Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories

by The Psychopath

The Makers and the Caretakers

"Yes. It's a coincidence, as we've already told you," Luna said. "I'm standing by my word on that front, Twilight."

The lavender alicorn stared Luna straight in the eyes and shook her head. "You honestly believe I can consider that a coincidence?!" she shouted as she pointed to the image. "I'm not angry at you. It's just that that sort of thing goes beyond mere coincidences!"

"We know, Twilight," Celestia said. "Unfortunately, after millions of years, it's likely to happen many times over that similar people with similar personalities and tastes pop up all around the world. We've told you this already, I believe."

Twilight tilted to the side. "Still, personality and liking something are two things, but their appearances as well?"

Luna looked to the image projected against the cave wall. "To be honest, Biddledee isn't exactly like anyone you know."

Twilight gave the moon princess a look of disapproval. "She looks like a giant, triangular Fluttershy. I mean." She motioned about, trying to find the right words. "Sure, she's a bit more confident than Fluttershy, but--"

"Yes, Twilight. Just a 'little," Celestia said as she gestured a 'tiny bit' with her ring hand.

Twilight scrunched her lower lip. "Yes, well, that machine is almost one hundred percent Fluttershy to the 's'."

Luna started mumbling to herself and counting her fingers.

"What do you expect us to do, Twilight," Celestia asked. She floated straight in front of the mare. "You think we have all the answers to everything that happened in between." She threw her arms in the air and started floating around the cave. "Oh, maybe we had something to do with it while we were offline and didn't function on magic at all! Oh, maybe we did something afterwards and genetically manipulated pony pairings to create offspring that resembled our friends for thousands of years until it got just right."

"Sister," Luna sighed. "Enough with the antagonizing sarcasm. You know you're terrible at that." She put a hand to her chest. "That's my thing, you powdered donut."

"So what? I really am supposed to believe that it's just a coincidence?" Twilight asked angrily.

"Unfortunately, we don't know any more than you. We just noticed some odd similarities most recently, and we're unsure what that means," Celestia explained wearily.

---

"Did you run out of energy again?" Biddledee asked Rahllup.

The orange machine turned away and crossed her arms. "Maybe. Ah ran out 'cause ah was working."

"You mean you were having a fight with one of the creatures that comes onto the farm rather than chasing it out," she stated matter-of-factly.

Rahllup tapped her arm with a finger several times before screaming. "Yes! Fine! It's true! Ah got carried away. So what?" She looked at the gigantic machine. "Ah bet yer almost runnin' out of fuel too."

Biddledee put her arms behind her back and stood up on her 'toes' multiple times. "Still got forty-seven percent of fuel in there," she stated mockingly.

"If ah had hair ah'd be tearin' it out."

The triangular machine opened its mouth and stuck out a long, ping, flat tape and wagged it at Rahllup. Galah was the one to be perplexed this time.

"A tongue?" he asked. Biddydee nodded. "What for? You're a robot. You do not have taste sensors."

"She uses it ta detect any toxins in the air," the orange machine explained. The trio looked around and pointed at two different things in response. "This ain't toxins," she spoke through her nonexistent grit teeth. "This is how the world's 's'posed ta be! Ain't never seen nothin' different!"

"The blue is not like this," Luna said.

"Yeah, 'n ah don't believe ya fer a second." She snorted. "Just blue propaganda."

"What is propaganda?" Luna wondered.

Biddydee popped in front of her and shook her arm, causing the machine to be flung up and down. "Not important! I'm Biddydee, or Biddledee."

"I am Luna," the blue machine answered calmly.

"I am her sister, Celestia," the white machine added.

The two large robots stared at the two sisters in utter perplexion.

"Robots can't be siblings," Rahllup said. She chuckled nervously. "That's not how the building process works."

"We have come to consider each other sisters," Celestia explained. She hesitated then put a hand on Luna's shoulder as the machine readjusted itself. "She has helped me in many, many ways."

"Right..." Biddydee stood in place and repeated retracted then extended her fingers. "So, what brings you here?"

"They're spahs!" the orange machine shouted angrily. The triangular robot stared at her companion with distant 'eyes' and an open mouth. "What?"

"Those of the blue coming here to spy on us?" Biddydee clarified sarcastically.

"Obviously! They said they're here ta find bots like 'em, but ah ain't fallin' fer it!"

"Yeah. Okay." Her deadpan expression turned into false terror. "Oh no! They'll probably steal the secrets to our farm equipment. Or, or maybe they'll steal how we make roof shingles." She put her fingers in her open mouth. "Oh no. They might steal the seeds to...to our crops!"

"Gna gna gna 'n gna gna gna!" the orange machine answered.

"So!" Galah clapped his furled fingers. "What are we doing today? Exploring a city?"

The two large robots laughed together.

"Nah. Y'all're coming back to the home 'n yer gonna help us fer bein' blues," Rahllup said nonchalantly.

She was struck upside the head by Biddydee. "Stop that. These three are obviously not here to cause trouble, otherwise they would've already cause it."

"Ya damaged mah head," the orange robot complained.

The triangular robot glared at her companion then hunched over to get a better look at the trio. "Well, I'm Biddydee." She gestured to the orange machine with a head inclination. "Rahllup there likes to call me 'Biddy'."

"What model of machine are you?" Luna asked. "You are not within my database."

The triangular robot shrugged. "I don't really know. My model got scratched off my chassis. I just know I was supposed to be the next production line model for black energy robots but was canceled." She pondered. "Not many of me were made before production stopped."

"Why did they stop?" Celestia asked. "Your consumption-per-action ratio is far superior to the tattered one," she noted.

