Rarity stared dumbfounded at the blue rabbit standing at her hooves while trying to make sense of what was going on. The rabbit had her arms crossed while tapping her foot waiting for something.
“Let me know when you’re done processing all this so we can get down to business,” Sophia said. “And to try and move this along, yes, I am talking and yes, I am blue, and no this is not a product of your overly stressed mind which has come about because of Sweetie Belle’s predicament.”
Rarity finally shook herself out of her entranced state as something the rabbit just said caught her attention. “You know about Sweetie?”
“Yes, and if there is any chance of saving her then we will need to work together on this project. I left those schematics on your desk for you to find. Don’t worry about how they got there, that’s not important right now. I will provide what assistance I can and I know some others who can help with other aspects of this project. If everything goes well you will have a bright future ahead of you.”
Rarity looked at Sophia in surprise, “You?! But…but how? You’re just a–.”
“Don’t judge by appearances Miss Rarity, by logical accounts that hunk of metal you just made should not have come from sapphires, but it did.”
“Fair point. So how are you planning on helping me?”
“Let’s go inside and discuss this first.” Rarity narrowed her eyes at the rabbit for a few moments before she moved aside to allow her entry. Once the filly closed the door the two sat at table, Rarity giving a cushion to Sophia to use as a booster seat. Sophia continued, “First of all, that ingot, do you know what it is?”
“Afraid not, all I know is that the idea came to me in a dream; the concept of turning gems to metal and the means to do so. I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“Then you need to file some patents tomorrow. Make sure to claim ownership rights to the invention of your refinery and the process of turning gems to metal. Last thing you need is somepony stealing your idea and profiting off of it. You will need those bits to improve upon the design of your refinery and to make improvements to your workshop.”
“Yes, this dreary place could use some touching up and I do need the bits..”
Sophia nodded, “Second, submit that ingot to whatever place you ponies count as a research institute.”
“Well…that may be a problem…umm…” Sophia quickly introduced herself with an apology for the late introduction. “Sophia, there isn’t really a research institute. I mean there is one in Canterlot but I’ve heard that it’s heavily underfunded because the nobles felt that there were better things for the bits to flow toward. I would be better off bringing this metal to Princess Celestia herself.”
Sophia’s paw met her face before she let it slide down. “Right, I almost forgot how you ponies are averse to progress…”
“Not all of us!” Rarity defended with a scandalized look on her face. “Ponyville is far less restrictive to innovators like myself. It’s one of the reasons I moved here.”
Sophia paused for a moment before she decided that it was time to get back to the main topic. “We can worry about presenting the metal to the Princess later. For now, let’s go over the schematics that I want you to see.”
Rarity led Sophia to her drafting table where she unrolled the schematics which revealed a blueprint to designing a robotic filly. The engineer looked over the plans while a pencil was being held in her telekinetic grip. Using the writing utensil, she wrote down a few notes while erasing a few areas she deemed unimportant. She didn’t realize that Sophia was levitating herself over the filly to look over her shoulder.
After a couple of hours of looking over everything as well as pulling out another schematic from a nearby drawer, Rarity got out of her seat and placed the plans in her drawer. She appeared ready to drop from exhaustion but she still had enough energy to explain her changes.
She didn’t want to risk losing parts of the subject’s mentality by trying something like converting neural information into an electronic form so it was better to take the whole brain and wire it up to the systems in the machine. Sophia pointed out that the brain needed constant nutrition to keep the cells from dying out.
Then there was the issue of the subject’s magic. Even if the brain could be maintained and become able to use the mechanical body, Rarity wanted to use the body as a means of giving her sister a second chance at life and since she was a unicorn she wanted to find a way to have Sweetie use magic in her new body.
There were also the medical and ethical aspects of this procedure since this was something completely unheard of and it was going to involve transferring a pony’s brain into a robot body.
However, that would have to wait for tomorrow since Rarity was now at her limit and was proceeding up the stairs to her bedroom. She offered the couch to Sophia for the night which she accepted.
