Unicorn-01

Why would that bother me?

I see an earth pony’s head melting as it’s hit with a blast from my meson blaster…

PARTICLE BEAM READY TO FIRE!

DEPLOYING!

I see the house in front of me erupt in flames as one burning pony body flies out from the window to my left…

RELOCATING!

Clop clop clop, I begin trotting to another location in Ponyville…

I see gunshots causing my shielding system to grow opaque with blue energy sparkles as bullets fail to hit my titanium alloy…

SHIELDING SYSTEM AT 97%…

I trot forward and turn my neck and blaster rifle to the left…

FIRING MESON BLASTER RIFLE!

I fire a spread of three energy blasts that hit the unicorn pony on my left and cause his body to splatter as leg chunks go this way and that and I see his head burst off it’s shoulders in a spray of red and orange…

The assault weapon held by his magic falls to the ground with his headless corpse, now only sporting two legs…

I turn more to the left while continuing to trot…

PARTICLE BEAM WEAPON FIRING!

I see another house on my left BURST into flames after being hit with a large blue bolt from my energy cannon…

RECHARGING CAPACITOR…

DREAM SEQUENCE ENDED…

The world isn’t filled with enemies trying to hurt me…

<*****>

SYSTEM ONLINE!

LOADING NEW CONFIGURATION CHOICES…

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL…

I see my visual sensors come online again and I see that I’m in bed snuggling a bluish-green unicorn pony, with a curly two-toned green mane…

“Ugh! Let me go Starbeam! I need to go to the bathroom!” The pony says while wriggling in my hooves…

RELEASING SISTER!

Wait a minute…

She gets off the bed, and trots towards the door near the far corner…

She leaves and I’m left alone…

Why do I have these dreams?

Is there something wrong with the world?

Eventually, Misty returns and I see her holding a white cup of coffee in her magic, as she stands in the now open doorway, “Hey Starbeam! Are you ever going to get out of bed? I thought you didn’t need sleep?”

I scoot myself to the edge of the bed, and go to my hooves on the floor with a resounding CLACK!

I stare at her and say, “Well, I didn’t have anything to do and felt no reason to move… “

“Oh, you don’t need to wait on me, Starbeam!” Misty says while smiling and taking a slow tentative sip of her coffee, before grimacing, “Whoa! Still kinda hot!”

“Do you dream, Misty?”

She widens her eyes at me, while the coffee falls lower, “What? Uh, of course! Everypony dreams!”

“What do you dream about?”

She sighs heavily out of her snout in and out… “Well, I dream about a lot of things! Sometimes, I dream about what things would’ve been like if I hadn’t been lost when I was just a filly. I dream about having loving parents who are there for me, and I dream about what that might be like. And other times, I dream about Opaline… “

EYES WIDEN!

“Opaline?”

She smiles and nods, “Yeah, I dream about Opaline having a good life and well… I just think this is our chance to right an ancient wrong, you know?”

“So in other words, you often dream about the way the world should be, and not the way it is, yes?”

She giggles softly, “Yeah, I guess I do?” and takes another slow sip of her coffee, before moving her lips and mumbling, “Okay, almost cool enough… “

“Sometimes, when I go offline, I see things… “

Her eyes widen to me, “What kind of things?”

Should I be honest with her?

“I dream about enemy ponies… I dream about how they hate me, because I’m different… How they want to disassemble and damage me… I simply cannot allow that, and so I eliminate them… “

Her eyes grow massive, “What?”

“I dream about enemies and combat… I always feel as if I might be under attack sometime really soon… “

She frowns, “Why do you dream about that?”

“Is it really a dream if I am a machine?”

“You’re still having dreams! I mean, dreams about violence and destruction, but dreams nonetheless! I think you’re more of a real pony than you realize, Starbeam!”

STARE INTENTLY.

“What?”

She nods, “You’re a metal pony, like Sunny said, and you’re worried about how other ponies will react to you, right?”

I am silent as I stare at her…

Her eyes widen again, “Well?”

BLINK.

“Well what, Misty?”

“Are you not worried about how other ponies will perceive you, since you’re an android?”

“How could I be worried about anything? I’m just a machine.”

“Well, if you’re having nightmares about other ponies attacking you, don’t you think that means you’re worried?”

“Nightmares?”

She nods, “Well, it’s obviously nightmares, Starbeam! Your dreams suggest that you’re worried about how other ponies will see you.”

“What? How do you know about dreams? I mean, I’m an android! How could I dream? That can’t be right?”

