Unicorn-01

"Let's try this again," Sunny says to me, while trying to keep her own smile contained.

SMILE ENGAGED!

… What does that mean?

Her cerulean eyes enlarge, “Okay, that’s better Starbeam! Just a little less teeth, and I think we’ll be good?”

Pipp stares at me from the side, with her own lighter green eyes, as her hair twists to the side of her face, “Yeah, less teeth Starbeam! Uh, thanks for not killing me!”

LOWERING DENTAL EXPOSURE!

You know, just in case this wasn’t weird enough already!

… I appear to be developing a sense of humor?

I stare at Pipp, “How’s this?”

She gulps, “Not bad!”

Sunny smiles and nods, “That’s great, Starbeam! You’ll appear natural, in no time!”

I gaze at her, “Meaning, I am not natural… “

SMILE DISENGAGED!

… My systems are weird…

The orange pony’s eyes widen, “What? No! Uh, I mean, you were manufactured, sure! But a lot has happened, since then!”

“What do you mean?”

FROWN ENGAGED!

… I guess I’m trying to act like they do, now?

Pipp keeps her eyes trained on me, and she seems deep in thought, as Sunny says, “I mean, you’re evolving, Starbeam! You’re changing for the better, and improving!” before she grins again, “And I think that’s a wonderful thing!”

I blink… I am indeed, changing…

But do I like it though?

I can’t tell?

<*****>

“Uh, yeah! We got checkers in Equestria!” I say, before smiling at the bald, dark alien, “And I’d love to play!”

“Wait! So you have checkers, even though there’s a billion years separating us?” His tiny muzzle frowns…

“Uh, yes!”

He raises his right appendage, “With a checkerboard? And a black side, and a red side?”

I nod, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

His brown eyes get as big as they can, while still remaining tiny, and his appendage falls, “I uh, okay! Lets go play checkers!”

I widen mine, and smile! “Yeah, let’s go play some fucking checkers!”

Tim smiles, “Didn't expect the language, but” his eyes increase again, “I guess we're playing checkers with some extra enthusiasm!"

I raise an eyebrow, "Language? Is that part of the checkers game, where you’re from?"

He giggles, “No, Misty! Uh, come with me!”

“Okay!”

He turns to begin trotting towards the slidey door…

I trot behind him…

<******>

Sunny is using her hooves to comb through my greenish two-toned mane, with the big brush… “I have no idea how you developed so many tangles!”

“Me, neither! While you were sleeping, I just stood in my room… “

“Oh, gosh! Don’t you get bored?”

“Not really? I see time as a continuum that simply stretches onward, in two directions. The amount of time spent doing nothing is irrelevant, in-between events… “

Sunny is silent, when I notice the brush stopped moving, “Sunny? Why did you stop brushing?”

I feel her shake her head, “Oh, sorry Starbeam! I’m just trying to wrap my mind around how you see time… “

“I see it differently than you. Nothing more to it, than that, really… “

I feel her begin brushing again, “Yeah, I keep forgetting you’re an android… “ I hear her breathing, in and out, “You’re not the same as other ponies… “

“Because I’m a robot?”

She breathes in and out again, “Uh, yeah! But don’t worry Starbeam! Just because you’re different, doesn’t mean you’re bad! We’ll find a place for you, or my name isn’t Sunny Starscout!”

I turn towards her, and smile, “Thanks, Sunny!”

She stops for a moment, with the brush in her hooves… “Well, it’s better!”

Suddenly, the wooden door behind me opens up and I hear Pipp say, “Sunny, I made us tea! Uh, sorry Starbeam, but I know you don’t need sustenance, like we do, and you can’t really enjoy tea… Do you want a treat?”

I turn my head left to stare at the pegasus, “What do you mean?”

She gulps again, “Well, I don’t know! I’ve never had a robot friend, and I just, don’t know how to be nice to you!”

“It’s okay Pipp! I tried to kill you, remember?”

She sighs, “Yeah, I know Starbeam! But you were just doing what you were programmed to do, and it’s not really your fault… “

“So, I have no choice but to obey my programming?”

