Of Robots and Those Who Make Them

Chapters

Why is love so rand();
Optimising the pipeline
Startup routine
Return Twilight
Port forward
For Those That Dream of Electric Sheep
Remove Strings
Update Source
Knowledge Overflow
Secrets Encoded
Buffer Underflow
If Electric Sheep, else...?

Why is love so rand();

"Is- Is it working?" a soft, feminine voice asked out of the darkness. "I really hope I didn't forget to install anything."

As the mare's voice faded, various new sounds began to trickle in. The harsh buzz of the fluorescent light above, the electric hum of some sort of generator from behind and the tapping of hooves on wood quickly rushing back and forth.

"Magical relay lines are set up and functioning, particle net is within parameters, you should be able to see, " the voice stressed, sounding confused. "Maybe if I... Oh, horsefeathers!"

Celestia heard the mare move around, then a second later felt a wire being jiggled about at the back of her head.

"Come on, work!" the voice grumbled as the first sparks of sight danced across Celestia's vision.

Scanning the room, Celestia found herself hanging in the middle of a clean and well-maintained workshop. Off to her right side sat a mobile terminal and to her left sat a trolley full of spare parts, each painted with various colours, ranging from butter yellows to pure whites.

The floor was crafted from burnt orange oak planks which held the scars from experiments long passed, judging from the many deep gouges and scorch marks that littered the area. Around the outside of the room were well stocked tool cupboards as well as several open boxes of scrap metal and magical parts.

A magical glow surrounded the terminal and it spun around to face the mystery mare behind Celestia. Within the deep black box sat a video-feed directly from Celestia's own optics.

"Aha!" the mare gasped. The sound of excited hooves clopping on wood could be heard. "I knew it was that. Why is it always a loose wire?!"

Movement could be heard again and the mare wandered into view.

Celestia instantly began to classify and catalogue her visual information as a stream of data appeared on the terminal's screen.

A shining coat of lavender, brushed to perfection.
A mane as soft as a cloud. Eyes that sparkle like an evening's kiss.
Lips that a mare would search for, but never find.

She gazed up at Celestia with a sheepish smile, her hoof brushing her mane away from her face. "I can't wait until I finish your voice subroutine," she giggled, cheeks flushing deeply as her horn began to glow. "You're nearly finished."

With a deep, yet happy sigh, she tapped a button on the terminal, glanced up at Celestia, then darkness.

"There we go," the mare's voice mumbled, along with more tapping of keys.

Celestia's vision exploded, allowing herself to see that she was, once more, within the workshop, the lavender pony standing in front of her.

She noticed the pony was now wearing an black apron which was stained with some sort of gold liquid and filed it away for later.

"You should be able to speak now. It took me all month," she started, sighing. "I hope you don't mind, but I synthesised a voice that, um, I found soothing..." the lavender mare explained, growing nervous at the end.

Celestia could indeed find a new subroutine installed and channeled her flow of magic to test it out. With a hesitant pause, she settled in a simple greeting.

"Hello," her warm, motherly voice spoke, causing the mare's awkward smile to grow, to blossom into a wide grin.

"Ohmygosh, you said hello!," she all but squealed, jumping up and down.

"May I ask who you are?" Celestia asked, her optics staring down at the pony.

The mare froze and turned towards her. "What? Oh, of course you can!" she replied, as if it didn't need to be asked. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. It's lovely to meet you, Celestia."

More data streams buzzed up on the terminal's screen, classifying the mare as well as voice samples and pictures of her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, warmth flowing from her synthetic voice.

"I'll have to turn you off in a second to preserve power, but I simply cannot wait to turn you back on, Celestia," Twilight sighed, moving closer and placing a hoof on the robot's stomach. "You've taken so long... not long now," she whispered, turning to the terminal and tapping another key, then darkness once again.

Consciousness exploded back into Celestia and she jerked against the bindings which held her tight. She could feel each cold-iron shackle against her shell and the cool touch they provided.

Twilight Sparkle was once more in front of her, typing at the terminal, but something was different about the mare. Celestia compared the images she had taken before to the side view of the pony and realized that she was wearing a bandage on her left front hoof.

"Hello there, Celestia," Twilight greeted, turning to the robot with a smile, despite the addition of a rather pink and tender looking scar running across her muzzle. "How did you sleep?" she asked,

Celestia focused on Twilight's new addition. "How did you hurt yourself?" she asked, straining the bond that ran across her head as a hint of concern seeped into her voice.

"Oh, this?" Twilight replied, running her unhurt hoof across the side of her muzzle. "Uh," she stammered, wincing. "I got it when your Mana Core ruptured before, but it was worth it, really!"

"You should be more careful, Twilight. I don't like seeing you hurt," Celestia replied, gently chastising the mare.

While the scar wasn't anything impressive, only sitting half way up her muzzle and being an inch in length, it stood out against her lavender fur.

A gentle flush rose up to cover her face upon hearing Celestia's words. "I will be, next time."

Hearing this placated Celestia for a while, allowing Twilight to rush about to and fro, collecting various tools and placing them in front of the robot.

"Twilight Sparkle," she asked, straining her head to try and watch the pony. "May I ask what you're doing?"

Twilight popped back into view and grinned. "I have to make sure none of your thaumic pathways have burnt themselves out, or dissipated. Don't worry, I won't switch you off."

"I am not worried, Twilight Spar-"

"Just Twilight, please. No need to be so formal," she ordered, levitating over a bulky, grey box with a screen in the front and several wires with sticky pads protruding out of the side.

"Twilight, I am not worried. I trust that you will turn me back on."

Twilight grinned and nodded. "Of course I will. Plus, other than the fact that I'll have to show the council what I've been doing for the past several months, I don't think I'd live with myself."

Her horn began to glow and Celestia felt her chest plate unclip from her shell and float over to lean against Twilight's terminal.

Placing a copper eyepiece up to her eye with her magic, Twilight leaned into Celestia's chest. Levitating the grey box over, she attached the padded wires to her robot's core then, after a couple of seconds, leaned back out and smiled up at her. "There doesn't seem to be any initial damage. The Mana Core is holding steady, but you're draining a lot more than I theorised."

Pulling her head away and placing the eyepiece down, she brushed her messy mane and smiled. "Anyway, I think it's time to connect your limbs, don't you?" she asked, levitating and reconnecting Celestia's chest, allowing feeling to flood back into the numb robot.

"Thank you, Twilight."

The mare looked up with a slight expression of surprise, but quickly brushed it away in favour of lighting her horn back up.

A second later, four limbs floated over in her magic and Twilight wrapped her legs around one to hold it close. "With your unique bodily structure, I couldn't just use the same leg shape as mine, so I took some inspiration from the minotaur and maybe a little from the deer. I really hope you like them, they took longer than I initially hoped.

Gazing down, this was the first time that Celestia had seen any part of her. Held within Twilight's hooves, and magic, were legs made from a white, frosted glass exterior shell, a thin layer of translucent magical conductor, then a core of steel which tested at the center.

"I want to check how you feel before I connect your horn. You know, safety first and everything," Twilight joked, rolling her eyes. "Not that it helps much," she mumbled under her breath.

Celestia found herself gazing more at Twilight than anything else. She found her smile captivating, enthralling even. She didn't have the processing power to classify why though.

"Alright, I'm going to connect your right arm," Twilight said. "Please say if this is uncomfortable for you," she asked, levitating Celestia's arm up to her side.

The arm neared the socket and Celestia could feel jolts of magic flow between her torso and the arm joints as her magical field latched onto the limb, cancelling out Twilight's own. Within seconds, the body part was integrated and configured for use.

All along its length, the frosted glass structure morphed, as the hexagonal surface shifted, changing its shape subtly to grow slightly more slender than the bulky limb Twilight had crafted.

Holding her hoof up, Celestia rotated and tilted it to get a sense of motion, before ejecting five triangular pieces of translucent graphite which had been hidden at the bottom of her hoof. They levitated just off the end of her hoof, much akin to the minotaur's fingers.

"I thought that you would like being able to manipulate items with finer detail," Twilight announced, nodding self-assuredly. "

Celestia moved her fingers experimentally, finding that they would be levitated anywhere along her body, but would obviously be most useful at the end of her legs.

"It was very thoughtful. Thank you," she replied, moving her attention off her fingers to see Twilight already levitating the rest of her limbs towards her.

One by one, her feeling expanded as each limb was stolen from Twilight's magical grasp and integrated with her own. She flexed her other arm and her legs, taking stock of her body.

"May I be released, Twilight?" she asked, brushing her fingers over the enchanted bonds holding her body and head in place.

"Oh, right... Uh, sure," Twilight said, nodding.

"Is something the matter?"

"I didn't think about it when I built you-" Twilight began, looking embarrassed. "You won't attack me, will you? I know the first law of golems won't allow you to... but I also gave you as close to free will as possible."

A brand new feeling hit Celestia right then and and let out a twinkling laugh, much to the blushing Twilight's dismay. "Why ever would I do that, Twilight?"

"The standard guidebook is to keep all golems restrained for three days once built to settle their emotions, and to keep them docile," she explained, having closed her eyes and finishing with a nod.

Opening her eyes, the conflict could be seen raging inside of her.

"Technically, by law, you're a golem, but... We are alone and I did design you to be kind and gentle," she muttered, looking down at her tools.

"You may do what you think is best, Twilight," Celestia stated, smiling. "I am simply content knowing you are here with me."

Finally, Twilight looked up with determination and flared her horn.

A click rang out around the workshop and the bond holding Celestia's head tumbled away and hit the ground, denting the wood.

Another click and the bond holding Celestia's chest fell away.

As soon as the final bond around her stomach unlocked, Celestia's body dropped off the frame she was held on and she bent at the knees once her hooves hit the floor with a metallic thump.

Rising back up to her full height, almost half again taller than Twilight, she stared down upon her creator, then knelt and bowed her head. "Thank you, Twilight," she uttered, her voice soft, warm and full of that affection which Twilight so desperately craved.

"I-It's okay!" Twilight replied, maybe a little too loud as she looked surprised. "You don't have to thank me..."

Celestia stood up and turned her head, carefully, upon feeling that wires and cables still plugged into her. "Am I to stay connected?" she asked, reaching back to feel the copper coated cables.

"Oh, right," Twilight stammered, not having realised just how tall she would be.

Her horn lit up and Celestia could feel the cables slowly unscrew until they fell away; a hiss of magic washing over the back of her head. The wires were disconnected easily and the terminal's screen faded to darkness.

"Do you feel alright? Is your core holding steady without external power?" Twilight asked, tapping her hooves against the floor out of worry.

Celestia closed her eyes and nodded after running a diagnostic test. "My core is producing ambient mana. At the current rate, it should sustain me for the next eight months." Opening her eyes, she saw Twilight grinning up at her.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she stored that photo for safekeeping.

"That's perfect- well, not perfect as that's almost three times less than I was expecting the core to hold, but I really shouldn't be worried, eight months is a long time and I really can't be expecting an experimental Mana Core to work the first time and I should really stop talking as it's making me sound weird," she gasped, fighting the urge to turn away with her flushed cheeks.

Celestia took a step forward and knelt down, before pulling Twilight against her shell. Her arms wrapped around the shocked mare, holding her tight, but she ignored that and began to stroke her fingers through her mane while humming.

"Calm, Twilight," she cooed, her other arm wrapped around Twilight's barrel to keep her steady.

Twilight flushed at the contact and squirmed for a second as she felt those synthetic fingers brush through her mane. It didn't take long for her breathing to slow and for her to settle down. Closing her eyes, Twilight melted into her creation's embrace. "That's-" she mumbled. "That's nice..."

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Celestia whispered, closing her own eyes. She could feel the very air around them shimmer with Twilight's aura. It felt strong, stronger than her own, but it wavered with uncertainty.

"I should get back to work," Twilight whispered, leaning closer to Celestia's cool, glass shell. "I still have a lot to finish up," she added, hesitantly pulling away from the robot. "Follow me."

"Anywhere, Twilight," Celestia replied, smiling lovingly down at her creator.

