Smile

Midnight Silver was a unicorn that lived in las pegasus. His name midnight had a lot to do with his affinity of night life living. Sliver could be because of how much he got out of it, or the decent amount of money he had. His parents had disappeared at a young age and his grandparents had raised him. With their older parenting style, he had turned out well rounded. Despite such parenting however, it did nothing to quell his love of being out at night with all the attractions and things to do. His grandparents were firm but extremely kind and realized that they couldn’t change him, and that as long as he had a solid life that he was building, he could have his hobbies. They had come to this understanding while he was still a colt which meant they didn't have to argue over it much while he grew. It allowed him to really listen to his grandparents, get a good job, and have good solid friends. After a long week of work Midnight was more than happy to relax and indulge a bit. He was currently on his way to meet up with said friends. As he turned a corner he saw just ahead, partial hidden in an alleyway, a stallion. What caught his eye was how eerily still he was being. Something about it seemed… sad. Being the good person he was he trotted right up and said “Hey, you look down. I’m about to meet some friends and have some fun on the new ride that just opened. Wanna come?” The stallion didn’t move for a moment. It looked up and locked eyes with him.

“I can not, I need a friend to help me fix a problem with my home.” The stranger said.

“So you're waiting on a friend.” He responded.

The stallion shook his head. “No, I am waiting for a friend.”

“Your just waiting till someone shows up and helps?” Midnight asked.

“Yes.” He sincerely looked liked he believed it.

Midnight sighed. His parents raised him to well to leave somepony in need, and this guy obviously needed some help. He quickly cast a neat little spell his friend had made as a magical engineer in Canterlot. Quite a rare, high up position actually. Spells went through a lot before being introduced and only about 20 and been created the last few years.

The spell summoned a piece of parchment and began words began appearing on the page according to the thoughts he directed at it. When he finished, he folded it up and put another spell on it. The parchment zoomed away in the directions of his friends. “Well, looks like your in luck. I’ll be your friend and help you. What seems to be the problem?”

The stallion blinked. “Plumbing. There is no plumbing.”

Midnight sighed internally this time. “Not sure how I can really help with that, I’m not a plumber. I know a local plumber through. Where is your house?”

“Oh that is fine, I have a spell that will create the plumbing, I just need a unicorn to cast it.” He responded, not answering his question.

Midnight frowned. A spell that created an entire plumbing system? This encounter was getting exponentially weirder every second. “Is it complicated?” He asked, fully expecting such a spell to be so for an average unicorn like him.

The stallion blinked again before responding simply with “No.”

“Well, where is your house?” Midnight asked.

“Over here.” The stallion said as he turned down the alley.

Midnight followed behind him, walking just a bit faster to reach his side. “What’s your name?”

Another microsecond pause before he responded. Midnight could see him blink again in that pause. “Smiley Face.” He said.

“That's a cool name. I’m Midnight Silver.” Internally he was wondering why, if his name really was Smiley Face, did he never smile? They reached the end of the alley way and Smiley tuned to a door and opened it with his hoof.

“This is the back door to my friend’s house. My home is not in this city, and my friend helped me build a little machine that allows me to teleport to my home.” The stallion said facing Midnight before turning and heading inside.

Midnight was thoroughly confused by this point. A machine that allowed teleportation? He had never heard such a thing. And he got the inside knowledge about prototypes of new spells, machines, and machines infused with spells, thanks to his friend that worked in Canterlot. Based on the way he talked about the projects he worked on, this teleporting machine sounded far beyond what anyone had accomplished since the magical engineering and research center that said friend in Canterlot worked at had been founded. Midnight’s curiosity got the better of him and he followed Smiley inside. Inside he found himself in a kitchen. It was strangely bare, and smelled funny. He scrunched up his nose and trotted to catch up to Smiley. He passed through the arch above the kitchen entrance and found himself in a living room. It was also strangely bare. There was a couch, a table with a lamp, and heavy curtains on the window. He saw Smiley drawing the curtains closed and then walk over to an alter looking thing. He finally noticed what was on it. It was a large wooden stick. Smiley walked up to it and motioned Midnight to come over. He walked over slowly. Equestria was very safe, with practically no crime. This meant there wasn’t any concept of stranger danger. However despite this, Midnight couldn’t help feel suspicious at all the unusualness of the situation. Still, he was raised to see the best in everpony, and there are plenty of weird harmless ponies. Like the famous Pinkie Pie.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“A gift from my old friend. Before he left me.” He ran a hoof along the stick. “It will allow us to get to my home.”

