Rock And Bluesby DarkSpiderChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1??? Within a darkened laboratory, surrounded by metal debris and sparking wires, a pair of stasis pods lay still upon cracked and fractured ceramic flooring. For time immemorial has this once hallowed place been frozen in time, cut off from the hustle and bustle of a world just outside of its reach. The capsules themselves appeared ordinary, the only distinguishing factor between them being painted cogs colored Red and Blue respectively. Within the pods themselves however, lie a power beyond the threshold of the imagination cultivated in the world beyond these fractured halls. It was at this moment however that whatever was held within the capsule of the red gear began to stir from its slumber, an error reading shouting at no one and everyone. ??? Rubble and debris was forcefully torn from its resting state, a pair of green claws rending through stone as a knife would paper. “Emerald! Be careful, whatever’s giving off that signal could be fragile!” The purple unicorn chastised as she followed her partner's assistant closely. The dragon sighed before throwing the debris at a slower pace. “Calm down, Twilight,” her fire headed friend said, rolling her eyes as Emerald tore through the rubble. “Whatever it is, it's crazy strong. I doubt even Emerald can properly harm it.” Hiding her worry as best she could, Twilight simply turned her attention to the device in her hand. “Well… the good news is we’re getting closer.” She replied absentmindedly, casually poking at the radar screen. “What's the bad news?” Spike asked, also staring at the screen. “Everything around the point of origin seems dead… electronics, thaumic signatures… Even biological life seems nonexistent.” As she spoke, more and more debris had been shoveled away, leading the four to a massive set of rusted double doors. Emerald simply shrugged before she grabbed one of the doors and ripped it open. While dusting her hands, she said, “If that's the case, why are we here? Can't be anything useful here.” Twilight flinched at the show of force before taking lead. “Because the point of origin is giving off readings I’ve never seen before…” Not watching where it was she was going, Twilight very narrowly walked into a sharpened piece of loose metal, with Spike quickly pulling the piece back. This process seemed to repeat itself until the aloof scientist finally looked up. “Here.” Before her were a much larger set of double doors, reinforced, and in prime condition… almost as if untouched by time. Gulping, Twilight gave a nod to Spike, the two looking about the wall and door for any sort of activation console. “Twi! I got it!” Spike had called out, his hand having split apart as several cables and appendages began to integrate and type into a keyboard. “Almooost…” The screen before him began to flash red however, several warning signs cascading within his vision. “Uh oh…” The console had erupted, pushing the dragon back as the massive door had begun to slowly inch open. “SPIKE!” Twilight shouted as she ran to her assistant, staring in horror at the sparkling stump of his arm. “Heh… fourth one this month huh?” He joked. “And you say I'm reckless,” Emerald said, crossing her arms. “You really need to work on that Twi,” Sunset commented. Shrinking in on herself with an embarrassed blush, Twilight composes herself as she helps her dragon to his feet. The gate opened before them, the four stood before a near empty and disheveled room. The only thing of note was a pair of stasis pods adorned with gears, one already opened. “Spike?” Twilight called, getting the dragon to nod and take point as he walked to the open pod. With his one good hand, Spike lit up the inside of the pod as Twilight began to examine it's interior. “This is truly outrageous… beside the fact that this old world tech is leagues beyond our own…” She pulled back and looked at the others. “It was recently in use.” Shuffling footsteps could be heard echoing in the room proper… Flinching, Spike began shining his light around the room, catching a glimpse of a metal red boot. “Who’s there!?” He shouted, now slightly worried and frantic. Emerald facepalmed due to Spike's attitude. “Would you just calm down?” she asked, not focusing in the figure that just showed up. “Sorry, I’m just a litt-” From the door, the sound of something crashing onto the floor and cursing caught his attention. Quickly turning back, Spike shined his light upon a gray bodied figure with crimson arms, legs, and helmet. A black pair of sunglasses obscured his eyes and a yellow scarf was tied around his neck. “Crap.” The figure said, trying desperately to dislodge his massively wide leg from a hole in the ground. Emerald crouched down and glared at the figure, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Sunset nodded to Emerald, then looked at the figure before saying, “What are you?” The figure looked to Emerald, then to Sunset. “You’re Sunset…” He gasped out. Sunset blinked. “You know about me? Strange. By the looks of this tech, it's older than all of us by at least a few decades.” “Here, lets get you loose!” Twilight called out as she made her way to the figure. “Where am I? Why are you here? Why am I here?” He started asking as Twilight freed him from his predicament. “How should we know?” Emerald asked, relaxing. “You're the one who was here.” He tsked, finally free and checking his leg. “Kinda hoping you had the answers... “ He took a quick look outside the door before returning and placing a hand on the closed pod. “He’s just… Lying there…” Sunset walked to the the pod and saw a symbol with a blue gear. Looking inside, she saw a figure with a slightly pale face and a blue helmet and matching outfit. “Friend of yours?” She asked. “My brother,” He replied, curling his hand into a fist. “Why… why am I out here… why…” Though much of his expression was obscured, it was simple to note the pain and anger in his voice. “N-not to sound rude,” The figure looked back to Twilight, shocking her. “Um… but m-may we ask your name?” She asked, hiding behind her bulky radar. Sunset chuckled. “What's wrong Twi, you afraid he might grow fangs and attack you or something?” “It's Nathan…” He responded coldly. “Take it you're a bot too?” Emerald asked him. Nathan tsked, running his left hand over his right shoulder. “Guess so, haven't eaten in days… the lack of sunlight isn't killing me…” He looked back to the open stasis pod, kicking it rather forcefully. “And everytime I lay down on this thing, it's the most relaxing thing on the planet…” “So who's your creator?” Sunset asked. “My mom, who's yours?” Nathan replied. “Was that sarcasm?” Spike asked, his hand on his hip. Twilight, now over her shock, went up to Nathan and began an intimate examination. “You don't look like a comedian model… do you have a designation, what are your specs, is this a titanium outer shell?” “Is she checking me out?” He asked, watching as she began raising and lowering his right arm. “Self lubricating ball joints…” She whispered almost breathlessly. “Okay Twi, that can be seen as extremely explicit if he has no idea what you're talking about,” Sunset said as she literally pulled the purple unicorn away. She then cleared her throat and looked at Nate and said, “Not gonna lie, it's pretty rare at the moment for a bot to see their creator as an actual parent.” “Yeah, I was actually born, thank you very much…” He replied as he looked at the crazed Twilight. “NOO! I need to get inside him!” Twilight cried as she flailed about. “What do you mean you were “born”?” Spike asked as he took charge of restraining Twilight. “Well, ya see, when a man and a woman drink way too much alcohol…” Nate said, his tone of voice low and monotone. Sunset shook her head. “No. No no. No. We aren't having any of that. And Twilight, you are just getting creepy. Very creepy.” After a deep breath, Sunset opened her eyes and looked at Nate. “You are just adding more questions instead of the other way around.” “Not my fault you’re asking the wrong questions.” Nate replied as he crossed his arms together. “Would you believe me if I told you I wasn't always made of iron and wires?” “Only if you were a cyborg,” Emerald asked, circling him herself to examine him, but keeping her distance. “Though I don't have any records of something with your appearance anywhere. Spike, you got anything?” The drake’s eyes were shining blue, several lines of text cascading across his vision. “Nothing… he’s an entirely new model.” “You're not gonna find me in your search history,” Nathan replied as he started to lean on the empty capsule. “Not unless you play video games from another world.” “Okay, this is getting us nowhere,” Emerald said, glaring at Nathan. “Either you start making sense, or I'll personally rip you apart and let Twilight figure out how you work that way.” “Hostile much?” He replies. “Fine, she gets to put her hands on me, but only because I know just about as much as you do,” He then brought up a finger. “One condition.” “Anything!” Twilight shouted, actually getting grabby. “You take everything I tell you at face value. If I tell you I was a little boy with a childhood, you believe me.” This was apparently alright with Twilight as she started vigorously nodding her head. Emerald looked at Sunset for orders, to which the orange unicorn shrugged and said, “Sure. Seems simple enough.” Sighing, Nathan slowly got up and started walking to the entrance of the chamber, looking back at the group. “You coming?” Sunset shrugged again and followed him with Emerald close behind. Nathan continued on his way, but stopped as he looked at a fork in the path. He looked back and seemed… nervous perhaps? “Uh… could one of you lead the way? I was kinda