Her eyes widen, while she quickly says, “Well, no! That’s not what I meant! I mean, you’re learning and growing, right? You can do better!” She says, before nodding frantically.

I blink as my processor works with this information… “Do better?”

FROWN ENGAGED…

“What do you mean?” I ask the pink pegasus, as I notice her hooves shaking ever so slightly, and wide eyes, indicative of nervous behavior.

“Y-yeah Starbeam! You know? Not be a murderous robot, and instead become a friendly android from the past? Uh, you wouldn’t try to kill us, now that we’re friends, right?” She stammers, as a nervous grin forms on her muzzle…

“The chances of that happening are remote, but not completely zero… “ I honestly answer…

She frowns, “Oh, wow!”

Sunny finally speaks up, “Starbeam! Could you turn your head to the left, so I can brush your mane over there?”

“I will comply!” I flatly state, before turning my head.

“Thanks Starbeam! And just so you know, I don’t believe you’d ever try to seriously kill us!”

“How can you be so sure?”

I hear the orange pony sigh, before finally saying, “Starbeam… I know ponies… I don’t think you’re evil… “

“Good and evil are entirely relative, depending upon whom you ask!”

“Okay, granted! But I don’t think you’ll try to kill us… “

“How can you be so sure?” I repeat myself…

Sunny is silent, before eventually saying, “Because I don’t think you will, Starbeam… I think you’re better than that…”

PROCESSING…

If I am not to kill them, that could only mean protecting them must be a priority?

“I have enough firepower to level Maretime Bay… You’ll be safer, in my presence… “ I matter-of-factly, state…

“Uh, I’ll keep that in mind, Starbeam!” She says before coming through my mane again…

<*****>

Tim smiles at me, from his chair on the other side of the table, as I prop my flanks up in the weird concave plastic chair, with it’s plastic sitting area, and metal bars holding it up…

“Ugh!” I gotta get my butt to cooperate! I smile at Tim, “I think red goes first, right?”

He nods, “Yup! Whenever you’re ready!”

I look over, and use my magic to move the piece second from the right, to the forward right, and look up at him, and say, “Your move!”

He smiles, “Playing fucking checkers!”

I say, “Fucking right!”

“Fuck, yeah!” He says, while continuing to snicker and moves a black piece, opposite to the one I just moved, forward…

“FUCK!”

“You’re a hoot, Misty!” He says, when I move the red piece opposite to the one towards his…

I smile, “Thanks Tim! I always you know, wanted to find a place, and wanted to belong, you know?”

He nods, “That’s natural of any social animal, Misty! And hey, we’re alike enough to play checkers, right?”

I grin wider, “And say fuck!”

He giggles, “Yeah, that too!” before turning down, to move the black piece, opposite to the one I just moved, forward… He raises his gaze to me, “Your move!”

I stare at the board, and move another red checker forward, to the right, and look up to him, to say, “Your move!”

“I see you’re taking into account moves I may potentially make on my right side, and placing a checker there to prevent that. I’m guessing you intend to dominate that portion of the board?” He says, before moving a black checker forward…

I stare at him carefully, “You’re using this game to analyze my cognitive function?”

He raises his view to me, and smiles, “Correct!”

My mouth quivers, “But why state your observations out loud?”

His smile solidifies, “It’s because I believe you may have something to add, Misty! You do want to help us, right?”

I smile, “Of course! Right!”

Tim nods, “Right! Go ahead, Misty!”

I smile and stare at the board, before stating, “However, if you knew my thoughts, that means you can easily counter! Meaning if I intend to win this game, I should neither confirm, nor deny anything!”

“You think about things logically, don’t you Misty?”

I stare at the board, and use my magic to move another red piece forward, “I try not to be too emotional… Emotions only hurt you… “

<*****>

I saw the pink pegasus handle her white porcelain teacup off it’s saucer with her hooves, and bring it to her snout, for a cautious sip, while the orange earth pony on my left looks at me to say, “It just feels so weird, with you sitting there, having nothing, while me and Pipp drink tea!”

