A few minuets later, the three arrived at a vine-covered arch with a sign hanging from it with the shape of an apple cut out from it. Batou cracked a small smile…
“Well this place is ether a farm, or Apple has gone O-Natural”
The Three looked around. There was nobody to be seen. Motoko raised her hoof at Tachikoman”
“I think it would be a good idea for you to go T.O.C mode for a wile. If anyone see’s you they might be alarmed”
“Oh alright”
Tachikoma vanished from sight and continued to follow them. Batou walked up to Motoko’s side.
“You know if what you said is true, it implies that Tachikoma is just as much a person as us, can’t pass on without a soul”
“Guess it’s not really that surprising, I have seen plenty of programs ascend into the levels of sentient, just not many that ended happily”
She stopped. She could feel something, something inside of her. It was like her stomach was vibrating. Then came the noise, it was a low growling like roar. Suddenly her body felt…empty. Batou stared at her.
“Hungry are we…”
He blinked and raised an eyebrow…
“Wait a minuet…since when do you get hungry…or have a growling stomac?”
Motoko though about it. Feeling hungry. She had completely forgotten how it felt. Her old body only needed very little nurturance and could store it inside of her so she only needed to ‘eat’ a few times a week or even months. This new body was more like a normal organic one than she though…could that mean…
“This is an apple farm right. That means there are apple trees.”
Motoko rushed to what looked like an apple tree orchid.
“Lets go! I have something I want to test!”
They walked deep into the orchid, they where all full of large, ripe, shiny, impossibly red apples. Batou was especially impressed.
“Do they go and polish these things or something?”
Motoko found a tree with partially enticing apples growing from it.
“How do I get one of those things?”
“…Why don’t you just fly up”
Motoko stood motionlessly for a moment and then looked at her unfolded, and then turned bright red.
“R…right…”
Motoko jumped up into the air and hovered in front of the greenery of the tree. She picked on of the shining apples, noting that she could see herself in it, and gently went back to the ground. She looked at the glistening fruit in her hands. Surly this wouldn’t work, her body may be the most advanced one she has ever had, and may have senses identical or better than organic ones, and a stomach that growls when it needs protein, but even the most advanced cyborgs couldn’t use real food as a fuel source, let alone taste them. She swallowed half expecting not to feel anything, and bit into the juicy flesh of the apple. She could feel the sweet juice pass by her tong and flow down her throat, the crunch of the apples skin with the softness of the fruits flesh…the…of the…
“Major? MAJOR!...MOTOKO!!!”
Motoko shook herself. The apple with a large bite mark was still in her hoofs, and juice was coming out of the corners of her mouth.
“Geez what happened, you looked like you just took an entire bag of meth!”
Motoko just slowly turned her head to face him. Her mouth slightly open, and her eyes open wide and alert. Without any warning she shoved the apple into Batou’s mouth and zipped past him. Batou let the apple stay in his mouth for a moment before gently taking it out and looking at it.
“WOW! I tasted that! So where able to taste as well as…”
He stopped when he noticed that there was the sound of crunching behind him.
“Tachikoma…where’s the Major?”
“She’s over by those wooden boxes full of…half full of Apples”
Batou turned his head to find a purple Pegasus with its head in a crate that was home to an assortment of crunching sounds. He rushed over to Motoko before she got to deep in the box.
“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING! WHERE SUPOST TO BE STELFY HERE! THIS ISN’T STELFY!”
“What in tarnation are ya two doing!”
The two of them stopped and turned around slowly. In front of them was an orange pony with blond hair, green eyes and a cowboy hat. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Motoko turned invisible, leaving Batou alone.
“REALY!?”
Then he vanished to. Applejack walked over to where the two strange pony’s had been. Then as she was wondering how many apples that purple one ate, a strong gust of wind zipped past her causing her hat to fly off, as if something had just sped past her. Applejack walked over and picked up her hat, and saw the two strait lines that had suddenly appeared on the ground, like small wagon treks.
“What the heck is going on today?”
A few miles away outside of the farm, two ponies appeared out of thin air. Batou was the first to speak.
“What was that? Since when do you go crazy and then run off!”
“Sorry, Sorry, I know it was stupid and unprofessional. It’s just been a lifetime since I have really tasted anything that strong. All those flavors, the texture, I couldn’t help myself”
Motoko looked at the ground, embarrass.
“I…feel alive in this body…since I became a Cyborg, I have questioned about how real I was, if I was even still a person. But this body, this one makes me feel real, like I was if I never was turned into a Cyborg…for the first time since I was a child…with my parent’s…I feel…Hole”
She fell silent for a moment and looked at Batou. She smiled slightly.
“Also after that business in the forest I felt really hungry”
There was another brief pause before the two erupted in laughter. Motoko couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so much. It felt good. Motoko calmed down just as Tachikoma finally reached them.
“are you two OK?”
Motoko wiped her eyes.
“Where fine Tachikoma, just fine”
Batou walked over to Motoko’s side.
“So where to now oh grate apple thief”
Motoko smiled.
“well as long as we don’t, check that, I don’t attract any attention, we should probably explore the nearby town. Tachikoma, you’re going to have to stay like that for a little wile longer”
“Okey Dokey”
And so they made there way to the main road.
“Hay Major, what was the name of the town again?”
She turned her head to Batou.
“I believe it was called Ponyvill”
Batou sighed.
“Of corse it is”
A few minuets later, they arrived at the edge of town.