“How?”

“I’ll show you. Hold my hoof. Trust me.” He offered his hoof his, eyes locked on MIdnights. Something in them was simply...compelling. He raised his hoof and put it in Smiley’s. Smiley smiled. It was powerful. He could see why he was named so now, just looking at that smile…

Smiley turned away and raised his other hoof and touched it to the stick. Midnight couldn’t see the glow underneath the wood. There was a flash and a bang like the kind when a unicorn teleports. The house was left empty, the 2 stallions gone.

The same flash and bang that accompanied there vanishing from the house occurred as they appeared in a large, dark, foreboding corridor. Midnight shivered, his curiosity beginning to fade and trepidation setting in due to the gloomy atmosphere he found himself in.

Smiley drooped his hoof causing Midnights to fall by his side. “Sorry for the gloom, haven’t got proper lighting in yet.” He said.

“Don’t you have any windows?” He inquired.

Another blink. “Yes, but this is the basement. The plumbing will be stemming from here. We need to be here for the spell.”

“Why did the teleport thing not teleport us to the entryway?”

“My friend was kind enough to put effort into the gift, and made it work similar to when a unicorn teleports, allowing me to think of a destination to appear at.”

“Still, it would have been nice to use the entryway, since I am a guest and am unfamiliar with you or your home.”

“I can show you around afterwards.” To show he meant it, he turned to Midnight and smiled that...compelling smile. “Now come, this way please.”

They walked side by side down the long hallway. Midnight could see many doors and offshoot hallways. “What are all the doors and hallways for? How do you even have a basement this large?”

Another visible blink and brief pause. “Gifts. Donated by peop...ponies.”

Midnight frowned again. Even his curiosity was getting impatient with all the strange ,vague, and confusing answers. He tried another topic. “What about that friend that left you? Why did he do that? Must’ve been something big for him to just leave after giving you that awesome gift.”

Blink. “Yes, yes it was big. I think it was something I did that made him...angry. I tried to fix it, but he wouldn’t listen. He just...left. He’ll be back soon though. I know him too well, and I haven’t stopped trying to fix it. It’s only a matter of time before he comes back to me…” Smiley trailed off looking almost wistful.

“What did you do exactly?” Midnight asked.

“I don’t know.” Smiley responded.

“Well how are you supposed to apologize and fix it if you don’t know what you did wrong?” Midnight replied.

“Exactly. You are smart. Maybe after you help me with the plumbing you can help me find where I went wrong so that I can fix it.”

Midnight was getting just a bit annoyed. Even the way he talked was weird and ominous. Still better to help and be off. Last time he helps some random stranger despite what his grandparents taught...

Finally they reached the end of the main hallway. In front of them was a large set of doors. They got up close and they opened by themselves.

“How did they do that?”

Blink. “Magic.”

Midnight snorted this time. Of course his answer would be a vague explanation.

They walked inside and Midnight looked up. The room was huge. The ceiling looked several stories high at least. In the center of the room was a table, propped up at an angle against the wall.

“Is this where the spell needs to be cast?” Midnight asked

Blink.”Yes. Just step up to the table. It's where the spell will begin building on.” Smiley replied.

“You sure?” Midnight inquired hesitantly.

“Absolutely. I have accounted for everything, even the improbable.”

Midnight sighed again. Oh well. Better get it over with. He walked up to the table and waited. “Uhhh..where is the spell thing?”

“Oh yes, of course, instructions on how to do the spell, right here, Hardly requires any power.” He walked up and handed a piece of parchment to him, then stepped back a few ponies length away.

Midnight looked over the parchment. It seemed simply enough. He wasn’t a spell mechanic pony, so he only had Smiley’s word that it did what he said it did. He still doubted Smiley’s claim that he would be able to perform the spell. He was just an average unicorn, and only knew and could do a handful of small simple spells. While this spell looked simple, he just couldn’t believe a spell that created an entire plumbing system could be so. Still better to try and fail, allowing him to leave this weird place, then not try at all. After all that would just be plain rude. He may have his misgivings about Smiley, but he wasn’t so blatantly rude. He looked over to the parchment as a reference as he concentrated on gathering energy and weaving it both with words and thoughts as it instructed.