stuck in that room after waking up.” Twilight beamed and happily pulled at Nathan's arm, “This way! Let me just say I am… SO excited to meet you and I can't wait to see what makes you tick!” The scientist said, stars in her eyes. “So you're a psychologist?” Nathan asked, his voice still carrying overtones of sarcasm. “What? Oh! More sarcasm… sorry, humor isn't really my strong suit.” Twilight replied sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. “Dude!” Spike shouted as he waved his stump arm at Nathan, “We're getting you out of this junk heap and we're being nice! What's your deal?” Nathan stared at Spike for a moment, facial expression giving none of his thoughts away, “My deal, is that I have been awake for a WEEK, and the only contact I've had with anyone save a smiley face I carved into a wall included a giant dragon looking at me like I was their next meal, a pretty pony princess whose name I shouldn't even remember, another pony princess,” Nathan shook the arm Twilight was holding onto, “Is constantly staring at me like a piece of mechanical meat, no offense princess,” “None taken,” Twilight replied, “and I'm not a princess.” “And then you start waving your junk in my face,” Nathan added as he motioned to Spike's stump arm which actually got the dragon to hug said stump in embarrassment. “So if it looks and sounds like I'm more than a little disoriented, it's probably because I really… REALLY want to yell at something that isn't either an inanimate object, or being somewhat nice to me.” He relented as he looked away. Sunset blinked. “Sheesh. And you never even tried to leave during that time?” Nathan shrugged as he turned to look at Sunset, “Sure, Johnson, that's the smiley I carved, wasn't much for conversation, but punching a steel wall only gets a man so far in life…” “You named the smiley face?” Spike asked, incredibly weirded out by this fact, “Huh, maybe you do need a shrink.” “So does that mean Twilight has to check your programming to make sure there are no bugs?” Emerald asked. “Not a good thing for a bot to go so bored they start talking to a wall.” “Imagine it…” Twilight said dreamily, “The first robot in recorded history suffering post traumatic stress from an existential crises~” She thusly squee'd like a giddy school girl. Unbeknownst to Twilight however, Nathan took to hiding an amused grin within his scarf. “Is that really a good thing?” Emerald asked. Twilight feverishly began nodding her head. “If robots can exhibit traits equal to organic sapient life, it would mean a breakthrough in the field! So many new questions to explore… can a programmed machine develop emotion without software updates? Can wires and circuits mourn the losses of others? Do robots dream of electric sheep!?” “Isn't that last one a book?” Emerald asked, stepping away from Twilight. “Oh, that book exists here?” Nathan asked, “And I tend to dream about ice cream and yams if anything.” Sunset blinked. “Why yams of all things?” Nathan stopped, Twilight nearly tripping from the abrupt halt. Looking at him, Twilight actually began to worry if maybe Nathan DID need malware scan. “I… I just really like yams…” Was all Nathan said as he hid his face with his scarf. In an effort to quell the awkwardness, Nathan decided to pull Twilight along who in no way fought against the silent bot. Thankfully, Nathan didn't have to worry about getting lost as the entrance was marked by the shining light of the outside world. Author's Note And this is done. And started. Yeah, we made this. Took months to finally finish. Hope you like this first chapter. This was a looong time in the making, I sincerely hope you as readers enjoy our little piece of fiction. Rock on! Chapter 2-Sunset and Twilight's Lab- A small cacophony of fingers on a keyboard echoed through the room along with the low and gentle hum of several machines. Strapped to a chair in metal bindings was Nathan, several tubes, diodes, and wires attached to his body as well as several opened ports along his head, arms, and legs. “Okay, I know I agreed to this, but I gotta ask, did you have to lock me down?” Nathan asked. “You mean after that outburst where you leveled several boulders and slagged the stone of the plateau we were on JUST to vent your frustrations on a chameleon?” Twilight responded, not even flinching as she focused on the screen before her. “It looked at me funny!” Nathan retorted. Silence returned for a few seconds until Twilight spoke up once more. “Such an anomaly… Remember when you said all you did was punch at the walls? Not only did you break those boulders bare handed, you activated a hidden arm chambered cannon and started firing round after round of plasmic energy. Why didn't you use that strength to free yourself?” Nathan grunted. “Not for lack of trying, the first… the second… look, at some point after waking up I did everything I could think of to use the buster.” “Buster,” Twilight repeated as she wrote something down on a notepad. “Is that what your built in cannon is called?” “Yeah… the Proto Buster, first of its kind, highly uh… unstable?” Silence reigned once more until Twilight swiveled around in her chair as she happily faced Nathan. “Well, the exciting news is that several hundred terabytes of data are just sitting in your systems, waiting to be revealed!” She exclaimed happily. “Right… exciting. What's the bad news?” The bot asked. Twilight gave a befuddled shrug. “Eighty eight percent of the data is encrypted cracking it in its entirety will take a little over a month.” Nathan gave a quick sigh, trembling as he tried to move. “Well, now what?” He asked in anticipation. To this, Twilight's smile grew three sizes as she took out a tool kit. “Now comes the fun part! I get to venture deep inside of you while you make small talk!” Actually laughing, the bot did his best to smile, “What? Not even gonna buy me dinner first?” “Okay, what did I walk into?” Sunset asked as she entered the room, having only heard Nate's comment. “She wants to be inside me while I whisper sweet nothings to her.” Nathan replied sarcastically. “Well, you did say to take whatever you told us at face value.” Twilight added as she happily waved a screwdriver about. Sunset immediately yanked the screwdriver from Twilight. “Okay first off, you calm down.” She then looked at Nate. “And you need to stop with that talk before I let her poke and prod your software to see if she can fix it herself.” “And risk damaging his core processors!?” Twilight cried as she cupped her cheeks. “Not even as a joke!” “I thought you said humor wasn't your strong point,” Nate joked. “But I guess I can tone down the vulgarity. Just for you.” Sunset stepped away from Twilight. “So you learn any useful info about him, Twi?” Nodding, Twilight went back to her desk and took hold a small stack of papers, flipping through them she began to speak. “He's unlike anything we've ever seen before… self replicating nano fibers… overclocked processing units… internal weapons converter… whoever built him, did so in the hopes of making something to outclass all other machines.” “You make me sound like a weapon of mass destruction.” Nathan commented. “Chameleon?” Twilight retorted as she gave Nathan a look. “That reminds me, you owe me big time,” Sunset told Nate. “Oh no, whatever shall I do, please your omnipotence, have mercy!” What was seemingly a distorted audio recording of Nathan's voice left the bot’s mouth which managed to surprise even himself. “Okay, that's not normal.” Sunset blinked before turning to Twilight. “You have an explanation for that?” Frantically, Twilight poured over her notes and data. Soon, she looked back at Sunset, her hair a mess and eyes wide. “Nothing… it could be an anomaly, or it could be a hardwired function hidden inside the data still encrypted.” Sunset then looked at Nate. “You have any ideas what that's about?” “You gonna believe what I say?” He asked with seemingly less snark. “We did make an agreement.” Twilight replied. “You made an agreement,” Nathan pointed out. “She didn't, and I don't think she likes me very much.” “What agreement?” Sunset asked. “I get to study his inner workings so long as I believe everything he tells me about himself!” Twilight said cheerfully. “She even has me hooked up to a lie detector.” Nate added, which made Twilight giggle as she flipped through a seperate set of notes. “I can firmly deduce that his name is indeed Nathan Callaway and that he is NOT or ever was a purple spotted elephant.” Twilight said matter of factly. “Why would you need to ask that?” Sunset asked. “I need to cover my bases.” Twilight replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Sunset stared at her in disbelief. “How much sleep have you gotten lately?” “Twenty minutes!” The scientist replied happily. “Okay, you need to take a nice long nap. You’re getting seriously delirious from lack of sleep.” “That's what I told her,” Nathan commented. “I mean, why would I ever have lunch with a bear?” “It's a valid question!” Twilight retorted. Sunset blinked before putting a hand on Twilight and pushing her out of the room. “Okay, you really need to sleep.” Twilight had done her best to resist against Sunset, but it had become increasingly apparent that she was fighting a losing battle. “Goodnight, princess!” Nathan called out, a rather weak ‘I'm not a princess’ could be heard from the other side of the door in response. Sighing, Nate tried moving his limbs again to no avail. “So… how can I help you?” He called out. “Mostly wanna know what you're capable of to your knowledge,” Sunset said. “I can blow a hole through a five inch thick titanium wall, but then my body goes into a half shutdown state from overclocking my buster.” He replied, a small ding echoing from one of Twilight's