Ponies tend to stay away from the Everfree Forest. There's wild magic, poison joke, timberwolves, and hundreds of other things to be afraid of. But me? I don't stray from the forest. In fact, some ponies believe that they should fear me as well.

My story begins almost thirty moons ago. I would love to share, if you'll stay long enough to hear it...

**********

(Thirty moons earlier)

It was almost midnight. Me and my friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, were laying our sleeping bags out on the floor of our treehouse. Our sisters had finally agreed to let us have a sleepover on our own. I remember us laughing as they said, "Tender Taps and Button Mash stay OUT of that treehouse tonight."

Apple Bloom knocked her hoof against the lectern she had set up in there. "Alright cutie mark crusaders! In honor of one of our founding members, Sweetie Belle, turning 150 moons old tomorrow, I hereby declare this sleepover to a close! But before that, Sweetie Belle has a couple words she would like to say."

Me and Scootaloo giggled. There was no reason to have such an official meeting. It was just the three of them this time. Old habits I guess. It was true we hadn't had somepony else in the treehouse in a while but we still enjoyed living there everyday.

I stood up and faced the other two. "I have an entire day planned out tomorrow!" I said excitedly. "We're going down to the beach and then we'll have a picnic and then we'll go to sugar cube corner where Pinkie Pie is going to throw the most spectacular party ever." I finally finish the long sentence and take a deep breath.

Scootaloo jumped up and said, "Yes! Now that I can fly, I can do a totally awesome cannonball." Scootaloo kicked off and began flying around the cramped room.

I chuckled and said, "Okay Scootaloo, calm down. Don't want to hurt yourself."

Apple Bloom looked at me confused. "Why would you choose the beach? I thought you hated water."

I looked down at her and said, "I haven't swam in almost 100 moons. I was just a little filly. I don't even remember why I don't like it. I figured I would give it another chance."

Nothing more was said on the matter that night.

I slept easily that night. Looking back, I wish I could have chosen something different. I don't know why I insisted that I had to go to the beach but I didn't know that my life was going to change forever.

*********

(The next day at the beach...)

"Come on Sweetie Belle! At least come in more than hoof deep!"

Scootaloo was trying to be encouraging. But something felt almost... wrong about being in the water. Nervously, I took a few more steps towards the other two. I laughed as the water tickled me up the leg. Things would take a turn for the worse in about five more seconds. Here's how...

Five: I looked up towards my friends.

Four: I looked back down towards my water-soaked hooves and legs.

Three: I take another shaky step forward.

Two: The water soaks my underbelly.

One: I feel a surge of something I can't understand. Electricity? No. It couldn't be.

Zero: I feel my body begin to jerk everywhere. Sparks shoot out of my body beginning to spread down the water.

Acting fast, Scootaloo attempts to fly out of the water. She manages to lift herself above sea level and grabs a confused Apple Bloom out of the water. She Flies them both to the shore and drops Apple Bloom.

I don't know what happens next. I feel a sudden drowsiness and everything goes black.

***********

From what Scootaloo told me, after the incident, I stopped shooting sparks. Scootloo flew over to me and carefully pulled me back to shore. Now I find myself here, laying on the beach, my two friends standing confused over me. My throat feels scratchy. Trying to speak causes a couple more sparks to shoot out of my body. "Wh_t H_p_ened?"

Scootaloo, who understood me through all of the static in my voice, answers the question. "Well, we took a look at you while you were out. We found a couple... Um... disturbing things."

I did my best to control the static in my voice. "Wha_ D_d Yo_ Fi_d?"

"Well," Scootaloo said with a high pitched voice, "first, we noticed that your fur isn't real."

"WH_T!"

"Calm down Sweetie!" Apple Bloom said laying me back down on the ground. Apple Bloom looked to Scootaloo. "Should we tell her the worst parts?"

Scootaloo nodded. "We have too." She looked back at me. "We noticed that your skin didn't quite feel... Well what's the word? Your skin didn't quite feel real. We noticed a small outline on your underbelly and we found... Well, we found..."

"Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom yelled. "Stop beating around the bush!" Apple Bloom turned to look at me, clearly seeing the confusion and fear on my face. "We found a small door on your stomach Sweetie."

Panic filled my head as I looked down to my stomach. "Wh_t! D_d Yo_ _pen _t?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "We wanted to make sure you would wake up first. Do you want to open it?"

I couldn't say anything. I simply nodded. Scootaloo reached over to my stomach and looked at me one more time. "Are you sure?" I nodded in confirmation and braced myself for what I thought would be immense pain. Instead, it just felt like moving an arm.

Water spilled out of my stomach as Sootaloo and Apple Bloom looked inside. Apple Bloom clapped a hoof to her muzzle. "Sweetie Belle you're a... You're a..."

"Robot!" Scootaloo finished for her.

I looked down to my underbelly and gasped, now seeing what they were seeing. What I saw inside, was a mess of wires and motherboards. I felt a lot better now that I wasn't full of water and I could almost feel my voice returning to normal. "Wh_t the T_rtar_s is Th_s?"

"Language Sweetie!"

"S_rry!"

"I don't know what all of this is," Apple Bloom started. "But we had better find out."

I reached down and closed the door. I even stood up. "L_t's go ask R_rity."

They all nodded and we began to walk towards the boutique.

***********

I practiced speaking normally again as we walked the long way back to the boutique. Eventually, there was no more static in my voice. That was good. I was going to have a lot of yelling to do when I got home. We burst through the door and saw Rarity, jump as she looked behind herself with a smile on her face.

"How's the birthday gir-"

I cut her off by yelling. I was too confused and angry to make small talk. "Did you know I was a robot."

Rarity's face seemed to go even whiter than it already was. She put a hoof up and looked nervous. "H-H-How did you figure that out?"

"More importantly," Apple Bloom said, "How could you not let her know? And how could you let her go to the beach?"

Rarity turned towards me and said, "You went to the beach!? How could you!"

"Don't try to spin this on me! Maybe if you told me I would do something like that I wouldn't have!" I was practically on the verge of screaming at this point.

Rarity put a hoof up and silence ensued. "First of all, let me get one thing straight. I did not allow her to go the beach specifically. She told me she had plans for her birthday and I went along with it. Second of all, I thought I waterproofed her plenty when she was younger."

I felt my voice rising again. "What do you mean! How could you never tell me?"

"You didn't need to know."

I huffed in a rage and suddenly, felt my body quivering. I felt my fur peeling away revealing a hard metal shell underneath. There were faint black stripes painted around my eyes and forehooves. I looked over my new body. "Rarity! What just happened?"

"It seems the water has short-circuited your pony camouflage feature. I think I can fix it. Come here." Rarity beckoned with a wave of her hoof. I quickly turn away.

"No! I'm not letting you anywhere near me!"

I ran out the doors to the boutique. I ran and ran until I eventually ended up back where I started.

I stood on the sands of the beach and looked out upon the lonely waters. Where do I go now?

What's going to happen to me?...

(To be continued....)

Author's Note

As usual, I'm going by the assumption that a moon=36.5 days therefore, 10 moons is one human year.

I hope you enjoy the beginning of this story.