The orange machine complained, but Biddydee ignored her. "Not sure. It just stopped, then the caretakers started taking all of us that were left behind and started putting us back together."

"That ain't entirely true," Rahllup interjected. "Ignorin' yer rude comment, there's companies that still produce bots, but they're never new versions. Said there was no point in tryin' anymore on account that the blues told 'em ta stop." She snorted. "That's rich. Keep us from improvin' ourselves and gettin' better lives."

"If they did that you would be deactivated and likely scrapped," Luna said. She carefully eyed the black energy billowing from the two machines.

"Wadda ya mean?" the orange robot asked. "Explain that fer me."

"You function on the black. Once the blue comes into play then there's no reason for you to still remain functioning. You are inefficient and polluting."

Rahllup looked down and 'rolled' her eyes. "That's true, but ah worked 'ere ta make everythin' easier fer ma caretakers. Can't quite let 'em suffer when they helped build me back tagether." She reached over and squeezed Biddydee against her. "And they even fixed up our full bodies. Ain't no easy feat considerin' how they were built 'n how they function. Reckon the 'pa of the family might know a thing 're two 'bout machinery that he ain't want ta share." Rahllup nodded in agreement before suddenly diving down and grabbing her companion's foot. "What're ya doing' ya cray-oomph!"

"You almost stepped on them!" the triangular machine growled.

She was covering two tiny black creatures skittering through the grass. They looked at her then burrowed into the dirt as fast as they could. Their chitinous hides crunched almost inaudibly with every muscle contraction.

The orange machine angrily struggled to get back onto her feet. "Of all the confounded--"

"They clean and refurbish the soil!" Biddydee blurted out as quickly as she could.

Rahllup's engine glowed a much brighter orange than before she gradually lowered her fist and relaxed. "Fine. That works out."

"You don't seem too keen on hurting everything," Galah noted when he talked to Biddydee.

"I don't like hurting things." She stood back up and wiped the dirt off her legs. "They're not hurting anyone, and they actively help, too."

"Those giant bug things actively hunt the livestock of the farm," the orange machine complained.

"Yes, but you don't want to kill them, do you?" Rahllup said. Her tone took on an upwards inflection. "Huh? Don't want to hurt what you life to fight, huh? If you killed them all and burned the nest, what else would there be left to do?"

"Bah!"

"Another question," Luna interjected?

"What now?!" the orange machine complained.

"Why are your makers so large in build? Is it because of the physical labor they undertake?" she asked.

The two large robots mumbled to each other, confused about the question.

"Whadda ya mean?" Rahllup asked.

"Your makers--"

"Caretakers," Biddydee corrected.

"...Caretakers, are large in build. Cross-referencing the images of your caretaker with the technicians we met in the city, I believe the two were the same," Luna said.

"Lemme get this straight," Rahllup started. "Y'all found caretakers in yer city.

"Yes."

She looked to Biddy with a 'raised eyebrow'. "And they were just hidin' in plain sight?"

"Yes," Celestia interjected. "They were hiding in an alleyway with a plethora of other deactivated machines on the sides." She heard the two robots groan but continued. "They were very large for makers. We were not expecting such a size but believed it to be from their labor of lifting heavy parts and deactivated robots."

The two grumbled and paced around.

"They weren't technicians and they weren't there ta fix nothin'." Rahllup spoke with a quieted and tired tone. "Were they carryin' anythin' odd?"

"A box-like tool. She mentioned that it was to make sure we weren't shorting out or had a leak."

Biddydee shook her head. "Of course. What happened to them."

"They ceased function." Luna said.

"Wh, did you--'

Luna tapped her chest slowly. "The technician tried to access my power core with her tool without following proper procedure and was terminated by the feedback. Her colleague suffered the same fate."

"He was in a yoga position," Celestia blurted.

"I lost about one percent power from the procedure. Their remains were reported."

The two slowly took a very large step back.

"Let's change the subject," Rahllup suggested. "What about yer 'makers' is different from our caretakers?" she asked.

"Your caretakers are bulky, large, and quite tall," Celestia explained. "They do not match the size of our makers. The majority of which are thin and disheveled." Rahllup laughed at the comment. "I have not been able to ascertain as to why there are such physical differences between the two. Both are from the same species and both have the same dna." She looked around, watching the snow fall. "Is it caused by the energy?"

"What, is your pure and perfect blue energy turning you all into sticks?" She got into Celestia's face, exerting heat.

Celestia's 'eyes' jittered left and right as she looked into the orange machine's. She raised a ring hand, then poked Rahllup's eye. "You have a fracture in this location. I recommend replacing with a temperature-resistant compound."

"I give up. I can't understand them," the robot lamented.

"Are all 'caretakers' like that? Or is it from hard labor that they become that way?"

Biddydee shrugged. "They've always been like that as far as we know. When the elder 'pa of the family repaired us, he was large. When we were passed to his younger family, they were large as well. The infants followed the same trait."

"Those in the city are that way too, even if they don't do much strugglin'," the orange machine snorted. "Ah figure there might be somethin' else ta this if'n yer that intent on understandin'."

If they were from the black, Luna thought, then why were the technicians blue?

Author's Note:

Slow news day this time.

Comments

[silvadel]

Black and Blue -- maybe they were damaged ;)

[HiddenEntity]

Actually, I can think of a reason why the black and blue "humans" have different builds.

The blue is upper class, and probably have technology that keeps them in a more "perfect" appearance, whereas the black "humans" are hard workers and over time, muscle density tends to become a genetic trait if everyone has it in that family.

[tsaukpaetra]

Interesting. Based on the description of the resultant environmental effects we expected their physiques to be opposite, exercise be darned.