"...Yeah. I remember, Tia..." he said softly as he finally took a bite of his food. Now that he thought about it, he really had not been spending much time with her as of late. Sure some of that could be attributed to the fact that he was older now. More independent. Hell, he was a grown man by all accounts. He and Tia had moved into their own living space last year on his birthday, and he had been...admittedly busy with all of the things that newly blossomed adults do. making connections out in the real world, finding what he loved doing, and pursuing it to the fullest.

As it turned out he was more than a bit of a homebody, and he had not made terribly many friends outside of those he had made during his online schooling...On second thought, perhaps the reason for his withdrawal from their usual rapport was not so simple. In any case, he silently resolved to try to spend a bit more time with her. she was essentially his oldest companion after all. One might even venture so far as to say she was his best friend.

He would never say that to her face of course. But she knew it, and he knew it, and that was good enough for the both of them.

For now.

She beamed softly at him as he dug into his breakfast. "You really were so adorable when you were young, Al," she said wistfully as she used her magic to move his bangs to one side, looking down at his eyes and smiling a bit wider, as she often did when she saw them.

"You say that as if you arent a decade younger than me," he said with a chuckle in between mouthfuls of food. and it was technically true. Though she may have been gestated in a facility using an artificial womb and implanted with the knowledge and memories needed to imitate the countenance of the Princess Celestia from the television show, she was still her own living being with her own experiences, wants and desires. And those things began when he Activated her with her code phrase and bonded her to him. he gave a small hum as he started to feel his mind wander on the subject of Bio-Droid ethics for a minute.

That was one of the more...questionable features of the mark two models, the bonding mechanism. The mark one Bio-Droids were all essentially automatons. Minimal capacity for independent thought, mostly used for heavy labor, dangerous jobs, or just for..."Companionship". Not the sort of companionship he had with Tia mind you! The more...sordid, sleazy sort. One might shudder at the thought of the unreasonable, inhumane things done to those poor creatures.

But they had little to no agency and were hardwired to obedience when they did have the ability to think for themselves. That was the danger of new, unlegislated technology. Some ambitious individuals with more greed than morality would inevitably work the system in whatever ways they could to get ahead.

And humanity did get ahead as a result. once the process was more or less perfected and commercialized, it was far cheaper to create Biomechanical creatures suited to perform a task than it was to create a machine. They required very little maintenance aside from food and water and rest, and with a lack of free will, most Mark Ones were perfect factory line workers or day laborers. Simply point them to a simple task or set of tasks and they would work all day without complaint! With the aid of these creations to create a low maintenance, high-efficiency labor pool that did not require the creation of expensive new infrastructure to maintain aside from housing and feeding, Humanity was able to reach post-scarcity within a matter of decades!

The problems began when Bio-Droids started to become accessible to normal everyday people as commodities. people did not just want dumb labor. at least most of them did not. And if they wanted company less intelligent than themselves es they could just as easily get a dog. No, what the general consumer was excited about with this new technology was the possibility of Intelligent, long term companions. Some of the less savory fellows online at the time dubbed them as "Artificial Waifus", and the even more degenerate types dubbed it the "cocksleeve singularity", all of the benefits of human companionship, without the drawbacks packaged conveniently in the shape of your favorite fictional character.

Of course, the concept created an unsurpassed era of escapism. Not since the Virtual Revolution of the 2030s had so many people tuned out of real-life interaction in favor of an easy alternative. of course with Bio-Droids picking up the slack, things were fine, but it was certainly a cause of concern for anyone familiar with the Rat Uptopia Experiments of the fifties could attest.

Fortunately, Regulations by this time had started the slow climb to try to catch up to advancement. before the beginning of mainstream mark two model production, several landmark rulings were made to enforced mandatory sterility of companionship units, as well as the Artificial Life protection Act outlining some basic rights and protections for Any Bio-Droid which could be classified as sapient under the definition outlined by the same legislation, enforced via the concept of the Standardized Fair Treatment user Agreement. Anyone who bought a self-aware intelligent Bio-Droid had to grant them the right to refuse continued service if treated unreasonably by their owner, as well as establishing fines and jail time as punishments for egregious violations.

That being said, it still was far from perfect. Though outright violence or slaughter of Companionship Droids was outlawed in effect by this legislation, there was still a lot of bad things that could happen to a Bio Droid. These issues were exacerbated by the companies producing them taking advantage of the sometimes vague and incomplete legislation to try to ensure customer satisfaction at the expense of the Droid's bodily autonomy.

One of the more unsettling and earliest methods of doing this was Bonding. When activated, Early mark Two models would for an immediate, instinctual attachment to the first human they laid eyes on who's vocal patterns matched the activator. Similar in nature to the bond a bird may have to its chicks, for example, but severely magnified. This attachment left a typical bio Droid at best, willing to deal with extremely unreasonable, severe treatment or abuse from an owner, and at worst, compelled the droid to do whatever it took to keep the owner happy or safe from danger.

Naturally, irresponsible owners, which were unfortunately common, would frequently abandon their purchased Droids. Even now, there was still quite a problem of homeless BioMechanical beings living alone on the streets. This problem was, of course, made far worse by the bonding mechanism. Heartbroken droids subject to unimaginable mental stress and trauma by the act of abandonment from the being they were hardwired to care for the most. Such a thing is borderline unimaginable for your average person as an experience. The afflicted individuals were barred from self-termination by their design, and would often begin to act in unpredictable, erratic, and sometimes, unfortunately, violent ways as they were forced to carry on in their fundamentally incomplete existence.

