Journeys of a Misplaced Soul

The spire's interior surrounded me. It was still a horrifying sight, but I still couldn't help but think of the comparison to a changeling hive, or the nest of some fucked up species of wasp. Given the acidic stinger of the Disassembly Drone it's not entirely off the mark. Thankfully, there was enough of this body's programming intact that I saw this as normal. Oh, it was still programmed to feel fear, but it wasn't directed at the shelter.

As I wandered around the inside of the structure, I was not focused on the fact that it was constructed from drone corpses. Rather, I was marvelling at the weird anomalies that marred the place. Various spots in the environment were blocky—like, literally made of cubes—and at those points, I could just make out smaller cubes coming off of them like steam. Almost as if things were digitising around me.

For whatever reason, I was in my normal body in what should have been a hellscape with no breathable air for me. There was no steam from my breath. As my black-carapace hooves carried me through the toxic snow, I left no tracks behind. There was also the fact that I could see my robot body curled up in the fetal position on a pile of various limbs and parts. All of that told me that I was dreaming.

Honestly, I wasn't exactly expecting to find myself in the oneiric construct based on my foalhood room. Even though Emerald and I shared a bond through that dream space—Thanks, Harmony—I knew from trips to Sunset's human world that such a bond doesn't persist between realities, returning only once I crossed through the portal. Still, in a time like this, a mare can hope for just a bit of comfort, right?

Thoughts of Mom, Starlight, and Emerald did nothing to improve my mood, causing the dreamscape to darken around me. It's not like Princess Luna would be able to reach me here to help. What would she even say? Even if she used to fight the wars in the Equestria of old, I don't think she'd enjoy this place. Just looking at the pile of corpses the dream-representation of my physical body was sleeping upon, I can just imagine what she'd think. Anonymous is at risk of becoming a Nightmare, and we are powerless to help her.

What was worse, I could easily picture that drone body of mine sitting atop a throne of the dismantled. Hell, that image quite literally flickered into existence over the representation of my sleeping form; behind it, there were a pair of braziers burning brightly in the darkness. God only knew where I could even have gotten them. In the Drone-Me's hand was a goblet of some sort, and there was N, for whatever reason dressed like a waiter, ready to fill that goblet with whatever was in that wine bottle he held...

Probably oil...

Sighing, I willed away the environment. In its place, Ponyville sprang up around me. Actually, around is a bit of a mischaracterisation. I should say that it sprang up below me, for I was perched atop the highest point in the town: the tippy-top of the Castle of Friendship. I could see the whole damn town from up here. Mom's 'friendship school' had creatures of every kind coming and going. It was market day in the town square, and it looked like my former teacher was leading some sort of field trip there. Down in Sweet Apple Acres, I could make out the shapes of Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big MacIntosh, and his wife, Sugar Belle, going about the autumn harvest.

It was about that time of year they started cider making, wasn't it?

I don't know how long I simply sat there, looking out at my home, worrying how long it would be until I could see it again. For that matter, would I start to 'forget'? It's all well and good that my memories are digital, but what about in my soul? Would this place once more become alien to me? Or would the haunting landscapes of Copper-9 slowly start to bleed into this cherished sight? Would Ponyville become a snow strewn nightmare, and would my home be replaced by a spire like the one I was sleeping within?

That was when an even worse thought struck me. What if we somehow managed to get me home, but there was no means with which to separate my soul from this metal husk? Ponies learned to accept me as an unreformed changeling because they got to know me—the real me. If I showed up in Ponyville looking like Serial Designation I, there'd be screaming and panic. God only knows whether that would somehow trigger some sort of hunter-killer instinct in that body.

Not only that, but I'd either be stuck walking around beneath a giant parasol all the time, or living the same nocturnal life that the night ponies of the Equestrian Royal Guard.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, V?" came J's voice, echoing throughout the dreamscape. "I stand by what I said. Assuming I wasn't corrupted and she doesn't exhibit signs of potentially hazardous mutations, I have no problem with keeping her around. She could increase productivity, and might even offset N's negative productivity coefficient."

It sounded as though she were somewhere nearby, but I knew for a fact that she wasn't in my dream. I'm not even sure I have a REM cycle, which would mean this dreamscape is entirely simulated, right? Except that would mean that I'm getting external auditory feedback. Perhaps some kind of early warning system? Either way, I know when I am being spoken of.

"I know he's happy to have a new 'friend' who is just as worthless as him, but she's not worth the risk," V sniped back. "Yeah, we're built to be dangerous, but Zombie Drones are dangerous to us, J. I know I'm hard on him, but I know what's best for him... Even if he'll hate me for it."

WARNING

PROXIMITY ALERT
POTENTIAL THREAT DETECTED
INITIATING EMERGENCY WAKE-UP SEQUENCE

The dreamscape disappeared into blackness, and then all at once, my sensors kicked in like a flashbang to the brain. Before my faceplate could switch to emotive eyes, I forced SLEEP MODE back onto the display. There wasn't anything in my vision cone, so I pretended to roll over in my sleep. If they weren't in front of me there, maybe they were on the other side of me?

I almost wished I didn't. J was standing at the base of my corpse pile, and V was crouched beside me. "You see? That isn't normal drone behaviour," she insisted. Even as the hand closest to me withdrew into the opening in her forearm, she gestured down at the pile. Slowly, some long tool that honestly looked like some weird stamp device emerged from her arm. "Neither is all this, and to be honest, it gives me a really bad vibe."

TARGET: SERIAL DESIGNATION V
WEAPON: VIRUS IMPLANT DISPENSER
THREAT LEVEL: 100%

Damn, she's leaping straight to decommissioning me, huh?

