Sweetie awoke to another beautiful day in Ponyville. She made a brief check of tonight’s dream, briefly considered saving it, before shuffling it into the back of her mind, where it joined with all the other random data. She then made a brief system check. Her batteries were charged up to 82%. That was good enough. No matter how long she slept she would never make that energy bar reach 100%. Or rise at all for that matter.
Contrary to other ponies. Sleeping would not actually recharge her batteries.
Sweetie threw open her bedroom window and basked in the morning sunlight. The light shimmered over her chromed alloy plates, making her glisten like a white diamond. Her heat sensors were telling her it was 28 degrees this lovely summer day.
She looked up into Celestia's sun. The irises in her cybernetic lenses shrinking to minimal proportions. A safety protocol was telling her she should blink or turn her gaze away. She overrode that protocol. Keeping her eyelids wide open and slowly expanding her irises till all she could see was a big bright glow.
Such sun staring activities would be dangerous and downright lethal for any ordinary filly’s eyesight - and it was because of this she was directly forbidden to challenge anypony to a sun staring contest.
Sadly, doing this would not recharge her batteries. She just liked the feeling of the sun heating up her metallic body. She wished she could take it all in. Absorb the energies of the sun like a flower would do through photosynthesis. Maybe she could get some upgrade that would allow her to absorb energy from the sun’s rays?
Satisfied with her dose of sun, Sweetie backed away into the room. Though the sun followed her, stuck like an orb in her vision. She blinked and the orb was replaced with the interior of the room, stuck in her vision like a photo that slowly faded away only to be replaced with a new still image every time she blinked.
Maybe she should get a camera installed in her eyes? That way she could take pictures with her eyes just like this? Just by blinking.
She closed her eyelids for a second, This time letting her eyes reset to normal indoor mode. When she opened them again, the ghostly still images where gone from her vision.
She exited her room and trotted down the stairs, taking in the small kicking sound that her metallic hooves made on every step. She finished her trot with a small jump. Skipping the last four steps, and headed straight for the main door.
“Where do you think you are going, little miss?”
A voice came from the kitchen doorway. It belonged to Rarity, her big sister and caretaker. Sweeties heart-drive filled with joy, only to be filed with annoyance a second later. There was something in her big sisters tone that hinted at a confrontation.
“Outside.” Sweetie answered. Even though she knew this answer would not satisfy her big sister.
“You do not go anywhere without first properly assembling yourself!”
Sweeties head dropped, looking down on the floor. From there she looked at her hooves, up her legs and finally her chest. Taking in every nook and cranny of her joints. The white flexible alloy plates that made up her entire exterior covered everything. Not a single nut or bolt was visible.
“But, Rarity....” Sweetie began.
“Higher up darling. What else are we missing today?”
Sweetie looked over across her back. Over the hips, down to the tailbone.
The tailbone... Right. That was what was missing.
Sweetie waggled the little rod at the end of her spine as she realized she was completely bald. Not just from the lack of fur. That much was obvious. But from the complete lack of a tail – or mane.
She reached up and taped her head with her hoof. Getting only a soft “klang” from the blank cranial plate between her ears.
Sweetie smiled sheepishly back at her big sister. Good thing alloy plates don’t blush. Otherwise her face would be red right now.
“Right... Sorry. I will go back up and.... put on my tail – and mane.”
“You will put on your entire skin." Rarity ordered "Not just those fake contraptions.”
“Are you calling any part of me a fake contraption!?!” The little filly's outburst was harsh and sharp. Offended by such an accusation.
“No!” Rarity shoot back, equally sharp, and equally offended. “I just don’t understand why you would choose to not wear a perfectly good mane when you have one. Don’t you appreciate the craftsmareship that goes into maintaining your hair?”
She punctuated her question by pulling a hoof through her own mane. Letting the curls flow down her neck. Well combed and freshly permed even at this early hour of the morning.