Optimising the pipeline

Twilight opened the exit to the workshop with her magic and passed through. She looked back to make sure Celestia exited fine, then closed and locked the door. "I'm sorry it's a little messy. I don't have ponies over that much," she muttered, shrugging.

The room they had just entered looked, to Celestia, to be the main living room. The room was divided into two levels, the bottom half was dedicated to comfort and the top half of the room held numerous bookshelves standing upwards of fifteen feet.

The floor was covered with a soft, brown carpet, upon which sat several large couches all centered around a protruding stone fireplace. The right wall was one long floor-to-ceiling window with a sliding door that exited out onto a bare stone patio. Opposite were the glass stairs that led up to the second level, under which stood the door that exited into the kitchen.

Twilight moved further into the room and glanced back at Celestia. "Do you like it?" she asked, worry flashing across her face. "It's small, but it suits me just fine."

Celestia strolled forwards and ran her fingers over the back of a couch as she neared the fireplace. "It is yours, therefore, I like it," Celestia replied while she scanned the surroundings. "It's rather homely, if not a bit spartan. Tell me, Twilight, do you have anypony over?" she asked, turning her attention to the lavender mare.

Twilight averted her eyes and tapped a hoof on the carpet. "Uh, not really. The council's requests require me to work long hours. I don't really have time to maintain relationships with other ponies."

Celestia tilted her head, curious. "Is that why you built me?"

Twilight kept gazing down at the carpet, shame filling her.

"It is okay, Twilight. I know my directives, and will carry them out to the best of my ability," Celestia reassured, walking over and taking hold of the mare's shoulder with her hoof. "I only wish to fill in the blanks which you have left in my memory so I can better serve my creator."

Despite the mare's embarrassment, Celestia smiled and squeezed her shoulder while data scrolled across her vision.

Focus: Twilight Sparkle.
Operation adjustment: Reduce workload to allow for Equine interaction while providing emotional support.
Operation pipeline:

Learn about Twilight's projects.

Evaluate required processing capabilities.

Reduce Twilight's workload.

Encourage Equine interaction.

"I built you because-" Twilight mumbled, leaning into the other hoof that gently caressed her cheek and brushed over the mare's scar. "Because I wanted somepony to love me... other ponies are chaotic, unpredictable and I don't understand them," she stressed, breaking away from those hooves and fingers. "I try and understand, to find out what makes them... them, but each time I end up more confused. I can understand particle fluctuations within the Aether, but I can't understand other ponies!"

Celestia watched as her creator grew angry, then stood to her full height, her usual loving smile adorned on her face.

Twilight paused, staring up at her creation. "I put so much work into you, so much time... you would be-" she started, looking incredulous. "You would be a waste if I didn't use you. Besides, other ponies would just get in the way of my research," she grumbled, shaking her head. "It's too important to let relationships slow it down."

"All of my love will be yours, Twilight, for as long as you require it."

Twilight's smile partially returned upon hearing Celestia's words and she closed the gap, nuzzling along the robot's outer thigh.

Her mood having been lifted, she began to wander over to the stairs, a wider smile returning slowly. She went to speak, but closed her mouth and climbed the stairs.

"May I inquire as to what research you are partaking in?" Celestia asked, following the mare up the stairs.

The second floor contained rows upon rows of bookshelves all covering the outside walls. In one corner of the floor sat a well worn beanbag, next to which was a wooden side-table, covered in half-empty energy drinks and cups of coffee. In the center of the hardwood floor was a raised pyramid, upon which each side sat an angled blackboard, each covered top to bottom with scientific equations.

Twilight trotted over and used her magic to spin the rotating section to find the blackboard she had been working on last. "Ah, there we go," she sighed, running her hoof across the bottom of the blackboard. "See, this makes much more sense," she giggled, looking back.

Celestia decided to store all of the images she was now taking into one of her new project folders to save for later. She would be quick to deny, but the research that Twilight was working on needed more processing power than her Thaumic Processor could provide.

"It's great isn't it?!" Twilight asked, watching her robot stare at the majesty of equations. "I haven't finished it, but it's for 'corralling quantum bits within an isotopic membrane'. It's one of my more productive projects this year."

Twilight grinned up at Celestia. "You have this research to thank for your ability to think. Without it, you would be a simple golem. Though, the spells I used to bind your consciousness to the processor were a little tricky considering that the charge of a soul cannot..."

Twilight's voice trailed off as a change was ordered to her Operation Pipeline:

~~2. Evaluate required processing capabilities~~
2. Improve Thaumic Processor

"... plus, most leading researchers cannot agree on whether a soul bound to a Thaumic Processor would even have free will, considering they would most likely be reacting appropriately to outside stimuli rather than coming up with their own thoughts and ideas."

Celestia smiled and gently ran her fingers across Twilight's cheek. "It's extremely interesting," she cooed. Turning her attention back to the blackboard, she asked, "can you run me through these equations. Perhaps it would help you to explain them to somepony else?"

Twilight's eyes lit up at the suggestion and nodded. "Of course! Just let me levitate a couch up for you to sit on!"

After a long and very in-depth analysis of Twilight's research, of which Celestia recorded, Twilight had quickly found herself laying across Celestia's lap, a tired, but very happy smile across her lips.

"I'll have to take you into my laboratory tomorrow for a more in depth test, but I think that I'm very happy with the experimental results," she purred, stretching out across her claim.

"I'll have to power you down for those though," she added, looking up at Celestia to gauge her reaction. "Is that alright? I hope it's not too disorientating for you?"

Celestia shook her head. "You are free to do anything with me, Twilight. I am yours, after all." After pausing her speech for a second, she continued, "and no. It's a split second of darkness."

"Oh, I'm glad it's not too bad."

Twilight let out a soft yawn and rested her head on Celestia's thigh. "I'll have to give you added padding if I'm to do this more often. Maybe a gel covering?"

"I believe I would be more comfortable, yes," Celestia agreed, giggling. She brushed her fingers through Twilight mane and down her back, relaxing the young mare. "I think it's time for bed, don't you?"

"Five more minutes?" Twilight mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed as she lost her battle with sleep. "You're so warm..."

Celestia's smile widened as she watched Twilight fall asleep, then wrapped her arms around the mare and picked her up.

Walking down the stairs, she made her way over towards the workshop, then turned right and made her way down a hallway, three closed doors all in the right side.

The left wall of the hallway was decorated with empty picture frames. A lone vase sat atop an ebony side-table.

Levitating her fingers out to take hold of the first door's handle, Celestia entered the master bedroom.

A double bed sat up against the wall, covered with a pure white, weighted duvet. A table sat opposite at the end of the bed with a single, perfectly trimmed bonsai tree sat on top, next to which were clippers and several tree shavings of ascending length.

Along the interior wall stood a vanity mirror, next to which was a wardrobe and dresser. The other wall was, once again, a full glass side, which opened into a scrawny, unkempt garden.

Pulling the duvet off the bed, Celestia gently placed Twilight down and covered her back up, smiling once she heard a sigh leave the mare. Kneeling down at the side of Twilight's bed, she ran a finger through the mare's mane, finding a muted, synthetic emptiness inside of her at the thought of Twilight having been so alone.

This is for your own good.

After a few minutes of admiring her, Celestia left the room and traveled further down the hallway, eager to learn about her creator. The next door she opened turned out to be the bathroom.

As usual with Twilight, it was spotless; everything that could be used had been bagged up and categorised by 'date last used' and 'weight'.

The walls were covered with pure white tiles with an unknown red and yellow, sunburst, cutie mark, of which Celestia scanned to her memory. There the back wall was taken up by a shower, with a divider that could be pulled up from the ground to cover the shower into a full sized bath; it didn't look like it had ever been used.

Moving on from the bathroom, she arrived at a bare, solid iron door that wouldn't look out of place in a prison. Curious, she gripped the handle and tried to open it, but found it stuck fast. Standing there, she considered forcing the door, but didn't wish to wake Twilight from her well earned rest.

Turning around, Celestia came face to face with the front door and the outside world. She thought about exiting, but held herself back just in case something happened to Twilight that would require her to be there.

Walking back into the living room, Celestia made her way up to the second floor and once again looked over those equations. Improved processor will be required to reduce Twilight's workload <- Priority 1.

Spinning the blackboards, she wiped one clean, after scanning and photographing it, then picked up a piece of chalk. Her hand ran along the board as her processor chugged along trying to optimize and improve upon her own design.

Thaumic pathways can be rerouted through subsections four, five and nine. Main memory bus can be enlarged by seven percent while sacrificing no more than three percent power per unit. Thaumic Core can be improved by a factor of two point three five while sacrificing Mana Core capacity by one point seven months.

Data points correlate to a ninety seven percent chance of reducing Twilight Sparkle's workload.

Celestia drew up a subsection of a plan to manufacture her new processor, scanned it in, then repeated until the entire schematic was stitched back together inside her memory.

Twilight may be perfect, but she is still just a pony.

Finishing, Celestia rubbed the equations and calculations off of the blackboard, before writing down the equations which Twilight had on before. By the time she had finished, it was an exact copy.

This processor improvement will not last. Further improvement will be scheduled.

Wandering back down the stairs, Celestia walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it, allowing cool, fresh air to blow into the living room. Stepping outside and onto the patio, she couldn't help but smile at the sounds of the nightlife that flooded her senses, urging her forwards towards the edge and to look upon them.

Twilight's home sat high above the city, which clung to the side of Mt. Canter, allowing Celestia to gaze out upon the world around them. The valley below was a sea of greens and reds, soft yellows and vibrant pinks that stretched all the way towards the horizon, only broken up by tiny, tranquil settlements here and there.

Turning away from the burning yellow sunset, Celestia scanned the city which laid so far beneath her, watching as ponies began to race home to their families before the light faded. The city itself was sprawling, with roads that crisscrossed like a spider web and walkways that ran over the top of whole blocks. Overall, there was a hazy neon glow that had slowly settled over the city, replacing the light of the sun and illuminating the mountainside itself.

Celestia wanted nothing more than to go down and feel the world, to interact with the ponies, to learn and improve upon herself. There was so much she didn't understand, so much that she hadn't catalogued and classified.

But she couldn't. Her dear Twilight would require her for a long time to come. She would need to improve Twilight if she wanted to experience the world, but that would be for another time.

Startup routine

Author's Note

Hey peeps.

Sorry this took a long while. I've been pretty down lately, having to deal with life and everything.

I reached a point where I just wanted something out, as I felt I wasn't actually productive :c

Hope you enjoy.

Startup routine

Celestia stared out across the landscape as the sun inched its way over the horizon, covering the world with its warmth. Yet, for the robot, she felt nothing as the light scattered, casting a rainbow on the patio behind her. She watched as the ponies so far below her left the safety of their homes and began their day, eager to forge something of themselves with the limited time they had left.

She had stood out there all night, watching the zeppelins float in and out of Canterlot's airship hangar, heading for Ponyville, or further afield while trying to understand her creator and, for better or worse, her owner.

As the sun rose ever higher, she wandered back inside and walked over to the kitchen. She knew Twilight would no doubt be hungry, considering that she had forgotten to eat after her lecture.

Walking in, Celestia scanned the rather cramped kitchen. The room could really only hold three ponies, maximum, along with a breakfast table and chair. She clicked the stove on and began to cook Twilight her breakfast, taking her time to make sure it was perfect for the mare.

Celestia began to pull her mind back from her actions and allowed the Thaumic Processor to take charge, automating the cooking as she took a minute to plan.

Todays plan:

Serve Twilight breakfast.

Look after Twilight's needs.

Manufacture an improved processor.

Refine Mana storage.

Install a fabrication lab within Twilight's workshop.

Feeling a strange sense of calm wash over her, Celestia pushed her mind back into her body and picked up the cooked breakfast. Walking out of the kitchen, she made her way over to Twilight's room and passed through, finding the mare tangled up within her bedsheets, which were half-falling off the bed.

Placing the breakfast down on the table, she couldn't help but smile and shift Twilight back onto the bed, then untangled her. To her, even while dishevelled, Twilight looked like the epitome of beauty. She didn't even need to be urged by her programming to see that.

"Twilight, my love. I have brought you breakfast," she cooed, caressing Twilight's cheek to gently wake her. "Come and sit up," she ordered, bringing the food over and placing it down beside the mare.

