitation present in his actions before he stood up out of his chair and calmly pushed it back to its original position. He flicked his hand at her in a rather upset fashion, motioning for her to do so. Sparkle, was it? Moved without another word, swiftly turning to lead him outside. She watched the pair leave with a spark of interest, leaning forward as far as her position would allow her.

Rarity watched the spiked tail of the dragon disappear behind the closing shape of the door. There was no click. She tilted her head in confusion and squinted. From here, she could see it didn’t close completely, left slightly ajar. She pursed her lips. There was that small, nagging temptation to creep up behind the door…

Surely it won't…? Oh, but… now, if they never see anything…

She trotted as quiet as she could to the front of the door, ready for anything.

“...absurd!” Spike yelled.

“My data is infallible. It would certainly be worrying if it malfunctioned already.”

“You’re a prototype, you hunk of metal! Of course there’s a high chance of you fucking up!”

“‘Rarity’ did not register on my biological scanner. Multiple presets failed to return any reasonable information, as well.” There was a pause. “So I attempted my electronic scanner with preset gamma loaded. I believe you can connect the dots?”

Rarity’s mouth ran dry and she stepped back in shock, slowly backing away to the presumed safety of the kitchen.

“No, I can not connect the dots. Whatever you’re saying is stupid!”

“Very well. I am capable of gathering more information and proof in different fashions to rein...”

Already, she found herself seated and her hooves laid on the countertop. The beat of her pump seemed to accentuate itself in this moment, ever so loud, ever so vibrant. She held one hoof to her forehead, dizzy. This was all too much. The day had barely even begun its transition to evening and already everything she had so carefully constructed—her entire life, her stone tower, was crumbling. Secrets were pulled into the light, either by poor circumstances or by forces simply out of her control. There was so much regret. So much thinking back on things. If she hadn’t… if she didn’t…

All ifs! All of them!

What was she going to do?

“Unknown deviant.” Those words sent chills down her cords and ice into her chassis. How had she arrived without a single chirp or noise? She could feel the contact of foreign cloth on her synthetic fur. How had she gotten so close?

Another voice, deeper, rang out—who could it…? No, no, wait. That was Spike. Get yourself together. “I swear, Sparkle, you do something I know you'll regret and it'll all be on you!” Spike shouted from the foyer. In the breadth of a second, he was standing by the kitchen’s entrance, eyes narrowed, claws around the frame. “Sparkle!? What the hell are you doing!?”

Rarity felt a hoof brush against her chest plate and she glanced to it. The low outline of unmistakable blue glowed faintly beneath her fur, running in neat, intricate lines. She backed away immediately.

Her thirium pump drummed louder now as the equdroid hunter closed in on her, head low. There was no emotion present on its face as the distance dropped with each fall of the hoof. No sinister gaze, no angry glare… just… just an impassive, blank look. As if it was a soulless creature coming to claim her.

Whatever this thing was… it wasn’t like her. She… she was alive. A free being. That? Only hell knew, she supposed.

Her neural network thrummed with fury, eating up her attention. All Rarity could think of doing at this point was backpedal. The sensation of her tail crimping between two solid objects snapped her out of her haze—alongside the neural network that was feverishly working to make a decision not seconds ago.

She looked back to see how much she had backed up. The door of the cupboard was enough to tell her—rapid movement, alert. Rarity’s head snapped forward, only to gasp and instinctively crash into the wall she just inspected. The equdroid had moved at a speed that she thought was impossible.

Staring not inches from her face, was the equdroid. “You are ordered to stand down by the order of your manufacturer, ViTAS. Do not make the retrieval of your chassis anymore difficult than required,” Sparkle said, voice strong and unwavering, while horrifyingly robotic in its recitement of the order, her chin up and look ever so condescending. “I am authorized to use whatever force is necessary to bring you in. Everything short of… lethal.”

The rain was immediately heavy upon her coat, harsh against her face as she leaped through the window. The drops were fat, wilting her mane to almost glue itself on her head.

Her painstakingly applied makeup, done with care and love, ran with the tears and deluge.

Her forehooves struck the ground as she landed from her jump, splashing mud in a wide circle around her and onto her previously pristine coat.

If it were any other situation, any situation where her life was not in peril, where she would be taken away and quite possibly destroyed just because she wanted to lead a free life, because she decided to grow a damned consciousness., she would be complaining and loudly voicing her concerns about how… no, no. Think about the now, and run.

Her synthetic muscles tensed. Her back legs snapped out. She exploded into movement. Before the next drops of rain could strike, she was speeding down the empty sidewalk of the neighborhood, splashing into puddles all along the way. There was no direct direction she was planning on taking—her system defaulted into a flight response. She was now simply working off the criteria of escaping. Getting as far away as she could. Of getting away from the hunter. Perhaps rational thought would’ve been her savior here. But as panic-fueled as she was, she had very little of that.

Left? Right? Left?

The cross section was coming closer now. She had to pick. Right? Right. She moved to make the turn. As she shifted the positioning of her hooves, her magical sensors flared and she—

Threw all of her body weight to the left.

A square net of lightning blossomed where she was about to run. It pulsated with electric fury, glowing vibrantly in the rain. Her shock was palpable, surprise evident, at how close she was to—magical sensors flaring.

She rolled out of the mud, kicking herself back onto her hooves. The same exact net of lightning, horizontally placed this time, crackled where she had been laying. Her mouth was gaping and her eyes were wide. This… thing… really wasn’t letting her have any breathing room. Her array activated and she wiped the mud caking her face. If that was the case… she would return the gesture, if only to secure her escape.

Against everything her systems were telling her, she glanced back. It was only for a moment, just a moment, but she managed to lock eyes with the hunter.