Sweetie sighed and turned to the stairs. Truth was she appreciated the craftsmareship of a cybernetic mane and tale even more. Just as much as Rarity appreciated the work that went into her dresses. But she guessed that’s where their senses for appreciation drifted apart.
With a puppy eyed look back at her sister she gave her pleading one last shot.
“But RARITYYYYY.....”
“It’s not up for debate young miss – now go to your room and don’t come down until you have dressed up properly, skin and all.”
With a deep sigh, Sweetie headed back up the stairs and back into her room. Shutting the door behind her a little extra hard to telegraph her frustration downstairs.
Then she walked over to what looked like a perfectly normal toy box, painted in colors that matched her own, a white base with pink trim along the edges. Except this chest was twice as big as she was, and had a big round button with a horseshoe symbol on it instead of a keyhole.
Sweetie put her front hoof on that button, her hoof fitting perfectly in the U shape of the horseshoe, and twisted it like the dial to a safe.
After a series of clicks there was a resounding “Bing” from the chest. Sweetie took a step back as the chest opened with a low hissing noise. Not just the lid. But the sides slid apart as well, revealing a sitting station with a few pillows surrounded by shelves and lockers of spare parts and tools stacked high above her head.
This was her maintenance station. Courtesy of ‘Sparkle Arcane Technology’. The first and only one of its kind. In essence the world’s most expensive and over complicated dressing table.
A very special dressing table for a very special little filly. Where other little fillies had makeup and eyeshadow, she had spray-paint and wax. Where others had little brushes, she had screwdrivers. Where others had hoof polish, she had chrome. Where others had contact lenses and fake eyelashes, she had a full rack of spare eyeballs. The eyelashes might be the same stuff other fillies used though.
She had the means to replace and maintain just about every part of her body.
In the center of it all was “the wardrobe”. A big cylinder shaped double door locker that contained her big sister's object of interest. Sweetie walked up to the doors, put a hoof on them, then let out another big sigh and glared off to the side. On what looked like a cross between a makeup table and a workbench – next to sets of different colored hooves – Sat the object of her own interest. It was a manikin head with a pink curly wig with purple streaks. It was no ordinary wig made out of horse hair, but out of fine synthetic fiber cords, woven with wires.
The cords and wires were bonded directly into a cranial plate that would fit perfectly between her ears and horn. It would hook up to her systems and she would be able to feel the sense of touch all the way out to the tip of the wires. Just like a real mane.
Sweetie walked over and stroked it. The synthetic strands were slightly thicker than hair. But much more durable and not so likely to loose their shape. Even when drenched wet, the mane would retain its style as others lost their shape and went flat.
Sweetie sighed that her sister wouldn’t help her attach it today. She touched the back of her blank bald head, behind the ears where she knew the screws to her cranial plate would be. Silently cursing her lack of magic. If she could levitate a screwdriver she could remove the blank plate and attach the one with her hair on it.
No matter. If she was to put on her skin, that would only be in the way.
She put down the wig and glared over at a tail of the same material that hung on the cabinet next to the bench. Almost looking like the trophy a hunter would take. Sweetie stroked it as she spun the chair around to face the wardrobe. Then kept spinning for a few laps till she ended up turned towards the other workbench. The painting station. It was full with little color bottles and a spray painting brush. A half painted replacement plate caught her attention.
She recognized it as a plate for her lower back. She toyed with the idea of waxing it till she could see her own reflection – wax goes on – wax goes off. Never mind. She would finish it when she got back home. She was stalling enough as it was.
This time she did turn to face the wardrobe.
She opened the doors and revealed a big transparent cylinder tube. Inside was a full body suit of biomechanical skin with organic white fur. With a pink mane and tale of real organic hair.
Her fur, her mane and her tail.
The skin was a one piece body suit that covered almost every inch of her body. As such, it looked like she was standing in the tube. Suspended in weightlessness on a levitation talisman. An empty, hollow copy of herself. The eyelids and lips closed on a blank face, almost like she was sleeping.