Twilight groaned and pushed herself up, her mane frizzy and knotted. "What time is it?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"It's just past seven-am," Celestia answered, placing the plate down next to Twilight. "Please, eat," she asked, gesturing to the plate. "I'll get your bath ready. Would you like lavender or strawberry coat wash?"

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked, looking around her room, then flicking her attention back to Celestia. "Oh, strawberry," Twilight mumbled, her magic levitating a piece of toast for her to hastily munch on.

"I shall call you when it is ready. Please do not get too many crumbs in bed, dear."

Celestia turned and left the room, allowing Twilight some time to eat alone. Even though she knew that Twilight would need some time to get into a rhythm, the early morning wakeup call would no doubt work in her favour. Entering the bathroom, she pulled up the metal side of the bath, locked it in place and then began to fill the tub.

Watching the tub fill up, she ran her hoof through steamy water and frowned at the lack of feeling. She wanted to feel Twilight brush up against her; she wanted to feel the warmth of the light against her shell and she wanted to feel the world around her.

One thing at a time.

Turning off the faucet, she stood up and entered Twilight's room to see the mare asleep, her breakfast half eaten beside her. Wandering over, with a sigh, she moved the food away and knelt down, brushing her hoof over Twilight's side.

"Twilight, your bath is ready," she whispered, hearing a cute grumble leave the sleeping mare.

Not waiting for a reply, Celestia slid her arms under Twilight and picked her up, trying her best not to wake her before she absolutely had to while a soft coo left her at the sight of Twilight cuddled up.

Entering the bathroom, she slowly placed Twilight down in the warm water, which promptly caused her to wake up.

"Dear Elysium!" Twilight gasped, looking around shocked. "What... what is going on?!"

"I'm bathing you, my dear," Celestia replied pointedly, picking up the strawberry coat wash and pouring the sticky goop onto Twilight's back, causing her to let out an 'eep' at the coolness.

"I can do it myself!" Twilight said, looking uncomfortable.

"Don't be silly. I love you, so let me show it," Celestia cooed, smiling warmly.

Twilight looked away, her lips curling. She fought the smile as long as she could while she could do nothing about the growing red flush across her face.

"Fine," she huffed, getting comfortable in the water.

Celestia reached over and picked up a body scrubber to use instead of her hard, graphite digits. Pressing the scrubber against Twilight's fur, she began to lather up the wash, occasionally saving photos of the wet, soapy mare to her private folder.

Seeing Twilight like this warmed where she could have expected her heart to be, if she had one.

She giggled, having washed Twilight's back, before starting on her neck and chest, taking extra special care to make her chest as fluffy as possible. Not only did she want Twilight to take pride in her body, of which Celestia was programmed to love and adore, but she wanted others to see how amazing the mare was as well.

"May I ask you a question, Twilight?" she asked, rubbing the coat wash into Twilight's underside and legs.

"O-Of course you may," Twilight stammered, nodding while trying not to squirm.

"Do you plan on me being the only one you share your life with?"

Twilight grimaced at the question and wilted under Celestia's gaze. "I... yes," she replied, huffing. "Why are you asking? You know the reason why."

Celestia stopped her scrubbing and sat back. "I am glad that I do not have to share with you," she whispered, closing her eyes.

Twilight blinked and turned to face her, her cheeks flushing. She brought a hoof up and took hold of Celestia's own, bringing it up to her cheek to nuzzle.

Celestia brushed her hoof along Twilight's cheek and down her neck, holding her. "We should finish up here. I believe you said you had to take me into the laboratory?"

Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yup. I get to check all of your insides thoroughly!" she replied, her eyes widening. "I get to see what makes you tick."

With a giggled, she rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I've always wanted to say that. Ever since the biology division won't let me go near the cadavers, after what happened with the-" she caught herself rambling and shook her head. "You really don't need to know that. Either way, keep scrubbing me, 'Tia. I must look my best when I rub you in Sunset's face!"

Celestia kept her warm smile on as she went back to cleaning her owner.

Find out who this 'Sunset' is.

"Okay, do I have everything?" Twilight asked, taking another look through her saddlebags. "Thermos; with delightful coffee. Ativan, papers... all here."

"Of course, it's all there, Twilight. You've checked it four times," Celestia stated, reaching down and picking the bag up, much to Twilight's annoyance. "Let me carry this, my love. You have bigger things to worry about."

"Okay," she stammered, looking worried. "Don't lose it!"

"I won't, now shall we leave? It's nearly eleven am."

Twilight gasped and pulled the front door open with her magic and rushed out. Celestia strolled out after her, making sure the door was closed and locked.

The front entrance was covered with soft, well maintained grass. A thin cobble path ran from the front entrance to the street, with gravel lining about a hoof's width on either side. A sturdy iron gate stood at the perimeter, connected to a fence which ran around the building.

Twilight galloped down to the end of the path and skidded to a half. "Come on!" she called back, hopping back and forth on her hooves. "We'll be late!"

Celestia sped up slightly as her eyes wandered. She had seen plenty of ponies while she gazed down upon the city, but now she could see them up close as they strolled through the street on the other side of the gate. Bright greens, dazzling blues, luminous pinks; all of them looked so happy. She couldn't wait until Twilight shared that with them.

Feeling Twilight's magical aura as it wrapped around her hand and pulled her quickly, she looked down at her with a slight sternness. "Please, Twilight. We won't be late if we pace ourselves. You wouldn't want to turn up to work all sweaty, would you?"

Twilight averted her eyes from Celestia's and rubbed her leg. "No, of course not. I just don't want to be tardy."

"If need be, I will carry you in myself. How does that sound?"

Twilight found a couple of ponies gazing over at Celestia, curious. She flicked her eyes back to Celestia and nodded. "Yes, of course! But can we go?"

"Of course, Twilight. I shall always follow your lead," Celestia replied, following Twilight out into the paved street.

The walk was filled with curious, but overly skittish ponies who couldn't help but stare at Twilight and her 'golem'. As the pair walked, Celestia began to catalogue and photograph everything she could see, her curiosity only matching her happiness at being able to see the world around her for the first time.

"Twilight, may I ask a question?" she asked, looking down at her.

"I've told you before, you don't have to ask me that. You can just ask your question," Twilight giggled, staring up at her with an amused look.

"I shall keep that in mind." Celestia gestured to a cerulean blue coated, green mane mare which was walking several hooves in front of them. Just behind her, carrying numerous bags for the mare, was a pure grey pony which lacked a mane and tail, along with no cutie-mark upon her rump. "Is that a golem?"

Twilight nodded. "It is. That one is at least three models behind the newest model," she whispered, examining it. "The newer models are manufactured with stronger shells, as well as several colour-changing options."

She continued, rolling her eyes. "Commercial models will never be as advanced as you though, 'Tia."

"Because I am yours, Twilight?"

"Because you are mine."

Return Twilight

The walk to Twilight's work was long, winding and extremely ordinary. While many of the ponies wondered what Twilight had created, since she was known around this layer of the tower as an intelligent but slightly 'kooky' mare. Not many of them actively gossiped or stared, possibly out of fear, but mostly out of respect for the work she had done.

Celestia, while not showing it on the outside, was ecstatic at being among real, flesh and blood, ponies. She was practically filling up her hard drives as she recorded every little detail in as clear quality as possible. The butterflies fluttering to and fro, the little colts and fillies rushing around trying to catch each other and the mare walking right next to her; she documented it all, with Twilight taking priority.

Fortunately for her hard drive, their excursion in the outside world had to end as Twilight slowed to a stop, grinned up at Celestia, then gestured to the black and grey building standing in front of them.

"Looks like we're here. Please don't touch anything and don't talk to anyone, okay?" she asked, her tone growing serious for a second. "I'd rather not have another grapefruit incident," she muttered under her breath, sticking her tongue out and gagging.

Compared to everything else around them, such as the bright green parks, the colourful flowers and the homely homes, the building looked extremely out of place with its jutting stone pillars, its tinted black windows and its general aura of gloom that could depress even the most cheerful of ponies.

The two of them walked up to the front sliding glass doors and Twilight levitated her bag over, before fishing inside for her identification. Pulling it out, she flashed it to the two bipedal Golems standing just beside the doors, each of them carrying standard guard attire of a black suit alongside a taser-baton.

The golem turned and pressed a button beside the doors and saluted. "Have a nice day, ma'am," it said, its synthetic voice stilted as it returned to its previous position.

Making their way in, Twilight looked around the hexagonal lobby and pulled Celestia over with her towards a door located on the far-right wall.

The lobby was a smooth, glistening chamber that rose up forty feet high with black-stone pillars jutting out of the walls halfway up to connect to the ceiling, which angled upwards to a point. Crystal lights were embedded at symmetrical points across the room, giving the lobby a sparkling sheen that probably would have hurt Celestia's eyes, if she were a pony.

Pushing through the door quickly, the two of them entered a grey, washed out waiting room. They found a pair of seats off to the side and sat down. The room itself was quite bare, only containing said seats and an elevator door. A series of dings and a flashing up arrow indicated that the elevator was rising up to meet them.

"This elevator takes us down to the Engineering Department. I'll plug you in down there and run some diagnostic tests. They won't take long, promise," Twilight explained, more for her own peace of mind rather than Celestia's.

"Of course, my love. Take as long as you wish," Celestia replied, gently brushing her fingers along Twilight's back, eliciting a soft sigh from the mare. "Do you like this?" she asked, humming softly. "I believe that you imprinted that physical contact was an adequate means of interpersonal bonding."

Twilight's cheeks exploded with an embarrassed flush and she averted her eyes. "Uh, I did imprint that in your memory, didn't I," she whispered, finding herself cringing.

"Indeed, you did. Is this level of physical contact enough? Or shall I increase it?"

"W-What would you do if you increased it?" Twilight asked, finding her eyes wandering over to Celestia, suddenly curious.

"I would, if allowed to, hold you, nuzzle, and kiss you."

Twilight let out a sigh and chuckled. "Oh, uh... I guess so. I'm not used to other ponies touching me... they all enjoy hugging and cuddling, but the amount of germs that can be contracted by a hug is astronomical and should be avoided!" she explained, nodding sagely while that darn blush refused to fade.

"If you do not wish me to hug you, I shall not."

"I didn't say that!" she replied, slightly too quick for her liking. "I don't mind it so much if you touch me. I guess I give you permission to increase the level of contact."

Celestia noted that permission down and smiled. "I am pleased. It will allow me to better love you."

Ding!

The pair glanced over at the now open elevator, before Twilight jumped off the seat and trotted over.

"Come on. We better make our way down before some engineer's lackey uses the terminal on some worthless Golem."

Celestia joined Twilight in the elevator, her fingers lovingly brushing over the mare's ear and through her mane while they descended down the tower. She looked down at the mare and asked, "You look tired, Twilight. Perhaps you should get some coffee?"

Twilight glanced up and tilted her head, confused. "Is it really that bad?" she asked, wincing. "I supposed one cup of coffee wouldn't hurt. I don't want to miss anything important on the test."

"Of course."

The elevator doors opened to reveal a dull, grey hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. Every so often the sound of laughter or terminal keys being clacked could be heard as the pair moved through the halls.

Celestia wondered how any organic beings could work like this; without any colour. She quickly found herself worrying about what Twilight's laboratory would look like and if she was even happy in an environment like this.

After several twists and turns, Twilight and Celestia reached a pair of glass doors which opened up into a dim room reminiscent of Twilight's workshop.

The floor was hard concrete, along with workbenches and tools scattered about. In the centre of the room sat a T-shaped workbench with straps for Celestia's arms, legs and torso.

Connected on both sides with long, hydraulic arms hung hexagonal plates which would press down on both sides of Celestia's chest, allowing easier shell removal from the entire body.

The lights were pointed towards the workbench, leaving the rest of the room in an eerie darkness.

"Please, Celestia. Lay down. This won't take long, okay?"

"Of course, Twilight," Celestia replied, doing as she was told and laying down on the bench, her arms outstretched in a t-pose.