machines. “I have no idea if that thing works or not, but I don't think I'm lying so…” “Buster?” “Arm cannon? The cylinder my arm turned into when I ran after the chameleon?” Nate clarified. “I'll be honest, I couldn't use it til that moment.” Another ding went off, signifying another truth. “Can your brother do that?” She continued. “His isn't as strong, nor as unstable,” The bot replied softly. “At least I hope not… will you be going back for him?” “Later. Or tomorrow. We'll see. So what else can he do?” “Variable weapon system. If its electronic, he can copy its function so long as it resembles a firearm in some way.” Sunset's eyes widened in shock. “What? How?” “Unhook me and give me my motor functions, it’ll be easier to show you.” Nate replied as he attempted to move again. Sunset shrugged and unhooked him with her magic. “So what now?” Nathan took the time to take a deep breath, sigh, and flex his limbs and fingers as he smiled. “Hang on, think I pulled a servo…” Grunting, Nathan popped his left elbow and sighed again. “Synthetic ball joints suuuck… anyway, enough of my problems, you have an arc welder or something?” He asked while stretching his knees. “Not in here.” Sunset said with a shrug. Nate gave a small bow while motioning to the door. “Lead the way, Sunset.” He said with a joking tone. It wasn't long before the pair managed to accumulate quite a few appliances and tools, setting them upon a large steel table. As Sunset readied her notes, Nathan began to toss a hand held vacuum up and down. "Well, might as well start off small right?" He asked as he leaned on the table, pointing the vacuum at Sunset. "You know, I'd make a joke, but you'd probably find it in poor taste." "From what I've heard from you so far? That's probably accurate," she replied. "Everyone's a critic…" Nathan muttered as he tossed the appliance one last time before catching it in the air. The small machine seemed to light up at his touch as golden yellow circuits began to race along his forearm and the vacuum. As the lights faded, he put the vacuum down before pointing his now shifting arm at Sunset, a crimson vacuum appearing where his forearm once was. "Huh, didn't actually think that would work," he commented as he looked down the nozzle. "Now, do you suck, or blow?" He said with a smile. Sunset gave him a deadpan expression before grabbing the vacuum and knocking him upside the head with it. Chuckling, Nathan lifted his hands up. "Sorry, sorry…" Soon, he began to examine his vacuum arm before it went off on the highest setting… and pulled his visors off his eyes. "My glasses! I can't be seen without my glasses!!" He shouted as he closed his eyes while trying to pry his visors from the nozzle. Sunset raised an eyebrow. "They're sunglasses. I doubt they help see anything unless it's bright. Plus I highly doubt you actually need glasses to see. Who'd make a robot with poor eyesight?" "Oh… right," Nate relented as he opened his eyes, while also managing to dismiss his vacuum arm. "Oh cool, it let go," Calmly, he replaced the lens over his rather brown eyes. "Next test?" He asked as he looked at a lightbulb fixture of all things. Picking the fixture up, the same light crawled along the appliance. Though this time, the appliance began the smoke as the bulb burst. "Woah! Okay, pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen…" He said as he put down the still smoking appliance. "So you can copy machines just by touching them?" Sunset asked. "That is the general idea, yeah." Nathan replied as his forearm began to shift into a bulbous flashlight. "Does it work with other robots?" Nathan shrugged as he began lighting and dimming the bulb. "Theoretically, yeah, but they'd need a function tied to their power core like say a flamethrower or an ouroboros satellite shield." Sunset rose an eyebrow. "Really? That seems pretty specific. How do you know this if you used to be organic?" "Because I saw it happen," He replied idly as he dismissed the flashlight. "Course, the only way I'll actually know is if I checked for myself." He added as he sat on the work table. "Sure…" Sunset muttered. "So we got that out of the way. Anything else about you we should know about?" He tilted his head back as if in thought of something before snapping his fingers. "I may need my power core checked, it may or may not be an unstable mess." "You don't know?" "Hey, this thing has been my body for a week!" He said defensively. "I guess normally I'd be having a heart attack, but I haven't exactly been pushing myself too hard." Nate added as he shrugged. "Why haven't you told Twilight?" "Why do you think I was strapped down?" He replied with a bit of snark. "She gets to see my insides and I get to know if I blow up. Win win." "And did she find anything?" "Did you see her open me up?" He replied with a smile. Sunset sighed. "Let me rephrase that. Did she find out how to fix you?" "Wouldn't be asking if she did," He replied just slightly more serious. "She was kinda focused more on my build data than my actual build." Sunset sighed. "Of course… Remind me to check it out myself later." Smiling, Nathan tilt his head back as he looked at the ceiling. "It must be late…" He muttered before looking back at Sunset. "You should probably get to bed. It's been a pretty long day." Chapter 3-Maintenance Room: Spike- Soft lights of blue and green glowed within the darkened room, Twilight's Number One assistant, Spike, held in stasis as his hand was being replaced and programmed. The dragon was a marvel not only of other bots of his caliber, but of robotics as a whole… From the moment of his conception, life itself had seemed to bloom from seemingly nowhere. What was meant to be a useless statue of haphazardly connected servos and wires had quickly become its own life form. No pre-destined assignation, no need to follow given orders... Twilight had not just built a machine, she had unwittingly given it life. And now he stood in a lonely room, body, mind and soul on standby as his creator’s machines made him whole once more. “Hello?” A voice seemed to echo from the sleeping machine. “Hello!” The voice called out once more. “Well, isn't this a sticky wicket…” -Morning- “Oh good, the new hand installed perfectly!” Twilight cheered as she brought her assistant out of stasis. Lights flooded the once shadow obscured room, its occupant stirring from his slumber. With a grand yawn, followed by the stretching of limbs and a bit of scratching upon the base of their tail, Spike looked to Twilight as he clenched and unfurled his new claw. “Heh, you're too good to me Twi.” Spike said happily. Smiling softly in return, Twilight turned to a screen to her left that showed pertinent data involving her precious assistant. Finding nothing wrong after a third and fourth diagnostics, Twilight tapped Spike’s chest lightly, “Welp, I’ve had some sleep and I am starving!” “Well, I could always go for a good bacon and eggs with coffee.” A voice not belonging to anyone echoed out of Spike. Spinning in place, Twilight looked to Spike, the dragon looking absolutely mortified. “Twilight, that wasn't me!” He shouted defensively. Nodding, Twilight opened a chest port on Spike’s body and plugged his core into a handheld device. “I’ll isolate the bug and have it purged from your systems.” “Wait wait wait!” The voice pleaded, Spike’s hands shooting up pleadingly. “Oh, sorry about that…” The voice relented as Spike slowly moved his arms on his own volition. “Right, you're getting deleted.” Twilight said calmly, Spike nodding in agreement. “I CAN HELP YOU WITH NATHAN!!” The voice shouted, causing Twilight to stop and immediately unplug her device. “Tell me everything you know…” The mare whispered in reverence. “TWI!” Spike shouted. “You can't just trust every disembodied voice we come across!” “Not now Spike, I'm doing…” Twilight isolated the rogue program and had it transferred into a new portable. “SCIENCE!” She declared as she raised her device. "Perfect, it had to be Membrane…" The voice echoed from its new home. "Membrane?" Spike asked as he set his chest in place. "A… scientist. Quite famous where I'm from." The voice replied. "And where are you from?" Twilight asked as she began her walk. "And just who are you? Oh I have so many questions…" She squee'd silently. "All in due time my dear," The voice stated. "But first, you really should eat." As Spike prepared Twilight's meal, the unicorn scientist sat down with her hand held device. "So, it's obvious you're an artificial intelligence meant to be a part of Nate, but that doesn't tell me much." Twilight stated. "Well, allow me to introduce myself," The A.I. began. "I am Aaaaal-" Only to cut himself off. "Aaaal?" Twilight asked as she tapped a pen onto a notepad. "Al," The A.I. responded. "Call me Al." "Just 'Al'?" Spike asked incredulously, a plate of pancakes in one claw and a small jug of freshly squeezed juice in the other. "What's your exact designation?" A small hum left Al's current holding place as if he were pondering a suitable answer. "I wasn't exactly programed with a designation. I serve one purpose: analyze Nathan's progress and unlock more of his abilities as he reaches certain… thresholds we'll call them." Twilight, for the most part, stayed silently enthralled as Al spoke. Even as she mindlessly chewed on a pancake whole, her eyes never left where Al's voice echoed from. Slightly perturbed, Spike took the small device from off the table much to Twilight's dismay, said mare whining as she reached out for Spike… food still in her mouth. "Alright, fine, let's say we believe you," Spike said as he placed the device on a rather high and unreachable shelf much to Twilight's dismay. "Where did you come from, and how did you get inside me?" He asked with just a hint