Sweetie put a hoof on the air tight tube, and it slid open with a hissing sound. The skin slid open with it. Long lines opened along the torso and all the way down the legs, like an invisible zipper was being pulled down to allow her to step into it.
This sight might have traumatized younger as well as older ponies. To Sweetie it was no different than to have your regular clothes readied for you, though she had been told not to “get dressed” in front of others.
On the inside, the skin was made up of a network of cybernetic cords running in a zigzag pattern, like chicken-wire. At regular intervals tiny dots of red and blue blinked with reflected morning sun rays.
This outer layer of organic tissue was sustained by several tiny restoration talismans and magical crystals that kept the skin alive and in tip top shape. The magic crystals themselves ran on power supplied by the wardrobe for as long as it stayed in the tube.
While connected to Sweetie herself, it ran on a tiny trickle of energy from her own power-source.
Sweetie stepped into the tube. Standing under the floating skin she pressed a hoof shaped button on the floor. The levitation ceased and she let it fall on top of her, like a rug.
The skin fastened to her alloy plates, folding on its own into every cranny of her ankles and fetlocks, over her ears, nose, lips and eyelids. The opening seams closed so tight you wouldn’t even be able to find a scar. Her sensory equipment extended their reach out to the tip of every last strand on every part of her organic exterior.
The skin was part of her body now.
Sweetie opened her eyes and stretched her limbs a couple of times. The only part of her that showed any sign of her mechanical being was the chromed hooves. Polished till they shone like silver. She really liked these hooves. But she had a feeling rarity wouldn’t allow her out the door until she had fully covered herself. She took a few extra minutes to replace the chrome hooves with regular white ones that blended in with her fur. One advantage with interchangeable hooves was that you didn’t have to spend all morning refreshing your hoof polish. Then she spent a few more minutes in front of the mirror to comb her mane. All the while contemplating that a mane made of synthetic fiber didn’t need as much maintenance as an organic mane.
She once again contemplated her lack of magic.
For all her abilities as a cybernetic filly, there were many regular flesh and blood pony abilities she lacked. The first and foremost being the lack of any trace of inherent magic at all.
Sure, many of her systems ran on arcane energy as well as electricity. And many of her parts were of arcane technology, a blend of “science and magic”, and “the science of magic”, or the “science of magic that went into the science of this technology,” or whichever convoluted way Twilight put it.
Twilight ... that happened to be the main reason Sweetie couldn’t wait to get out the door. Why her mind was so filled with the thoughts of “upgrades” this morning.
But all that didn’t help Sweetie lift this brush.
Maybe she could have passed off as an earth pony? But the annoying fact was she had a unicorn horn sticking out of her forehead. Her family had built her this way. Maybe it was just a designers choice so she blended in with the rest of her unicorn family.
She laid down the brush and looked herself over in the mirror.
No, wait. There was another thing that revealed her true nature – her eyes. They were bare visual lenses that glowed with a faint green light. Like two little lanterns in her eyes.
Sweetie let out a sigh as she knew Rarity would not let her go out like this. No matter. She walked back to the toolbox and pulled out a pair of cybernetic contact lenses. These served two purposes. Unlike normal contact lenses that just go on the eye - these were half an eyeball that went into her eye-socket, over the visual lens, Serving as a protective shell for the inner lens as well as making her eyes look more natural with pupil and iris. The iris on these lenses were bland and colorless, but the green color of the glow underneath gave her eyes an almost natural and familiar color as they were attached.
She looked back into the mirror and saw a completely normal filly looking back.
Well... almost.
If one looked close enough one could still see tiny nodes of energy running in the green iris of her cybernetic eyes. There were magically enchanted lenses that would hide all traces of cyber-technology in Sweeties selection. Lenses that made her eyes look completely organic, but she was not putting on those.
This rebellious act might be so small that it was insignificant, but it was still a conscious choice.