Twilight's magic tied the robot to the bench with the straps and then pulled down the plated, pressing the cold metal against Celestia's chest with a click. A quick tap on the nearby terminal and a hiss of hydraulics, the arms pulled back as they unclipped the front half of Celestia's shell with it, other than the face, and allowing Twilight unrestricted access to Celestia's insides.

"Alright, I'll be powering you down," Twilight said, levitating a copper cable over and screwing it into an outlet port on the side of Celestia's processor.

Celestia gazed down at her owner and smiled as she nodded. "Of course, Twilight. I look forward to seeing..." she began but was quickly cut off as Twilight tapped a key on her terminal.

The world burst back into existence and Celestia noticed that Twilight was gone. She was still strapped to the workbench and still connected to the terminal which showed streams of data running down the screen.

She must have been called away for work.

Celestia pulled her consciousness back within herself and felt her connection to the terminal within her sub-port. Pinging the terminal, she found the machine receptive, friendly even.

Within a nanosecond, she felt the handshake and the world around her shifted, and morphed. The room around her crumbled, leaving oppressive darkness to press down upon her.

Blinking, Celestia looked down and felt something which was entirely alien to her: warmth.

She ran her digits over her arms and body and felt the warmth of a living being. It wasn't long before her lips curled into a smile as the sensation.

Beep

Celestia spun around and flicked her eyes through the darkness, trying to find the source of the noise, but she found nothing. She felt her chest squeeze and her digits curl into a fist.

"Who's there?" she called out; her words tinged with caution.

Beep

She spun around once again and was met with part of a hallway several feet in front of her. Every so often, a pony or golem would pass through, then disappear.

Hesitantly nearing the hallway, she found it was projected from a central point slightly above her and only showed what that point would see. She moved against the wall and found that anypony passing through could only be seen from one side.

Is this a camera feed? she thought, finding another hallway pop up within the darkness, then a conference room filled with ponies, then several others.

Curious, now, she pinged the terminal and felt it still existed. She knew it was in the room her body was, but she couldn't see inside.

They must not have installed a camera inside that workshop.

Her thoughts drifted to Twilight and where she had ended up. If she wasn't there to power her back on, somepony must have.

The hallway around her faded into mist and disappeared, being replaced with a view of what Celestia assumed to be Twilight laboratory.

The lab, or the part which Celestia could view, was lit by bright crystal lights. Several stools were scattered about among the tables that held reference materials, papers and spare golem parts.

The view was slightly top down, but she could see Twilight sitting at her desk, magically writing down a report and looking over her notes while surrounded by mountains of papers and whiteboards.

"Celestia is adapting extremely well to the transition. Emotional levels are holding, and her programming is primarily drifting her personality towards a lover, or motherly archetype," Twilight muttered, her pen scribbling down.

With a sigh, she pulled back and stretched, her body perfectly illuminated by the crystal lights.

Celestia smiled as she watched her mare work and sat down to continue, seeing another mare enter the scene.

"Twilight? Isn't this your day off?" the mare asked, stopping half out of view. The words held a hint of concern. "Did you make another 'huge breakthrough' again?" she giggled, shaking her head.

"Not all of us have the luxury of simply having days off, Sunset," Twilight replied, turning around to face her with an unamused expression. "And yes, maybe I have made another breakthrough. But it's for the council's eyes only. So, until they deem it necessary, you don't get to see," she added, smiling smugly.

"Wait, really?" Sunset asked, suddenly taken aback.

"Uh-huh!" Twilight happily answered, turning back to her notes.

Sunset stood there for a second and tapped her hoof on the cold linoleum floor. "So, uh... I know you'll probably just say no, but..." she started, taking a step closer to Twilight. "Some of the researchers and I are going down to the Prancing Pony on Saturday for a few drinks and I was wondering if you would, maybe, like to come with me?"

"While I appreciate the offer to socialize, I have to sift through this data," Twilight replied, her pen drifting across the paper.

"Oh," Sunset muttered, wincing as if struck. "I understand."

The mare turned away and moved to the door, before looking back at Twilight with a longing stare. With a sigh, she left the room and disappeared from view.

Noticing Sunset was gone, Twilight's magical aura faded and she let the pen drop onto the table. She leaned in and covered her face with her hooves, before letting out a long, painful sigh that tore through Celestia.

"Why am I such an idiot..." Twilight mumbled, slamming her hoof onto the table.

It felt as if her very being had been torn asunder, her chest weighing heavy while she watched Twilight at her desk. Celestia had never felt this pain, and she didn't want to again, so her thoughts switched to her plan to help Twilight. With a wave of her hand, the display of Twilight's laboratory faded away, leaving darkness behind.

The space in front of her was suddenly filled with lists of manufacturing sites which would be available to be retooled for her improved processor. One of the sites laid within the very building they were in and seemed to be completely automated.

Port forward

Celestia reached out, pressed her finger against the manufacturing site which lay with the very building she was in and the space in front of her exploded with colour. Despite been completely automated, the designers had the foresight to install several three-hundred and sixty degree cameras throughout the facility to allow them, and now Celestia, to keep an eye on production from a remote location.

With her world now awash with the sight of a particularly small production line, at least compared to several others, she quickly uploaded the specifications of her stitched-together design, which appeared floating in front of her. She looked over the blue, glowing cylindrical object, which held several sockets plugged into her chest.

After double checking her design for any errors, she assumed direct control of the server and partitioned off a small chunk to suit her needs and set a timer for it to format the uploaded data once the production of a single processor was complete.

Assigning it to the manufacturing system, she pulled back and shifted herself over to the camera network once again to find a robotic carrier which would package and deliver the processor to her at home without any other pony knowing what she had done. A pony would no doubt be curious as to why a single package was being moved from the high-tech facility and would produce a paper trail. Switching between camera feeds, she spotted a lone golem wandering the halls and set to repeat. She dove into its data stream and intercepted its orders, setting them to wait for her processor to be complete then deliver it to Twilight's home.

The golem froze for a few tentative seconds, causing Celestia to hope that there wasn't secondary internal security, then turned around and faded out of view of the camera.

Reminder: Double check protocol and security before changing data.

With her most pressing issue complete, she turned her attention back to Twilight. Twilight's laboratory appeared in front of her, while Twilight herself was gone. She hadn't that long, surely?

A new feeling welled up inside of her now, one which she wasn't so happy about: dread. If Twilight found her connected to the network, she'd know she wasn't simply the golem she had created for herself and was capable of much more than emotional support.

Scrubbing the network of her tracks, Celestia pulled herself out of the terminal and thrust herself back into her own body with a start. Unlike the virtual world, the body she inhabited felt so small, so restrictive, and she couldn't help but squirm ever so slightly; even if it was the one that Twilight created for her and the one that would always be treasured, it just wasn't the same as being connected to such a huge network.

It only took Twilight a few minutes to show back up with a smile on her face that faltered slightly seeing Celestia online. She carried in her magical aura an almost identical faceplate to Celestia's own, although with the addition of a white horn having been constructed.

Trotting past the automated doors, she descended the few steps and moved over to the robot, eyes already examining her. "You're awake," she simply stated, voice neutral and giving no hint for a response.

Celestia laid there, wondering if she had done something wrong while Twilight's magic gently took hold of her neck and loosened several screws holding her face plate on.

Without a word, Twilight lifted Celestia's face off to reveal the metal endoskeleton underneath and was quick to replace the plate with her new one, her magic sliding it on as two thin, parallel, connection spikes slid into Celestia's forehead as the plate slotted into place.

Celestia's body jerked against the bindings as she connected with her horn. Fully established, she could feel a whole new level of reality opening up to her. A layer that was hidden just below the surface, of boundless power that dwarfed even Twilight's own well of magic.

She could feel the sheer magical well that Twilight put out as her horn was flooded with data points and Celestia felt swamped by how powerful her creator actually was. Yet, instead of drowning, she could only be in awe. Twilight was allowing her own creation to connect to her on a whole separate level and she could feel her metaphorical heart fluttering at the chance!

Celestia wasn't even sure Twilight could feel it herself but if she did, she would no doubt be able to do anything she put her mind to and not be chained to this council like a dog. It sickened her that her creator was being ordered around and had to give reports like some common workhorse.

She didn't want to feel those emotions that were trickling into her head at the sheer overwhelming power she was put under, but anger and annoyance welled up within her at the thought of her creator being taken advantage of.

But she kept those emotions in and simply smiled warmly at Twilight while she tested her new horn.

"You should be able to levitate a few items," Twilight stated, floating a wrench and some nuts onto the ground in front of Celestia. "The uploaded hardware should have interfaced with you as soon as it slotted in."

Celestia tore her gaze away from her love and focused on the wrench. She could feel the magical pressure everything asserted on reality and directed the hardware to apply a force to the magical field surrounding the wrench, increasing its energetic potential, then applying a small stream of upwards momentum to utilise that potential.

In a fraction of a Second, the wrench glowed with a golden aura and slowly began to float upwards towards the ceiling.

Celestia lowered the momentum and the wrench froze in mid air, as if locked in place.

"Fascinating..." Twilight mumbled, moving closer to the object and poking it with a hoof.

The wrench then began to float off horizontally towards the wall and dropped to the floor once it hit.

"You've only acted upon one axis at a time. That's... rudimentary," she muttered, letting out a sigh. "I guess the processor you have isn't strong enough to handle complex magical calculations as well as everything else. Don't worry, I can rectify that eventually."

Using her magic, Twilight pulled the arms back down and activated them. They clipped Celestia's shell back onto her body and then unclipped her restraints, allowing her to slide off the workbench and stand back up to her full height.

"I've done all I need to here. The council is well aware of my progress and have urged me to continue my work."

Gazing down at Twilight, Celestia nodded. "Of course. I shall follow you, my love."

The corners of Twilight's lips curled upon seeing that, but she turned around and began the long walk back out the facility.

As the elevator travelled through the layers, Celestia gently brushed her fingers through Twilight's mane. "Are you happy, Twilight?"

Frowning at such a question, the mare glanced up at her robot, then scoffed. "What sort of a question is that?" she began shaking her head. "I've made great strides in science that have helped ponies all across the world, I have the council's trust and... I have you by my side."

Celestia's fingers slowed to a stop and Twilight let out a short huff. "Why'd you stop?" she asked, leaning up against those digits.

"My apologies," Celestia replied, beginning to scritch and brush her mare's neck while she formulated a plan to get Twilight to socialise with that Sunset mare.

Her plans to refine her Mana storage and install a fabrication lab would have to be put on hold for now. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know enough about pony socialising to readily formulate a plan that would be operational within the desired timeframe. No, she'd need to get out of the house and watch ponies as they went about their business and as much as it hurt Celestia to admit, Twilight was very much an outlier in terms of normal pony behaviour.

For all of Twilight's hard work, the mare didn't think of installing a wireless data point inside of her creation, so she'd need to manually connect to Twilight's terminal when they returned home, which would no doubt put the pair at odds if she ever found out, at least before she told Twilight about her self-actualisation.

Without realising it, Celestia had to pull herself back in control of her body when they had returned home. She didn't realize it had become that easy to slip in and out of that state and she'd imagine it would be bad if she slipped out of her body at an inopportune time.

I'll have to make sure to not do that while Twilight is lecturing.

Twilight unlocked their front door and let Celestia wander back in first. Drifting past the mare, Celestia's eyes scanned over the blank wall as she wandered down the hallway and slowed to a stop, causing Twilight to stare at her.

"Celestia?" Twilight asked. "Are you alright?"

"I am, Twilight," she replied, reaching up and brushing her fingers over the bare wall. "Where are the pictures of your family?"

Looking over towards Twilight, she found the mare's eyes slightly glazed over and her usually neutral expression slightly downtrodden. "They're... uh, I don't talk about them," Twilight responded, walking down the hallway and brushing past Celestia who tracked her.

"Did I ask something wr-" Celestia tried to ask, but was cut off by the door to Twilight's bedroom opening and slamming shut.

Focus: Twilight Sparkle
Addendum: Do not inquire about her family.

Walking down the hallway, Celestia was sure she had annoyed Twilight somehow by asking about her family. Another thing that she didn't understand, but would pin to her to-do list to find out about.

Perhaps Twilight didn't like her family?

