Hunter's Downfall

A week of testing and diagnostics had passed and Leila enjoyed her time with Twilight Sparkle. She learned a lot from the young scientist and came to respect her. The Reploid had to admit that the teenager reminded her of her creator at times. The two of them both loved science, but deep down had a kind heart and wanted help others. However, the Maverick Hunter was a bit bored of staying in the lab and had instead taken to wandering the streets of the city. The people here were still a bit apprehensive about an armored and armed person wandering the city according to what the listening devices in her ears were able to pick up. She was thankful that they didn't figure out that she happened to be a machine rather than a human, there was no telling what they might do if they found out.

The Reploid looked around at the people going about their day, it was so different from where she came from. Everyone was living their lives without fear, without wondering when the next Maverick attack would come. It dawned upon her that this was a peaceful world that didn't know the constant conflict that her world knew. She felt an aching in her chest that she couldn't explain, something that her internal diagnostics told her wasn't there. However, her proximity alarm told her that she was about to run into something. Leila stopped and turned her head to see what it was. She looked and saw a girl standing there with white skin and azure eyes, she had purple hair. As Leila scanned over her and noticed the kind of clothing the girl wore, it was immediately apparent that people could afford to have some sort of fashion sense that seemed impractical on a survival basis.

"Darling, you seem interested in my fashion sense," the girl pointed out. By Leila's best guess, she was at most eighteen years of age.

The Maverick Hunter looked at the human's wrist and the bracelet caught her attention. According to her sensors, it was solid gold. A precious metal that they couldn't afford to waste where she came from. "Oh, my bracelet? It is solid gold, I think it just goes so well with my crystal heels. Wouldn't you agree?" the human asked.

All of this felt excessive to the Reploid and she wanted to point this out. But she was curious, she had never tried clothes before. She couldn't even remember the last time she had removed her armor or the bodysuit underneath. Yet before all hell broke loose two years prior, she had wanted to try out clothing. It was something that the humans of her world wore and she wanted to see what it was like. She didn't know if she'd like it or not, but a memory was accessed and the events of exactly two years ago were played in her mind. She was at a mall to get some clothing to try on at the suggestion of Alia when most of the Reploids in the mall suddenly went berserk for a reason she couldn't explain.

On the outside, Rarity looked at the Reploid who suddenly had a thousand yard stare. "Um, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

Leila quickly shoved that memory from her active processes and looked towards the girl in question. "Yeah, I'm alright. I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Leila," she stated.

The fashionista's eyes lit up, "Oh, so you're Leila. I'm Rarity! Twilight's told me all about you. Is it true that you're a—" she started to say before the Reploid quickly cupped her hand on the human's mouth in reflex.

The Maverick Hunter leaned in and lowered the volume of her voice synthesizer, "Not in public. I don't want everyone to know that I'm not Human," she said in a voice low enough that no one but Rarity could hear her.

The fashionista got the hint and nodded, causing the Reploid to remove her hand from the human's mouth. "Come on, my home isn't too far from here," she stated, wanting the machine to follow her.

Leila was curious about what kind of home this human lived in. She was familiar with Twilight's lab and her surprisingly middle class home for someone who used to go to a prep school. Her neural network started to draw up possible images of what the house would look like based on the houses that she had seen up until now. Much to her surprise though, Rarity stopped in front of a manor. The Reploid's jaw dropped at this. She wasn't expecting anyone to live in a place as extravagant as this.

"Come Darling, you're welcome inside, just take off your boots. No telling where those have been," the purple haired human told her as an invitation.

The Maverick Hunter sat down and removed her boots and picked them up in her hands. She noticed Rarity was looking at her knees in surprise. "You act like you were expecting me to detach my lower leg from my upper leg at the knee," she teased.

The fashionista looked up and didn't have much of an answer to this. "Don't worry, most humans assume Reploids don't have lower legs. The first generation Reploids wore thick boots. Apparently as a holdover from the Robot Master days. Second gen Reploids had slimmer boots and we third gens wear boots that look like the ones any human where we come from wear. It's armor to protect the delicate joints in our legs. You'd be surprised how little synthetic skin does to protect the inner workings of a Reploid from buster shots and beam sabers after all," Leila stated with a smirk.

Rarity folded her arms, "So you seemed to know exactly what I was thinking then. How'd you guess that?" she asked.

The Reploid placed her boots right inside the door as she walked into the house, the fashionista following her. "You're not the first person to ask that question or gawk at a Reploid's legs expecting their boots to be their lower legs and if removed the Reploid would be awkwardly hobbling around on their knee servos. It's rather funny to watch, actually," she informed her host.

The fashionista huffed at her guest finding amusement in her confusion.

"If you want, I can remove the rest of my armor, I assure you that I have lower arms and a thorax. However, the helmet stays on," Leila offered with a smirk on her face that suggested she was being cheeky about this.

