Flesh and Chrome

FOUR

"OH MY GOSH!!!" Sweetie squealed, "Is it really..?"

"Yeah," Bend replied, "Congratulations!!" Flora walked up to Sweetie. "Good job kiddo." She said and gave her a pat on the head.

"Thanks!" Sweetie squealed. "What do you think it stands for?"

"Hmm.. I'd say it stands for finding out your true identity and not rampaging." Bend said. "I mean, what else could a gear stand for?" "Woohoo!" Cheered the filly, she bounced around in a circle. "Achievement unlocked! Obtain free tattoo! I got my cu-tie mark! I got my cu-tie mark!" She stopped in her tracks and asked Bend, "Can we go to Ponyville? I want to show Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!" She squealed with glee. Flora and Bend couldn't help but laugh at the display of the robot. "Sure honey, we'll go to town." Flora chuckled.

"Setting phasers to HUG!" Sweetie cried and hugged Bend and Flora. "You ponies are the best ever!"

"Thanks." Flora smiled. "Now put on your dress, we don't want to lose such a fine piece of work."

"No ma'am! I got my cutie mark! doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Its ok Flora, I'll put it in my bag." Bend said and put the costume away. "Let's go."

Sweetie hopped up onto Bend's back, they said thank you to the sea monster and took off toward the village.

"WOO HOO!!!"Sweetie shouted in her queer voice.

"Jeez Sweetie, could you turn it down a bit?" Bend asked her, rubbing one of her ears. "Sure! setting volume to twenty five." Sweetie chirped. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost, Sweetie." Flora said.

"You know, I'm feeling that I am overlooking something stupid.."

"Like what, Bend?"

"Well, if I knew, I would tell you, no?"

"True.. True.."

They flew for a couple more seconds until Sweetie piped up.

"Turn left." The pegasi obliged.

"You have reached your destination. The route guidance has ended." They landed in front of a clubhouse Hypothesis Bend remembered all too well.

"Sweetie Belle, what was that thing you just did?" Flora asked tentatively.

"Location services. My tracking device told me that the other two were here in the Cutie Mark Acquisition Program Headquarters," Sweetie chirped. Sure enough, when we walked in, two fillies squealed in excitement and ran to Sweetie.

"Sweetie Belle, you're back!" The girl with the bow exclaimed and hugged the robot.

"Yes Apple Bloom. I have returned. And look! I have obtained a cutie mark!"

The other one, an orange pegasus, gasped.

"That's so cool!" she paused, "what's it stand for?"

"It stands for her knowledge of her real self, and not destroying everything because of it." Bend piped up, then noticed the two other fillies looking at her and Swamp Flora in confusement.

"My name is Swamp Flora, call me Flora though. My friend here is a former robot policemare, her name is Hypothesis Bend."

"Emphasis on former there."

"Right, what Bend said. We are Sweetie's guardians and friends."

A pause, then Scootaloo and Apple Bloom nodded.

"That's cool. So why are you here?" Scootaloo asked.

"I wanted to show you guys my achievement and check up on how you were doing."

"We're holding up just fine. Are the robot police still after you?" After that statement, Bend glanced to the side, out the window. A flash of something disappeared from the corner. She dismissed it as some branch, then paused.

"The robot police are always listening..." She muttered. Her eyes grew wide. "Nowhere is safe.. WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"What do you mean Bend? We just got here." Flora replied.

"The robot police are always listening! C'mon!" She scooped up the filly robot and dashed outside. Flora nodded to the two confused fillies.

"Nice meeting you two." She dashed out of the clubhouse after Bend."Wait for me!"

"Well, that was interesting.." Scootaloo said. "You can come out now, she has confessed."

"Perfect, thank you two for letting me spy here. Here are your two hundred bits. One hundred for each of you." The sound of a bag filled with coins hitting the floor was heard. "Have a good day now, thank you for your assistance."

"Aww.. The pony teleported away.. I was going to ask him if he would help me be the president.."

"What was that all about back there Bend?" Flora panted. They had found a place to rest in a desolate cave in the Everfree. It was rather dry and had a nice little wall of stalagmites in the back, making a little room which they quickly dubbed the bathroom because of a little hole in the ground and a freshwater spring on the other side. Beyond that was the cave's back. The ground was pure rock, as with the sides of the cave. Bend recognized, and Sweetie confirmed, that the wall on one side was flint.

"We can't go anywhere near civilization Flora. There is a bounty on our heads, and not the paper towel kind either. I was in the robot police force long enough to know that the robot police are always listening. It is slightly a lie, because they only patrol the city areas. That's why we can't go in them. Welcome to our new home."  She began to unpack blankets and pots and matches and all sorts of other stuff out of her bag.

"How big is that bag, and is some of that from my house!?" Flora asked.

"The bag is impossibly big, and yes, some is from your house. I took them in case of emergency, and would give them back if there was none. Obviously there was. Now, get some sleep." She motioned to a completely unzipped sleeping bag with blankets on top of it and pillows at one side. "Tomorrow, we must play out the final act. Let's get this over with, once and for all."

Flora nodded and tucked herself into one side of the sleeping bag bed.

"Ok. See you in the morning." Sweetie Belle chirped.

"I hope I do, Sweetie," She walked over to Sweetie and tucked her into the  makeshift bed, kissed her forehead, and climbed into it beside her, bringing the robot close to her body. "I hope I do..."