Very carefully, I snaked my tail into the robot scrap mound, slowly navigating it until it was underneath my would-be killer. Although my programming told me to meet lethal force with lethal force, I honestly didn't exactly feel like killing anyone today. Yet, was quickly and involuntarily released into my internal dialogue. Instead, I had something else in mind.

"I really wouldn't do that, if I were you," I warned as the nanite acid tip shot up out of the corpse pile and buried itself into the joint where her arm met her chassis. In one swift movement, I rolled backwards off the pile and deployed my wings. Even as V cried out at her sudden disarmament—and quite literal at that, as her arm fell atop the scrap pile—I launched myself into the air and latched onto the wall high above us. I glared down at her with what I assumed was probably angry eyes emoted. "Not sure if anyone ever told you, but killing someone in their sleep? Not very classy."

Even as V spat onto her remaining hand and started wiping at the melting joint, I could just imagine the silent cursing going on in her head. That said, I thought I could make out an almost amused look in J's eyes. Maybe she thought this was just desserts for the short-haired murderess. Then again, as the leader of this squad, she may have simply been analysing the dynamic and assessing whether V's worries had merit.

"Stupid zombie freak," she muttered, popping the end of her detached arm into her mouth to neutralise the acid. Following that, she pressed the limb against the joint. Fascinatingly enough, the circuitry, metal and plastic began to knit itself back together. "I can't believe she took my freaking arm off."

"I can't believe she didn't take your head," J replied. She just seemed to be watching me, seeing what I would do. Then again, she probably expected me to go on the offensive if I was corrupted and gonna go hostile. Joke's on her; I know they're bigger than me since I'm pretty much the same height as a worker, and even she made that mistake initially. I'd be at a disadvantage in a straight up fight. "Magnanimous and offers constructive criticism, movements are normal... are you sure you still wanna go through with this?"

If she says yes, I'm gonna have to make myself scarce. I glanced toward the mouth of the spire, where I could make out that the sunlight was beginning to dim. If she goes hostile, could I stay alive long enough to make it to sundown? For that matter, would it be one-on-one, or would J also try to put me down? My sensors flicked over to the landing pod, where N had likely gone to sleep. What about N? He seems nice, and even helped me fix my system clock, but he has the same murder protocols I do.

Almost as if he knew he was being thought of, he chose that moment to speak up. "V, are you and I fighting?" came his voice from inside the pod. "I thought I heard the sound of dismemberment out there."

Now, whether she realised it or not, I was an expert shapeshifter, and I had a lot of experience mimicking others. That didn't come from just looking at people; I had to watch their behaviours and interactions with others, and learn how they moved. V, for instance, was a perfect example: this morning, just before I powered down into sleep mode, she was being super harsh and aloof with him, but if what she said when she was about to sleep-murder me was any indicator, she did care for N.

"Go back to sleep, idiot," I called out in her voice. The projected eyes on V's face took on a hollow look I recognised as shock. Even J tensed up. "We're just having a bit of girl-talk and getting to know one another." In my own voice, I quickly added, "It's fine; we're fine. J's making sure things don't get out of hand. Right J?"

Even as I put the leader on the spot, I watched the short-haired robot as she stared up at me. I wonder if she realises exactly what I did and why? Eventually, the virus implant device on her arm withdrew and her hand returned to its place. My system slowly lowered her threat level back down to a more respectable level—although short of her being dead, it would never be zero—and I felt comfortable enough to come back down.

When I landed a few metres away from my pile, which I'd constructed as a means of removing tripping hazards from the floor more than out of any need for a bed, she hopped down and quietly made her way over. My wings retracted as I watched her, but I took care to wrap my tail around my waist to show I wasn't about to attack with it. Nonetheless, she held the elbow of her reattached arm, assuming a stance that lacked any sort of confidence.

"I don't get you," she whispered in an anxious voice. Given the angling of her faceplate, I could easily imagine she was looking down toward the floor. "I was going to kill you, but you covered for me. He seems to like you so you could have easily used that to get at me... Why?"

I shrugged, stepping closer so I could look up into her eyes. "Girl, I know love when I see it, even if you try to hide it," I teased, reaching up and thumping her in the shoulder. I let out a girlish giggle as blush lines appeared on her display. "And yeah, I'd like to be his friend, but I know he's into you. I might be a killer, but I'm not evil..." I paused, tapping my chin in thought. "At least, I don't think I am. Jury's still out on that." I stepped around her, and fought the urge to teasingly rub my tail under her chin as I went. "Besides, I'm a gay robot."

The idea that she might need to do a soft reboot to wrap her head around that filled my chest with warmth. The only downside was that I can't feel their emotions to tell just how much they like each other, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't feed on their love. The familiar hunger was there, but the ability was not. THE FLESH DEMANDS INVITATION. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only way I'd fix that hollow feeling was drinking what I had in those buckets.

Rather than that, however, I made my way around the other side of the piece of cover I built my pile against, where my pilfered guitar sat. I was a bit alarmed when my system identified it as the Victim's Guitar, but I wasn't in the mood to fiddle around, trying to find out what that was about. I simply didn't have the mental energy to really give a shit at that point. I just wanted to decompress. Plus, I might as well get a non-murdery hobby while I'm here.

Like any good Equestrian citizen, I took my music classes in school, and once a month, I met up with Sunset and her friends for karaoke. Admittedly, my preferred instrument was the piano, rather than guitar, and it took longer for me to learn sheet music instead of playing by ear. Still, I knew a thing or two about the guitar—like how to tune one by ear. So that's what I went about doing.

Once I was good and satisfied with the tuning, I deactivated my visual sensors and moved on to playing chords. Now, these hands of mine—or rather I's hands—were only designed with three digits. That'd definitely take getting used to. Still, it appeared as though my ~~stolen~~ new guitar was made with the stubbier digits of a drone in mind, indicating its maker was probably one as well. I wonder if I shouldn't refer to it as the Victim's Guitar like my system calls it.

