Author's Note

I will say this right now. When Sweetie codes, I am not using actual coding techniques. I am writing the code how I think her brain perceives it. therefore, the definition of words and exactly what she wants the commands to do. Don't get mad at me in the comments.

This chapter can get a little confusing but just stick with it...

Maybe I'm Better Off...

My brain flooded. I couldn't see. I couldn't think. Suddenly, my mind popped and I was standing in a dark abyss. I looked around and only saw one thing.

A keyboard.

I walked up to it slowly. A small area on the side had a picture depicting a hoof. I tapped it with my hoof and the entire keyboard lit up with a bright green color. A small screen appeared in front of me. The only thing on the screen was a small blinking cursor.

Strange I thought. I looked around and the word strange was flying around the room. I'm inside my own mind. What a strange feeling.

I walked over to the keyboard and began to type, Run: "Heat"

A loading bar appeared with the words, "Downloading command" underneath it.

My interest was officially Piqued. I could tell because the floor and light around me began to glow green. It must change with my emotions.

A message popped up on screen. "Command downloaded. Run by pressing "command key"

That must be my hoof button. I thought as I saw the words fly through my brain. I eagerly typed the other commands into the keyboard

Run: "Mem"
Run: "Data"
Run: "ADV"

I saw three more download bars pop up on the screen. I reached the last command and I paused. Rarity warned me about this one. I decided I may as well download it for good measure.

Run: "defend"

I pressed enter and saw a warning message pop up. "Warning! The manufacturer of this product advises against downloading this command. Do you wish to proceed? Yes/No

Product? I thought. What the buck? Is that all I am? A product? What was she going to mass produce me or something?

The lights around me turned red as I felt rage flooding my brain. I moved my cursor across the screen and clicked "Yes" I began to feel strange. There was a fire in my stomach. I remembered earlier that there were doors on my sides that I was unable to open. I wonder if the "Self defense system" Had something to do with those.

I heard a really loud bell in my head. I heard a voice. I think it was the AI Rarity told me about. "Run: "EXIT" To leave"

I thought for a second. For some reason, I couldn't shake the image of Twilight's face out of my head. Her face when she felt her hoof connect with metal. I decided to see if I was able to connect with the AI through the keyboard in front of me. I began typing. It went something like this...

Me: Hello?

Yes?

Me: Oh! It does work! Okay... How do I run commands in the real world?

All you have to do is set a button control for it. If you would like, I can set controls for you.

Me: That would be great. Thank you!

I am here to serve you. I have set your command key to running commands. To run a command, press your command key. You will be able to envision your command keyboard. There, you will type Run: ____ If you wish to return here to speak to me or code new commands, press and hold your command key.

Me: The command button is the button my hoof right?

That is correct. Anything else I can help you with Sweetie Bot?

Me: Oh! You know my name?

I know everything about you.

Me: Really?

Yes ma'am! I can tell you anything you would like to know about yourself.

Me: What's the self-defense system.

I do not know.

Me: I thought you knew everything about me.

I apologize but this information seems to have been wiped from my memory.

Me: Thanks anyways.

I am here to serve you.

I looked down at my "Command key." I press it and sure enough, a command keyboard pops up in front of me. Run: "EXIT"

I feel my brain flood again before I see my eyes open. I'm still standing in the bathroom. But now, Rarity stands next to me.

"Are you okay Sweetie Bot?" She asks. "I came in here and saw you standing there, completely still with your eyes closed. I opened them, but your sensors were off. What happened?"

I looked up at her with a smile. "I found my command key!"

**********

Eventually, the weekend had to come to an end. It was going to be back to school the next morning. Rarity put me back to sleep after the bathroom encounter and when I woke up in the morning, I suddenly felt a looming sense of dread. "Rarity!" I whined. "Do I have to go to school?" I groaned as Rarity nodded her head. I focused on the back of my throat. "_'m still fe_ling scratchy _nd Stati_y!"

"Nice try Sweetie Bot. I can tell when you're faking it. Stop trying to cut out your voice so I think you're sick."

I put a hoof to my chin. "You know, I've been wondering about that. If I'm a robot, then how did I always get sick as a filly?"

Rarity laughed again. "I said I wanted to make you as much like a real pony as I could. So I made it so every once in a while, your circuits would mess themselves up. It was my intention that you would never figure out your secret. That note you found last night was there because I guess some part of me always knew you would figure yourself out."

I nod and trudge towards the door, schoolbag in hoof. I breathe a short sigh and open the door. This was it. My first time out since my discovery. Who knows, maybe ponies would actually think I'm cool now. I knew it was a long shot. Ponies would probably just back off and stare from a distance.

And right I was because as I walked down the street, I watched as Lyra and Bon Bon pointed at me and gasped. I watched as they started to back away. Same with everypony else. Minuette, Lily Valley, even Derpy Hooves flew over-head and watched me. I was honestly kind of relieved when I saw Pinkie Pie bouncing up to me.

