Travis turns his head right towards me as we trot down towards the creek, and says, “Hey Opaline! Ever think of stealing something, you know? Just for the fun of it?”

I stare at him with concern from the right, “Um, I don’t think we should steal anything Travis? I mean, it doesn’t belong to us!”

He smiles, “Well, yeah! You’re probably right! Come on Opaline! There’s a creek down here!” he says before scuttling up a muddy stoney hillside to slide down the dirty trail to the ravine behind it!

<*****>

We both stand by the muddy creek bed, near the waterline and I stare at the magenta alicorn with my filly eyes and smile, “Hey, you wanna shoot bottle rockets at ducks?”

Her blue eyes grow enormous with a grimace on her muzzle, “What? No! Why would we shoot bottle rockets at defenseless ducks?”

I know my goal is to get this filly to be evil… “Why not?”

She breathes out deeply from her snout, “Uh, no Travis! I don’t want to shoot bottle rockets at ducks!”

I’m beginning to grow tired of this game and so I smile slyly, “Well, why don’t we get revenge on your two sisters, instead?”

She eyes me carefully, “What? Why? They already said they were sorry!”

“Oh, Opaline, do you really believe that a simple I’m sorry makes up for literally years of emotional abuse and neglect?”

“Who are you?”

I furrow my brow, “Who I am isn’t important, Opaline! The question I’m asking you is, would you like to make your sisters suffer?”

“What?”

“Yes or no, Opaline? Would you like to make your sisters pay for what they did to you?”

She gazes at me astutely, “Discord?”

I smile devilishly, “Perhaps? But my offer is still on the table… Would you like revenge on your two sisters? Yes, or no?”

She gazes at me carefully…

<*****>

I’ll admit, the grin on the foal’s face made his offer particularly intriguing…

I imagined all the horrible things I could do to my sisters?

Throwing them into a lake of fire, to roast alive? Letting acid drip on their flesh to melt them in agony? Stabbing them to death with a knife using my own magic? These thoughts went through my head, when finally, I gave Discord an answer…

“No, Discord… No… It’s long after the fact now, they’re both dead and gone, and there’s nothing left to say or do… No Discord, I don’t want revenge… I’d rather just live my life… “

“Who are you talking to, back here?” I hear a foal’s voice say from the top of the rock pile behind me…

I turn around to face the gray earth foal above, “Do you not see the blue unicorn foal before me?”

His eyes grow wide in confusion, “What?”

I turn and no longer see a blue pony there… I realize that I’m now alone in the creek bed… “Uh, never mind!” before turning back to him and looking up, “My name is Opaline! What’s your name?”

<*****>

It was getting pretty lonely, just playing by myself all the time. I know I saw the magenta filly trotting up to the ravine, but I don’t know why, and so I decide to ask her when I turn my head right, “Uh, what were you doing in there Opaline? I mean, who were you talking to?” as we both trot towards the swing set in the distance…

She shakes her head, “Uh, nopony! Nopony whatsoever! Uh, what’s your name?”

I see her blue eyes on me and I wanna run and hide! “Uh, my name’s Dante! Dante Coltman! What’s yours?”

Wait! She already told me her name! “I’m Opaline! You literally just addressed me as such!”

She’s gonna eat me! “I certainly did!”

She quints and giggles, “You’re silly, Dante!”

“I know you are, but what am I?”

We’re approaching the swing set as she replies, “Silly! You are silly, Dante Coltman!”

“I know you are, but what am I?”

She turns forward, “Well, we’re both at the swings, now! I guess we shall take turns?”

We’re both standing in front of the swing set as the one on the right moves slightly from the wind, “Why don’t we each take our own swing? Since there’s two of them.”

<*****>

Why is this filly so nervous around me?

He goes up on my right, before dropping back as I make the same motion on my own swing…

“You got pegasus wings and a unicorn horn! What kind of pony are you, Opaline? I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I-I’m an alicorn! I can’t help it Dante! I was just b-born like this! I’m a unique pony, and I uh, I’m sorry about that… “ *

His swing goes up as mine goes the other direction, “What are you talking about? I think it’s cool!”

“And just what the hay are you talking about, Dante?”

His hind hooves skid against the dirt as his swing stops, and he turns his muzzle to me, “Being an alicorn princess sounds neat!”

As I swing forward, “You’re an idiot, Dante! A stupid moron! I wouldn’t wish my life on anypony!”

“Hey, you don’t have to hate yourself, Opaline!”

My swing goes backwards again, while his remains stationary, “I don’t hate myself, but I hate my life!”

He frowns, “Why? I like to think there’s beauty in everything.”

I skid on the dirt with my own hind hooves, and stare at him, “Being absolutely and utterly alone for many many years can have beauty?”

His eyes widen, “Well, even if you’re by yourself, you should know yourself very well, right? And you’re also very resilient and strong because of all the things you’ve been through, and you know, in the end, there’ll always be somepony there for you… “ and smiles, “Ponies like me!” before he gets off the swing set to stand on his hooves in the dirty pit. “Hey, I gotta get back home soon! You wanna, I dunno, hug or something?”