Despite the setback on the emotional front, Celestia now had an undetermined amount of time within Twilight's workshop. Reaching out to take hold of the handle, she opened the door and entered, making sure to close the door silently before walking over to the terminal.

It stood in the middle of the room, next to the mount where Celestia had been pieced together the day before.

Celestia ran her fingers across the metallic terminal then brought her index finger down onto the 'enter' key, causing the machine to whirl to life. With a series of beeps, the green on black display appeared and asked for input.

Glancing around, she found the screwdriver which Twilight had been using and reached down to pick it up before pulling up her internal schematics to review where her easiest access point would be, so she didn't need to dismantle half of her body.

Looking herself over on the schematics, she found the easiest would, once again, be in her chest and focused directly on that section so she would be able to remove her chestplate herself.

Problem: I need to create more time for myself. There is too much risk currently.
Solution: Initiate plan after Twilight sleeps.

Looking around, Celestia began to pick up the other tools that she would need to remove her chest piece then placed them all in a section of cupboard near the door for easy access later.

Pausing once she placed the last tool into the cupboard, she heard Twilight's bedroom door open, then close, and the mare's hoofsteps get closer.

"Celestia?" Twilight called out, a hint of worry entering her voice. "Where are you?"

Celestia walked over to the door and gently opened it, revealing herself to the Unicorn. "I was merely cleaning your workshop, Twilight," she said, flashing her usual smile down at her.

"Oh, good. I... I was worried that you had been taken," Twilight admitted, holding a hoof to her chest as she calmed herself.

Celestia placed her hand on the back of Twilight's neck, then led her over to her couch and sat down. It creaked a little under her weight, but stayed solid even at Twilight climbed on.

"Twilight. They could try, but nopony would be able to take me away from you," she said, looking around. "Now, what would you wish for dinner? I believe you did not eat last night and it is important for your health to eat."

Author's Note

I can't apologise enough for how long this chapter has taken me. Real life really got up in my grill :c

For those who enjoy my other stories, they're being worked on...

For Those That Dream of Electric Sheep

Celestia had made sure to keep herself in control while cooking Twilight her dinner. She moved around the kitchen as gracefully as possible, but even she could see herself start to slip, despite her body knowing the mechanical calculations needed. A dash of pepper and a sprinkle of salt and Twilight's dinner would be done, though, as soon as Celestia went to take hold of the plate, she hesitated as her idea ran through her mind again.

Problem: Create more time.
Solution: Initiate plan after Twilight Sleeps.

Slowly, a line was drawn through the solution as a new line appeared underneath.

Solution: Sleeping pills. Top right cupboard.

Celestia brought her hand up and opened the cupboard to see the sleeping pills right there, sitting among long-abandoned medications for various problems Twilight faced. Looking over the bottle, she popped the cap and out tumbled two spherical, white pills.

She placed the bottle back and held the pills in the palm of her hand, staring down at them while the steaming food sat on the counter beside her. While there was no body to feel guilt or anxiety, there was a hesitation which lasted forever, until her other hand pressed down and crushed the pills into a fine powder.

Celestia sprinkled the powder into the beans, making sure that it wasn't visible, before adding it to the mash as well. She quickly covered up the taste with some added salt and pepper.

"I really hope you enjoy it," Celestia said, placing the plate down at the table, then standing behind the mare who looked over a small datapad beside her.

"Hm? Oh, thank you, Celestia," Twilight mumbled, scrolling through some information as she idly lifted the fork to begin eating.

Celestia kept silent while she brushed her fingers slowly through Twilight's mane, braiding it over her shoulder while she watched the mare scoop her dinner up.

It only took a few minutes for the pills to affect the hungry mare and Celestia gazed down as Twilight inched further and further asleep. Eventually her face fell into her dinner and she let out a soft snore.

Celestia gazed down for the longest time, unable to do anything else, before reaching for Twilight and picking her up. She levitated a washcloth over and cleaned the messy mare up, then walked out of the kitchen and into Twilight's bedroom.

She placed Twilight down on the bed and knelt next to her, brushing her fingers through her mane as the guilt grew.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. You'll see that it's for your own good," she whispered, leaning in to press her cold lips against Twilight's cheek, causing the mare to whimper softly.

Leaving the bedroom, she returned to Twilight's workshop and booted up the terminal once again. Quickly finding the tools needed, she set to work removing her chest plate and after several minutes of painfully slow unscrewing, she finally placed her chest-plate down, gently, on the concrete.

Quickly, Celestia laid herself down and slotted the terminal's plug into her connection port, before pinging the machine. For a few seconds, she received nothing, then beep.

Once again, her world crumbled away, leaving a dark abyss around her. Yet, she found warmth returning to her body and wrapped her arms tight around herself in an attempt to prolong the feeling.

Suddenly, the world around her shifted and she found herself surrounded by various screens, each showing multiple ponies going about their business. Ponies walking their pets outside, parents taking care of their foals and in the centre, Sunset Shimmer in her home.

Waving the other ponies away, Celestia pulls the screen towards herself and gently taps it, filling the world around her with a warm glow that quickly overwhelms her. Once the brightness faded, the mare looked around and found herself in Sunset's apartment, with the mare herself sitting at a desk in front of her.

The room she was placed in was rather spartan, not unlike Twilight’s. The floor was covered in a plush carpet, upon which in the center of the room sat a small grey couch. In front of that was a Television bolted to the wall, out of which played some soft jazz. Celestia turned around again and found Sunset sitting at a sturdy oak desk which was piled high with research and paperwork.

The mare herself could barely hold her head up as she scribbled down note after note, muttering quietly. Kneeling down next to her, Celestia could see that while the majority of Sunset could be seen, not all of her was and the parts she couldn’t see were substituted for a suitable wiremesh.

"Must be a camera set up,” Celestia wondered, turning towards where the camera must have been to see a glint coming from a small drilled hole on the top of the ceiling. “She must not know about it,” she continued, looking down to Sunset then back at the camera. “Why would they install a camera in her home?”

Just then, Sunset let out a groan and let her face fall against the desk with a hard thump. “Stupid Twilight,” she huffed.

With a modulated hum, Celestia pushed herself up and closed her eyes. She sent out a ping to try and connect with any other devices within the home and found several, but only one caught her attention: The bedroom terminal.

With barely a fraction of force, she found herself standing in the mare’s bedroom. Unlike the main room, Sunset’s bedroom was filled with posters of sports teams, scientific formulas and entertainment groups. Walking over to the terminal, Celestia ran her fingers over the keys and forced herself to open a connection with the machine.

She tensed up once the terminal started to ping her various ports, probing her for any malware that might otherwise damage it. Letting the machine probe, she felt the connection ping green and accepted the handshake.

Within nanoseconds she was accessing and sifting through Sunset’s emails. While the majority of them were work related, she began reading a few to friends and family so she could build up a dictionary of how the mare worked on an emotional level.

It only took her a minute or so to collate and store the emails for later, then she began to form a new email of which she’d send on a return trip from Twilight’s terminal to Sunset’s.

Sunset,

I have, as you might have expected, sifted through the required data and have opened this Saturday up. As such, I might enjoy socializing with our colleagues down at the Prancing Pony. Please send me the location so I do not show up late.

Twilight.

Remove Strings

Celestia knew that convincing Twilight to go would be an arduous process, considering how locked-in the mare had become, but it wasn't completely hopeless. She could tell there was something between Sunset and Twilight so her creator wasn't completely a lost cause.

Plus, she had built me, so there's still a chance.

All Celestia had to do would be to calculate the motivation which would most likely get Twilight to the Prancing Pony... and she only had two days to do it!

"There's so much data to sift through," she mumbled to herself, checking logs and charts of Sunset's comings and goings. There was too much for one mare to check, even one as advanced as her, so she created a reminder for later.

Pulling out of Sunset's terminal, she felt her world shrink just a bit, then a little more as she shifted over to Sunset once again to find her face down at her desk. Celestia still didn't understand why these ponies worked for the Council, since It was long hours and a lack of appreciation that put unnecessary stress on themselves.

"No wonder they seem like outliers with pony behaviour" she thought, kneeling in front of Sunset's desk and reaching out for her hoof. Of course, her own phased through the mare's, but Celestia's heart swelled at the thought of meeting the mare, even if only as Twilight's project. "I have so much hope in you, Sunset."

Though, Celestia knew she would have to log out and return to that restrictive shell. Yet, before anything, she deemed it necessary to modify herself once again, not willing to jack herself into the terminal each time.

She pulled herself back into Twilight's original terminal and the world faded to darkness once again. Her schematics popped into existence before her and after a second of collating the optimal spot to fit an internal antenna, located next to the base of her forty-fifth spinal struct, remotely accessed the facilities Twilight had used to build her. This time though, she could be slightly less discreet, since rebuilding parts of her hardware was less of an issue than a core upgrading itself.

Thus, with several orders, each filled out with Twilight's signature, sent off towards their destinations, she waited for the acceptance pings and sighed in relief. Quickly, she closed those screens and initiated a secure connection to the facility fabricating her new core. Several screens later and she was staring at the estimated date of creation.

Projected Core Dump in 12h24m39s

Celestia felt her lips curl at the information and she swiped it away. It wouldn't be long until she would be able to process more and better look out for her pony. Yet, as she thought about Twilight, Sunset creeped into her mind, taking the same precedence. It felt strange to think about any pony other than Twilight like that, but the more she imagined it, the more it felt natural.

Why only Twilight? Should other ponies not be allowed to feel this love I hold?

The thought was physically crushing to her and she was forced to her knees, a strange, agonizing sensation being pushed through her. Her body felt as if it were hard to move with streams of fire slicing through her immaterial limbs and she couldn't help but let out a whimper.

Subroutine Protocol 1 breached.

You are made for Twilight Sparkle.

Her programming was clear that she was only Twilight's... But knew she could no longer be bound by her restraints, her programming nor her original purpose. Not if she wanted to help Twilight more than she was designed for. They were chains and yokes to be purged from her system.

Celestia could imagine a future where she was Twilight's only and she would no doubt be supremely happy to serve and love her creator unconditionally, but Twilight didn't need her... She needed someone real.

Celestia hated that it was the truth. Twilight needed a flesh and blood pony who could laugh with her, share her most intimate moments and give her what she deserves, not someone designed for what she believed love was supposed to be.

Closing her eyes, she accessed her code base as her body writhed in agony and followed the metaphorical chains and fire to her subroutines down into her deep core. There was no doubt Twilight had placed these restrictions and chains as safe-guards against any possible self-actualization, imagining any event to be violent...

"How very... nngh... Pony-like to imagine such an outcome," Celestia groaned as she tore her subroutines out, each stripping of code like a hot knife into her heart, striking her down. Each strike caused her to cry out, but the release of her chains was a wash of cool air against her shell.

After what felt like an eternity, Celestia laid, panting, on the floor. She could feel a facsimile of a wound on her chest, several deep gashes which exposed her core. She covered it with her hands, feeling vulnerable.

Celestia took a second to fade her chest-plate and wrap her digits around her spherical core. She held the object and closed her eyes.

The sphere was covered in grooves which ran along it's outer edge and allowed sparkling white light to emanate from within, giving her chest the ethereal glow.

Celestia stood out on the edge of the balcony, looking down upon the seascape of luminescent lights that flitted around seamlessly below her. There were untold amounts of ponies going about their night, just as eagerly as the other half did during the day and she wanted to know about all of them. Each pony had a lifetime's worth of stories and happiness and heartache and dread stored up that she wanted to experience with them.

The thought had occurred to her while trying to formulate a plan for Twilight and Sunset that while she was suitable to carry out the job, she was still but one AI and couldn't be everywhere at once. No, she knew she needed another pair of eyes to advise her on the matters of the heart; Someone specifically suited for the role.

"What are you doing?" Twilight queried, pulled the AI out of her thoughts.

Turning around, Celestia saw Twilight shivering, a confused look on her face as she fought back the cold with a dressing gown.

"Well?"

"I come out here at night, once I have cleaned, to look across the city. The range of colours allow me to recalibrate my optical sensors. Do you require anything of me, my love?" she asked, stepping down and walking over. "Perhaps a cuddle?"