Sweetie headed back downstairs, without the enthusiastic bouncing, and once again headed for the door.
“And where are you going, young miss?”
Now Sweetie was starting to get really irritated at her bigger sister.
She turned, with a few responses to criticism loaded and ready in her mind. But found Rarity standing out in the kitchen next to a recently prepared breakfast. It was a simple but welcome gesture. The irritation vanished from Sweetie's face, and a reluctant smile fought its way through her rebellious streak.
As a bot, Sweetie did not have to eat. Except for the occasional crystals that powered her systems. But that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy the taste of a bowl of cereal with milk.
Rarity had to remind her of table manners as she scoffed spoonfuls down her throat. Her taste sensors picking up the sweet sugary crunch as it rolled over her flavor sensitive tongue and down her throat.
A little light in her vision telling her she had 79% space left in her belly bag before needing to either use the little filly’s room or replace the bag.
“Don't forget to drink darling. A hot day like this every-pony needs to cool off and re-hydrate. Even you.”
It was true. If she was exposed to the hot sun for too long she could become burning hot (being made of iron and all) and even the grease in her gears could begin to dry out.
If she didn’t grease her gears (so to speak) every once in awhile her joints would start acting cranky like Applebloom's old Granny Smith, especially now in the hot climate.
Sweetie sort of expected that was why Rarity wanted her to wear her skin-coat. Since it did provide protection from direct exposure to the sun.
A small object was levitated into Sweeties vision as Rarity placed a small bottle marked “tear drops” on the table next to the bowl. They were of a special brand designed only for Sweetie. It was a lubricant for her eyes. Like tear drops for most ponies it worked as a sort of moisturizer that kept her cybernetic eyeballs clean and smooth.
The name was more literal in her case than others though, as the fluid would start to flow from her eyes in response to her crying sequences.
Sweetie picked up the bottle and then pulled down her lower eyelid. There, under the eye she found a small access port where she inserted the tip of the bottle.
It was sort of a sad notion that she had to refill her tear sacks manually in preparation for such emotional occasions. But if she was fresh out of tears a strong emotional breakdown could cause her lubricant channels around her eyes to overload and burst, leaking a different kind of fluid.
"Thank you for the breakfast," Sweetie said after she had refilled herself. "I'm going to see Twilight now."
"Do have fun dear, and you are not to stare into the sun, remember! To much of that will burn your eyes out."
Sweetie did her best to hide her response, but she hadn’t shut off the emotional signals to her face fast enough. Something must have shown on her face, for Rarity gave her a scornful look.
“You have done it again, haven’t you?”
No point in hiding it.
-::Imitate facial response “big look of defeat.”::-
“Sorry. I won’t do it... again.”
After that, she was finally able to get outside the door.
Sweetie had to admit, there was a certain enjoyment to feeling the soft warm breeze stroke over her fur. But she still knew she could have felt the same way with it sweeping over her plates. They were also sensitive to the touch of the wind and warmth of the sun. The plates that were now resting underneath her coat like a second skin. It felt good to have them. Like armor hidden under her coat.
She scratched the skin a little. Seeking to feel any cracks in the plates underneath. But true to arcane bio-engineering, there was only the feeling of soft tissue and fur under her hoof.
While Sweetie did enjoy the touch of soft fur she had just grown more and more comfortable outside it. But Rarity kept insisting she wear it for every social interaction.
Putting on your skin... this was something she had started to view as something more and more unnecessary. Since discovering her true nature, she had started to view her skin with more and more distance.
To her it was like Rarity had told her to put on a hot sweater. You don’t normally see ponies wearing clothes after all. Wearing skin just felt like trying to hide her true nature. Besides, everypony in Ponyville knew that she was a bio-mechanical entity at this point.
Or as some simply called her, a “Bot.”