It was only when instances of Droids deciding they would rather maim their owners to force them into codependence than be abandoned became too prevalent to escape mass media attention that action was finally taken and such enhancements were finally banned, ushering in the Era of the mark Three Droids with new, improved legislation more. With Your average Droid having substantially more rights than previously in their history and no longer being designed to have an actual mental breakdown if they displeased their purchaser, things seemed to finally be looking up.

Of course, there was still the matter of...

"Al, are you okay, sweetie? You look like you are thinking really hard about something." He gave a small sigh as he heard her speak to him, realizing he had stopped mid-bite and had been sort of sitting there while he thought about this. Yes, there was still the matter of currently Active Mark Two Units like Tia. They still outnumbered mark Three's by a great deal, considering the Mark Three template had only been established as a legal standard less than a decade ago.

Which meant there were still plenty of vulnerable, and sometimes unstable Droids, many of whom were in unacceptable or downright hostile living conditions, provided they were not left to roam the streets until they could find a facility willing to house them. The resources to help them existed on paper, but it was a matter of getting the people in power to mobilize them properly. As it was, Bio Droids continued to be treated by and large as second class life forms.

"Sorry Tia, I was just...in my thoughts again," he said, giving her a small, reassuring smile as he finished off his breakfast, bringing his dish to the sink.

He sighed softly as he let the hot water rinse the debris of his finished meal into the disposal. he cared for Tia deeply and understood that as a mark Two, he had an exceptional duty to make sure that she had a happy, fulfilling life, She would go above and beyond to make sure that he was satisfied and happy, and she had for many years now. He didn't know what he would do without her, so he had to do the same for her. Anything else just wasn't right.

She saw his movements slow again as he placed the washed dish on the drying rack, walking over to him and gently placing her wing over his lower back. he was not so small now that she could easily place it over him to comfort him, but the feeling of the gentle, feathered appendage brought him back to reality once more as he saw her look up at him, genuinely concerned. "there seems to be a lot of that going around today. Why don't you come sit on the couch with me and tell Auntie Tia all about it hm?"

He gave a soft scoff as she used the old term he used to use for her when he was younger and nodded, smiling down at her again ads he placed his hand on the base of her neck and allowed her to walk him over to the couch in the living room. "That...that sounds nice yeah. Let's do that."

A few minutes later, they were seated comfortably. she curled up, pressed gently against him, her forelegs resting over his lap as their eyes met. "Now, tell me what's on your mind, Al."

He gave a soft sigh and started to pet her. she gave a pleased little nicker as her eyes fluttered softly at the touch, leaning into it quite contentedly. her pleased reaction giving him the motivation to relax and continue. "I...I just feel sort of bad that we have been drifting apart a bit lately, ya know? We used to be so close. Once I got used to having you around, we would do absolutely everything together.

She nodded and gently pushed her hand away with her telekinetic aura, her horn glowing the same golden color as the field around his hand as she did so so she could speak. "Yes, I remember. You used to look up to me, you even said once that when you grew up you wanted to marry me, remember?" She chuckled at the statement warmly, and he did it right along with her.

"Yeah, I was really attached to you. remember when I turned 13 and I was old enough to get my first physical enhancements? My parents took us to the Chop Shop and I begged them to let me get eyes that were the same color as yours so we could match and you cried a little bit."

She smirked and leaned in a bit "Oh, don't be silly, I cried a lot, Al. I was really touched by the gesture. I see you still have them in, too." She said, smiling a bit wider as she brushed his hair back with a hoof to look at them before kissing his forehead dotingly.

He flushed a soft pink and looked away, squirming slightly underneath her forehooves. "Y-yeah. I guess it's nice to always be able to look at them and remember those times, you know? But uh, that's getting a bit off track..." he said as he gently placed his arms around her neck in return, hugging her head softly to his chest. "What I was meaning to say was that I feel like I have been neglecting you lately. You always do so much for me, but I have just been sort of taking you for granted these last year."

"Oh, hush now, Al. You know I don't mind taking care of you," she said gently, though his thoughtfulness and current display of physical affection seemed to be appreciated. "I know that being a budding adult can be really tough, and you probably have a lot on your mind right now and-"

"And that isn't a good excuse for not treating you the way you deserve," he said, cutting her off just as gingerly. he smiled down at her and ran a hand through her flowing mane. She certainly was beautiful when she seemed content and pleased like this. Even so, many years later her approval and joy made him feel content, relaxed. Like all was right with the world as long as she was around. He flushed slightly darker and looked away as he gathered his thoughts before meeting her eyes again and continuing.

"so what I'm gonna do to is have a day just for me and you, We can do whatever you want today, I'll reschedule my plans for today and take care of it later. it can wait," he said as he stopped hugging her head to him so she could properly meet his eyes while they spoke. "Just name what you want and I'll make it happen, okay?"

"Anything I want, hm?" She asked as she leaned in a bit closer, giving him a curious look as one hoof gently pressed to his chest.

He looked down at her and nodded insistently "Y-yeah! anything you want! We can go to a movie or we can grab something to eat or-"

Al was cut off by a pair of soft, plush white lips gently pressing to his own very tenderly, sweetly. Tia's hooves wrapped gently around his neck as she leaned in closer, embracing him in the somewhat awkward position as best she could while tenderly, softly kissing him for a few moments longer. his eyes snapped wide but slowly closed as he found his hands gently resting on her sides until she finally pulled away and spoke. "Actually, dinner sounds quite nice, where were you thinking?" She asked with an embarrassed smile and a deep schoolgirl tier blush as she slipped off of the couch.

"And...what did you think of that, while we're at it?"

Author's Note

Oh, well this is certainly a turn of events Aldritch was not expecting! Let's see where this goes! ^^

I hope my sci-fi lore stuff wasn't too boring! I haven't really done that sort of thing too much before outside of my FiO story last month.