I get off my own swing to put my hooves into the dirt and I feel it enter my clefts as I smile and say, “Yeah, Dante! I’d like that!”

<*****>

I widen my eyes at the smiling magenta filly. Oh gosh! Oh gosh! I’m about to hug an alicorn! Oh gosh!

Suddenly, we both hear a loud ZAPPING sound come from over the next hillside, and we turn to it away from the swing set and hear a feminine voice shout, “I just shot Discord with my particle beam weapon!”

She turns her neck to me as I match, “Uh, Dante! I need to go check on something! I’ll see you later, okay?”

I gulp, and smile timidly, “Uh, looking forward to it, strange alicorn filly! Yes!”

She shakes her head and grins, “Goofus!” before turning her body towards the hill and taking off with those wings…

I see her flapping towards the hill in the distance, “Wing and a horn! She must truly be an amazing pony?”

<*****>

I stare at the smoking crater I just made in the slope on the other side of the hill…

What exactly did he mean?

PARTICLE BEAM WEAPON DISENGAGING!

I feel the weapon going back into my right side…

NORMAL MODE RESTORED! ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL!

His threat level reached a 4 when he said that I can’t pretend forever, and that I’m not just a metal pony…

IMPLICATIONS ANALYSIS COMPLETE…

RESULTS INCONCLUSIVE…

Suddenly, a magenta alicorn lands on my right several feet away, and stares at me intently with blue eyes, “Why did you shoot Discord?”

I turn my neck towards her, “His threat rating hit four, and that was far too much of a threat to allow to live. I eliminated him, as is my protocol… “

She frowns at me, “What did he say to you?”

“H-he said that… He said that I’m not just a soulless machine and that I had potential… “

Her eyes widen, “And just why pray tell is that a threat?”

EYE WIDEN!

“I uh… I do not know?”

At that point, she start to grin and starts giggling…

“Do you find this amusing?”

She shakes her head and says, “No no no! I just think it’s funny, is all! I mean, I spent years of my life alone and you, I don’t know? Just woke up in Equestria! And yet, neither one of us is willing to confront our own respective realities!”

CONFUSED FROWN ENGAGED!

Wait, my frown has an emotion now? “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m a lonely introvert, and you’re not willing to accept the fact that you’re more than just a robot… “

STARE INTENTLY…

“How aware must I be to be considered sentient?”

She smiles, “I haven’t seen that many ponies, but I’ve seen enough to tell them that you are CERTAINLY more aware than the vast majority of them! Just the fact that you’re willing to admit these things speaks volumes about you’re resilience!

Is this pony reassuring me? “Uh, thank you Opaline!”

She takes two paces my direction and hugs me! “No problem, Starbeam! You’re my favorite metal pony!”

RETURNING HUG!

I wrap my hooves around her, “I’m the only metal pony you know!”**

“Technicalities!” She giggle scoffs!

<*****>

I let the robot go and stare at her from a few feet away, “Well, you’re your own pony! You don’t have to just follow a bunch of protocols and directives for the rest of your life. You can override that!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you don’t have to blow away everypony who might be a threat!”

“Discord is not a pony!”

“That’s beside the point!”

Her shoulders relax, “Okay, granted!”

“The point is, the world isn’t trying to kill you! The point is, you don’t need to shoot at everything that might be a threat! I uh, whoa!” Her eyes widen, “It took meeting a pony like you to realize maybe I don’t always need to be on high alert!”

“So I shouldn’t shoot Discord?”

I focus my gaze on the android, “Well, that remains to be seen! But words will not harm you, no!”

Suddenly, we both hear a feminine voice say from the top of the hill, “Opaline! Where did you go? I can’t see you when you’re behind the hill like this!”

I stare up at the hill with a nervous smile, “Sorry Miss Misty! Starbeam was back here, and I wanted to see what was going on!”

She looks over at the crateron the hillside and then back at Starbeam, “What were you shooting at back here?”

“Discord was back here and I came to investigate. He started saying some disturbing things to me, and I responded with deadly force!”

Misty stares at Starbeam carefully, “Just what did he say to you?”

The android responds, “He said that I’m not just a robot and that I need to realize my true potential before it was too late… I uh, I didn’t like it… “

Misty carefully examines her robotic twin with a frown on her muzzle, “Why would it bother you to that point, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“You shot him!”

“That is correct!”

“Don’t you think you must’ve been pretty disturbed if you resorted to deadly force? Does it really bother you that you’re so much more than you believe?”

“I…do not know?”

(To be continued… )

Author's Note

*I can’t help the way I was configured. I was given a male body, with a feminine phenotype, and a brain that craves estrogen. I take many pills of it in synthetic form now, and my body and mind have gone through many changes.

**I just wanna say, “I’m the only genderqueer person you know!”