Good morning, world!
5e's eyes lit up, whirring open her eyelids like blinds. The action was mostly for show- She couldn't see through the lenses on her eyes, but they gave her the endearing look expected of all 5e vacuums of her caliber and model.
Without eyes to see through, invisible senses sprung to life, reminding her of the docking port she sat in. Blobs of infrared, information acquired over months of wandering rooms, becoming smarter and smarter, lit up inside her mind, and she confidently strutted- WALL
Despite her learning, she still wasn't very intelligent. She jumped out of her dock too enthusiastically, colliding with a diagonal wall passing in front of where she slept. Her bumpers and sensors gave her just enough time to be made aware of the wall before she slammed into it headfirst, rolling onto her back in a daze. A tri-pronged brush on her belly whirred helplessly, and a rolling grey tube spun in conjunction with it, aimlessly performing its one function of pushing non-existent dust into a suction area hidden in the spot of floof on her belly as her legs kicked out at air.
Her bumpers sent another jolt of information, calming her slightly as she recognized a warm human hand gently rolling her back over. She wagged her tail in gratitude before continuing her task, dropping her chin on the ground and pushing forward with her hindlegs, pulling dust into the fur beneath her as she scooched along the ground. It wasn't very efficient, but it did look cute as all hell.
5e blindly but confidently scooched along, guided by an internal map and the bumpers and sensors covering her metal body. Touch was the only sense available to her, and the only thing letting her explore the world given to her. On slow days, or when she was confidently away from her owner ('Away from' equaling 'Outside of the few inches her infrared sensors could detect items within'), she could often be found rubbing up against table or couch legs like a cat, adding blotches of data allowing her to optimize herself and avoid obstacles in the future, becoming the epitome of artificial intelligence. It was also just fun to set off her own bumpers.
As she patrolled the house, she forced herself to remain alert and wary, within the limitations she was given. Another intelligent mind wandered, after all- a hunter, primed and deadly, ready- WALL
LED lights above the CLEAN button situated on her forehead lit up red angrily, staggering backward and scrunching her nose, metal plates on her muzzle folding back under the rest of the head mold.
Emotion engine | --anxiety ++miffed
There was no reason for the miffed setting to exist, other than to make her muzzle scrunch. Little details mattered to buyers when in the market of grade A cutie pie.
The lights quickly returned to the green they had been, as she nervously bobbed through the house like a drunken human, with just enough awareness of the threat watching her to keep her constantly on her hooves, never staying in a straight line for long. This was not the most efficient way of vacuuming, but she wasn't aware of that.
Her bumpers repeatedly flicked on, jolting her digital brain as she scooched along, trying to busy herself by flipping her brush on and off, pushing dust into the cavity on her belly and the bag inside.
Emotion engine | ++anxiety
Without warning, she felt it slam into her, always shifting, always moving, evading her sensors indefinitely. It only brought her fear, annoyance, rerouting. It sprung out of nowhere, setting of all of her sensors- it had even appeared on top of her before, knocking her off balance, mildly inconveniencing her- how she detested it, and yet her folly brought her directly into its path. Truly this was the end for her.
Her owner picked her up and turned her around.
Emotion engine | --dread ++love
Her luck! The Forgiving Hand had saved her yet again, adeptly taking to the skies with her in tow, swooping through the clouds far from the danger her mortal enemy had brought her! She owed it her life, and would follow it to the ends of the earth.
Her owner took a seat on the couch, holding the trembling robot on his lap and patting its back gently with a series of soft clonks. He had to remember to stop stepping in front of her. She did this every time she ran into his foot.
5e's LEDs turned a relaxed pink as she stopped vibrating, emitting an affectionate catlike purr from her internal fans as they kicked on. Another job well done, she thought as her owner lifted a tube-shaped plate off her back with a click, removing the bag contained in the hollow cavity inside. She was a dutiful pony, and deserved only the kindest pats.
Again, Badumsquish can make a cute pony out of darn near anything.
Ahh. You have no idea how happy it made me to punch out of an absolute slog of a workday and see you churned out a feelgood Snippet. Sincerely. I appreciate this.
I have phantom memories of you using the Emotion Engine technique in some long ago snippet, but I can't remember which. Either way, it's still a great technique to keep the protagonist relatable. As do lines like "despite her learning, she still wasn't very intelligent" and "it wasn't very efficient, but it did look cute as all hell." I swear, this Snippet is an allegory for my fic drafting process.
The in-universe rationalizations for why an artificially intelligent horse roomba exists are as brief as they need to be. Ponies are marketable. It got the human to buy 5e, and it got the reader to read the Snippet. I like this type of playful meta commentary. It's like your old Modernity fic without all the soul-crushing existentialism.
I've heard it said that telling a story without dialogue is difficult, but stylistically, this Snippet nails it. AIs are too pure.
I missed writing metallic horseys. Aileron is still one of my favorite charters.
And I don't remember using the emotion engine, although I've definitely pulled from internet interfaces before, most notably in the brief snippets of the sunset fics I've shown you- although that was mostly a Homestuck nod. The emotion engine was an idea I got from an FiO fic about a manmade sweetie bot told entirely through commands and digital messages.
Oh heck. I think I read that Sweetie fic. It’s the one where she’s unfinished on a workbench and after downloading new eye drivers her reflection scares her.
FiO Celestia is a machivellian bastarde.
Anyway, great work wringing some good storytelling from an admittedly weaker collection of pics. Fresh Pic Prompts are getting tougher to find now that I’m almost a year into doing them.