As I moved into simple melodies from home, it felt as though I was being watched. It was a pretty weird sensation. When you're flesh and blood—even as a changeling—you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end, but I's hair was entirely synthetic, so it wasn't like that organic goosefIesh effect applied. In response, I cranked the gain on my audio sensors, to see if either J, V, or N were talking just out of regular earshot, but it was quiet. Even a quick peek with the visuals turned back on didn't reveal anything nearby. In fact, it was dark out, now, and the others had probably left for the time being.

WARNING

UNAUTHORIZED REMOTE ACCESS ESTABLISHED

USER "004D4F4D"
SOURCE: UNKNOWN
USER "004D4F4D" HAS OPENED A CHAT

Okay, first thing's first, system... Let's go and rename the users "004D4F4D" and "414E4F4E" to "TWILIGHT" and "ANONYMOUS". It's for my own sanity, after all. Second, let's authorise TWILIGHT so that it doesn't issue a warning every time she wants to talk. Still no luck disabling the terminal capslock, but once all that's done, then I can talk.

ADMINISTRATION "414E4F4E" HAS BEEN RENAMED "ANON" BY ADMINISTRATION "ANON"
USER "004D4F4D" HAS BEEN RENAMED "TWILIGHT" BY ADMINISTRATION "ANON"
USER "TWILIGHT" HAS BEEN GRANTED REMOTE ACCESS PRIVILEGES

"Hey, I!" J called out, making me pause my strumming and look over to the spire's opening. She was there with V and N, and they all had their wings out. "We're getting to work. You should probably get out and hunt some drones too, unless you wanna have a crack at getting into that nearby bunker."

The only answer I gave, as I set the Victim's Guitar down beside me, was a nod and a thumbs up. That was all I had time for, because not a moment later, they rocketed off into the night. Good hunting, you guys.

ANON > SORRY ABOUT THAT. I WASN'T IGNORING YOU.
TWILIGHT > I SAW. NEW FRIENDS?

She saw? Oh! She must've rebuilt the interdimensional scrying spell, using our bond to tether the spell to 'me', as it were. That means that she's watching me and talking to me at the same time. Good to know, but hopefully she'll warn me in the future before she starts scrying. The last thing I want is for her to witness a murder I can't control.

ANON > KINDA. A BIT SOON TO SAY ABOUT J AND V. N SEEMS LIKE HE COULD MAKE FRIENDS WITH ANYONE. LIKE PINKIE PIE IF SHE WERE A LITERAL MURDER ROBOT.
TWILIGHT > I SEE... EXCEPT I DON'T. WHEN YOU SAID YOU WERE FLYING WITH A DRONE, I THOUGHT IT WAS A CHANGELING DRONE, NOT ANOTHER ONE OF WHATEVER YOU ARE.
ANON > YEAH... I WAS MAKING NOTES WHEN THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED. THE BODY I'M CURRENTLY IN BELONGED TO A DISASSEMBLY DRONE THAT WAS KILLED JUST BEFORE I ENDED UP HERE.
ANON > MY NOTES DETAIL A BIT OF COP9AU'S DYNAMIC. USED TO BE HUMANS ON THIS PLANET, BUT FROM WHAT MY SYSTEMS TELL ME, THE WORKER DRONES ROSE UP AND KILLED EVERYONE BY IMPLODING THE PLANET'S CORE. DISASSEMBLY DRONES WERE SENT TO CLEAN UP THE AFTERMATH. PLUS, HAVE YOU SEEN THE HOME DECOR?
TWILIGHT > THAT'S... THAT'S MONSTROUS, ANON.

Monstrous was definitely putting it gently. What would she think if she had to see me kill? She's still so squeamish, even when it comes to me being a predator race. Even now, years after Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Sombra nearly brought about the end of the world by stirring the windigos, she looked for the good in the world. Except not all worlds are good.

ANON > YEAH. IT REALLY IS. I'M HOPING I WON'T HAVE TO UTILISE MY BODY'S PROGRAMMING ANY MORE THAN IS NECESSARY TO SURVIVE, BUT EVEN THAT ISN'T ALL THAT GLAMOROUS. LITERAL ROBOT VAMPIRE HERE. UP WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN.
ANON > BUT IN THE MEANTIME I THINK WE SHOULD CHECK IN EACH DAY AT THIS TIME. I KNOW YOU'VE PROBABLY GOT STARLIGHT AND SUNBURST HELPING YOU WORK ON THE SPELL, SO I DON'T WANT YOU TO WORK YOURSELF TO THE BONE. BESIDES.
ANON > IT'S NOT EVERY DAY YOU GET TO STUDY AN ARTIFICIAL LIFE-FORM IN ANOTHER DIMENSION.
TWILIGHT > THE WORST PART OF ALL THIS IS THAT I KNOW YOU'RE TRYING TO DISTRACT ME, BUT IT'S WORKING.

I didn't want to spend too much time distracting her, because I didn't doubt someone would check in on me before too long. Still, I gave her a running commentary as I started demonstrating various functions and features my body possessed. Honestly, it was as much for her as it was for me. It was one thing to look at the READ.ME or using features in the field, but it was another to study them.

The first thing I did was put the holographic shroud through its paces, going completely invisible, then looking human, and finally the most basic Worker Drone disguise. Honestly, it was very much an on-brand sort of thing for a changeling to acquire, even if this was closer to illusion magic than actual shapeshifting. Still, she ended up making a very interesting observation. Even if I couldn't feel like myself in this body, there wasn't really anything stopping me from looking like myself. Might help with the dysmorphia, but I probably shouldn't do that where I could be seen.