of animosity. "Pfft, phrasing…" Al replied, which only caused the dragon to growl. "Alright alright! Do you remember the door?" "Door?" Twilight asked, finally having chewed through her food. "Yes, the one electronically locked. Where you found Nate?" Al spoke. Spike's face seemed to scrunch slightly before his eyes shot open. "Yeah… I had to hack the door… it's what blew my claw off." Laughing, Al spoke. "Yes that's it! When Nathan's stasis pod opened, I was activated as a… fail safe so to speak." "A fail safe? What for?" Twilight asked as she decided to cut her remaining pancakes into bite sized pieces. "I couldn't be sure that Nathan wasn't going to destroy everything he came into contact with," Al stated. "So I locked the door just in case he was a little… unhinged." "He drew a smiley face into a wall," Spike said as he folded his arms and shot the device a dirty look. "Which he named. Unhinged doesn't cut it." "So many possibilities…" Twilight muttered in reverence. Clearing a non existent throat, Al continued. "After locking the door and weathering his initial outburst, I dimmed the power of the facility. Then you four showed up." He stayed silent for a time, Twilight and Spike waiting patiently for him to continue… or at least Twilight was. "And then…" Spike growled out. "And then?" Al asked in a hushed tone. "Oh! And then! Yes, you can probably figure out that I was attached to the door at this point. Despite my best efforts from keeping you out, you managed to stay one step ahead of me at every turn." Al explained. "What can I say, he's a marvel." Twilight beamed, Spike smiling at the praise. "Well, finding no way to counter his attempts at opening the door, I attached myself to him." Spike grunted at this as he flexed his new claw. "Yeah, and you blew off my arm." Spike said in a low growl. "Eugh, testy." Al retorted. "I didn't want to damage you, but it's what happened and I apologise." "Wait!" Twilight cried as she shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, her eyes shining in epiphany. "You said you govern Nathan's growth, yes?" "Hn? Oh! Yes, that's right." Al replied, albeit a little confused. "Does the other robot come paired with an equal artificial intelligence?" Twilight asked. "Yes, my colleague in a sense. His name is Tom." The A.I replied. “Maybe we should take this to Sunset,” Spike offered. “She’ll need to hear this too.” "Quite so!" Al declared. "Who knows, with any luck she can help us find Tom." "And where can we find Tom?" Twilight asked curiously. "Exactly where you found me!" Al replied happily enough. "Now, follow meeeee…… I forgot I don't actually have legs." After a bit of cleaning up, Twilight and Spike found themselves in front of Sunset's room, neither really wanting to knock. "So… who knocks? Do you knock? Do I knock?" Al asked, his little box glowing as he spoke. "You know you don't have hands either, right?" Spike shot back in annoyance. "Well I'm not the one avoiding my coworker like the plague!" "Well, I'd love to knock…" Twilight muttered. "But it's only six forty-three A.M. Sunset is barely even awake at nine." The unicorn explained carefully. "Oh for the love of…" It was at this moment several loud and obnoxious foghorn noises and alarms began to chime and cry from Al's box. Try as the two might, neither Twilight or Spike could muffle the noise. Seeing no other option, Twilight threw caution to the wind and began slamming her hands on Sunset's door. "SUNSET!!! SUNSET HELP!!!" The lavender unicorn shouted desperately. The door immediately open and a pair of claws immediately ended up over Spike and Twilight's mouths. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Emerald asked, glaring at the pair. "And what is that noise?" Eyes wide with fear, both unicorn and dragon pointed at the now quiet box in Spike's claw. "Oh good, more dragons." Al quipped. Emerald blinked. "Did that thing just talk?" She asked, looking at the box and removing her claws from the pair's mouths. "Hello! I am Al, now I'm quite sure you have quite a number of questions of my being here…" Twilight thusly cleared her throat, "We have coffee, so… could you get Sunset to wake up?" "This couldn't wait til later why?" Emerald asked, crossing her arms, still annoyed. "Because there's a one of a kind robot with a one of a kind Artificial Intelligence that needs an equal or greater wake up call." Al explained. "I don't see why that can't wait a few hours more for when Sunset is actually awake. And you guys are very lucky I put on those headphones on her last night or else you'd probably be putting out fires. Again..." "My auditories must've failed me, we don't have time, because if someone gets to Ben before we do then it's a lethal weapon that you let loose on the world." Emerald rose an eyebrow. "If it's so important, why not take Nate and go? I don't see why you need Sunset to come along." "That's a fair point…" Twilight muttered. "Well, I did want Sunset to join us since she was there to get Nathan… could you tell her where we went when she wakes up?" Twilight said meekly. Emerald shrugged. "If it's so important, I'll join and give her the details when she wakes up. Besides, maybe this guy isn't as nuts as Nate." "Oh very! Eh, that is the… not nuts part. Eh, probably…" Al replied hesitantly. "So, ready to go?" Spike asked a little less worried. Emerald shrugged. "Sure. So long as nothing wakes up Sunset, it should be fine. Let's go." -Nate: Half An Hour Later- With a sigh and a languid stretch, Nathan began to blink his eyes awake, several notifications and messages cascading along his sights. "That never gets old…" The bot said to no one, unplugging himself from an outlet he found while exploring Twilight's lab… at least he thought it was Twilight's lab. "Hey!! Helllooooo~" He practically sang out. "Anybody home? No? Just me then…" Shrugging, he decided to explore more of the lab he found himself in. Gray walls, white ceiling, bright lights shined from the room's bulbs… though not much for interior decor, Nate did think the room could use more color… even if all it housed was a mass of wires, scrap metal, and oversized military grade supercomputers. Having had enough of the drab scenery, the bot decided to see if there were any warm bodies… or other machines able to hold a conversation. If the lab was drab, then the rest of the home was a breath of fresh air. Finely polished wood lined cream colored walls, the furniture was comprised mostly of olden day styled pieces straight out of a picture book. "This… looks kinda nice." Taking a seat, Nate blinked as he tested a cushioned chair for a bit and found it more than comfortable. "Not bad… what else is here…" Walking away, he found his way into a more modernly furnished living room, several photos lining the walls and a fireplace. Some were of Twilight, others of Sunset, some of a white unicorn with blue hair, a blue unicorn, and another white unicorn that looked a lot like Twilight. "God why do I feel like I know these ponies… think… what were their names…" Grunting, Nate shook his head and looked around more, eyes widening at the massive bulbous window that gave him quite the view of the sky. Drawing closer, he took note of a rather old yet incredibly well kept telescope. Shaking away the child-like awe, Nathan went back to exploring the rest of the home, finding a broom closet sized room decked floor to ceiling in computers, an empty stasis stand covering most of the floor space. Resisting the urge to try and use the stasis stand, Nathan quickly walked away and stumbled into a larger, incredibly disheveled bedroom, it's walls completely covered in books. In fact, the wall wide bookcases were probably the only structured part of the room. Slowly stepping out of the room, Nathan went back to exploring until he found another bedroom. This one was far more neat and organized than the last one and the walls were painted a dark purple with a few orange and red swirls of fireballs carved here and there. There was a finely made dresser with a vanity mirror off to the side, next to it, a metallic rifle lined with orange safety tape hung off a hook. He would have examined the futuristic rifle further had it not been for the gentle breathing coming from behind him. Spinning in place, he took note of Sunset, wearing what were probably noise canceling headphones, sound asleep. Finding no other options to cure his boredom and curiosity, he went up to her, crouched down and began to nudge her. Sunset groaned and swatted Nate's arm before turning over in her sleep. Feeling rather emboldened, Nate began to poke Sunset's face, finding an odd amount of amusement in trying to wake the girl up. Sunset groaned again and smacked Nate's hand away again before turning over once more, and a frown on her face. Seeing no other options, Nathan had carefully removed Sunset's headphones and once again applied gentle pressure to her cheek. "Hey… Princess. Wake up already, I'm bored." The bot said unashamedly. The next second, Sunset's eyes shot up, bloodshot. A moment later, they narrowed into a glare towards Nate before she outstretched her hand and it and her horn started glowing, the weapon flying into her hand as she aimed it at Nate. Not even bothering to flinch or pull away, he simply said, "This is not the fun I was looking for…" Author's Note And that is done. So the group found an A.I. named Al. In case anyone can't tell (just in case), that's Al like in Albus or Alvin. Wonder if you guys can guess a certain thing regarding Al. If you do, put spoilers, in case other readers don't know. And Nate will learn why it's a bad idea to wake Sunset. Next chapter, Nate's brother finally shows up. Hopefully it goes well. Until next time. -Dark P.S. This was posted on the 4 year anniversary of me being on this site.