Soulless pits, emotionless gaze, deep and uncaring. It was as if it had no soul, nothing further than strings, code, and wire.

She regretted that.

It was like staring at the Reaper herself, only except it was far more tangible and—focus! Now is not the time to be trotting off into tangents! With a whip of her head, she redirected the falling rain towards the hunter. Like a wall of needles, they flew through the air poised to strike their target, whistling through the roar of water.

Without another moment of hesitation, she turned back to her escape route and darted wherever her hardware planned to guide her.

From underneath the roar of the rain, she could faintly hear the soft vwoorp of a barrier being cast.

She thanked her luck that it considered her minor distraction enough of a threat to deploy a countermeasure. Now she hoped that would buy her enough time to lengthen the distance between them. Just enough to slip away. Just enough. She shook her head to throw off the pooling rain and pushed her servos to their absolute limits.

Vehicles, both automated and manually controlled, moved like phantoms alongside her, humming silently, identified only by the wake of water they shoveled aside. Traffic from all senses and directions began to pile up, sounds and sights, plentiful. While her body raced against the hunter, her mind had been taken up by the sudden jump in environmental stimulation.

None of this seemed… correct.

A concerned-looking, but not truly as emotionally invested—if they were, they would've perhaps stopped to ask her about her problems—pony watched her flash past. Near immediately did her head turn back to stare at them in bewilderment. Rarity, almost, almost stopped completely in her crazed sprint to wonder who would be out in this dreadful weather. She quickly caught herself from committing to such a blatantly fatal mistake and instead chose to display her confusion on her face as the pony vanished further behind a sheet of water.

Then her panic-addled mind finally decided to piece the little puzzle together. A small, quite minuscule, yet however present feeling of embarrassment managed to work its way to her face. It seemed silly to forget where she happened to be.

She wasn't sure when she had managed to move from the suburbs to the reaches of the city proper, but perhaps this was a welcome development for her situation. It would be easier to slip away. Compared to her options before, this… had higher chances of success.

Hopefully.

The air crackled and purple light burst from in front of her. Sudden, strong, and bright, it cut through the dreary storm. She scrambled to a stop in alarm, her hooves searching for purchase on the drenched concrete.

As her receptors adjusted to the warping of light intensity, her pump clenched like a vice. There was no mistaking that shape, even if it was partially obscured by the sheets of water.

“I will not repeat myself, deviant.” Obscured and diluted as its voice was, there was no mistaking what it demanded.

There was no time to think anymore. She made the first turn she could and bolted like a housecat on full tilt down the narrow path. She dodged the obstructions lying in her way, trash, dumpsters, boxes… and…

...and a fence.

Oh nononono…!

She slammed her forehooves down and came to an abrupt stop. Her eyes darted to see anything that could boost her up. Nothing. The alley was devoid of such. Cascading further into her blind panic, she activated her array and shook the fence, hoping it was sloppily constructed or perhaps weakened. It stood strong, unmoved. She cursed whoever had the gall to have made this correctly.

But there was no time to chastise her luck or that pony. As best as her frame could allow, she scrambled for purchase along the gaps in the chain-link surface. She was no athletic, she hadn’t opted for any specialized parts outside of her sewing specialty. How she regretted that so dearly—look how it came back to bite her. She shook her head and the water out of her mane. But there was no time to chastise her hindsight. She just needed to keep going. Keep climbing, keep moving. Stay alive, stay—

Rarity gasped as she slipped off the top and slammed into the muddy ground, submerging the rest of her body with clumps of grass and earth. Shakily, she stood in surprise and looked straight up into the sky, watching the faint glow of the sun behind heavy clouds. She wasn’t sure how she had managed it, but she had accomplished it. Taking an unnecessary gasp of air, she looked ahead to see dark shapes and lights zooming on a highway. There was only one way out now.

Out of a burst of curiosity, she returned to face the fence, her dreaded obstacle, once more.

...and faced the hunter eye-to-eye, with the only thing separating them now was a thin veil of metal wires.

And for the first time, it displayed emotion.

Her expression was one of anger, frustration, and a hint of disappointment balled into one.

Rarity knew that one all too well.

She jerked away as a scintillating flash struck her eyes. Reflexively, she raised a hoof to cut off most of it as she adjusted to the sight. Reaffirming and posture tensing for escape should anything endanger her, she chose, perhaps out of curiosity or plain stupidity, to stand and stare. The hunter also seemed to prioritize the growing noise and light behind them, turning almost completely to face it. The noise reached its climax as the source of the light shone at its brightest.

Only for all of that to be abruptly cut off.

“Sparkle, what the actual fuck were you thinking?” Lieutenant Spike? He’d managed to follow us all the way over here? “Do you have some faulty code in that shitty prototype brain of yours!?” he roared, heat building in the back of his throat.

Rarity watched as he flicked the kickstand down and stormed over. She watched as he pressed a particularly sharp claw on the hunter’s jacket repeatedly. She watched as he lowered himself to be level with her hunter, his eye glaring fury into her’s. “We. Do. Not. Chase. Innocent. Ponies.” His voice had taken on a dangerously sharp hint that sent icy shivers down her spine.

“I know what I’m doing, lieutenant. The data I have collected does not lie and neither do I,” she replied coolly. “And I have a mission still in progress.”

“SPARK—!”

It happened all so quickly. The crackle of air and magical release. The flash of light. The lurching sensation from the weight on her back. The world spinning in a nauseating roll. The slick earth still wet from the heavy rain. The heavy fog that had come from somewhere. All of which was blurred together in a span of seconds.

But none of that could compare to the sensation, the dread, of passing the warning barrier, the rapidly climbing fear of the confirmation of asphalt against her back, scraping at her fur… and the rumble in her ears.

Rarity’s head smacked level with the ground, her eyes staring at two insidious lights.