Author's Note

And there we go! this one was honestly my favorite idea from the polls after the FiO one, and I hope that even though only a few of you voted for it, you enjoy this first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

As a disclaimer, this will be a bit of a gentle burn. If you have read my most mainline fanfic up to the current chapter, you have an idea of what I mean. This will be more focused on the character dynamic and relationship at play than smut, and will be fairly tender at points. So if you are here looking to make the big pp cry salty tears it may not be your best bet.

Enjoy!

1 - Dawn

"Time: 10:30 A.M.

Initiating Morning Wakeup"

The song blared through the room, only stopped by the soundproofing of the walls from echoing through a good deal of the rather large, luxurious home. The music video played on a rather sizable display on one wall of the room as the rebellious anthem echoed racaciously

Out from under the comforter covering the bed, a hand shot out and pressed the button on the nightstand with a soft groan of dread. The music lowered to an acceptable volume as the feminine voice called out again. "Good morning, Mister White. There are currently...five points of interest in your schedule for the day, would you like to review them now?"

A young man slowly rose from underneath the covers, giving a soft sigh as he ran his slender fingers through his long, dark hair. His magenta eyes slowly blinked and tried to focus in as he groped for the set of square-framed glasses on his nightstand, finally managing to set them on his nose. he gave a small sigh and shook his head "Ugh....not quite yet. I'm gonna take a minute to get up here and freshen up a bit before I deal with any of that..." he said in a low, tired tone as he dragged himself out of bed.

"Very Well, I shall resume communication in approximately forty-five minutes."

The voice clicked off with a small pleasant chime and the video stopped, leaving only more softly playing music in the background of his room as he trudged towards his bathroom to start his day.

A while later, Aldritch emerged from his bathroom, looking considerably more awake and refreshed. A towel clung to his slim waist, his lithe, svelt figure slightly hunched over as he trodded towards his closet. "Computer, open the closet please," he said with a small yawn as he slipped the towel off of himself.

"of course, Mister White. Accessing your Summer Wardrobe" The Artificial voice responds politely as the wall to the left of his bedroom opened up, and a rack of clothing cycled into the hollow opened space for him to choose from. He chose a simple grey t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, slipping on a pair of ankle-high white socks and a pair of Black sneakers.

He was in the midst of combing his hair when he heard a knock on the door "Al, are you up, sweetie?" The voice asked in a warm, motherly tone.

he gave a small patient sigh and responded in an even, gentle tone "Yeah Tia, I'm getting decent right now, just a bit!"

"Alright, I have breakfast finished whenever you are ready." She responded kindly before he heard the sound of her moving back down the hallway towards the kitchen.

He smiled softly to himself as he put his comb down. She could be a bit of a drag at times sure, but she was always rather sweet. Even if it irritated him sometimes he could not imagine it any other way.

He made his way down towards the dining room and was greeted by the sight of her. Standing a bit shorter than himself, at about four foot five was his...caretaker. She was a Bio-Droid, and a fairly uncommon model at that. A bit of an older mark, she had been brought into the family when he was considerably younger, after all.

She was a soft, pale white, tinged with just a tiny hint of pink that you could see in the light. Her long, pastel, multicolored mane seemed to flow with a life of its own in a way that, even after understanding the science behind it, still continued to boggle him. Strangely, it even managed to be less mind-boggling to him than the fact that she could move objects telekinetically. Her eyes were a beautiful magenta that matched his own. She was dressed in an adorable frilly pink apron labeled "Too Stressed to Be Blessed" in cursive writing.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead. You know, you really should start waking up earlier." She said in a doting, gentle manner as she pulled a chair from the dining room table out for him to have a seat, which he took with a thankful nod.

"I appreciate the concern, Tia. Really I do, but I'm a teenager now, I'm wired to get up later and stay up later. Maybe I'll get around to waking up before sunrise again once I hit fifty or so." he joked, nudging her gently as she came back over, hovering a plate in her telekinetic aura. Eggs Sunny side up, and bacon, fried crisp just the way he liked it, with buttered toast. he could feel himself salivate at the sight.

She chuckled and set the plate down in front of him, gently nudging his shoulder with her snout "Oh, that would be wonderful. Do you remember how we used to get up together every morning and watch the sunrise, Al? it was always so peaceful..."

He had been about to dig in with a fork, but his hand stopped midway through at the sound of her recalling that old memory. One that he found himself recalling now, quite vividly even...

.........

Christmas Day, 6:30 A.M. Eight years prior.

Al had not slept more than a wink that night, he had been far too excited. Not for the deluge of presents, he was sure to receive. Nono, He always received the most wonderful gifts from his parents. No, what he was excited for was to get to spend the entire day with them! Sure, they were quite frequently busy. Even in an era of post-scarcity, there were job's to be done, and only so many people equipped to do them! And his parents were part of that small but vital core of scientists, engineers, maintenance people businessfolk, and logistics experts that kept society running so that the rest of the world could live a fulfilled life without want or worry.

Of course that meant that on any particular day, due to the especially intensive nature of their particular work as cogs in the clockwork that kept the world turning, that they did not have as much time for him as they might want to have. They were wonderful people to be sure, but...terribly absent on an average day, in a way that he felt quite deeply at a young age.

But none of that mattered today! Today was their day to come together as a family, to spend precious time with one another without worrying about the bigger picture, all that mattered was that they were going to be a family for the day. His bright brown eyes snapped open, looking over at the clock to see it was still quite early, the sun would not even be up for another thirty minutes!