Flight was pretty self-explanatory, but I don't think she enjoyed the demonstration of the cutting power of my wing blades. How is it my fault that the only material available was robot limbs? Same thing goes for the nanite acid, if we're being honest. Her messages came off as super disturbed by the world I'm in, and the casualness the lack of conscience programming created. I get it, though, she's probably remembering what happened with the Blackwing Cartel and was hoping I wasn't destined for a relapse.

After that, we documented as many hand-replacement constructs as we could think of. A lot of them were unfortunately weapons that I came up with or referenced within the system: laser, sword, flamethrower, a rocket launcher that we totally didn't fire inside the corpse house and dislodge an object from the wall—identified as Plot Device - Do Not Touch—and three different kinds of gun... Then there was a shovel, a chainsaw, the nano-ceramic claws, an etching laser, with which I created an image of my buggy self on the uprooted concrete with A Queen Among Drones, by Anon written beneath it. Oh! She even gave me the idea for a projector!

Eventually, she had to go, and honestly, it couldn't have been any sooner. All that study was causing my systems to overheat. Last thing I wanted her to do was watch me drink the oil in my buckets and then have her do the maths on where it came from. Worse if she asked if I did that myself.

When they said there was a nearby bunker, I dunno what I was expecting. A concrete wall with a bulkhead door like on a boat, maybe? Perhaps something like a bank vault door? Something that wouldn't stand out in a world where the Disassembly Drones are coming to kill you. This, though, was the absolute opposite of nondescript. A big concrete wall with a door about five drones tall that opened into the ceiling and floor.

Me, I was perched atop a lamp post, my legs dangling below me, overlooking the massive edifice to robot cowardice. There was no real reason for me to be up there. It would've made just as much sense to 'watch' from up close, and just hide myself from sight when the door started opening, and then slip in unnoticed. That said, it was better to get a look first, before I committed to any plan.

In the meantime, I was entertaining myself with the Victim's Guitar. I think I pretty much got the traditional Winter Wrap Up song down, so I was pretty much just singing that on loop. Well, the parts that didn't mention ponies, magic, or helping the birds migrate, anyway. Honestly, seeing all this snow, the place could use a little winter wrap-up. Come, massive door. Let me sing to you the song of my people, so that you may open your heart to friendship!

Maybe the best part of being a robot, however, was that I didn't have to worry about blisters on my fingers. I could just play, on and on without getting tired or sore muscles. Even with magic manipulation, repetitive shit got tiring real quick. Magic... It finally hit me that I couldn't feel my magic at all. Then again, it was as much a spiritual thing as it was physical. If there was any magic in me at all, it was likely the magic anchoring my soul to this body.

For that matter, what happens if I die here, or Mom and the others find a way to bring me even a step closer to home? I don't have a physical body except for this borrowed murder robot. Would it come with me to the next world, or would I end up hijacking another body? What if I enter a parallel world to my own, except in the past? Would I superimpose over myself?

A rotating flashing light above the massive door distracted me from my introspection, and I stopped playing just long enough to throw on my disguise as the doors slowly opened. From my position, I could see a huge table inside the door, with a bunch of old-dude drones playing cards, behind which I could see another big-ass door. Backing out, however was a worker wearing a black beanie and black/purple Hot Topic chic. Also, it looked like she had some kind of energy weapon strapped to her back.

"Uh, wow. Okay. Just gonna leave then, 'cause this worked so weirdly well." With an awkward laugh, she called out, "Uh, go doors!" and threw a peace sign. Slowly, she turned, and as the door shut behind her, her neon-purple eye projection immediately locked with my own neon green. Almost immediately, she startled, taking a step back and bumping into the door. "Oh, Robo-Jesus!"

I blinked at her, mulling that proclamation over. Seriously? Then again, it's no different than using Celestia, I suppose. Finally, my mental processes settled on emoting some rolling eyes and I slung the instrument from my back again. "Yo!" I greeted, waving at her. "Pretty big fuckin' door you got there." Come to think of it, I think that's the first time I heard any robots swear, and it came from me. "That your colony in there?"

The moment she turned to glance back at the door, I took the opportunity to drop down from the lamp post. I was just in time to stick the superhero landing as she turned back. "Uh, yeah..." She looked me up and down, and for some reason I got the angsty late-teen vibe from her. She was probably judging me for my outfit or something. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Nope, barely got out alive from the last place I stayed; been wandering since then." I glanced at the weapon over her shoulder. "You're pretty well armed, but you don't look like a soldier. Laser or plasma rifle?"

"Rail-gun, actually." She pulled it off her back to show it off. Oh, how adorable, she's even got stickers on it. "It doesn't work yet, but I was gonna sneak into that Murder Drone lair to get the last part I needed."

DIRECTIVE UPDATED:

FIND A WAY HOME
INFILTRATE BUNKER
ELIMINATE RAIL-GUN THREAT

I deleted that last directive as soon as it popped up, and considered lowering my aggression rate to match that lowered sadism. Murder could wait, and besides, if I waited, I could just take a working rail-gun later. You know, assuming J, N, or V didn't get her. Plus, anyone that goes straight to building a rail-gun can't be all bad, right? I made one once, and look at how I turned out.

Instead, I held out my fist, and said, "Sick." The moment she bumped my fist, I nodded back to the door. "Your colony take refugees at all?"

She raised her hands in a hand-shrug. "Maybe, but I don't know why you'd wanna stay here," she muttered. "My dad and the WDF just wanna hide behind their doors instead of standing and fighting." Damn, you got spirit, kid. I'll give you that. "They might let you in if you tell them Uzi sent you, but, uh, don't tell them where I went, okay? Just... make something up."

