Doctor, I shrunk the Fillies...

Chapter 4-2: It Has a Name?

"The coast clear?"

Applebloom gave a shout from her post at the top of the stairs and together, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky pushed open the huge door. It swung inward, and the small tink, tink of metal-on-metal came to Dinky's ears. A flurry of whirrs and beeps sounded from behind the door, and a small form scurried off into the unlit room. It had been Sweetie Belle's idea; an expedition to catch the rogue cleaning machine for Derpy. 'Maybe', she had said, 'if we work together, we can catch it!' When questioned on why, she simply said because it was something that needed to be done. Applebloom had agreed immediately, with Scootaloo soon following. Then they had turned to little Dinky. Even now, she could feel her chest slightly compressed. Oh, they made a show of telling her she didn't have to go if she didn't want to, but then who else was going to make sure they didn't break anything? With Derpy gone up to do something - nopony thought to ask - it fell to the only other pony who knew her way around the laboratory. Thankfully, she was familiar with at least this one, since this was the one Mom always took her down to.

Staring nervously into the dark, she inched slowly into the room until she found the light switch. She flicked it on, and row after row of halogen lights flicked on. Was it more brighter than she remembered? Suddenly, a stand lamp fell to their right. Left in its wake was a robot, whirrs and beep sounding in a fury. Then it gave a high-pitched robotic squeal, and flew further into the lab.

"Poor thing..."

Scootaloo gave her a funny look, but Sweetie Belle only nodded in agreement. Applebloom was just now coming into the room, asking which way it went or if it got out. Scootaloo pointed in the direction the robot had gone, and soon Applebloom was back in control of the operation.

"Sweetie Belle, ya'll guard the door. Scootaloo, yer with me. Dinky..." She gave Dinky an appraising look, and turned back to Scootaloo.

"Scratch that. Scootaloo, ya'll go 'round left. If ya see it, get mah attention, and we'll nab it. Dinky, yer with me."

Nodding, Scootaloo moved off to the left, deftly making her way through the tangle of machines and broken glass. For a second, Dinky just stared, taking it all in. How could one little robot make this huge mess? Her thoughts were interrupted by a quick nudge from Applebloom. The other filly seemed peeved; did she even grasp the implications of this? One measly robot!

"If ya cain't focus, ya can wait outsahd. But ah'd rather not; ah need somepony with some kinda smarts 'bout this place."

Dinky nodded, squelching whatever thoughts remained. Together, they scrambled over fallen contraptions of various descriptions, in pursuit of the robot. Its trail was relatively easy to follow; just find whatever was most recently smashed to bits, and you're likely on the right trail. But unlike grass and mud, which is said to give you some indication of how much time passed, the metal floor was impartial to robot treads and hooves alike. More than once, they thought they had it cornered, only for something to fall over on the other side of the lab. Those beeps almost seemed to be mocking them and their efforts to pin down one machine among a million. She heard Applebloom mutter something about 'a needle in a haystack', and she was inclined to agree. Only, it was more like a needle in a needle-stack.

They met up with Scootaloo often, as it was necessary to change the plan quite a few times. Occasionally, she'd be sent with Scootaloo, others with Applebloom, and a few times she was sent to the front to ask Sweetie Belle if the robot had gotten out somehow. Wherever she went, the robot seemed to follow in its own way. It only seemed to show itself to her, and whoever she happened to be with at the moment. The second time she inquired with Sweetie Belle, she made a startled gasp, and made a dart for the robot. Apparently, it had peeked out from underneath an overturned machine that was too heavy to right, and so was gone. Dinky couldn't help but be dumbfounded; how in Equestria did that little brush on wheels have the capacity to knock over a heavy piece of machinery? After a bit of colorful language, Sweetie Belle said that 'this had been the only time she's seen it since they started', and asked if Dinky would be amiable to watching the door.

A series of soft beeps sounded to her left, and she turned quickly. There it sat, for all to see at peace within Dinky's presence. Unfortunately, her current partner, Scootaloo, also noticed her movement. Quickly, she traced the angle of Dinky's head to the robot. She gave a primal grin, and gave a loud shout.

"Gotcha now, ya little tur-oof!"

Out of nowhere, a heavy beam had came swinging from below, sending Scootaloo skyward. Dinky watched in mute horror as her friend's body was flung across the lab, to land sliding into Applebloom's view. Applebloom, normally unflappable, gave a small shriek as she helped Scootaloo to her hooves. The robot, un-phased by what was surely its act, sat there staring at her. Dinky's brain was a rush of conflicting emotions; that thing had hurt Scootaloo! But when she looked into its bright red sensor, she thought she saw a spark of intelligence and - was that a tear? No, no! Robots can't cry, and they don't have feelings. That was what Dr. Whooves always said when questioned about the capacity of robots; that, and something about the 'laws of robotics'. But voices of the past tend to be less than convincing when you're traumatized, and so Dinky quickly found herself whispering hurriedly to the robotic nuisance.

"I can't help you! I don't know what the problem is, and probably wouldn't be able to fix it anyway!" The iris shutters shut and opened, and Dinky couldn't help but think that the robot had blinked in a crude imitation of her own. A series of beeps and clicks seemed to act as its voice, though it didn't speak a language anypony - or anything, for that matter - could really interpret. Suddenly, Dinky felt an onslaught of a revelation sweep across her brain. This little robot wanted to be a pony! It seemed too much like one of the bedtime books Mom would read to seem real, yet here before her was a defunct robot organism that only wanted to live among its creators as an equal. It tugged at her heartstrings, and while that seemed to remedy any lack of expertise or knowledge in the stories, Dinky knew all too well that any fiddling around without knowing what she was doing could just as easily destroy what spark there was as fix it, no pun intended.