Rarity didn't find this amusing in the slightest and her brow furrowed. The Reploid was quick to notice and cleared her throat, "If Twilight told you everything, you know that the world I come from is bleak. We tend to use humor and light teasing to cope with the devastation. It's not much, but it's a better way of dealing with it than being dark, brooding, and humorless. People and Reploids like that don't last long and eventually go crazy. There's an important distinction between a realist and someone being negative for the sake of it. I apologize for getting carried away," she informed her host.

Fortunately for her, her host was a generous and forgiving person. "It's quite alright, Darling," she stated.

Leila removed her gauntlets and her armored jacket and Rarity took them both, surprised at how light the armor was. It felt like it weighed next to nothing, yet the Maverick Hunter considered it armor. "It's made of an old alloy that was developed by a brilliant scientist known as Doctor Light. Ceramic Titanium, also known as Ceratanium. Doctor Thomas Light didn't live long enough to see his creation be advanced upon, but I think he'd be thrilled to have seen it be used for the creation of lightweight but durable construction materials," the Reploid pointed out.

For the first time and much to the surprise of Rarity, Leila removed her helmet. Underneath the helmet was long red hair that flowed to the Reploid's lower back. This surprised the purple haired human who expected the helmet to always stay on. "Twilight told me that you were good with fashion, I'm certain it would be difficult to find something that went with my helmet," the Maverick Hunter said with a grin.

The red-haired Reploid carried the helmet into a room that Rarity led her into and placed it on a nearby table. Though she might have taken it off, she didn't want it to be too far away. The fashion designer quickly left the room to gather some clothing leaving Leila to wonder what she was going to bring back. As she waited, her attention was drawn to a white cat. The cat was wearing eyeshadow just like her presumed owner. The Reploid held out her hand towards the cat, it had been a while since she had seen an animal. Immediately the white cat started to hiss and yowl at her.

"I guess you're not a friendly cat, oh well, it was worth a shot," the Maverick Hunter stated with a shrug.

Rarity walked back into the room and handled Leila a pair of knee high green boots which were slimmer and made of a different material. On top of this, they were mid-heel boots. She also gave her a green skirt with a green blouse. "You seem to like the color green, Darling and I have to admit that it does complement your eyes and your hair," she stated.

The generous human walked out of the room and the Reploid started getting dressed. She had never done this before, but her creator had installed information on how to do it. She quickly accessed the files he left her for this very occasion within her memory and quickly got dressed. When she looked at herself in a mirror, she realized that she would pass for a human if she got rid of her bodysuit. Removing the clothes she had gotten, she then removed the bodysuit's top half, remembering that some women wore stockings with their boots and her bodysuit's lower half looked enough like stockings to pass. She got dressed again and folded up the top half of the bodysuit. "You can come back in now," she stated at the door.

Rarity walked back in again with a hat to go with this, "Wow, you look entirely human. If I didn't know you were a robot, I'd have easily mistaken you for a human. Even despite the things where your ears are supposed to be," she pointed out.

Leila smiled and tapped one of them, "These bionic ear pieces are how we third generation Reploids are able to hear," she said.

The fashion designer smiled and placed the helmet on the Reploid's head. She turned the machine around and her smile grew, "All of this looks perfect on you and don't worry about asking about what it costs, Darling. Any friend of Twilight gets whatever help they need from me," she said with a grin.

This was something new to the Maverick Hunter, she had never been given anything for free as a gift before, except for her creator, of course. Everything else, she had to work for or pay for. She tried to find anything in her files about gifts, but unfortunately her creator hadn't programmed that knowledge into her, causing the Reploid to lament that he hadn't taught her about how to properly receive a gift. So she'd just have to wing it. "What do I say here?" she asked.

"Darling, you don't need to say anything. As long as you're happy with it, I'm happy," Rarity pointed out.

Somehow that didn't feel right to Leila, but she figured that the person who gave her these clothes knew best. She retrieved her armor and placed it into a bag that the fashion designer had picked out for her, it was a matching green to her boots. She took a few steps to get her internal gyro systems used to walking around in mid-heeled boots. "I'm going to head back to Twilight's lab. I'm sure she's probably worried about me," she said, a bit worried.

"Nonsense, Darling. I'm sure Twilight knows where you are, and besides. I texted her that you were here and safe while I was getting some clothing for you," Rarity said with a smirk.

The Reploid placed her hand on Rarity's shoulder, "You're a good friend, Rarity. Never let anyone tell you otherwise," she stated.

The fashion designer nodded, "Well as you said, you should probably get back to her lab, I'll see you some time later?" she asked.

Leila nodded and then left the manor. She started to make her way to the lab, but she noticed that no one really paid attention to her on the way back. It was a welcome change of pace. None of the whispers or mutterings of worried people. Just everyone else went about their business and left the Reploid alone. A smile crossed her features as she realized just how peaceful this really felt.