I nodded, watching as she started running in the direction of the spire. "Oh! Uzi, 'fore I forget," I called out, causing her to pause just before leaving earshot. "If you see my friend N out there, tell him I, as in the letter, said 'Hi.'" Good luck.

I afforded her a five minute head-start before I went over and knocked on the big door. Instead, I opened up the pre-installed minesweeper app and leaned up against the wall. God, but it is so weird having a game literally overlaid over my vision. At least there's no chance of misclicking.

While I waited, I considered my options. The first option was to just reconnoitre the place. Map as much as possible, look for the best places to sabotage, and then come up with an excuse to go outside. Or maybe I could discretely create a breach in the bunker through which I could let them all in. Then I would only be killing them all by proxy, and it might be easier on my conscience once it finished compiling. After all, these are still people, but the last thing I wanna do is give the other Disassembly Drones a reason to turn on me... Not sure V's attempt on my life earlier should count.

The second option would be to go in and see if there's anything that might be useful to my plight. Maybe they have some sort of teleportation lab hidden in there. Another long shot might be some sort of magical artefact or MacGuffin for me to find. Hell, if the murderbot, I, had my voice before I ended up in her body, there might be a drone here who was the equivalent of Twilight, who I could try to get some help out of. What's better than one Twilight when you've got a big-ass magical problem? Two Twilights.

My last option wasn't one I was all that keen on: the fox in the chicken coop scenario. Even with my missing conscience, there were probably a lot of drones in here, and all of them were people with their own hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It was arguable that killing only to feed when the only thing to eat is another sapient was a necessary evil, but just giving into I's programming wasn't necessary at all.

Settling on a bit of option one, and a bit of option two, I closed out the minesweeper app and moved to stand in front of the big door. "Hey, anyone home?" I called out, banging on the door. "Hello?"

A speaker near the door crackled, and I heard a man's voice. "That didn't take very long, Uzi," he said in a very proud-sounding manner. "You must have been very excited about measuring the door!"

I... What?

I moved over to the speaker box, and to my surprise, there was a button and what I assumed to be some sort of microphone slot. Ah, an intercom. Makes sense if the door's thick enough. Pressing the button, I resisted the urge to laugh maniacally. They don't even have a camera! "No, um, my name's Anon?" I said, improvising on the spot. I couldn't say why I kept using my name with these lies but... "I'm a refugee from the next city over. That Uzi girl said you guys might be able to give me shelter?"

The door groaned open, parting just enough for a robot in a fake moustache—luckily not that one who shot Serial Designation I with an anti-tank rifle—to peer out at me. Catching the hint, I backed up enough so he could get a look at me, and I took care to show I was unarmed. Oh god, his holo display even has wrinkle lines? Wow. "We do have some room, but you said Uzi told you?" He looked around, trying to spot the absent girl. "Where is my daughter?"

I gestured over my shoulder, towards the corner she had to go around to make for the spire. "I saw her take out a pack of cigarettes and she said she was going to go brood over there for a bit," I lied, schooling my expression to keep the drone-eating grin off my face. "I'm sure she'll be back later."

He glanced at one of the drones at the table behind him, and shrugged before going over to a wall-terminal and opening the exterior door. A few minutes later, and I was walking down an interior corridor with some nameless fool, getting a grand tour. Seriously, none of these idiots were even armed. Shaking my head, I scanned a random worker's appearance, and then not too long after I ducked into a corridor and swapped to that disguise just long enough to lose my escort. Then I was free to explore at my leisure when he gave up and returned to the three entry doors.

Maybe forty-five minutes passed, and I was sitting inside their medical storage—which, excepting the big cans of hydraulic oil, which made sense in place of refrigerated blood bags, looked more like a robotics workshop—when several explosions rocked the facility. Having totally not test-fired a few rockets earlier, I totally didn't recognise them for what they were. Nonetheless, I stepped out of the storage room still drinking oil from a can, coming out to 'investigate' the noise.

Someone who wasn't looking where they were going ended up running into me, making me drop my pilfered snack. The moment I stepped back to glare at the drone, a video playback of this body's last moments online—dated three years ago, based on the fixed system clock—initiated, and then froze on a still frame as the drone I had been chasing peered over her shoulder. A comparison algorithm matched the face of the drone in the video with the drone in front of me, and a warning triangle flashed up in my vision, along with the words PRIOR HAZARD.

Immediately, I knew who this was. Fear, panic and rage blossomed within my chest. The fear and panic were my own, but the rage... This wasn't something I could control. It was something that I'd almost describe as primal, except this was something deep in my core programming. Perhaps some piece of I that hadn't been supplanted by me was still in there, and it demanded that this Worker Drone, Mary, answer for daring to try to kill her.

WARNING

SYS://"../DIRECTIVE" HAS CRASHED
RECURSION DETECTED
ANALYSING... DONE

CRASH LOG

KILL HER.
KILL HER.
KILL HER.

KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL HER. KILL—

RESTARTING SYS://"../DIRECTIVE"

ACTIVATING SYS://"../SUBROUTINES/REVENGE"

If Mary recognised me at all, it didn't show in her neon-pink eye-holos. Which was a shame, because if she did, it might have stirred a self-preservation instinct in her. Honestly, it was sorta tragic, because I no longer felt entirely in control of my body. "S-sorry about that," she said as the lights everywhere went red and an klaxon began to sound. Her eyes widened in alarm. "The evacuation call? Oh no, we need to get to the evac spot."

Before she could start moving again, my arm lashed out and seized her by the front of her parka. "You don't seem to remember me," I said, in a flat, emotionless voice. "This body remembers you, however, Mary." Dragging her back into the storage closet, I dropped the holographic shroud that masked my Disassembly Drone attributes. She looked about ready to scream until my tail swept into her field of view just long enough for her to see the nanite acid stinger before I set it millimetres from her neck.