Suddenly, she remembered her friend and, feeling awful, turned to see if she was okay. Scootaloo was standing now, supported by an equally unstable Applebloom. Dinky knew she couldn't rely on their friendship to distract Applebloom from her own no-nonsense, vindictive nature. She made shoo-ing motions at the robot, telling it to leave as quietly as she could, but it only sat there, defiantly beeping and clinking at her. Strangely enough, she felt almost like a mom, telling a recalcitrant filly to go to its room. The parallel made her more comfortable with the situation, and as she feinted at the robot, it emitted a shrill beeep as it turned and scurried away. Hearing the noise, Applebloom and Scootaloo turned from where they stood, and looked over at her. She tried to act as sheepish as she could, like a little filly with her hoof caught in the cookie jar.

"Oops...My bad."

"So, let me get this straight," Sweetie Belle was sitting with a disheartened Dinky Do, after her 'failure' to catch the pesky piece of machinery. "You saw it blink, and you thought it was trying to talk to you?" Dinky was indignant, and automatically went on the defensive.

"Yeah; yeah I did, and it did. I know it did; no matter what you and the others think, I know what I saw and what I heard." Sweetie Belle put a hoof on the other filly's shoulder, pressing her firmly back down onto her cot. She turned to look at Applebloom and Scootaloo, quietly muttering to eachother where they sat. She turned back to Dinky.

"Almost sounds like you're grouping me in with the taskmistress and the lovable scumbag. Sit down."

Dinky, from where she was getting up, sat back down.

"I'm not saying you're wrong. Lots of stranger things have happened in Ponyville than robots that want to become ponies. But it does sound pretty far-fetched. I wish you had some kind of proof, but we both know that's pretty impossible." They both sat there stewing. Suddenly, Dinky's head whipped up, her eyes alight.

"I think I can get it to come out again; maybe I can get it to talk to me with you there. They know you," Dinky motioned to the others. "Your word will mean something to them. Please?" Dinky's eyes became watery pools, and Sweetie Belle soon found herself agreeing for the return trip, just the two of them.

The door had been left open from earlier, and on the excuse that Sweetie Belle hasn't actually seen the robot herself - the original incident forgotten in all the commotion - Scootaloo and Applebloom saw no excuse for keeping her down there. Quietly, the pair slunk into the room, Dinky motioning for her to leave the lights off.

"Better for seeing the eye this way."

Sweetie Belle shrugged, and nodded for Dinky to proceed. They weren't waiting long; within a minute, a single spot of red peeked at them from an overturned piece of machinery. Dinky made hushing noises and moved towards it, as if coaxing some frightened animal not to run, and Sweetie could only watch amazed as it worked. When she was within reach, Dinky scooped up the robot with her teeth, and flung it rather ungracefully onto her back, where it sat spitting and spluttering incomprehensible robot gibberish as she hauled over for Sweetie Belle to see. Halfway there, Dinky lost her temper and shushed it. Miraculously, it sat there muttering to itself in that same robot gibberish.

"Ta-dah!"

Sweetie Belle was astounded; the robot pivoted to face Dinky's head and sputtered some meaningless string of whirrs and beeps that were clearly taken for annoyance. It then turned to Sweetie Belle, closing its iris just slightly, as if appraising her. The whole thing was bittersweet; if one robot could find itself capable of thought, what are the odds of more? On one hoof, it'd be amazing to have somepony new to talk to, but at the same time, who is to say that all robots are inherently as docile as this one? She turned to Dinky.

"Can I talk to it?"

"That'd be a better question to ask Samson, not me." Sweetie Belle gave her a flat stare.

"You named it?"

"Uh-huh. Samson was a really strong pony, whose strength was tied to his hair." Sweetie Belle's expression remained unchanged.

"It's a pretty obscure everything; story and mythology are both outdated. Does it matter half a whit anyway? Just say hi; I think he's getting uncomfortable riding on my back."

Sweetie Belle nodded to her friend, and turned back to Samson. It seemed so much easier to think of it as a colt rather than a robot; she's had a good track record with conversing with colts. Not so much with defunct bits of machinery.

"Er...Hi?"

The robot responded with a series of whirrs and beeps, seemingly friendly, but with a lewd undertone. Sweetie Belle was both exasperated and amazed. It could actually converse! And it seemed to have picked up all the nuances of its assigned gender role, too. She looked at her friend, making her thoughts clear.

"Is it too late to make him a filly, instead?" Dinky laughed openly, and shook her head.

"Even if it wasn't, you just called him a 'him' anyway, instead of a 'her'. So it's settled," She unceremoniously picked Samson off her back, and plopped it back on the floor. She was greeted with a good-natured series of beeps and boops, taking the tone of a pleasant goodbye. At that, it turned and glided off into the lab, only once knocking something over. With a no-doubt colorful series of robotic bleeps, it stormed off angrily. Dinky turned back to her friend, eyes bright.

"Believe me now?"

Sweetie Belle could only nod and gape.

End of Chapter 4-2