Sweetie wasn’t entirely sure what “Bot” stood for. There was the “B” and the “O” In the first letters of BiO mechanical. And the “T” you found as the third and next to last letter of the word enTiTy.
At least that was a viewpoint she had been able to come up with when she had way to much free time on her hooves. Though the real reason people called her a bot was because it was a simple abbreviation of the word “Robot,” but she didn’t like that term. Not after finding out that Robot meant “slave worker” in some old language.
She preferred “Cyber Sweetie.” Though, perhaps she best preferred that ponies just called her “Sweetie” without having to put the abbreviation into her name.
Besides, you didn’t go around calling every pony out on their race as a form of greeting now, did you? It would be like saying “Twilight Alicorn,” or “Rarity Unicorn,” or “Scootaloo Pegasus,” or “Applebloom Earth Pony,” or “Zecora Zebra.” She had a feeling everypony would just be offended by that.
Or better yet, it would be just like her running around calling every pony “Fleshies,” just as people would use the term “Robot”, or just “Bot”, to describe a sentient cybernetic lifeform. She could understand why, because using those labels in full sentences was just too long.
Sweetie had been looking for her own word to describe organic lifeforms, other ponies, for the most part. She didn’t like to differentiate herself from others, but sometimes she had to. What was she supposed to say when she needed a general term for every sentient being made of flesh and blood?
“Bloodsacks?” “Meatbags?” “Fleshies?”
She giggled at that word “Fleshies.” Flesh ponies! It kind of made them sound like they were fat, because they had a lot of flesh.
As Sweetie walked on her way towards Twilight's castle, she walked past the Ponyville movie theater. Outside hung a big poster proclaiming the latest action movie:
Rampony McTails, staring in: Attack of the blood bots 2. The sequel.
Once, she might have enjoyed that movie. But after finding out her own true nature she couldn’t help but to feel a little offended by it.
As Sweetie went, she waved at the passing townsfolk.
The townsfolk had gotten used to her pretty quick, all things considered. It may be something about the little town that is on the frontier at the border of one of the most dangerous forests in the kingdom, and was under frequent attack and or visit from all sorts of things. Including a chaos lord that had taken a liking for the local animal caretaker whom had the power to crush any pony’s spirit with a single stare. The local weather mare could fly so fast she could shatter the light spectrum, creating a Sonic Rainboom that could tear the roof off of houses if performed too close to the ground. And a party pony that people were afraid to dismiss a party invitation from.
This town even has an all powerful sorceress working dual jobs, as a princess, and as a librarian. Though the library itself was no more, few would forget that time their soon to be royal librarian lifted the library itself by accident. It was no wonder nopony actually rented a book there–they feared being turned into books themselves if they failed to return them on time.
Honestly, a cybernetic pony-droid was the least of concerns for the ponies in this village.
As somepony had once said:
“We already got so much going on, why raise an eyebrow at one more thing?”
As somepony else said:
“Everypony in this town is CRAZY!”
Still, there were those who would freak out if they saw her. Especially if they saw her for the first time. Rarity had insisted that when and if Sweetie was to come along to any of her social gatherings she would have to look like a normal presentable filly.
Maybe that was the reason she had started to think of her organic exterior as little more than a dress?
So much so that last Nightmare night she chose it as her costume.
She had decided to go out as a murderbot in pony skin. Meaning she looked perfectly normal in the eyes of every-pony. When the others started mocking her for lack of costume she started tearing her own skin off, but only halfway so you could see the mechanical parts on one half of her face while still having a big smile on the other. That night she had not been wearing any alloy plates – so you could really see all the gears twist and turn as she laughed at their stunned faces. She had taken the liberty of spray-painting her interiors in a black oily color that contrasted with her white fur. Finally, she had switched her eye color to a glowing red, hiding that under green contact lenses to not spoil the surprise.
In retrospect she should probably only have gone with the contact lenses. For every other pony fainted in sheer terror.
That nightmare night had not gone over well.