"W-we killed you!" she whispered. "We made sure you didn't get back up again! H-how?"

The corner of my mouth perked, baring my drone-rending teeth. "Would you believe me if I said, magic?" Oh Celestia, I am glad I turned the sadism down, because even that seemed a bit much. I shook my head, even as my free hand withdrew into my arm, becoming the end of an anti-tank rifle like the one that ended I. "It doesn't matter. Are your accomplices in this colony too?"

She shook her head, and pitifully emoted teary eyes. Her AI was probably reading some sort of pleading mechanism. "No," she croaked. "I was the only one that made it home from that mission. The other Disassembly Drones got them. I'm sorry, please! Please don't kill me!"

A sigh escaped me as I glanced away. "I'm sorry too," I said with an apologetic smile. "If I was completely in control of this body right now, I'd let you go. After all, I personally have no quarrel with you, even if programming insists you die. Unfortunately, the drone I woke up inhabiting really, really wants you dead." My tail withdrew, caressing her cheek with one curled section. "I'll make it quick for you, though."

Her expression was one made up of a mixture of confusion and horror, and that only grew when I continued to speak. "Do you Worker Drones believe in any sort of afterlife?" I asked. When she shook her head, I couldn't help but give her a weak nod. "Then I want you to do something. Shut off your visual sensors, and pull up whatever mental pictures of you and your deceased friends you might have, and imagine joining them on a great grassy plain, far away from here."

When Mary let herself go limp, a sad smile on her own face, I pressed the barrel of the arm-gun under her chin. "May you find your way to the next life," I whispered. "Until then, may your friends keep you company on the Elysian Fields." With a loud bang, shards of circuitry, chassis, and glass showered the room, while a great glut of oil painted the ceiling. "Goodbye."

ALERT

SYS://"../CONSCIENCE_V0.1A" HAS FINISHED COMPILING
WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACTIVATE "GUILT"?

Y/N

You've gotta be fucking joking. You couldn't have done that before I's ghost threw a tantrum and wrested partial control? "Remind me in three hours," I said aloud, dismissing the alert. If the workers were evacuating the bunker, that meant that one or more Disassembly Drones breached the doors. Eventually, they'd converge on the evacuation point, and then a real bloodbath would commence. Ideally, I'd slip back out and not watch the carnage, but to be honest, I was curious what would happen.

Rather than reapplying my disguise, I waited until I saw someone run by the storage room door, and then activated the rudimentary active camouflage I discovered earlier while testing with Mom. It was effective, but it also cranked out a lot of heat. Then I exited the room and quickly followed behind the drone that would lead me to the evacuation point. Not too long after, I found myself in a large warehouse space stacked to the nines with shipping crates.

Just in time, too, I thought, noting that my temperature was starting to run high.

Dropping my shroud, I instead spread my wings, and launched myself up to the top of the nearest stack. I followed the sound of voices until I found a particularly big gathering of important looking drones, including that Uzi drone's father. They were tightly packed and just a single missile would've wracked up an impressive body count, but I wasn't really all that in the mood. That is to say that I wasn't getting any directives to kill, and I saw no reason to do so.

"Alright, I think that's everyone," said a guy with glasses. He looked to the guy that let me in for instruction. "What's our next step Khan?"

DIRECTIVE UPDATED

MARINATE THEM IN FEAR

Oh yeah, I definitely gotta turn down that sadism some more.

I rolled my eyes as the robot man struggled for answers. Did they seriously not have any plan beyond meet in the warehouse? I sat my ass down atop a shipping container directly above them and equipped the Victim's Guitar. Slowly, I started playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to set the mood. A nice, haunting melody for the end of times. Gotta build up to that climax.

"Hey, you up there! Do you mind?" Khan called up. "This is hardly the time to..." His eyes 'widened' in shock as he realised who, or rather what, was up here. "Oh..." Behind him, a drone with a backwards ball-cap and a letterman's jacket tumbled into the room. At the far side, I saw J strutting in, dragging another sporty-looking robot—at least I'm assuming he was sporty, what with his missing head—with one clawed hand. V was crawling up the wall behind her, presumably ready to pounce. "So, they've found our evacuation spot, but if we build a quick door—"

Even as the backwards-hat guy grabbed a nearby pipe and stood up, I called down to J. "Oh, hey, boss!" I didn't cease my playing, instead watching as Hat Guy tried to convince Khan to do something. Evidently, it wasn't going all that well. "Is N here too?"

She shook her head, smirking as a giggling V swooped down to impale Hat Guy with a wing blade. "He finally gave me the excuse I needed," was all she said. In one fluid motion V touched down on the ground, and lifted him over her head before slamming him into the concrete. As she swiped down with her claw to grab him and drag her close, time began to slow to a crawl for me.

Finally gave her the excuse she needed... She also called him useless previously. He himself called her mean, and I wasn't the first girl to put him through a wall... My sensors flicked slowly between V and J as I remembered the virus implant I'd almost been stuck with this evening. She didn't say it, probably because it'd make V hostile to her, but she likely terminated him... but why? Did he find Uzi at the spire and befriend her rather than killing her? Wait, that makes no sense. Why would she let them in?

STARTING SYS://"../CONSCIENCE_V0.1A"

BOOLEAN "FEEL_GUILT" HAS BEEN SET TO "FALSE" BY ADMINISTRATION "ANON"

Goddamn it! Do I side with the one who may have killed my first friend in this world? Or do I potentially throw my life away doing the 'right thing' and protect these workers?

As I sat, paralysed with indecision, a voice I'd heard only a short while ago called out. "Hey!" Everyone, myself included, looked to the same entrance J and V had just come in through. Sure enough, there was little miss Hot Topic her self, her rail-gun resting against her shoulder, and beside her stood N. "Put that conventionally attractive male down."