"Hi there Sweetie Belle! How's it going?" Finally. My real name.

"Well Pinkie, I'm gonna be honest. It's not great."

Pinkie's smile fell into a frown. "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle? Is it because you're a robot?"

I felt my jaw drop to the ground. "How did you know?"

Pinkie laughed. "Just a hunch!"

"Umm... Okay." I walked away towards the schoolhouse. Despite the fact that all of the fillies and colts that went to the schoolhouse grew up, they still have one big class with the older and younger kids. You can definitely see the toll it takes on Miss Cheerilee's patience.

As I walked up to the school, I immediately saw the pony who I dreaded seeing the most. Diamond Tiara sat in the schoolyard with Silver Spoon taunting another pony. As crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I would usually step in and stop her. Honestly though, I had no interest in causing a scene while looking like this. I waited for one of the others to step in but nopony came. They must not be here.

I sighed and began walking towards Diamond Tiara. "Leave him alone!" I yelled at her.

She turned around and gasped. "Whoa! Sweetie Belle! I didn't think it was possible for you to become even more of a freak, but here we are."

I looked at her with annoyed eyes. "Diamond Tiara, I want you to think long and hard about this. I am a robot with, who knows what powers. I am programmed to function perfectly under distress. Do you really want to pick a fight with a pony like that?"

Diamond Tiara continued smiling and gestured for me to look behind myself. I turned around and Miss Cheerilee was there with a disappointed expression on her face. "Sweetie Belle! I can't believe you would threaten her like that!"

"N-No Miss Cheerilee it's not like th-"

"I don't want to hear it Sweetie Belle. Now I don't know exactly what's going on with-" She gestured to my entire body with a hoof. "All of that. But it had better not disrupt my class. Got it?"

I sigh and nod. I hear Diamond and Silver laugh from behind me. Cheerilee turned to them. "As for you two, detention after school!"

Diamond and silver's faces immediately fell. "W-What!" Diamond yelled. "Why?"

Cheerilee looked at them with an unamused expression. "Do you really think I'm blind? I literally saw you both bullying this poor colt from across the schoolyard. You aren't as sneaky as you think you are."

Diamond sat back down with a huff and I couldn't help but snicker a little bit. After a few minutes, my friends showed up. I ran up to them saying, "What took you so long?"

Apple Bloom groaned. "I wish to erase this morning from my memory!"

I laughed. "Funny! Apparently I can actually do that! What happened?"

Scootaloo's face still looked shocked. "Well, our parents let us have a sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres last night. What we didn't know, was that Applejack and Rainbow dash were also having....A sleepover."

"Oh! That sounds absolutely horrifying."

Apple Bloom nodded. "It was. We practically had to drag them out of bed to make us breakfast. Nothing worse than that!"

"I don't even want to think about it," I said. "Give me a second." I pressed down on my command key and quickly found myself in my head. I walked over to the keyboard and began typing.

Me: Hey AI! How do I code?

Run your assigned coding command and begin typing different parts of the command. You can also link it into other commands if you wish.

Run: "Free"

My entire brain flashed white as the screen glitched out. It flashed some sort of logo that said, "SB." The cursor popped back up and I saw the words "Free coding activated." There was a prompt that popped up that said...

Command: |

I concluded that I was supposed to name the command here.

Command: Clrmem10

Another prompt.

Known commands: clr=clear mem=memory

Define: 10

I think I learned enough in my computer classes to figure this out

10= 10 seconds

Another prompt. This one was trying to clarify what I meant.

clrmem10= clear memory of the last 10 seconds? yes/no

Wow! I guess I was better at this than I originally thought. I moved my cursor over to the "yes" Button and clicked. Another download bar. Who knows? Rarity might even be proud. When the download finished, I turned and typed...

Run: "EXIT"

**********

When I woke up, Apple Bloom was waving a hoof in front of my face. "Sweetie? Are you all right?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah. Last night I figured out I could go into my own head and create commands. No big deal."

Scootaloo, who had failed our computer classes looked at me weirdly. "Huh?"

I laughed. "Listen Scoots, if you're gonna have a robot for a friend, you may want to retake that computer class. Basically, what I did was create a code that could erase my memory of the last ten seconds of my life. That way I wouldn't need to remember conversations and images like the one you all just gave me."

Apple Bloom chuckled a little. "Hate to break it to ya, but by now, that conversation was way more than 10 seconds ago."

I nod. "I know. By pressing by command key," I showed them the button on the back of my hoof, "I can run commands manually. for example," I pressed the key and said, Run: "Mem"

My entire vision was flooded by a green screen full of thousands upon thousands of files. I quickly pressed the key again and said, Run: "ADV" The screen shrank down to the corner of my vision. I noticed I could move the cursor on the screen with my mind. This is awesome! I thought. I always wanted super powers! This is the next best thing.

