Object XP-84c

by Scourge the yellow cat

Breakfast

Castle of Friendship, Ponyville, Kingdom of Equestria
Next morning

Starlight woke up to the intruding morning rays as they showed down on her face. She groaned as she separated herself from the bed sheet cocoon she was encased in, then slithered out of her bed. With the grace of a sloth, she reached her room’s doorway.

“For the ninth time, I am NOT a zombie pony.”

Starlight hesitated, her tired brain making the connection of the voice to that of the stallion who had what appeared to be a seizure after Princess Celestia used her Truthing Spell on him. With the connection made, she then remembered how...odd it was when she and Twilight carried the two unconscious ponies, along with the three bat-pony-things following them. The ‘bat-ponies’ had rushed over to the knocked-out nightmare and made it clear that they alone would carry her. Starlight had noted that the care they showed was not that of fear, but of kinship, very unlike what guards under the rule of Nightmare Moon would’ve exhibited. She had also noted that the stallion had no hair, and was WAY too heavy to be an ordinary pony.

“B-but you haven’t closed your eyes since I was told to watch you until Starlight came out!” A baby dragon’s voice wailed. Starlight was secretly very thankful for Spike saying her name, as it allowed her to enter without worry. She opened the door and walked out into the hallway. And to her immediate right was where they were.

Spike had his back towards the wall as he looked up at the admittedly massive stallion with wide eyes. Clutched to his chest, in his claws, was a Mare-vell comic that had a cartoonish zompony on the cover under the lining TROTTER TERROR! Towering over him was the stallion in all his redness, looking down on the terrified Spike with a bemused look on his face. Nervously, Starlight announced her presence.

“Uh, here I am?”

Both the stallion and the dragon turned their heads to her. Spike had a relieved look on his face, while the stallion was looking around in a confused manner as he looked around at the crystalline hallway.

“Two questions, first, I assume you are Starlight?” He asked her.

“That’s me...Starlight Glimmer.” She mumbled. Starlight was still groggy from her rude awakening, so she wasn’t in the best of moods at the moment. She started to doze off then and there, still standing before she woke back up. Starlight felt her cheeks grow hot as she did so. His face didn't change as he looked at her.

"Before any more questions, can we get some breakfast first?" Snapped Starlight at the stallion, before regretting the action. "Sorry." She apologized to him.

"No problem," he responded to her, "My scanners indicated that your brain has not had enough sleep. So, off to the food, I assume?" Starlight nodded sleepily as she headed for the kitchen, with the stallion and Spike following her. If Starlight's tired brain knew anything, it is that this was going to be a looooong day.

|¦|¦|¦|

Downstairs, the smell of pancakes was in the air. Twilight Sparkle placed the eight plates that were stacked with pancakes on the table that was in the center of the kitchen. The three ‘bat-ponies’ was already at the table, along with the Nightmare Moon look-alike, who had just recovered from being knocked out and had a bandage around her jaw. They eyed her and the pancakes with suspicion and hostility. Twilight knew that they were a kind of Equine subspecies called bat-ponies, but as of yet, Twilight hadn’t seen any bat-ponies in Equestria.

"What?" Asked Twilight with confusion. Did they not like pancakes? Twilight had put extra care with the preparation of the pancakes for them, especially Nightmare Moon. "Is something wrong?" Twilight asked them with concern. They ignored her, with one of the ‘bat-ponies’ turning to whisper something to another ‘bat-pony’, who nodded her head in agreement.

Something was up, Twilight knew of it, but what? Before she could answer that question, she saw a tired Starlight enter the room, followed by Spike and the stallion. Twilight stopped wondering and trotted towards her former student.

"Starlight, I see you have met the stallion! Did you have a good night's rest?" a cheerful Twilight asked Starlight. One look from Starlight told her what she wanted to know. Twilight's cheerful grin fell.

"Oh, well, breakfast's ready!" Starlight's face lit up with the mention of food from Twilight, as she and Spike attended the table. The stallion hesitated, before following them. With that done, Twilight herself approached the table and sat down beside Starlight, who was next to the huge stallion, and Spike, who was next to the bat-ponies. With everypony at the table, Twilight announced, "Alright everypony, let's eat!"

Starlight and Spike didn't need to be told twice, as they had already picked up the forks that were placed beside them and started to eat. Again, the stallion hesitated, before taking his fork and followed suit. The ‘bat-ponies’ didn't even move for their forks. In fact, they had no interest in eating at all. Twilight hadn't noticed this, as she had already joined Starlight, Spike, and the stallion.

"How do we know that this isn't poisoned?" Demanded one of the bat-ponies to Twilight, which caused her to stop mid-bite. She looked at the bat-pony, who had a dark brown mane and piercing green eyes. Poisoned? Twilight wondered, Why would I want to poison the pancakes? This isn't a w- She was interrupted when the stallion replied.

"This pancake contains butter, eggs, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, white sugar, milk, and zero percent of any potentially harmful or lethal ingredients. It is perfectly safe to consume." The entire table went quiet, as everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He looked up from the pancake he was eating and looked around the table. "What?" He asked.

"How did you...Were you...Wha?" Asked a bewildered Twilight. How in Equestria did he know all of that? Twilight knew for a fact that he did not spy on her as she made those pancakes, he simply couldn't. He was upstairs when she was cooking.