The next morning with Rarity rested up, Sophia went over her own suggestions to the plans. For one, she knew the formula to create a compound designed to preserve brain tissue. Of course, Rarity was an engineer, not a chemist so she simply accepted her suggestion. As far as the procedure would go, Sophia offered the services of one of her cousins to perform it, assuring her that she was top notch for this. Sophia gave every assurance to the young mare that she had everything covered and that all she had to do was get to work constructing the body.
The construction took several months which was due to the fact that Rarity had never done this before though Sophia was certain that the engineer could make it better as her skills and confidence improved. The process also involved numerous visits to nearby gem deposits for the material and the refining process.
Rarity did file the patents for the refinery and the processing of gems to metal and she did show the metal to Princess Celestia who was intrigued by the material. Of course, it would be a while before any bits could come of this venture since ponies were generally slow to adapt to new things. In the meantime, she still got her bits from appliance repairs or building replacement appliances.
After several months of hard work she was finished with the construction of the robotic filly. Sophia put her own modifications to it which included a Jorium crystal encased in the horn. She told Rarity that the crystal was known for its resonance with brain waves so it might be a good conductor for magic channeling. Though Sophia didn’t tell her that the crystal would also be part of a fallback plan in case it wasn’t possible for Sweetie to use magic in her new body.
The next step involved summoning the doctor who would perform the operation. Sophia had contacted her prior so it was only a matter of drawing the summoning circle and placing a few ritual items before activating it.
The doctor who appeared was a pale white mare with a snow white mane and tail wearing dark armor with numerous skull motifs. Most notable was the tip of a sword with runes on it poking out of her forehead where a unicorn’s horn would be. A quick illusion spell made the blade look like a unicorn horn. Knowing what she was going to be doing she also turned her armor into a lab coat.
“Hey Thanatas,” Sophia greeted, giving a wide, fanged smile. “Ready to perform some brain surgery?”
The mare looked down at her cousin with a raised eyebrow, “I didn’t think you could get any deadlier, now you give me the impression of a meat grinder that lures her victims in with cuteness.”
“Exactly what I am going for!” Sophia cheekily replied.
Thanatas chuckled as she shook her head. “If we are going to be doing this legally then you will need to get her parents to sign the consent forms. I am confident in my ability to perform the procedure but I have to know if it will only be the brain?”
Sophia thought about that for a moment before she considered something. “I have some knowledge of magic but I have heard that ponies have something called wellsprings that seem to be a sort of natural storage and possibly a means of producing their magical energy. Is there a way to transfer that as well?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem but we should make sure we know exactly what a wellspring is so that I can prepare accordingly. However, I am concerned that the organ might be underdeveloped, given the age of the subject. Unless that engineer filly has a solution to that problem, the subject may have to live the rest of her days with weak magic.”
Sophia had considered that possibility. It was unfortunate that the seven year old filly didn’t have a few more years for her wellspring to properly develop but this was the hand that had been dealt to her. However, she did have a workaround if that scenario came to pass, but she would have to wait a few more years before she could consider that plan of action.
Once the two finished their discussion Sophia had a brief discussion with Rarity about what a wellspring was which she relayed to her cousin who was preparing for the surgery. The medical staff at Ponyville General Hospital were surprised by her arrival and her application to work there, presenting all of the necessary degrees to the staff.
Thanatas had to use the cover story of being a doctor from a foreign land to make the doctors and nurses less skeptical of her while informing them that she intended on performing a procedure on Sweetie Belle that could give her a chance at living a life, even if it would take an artificial body to do so. Naturally, the staff gave questioning looks to Thanatas.
The parents were contacted the next day and quickly headed to the hospital where Thanatas gave her intentions on transferring their daughter’s mind to an artificial body that their other daughter had built.
“Do you honestly think we would trust some stranger like you with our daughter? If you do that then she will be seen as an abomination to society!” Hondo Flanks, the father, shouted.
“So you believe that it would be preferable to have your daughter being pushed around in a wheelchair all her life while having to have everything done for her while the only things that she would be able to do would be to feel and speak?” Thanatas countered. “Her damaged spine has made her tetraplegic and a broken horn will make things worse for her going forward. Not to mention the psychological issues that will eventually spring up, especially severe depression.”