He was, in fact, so tremendously excited about it that he found himself making his way down the hall towards the living room at the crack of dawn. he would await his parents there. Wait for them to come out of their room and see him excited.

When he entered the living room, he saw the deluge of presents, actually delivered by biomechanical versions of Saint Nick himself on hover sleds. the wishlists carefully curated by both the children and the parents. Such was the reach of technology that once yearly mass overnight delivery was still not the easiest task in the world, but easy enough to make happen once a year.

But what he saw after that was what concerned him. Atop one particularly large box, there was a note, that seemed to be signed from his mother and father. he slowly detached it from the present and unfolded it to give it a read.

Aldritch,

Son, we know how much you look forward to having one special day a year when we can all be together as a family. it is our favorite time of the year too. And there is nothing more that we would love than to spend more time with you.

But sadly, as much as we wish it would rest for a day, our duty seems to never be done, and even today, on this most special day, we have been called away for an urgent matter.

However, that does not mean we intend to leave you all by your lonesome. your mother and I have undertaken careful consideration, and we have decided that the best way to solve the problem with what we have available is to make sure you have someone there for you when we cannot be. Inside of this box you will find something that will hopefully cheer you up at least a bit. we should be back later this afternoon if all goes well to spend the rest of the day with you.

I know this is not a substitute for us, but it is the best we can do. we love you very much.

Sincerely,

Your Father

He grasped the letter firmly, crumpling it in his hand as a tear rolled down his cheek after reading the contents of it. he knew that they had to do what they had to do, but...it still didn't make it any easier. he missed them Now Damnit! and What, WHAT could possibly be in this box that would make this okay? he pondered to himself as he managed to remove the top of it, the sides starting to fall. There couldn't possibly be anything that would make the loneliness be-

As the sides of the box fell to the ground he saw it. it was....a pony. an alicorn as a matter of fact? Almost as white as the snow outside with a long, multicolored mane. She was in a sort of suspended frame, buckled into place to prevent injury from travel presumably. In a comatose state, eyes glazed over and perfectly still.

Ah yes, it had to be a bio droid. They tended to come like this when pre-packaged in order to prevent injury while being transported before proper activation. There should be some sort of command word for it somewhere.

he located the user guide at the bottom of the frame and flipped through it, reading silently to himself. it seemed to be an MLP-PCA-AP Mark Two. An all-purpose Companionship Class Bio Droid Modeled after a character called...Princess Celestia, from some show back in the stupid ages.

He rolled his eyes slightly. Sure, he had always had an interest in myths and mythical creatures, and yeah he was a kid, but giving him a kids show character that happened to be tangentially related to his interests, well..it felt almost downright condescending really.

But still, his parents had tried their best, as they always did. he supposed he could at least give it a try. The actual instructions were very short, indicating that the Bio Droid itself would be fully capable of answering most of his questions once he brought it to proper consciousness with its keyword.

He located it on the back of the final page, clearing his throat nervously as he unbuckled and unstrapped it from its bindings, setting it to balance on all fours awaiting his word.

"U-um..>Celestia? The dawn is coming..." he said softly as he read it from the page.

In a matter of moments, the eyes were no longer glazed over, shining brightly with a benevolent warmth. The mane began slowly, gorgeously flowing as she widened her stance slightly, shaking her head for a moment to get her bearings before meeting his gaze gently, walking slowly towards him.

"Well, hello, little one. My name is Princess Celestia. I am a Mark Two All-Purpose Companionship Class BioDroid. On behalf of the Hasbro Corporation, I am delighted to meet you, and look forward to looking after you for many years to come." she said happily, gently as she leaned down to nuzzle the top of his head. she stood a few inches taller than him at the withers, her head able to, of course, reach up higher since ponies have very long necks.

Seeing her speak, she seemed much less like an actual equine and more like, a well-crafted parody of one. one meant to mimic the form while retaining more human-like qualities. larger, more intelligent eyes, less pronounced, soft lips, and a differently shaped mouth than a normal horse or pony. The joins on her legs also seemed to b far more flexible and offer a more dynamic range of movement.

Oh and, of course, the horn and the wings.

He was speechless for a few moments she was...actually really pretty once he was her in motion like this. he blushed softly. Droid or not, it was not every day you got to talk to a princess. And she certainly pulled the role off quite well. it seemed that her programming while being constructed had gone quite swimmingly. She certainly seemed nice enough to. he was still mad at his parents but...at least they had tried something. They had given him the best present they could have short of promising to never leave him for work again. They made sure he wouldn't be alone anymore, and that was...worth something.

As he stood there, pink-cheeked and absorbed in thought, she smiled and chuckled softly, placing a wing over his back as she stood next to him. "You seem like you are still adjusting to the idea of me being around, if your biometrics are anything to go by. How about we just go sit near the window and watch the sun rise together hm? We can talk later."

He blinked slowly as he felt her comforting wing brush slowly along his back, giving a small nod in agreement, her presence was soothing to him, oddly enough, and she smelled quite nice, like cinnamon and vanilla beans. Being a Bio Droid and thusly programmed to meet certain criteria, he knew he could trust them, even if he wasn't sure if he liked them quite yet. he put a hand on the back of her neck and walked slowly over to the couch, sitting with her and watching as finally, the sun slowly peaked over the horizon. his arms gently wrapped around her neck, and as his eyes began to water, he placed his face gently in the crook of her neck.

And wept softly, her wing draped over him as she silently, gently consoled a sobbing child as a new dawn was ushered in on the White Estate.