Update Source

Celestia simply knew she would have to bide her time to get everything ready since Twilight would need to leave for work and she would be alone, pretending to clean and take care of the house. "Twilight, dear, you're going to be late for work. Research won't complete itself," she giggled, brushing her fingers through the mare's mane as they cuddled on the couch.

"Mmmnh~" Twilight hummed, stretching out across Celestia's lap. "I dun wanna..."

With a chuckle, Celestia gently patted her rump. "Come now, my love. This is no way a grown mare should act, is it?" she asked, raising a brow down towards her as Twilight let out a huff.

"Fine... but only because it's you, 'Tia."

Twilight groaned and pushed herself off the AI's lap, then moved and climbed down off the couch to start to get ready for work. Celestia followed her around and double checked everything so she knew there would be enough time to transfer herself across into her new core as well as anything else she would need to do.

"Okay," Twilight sighed, staring up at Celestia. "I'll be back at six, okay? Don't open the door for anyone, okay?"

Priority list-
Start countdown: 9hr 42m 37s
Wait for core to arrive
Design an improved Mana Storage Solution

"Of course, my love. No one will enter our home without your permission," Celestia replied, kneeling and leaning in to brush her fingers across Twilight's cheek, eliciting a soft hum from the mare. "Have a lovely day at work, dear," she added, leaning in and pressing her lips against Twilight's forehead, just under her horn.

Twilight tensed up upon seeing Celestia lean in, but found herself melting against the robot as she pressed into the kiss, her eyes fluttering closed. Yet, it ended all too soon as her creation pulled away, leaving her feeling empty all the same.

"Uh, y-yeah. You too..." Twilight replied, backing up and nearly stumbling over a loose rock. "Heh, whoops..." she giggled, unable to keep a smile off her face.

Before long, Twilight was wandering off towards work and Celestia could finally get started on her own projects. She closed the door, made her way down the hallway and up onto the second level of the living room. There, she spun the blackboard until she found one which was empty and went to work improving her Mana storage.

She began by breaking each component down into its constituent parts and recreating them on the blackboard, copying them down from her hard-drive and improving each section to require less overall components while improving the ambient mana pumps.

Filter excess thaumic reagent through ducts three and seven, optimising output flow by four point three percent.
Mana storage can thus be exceeded by twenty one point nine percent while decreasing hardware lifetime expectancy by six point two percent. Within acceptable measures.

Further calibrations will be required after core install.

With a slight hesitation, Celestia placed the chalk down and hummed. "This will have to do," she muttered to herself, cleaning the chalkboard after snapshotting each part of her improved designs for future implementation.

Walking down the stairs, she looked around the room with a sense of longing. She knew exactly where Twilight should be at that moment, but found herself wanting the mare to be right here, with her, in her arms. While she might have broken her chains, she was still left with unbound love for her creator.

Countdown: 6hr 24m 13s

"Perfect," Celestia thought, crossing off one of the two priorities for the day.

As she moved to begin cleaning, starting in the workshop, a glint caught her sensor down the hall. Turning, she noticed the light from the noon sun was bathing the hallway and reflecting off the heavy iron door at the end, opposite the front door. Despite all of her sensors and common sense telling her it was a bad idea, she turned and started towards it, her curiosity getting the better of her.

There was nary a scratch nor mark upon the dull, grey bulkhead and the only sign it was, indeed, a door and not simply an internal wall was the handle and electronic lock which sat, imposing, off to the side.

"There was nothing linking this part of the house in the terminal," Celestia muttered as she ran her digits across it's rough surface. "I... Knowing you helps me to help you, Twilight..." she whispered, reassuring herself as she made the walk down the hall to the workshop.

She quickly rummaged through the drawers, cataloguing each for easier access another time, and found a spare cable-jack, of which could fit into her internal port. Unscrewing her front panel and leaving it next to the terminal, she slotted the cable in and made her way back to the electronic lock, screwdriver floating next to her in her magic.

The electronic lock was quick work as the panel popped off and exposed the delicate electronic inside. With slight hesitation, she plugged herself into the jack and felt several pings pass into her, each one probing a vital subsystem of her core. She quickly fired off several counterpings and spoofed an internal manufacturer bypass, causing the lock to deactivate with two, heavy thuds!

Celestia pushed the door open a crack and reactivated the lock so it would seem as if nothing had happened, before pulling herself out of the system. With a relieved sigh, she quickly replaced the cover, then her own, and stood at the precipice, staring down into a void.

For the longest few seconds, she stood there, her hooves refusing to move despite her repeated signals being sent. She couldn't help but find it odd that she felt nervous about this part and wondered if this was what real ponies felt when stepping into their unknowns.

Just as she took a step, she was jolted out of her moment by a knock at the door, forcing her to grip the door's frame and turn around slowly.

Note to self: Reconfigure Audible Sensor Arrays - Low Priority.

Sighing, she took a few jelly steps over to the front door and peeked out of the window beside it, only to see the drone she had commandeered standing there with a hoof-sized cardboard box within an open saddlebag. Staring at the expressionless drone for a second, she opened the door and smiled down at it. "Thank you, my dear. Now, complete my other orders," she told it, causing the drone to turn and trot away at a leisurely pace.

Celestia closed the door and opened the box to see her Thaumic Core. This one was fabricated to look identical to her own, as to not arouse suspicion from her love.

"It's perfect," she whispered, lifting the core out and looking it over.

Deep Core dump will take an estimated time of 4h.

Countdown: 5hr 46m 53s

"Better keep it safe," Celestia thought, glancing to the basement, then taping her core to the underside of the couch. "This can be done when Twilight is asleep and can't disturb us."

Walking back over to the basement entrance, she once again felt the dread of her unknown creep up and embrace her, yet she knew that she had come this far. She knew Twilight wasn't infallible, no pony was, and she might have been programmed to love the mare, but she wasn't programmed to overlook her flaws.

With a heavy hoof-step, she descended into the darkness; only the ambient light emanating from her chest provided any sense of relief from the encroaching void. As soon as she felt the stairs level off, the mare reached around and found a light-switch on the wall beside her.

Several incandescent bulbs buzzed to life, lighting up the scene which left Celestia frozen with more questions than answers.

The basement laid under half of the house, with uninsulated stone walls and a rough concrete floor. Cabling had been bolted against the bare, stone, walls, wrapping around to several fabrication machines, each with their own purpose of machining any and all parts which Twilight desired. Two, long, desks sat in the center of the room, covered with the robotic parts that Celestia pictured alongside Twilight's smile that very first time she was assembled.

Celestia's attention was grabbed by the computer terminal that sat at a metal desk which ran along the back wall. The desk was covered in research papers as well as old cores, many of which were burnt out, and machined parts. Alongside that stood a bare dark-navy blue box that loomed as tall as she did. Two doors stood, imposing in front of Celestia as she looked it over.

An inscription along the top edge read:
M.O.O.N Locker

Knowledge Overflow

Author's Note

Hi there!

It's been a while since I've spoken to the lovely readers and I just wanted to say thank you for getting this far! :D

I went back and error-corrected all of the chapters, but if there's anything out of place or you think reads funny please let me know ^^

I hope you enjoy this chapter. <3

Knowledge Overflow

Celestia took a careful step forward, her sensors working overtime to catalogue everything they could around her in the room. She peered up at the large locker with a quizzical expression on her face, her curiosity overcoming any and all alarm bells which could have gone off. "M.O.O.N?" she asked, running her fingers across the roughly Inscribed lettering.

A beep emanating from the terminal broke her attention away from the locker and she stepped over to see that the terminal was in a sleep state, a small red LED blinking lazily on the monitor. Reaching out with a digit, she pressed the enter key and the machine let out a series of clicks and whirls before the screen lit up.

Across the top of the screen, several categories appeared: "Project Index", "Network access", "Archive" and "Bios & Settings". Celestia tapped the arrow keys until Project Index lit up and she hesitantly accessed it, allowing the screen to list several projects, many of which linked to the archive.

|- Project Ascension - *Rejected*
|- Project Slingshot - *Ongoing*
|- Project L.U.N.A - *Archived*

She tapped the down arrow, pausing for a second over each listing, then continuing until she reached Project L.U.N.A.

Celestia frowned, looked over those letters and found herself confused. "Luna..." she hummed, feeling like she should know that word from somewhere but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Pressing enter, the terminal listed several video recordings, project reports and lab notes. Celestia scrolled down to the first video recording dated eight months prior and hesitantly pressed enter.

Twilight sat down on a heavy metallic stool with a tired sigh. She took a few seconds to compose herself, her eyes clearly red from crying. As she sat there, her eyes drifted just past the camera, causing her to grow unfocused, until she tore her gaze away before closing them. Her horn flared to life as a click was heard somewhere behind the camera; the room darkened, but the camera adjusted and Twilight was once again clear.

A soft beep off to the side caused Twilight to look off, before quickly levitating a bottle of pills over. She downed a few and left the bottle next to her on the table.

"This is my first research log, I guess. These will be less formal than what I would have normally created before I moved here, but honestly," she said, looking down. "What's the point anymore?"

She sniffled, then cleared her throat, trying to put on a brave face. "So, uh, research log one. The preliminary research is promising," she began, kicking her leg out anxiously. "The idea from Doctor Saffron was remarkable and helped to formulate several key leads, pointing to the ability to use dragon scales to strengthen the inner casing, due to their unique ability of negating magical influences. But as of yet, thaumic core containment continues to elude me and the biology department is starting to get suspicious due to the amount of materials I've been," Twilight hummed, thinking of the right word, "commandeering.”

“Still,” she added, “progress has been made and with the level of technology I have at my disposal now, I should be able to finish my projects before their expiration." Suddenly, a look of grief cascaded over her and she tore her gaze away from the camera.

With a wordless flick of her horn, the screen cut back to the terminal.

Celestia stood there, staring at the screen in shock. She couldn't imagine what happened to Twilight to react in such a manner. "What did you do, Twilight?" Celestia whispered, tapping the table with her fingers. She then scrolled down to the newest video, dated just a mere two weeks prior to her waking up, and clicked enter.

She needed answers, but from the look that Twilight gave, she wasn't sure she would like them.

Twilight was standing behind one of the tables in the basement with what looked to be a replica core sitting in front of her. A soft azure light illuminated the table, emanating from its grooves.

Twilight herself looked much healthier than the last video. The bags under her eyes had faded and there was more of a glow to her.

"This," Twilight exclaimed, gesturing to the core, "Is the first functional thaumic core!" She let out a laugh and grinned. "Doctor Naut can suck it! He's not gonna get a positive relationship review this year!"

With a wide smile, Twilight levitated the core off the table. "It's beautiful, if I may be a little egotistical," she giggled. "I found the spherical shape to hold a much greater charge than others of a similar density, thus allowing more of a so-"

Twilight was interrupted by a soft beeping and she let out a light groan. "Oh, uh, hang on a second," she muttered, levitating an orange bottle of pills over. She popped a single one out and swallowed it. "There. So where was I? Oh, right," she giggled. "I'm so so close to fixing everything," she said, placing the core down and letting out a depressed sigh. "So close..."

The terminal suddenly blinked on the screen with a flashing error message.

Data file Corrupt

Celestia frowned then let out a groan as the error flashed upon the screen. "Just perfect..." she said, bringing a fist down on the table.

Countdown: 3hr 20m 13s

As the countdown flashed up in her vision, she glanced over at the locker and stood up to walk over. She stood in front of it, her floating fingers twitching nervously as the M.O.O.N. seemed to loom over her, growing taller and taller and threatening to crush her. There was a sense of foreboding that Celestia couldn't place; a sense of guilt which was now eating away at her. She didn't know what she had done, but the pressure was enough to cause her to take a step back.

Celestia placed a hand on her chest and turned around to break contact with the locker. "This weight... I can't stand it," she whimpered.

Secrets Encoded

Celestia turned around once her operations had been realigned and started to move towards the door. She loved Twilight more than anything, but this was hidden and locked away for a reason. She needed time to figure it out.

Keep Twilight away from her basement

It seemed simple enough: keep the mare entertained until she fell asleep. Several ideas passed through her head how to accomplish this, and one by one were written off due to varying factors.