Concerned parents of the traumatized children, and Rarity, asked that she never stripped in public again. And by asked, they outright forbade her.
Some times it seemed like everypony wanted to dictate Sweetie's behavior. Concerned parents, who were afraid of their children playing with a filly who literally was made of steel, asked that she be given certain restrictions. Unfortunately the authorities had agreed after a game in the rugby school tournament. Sweetie had only followed the instructor's words to give it 110 percent. And so she had given it all her mechanical body could give.
She had been a machine that game–literally. It had been fun plowing through the opposing line like a wrecking ball. And with her hydraulic legs she could kick a ball across the entire field. That match had gone over as well as last nightmare night. Though instead of leaving the kids with nightmares for a few weeks, it had left them with a few broken bones. Then there had been that one kid that caught a hoofball kicked with the force of a cannonball with his face.
So by royal command (By Twilight’s obligate) they had all agreed to give her a restriction in the form of a password protected safety system that only the princess knew the password to. This safety system limited all her abilities down to no more than what a normal filly should be capable off.
They said it was so Sweetie would not run the risk of harming herself or anypony else around her.
But she was certain it was mostly so she did not cheat at sports. Intentional or otherwise. Since she could not run out of breath or get muscle cramps she could easily outrun everypony in school. And she could lift many times more than any of them without risk of breaking her titanium reinforced spine.
These “Restrictions” hampered her abilities by making her simulate exhaustion, fatigue and other boring things. Like panting and (while wearing skin) sweating whenever she pushed herself over a certain point that they had set. It also meant that she could not kick a ball harder than any other filly.
Sweetie had no desire to hurt anypony. But what fun was it in being a cyber pony if you were not allowed to be a cyber pony? If she was suppose to be normal then she was just a magic-less little filly.
Once again her thoughts went to her horn.
They all wanted her to be so normal. What normal filly could not do magic at her age?
Actually that was not entirely true. Sweetie could do a sort of magic. She could channel electric energy through her body at will. That counted as magic right? At least everypony talked about channeling magic through the horn like some form of energy. It meant she could shoot lightning by channeling energy out her horn and zapping foals at school for making fun of her. (No names mentioned.)
Unfortunately. Concerned parents of said foals at school, (again, no names mentioned,) asked that she be given certain restrictions against that as well.
Sweetie frowned at all of them and their concerns. Sometimes it was as if she was not allowed to be a Cyberpony.
Personally, she thought these limitations were unnecessary since she had to restrain herself any way. Her real limit was in her battery power. The harder she pushed herself the faster her energy reserves would drop. That little bar displaying her power level guided her daily routines just like food and sleep guided every pony else's.
Unless Sweetie could find another way to replenish her energy without eating gems. Once again she thought about how nice it would be to be able to absorb the sun’s warm rays. Perhaps that's what the royal librarian had in store for her.
Sweetie was on the way to see said Librarian, trotting wishfully through Ponyville while basking in the sunlight. As she reached the outskirts of town and the tree-castle of Equestria's newest princess loomed above her, she pushed these irritated thoughts from her mind and locked them in a “grumpy” file instead.
As she reached the door she flung it open without knocking. Twilight was supposed to be expecting her anyway.
“Hello teacher! What’s the lesson!?” Sweetie called out at the top of her voice, (again, as loud as the restrictions allowed her to crank up the volume on her voice box,) causing it to echo across the long empty hallways.
Twilight however, must really have been expecting her, as she was at that moment not in the farthest reaches of her new home, but sitting in the lobby, surrounded by half a library worth of stacked books that had been delivered the previous day. She had been caught up in reading through one of the volumes on advanced robotics when Sweetie bludgeoned in.
Twilight looked up from the book she was levitating, revealing she had a pair of safety glasses on her forehead, with her mane tied up behind her head, complementing the long white lab coat and black rubber boots she was wearing. On her face she wore a big smile.
“Today I’m going to see if I can't teach you some magic.”