Flesh and Chrome

TWO

"What are you doing?" Sweetie cried. "Get away from me!"

But still she walked forward, the small knife gleaming by the moon. Sweetie Belle was too scared to move, the fear rooting her to the spot. Bend knelt down. She moved her head close to one of Sweetie's forelegs. The knife made contact with her. Sweetie let out a yelp of pain. Bend pushed the knife in a little further and waited for blood. None. She pushed the knife in a little further, Sweetie was sobbing in complete agony. No blood. Bend let the knife go in a little more and hit something. A dull thud sounded from within Sweetie's body, she struck the metal core. Agent Bend slowly pulled out the knife, clicked it shut, and put it back in her bag. Sweetie was staring expectantly at the cut, waiting for the blood that would never come. The slit left by the knife healed instantly.

"Honey, I'm sorry." Hypothesis Bend said sadly. "You are a robot."

"I do not understand, the calculations are wrong!" Cried Sweetiebot. "MALFUNCTION!!! MALFUNCTION!!! INITIATING RAMPAGE MODE!!" She started to grow, fast.

"NO!" the robot policemare shouted. "DON'T!" She knew it was of no use, so why was she trying to prevent it? Sweetie wasn't any different from the others. She thought, Why am I wasting my time? Suddenly the giant robot shook violently. It started to quickly diminish in size.

"Sweetie? Sweetie Belle?" Agent Bend asked quietly. "A-are you ok?" The small robot was fainted dead away on the ground, exhausted from the growing and shrinking. Suddenly bright lights flashed from everywhere around the Robot Policemare and the strange robot.

"THIS IS THE ROBOT POLICE!" echoed a voice from all directions. "WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!"

"Settle down men, its me." Bend said calmly. "Let me speak to Radiant." The lights all suddenly turned off. A brown stallion with lightning blue hair stepped out from the shadows, his horn letting out a firm glow.

"MEN!" he shouted, a sneer on his face, "SURROUND THE TRAITOR!" Twelve other unicorns stepped out of the forest's darkness. "You see, my dear Bend." He said, walking around the two wanted ponies in a circle, "When you tried to stop the rampage, we were all shocked, and then when the robot," he said, pausing to kick the unconscious filly, "applied, we knew you shared a bond with her Bend, we knew." Bend rushed over to Sweetiebot, a look of concern in her eyes.

"Oh how quaint, rushing over to your friend." Radiant growled. "Its of no use. You will be exterminated immediately." He waved a hoof in the air and all of the troops advanced forwards.

In one fluid motion, Hypothesis scooped up the robot with her wings, placed her on her back, pulled off the communication watch, then took off at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, leaving the unicorns all dumbfounded.

She flew for a while, listening to the whirrs of the machinery coming from the sleeping robot. She had slowed down to a steady speed of around fifty mph. She noticed that she was reaching Ponyville. "TALKING LOUD SHOULD DO THE TRICK!!!" a voice sounded from the ground.

"Whoah!" Hypothesis muttered. A slight hum came from Sweetiebot, sounding like a tiny snore.

She was very well made, Bend realized. The creators must have put a lot of care into her.Bend knew that any time now, she will be chased after by the Airborne robot police. She scanned the ground for any sign of a perfect hiding place. None. She was around in the middle of the Everfree forest now, lightly skimming the treetops, when she noticed some smoke coming out of the Froggy Bottom Bog... She silently landed on a tree branch right at the edge of the bog. The smoke was coming from a small hut. Hovering about two inches above the ground, she carefully approached the hut. It isn't Zecora's hut.She realized with relief. Zecora had been one of the top members of the Robot Police.

She carefully knocked on the door. A gasp was audible from the inside. A shuffling of hooves, a click as the lock unlocked, then the door peeked open a bit. "H-hello?" Asked a frail voice, "W-who are you?"

"My name is Hypothesis Bend, former member of the Robot Police, may I ask yours?" Bend said firmly.

"I-i'm Flora." She said, "come on in." The door opened and Hypothesis walked in. It was a nice place, stone floor, couch in one side with blankets behind it. A small fire was burning in a fireplace at the immediate back of the room. There were tables and chairs, and a cauldron sat nest to the fire, a giant mixing spoon in it. Over to another side of the room was a small sink and drawers, probably holding silverware and plates and bowls. Next to the sink was a pantry. A door next to the couch led in into the bedroom. All in all, it was a very homey place. Sorta reminds me of Hagrid's hut in Harry Trotter.Hypothesis Bend thought.

She turned to look at the kind pony who let them in. She was also a pegasus, a clear sky blue  color with a purple mane that had seaweed entangled within it. She had shocking green eyes and her cutie mark was a pair of swim goggles. She gave a warm smile.

Bend looked down at her cutie mark, a silver question mark, and once again marveled at it and remembered the way she got it.

"Um, h-hi?" Flora ventured. "Wh-who's that?" She pointed to the sleeping Sweetiebot.

"She is Sweetie Belle. My former target." Bend said blankly. Then looking at the shocked expression on Flora's face, added. "Yes, she's a robot." She lay her down on the couch and covered her up with a blanket. "Is that ok if I do that?"

"Y-yeah.." Flora replied. "Just fine. I was about to go to bed, but now that you are here, I will stay up."

"Oh no, by all means, you can go to bed." Bend offered."I promise I won't touch anything."

"Now I can't let you do that." She said. " You must be hungry. Let me cook you something."

Hypothesis' stomach growled at the sound of cook. Flora let out a light chuckle. "I'll make you soup." Bend sat down on the couch, at the other end from where Sweetie was resting. She stared at the robot. Sweetie really was a marvelous piece of work. And beautiful too. I bet all the colts in her class were after her attention. She chuckled. "Yes I love my sister Rarity..." Sweetiebot sang quietly in her sleep.

"And a good singing voice too.." Bend murmered.

"What was that hon'?" Flora asked from beside the fireplace. "I didn't catch that."

"Oh nothing Flora, just marveling at the wonderful job the creator of this robot did."

Sweetie opened her eyes. "Scanning... Scanning..." Her eyes locked on Bend. "Sis, where are we?"

Bend didn't know how to respond. Sis? That's short for sister, isn't it? But she was just singing about how she loved her sister, Rarity. She thought.Isn't Rarity the element of Generosity? She was in the war too. I remember fighting by her side.. I think..

"Uh," She said. "We are in Flora's house. You are safe right now, Sweetie."

"Oh, ok." Sweetie shifted onto her side and drifted off.

"Hey Hypothesis, Dinners ready." Flora said and pointed to the table, on it sat a bowl.

"Thanks Flora." She walked over to the table and began to eat the soup.

"So what was that sister thing about?" Flora asked, " Oh, by the way, my full name is Swamp Flora."

"Honestly, Swamp, I have no clue." She sighed, "I guess that I achieved ranking of sister, and let me tell you, I am proud." The former policemare smiled and looked over at the sleeping filly. "Yeah, I am proud."