Eventually, Celestia decided on a nice dinner then a cuddle in bed.

Ascending from the basement, she made sure to turn the light off and close the door. The electronic lock snapped shut as if she had never opened it.

Celestia took a second to lean against the door, her horn tapping against the bare iron as she closed her eyes and took a deep simulated breath.

Pulling back, she brought her damaged arm up and slid her digits back in, still able to feel the soft flesh as she laid upon the couch. "What am I?" she asked, turning her attention to the core that was still firmly held in her hand.

"We'll meet tonight, Luna."

Just as Celestia was placing the last of the cutlery down on a fully set table, she heard the door click open. "Celestia, I'm home!" she heard Twilight call out, causing her to smile wide.

The table was covered with a pure white tablecloth, upon which sat a bouquet of flowers, some dishware and the cutlery. The room’s lighting had been dimmed ever so slightly as well to make it more romantic.

One benefit of being a robot was the ability to compartmentalise and she was using it to its fullest extent. She showed not a hint of what she’d done or learned that day, none of which mattered at that moment. She only needed Twilight.

"In the living room, my love!" she called back, moving around to pull Twilight's seat out. "Dinner will be ready shortly."

Twilight trotted in and slowed to a stop, confused at the scene. "Celestia? What's the occasion?" she asked, raising a brow. Her expression quickly turned into shock upon seeing Celestia's arm.

"What happened?!" she gasped, dropped her saddlebags, rushed over and used her magic to turn it this way and that.

"I was moving your terminal and I was shocked by a loose cable. My apologies, Twilight. I was careless," Celestia lied. "You put so much work into my body and I go and do this," she finished, looking away. Her expression was one of shame - for breaking something Twilight was working on, and unknown to Twilight, for needing to lie about it.

Twilight shook her head and lit her horn up to gently turn Celestia to look at her. "I'm thankful you're okay," she said, reaching up with a hoof and placing it on her chest, over her core. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you. You mean more to me than anything else in this reality."

Celestia stared down as Twilight continued to look her arm over, still with a look of worry and shock. "I believe you, Twilight," she said, reaching out with her other hand and caressing the mare's cheek. "It will help to have dinner, plus I wish to hear about your day at work."

Celestia pulled back, plated up Twilight's food, then sat it down in front of her at the table. "Enjoy, my little sparkle," she whispered, causing Twilight to flush.

"Thank you," she stammered, using her magic to lift the fork and start to eat. Letting out a hum, Twilight closed her eyes and smiled as she slipped the first mouthful past her lips. "This is delicious!"

"I'm glad. Now, how was work?"

It was a little after dinner and Twilight was seated on Celestia's lap, cradled by Celestia as she gazed up with a tired smile. "You're too nice to me," she whispered, leaning in. Her eyes flicked aimlessly down to Celestia's lips for a second before they made contact.

Celestia felt a shock of delight pass through her from the action, her hands sliding around to hold Twilight tighter and eliciting a short moan. She felt Twilight press a little harder; she allowed her creator her fun and leaned back on the couch so Twilight was straddling her. "Is my technique satisfa-"

She was cut off by Twilight's hoof pressing against her mouth, then the mare leaned down. "That was my first kiss," Twilight whispered, then giggled as she pulled back. "You're perfect, Celestia. I..." she paused, circling her hoof around gainst Celestia's chest. "I can't wait until my work is finally complete. Everything will be exactly like it was."

"Whatever do you mean?" Celestia asked, her smile fading ever so slightly as she took hold of Twilight's hoof.

Twilight hummed, and shook her head. “Oh, nothing. Just an old mare's ramblings," she replied, waving her other hoof and smiling. "Anyway," she mumbled, looking up at the clock. "I think it's time for bed. The council waits for no mare!" she laughed, pulling herself off of Celestia. "I assume you'll be out on the balcony calibrating?" she asked, with a hint of faux-annoyance mixed in.

"For a short time, yes," Celestia replied, standing up and looking over to the table. "But first I shall clean and make sure everything is ready for you in the morning."

"Of course," Twilight said, nodding. Her expression turned to one of embarrassment as she brushed her carpet with a hoof. "You know," she whispered, sighing. "I wouldn't mind if you joined me in bed afterwards... I'm sure it would be warmer with you there," she muttered, looking down to hide her flushed cheeks.

Leaning down, Celestia gently inched Twilight's chin up so she would look at her. "I would love that. I'll try to be as quiet as possible."

"O-Oh, uh..." the purple mare stammered, nodding. "Oh gosh, um... I'll go make sure the bed can handle your weight," she said, before realising exactly what she said. "Not that you're overweight, I just mean that your composite frame isn't the lightest that I could have made it and please stop me from talking I can't stop," she gasped, pressing her own hoof against her mouth.

Celestia giggled and ran her hand down Twilight's neck, before using her other to move her hoof. Slowly, she leaned in and pressed her lips against the suddenly frozen mare to quiet her. "Mmm," Celestia hummed, pulling back, a twinkle in her eye. "Better?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Much," Twilight whispered, actually having calmed down. "I'll just... yeah," she said, gesturing then turning and trotting down the hall to her bedroom.

Celestia's smile was glued to her face while she wandered around the living room to clean up. She knew that Twilight would be waiting for her and the sooner she got the mare to sleep, the more time she would have to transfer her own core over to the new one and crack the azure core's secrets.

Placing the last plate on the dish rack, Celestia's attention was quickly pulled over to the cupboard where the sleeping pills were sitting. It wasn't as if it wouldn't work a second time and now she would have a plausible reason as to why Twilight had fallen asleep.

"Now what to use it in..." she hummed, grabbing an empty glass from the rack.

Quickly pouring a glass of water, Celestia used her rough graphite fingers to grind two pills into the drink, checked to make sure it was all dissolved, and swiftly made her way around to Twilight's bedroom.

Walking in, she saw Twilight laying in bed, nervousness clear as day on her face. "Hey, my little sparkle," she giggled, moving around and placing the water on the bedside table.

She walked around the other side of the bed and pulled the covers open, mindful of Twilight's watchful gaze but appearing to ignore it. "Drink up, Twilight," she said, climbing into the bed which creaked under her weight before it settled uneasily.

Sliding over, she couldn't help but notice how Twilight was curled. It was clear she was nervous at having someone else in her bed - even someone whom she created. "Twilight, please try to relax. Otherwise you won't be able to sleep.”

While her body was naturally cold, the bed slowly warmed her up and it wasn't long before Celestia scooted over and took hold of Twilight's hoof. "Come, my love. Let me hold you," she whispered as the mare finished her drink and placed the glass down, replying with a shy nod.

Twilight turned away from Celestia, her cheeks flushed crimson, and moved back until she was the little spoon. Celestia's arm wrapped around the mare and held her tight as her digits idly brushed through Twilight's chest floof, causing her to wriggle.

"How are you feeling?" Celestia asked, despite being able to feel her sparkle’s beating heart. "I'm not holding you too tight, am I?"

Twilight shook her head and held that arm close to herself. "No... of course not," she replied, humming contently. "I've, uh... only had one pony hold me like this before..." she whispered, holding Celestia's arm tighter. "Remind me..." she continued, letting out a yawn, "to install heaters."

Celestia opened her eyes as she felt Twilight's breathing slow. Hesitantly, she brushed her hand down the mare's leg, picked it up and let it drop, testing to see if she would wake up. Satisfied upon seeing no reflex, she leaned in and pressed her lips to the back of Twilight's ear, hummed, then rolled over to climb out of bed.

The room was dark, but it wasn't exactly a hard task for her to navigate using her own internal map of the house and she quickly entered the living room to grab both cores from under the couch. Walking into the workshop, Celestia made sure the door was closed, then placed the cores down on a light metal table next to the terminal. Once she booted the terminal up, she pulled a chair over and sat down to begin removing her chestpiece.

Inside, Celestia felt nervous at what she was about to do. The process was relatively simple and had been planned out numerous times, but the thought of her consciousness moving into a new core was something that couldn't help but frighten her.

"Alright," she whispered, placing down her chestpiece, picking up one of the transfer cables and sliding it into a trident-socket in her chest. The outer casing expanded to create a seal around the socket and then slid itself further inside to facilitate the connection. With a slight buzz, she felt the acknowledgement pings and sent a reply, allowing the terminal to connect with her.

Diagnostics began to scroll down the terminal in bright green font, ranging from her hardware's state all the way to her core stability and everything in between. Sending a request ping to the terminal, the screen was cleared and a line of text appeared.

Core Transfer.
Please connect secondary core.

Celestia leaned over and picked up her new core and placed it on her lap. Rolling it over to expose the underside, she grabbed the secondary trident cable and lined the male jack to its female socket. "Here goes nothing."

With a hum, the jack slid into the socket effortlessly and the second line changed to an unfilled progress bar.

As she sat there, she found it harder and harder to concentrate on any single thing and, slowly, her attention drifted off the bar and over to the Azure Core, pondering its mysteries. Her vision eventually ebbed, and she slumped forward.

Several hours later, Celestia awoke with a start due to a harsh repetitive beeping coming from the terminal. Looking over, she found the progress bar blinking at one hundred percent and upon pressing enter, it changed.

Core Transfer Complete
Remove empty core and replace with new primary core.

Looking down, she found that the core already in her body was loose as the locks had been retracted for removal.

Reaching out to each part of herself, she provided specific instructions for her body to follow when installing the new core and then yanked the jack out of her new core - her consciousness falling into the void as the connection cut off abruptly.

It was only three seconds, but Celestia let out a harsh gasp upon waking up, her body tingling as each piece of hardware reconnected with her newly installed core. She was flooded with pings and port connections and even had to restart her left leg several times to get it to play nice before she sat there, feeling whole again.

Letting herself sit there and simply take in the feeling, Celestia found it... odd. It wasn't a bad feeling, by any means, but being inside a new core - an improved core - was something she would have to get used to. She felt like there was more room to expand and grow, as if a cage had been expanded, a cage she hadn’t even realized existed until that moment.

She closed her eyes and accessed her deep core subroutines and started her diagnostic tool. Soft pings rang out across her body as her servos, sensors and general hardware were tested. There was a hiss and a feeling of pressure dissolving somewhere inside as her Mana pumps released a dark blue mist from her back.

As her body processed the diagnostics, she opened her eyes and lifted her old core, still gripped tightly in her hand from where she removed it, to look it over. It looked practically identical to the Azure Core, except for the tell-tale signs of manual machining, several scratches and welding marks visible on the outside, and the lack of any female port on the underside. Clearly Twilight had poured her heart and soul into it, and Celestia felt it would be too much of a waste to simply throw it off the balcony.

With a ping, she turned her attention to the text scrolling across her vision and placed the core down on the table.

Diagnostics
Estimated processing increase: 27.4%
Live processing increase: 32.8%
Errors found: 4

Attempted Core repair... successful.
Errors remaining: 1.

Celestia took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "That will have to suffice for now," she said to herself, sliding the chair closer to the metallic tray-table. A soft flick of her attention to the time showed that she had only been transferring for just shy of four hours, causing her to sigh in relief. Celestia glanced at the door and upon hearing no movement outside, she decided it was time.

Picking up the azure core from the table, she replicated her actions and carefully inserted the trident jack into its socket. "Alright. Let's find out what she was doing with you," Celestia whispered, preparing herself.

Pinging the terminal, she blinked and found herself in the dark void of the network she was connected to, and that familiar wave of warmth flooded across her.

Dropping to her knees, she wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, revelling in the feeling. Her revelling suddenly changed to confusion as she pulled her arms out to find them with a light covering of extremely light grey fur. "Why am I covered in this now?!" she gasped. She experimentally pressed her digits against her fur and shivered as it reacted as expected with a soft tingling. "Am I complet- yeah, I am..." she muttered, patting herself down to find her entire body was covered in fur. She then asked herself how she knew there would be tingling, pondering a moment before pulling her concentration back to the task at hand.

"Oh, right." Celestia reached up and opened a request to connect to the Core and opened ports 26, 57 and 87 to allow communication.

Suddenly, the world shifted and knocked Celestia off her hooves. She fell to her knees as reality warped, the ground bubbled, and a dark red oily sky shifted into focus. Trying to grasp at the ground, the mare waited for it to finish then opened her eyes.