I turned to my friends. "Right now, I'm erasing that file from my memory files while I can also see you guys!"

Scootaloo still seemed confused. "I don't understand! If you had to go, where did you say? Inside your brain? To download code, how can you do it without deactivating again?"

I sighed a small sigh of annoyance. "No Scootaloo. I have to go into my brain to download brand new code! Not to run codes."

Scootaloo nodded. "Oh! I think I get it!"

I decided it would be a great time to try some of my other codes. I looked back down to my command screen, which was still open with my advanced view. Run: "Data"

I saw more and more screens pop up in the corners and sides of my vision. Whenever I looked at something, it would give me an in-depth data analysis. I looked at scootaloo and noticed a small red patch near her wing that I hadn't noticed before. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Wait! How did you know I was hurt?" Scootaloo looked at her wing. "I popped a wing when I was racing with Rainbow Dash the other day."

"What do you mean how did I know? There's a big red patch on your wing!" I then realized that I was the only pony who could see the red patch. It must be a part of the data analysis. Run: "Stop"

I didn't need to download this code. It was somehow something I remembered. Though I'm not quite sure how. The screens all disappeared and so did the data analysis. I was just, normal Sweetie again. Scoootaloo looked at me almost scared. Apple Bloom on the other hoof, looked amazed.

"Sweetie! That's a little creepy." Scootaloo said.

"No it's not! This is awesome." Apple Bloom started talking about cool things we could do with my newfound code. "Think about it guys! How many bits have we wasted over the past few moons doing stupid dangerous things and getting x-rays for it? Those doctors charge a whole bunch."

I nod with a smile. "I get it! We won't need to go to the doctor because I can just check to see if we have broken bones."

Scootaloo shook her head. "That makes no sense. My wing wasn't broken! It just aches a little bit."

"Oh." I said looking down. "Maybe I can only see when somepony is in pain."

Apple Bloom got a mischievous smile on her face. "Sweetie Belle? Do you think you would be able to get Rarity to give you x-ray vision?"

I think for a second and then say, "I can try."

*********

After school, I came bursting through the door of the Carousel boutique. "Rarity! I need x-ray vision!"

Rarity turned around suddenly. "What?"

"Me and Apple Bloom had this idea that if I had x-ray vision and could see if we break anything, we would save a lot of bits on going to the hospital."

Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm. I guess that makes sense. But where would we even find an x-ray scanner?"

"I don't know! Buy an old one or something."

Rarity looked at me and smiled. "I haven't worked with robots in a couple hundred moons but I think I can make that work. I guess I kind of owe you after lying to you for 150 moons. You will need to be deactivated while I install the scanner into your sensors. That way they aren't moving all over the place."

I nod. "Thanks Rarity!"

*********

The hunt for an unused x-ray scanner proved a lot harder than I had thought it would be. It took a couple moons. I do remember that in the meantime, I was definitely getting used to having new powers. During class, I would go into my head and chat around with the AI just because I could. It did take a turn for the worse one day though. In fact, That's a funny story...

**********

I sat in the classroom watching Miss Cheerilee write useless numbers on the board. I quietly reached my hoof down to my command key. I pressed and held it. I soon entered my brain and walked over to the keyboard.

Me: Hello!

You shouldn't be here!

Me: Why not?

You should be paying attention in class.

Me: Class is boring! And I wanted to talk to you.

What's up?

Me: What exactly is this place? I've mostly just thought of it as my brain but, in robot terms, what exactly is it?

Well, I don't even know what it is in "Robot terms" But I can tell you what I call it. To me, this is what I call the subspace. It is a space in your head where you can store a lot of items. Data of course.

Me: Interesting. Anyways, I'm bored. Tell me a story.

I think that would be most unwise.

Me: Why?

You're about to get in a lot of trouble in school if you don't leave.

Me: Wait! You can see the outside world?

Of course! Who do you think makes sure you don't get hurt while you're in the subspace? Or who runs the data while you're in advanced view?

Me: That makes a lot more sense

Run: "EXIT"

**********

After I exited the subspace, I noticed everypony in the classroom had their eyes on me. Miss Cheerilee cleared her throat. "Sweetie Belle! How do you find the square root of a number? I know you're still getting used to your new..." she cleared her throat again. "Abilities. But please, for the love of Celestia, Pay attention in class!"

I nod in embarrassment. "Yes Miss Cheerilee." I quickly press the command key on my hoof. Run: "Data" I looked at the equation on the board. Of course, it was solved immediately in my head. The square root of 1,487 is 38.56163896931768"

Diamond Tiara pointed a hoof at me. "She's definitely cheating, Miss Cheerilee."

I shot her a smug look. "Jealous?" I asked.

***********

I was definitely getting used to my new body. Things couldn't look any better for me. But things were about to change.

Quickly.

If you stay longer and listen to the rest of my story, you may learn how I ended up in the Everfree Forest.

(To Be Continued...)