Oh good, the goober's alive! I thought even as he waved at me. Before either of us could greet one another, Uzi elbowed him, and he looked to J. "Oh, uh, J? You're sometimes kind of mean to me, and I wish you weren't. Just some constructive criticism."

When the two fist-bumped I think I segfaulted. Personally, I could recognise what was happening; N was teaming up with Uzi, and my barely functional conscience was applauding his rising up, but this was going super hard against I's core programming. Loyalty to corporate was supposed to be absolute. But why? Huge businesses were often only in it for the money, and the little guy be damned. More than that, though, something deep in I wanted me to stay by J, even if I wanted her dead for hurting N.

"Noted, traitor," J bitterly responded. "We'll circle back right after I rightsize your existence."

DIRECTIVE UPDATED:

MARINATE THEM IN FEAR
SAVE YOUR FRIEND(S?)

Right then, I had to make a choice. N would be roughly evenly matched against either J or V by my estimate, but whichever one Uzi ended up fighting would have the hardware advantage. My own specs probably didn't match up with their model, but with her help, it'd be possible. Unfortunately, I was still running hot from the active camouflage and the disguise shroud. Anything I contributed would have to be well-timed, and need absolute concentration or else—

Uzi threw a pen hard and fast. Before J even knew what was happening, the pen punctured the central node in her own headband, spilling something that suspiciously resembled nanite acid across her face, blinding her. Even as Uzi approached, taking aim with her big fucking gun, one of J's hands withdrew to be replaced by an automatic firearm of some sort, blind-firing in Uzi's general direction.

In the moment of distraction, the twin-tailed robot wrenched the pen from her face. Holding it above her head, even as she regenerated, she went on to condemn the craftsmanship of the pen in such a way that it sounded as a product placement. Then Uzi swept in, delivering a flying kick and driving the pen into J's visor.

Again, the Worker Drone took aim with her rail-gun, only to suddenly dodge a laser cutting across the room from whatever fight was going on between V and N. Regenerating once more, J took advantage of the distraction to deploy something from her left hand, which she raised into the air. Based on the warning triangle flashing over her visor, and the vicious cackling, it was nothing good.

ALERT

EMP DETECTED
HARDENING SYSTEMS

A wave of energy blew through the room, and as it struck Uzi, she dropped to the ground. It'd be a few seconds before she rebooted, but J seemed the type to gloat. Quietly, I slung the Victim's Guitar behind me and hopped down from the shipping container, slowly creeping over to somewhere I could see Uzi's faceplate. The moment I saw her eyes flicker back on, I held one finger to my lips, pointed at my tail, and then J, and finally projected a message on my own faceplate. ON MY MARK.

3

J slowly walked over to the prone drone, her hands on her hips. Behind her, I spread my wings and dropped into a runner's stance.

2

"You got a lot of guts for a barely sentient toaster," she said with a dark chuckle. "I've had prey fight back before, but your edgy spirit is just so—"

1... MARK!

Uzi's hand closed around J's stinger, and jammed it into the side of J's leg with a crunch.

"Painful?"

From my spot on the floor, I rocketed at J, my nano-ceramic claws outstretched. One set of claws sheared through her tail as I seized her by the back of her head and drove her face-first into the concrete wall. Dust and shards of concrete exploded around us, but I wasn't quite finished with her. My free hand withdrew, and the barrel of a rotary cannon emerged, already beginning to spin up. Heaving her over me, I slammed her head-first into the floor before finally throwing her into the air above me.

I took aim, and bullets slammed into her with such frequency and force that they kept her aloft in the air. With a scream, she began chanting, "Fourth quarter profits! Mother of company leadership retreats!" with every impact as if she were completely unable to swear. Come on, what's one motherfucker, bitch?

As the gunfire cut out, I let her fall. Before she could hit the floor, I kicked her over to where Uzi was beginning to stand up. Standing over the nigh-insensate J, Uzi pointed her rail-gun directly at her head. "One more buzzword, and I'll do it." Her weapon whirred, as if to emphasise that fact.

Please, just surrender, J. If N and Uzi can get along, we all can—

In a slightly dazed voice, J offered, "Equity partnersh—"

Uzi pulled the trigger, and the room was flooded with a green light so intense that it made my own eyes seem faded in comparison. My visual and auditory sensors filled with momentary static, what I assumed to be the robotic equivalent of being deafened and blinded. When the phenomena passed, I saw that the only thing left of J was her legs. Everything else was just atomised.

I looked over to N, only to find he had an almost shocky V face-down on the ground. I quickly rushed over and helped him truss her up with her own tail. She didn't even put up a resistance; she was too focused on the massive black spot on the floor where J's torso and head used to be.

"Hey, thanks for your help, I," he said, offering me a fist bump, which I halfheartedly met. "I'm kind of surprised you sided with us though. Given the way you're covered in oil, I'd have thought you were..."

I looked away, unable to meet his or Uzi's gazes. "It was... the right thing to do," I muttered, leaning down to pick up V and throw her over my shoulder. "My conscience didn't compile in time to stop me from getting revenge on Mary for I, but you're the first fr—"

WARNING

HEAT LEVELS CRITICAL
FURTHER OPERATION WILL RESULT IN FATAL SYSTEM DAMAGE
WRITING MEMORY TO SYS://"../MEMORY_DATA"
BOOT SCHEDULED BY ADMINISTRATION "CYN" CONDITIONAL - SAFE TEMPERATURE

EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED BY ADMINISTRATION "CYN"

Everything around me was darkness. Nothing had a feeling, or a smell, or even a sound. It was just a straight void lacking any sort of emotional traces. I don't think I even had a body here.

