Shetland wanted nothing more than to go: to find that stallion, to find her mother, to scream until her lungs gave out. She grit her teeth, trying to forcefully loosen her muscles. Twilight. Just mouthing the name made her shiver. Twilight had orchestrated the break-in. She had kept Shetland away from the truth, even though she just wanted to see Toasty safe. Why? Did she think I can’t be trusted? That I would ruin whatever… scheme she’d thought of? Or… is it because if I knew, I would try to stop it? Every thought was like a new log on the fire that was burning in her chest. Her hooves shivered, earning her a worried look from Crust. Shetland took a deep breath. Is mom the enemy? She tossed the notion away. Twilight wouldn’t betray the colony… would she? Shetland’s head shook wildly, as if to cool her burning brain. Speculating was of no use. She had to know. But as hot as she felt, as restless as she was… Toasty was still recharging. With a desperate gasp for cooling air, She opened her eyes on Burning Crust, who stared at her like she’d just burst into flame.
“Whatever you said, Crust,” Shetland muttered.
He blinked, seemingly unable to remember what they’d been talking about. “R-right… you uh…” his eyes darted around, looking for something to talk about. “You wanna play cards?”
She pursed her lips, but was there anything better to do?
Crust dealt her a hoof, but she barely paid attention. Yet, almost against her will, she found herself appreciating his effort. Not because of the game, but that it forced her to calm down and think things through. With a quick look, she picked up two random cards and laid them out, keeping him busy as she pondered. No matter how mad she was, she couldn’t cause a public scene. Everypony was already on edge, because of the curfews. Yes, it was Twilight’s fault, but if it got out they couldn’t trust their own princess- she wasn’t sure what consequences there might be, but it would certainly be bad. Not to mention, as she reluctantly admitted to herself, possibly unjustified. No, she couldn’t cause a scene, not before she knew for sure. Her nose tensed as she let out an angry whinny. It was that damn line of reasoning that had always stopped her. If only, if only she could just ignore the logic behind it…
“It’s... your turn,” Crust interrupted her maddening reasoning. Under his breath, he added with more than a hint of annoyance: “It’s been for over five minutes.”
Shetland threw down a card. First, she had to visit that Voidmarine, Lousy Mole or something. If she questioned her mother before that, she could order him not to speak with her, or teach him a cover story, if she hadn’t already done that. Then… if that worked, she would confront Twilight. Though, if it wasn’t to happen in public, she’d have to do it at night. And there was a curfew… She closed her eyes, one hoof rubbing her forehead while Crust exasperatedly gathered his cards and left to chat with Magenta instead. After just a few minutes, his head poked back into the room. “Hey, Shet, your robot friend’s done.”
“Finally!” Shetland nickered as she burst to her hooves. “Toasty, we’re leaving!” she bellowed as she strode out of the storage. The robot blinked and turned to hastily excuse herself to Magenta, before following the larger mare.
--------
Toasty’s eyes grew as she struggled to keep pace. “Twilight Sparkle? She ordered the-” Shetland interrupted her with a kettle-like hiss.
“Don’t say it out loud!” she whispered with enough anger to make the robot lower her ears. Shetland looked around to see if anypony had listened in, but nowadays everypony was too hurried and too scared to be anywhere outside for long. The landing field was vacant, as vacant as it could be with somepony dashing across every other minute like they were chased by a bugbear. “Yes, exactly,” she added quietly.
“Have you considered that she might do it for the same reason you would? Find out-” Toasty took a look at Shetland’s wildly-rolling eyes. “-what they are keeping hidden?”
“Thought crossed my mind,” Shetland grumbled darkly. “But Mom would do it all sneaky-like! She wouldn’t order to have their room trashed if she just wanted to snoop around.” she groaned, rubbing her forehead. “It all makes so little sense… this isn’t what mom would do at all!”
“...right.” Toasty paused. “I agree, it really does not add up.”
