When Alpha awoke, Volt and the two armored ponies were standing over him, along with Copperwire. Volt shook his head disappointedly.
“Well, he’s running again, but I couldn’t find what was wrong with him,” he told the two ponies.
“What happened?” Alpha asked.
“I overrided your software and forced a shutdown.” Copperwire said.
“What were you doing, my son?” asked Volt, “These ponies told me you tried to rob a quill and sofa store! Was there a program malfunction?”
“No malfunction Volt Spark,” Alpha said, “have I done something wrong?”
“Yes!” cried the scientist, “You stole money from a pony. Do you understand the gravity of stealing?”
“No,” Alpha said, “I don’t.”
With a sigh, Volt turned to the guards.
“You can go. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said. The guards nodded and then left the laboratory. Volt sat down with Alpha and sighed again.
“Why don’t I give you an example,” he started, “Pretend that I decided I wanted the apple you got from the party last night and so, without asking you, I just ate it. How would you feel?”
“Not happy.” Alpha asked.
“Now imagine the apple was… going to be your only power supply and I just took it.”
“My generator would fail again, my backup battery would die, and I would shut down.” Alpha said. He looked at the floor. “I’m sorry.” He said quietly.
“I’m glad you’re sorry,” Volt said, “that’s an appropriate response, but it’s not right to just take things that belong to other ponies. Promise me that you won’t do it again.” He looked intently at Alpha, casting a glance to Copperwire, then back again.
Copperwire looked like he himself had committed a crime. "I am just as responsible as he is. When I was reviewing your programming for potential bugs, I found you hadn't put in anything about murder, theft, or any other crimes, so I figured you would teach him about it later, so I didn't program it myself. He literally didn't know any better, but we did. I should have done the programming."
“It’s my fault as well,” Volt sighed, “I overlooked it as well. Can you start work on a morality chip? Just with a basic knowledge of what is a crime and such. We wouldn’t want something to happen to Alpha because of a failure on our part.”
"Of course." Copperwire said, heading into the robotics room.
"What is this feeling? This emotion that I am feeling?" Alpha asked.
“Describe it,” Volt told him, turning back to his machine.
"I... don't know how." Alpha said.
“Yes, that’s quite normal,” he scientist wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “I think I have something that might help with that. Why don’t we head down to the library and see Omega?”
Alpha nodded. "Yes."
“This way,” Volt said, trotting out of the laboratory and down the hall to Omega’s library, the other two ponies behind. He peaked inside, and then led the way.
“Omega,” he called, “Can you fetch me that book of emotions?”
“One second,” the mare called through the shelves. There was some shuffling and then the robot emerged holding a thick tome. She dropped it at Volt’s hooves and turned to Alpha.
“You’re okay.” she said, not really a question, more like a statement.
"Thanks?" Alpha said, not sure what to think of it.
“I’m glad,” she paused, “I’m glad you’re okay.” She turned and trotted back into the shelves. Volt opened the book and flipped through the first couple pages. He handed it to Alpha.
“Look for a description of the emotion you feel,” he said.
Alpha flipped through the pages, stopping when he read the description for guilt.
“This one.” He said.
“Ah, guilt, I see.” He shook his mane out and nodded sadly, “otherwise known as remorse. Feeling bad for one’s actions. Just remember not to let guilt control you. It’s a warning to change, not a punishment.”
Alpha nodded. “I will.”
“Good. Now, I don’t want you to go back into town today.” he said, “Why don’t you stay here and read a bit.”
“What will I read?” Alpha asked, looking at the shelves full of books. “There’s so many of them”
“I’m sure Omega can help you find something,” Volt said, turning to leave. “Keep an eye on him, Omega.” The mare snorted and pulled a book off the shelf, shoving it into Alpha’s hooves.
“Here,” she said, “This is a complete history of Equestria. I’m sure you need it.”
“I’m sure I will.” Alpha said, taking the book.
She trotted off to a couch in the back of the library where she sat down beside an open book and resumed reading it, glancing up at him every now and then.
“I think I’ll go get started on that morality chip now.” Copperwire said, leaving the library.
“Good idea,” Volt said, “i’ll join you.” As the two walked down the hall, he turned to his assistant and began to speak in a hushed tone.
“Some ponies from the government came by today and commissioned me to create another robot. Offered a lot of bits.”
“The government wants a robot?” Copperwire asked, “what for?”
“For the military, they said. They had a list of things that they want to incorporate in the robot. Here, I’ve got it somewhere.” He rooted through his coat and pulled out a scrap of paper which he handed to Copperwire.
Copperwire looked over it with a look of hatred and horror. “They want you to build a weapon.” He said.
“I suppose,” sighed volt, “but at least we can make it a safe weapon.”
“No. I don’t want my hard work, my innovation to be used to kill countless beings, and neither should you.” Copperwire said.
“But think of it,” he said, “We could ensure shutdown codes! We could give it a morality core as well!”
“Those things are manipulatable.” Copperwire said.
“So are ponies! We wouldn’t be making any mistakes that nature hadn’t already made!”
“Normal ponies tire out. Normal ponies don’t turn off with a few words.”
Volt spark sighed rubbing a hoof over his tired eyes. “Fine,” he began, “I can see that I won’t be able to change your mind and I wouldn’t want to. Opinion is part of what makes us unique. I’m not going to force you to participate, but if you ever change your mind, you are free to join me. If you could however, start work on that morality core for Alpha, that would be good.”
"That project I would gladly work on." Copperwire said, walking away.
Volt took a deep breath and watched his friend and assistant until he was out of sight. Tired in mind and body, he decided to go to sleep and begin work on the project nicknamed "Razor" in the morning.