“B-but…” Cookie Crumbles, the mother, stammered. “This just doesn’t seem natural. And what if the doctors could repair her spine?” She knew that she was grasping at straws, but she held onto that tiny hope for some way to save their daughter without something that seemed insane.
“Maybe if medical technology was centuries ahead than it is right now, but I have studied a number of medical journals from renowned doctors and found that none of them had proven that Equestria was capable of such a feat. How long are you willing to wait for a doctor to appear who could repair severe spinal damage?”
The parents remained silent while their heads lowered in defeat while Thanatas pressed on, “This procedure can give your daughter a chance of living a foalhood. It will not be a normal one, but it’s better than living like somepony’s dress-up doll for the rest of her life.”
The three continued to argue over this until a high-pitched voice called out to them, “Mommy? Daddy?” The three turned around to find Sweetie Belle in a wheelchair being pushed by a white mare with a pink mane and tail wearing a nurse’s cap with a cutie mark of a red cross with four small hearts at four corners. “What’s going on?”
After the parents made a doting display on their daughter in front of the whole lobby, Thanatas went on to explain what she intended to do with her, which pretty much amounted to telling her that she intended on putting her brain in a robot body without going into technical terms that she wasn’t certain the filly would understand.
“Me in a robot body? Sounds kinda cool, actually,” Sweetie responded.
“Sweetie, this wouldn’t be something you would experience for a time. If you go through with this, you will live in that body for the rest of your life,” Cookie warned.
“Fine by me, I don’t want to live like this. I want to be able to go out and make friends and do neat stuff with them without them looking at me with pity.”
With those final words, Hondo and Cookie finally gave up their resistance while Thanatas levitated the two a clipboard holding the consent papers. The two quietly signed the papers and found their seats in the lobby where they began to hold each other trying to console the other.
The next twelve hours were the longest for the parents. The hours felt like days as they worried themselves to exhaustion. About halfway through that time Rarity was called to the hospital where the doctors allowed her into the surgical ward. Hondo and Cookie were uncertain what this meant so they did their best to remain optimistic that their daughter’s presence was a good sign.
By the end of the twelve hours it was well into the night. The couple fell asleep in the waiting room so the nurses provided them with blankets. They were stirred from their restless slumber when a nurse called for them. “Mr. Flanks, Mrs. Crumbles, she is ready to accept visitors.”
“Tell me nurse, is Sweetie Belle alright?” Cookie asked, desperation in her tone.
Nurse Redheart hesitated for a moment as she considered her words carefully. “I am not sure how this procedure actually worked, but it did. Right now Ms. Rarity is working on the final calibrations to make sure the nerves are connected to the correct wires. Other than that she seems to be functioning properly, I think.”
Redheart led the parents to their daughter’s room where they spotted Rarity instructing her to use different parts of her body from raising her hooves to walking around. Sweetie was growing impatient.
“Are we done yet? I wanna show mom and dad my new look.” Sweetie complained.
“In a moment, just a few more things. Can you move your tail?” Sweetie did as asked.
Rarity was in awe of the pink and purple fibers that made up her mane and tail. They almost looked like real pony hair. There were some areas that she would have to address with the next model such as the joints being very apparent and her casing was all metal and no fur. She wanted her sister to look as much like her old self as possible. For a first attempt it wasn’t bad but her mind was flooded with ideas on how to improve the design.
For this model Rarity had to settle on making sure Sweetie’s brain could be properly maintained without her constant input. Thanks to the formula proposed by Thanatas, the brain would be preserved and receive nutrition needed for proper growth. An invention of Rarity’s, called an alchemical converter, would make it so any water and food consumed would be transmuted into formula to replace what had been consumed while the waste was disposed of in a way ponies normally disposed of waste in their bodies to give Sweetie some illusion of still being an organic being.
“Sweetie? Is that you?” Hondo asked.
Sweetie looked in her parents’ direction, smiling and waving a hoof. “Hi mom, dad. What do you think?”
At that moment the couple had reached the limits of how much stress they could take and passed out. Sweetie looked at the two in confusion, “Was it something I said?”