"Simple, my indicators analyzed a sample of the pancake and was able to decipher the contents." He said with a shrug. A groan came from Twilight's left. Twilight turned her head to see that Starlight had leaned her head back with her eyes closed and her mouth in a scowl.

"Not trying to be rude or anything, but can you please close your mouth for a little while?" Starlight snapped to him. "You keep saying 'Experimental Prototype eighty-four' every time I asked for your name. Then, when I asked where you came from, it is always a 'I was made by the former Horseland Defense Branch’ crap." Multiple gasps came from the table from Starlight's foul language.

"Actually, it was the former Homel-“ The stallion began.

"I. DON'T. CARE." Interrupted Starlight, cutting him off. "And finally, you keep on going 'my sensors indicate' and 'my database suggests'. So, for the sake of everything held dear, just shut your mouth, PLEASE." Starlight panted, before talking once more, in a gentler tone.

"I'm sorry, I just had to get that out of my system." She apologized, before looking down at her pancakes, picking at them with her fork. Twilight blinked at what she had just witnessed. Starlight rarely got that mad at something like that, only snapping once before while out to get some ingredients at the Ponyville Market. Twilight tried to get that out of her mind, by assuming that it was because she was tired.

However, she was also intrigued. What she had said about the stallion was...interesting...to say the least. Why did he refer to himself as Experia...Extrem...Expen...whatever Starlight said he called himself? Why did he think he was made by what he called the Homeland Defense Branch? Twilight just HAD to find out.

"I see you are curious about me, purple." She heard the stallion say to what Twilight assume was her. She looked up and noticed something...odd. The bat-ponies and Nightmare Moon that refused to eat? They were looking at the stallion with bulging eyes and open mouths. Twilight again heard a noise from Starlight's side of Twilight, but this time it was a snort of anger.

"I thought I told you to-" She began, glaring at him. But this time, it was her time to be interrupted. And what Twilight saw made her join the bat-ponies.

"To keep my mouth shut? You did, and I obeyed." Said the stallion, or at least, his voice said. Call her insane, but Twilight swore she saw him talking with his mouth closed. Starlight's eyes widened as she saw him talking without moving his mouth.

"What...In Starswirl's beard..." Starlight and Twilight unintentionally said at the same time.

"What? Never seen a robot before?" The stallion's voice asked in a sarcastic tone. The stallion had put his fork down and was putting his forehooves up in a shrug, also in a sarcastic way. "Before you ask any questions, the reason why I talked earlier with my mouth moving is that I was programmed to do so." He explained to them.

"Besides, which is more tolerable, This," he said, with his mouth moving. "Or this?" He added, with his mouth still.

"The former, just please move your mouth when you talk! Please, It's creepy!" Wailed practically everypony at the stallion. Satisfied, he picked his fork back up.

"Alrighty then, and I have one request," the stallion replied. Everypony nodded, wondering what he could want. "Can I at least have a name other than 'the stallion'?" He asked. "Please, it is driving me crazy!"

"You don't have a name?" Asked Spike. Oddly, he wasn't shocked at what had just occurred. The stallion looked at Spike with what looked like confusion.

"Hold on a sec," He said, "You seem awfully calm to what has just happened. Why are you not like them?" He waved his right foreleg around, pointing to the other ponies at the table.

"It is simple!" Spike joyfully said. He then proceeded to hold up his TROTTER TERROR! comic book with one hand to the stallion. "In issue number forty-seven of Mare-vell's The Trotting Dead series, which is this," Spike than pointed to the comic book with his free hand, before continuing. "In the issue, the main character, Hock Grims tries to find his son Jowl and comes across a pony, where it turns out the pony is not a real one."

"And?" Asked the stallion. Spike shrugged.

"Dunno, haven't read that far yet," Spike replied. The stallion facehoofed at the response. "But the fake pony did call himself an object, and seeing that you are a fake pony, I thought it would be fitting for you to be named Object." Spike finished. The stallion stopped facehoofing.

"Object, huh..." He put his hoof to his chin, as if in consideration. "It'll do, I guess." He stated.

"So, um, that was a thing." Stated Twilight, recovering from her shock. Spike quickly realized that he had ranted off to the ponies present, causing his face to be a bright red. Object, luckily, came to his rescue.

"Um, purple?" He asked, pointing his right hoof to Twilight.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight told him, "Just call me Twilight." Object nodded.

"Twilight, I think the pancakes are a bit cold, do you mind making a new batch? Some might be hungry." He asked. He was right, the pancakes were now cold, and cold pancakes are not meant to be eaten.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Replied Twilight, igniting her horn to levitate the plates. The bat-ponies backed away from the table as Object was talking to a very apologetic Starlight. Twilight at this point left the room, had disposed of the pancakes, and began a new batch. But for some reason, her previous thoughts about Object resurfaced.

Object was without a doubt not from this time. No Earth pony in Equestria could've cast a spell capable of what Object performed. The only other logical way he could've done what he did was with technology and Equestrian technology is most likely not even close to the level of technology needed in order to do what Object did. As Twilight pieced together the evidence; where Object was found, his odd conversations, his unusual actions, Twilight felt she knew the result.

Although Object says he is a 'robot', what is he?

Author's Note:

Sorry for the short chapter! I had to get this out of the way. But do not fret! I promise you that future chapters will be longer!