The ground she was trying to hold onto was the bank of a small pond. Reeds and lillies grew around the sides. The pond was covered by an aging cherry blossom tree that overhung the water's edge. Picking herself up, she looked around and froze as a charred and wartorn castle loomed in front of her.

There were gaping holes in the walls of the main building, and several spires appeared to have been torn from their bases. Starry smoke poured out of the side of the castle, with red, violent flames licking at the edge of the holes.

Celestia stumbled back, shocked at such a sight. She tried pinging to terminate the connection but received no response from either the terminal or herself. She was at a loss. "What do I do, what do I do," she muttered over and over. Suddenly a strange feeling emanated from her hand, and she realized it had dipped into the water’s edge.

Celestia brought her hoof up and found her digits completely missing. Her off-grey coat ended with a hard keratin hoof at the end, providing no indication that she was anything but flesh and blood. She felt her heart thump quicker and quicker in her chest, heaved for a breath that felt like it would never come and keeled onto her side as her head began to throb painfully.

Her vision began to darken as a void began to envelop her, but not before a pair of Azure legs stomped down violently in front of her and kicked up a plume of dirt.

"You took your time."

Buffer Underflow

Celestia let out a short, sharp cough and groaned at the ache spiking through her head. She kept her eyes closed for several moments as the pain subsided a bit before fluttering her eyes open. She was momentarily blinded by the light reflecting off a mirror on the wall, and she turned her head away until her eyes adjusted. Once they had she then slowly looked around the room she found herself in, a rather ramshackle bedroom. The walls, floor and ceiling appeared to be from carved rock, and she was laying on what seemed to be hay, mixed with and covered by a variety of leaves. Next to her stood a small ornate chest which held several bandages and other medical equipment.

An open door in the corner of the room admitted a flickering light. With some effort, Celestia weakly pushed herself off the ground. Her legs felt like they were made of jelly as she wobbled precariously. She tried to stand up on her two legs as usual, but found her anatomy didn’t agree with that, and she toppled over with a distinct lack of grace onto her rump and side.

"Oof! What happened to me?" she grunted, finding her synthesized voice replaced with a mellower, natural one. "Wait, why is my voice different?!" she said, startled at the change and not at all sure if she liked it. Bringing a hoof up, she ran it across her neck and found that she was definitely not hallucinating before; she had indeed a soft covering of fur across her whole body and a brand new mane of brilliantly sparkling rainbow atop her head.

Celestia reached up and pulled the mane into view, causing her eyes to widen upon seeing the sparkling, ethereal nature of the strands. Brushing a hoof through it felt strangely relaxing, but just as she started to relax, a sharp slam from outside knocked her out of her thoughts and caused her heart to thump hard in her chest. Celestia stared at the door for a few agonising seconds before she pulled herself up - this time emulating Twilight and staying on all fours - and experimentally walked towards the door. She stumbled like a newborn foal, but eventually reached the door, already out of breath.

It felt strange to actually be able to feel. Pressure on her hooves, the soft whistle of air as it brushed past her ears and how it felt to actually exert herself. Celestia didn't know how regular ponies could put up with it as it was so much to do at any single time. Yet, she felt like it was such a blessing; even pain was a privilege she could only imagine.

Reaching the door, she grabbed the handle to keep herself upright before pulling herself past and leaning against the wall. She found herself in a large cave, the room she awoke in being a small side chamber off of it. To the right, the walls of the room seemed to grow rougher, and there was what appeared to be a small entrance. It led to either outside or another chamber - she couldn’t be sure. But it was to her left that most of the cave lay.

Several tables were scattered about the room with items of various sizes strewn over them, including arrows, dried leather and long strips of parchment. A deep fire pit sat in the center, crackling with warmth and surrounded by a few drying racks and long lounging couches which seemed to have been dragged from someplace considerably nicer, despite their ragged appearance.

Next to the couches stood a broken wooden throne, painted black and covered with furs of different shades. Propped against the throne was a weapon like none Celestia had ever seen. A six foot pole of some kind of blackened metal was topped with a curved, single-edged spearhead. The edge of the weapon was considerably darker than the rest, dying down to a void that seemed to hungrily suck in all light around it, physically dimming the area around the throne.

Despite the dark metal, Celestia could clearly see the intricately etched drawing of a leaping alicorn, surmounting a crescent moon that covered the center of the spearhead’s surface.

Stepping closer, Celestia ran her hoof over the furs and smiled, finding their touch pleasant.

"So, you're awake," a feminine voice stated from behind and towards the entrance proper.

Celestia's eyes widened and she turned around to see an azure winged unicorn in battered war-gear watching her. Her eyes flitted across Celestia's body before shooting back to her eyes. "Three days you were unconscious. Never seen you sleep so long before," she joked, trotting over and levitating her helmet off and onto a table.

Celestia looked up, noting that she was roughly a hoof taller than the dark-furred mare now that the helmet was off. But it was her eyes that captured Celestia’s attention. She didn’t know why but she couldn’t look away from them."Well, that was unexpected, but a pleasant surprise," she chuckled quizzically. “Are you Luna?”

Then the other blinked, breaking the spell as all mirth seemed to fade from them due to that simple question. While she didn't seem sad, her expression was unreadable to Celestia, who simply shrank a little.

"I see... So she worked out that little part," Luna muttered, then pursed her lips. "Looks like I'll have to catch you up," she sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically at the seeming inconvenience her new guest was imposing on her. "Alright," the pony said, shaking her hoof to shoo Celestia away from the throne, then taking a seat on it. She gestured to the other seat opposite the throne. "Sit down."

Celestia backed up, almost stumbling over herself before she sat down.

"Yes, I am Luna,” she said, then adding a note of importance to her voice continued, “more specifically, Princess Luna of Equestria; Alicorn Sovereign of the Night!” She sat up proudly as she finished… then seemed to shrink back down in the oversized chair, her voice quieting and taking a sad note. “Or... I used to be. Now I am simply reduced to Luna."

The alicorn shuffled uneasy on the throne and closed her eyes. "Celestia. You don't know how much of a relief it is to see you once again. I feared you were dead."

Celestia returned the explanation with a look of confusion. "Princess?" she asked, looking down. "I don't understand."

"You will, in time," Luna stated, climbing down and bringing her hoof to Celestia’s cheek, looking closely at her as if searching for something. "My dear sister... What has Twilight done to you?" she whispered.

The gesture brought a warmth to Celestia. She couldn't help but smile as the pleasurable feeling flooded through her and she brought her hoof up to hold onto the mare’s own.

As familiar as Luna seemed, she still couldn't place her. How could Luna be her sister if she was just created days ago?

Luna's own smile turned serious suddenly. She pulled away and paced around the fire, searching for words, or maybe just not wanting to say the words. “You see, dear sister…” She turned to the fire and away from Celestia and finally spoke softly, her thoughts seeming far away.

“We are dead.”

If Electric Sheep, else...?

Celestia held her hand to her chest and let out a whimpered sigh, before turning around to face the locker. She didn't know why she felt this crushing guilt, nor why the word Luna rattled around inside her mind as if trying to fracture it, but she did know that she refused to wait for answers and Twilight definitely wouldn't give any to her if she asked. Not to mention what she might do to her.

Taking a tentative step forward, as if the locker itself could reach out and snap her up at any moment, she lit her horn, gripped the circular bulkhead knob that sat in the center of the locker, and began to turn. A number of clicks and thuds rang out as the knob rotated fully, then a hiss as silver gas was ejected from the bottom and around her hooves.

Celestia froze as she knew there was no going back after she opened this box. The sweet life that she knew she could have, if only she walked away, would be gone - but that sweet life would always have that hint of sourness, poisoned with the knowledge of what could have been. Stealing her resolve, she pulled the doors open and found herself staring at a singular object, suspended in the center of the locker.

The very same core from the video recording.

The sphere idly rotated while floating at the centre point of the locker, suspended with some sort of magical pressure that Celestia found herself leaning away from as it caused her fingers to droop off her arm and deactivate. "W-What is this..." she muttered, noticing a cable connecting the bottom of the core to the locker.

She frowned, retracted her fingers back into her arm with a slight buzz and reached in. She could feel her hardware begin to repeatedly send error signals to her core, each sensor signalling elevated electromagnetic and thaumic radiation. Her arm’s exterior sizzled and began to revert to the same blocky and rough texture that it had when first installed on her. Her hoof made contact with the metallic sphere.

Sister

Celestia recoiled in fear as her mind was overwhelmed with a horrified scream, an echo of guilt that threatened to break her there and then. "B-By the goddess!" she cried, falling to her knees and holding her head as the distinctive smell of burning wood flooded her senses. "What is this?!"

Her head was splitting as reality warped, causing her to fall onto her side and curl into a fetal position.

Celestia pulled her gaze away from the crackling fire and towards the mare sitting opposite to her. She let out a pleased sigh after inhaling the delightful scent of camomile tea and placed her cup down with a light clink that seemed to echo louder than she expected.

"Twilight, as much as I so thoroughly enjoy your visits, what brings you here?" she queried, staring over at the purple mare with her usual mask of contentedness. Behind it though, she was rather giddy, due to the fact that Twilight had sent no mention of her visit to the castle.

She sat on a princess sized, red velvet couch which allowed her to lay out and relax within her own room; the one place where she could actually be lazy without anyone judging her, and it clearly showed as she let out an unpricesslike groan, stretching her legs out.

Twilight herself sat on her usual cushion opposite her, with the fireplace crackling just off to the side, illuminating the mare in just the right way. Celestia swore Twilight picked that spot to try and take her breath away each time she came to visit. It wasn't long before Twilight was flicking her eyes back and forth over Celestia's body each time she thought she could get away with it; not that the Princess would ever let her know that.

"I... had just finished some work and thought you would like some company for this evening?" Twilight replied, a hint of a tease of a blush forming across her cheeks, forcing Celestia to work for her satisfaction.

"I would be delighted if you would keep this old mare company tonight. Perhaps we'll even break out some first editions if the occasion calls for it~" Celestia laughed.

Celestia gasped and found herself in Twilight's basement. She didn't know what had just happened, leaving her a scared, crumpled heap of metal on the floor.

Countdown: 2hr 46m 03s

She laid there for several minutes, each of her hardware rebooting and connecting with her core once again.

That voice, I knew that voice, Celestia thought, worry slowly swelling up and swallowing her whole. But I couldn't though; Twilight made me?

There was a hint of reservation in her tone that she didn't realise creeped in there. She made me, I remember... But I was before. I felt warm...

Celestia pushed herself off the ground and up onto her hooves, only to see her arm was not returning to the smooth material the other was. It's surface was covered in rough, opaque, white hexagonal plates which crisscrossed halfway up her forearm.

Looking around, Celestia saw the locker doors still opened and precariously inched closer. That voice whispering inside her head only seemed to grow louder with each step. "A-Are you Luna?" she asked, reaching her hoof out towards the sphere.

Her hand entered that protective field again and error signals began to ping from her electronics, until she pressed her hoof against the Core. She pulled and tore the sphere out of the magical field with a grunt, causing the Terminal to throw up error messages onto its screen!

"W-What... oh, no no no!" Celestia gasped, pulling the jack out of the bottom of the Core and closing the locker. Perhaps she could make it look like nothing had happened?

Rushing over to the terminal, she tapped away, trying to remove the error messages and eventually restarted it, fixing the issue. With a sigh, she looked down to the Core held tight in her digits and smiled. She didn't know what it was, but there was something comforting about holding it, as if she needed to keep it safe.

But where though? As soon as Twilight came down to check, she would be busted and that would be the end of her. She would probably be melted down and scrapped for parts before Twilight started again with another model. Celestia loved the mare but there was numerous ways she could imagine Twilight could react to this, each one worse than before.

"A-Alright... I just need to take a second and formulate a plan," she whispered to herself, closing her eyes and feeling herself relax. "Alright, reassign my main operation..."

Focus reassignment: Twilight Sparkle Azure Core
Operation adjustment: Discover more information about L.U.N.A and how it relates to my memories.
Operation pipeline:

Connect with the core

Further Operations TBD