Chapter 1??? Within a darkened laboratory, surrounded by metal debris and sparking wires, a pair of stasis pods lay still upon cracked and fractured ceramic flooring. For time immemorial has this once hallowed place been frozen in time, cut off from the hustle and bustle of a world just outside of its reach. The capsules themselves appeared ordinary, the only distinguishing factor between them being painted cogs colored Red and Blue respectively. Within the pods themselves however, lie a power beyond the threshold of the imagination cultivated in the world beyond these fractured halls. It was at this moment however that whatever was held within the capsule of the red gear began to stir from its slumber, an error reading shouting at no one and everyone. ??? Rubble and debris was forcefully torn from its resting state, a pair of green claws rending through stone as a knife would paper. “Emerald! Be careful, whatever’s giving off that signal could be fragile!” The purple unicorn chastised as she followed her partner's assistant closely. The dragon sighed before throwing the debris at a slower pace. “Calm down, Twilight,” her fire headed friend said, rolling her eyes as Emerald tore through the rubble. “Whatever it is, it's crazy strong. I doubt even Emerald can properly harm it.” Hiding her worry as best she could, Twilight simply turned her attention to the device in her hand. “Well… the good news is we’re getting closer.” She replied absentmindedly, casually poking at the radar screen. “What's the bad news?” Spike asked, also staring at the screen. “Everything around the point of origin seems dead… electronics, thaumic signatures… Even biological life seems nonexistent.” As she spoke, more and more debris had been shoveled away, leading the four to a massive set of rusted double doors. Emerald simply shrugged before she grabbed one of the doors and ripped it open. While dusting her hands, she said, “If that's the case, why are we here? Can't be anything useful here.” Twilight flinched at the show of force before taking lead. “Because the point of origin is giving off readings I’ve never seen before…” Not watching where it was she was going, Twilight very narrowly walked into a sharpened piece of loose metal, with Spike quickly pulling the piece back. This process seemed to repeat itself until the aloof scientist finally looked up. “Here.” Before her were a much larger set of double doors, reinforced, and in prime condition… almost as if untouched by time. Gulping, Twilight gave a nod to Spike, the two looking about the wall and door for any sort of activation console. “Twi! I got it!” Spike had called out, his hand having split apart as several cables and appendages began to integrate and type into a keyboard. “Almooost…” The screen before him began to flash red however, several warning signs cascading within his vision. “Uh oh…” The console had erupted, pushing the dragon back as the massive door had begun to slowly inch open. “SPIKE!” Twilight shouted as she ran to her assistant, staring in horror at the sparkling stump of his arm. “Heh… fourth one this month huh?” He joked. “And you say I'm reckless,” Emerald said, crossing her arms. “You really need to work on that Twi,” Sunset commented. Shrinking in on herself with an embarrassed blush, Twilight composes herself as she helps her dragon to his feet. The gate opened before them, the four stood before a near empty and disheveled room. The only thing of note was a pair of stasis pods adorned with gears, one already opened. “Spike?” Twilight called, getting the dragon to nod and take point as he walked to the open pod. With his one good hand, Spike lit up the inside of the pod as Twilight began to examine it's interior. “This is truly outrageous… beside the fact that this old world tech is leagues beyond our own…” She pulled back and looked at the others. “It was recently in use.” Shuffling footsteps could be heard echoing in the room proper… Flinching, Spike began shining his light around the room, catching a glimpse of a metal red boot. “Who’s there!?” He shouted, now slightly worried and frantic. Emerald facepalmed due to Spike's attitude. “Would you just calm down?” she asked, not focusing in the figure that just showed up. “Sorry, I’m just a litt-” From the door, the sound of something crashing onto the floor and cursing caught his attention. Quickly turning back, Spike shined his light upon a gray bodied figure with crimson arms, legs, and helmet. A black pair of sunglasses obscured his eyes and a yellow scarf was tied around his neck. “Crap.” The figure said, trying desperately to dislodge his massively wide leg from a hole in the ground. Emerald crouched down and glared at the figure, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Sunset nodded to Emerald, then looked at the figure before saying, “What are you?” The figure looked to Emerald, then to Sunset. “You’re Sunset…” He gasped out. Sunset blinked. “You know about me? Strange. By the looks of this tech, it's older than all of us by at least a few decades.” “Here, lets get you loose!” Twilight called out as she made her way to the figure. “Where am I? Why are you here? Why am I here?” He started asking as Twilight freed him from his predicament. “How should we know?” Emerald asked, relaxing. “You're the one who was here.” He tsked, finally free and checking his leg. “Kinda hoping you had the answers... “ He took a quick look outside the door before returning and placing a hand on the closed pod. “He’s just… Lying there…” Sunset walked to the the pod and saw a symbol with a blue gear. Looking inside, she saw a figure with a slightly pale face and a blue helmet and matching outfit. “Friend of yours?” She asked. “My brother,” He replied, curling his hand into a fist. “Why… why am I out here… why…” Though much of his expression was obscured, it was simple to note the pain and anger in his voice. “N-not to sound rude,” The figure looked back to Twilight, shocking her. “Um… but m-may we ask your name?” She asked, hiding behind her bulky radar. Sunset chuckled. “What's wrong Twi, you afraid he might grow fangs and attack you or something?” “It's Nathan…” He responded coldly. “Take it you're a bot too?” Emerald asked him. Nathan tsked, running his left hand over his right shoulder. “Guess so, haven't eaten in days… the lack of sunlight isn't killing me…” He looked back to the open stasis pod, kicking it rather forcefully. “And everytime I lay down on this thing, it's the most relaxing thing on the planet…” “So who's your creator?” Sunset asked. “My mom, who's yours?” Nathan replied. “Was that sarcasm?” Spike asked, his hand on his hip. Twilight, now over her shock, went up to Nathan and began an intimate examination. “You don't look like a comedian model… do you have a designation, what are your specs, is this a titanium outer shell?” “Is she checking me out?” He asked, watching as she began raising and lowering his right arm. “Self lubricating ball joints…” She whispered almost breathlessly. “Okay Twi, that can be seen as extremely explicit if he has no idea what you're talking about,” Sunset said as she literally pulled the purple unicorn away. She then cleared her throat and looked at Nate and said, “Not gonna lie, it's pretty rare at the moment for a bot to see their creator as an actual parent.” “Yeah, I was actually born, thank you very much…” He replied as he looked at the crazed Twilight. “NOO! I need to get inside him!” Twilight cried as she flailed about. “What do you mean you were “born”?” Spike asked as he took charge of restraining Twilight. “Well, ya see, when a man and a woman drink way too much alcohol…” Nate said, his tone of voice low and monotone. Sunset shook her head. “No. No no. No. We aren't having any of that. And Twilight, you are just getting creepy. Very creepy.” After a deep breath, Sunset opened her eyes and looked at Nate. “You are just adding more questions instead of the other way around.” “Not my fault you’re asking the wrong questions.” Nate replied as he crossed his arms together. “Would you believe me if I told you I wasn't always made of iron and wires?” “Only if you were a cyborg,” Emerald asked, circling him herself to examine him, but keeping her distance. “Though I don't have any records of something with your appearance anywhere. Spike, you got anything?” The drake’s eyes were shining blue, several lines of text cascading across his vision. “Nothing… he’s an entirely new model.” “You're not gonna find me in your search history,” Nathan replied as he started to lean on the empty capsule. “Not unless you play video games from another world.” “Okay, this is getting us nowhere,” Emerald said, glaring at Nathan. “Either you start making sense, or I'll personally rip you apart and let Twilight figure out how you work that way.” “Hostile much?” He replies. “Fine, she gets to put her hands on me, but only because I know just about as much as you do,” He then brought up a finger. “One condition.” “Anything!” Twilight shouted, actually getting grabby. “You take everything I tell you at face value. If I tell you I was a little boy with a childhood, you believe me.” This was apparently alright with Twilight as she started vigorously nodding her head. Emerald looked at Sunset for orders, to which the orange unicorn shrugged and said, “Sure. Seems simple enough.” Sighing, Nathan slowly got up and started walking to the entrance of the chamber, looking back at the group. “You coming?” Sunset shrugged again and followed him with Emerald close behind. Nathan continued on his way, but stopped as he looked at a fork in the path. He looked back and seemed… nervous perhaps? “Uh… could one of you lead the way? I was kinda stuck in that room after waking