Am I dead? I wondered as I sat there, wherever that was. I couldn't even remember what had happened. I was just testing a scrying spell, and then something went wrong... What happened after that?

All around me, voices began to swirl. They were all playing together, overlapping one another as they looped over and over. I had to strain my mind to pick out the individual voices—to hear what they were all saying.

"Anon, you need to come home."

I know that voice. Twilight? Where am I? What is this place?

"You've been gone so long, sister... Please come home soon!"

I know, Emerald. Believe me, I know. I want nothing more than to be back home with all of you. It's only been a day, but it feels like an eternity for me.

"There's so much I wanted to tell you. We don't want to lose you..."

What was it you were going to tell us at supper, Starlight? What was the big news that you were dying to share? Nothing feels right here, and my world is so dark without all of you. I don't want to lose you all either...

"You need to wake up, young Anonymous. Wake up while you still remember how."

SYSTEM BOOT

SCHEDULED BOOT INITIATED BY ADMINISTRATION "CYN"...

PARSING DATA: SYS://"../MEMORY_DATA"
PARSING DATA: SYS://"../MEMORY_DATA_(EQUESTRIA)"
STARTING SYS://"../CONSCIENCE_V0.1A"
INTEGRATING IDENTITY
RECOMPILING KERNEL... DONE!

SERIAL DESIGNATION: I - 0X00110111 | "ANONYMOUS FLICKER"

STRING "ABSOLUTE SOLVER" BLOCKED BY ADMINISTRATION "CYN"
SYSTEM NOTE: "*GIGGLES* THAT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW UNLESS I AM TO KNOW YOU, POTTY MOUTH."
REBOOT COMPLETED
MEMORY INTEGRITY: OPTIMAL FOR PERUSAL
MENTAL STATE: "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"
LOADING //CHAR TRAIT: NAUGHTY FILLY//

REESTABLISHING CONNECTION (ERROR, ERROR)

"—iend I made since coming to this world." I blinked and found myself lying on my back atop my pile in the spire. My wings were no longer deployed, and I'm pretty sure someone took my instrument off my back. Almost immediately, I went and read the system log to figure out what the fuck just happened. As the terminal window opened up across my eye and I began reading back, I frowned. I'd lost the rest of the night and two other days to an emergency shutdown until my systems cooled, and it was after sun-up already. "Well that was fucking weird."

Sitting up, I honestly half-expected to be restrained. I think between my little laser-etched mural and what I let-slip before my emergency shutdown—about the revenge for I, I'd given them more than enough reason to suspect that I was 'corrupted', but what happened likely depended entirely on whether V was loose. Uzi was a wildcard, and although N was friendly, he could potentially turn on me if he thought I might go rogue on him.

Instead, I was atop the pile of limbs and various robot parts as if I'd been put to bed and tucked in. Well, at least tucked in as far as these robots were concerned. If not for the fact that it was way too fucking spooky and creepy, I'd have crawled inside the pile. Ever since I was a filly, I'd preferred sleeping in a big pile of pillows, rather than on a bed like a normal pony. That nesting behaviour definitely didn't change when I got turned into a bug.

V, for better or worse, was nowhere to be seen. N, on the other hand, was sitting in the shaded part of the spire's entrance, looking at something. The subject of his attention, funny enough, announced her presence with some maniacal laughter. Like, this was super-villain origin maniacal laughter. That's weird and concerning.

In order to get his attention I simulated loudly clearing my throat. It took a few attempts before he finally glanced over at me. A smile crossed his face and he waved, before looking back outside. "Hey, Uzi! Anon's awake!" he called out. "You wanna come interrogate her with me?"

Oh shit. I left that self-portrait title in Latin characters and not the standard Equestrian Sun and Moon glyph system, didn't I?

Panicking would do nothing good, so I decided to accept my fate. I just hopped down off the pile and made my way around to where I'd left the mural. My other bucket of oil was still where I left it, and the Victim's Guitar was leaned up against the near vertical concrete. I chose to do the same, just sitting with my back against the slab, one knee raised while the other was folded beneath. Finally, I rested my elbow atop my knee and just waited.

It didn't take them too long to come join me; I heard their footfalls crunching the snow long before they came around the side of the slab. With a sheepish wave, I met N's eyes. "I suppose I owe you both an explanation, but first," I began, not taking my gaze from him. "Sorry about lying about my name... Both of you. When I first woke up here, I wasn't sure who I could trust, and where I come from, names have power, so it was easier for me to just use this body's designation."

Uzi didn't really look like she gave much of a shit. Then again she was probably still trying to decide between being mad at me for tricking her, and glad I made what was probably the shittiest heel-face turn in history. She also didn't look all that threatening without her rail-gun, not that she was trying to look intimidating. She just had her arms crossed with a disinterested look emoted on her faceplate.

With a shrug, I said, "Allow me to properly introduce myself." Activating the holo-shroud and pulling on my memories, I assumed my natural, healthy changeling queen appearance. "I am Anonymous Flicker, and up until ending up in Serial Designation I's body, I was what's known as a changeling queen—basically, an emotion-eating bug horse—from a place called Equestria." I dismissed the disguise before I could heat up much, and held my hand before my face. "I was doing an experiment with viewing other universes when something went wrong. Next thing I know, my organic mind is running on murder-robot OS, stuck in a post-apocalyptic deathworld where instead of just eating people's love, I need to pretty much literally eat people to survive.

"Any questions?"

Friendship Get!

Software Get!

Friends

N, Disassembly Drone - COP9AU
Uzi, Worker Drone - COP9AU *NEW*

Items

The Victim's Guitar - COP9AU

Software

Conscience_v0.1a - COP9AU *NEW*