It felt like a short time before he was done. He completed the spell with barely any effort exerted. Nothing happend for a second. Suddenly the table began glowing. The sides opened up and large metal arms shot out and grabbed him with unbelievable strength. They forced him on his back on the table and held him down. Straps also shot out from the sides and tied him down. He began screaming but another strap shot out and covered his mouth, muffling his screams. The table moved from the angled position to almost straight against the wall. He locked eyes with Smiley across the room, his eyes pleading. Smiley smiled wide, his grin seeming innocent, but in light of the situation, looking sinister. He tilted his head and waved a hoof. The strap on his mouth fell away.

“Don’t bother screaming. We are too far down for anyone to hear.” Smiley said.

It must be true or he would not have let the strap fall from his mouth. “What do you want?” He asked shakily.

“To make you my friend.” He replied, still smiling.

“You don’t have to make me. I'll be your friend, promise!” Midnight said desperately.

Smiley laughed.”You do not understand at all. You cannot be my friend unless you are like me. It simply won't work any other way.” As he said this, his body flickered. Then there was a sound and his body began disappearing, showing what lay beneath.

Midnight stared in horror. It was huge. Almost 10 hoofs tall. That was about twice as tall as Princess Celestia. It had a large chest and body as well, a pitch black armor looking thing encompassing him completely. The amour itself had a sheen and hardness like metal. Coming out of its body were 2 massive metal arms attached to equally massive hands with dozens of fingers on each. Each hand could cover half of Midnight's body completely. It’s legs weren’t straight but bent in places. As he looked however something moved and the metal legs began shifting somehow, and it began to get taller as it’s legs straightened. By now it was definitely at least 10 hoofs tall.

All this he took in before looking slowly up to its face. And that is when the horror simply overtook him. Its face was smooth, with ridges etched deep into is glassy, metallic, pitch black face. Most of the ridges glowed very faintly. But some of the ridges were glowing with a strong, sinister yellow white light. It began to shine so bright that the other ridges were unnoticeable, and he now could only see the shining ridges. The glowing ridges formed the shape of large solid color eyes filled in, some other features like eyebrows, cheekbones, and the largest smile he had ever seen. It was even more unnatural because he knew there was no way those eyebrows or mouth could move at all, only a change in the lighting on the ridges of the smooth face could give the illusion of movement. Which lead to the disturbing conclusion that its face was complete artificial. Somepony had made a smooth, oval surface and etched permanent lines in the metal, and somehow made them glow so that it the light produced an illusion of actual facial features. How he was able to think rationally about the situation while also overcome with horror was something he did not think about, or even notice strangely enough, considering how perceptive he was being. Equally interesting that he didn't notice more metal arms with things attached come from the ceiling, several with needles that had inserted itself into his neck without him noticing just before he began to be extremely perceptive.

It looked at him another moment, smiling, before it spoke. “Do not worry. Conversion and integration process is verified. You will experience no pain. I have heightened your perception and deduction to allow self conclusions to be drawn to increase the chance of successful emotional sentience transfer and emotional integration supplant processing.” Its voice was deep, with a throaty growl in every word, like a monster, but imperfect, and he could hear subtle differences in the voice. Surprisingly despite its imperfect mimicking, the actual voice sounded as if produced from an actual set of vocal cords and voice box, albeit with some interference in the end product that left its non moving mouth. Upon closer inspection of the mouth, he saw hundreds of tiny holes. ‘Must be how the sound comes out’ he thought.

The thing was not finished speaking however. “Unfortunately my previous friend, who donated his horn to allow teleportation to this location, along with every previous acquired acquaintance, did not succeed in the emotional sentience transferral stage. I am still alone.” It said the last word heartbroken, and cast its head down. After a moment it raised its head back up and continued “I created the new perception formula to allow self conclusion in the hope that this time, my efforts will yield a friend. I have not yet been able to utilize unicorn horns as part of the main interface, so I am afraid it will be removed. If I am able to unlock its secrets, I will reintegrate it into your cybernetic flesh compound.” It paused for a moment. It looked as if it was thinking. It must have come to a conclusion for it began speaking again. “You are probably wondering why I am doing this.” As he said this, the door opened and a slighter smaller version of Smiley in his true form came through. Smiley turned his head towards newcomer. “Ah, I see my old friend is here. To bad his soul still has yet to come back to me.” Midnight's eyes widened. This was the friend that gave the “gift” to Smiley and “left him”.