up.” Twilight beamed and happily pulled at Nathan's arm, “This way! Let me just say I am… SO excited to meet you and I can't wait to see what makes you tick!” The scientist said, stars in her eyes. “So you're a psychologist?” Nathan asked, his voice still carrying overtones of sarcasm. “What? Oh! More sarcasm… sorry, humor isn't really my strong suit.” Twilight replied sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. “Dude!” Spike shouted as he waved his stump arm at Nathan, “We're getting you out of this junk heap and we're being nice! What's your deal?” Nathan stared at Spike for a moment, facial expression giving none of his thoughts away, “My deal, is that I have been awake for a WEEK, and the only contact I've had with anyone save a smiley face I carved into a wall included a giant dragon looking at me like I was their next meal, a pretty pony princess whose name I shouldn't even remember, another pony princess,” Nathan shook the arm Twilight was holding onto, “Is constantly staring at me like a piece of mechanical meat, no offense princess,” “None taken,” Twilight replied, “and I'm not a princess.” “And then you start waving your junk in my face,” Nathan added as he motioned to Spike's stump arm which actually got the dragon to hug said stump in embarrassment. “So if it looks and sounds like I'm more than a little disoriented, it's probably because I really… REALLY want to yell at something that isn't either an inanimate object, or being somewhat nice to me.” He relented as he looked away. Sunset blinked. “Sheesh. And you never even tried to leave during that time?” Nathan shrugged as he turned to look at Sunset, “Sure, Johnson, that's the smiley I carved, wasn't much for conversation, but punching a steel wall only gets a man so far in life…” “You named the smiley face?” Spike asked, incredibly weirded out by this fact, “Huh, maybe you do need a shrink.” “So does that mean Twilight has to check your programming to make sure there are no bugs?” Emerald asked. “Not a good thing for a bot to go so bored they start talking to a wall.” “Imagine it…” Twilight said dreamily, “The first robot in recorded history suffering post traumatic stress from an existential crises~” She thusly squee'd like a giddy school girl. Unbeknownst to Twilight however, Nathan took to hiding an amused grin within his scarf. “Is that really a good thing?” Emerald asked. Twilight feverishly began nodding her head. “If robots can exhibit traits equal to organic sapient life, it would mean a breakthrough in the field! So many new questions to explore… can a programmed machine develop emotion without software updates? Can wires and circuits mourn the losses of others? Do robots dream of electric sheep!?” “Isn't that last one a book?” Emerald asked, stepping away from Twilight. “Oh, that book exists here?” Nathan asked, “And I tend to dream about ice cream and yams if anything.” Sunset blinked. “Why yams of all things?” Nathan stopped, Twilight nearly tripping from the abrupt halt. Looking at him, Twilight actually began to worry if maybe Nathan DID need malware scan. “I… I just really like yams…” Was all Nathan said as he hid his face with his scarf. In an effort to quell the awkwardness, Nathan decided to pull Twilight along who in no way fought against the silent bot. Thankfully, Nathan didn't have to worry about getting lost as the entrance was marked by the shining light of the outside world. Author's Note And this is done. And started. Yeah, we made this. Took months to finally finish. Hope you like this first chapter. This was a looong time in the making, I sincerely hope you as readers enjoy our little piece of fiction. Rock on!
Chapter 2-Sunset and Twilight's Lab- A small cacophony of fingers on a keyboard echoed through the room along with the low and gentle hum of several machines. Strapped to a chair in metal bindings was Nathan, several tubes, diodes, and wires attached to his body as well as several opened ports along his head, arms, and legs. “Okay, I know I agreed to this, but I gotta ask, did you have to lock me down?” Nathan asked. “You mean after that outburst where you leveled several boulders and slagged the stone of the plateau we were on JUST to vent your frustrations on a chameleon?” Twilight responded, not even flinching as she focused on the screen before her. “It looked at me funny!” Nathan retorted. Silence returned for a few seconds until Twilight spoke up once more. “Such an anomaly… Remember when you said all you did was punch at the walls? Not only did you break those boulders bare handed, you activated a hidden arm chambered cannon and started firing round after round of plasmic energy. Why didn't you use that strength to free yourself?” Nathan grunted. “Not for lack of trying, the first… the second… look, at some point after waking up I did everything I could think of to use the buster.” “Buster,” Twilight repeated as she wrote something down on a notepad. “Is that what your built in cannon is called?” “Yeah… the Proto Buster, first of its kind, highly uh… unstable?” Silence reigned once more until Twilight swiveled around in her chair as she happily faced Nathan. “Well, the exciting news is that several hundred terabytes of data are just sitting in your systems, waiting to be revealed!” She exclaimed happily. “Right… exciting. What's the bad news?” The bot asked. Twilight gave a befuddled shrug. “Eighty eight percent of the data is encrypted cracking it in its entirety will take a little over a month.” Nathan gave a quick sigh, trembling as he tried to move. “Well, now what?” He asked in anticipation. To this, Twilight's smile grew three sizes as she took out a tool kit. “Now comes the fun part! I get to venture deep inside of you while you make small talk!” Actually laughing, the bot did his best to smile, “What? Not even gonna buy me dinner first?” “Okay, what did I walk into?” Sunset asked as she entered the room, having only heard Nate's comment. “She wants to be inside me while I whisper sweet nothings to her.” Nathan replied sarcastically. “Well, you did say to take whatever you told us at face value.” Twilight added as she happily waved a screwdriver about. Sunset immediately yanked the screwdriver from Twilight. “Okay first off, you calm down.” She then looked at Nate. “And you need to stop with that talk before I let her poke and prod your software to see if she can fix it herself.” “And risk damaging his core processors!?” Twilight cried as she cupped her cheeks. “Not even as a joke!” “I thought you said humor wasn't your strong point,” Nate joked. “But I guess I can tone down the vulgarity. Just for you.” Sunset stepped away from Twilight. “So you learn any useful info about him, Twi?” Nodding, Twilight went back to her desk and took hold a small stack of papers, flipping through them she began to speak. “He's unlike anything we've ever seen before… self replicating nano fibers… overclocked processing units… internal weapons converter… whoever built him, did so in the hopes of making something to outclass all other machines.” “You make me sound like a weapon of mass destruction.” Nathan commented. “Chameleon?” Twilight retorted as she gave Nathan a look. “That reminds me, you owe me big time,” Sunset told Nate. “Oh no, whatever shall I do, please your omnipotence, have mercy!” What was seemingly a distorted audio recording of Nathan's voice left the bot’s mouth which managed to surprise even himself. “Okay, that's not normal.” Sunset blinked before turning to Twilight. “You have an explanation for that?” Frantically, Twilight poured over her notes and data. Soon, she looked back at Sunset, her hair a mess and eyes wide. “Nothing… it could be an anomaly, or it could be a hardwired function hidden inside the data still encrypted.” Sunset then looked at Nate. “You have any ideas what that's about?” “You gonna believe what I say?” He asked with seemingly less snark. “We did make an agreement.” Twilight replied. “You made an agreement,” Nathan pointed out. “She didn't, and I don't think she likes me very much.” “What agreement?” Sunset asked. “I get to study his inner workings so long as I believe everything he tells me about himself!” Twilight said cheerfully. “She even has me hooked up to a lie detector.” Nate added, which made Twilight giggle as she flipped through a seperate set of notes. “I can firmly deduce that his name is indeed Nathan Callaway and that he is NOT or ever was a purple spotted elephant.” Twilight said matter of factly. “Why would you need to ask that?” Sunset asked. “I need to cover my bases.” Twilight replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Sunset stared at her in disbelief. “How much sleep have you gotten lately?” “Twenty minutes!” The scientist replied happily. “Okay, you need to take a nice long nap. You’re getting seriously delirious from lack of sleep.” “That's what I told her,” Nathan commented. “I mean, why would I ever have lunch with a bear?” “It's a valid question!” Twilight retorted. Sunset blinked before putting a hand on Twilight and pushing her out of the room. “Okay, you really need to sleep.” Twilight had done her best to resist against Sunset, but it had become increasingly apparent that she was fighting a losing battle. “Goodnight, princess!” Nathan called out, a rather weak ‘I'm not a princess’ could be heard from the other side of the door in response. Sighing, Nate tried moving his limbs again to no avail. “So… how can I help you?” He called out. “Mostly wanna know what you're capable of to your knowledge,” Sunset said. “I can blow a hole through a five inch thick titanium wall, but then my body goes into a half shutdown state from overclocking my buster.” He replied, a small ding echoing from one of Twilight's machines. “I have no idea if that thing