“Well, what else could it be?”

BLINK!

“I do not know… I guess I do dream?”

“You’re dreaming about violence and fighting!”

“Why, though?”

She peals her eyes on me, “I don’t know?”

I’m silent as my circuits process this…

“I dream?”

She nods, “Yes Starbeam, and you worry too!”

“How?”

Suddenly, we both hear a female voice from behind Misty’s door, “It’s just me, Pipp! Please don’t shoot me!”

I stare at the door behind Misty, “Come in Pipp! I will not attack you!”

Misty turns to me and says, “It’s okay, Starbeam! You won’t go into public alone and I’ll be there for you, okay?” as the door opens and a pink pegasus mare trots in…

SMILE ENGAGED!

Pipp looks at me, “Starbeam, right? I think we kinda got off on the wrong hoof back there, and well, I wanted to formally meet you, after you got settled in! So uh, you wanna be Misty’s twin sister, or?”

I stare at the pegasus, “It was actually Misty’s idea! I merely complied!”

Her head raises in interest, “Oh? Do you like being Misty’s twin sister?”

EYEBROW RAISE.

“Like?”

She blinks and leans towards me, “Yeah, I mean, are you enjoying being her sister? Seems like giving you a purpose or a reason for being here, would be a good thing?”

“You've been wanting to speak with me for awhile now, haven’t you?”

She smiles, “Well, yeah! I mean, I’ve never met an android pony, and I wanted to know more about you! What makes you tick, you know?”

“I have no emotions!”

Misty looks at Pipp, “She’s worried about how other ponies will see her, since she’s a robot!”

I stare at Misty and finally admit defeat, “So what?”

Pipp stares at me, “Wow! She doesn’t even deny it!”

I stare back at Pipp, “I am incapable of lying!”

She raises an eyebrow at my reply, "You can't lie? Like, at all?"

I nod, "I am unable to deliberately state something untrue. I do not understand the concept of deception."

Pipp quirks her lips, "So I can ask you anything, and you have to tell the truth?"

“Did I not just say that?”

“Do you like being Misty’s sister?”

I’m silent… “Yes… “ Wait, what did I just say?

The pegasus eyes grow huge as her body starts to shake! “Aha! I knew it! You need a purpose!”

“I’m an exploration model!”

She flits her hoof in the air, “Oh, come on, Starbeam! You’re not exploring anything! You’re just enjoying being Misty’s twin sister!”

<*****>

I see my robot double’s bionic eyes grow enormous, when she finally admits, “I – I don’t exactly care about that, no… The truth is, I wish to study and observe equine social dynamics in this manner, because I – I like being around Misty… Misty is my sister and she’s very fun… “

She turns to me, and I see those most natural looking smile I’ve ever seen on her muzzle, “Misty’s my sister, and I love her!”

This moment brightens up my life! “I love you too, Starbeam!” I say as I gallop to her and embrace her in a tight warm hug!

“EEP!” She mechanically squeaks before slowly moving her hooves to return the hug.

<*****>

I watch as Misty hugs her mechanical twin, and I can’t help but smile…

I gaze at the pair in astonishment, “Starbeam, I was expecting you to be robotic and lifeless or whatever, but this is WAY more emotion than I was expecting!”

I hear her voice say, “Misty is my sister, and yes, I do love and care for her very much… I will protect her and eliminate any and all threats… “

Misty giggles, “Now stop it, Starbeam! You won’t need to kill ponies!”

“If you say so, sister… “

“And you said that with a lot more emotion than I thought you could?”

The android releases Misty to stare at me, “I guess Misty brought this out of me?”

I smile, “That’s awesome! Uh, don’t shoot at ponies, okay?”

“As long as they are not threats!”

I frown at this… What could possibly threaten this robot?

“I’ll protect you, Starbeam!”

“I love you, Misty!”

“I love you too, Starbeam!”

They finally release each other and smile at me…

And I notice that I can’t really tell the difference between them…

<*****>

I stare at the wall, while deep in thought…

Am I evil?

I do not know?

I blink as I stare at the pictures on the wall in the den…

I see an orchid purple filly with a blue mane smiling as she stares at the camera with her red eyes, and she’s flanked by an orange stallion, and a red mare, and all three of them are unicorns that look related…

I turn and see a mauve pegasus, with a blue cowlick style mane, flanked by the two pegasi I know as Pipp and Zipp…

Family?

Is that why I’m evil?

But I didn’t do those things, like Sunny said, right?

What is evil, really?

(To be continued… )