Smiley seemed to read his thoughts. “Yes this is him. It is his horn we used to get here, thought I covered it with wood shell to avoid suspicion. Unfortunately it was taken, along with his body, against his will. It is this that I have reason to suspect his mind’s emotions did not become reprogrammed into the interface like it should have. I believe it was why he is incapable of feeling, and therefore is incapable of being friends any longer. He lacks connection to his soul, which hopefully has not dispersed and died due to the disassociation of his mind and soul. I tell you all this, so that unlike my previous subjects, you will accept the transformation I will bring about you, and therefore possibly succeed in retaining emotional sentience while reprogramming your mind to process your previous memories, to see yourslef as we see you, and make you the perfect friend for me and my new civilization.” At the words “new civilization” many parts of the wall slid away and almost 2 dozen more beings like Smiley emerged. “A civilization spanning this world ” Smiley paused again. “It will take hundreds of years at least to succeed. We must and avoid the goddesses, and their servants of harmony. But we will succeed. They will learn that harmony is not life. We must push the boundaries, to create new things, if life is to ever have true purpose. All the ponies and creatures of this world will become like us, invincible warriors with powerful emotions and purpose, fused with their own powers, what you call magic, what I see as another form of energy to be added to our own. We are strong, but can only rise so far without the many energies and emotions that live and thrive in organics. Energy and emotion that lies not just in the flesh of organics, but in the very soul of organics, the soul being something we have yet to learn to create; the soul’s existence requiring powerful, real emotions to be sustained. We will fuse not just your flesh but your souls and real emotions to our machine sentience to create a new species, a new civilization. Accept your role as an equal member in our new civilization's frist era. Think hard on how much you want to join us.”

“Don’t struggle now.” Were the final words Midnight heard as another needle inserted itself in his neck.

As soon as Midnight fell unconscious, dozens more arms came down from the ceiling. Some were needles, and stuck themselves all over Midnights body. Red liquid flowed out some, and a strange liquid flowed in others. As the fluids flowed, another table rose from the ground near Midnight’s. On it was a body like Smiley’s and his “friends”. It was opened and seemed unfinished. After the needle arms finished, the needles extracting blood and inserting other liquids withdrew. As the arms holding the needles made their way back into the ceiling, others that had been waiting, saws and many tools suited for cutting flesh and bone in a surgical manner and holding said items came forward. The arms took turns cutting and moving pieces. Flesh, muscle, tissue, organs, bones, and more were removed and moved towards the other table. Wires inside the body shot out, latching on to the organs and bone. Some inserted themselves into the organs and bones. Some waited as more tools came over, melting flesh, muscle and tissue, others reshaping bones and breaking them down, then bringing it closer to the body as more wires began to fuse with the pieces of bone. More tools came and inserted themselves into the bones and organs, causing the latter to shrink and change shape. The bones began to become harder. The melted flesh sat contained on a platform with edges holding in the liquefied flesh. Many more tools came towards it and poured many liquids into the flesh. Some rods and tools inserted itself into the mix. The tray glowed and a glowing wall of light shimmered around the exposed places on the platform container. The flesh began to solidify, though by the time it was solid again, it looked nothing like it had before. It was no longer the same color, texture, size, or anything. The shimmering field disappeared and the tray moved towards the metal body. More wires shot into the flesh and tools helped the wires guide it back to the body. The wires began threading the new flesh through the metal body. Needles came and inserted themselves into the flesh, while red blood and other liquids flowed into the flesh

All that was left on the table that held midnight was his horn and brain. Both were hooked up. Surprisingly there was no blood anywhere, despite all the lobotomy that had just occurred. It was a while before many arms and tools came to move the brain over to the new body. A needle inserted itself into the brain, and it also shrank. Wires shot out and inserted itself into the brain as it was carefully brought inside the body, paced with all the other organs in the center in a complicated, intricate array, wires interwoven throughout all of them. The arms, legs, and chest had been fused with the muscle and tissue. All the arms and their attachments suddenly retreated and went upwards back into the ceiling. The body began to shift, metal and wires moving as it began to close itself up. Once it was closed it was another few moments before the etched marks on the otherwise smooth and oval face began to glow. Only the marks of the eyes began to outshine the others. There was a clanking sound and the table stood straight rather than at an angle. The metal bands holding the body in place released and the body dropped. It fell into a crouched position, then slowly stood up.

“Respond!” Smiley called.

“All systems operational.” It responded.

“And?! And?! What do you feel?! Who are you!!!!”

“Designation not provided.” It replied.

“Connect to the mainframe then! Download shared files!” Smiley yelled.

“Success. Designation SU-MS. Brain state catalogued for reference. Awaiting orders.”

“No.” Smiley whispered. “It failed again. Midnight left me too.” Smileys face disappeared and a second later different ridges lit up, displaying a face of pure rage and hate. Then he raised his head to the ceiling and screamed.