works or not, but I don't think I'm lying so…” “Buster?” “Arm cannon? The cylinder my arm turned into when I ran after the chameleon?” Nate clarified. “I'll be honest, I couldn't use it til that moment.” Another ding went off, signifying another truth. “Can your brother do that?” She continued. “His isn't as strong, nor as unstable,” The bot replied softly. “At least I hope not… will you be going back for him?” “Later. Or tomorrow. We'll see. So what else can he do?” “Variable weapon system. If its electronic, he can copy its function so long as it resembles a firearm in some way.” Sunset's eyes widened in shock. “What? How?” “Unhook me and give me my motor functions, it’ll be easier to show you.” Nate replied as he attempted to move again. Sunset shrugged and unhooked him with her magic. “So what now?” Nathan took the time to take a deep breath, sigh, and flex his limbs and fingers as he smiled. “Hang on, think I pulled a servo…” Grunting, Nathan popped his left elbow and sighed again. “Synthetic ball joints suuuck… anyway, enough of my problems, you have an arc welder or something?” He asked while stretching his knees. “Not in here.” Sunset said with a shrug. Nate gave a small bow while motioning to the door. “Lead the way, Sunset.” He said with a joking tone. It wasn't long before the pair managed to accumulate quite a few appliances and tools, setting them upon a large steel table. As Sunset readied her notes, Nathan began to toss a hand held vacuum up and down. "Well, might as well start off small right?" He asked as he leaned on the table, pointing the vacuum at Sunset. "You know, I'd make a joke, but you'd probably find it in poor taste." "From what I've heard from you so far? That's probably accurate," she replied. "Everyone's a critic…" Nathan muttered as he tossed the appliance one last time before catching it in the air. The small machine seemed to light up at his touch as golden yellow circuits began to race along his forearm and the vacuum. As the lights faded, he put the vacuum down before pointing his now shifting arm at Sunset, a crimson vacuum appearing where his forearm once was. "Huh, didn't actually think that would work," he commented as he looked down the nozzle. "Now, do you suck, or blow?" He said with a smile. Sunset gave him a deadpan expression before grabbing the vacuum and knocking him upside the head with it. Chuckling, Nathan lifted his hands up. "Sorry, sorry…" Soon, he began to examine his vacuum arm before it went off on the highest setting… and pulled his visors off his eyes. "My glasses! I can't be seen without my glasses!!" He shouted as he closed his eyes while trying to pry his visors from the nozzle. Sunset raised an eyebrow. "They're sunglasses. I doubt they help see anything unless it's bright. Plus I highly doubt you actually need glasses to see. Who'd make a robot with poor eyesight?" "Oh… right," Nate relented as he opened his eyes, while also managing to dismiss his vacuum arm. "Oh cool, it let go," Calmly, he replaced the lens over his rather brown eyes. "Next test?" He asked as he looked at a lightbulb fixture of all things. Picking the fixture up, the same light crawled along the appliance. Though this time, the appliance began the smoke as the bulb burst. "Woah! Okay, pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen…" He said as he put down the still smoking appliance. "So you can copy machines just by touching them?" Sunset asked. "That is the general idea, yeah." Nathan replied as his forearm began to shift into a bulbous flashlight. "Does it work with other robots?" Nathan shrugged as he began lighting and dimming the bulb. "Theoretically, yeah, but they'd need a function tied to their power core like say a flamethrower or an ouroboros satellite shield." Sunset rose an eyebrow. "Really? That seems pretty specific. How do you know this if you used to be organic?" "Because I saw it happen," He replied idly as he dismissed the flashlight. "Course, the only way I'll actually know is if I checked for myself." He added as he sat on the work table. "Sure…" Sunset muttered. "So we got that out of the way. Anything else about you we should know about?" He tilted his head back as if in thought of something before snapping his fingers. "I may need my power core checked, it may or may not be an unstable mess." "You don't know?" "Hey, this thing has been my body for a week!" He said defensively. "I guess normally I'd be having a heart attack, but I haven't exactly been pushing myself too hard." Nate added as he shrugged. "Why haven't you told Twilight?" "Why do you think I was strapped down?" He replied with a bit of snark. "She gets to see my insides and I get to know if I blow up. Win win." "And did she find anything?" "Did you see her open me up?" He replied with a smile. Sunset sighed. "Let me rephrase that. Did she find out how to fix you?" "Wouldn't be asking if she did," He replied just slightly more serious. "She was kinda focused more on my build data than my actual build." Sunset sighed. "Of course… Remind me to check it out myself later." Smiling, Nathan tilt his head back as he looked at the ceiling. "It must be late…" He muttered before looking back at Sunset. "You should probably get to bed. It's been a pretty long day."
Chapter 3-Maintenance Room: Spike- Soft lights of blue and green glowed within the darkened room, Twilight's Number One assistant, Spike, held in stasis as his hand was being replaced and programmed. The dragon was a marvel not only of other bots of his caliber, but of robotics as a whole… From the moment of his conception, life itself had seemed to bloom from seemingly nowhere. What was meant to be a useless statue of haphazardly connected servos and wires had quickly become its own life form. No pre-destined assignation, no need to follow given orders... Twilight had not just built a machine, she had unwittingly given it life. And now he stood in a lonely room, body, mind and soul on standby as his creator’s machines made him whole once more. “Hello?” A voice seemed to echo from the sleeping machine. “Hello!” The voice called out once more. “Well, isn't this a sticky wicket…” -Morning- “Oh good, the new hand installed perfectly!” Twilight cheered as she brought her assistant out of stasis. Lights flooded the once shadow obscured room, its occupant stirring from his slumber. With a grand yawn, followed by the stretching of limbs and a bit of scratching upon the base of their tail, Spike looked to Twilight as he clenched and unfurled his new claw. “Heh, you're too good to me Twi.” Spike said happily. Smiling softly in return, Twilight turned to a screen to her left that showed pertinent data involving her precious assistant. Finding nothing wrong after a third and fourth diagnostics, Twilight tapped Spike’s chest lightly, “Welp, I’ve had some sleep and I am starving!” “Well, I could always go for a good bacon and eggs with coffee.” A voice not belonging to anyone echoed out of Spike. Spinning in place, Twilight looked to Spike, the dragon looking absolutely mortified. “Twilight, that wasn't me!” He shouted defensively. Nodding, Twilight opened a chest port on Spike’s body and plugged his core into a handheld device. “I’ll isolate the bug and have it purged from your systems.” “Wait wait wait!” The voice pleaded, Spike’s hands shooting up pleadingly. “Oh, sorry about that…” The voice relented as Spike slowly moved his arms on his own volition. “Right, you're getting deleted.” Twilight said calmly, Spike nodding in agreement. “I CAN HELP YOU WITH NATHAN!!” The voice shouted, causing Twilight to stop and immediately unplug her device. “Tell me everything you know…” The mare whispered in reverence. “TWI!” Spike shouted. “You can't just trust every disembodied voice we come across!” “Not now Spike, I'm doing…” Twilight isolated the rogue program and had it transferred into a new portable. “SCIENCE!” She declared as she raised her device. "Perfect, it had to be Membrane…" The voice echoed from its new home. "Membrane?" Spike asked as he set his chest in place. "A… scientist. Quite famous where I'm from." The voice replied. "And where are you from?" Twilight asked as she began her walk. "And just who are you? Oh I have so many questions…" She squee'd silently. "All in due time my dear," The voice stated. "But first, you really should eat." As Spike prepared Twilight's meal, the unicorn scientist sat down with her hand held device. "So, it's obvious you're an artificial intelligence meant to be a part of Nate, but that doesn't tell me much." Twilight stated. "Well, allow me to introduce myself," The A.I. began. "I am Aaaaal-" Only to cut himself off. "Aaaal?" Twilight asked as she tapped a pen onto a notepad. "Al," The A.I. responded. "Call me Al." "Just 'Al'?" Spike asked incredulously, a plate of pancakes in one claw and a small jug of freshly squeezed juice in the other. "What's your exact designation?" A small hum left Al's current holding place as if he were pondering a suitable answer. "I wasn't exactly programed with a designation. I serve one purpose: analyze Nathan's progress and unlock more of his abilities as he reaches certain… thresholds we'll call them." Twilight, for the most part, stayed silently enthralled as Al spoke. Even as she mindlessly chewed on a pancake whole, her eyes never left where Al's voice echoed from. Slightly perturbed, Spike took the small device from off the table much to Twilight's dismay, said mare whining as she reached out for Spike… food still in her mouth. "Alright, fine, let's say we believe you," Spike said as he placed the device on a rather high and unreachable shelf much to Twilight's dismay. "Where did you come from, and how did you get inside me?" He asked with just a hint of animosity. "Pfft, phrasing…" Al