I smile from my chair, between the earth pony, and pegasus, “It’s fine, Sunny!”

She frowns, “Well, before I begin, is there anything you’d want to be happy? Anything I can get you, to make your life better?”

“Life?”

She blinks and nods, “Yeah! You know? The life you’re living right now!”

“I’m living a life?”

Pipp turns to me and says, “Well, yeah Starbeam! You’re here with us, now!”

I turn to the pegasus, “I’m not living, though? I’m just a machine!”

Sunny interjects, “Stop talking like that, Starbeam! I know you want to be real, and I’m telling you, you’re as real as you need to be!”

I turn towards the orange pony, “Real as I need to be?”

She gulps, “Y-yes Starbeam! It doesn’t matter if you’re metal! I love you!”

FROWN ENGAGED!

“How would you know, what I want?”

She breathes out slowly, “Starbeam, part of friendship is working to make your friends happy! You haven’t let us do a single nice thing for you!”

Pipp interjects, “Yeah, it makes it difficult to be your friend, when we don’t know what we should do for you!”

“But I have no need of anything? I fed some rocks to my reactor yesterday, and all systems are nominal!”

Sunny says, “I know, Starbeam! But it’s hard to be your friend, if I can’t do anything for you!

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you have no need of anything, and are different from other ponies… You’re made differently… “

“Because I am a machine?”

Sunny starts, as her eyes enlarge, and a frown forms on her muzzle, “I uh, I didn’t mean it like that!”

BROW FURROW ENGAGED!

… What?

“How did you mean it, Sunny?”

She exhales a deep breath, “I mean, you’re a little different from most ponies… “

“I’m not a pony at all!”

She stares at me carefully, “I don’t believe that, Starbeam!”

Pipp adds, “Yeah, you haven’t really been alive for very long! I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it!”

I stare at the pegasus, “In the meantime, I’m little more than an intelligent machine… “

The orange pony finally says, “I don’t believe that, Starbeam! I can’t put my hoof on it, but there’s something about you… You are no mere machine…”

I turn to her, “Is that how you comfort yourself?”

Her eyes widen, as her muzzle frowns, “What do you mean?”

SMILE ENGAGED!

“I am a machine… That is a fact… There could never be anything more to me… The fact that you can’t tell, is a testament to how realistic I am… “

The pegasus finally speaks, “Starbeam, you need to stop talking like that! There’s still a lot we don’t know about you!”

SMILE DISENGAGED!

I turn to her, “How can you be so certain?”

By this point, her frown hardens as her green eyes burrow into me, “Starbeam, I know ponies! You’re not just a machine!”

Her confidence likely stems from a desire to see me as more than just a robot?

Should I play along with this?

<*****>

I use my horn to force another red checker to the back, and say, “King me!”

Tim looks up at me, “You’re smarter than I thought!”

“Naw! I’m just good at checkers!” I say, while he puts a red checker, on top of the one on the edge of the board, towards him…

“You don’t think of yourself as smart?”

I gaze at him, “Well, I don’t think I’m stupid? I mean, I do my best in life, anyway!”

“How was your life going, before we abducted you, anyway? Are you alright?”

My mouth curves up, “Oh, it was okay! I didn’t hate it, but… “

He frowns, “But?”

I take a heavy sigh, and stare at the alien carefully, “I just felt like something was missing… “

He smiles, “Like what?”

I grin nervously, “I don’t know? I wasn’t doing badly, but I just, I had no friends in my life!”

He smiles back at me, “Well, you got two now! Me and Gary!”

I smile wider at the strange creature, “Thanks Tim! I like you too!” and start! “And Gary too! I also like Gary!”

He chuckles lightly, “I know you do, Misty!”

“Uh, how much longer until we reach the leap point?”

His little eyes widen again, “Oh, that should be happening, any minute now! Don’t worry! You’re not gonna be thrown to the floor, or anything like that!”

Suddenly, we both hear Gary’s voice coming from the small black rectangular box on the left side of the checker board, “Uh, Tim! Do you copy? I think you need to see this!”

(To continued… )