replied, which only caused the dragon to growl. "Alright alright! Do you remember the door?" "Door?" Twilight asked, finally having chewed through her food. "Yes, the one electronically locked. Where you found Nate?" Al spoke. Spike's face seemed to scrunch slightly before his eyes shot open. "Yeah… I had to hack the door… it's what blew my claw off." Laughing, Al spoke. "Yes that's it! When Nathan's stasis pod opened, I was activated as a… fail safe so to speak." "A fail safe? What for?" Twilight asked as she decided to cut her remaining pancakes into bite sized pieces. "I couldn't be sure that Nathan wasn't going to destroy everything he came into contact with," Al stated. "So I locked the door just in case he was a little… unhinged." "He drew a smiley face into a wall," Spike said as he folded his arms and shot the device a dirty look. "Which he named. Unhinged doesn't cut it." "So many possibilities…" Twilight muttered in reverence. Clearing a non existent throat, Al continued. "After locking the door and weathering his initial outburst, I dimmed the power of the facility. Then you four showed up." He stayed silent for a time, Twilight and Spike waiting patiently for him to continue… or at least Twilight was. "And then…" Spike growled out. "And then?" Al asked in a hushed tone. "Oh! And then! Yes, you can probably figure out that I was attached to the door at this point. Despite my best efforts from keeping you out, you managed to stay one step ahead of me at every turn." Al explained. "What can I say, he's a marvel." Twilight beamed, Spike smiling at the praise. "Well, finding no way to counter his attempts at opening the door, I attached myself to him." Spike grunted at this as he flexed his new claw. "Yeah, and you blew off my arm." Spike said in a low growl. "Eugh, testy." Al retorted. "I didn't want to damage you, but it's what happened and I apologise." "Wait!" Twilight cried as she shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, her eyes shining in epiphany. "You said you govern Nathan's growth, yes?" "Hn? Oh! Yes, that's right." Al replied, albeit a little confused. "Does the other robot come paired with an equal artificial intelligence?" Twilight asked. "Yes, my colleague in a sense. His name is Tom." The A.I replied. “Maybe we should take this to Sunset,” Spike offered. “She’ll need to hear this too.” "Quite so!" Al declared. "Who knows, with any luck she can help us find Tom." "And where can we find Tom?" Twilight asked curiously. "Exactly where you found me!" Al replied happily enough. "Now, follow meeeee…… I forgot I don't actually have legs." After a bit of cleaning up, Twilight and Spike found themselves in front of Sunset's room, neither really wanting to knock. "So… who knocks? Do you knock? Do I knock?" Al asked, his little box glowing as he spoke. "You know you don't have hands either, right?" Spike shot back in annoyance. "Well I'm not the one avoiding my coworker like the plague!" "Well, I'd love to knock…" Twilight muttered. "But it's only six forty-three A.M. Sunset is barely even awake at nine." The unicorn explained carefully. "Oh for the love of…" It was at this moment several loud and obnoxious foghorn noises and alarms began to chime and cry from Al's box. Try as the two might, neither Twilight or Spike could muffle the noise. Seeing no other option, Twilight threw caution to the wind and began slamming her hands on Sunset's door. "SUNSET!!! SUNSET HELP!!!" The lavender unicorn shouted desperately. The door immediately open and a pair of claws immediately ended up over Spike and Twilight's mouths. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Emerald asked, glaring at the pair. "And what is that noise?" Eyes wide with fear, both unicorn and dragon pointed at the now quiet box in Spike's claw. "Oh good, more dragons." Al quipped. Emerald blinked. "Did that thing just talk?" She asked, looking at the box and removing her claws from the pair's mouths. "Hello! I am Al, now I'm quite sure you have quite a number of questions of my being here…" Twilight thusly cleared her throat, "We have coffee, so… could you get Sunset to wake up?" "This couldn't wait til later why?" Emerald asked, crossing her arms, still annoyed. "Because there's a one of a kind robot with a one of a kind Artificial Intelligence that needs an equal or greater wake up call." Al explained. "I don't see why that can't wait a few hours more for when Sunset is actually awake. And you guys are very lucky I put on those headphones on her last night or else you'd probably be putting out fires. Again..." "My auditories must've failed me, we don't have time, because if someone gets to Ben before we do then it's a lethal weapon that you let loose on the world." Emerald rose an eyebrow. "If it's so important, why not take Nate and go? I don't see why you need Sunset to come along." "That's a fair point…" Twilight muttered. "Well, I did want Sunset to join us since she was there to get Nathan… could you tell her where we went when she wakes up?" Twilight said meekly. Emerald shrugged. "If it's so important, I'll join and give her the details when she wakes up. Besides, maybe this guy isn't as nuts as Nate." "Oh very! Eh, that is the… not nuts part. Eh, probably…" Al replied hesitantly. "So, ready to go?" Spike asked a little less worried. Emerald shrugged. "Sure. So long as nothing wakes up Sunset, it should be fine. Let's go." -Nate: Half An Hour Later- With a sigh and a languid stretch, Nathan began to blink his eyes awake, several notifications and messages cascading along his sights. "That never gets old…" The bot said to no one, unplugging himself from an outlet he found while exploring Twilight's lab… at least he thought it was Twilight's lab. "Hey!! Helllooooo~" He practically sang out. "Anybody home? No? Just me then…" Shrugging, he decided to explore more of the lab he found himself in. Gray walls, white ceiling, bright lights shined from the room's bulbs… though not much for interior decor, Nate did think the room could use more color… even if all it housed was a mass of wires, scrap metal, and oversized military grade supercomputers. Having had enough of the drab scenery, the bot decided to see if there were any warm bodies… or other machines able to hold a conversation. If the lab was drab, then the rest of the home was a breath of fresh air. Finely polished wood lined cream colored walls, the furniture was comprised mostly of olden day styled pieces straight out of a picture book. "This… looks kinda nice." Taking a seat, Nate blinked as he tested a cushioned chair for a bit and found it more than comfortable. "Not bad… what else is here…" Walking away, he found his way into a more modernly furnished living room, several photos lining the walls and a fireplace. Some were of Twilight, others of Sunset, some of a white unicorn with blue hair, a blue unicorn, and another white unicorn that looked a lot like Twilight. "God why do I feel like I know these ponies… think… what were their names…" Grunting, Nate shook his head and looked around more, eyes widening at the massive bulbous window that gave him quite the view of the sky. Drawing closer, he took note of a rather old yet incredibly well kept telescope. Shaking away the child-like awe, Nathan went back to exploring the rest of the home, finding a broom closet sized room decked floor to ceiling in computers, an empty stasis stand covering most of the floor space. Resisting the urge to try and use the stasis stand, Nathan quickly walked away and stumbled into a larger, incredibly disheveled bedroom, it's walls completely covered in books. In fact, the wall wide bookcases were probably the only structured part of the room. Slowly stepping out of the room, Nathan went back to exploring until he found another bedroom. This one was far more neat and organized than the last one and the walls were painted a dark purple with a few orange and red swirls of fireballs carved here and there. There was a finely made dresser with a vanity mirror off to the side, next to it, a metallic rifle lined with orange safety tape hung off a hook. He would have examined the futuristic rifle further had it not been for the gentle breathing coming from behind him. Spinning in place, he took note of Sunset, wearing what were probably noise canceling headphones, sound asleep. Finding no other options to cure his boredom and curiosity, he went up to her, crouched down and began to nudge her. Sunset groaned and swatted Nate's arm before turning over in her sleep. Feeling rather emboldened, Nate began to poke Sunset's face, finding an odd amount of amusement in trying to wake the girl up. Sunset groaned again and smacked Nate's hand away again before turning over once more, and a frown on her face. Seeing no other options, Nathan had carefully removed Sunset's headphones and once again applied gentle pressure to her cheek. "Hey… Princess. Wake up already, I'm bored." The bot said unashamedly. The next second, Sunset's eyes shot up, bloodshot. A moment later, they narrowed into a glare towards Nate before she outstretched her hand and it and her horn started glowing, the weapon flying into her hand as she aimed it at Nate. Not even bothering to flinch or pull away, he simply said, "This is not the fun I was looking for…" Author's Note And that is done. So the group found an A.I. named Al. In case anyone can't tell (just in case), that's Al like in Albus or Alvin. Wonder if you guys can guess a certain thing regarding Al. If you do, put spoilers, in case other readers don't know. And Nate will learn why it's a bad idea to wake Sunset. Next chapter, Nate's brother finally shows up. Hopefully it goes well. Until next time. -Dark P.S. This was posted on the 4 year anniversary of me being on this site.