“Mhm,” Shetland grumbled as she observed the landing field. “Do you know where this… Lofty-something stallion lives?”
“No, I do not.” Toasty said, causing the earth pony to groan.
“Then other robots should know. He’s like, a robot freedom fighter or something like that.”
“And do not forget,” Toasty added mischievously, “You are pretty popular with us, too~”
Shetland ignored her quip. She was waving towards a trio of robots that had just left a nearby warehouse, beckoning them to come closer.
“So, you are looking for Lofty?” One of the robots asked as they sat in the shadow of a larger building. He sounded concerned, like he wasn’t completely sure if he could trust the odd pair.
“Yep,” Toasty said. “We just wanted to ask him a few questions.”
“I heard he’s under arrest.” a smaller mare-bot said as she tapped her chin.
“He’s in prison?” Shetland bit her lip. There was no way she would get in there easily-
Her worries were quickly dashed, however. “No, no,” the robot chuckled.“ He just can’t leave his room, as far as I heard.”
“And I heard he’s on probation.” The second robotic stallion shook his head.
“As far as I know, he does not leave his room,” the marebot insisted.
“It doesn’t matter how or if he’s been punished,” Shetland groaned. “I just wanna know where he lives.” With that, she leveled her gaze at the first robot. He hesitated, and she could have sworn his speaker played the sound effect of a gulp.
“Why, exactly?” hhe finally asked.
“Oh, come on, Gear Twist!” his friends exclaimed. “This is Shetland Sparkle, she is on our side.”
“I just want to make sure.” Gear Twist gave Shetland a judging look. “Lofty Goal is one of the most prominent of ponies that care for us. Even if I agree he sometimes goes a little overboard, he is our loudest supporter on your side. You are not looking for retribution for your new friends?”
“My new-” Shetland blinked. What was he talking about? Did Lofty attack somepony she knew? Her eyes darted over Toasty. No, she’s here, I just met Magenta and mom’s fine, so who-
Toasty’s hoof dug into her side. Shetland then lowered her head so Toasty could whisper in her ear: “He is speaking about Gan and Khunbish.”
“What?” Shetland exclaimed loudly. “They’re not my friends. I just-” she shook her head in disbelief. “I, MAYBE, have some respect for the male one. At least he seems kind of honest.” she blinked. “Kind of.”
“Then you mean him no harm?” Gear Twist asked cautiously.
“No,” Toasty affirmed. “In no way do we mean him harm, we simply wish to ask him a few questions, so we can find the bad guy.” she glanced to Shetland, who gave her a stern nod.
Gear chuckled. “Alright, he lives in central hub, dorm number F-88, but he can’t have visitors, so-” but whatever he wanted to say, it was drowned out as a loud voice came from behind them. “What do you think you’re doing!? You’re on the clock here!” The robots scrambled to get to their hooves as they ran towards whatever they’d been retrieving from storage.
“We’re falling behind because of you, you chatty rustbuckets! I’ll get your square rears back into shape if I see you lazing off one more time!” A Voidmarine called angrily after them.
Shetland groaned, staring after the Voidmarine with a scornful look. Then she got to her hooves. There was no point in lazing around.
----
Unfortunately, lazing around seemed like the only sensible option. If what the robots said was true and Lofty couldn’t have visitors, there was no way they could just barge in during broad daylight. So, she had resolved to wait for evening.
“Shetland, there is no point in aimlessly walking around,” Toasty complained as they rounded the central colony’s tunnels for what she claimed was already the third time.
Shetland’s ears folded down, pressing themselves against her head, but she gave no other indication of having heard the robot.
“We could do something else,” Toasty suggested. “Would you like lunch?”
“No,” Shetland said, her voice more monotone than the robot’s.
“We could play your board game together.”
“No.”
Toasty huffed. “What about the gym?”
“We were at the gym just this morning and my forehooves are still sore!” Shetland snapped, wrestling for her last bits of patience.
“Well, what do you want to do?” Toasty snapped back. “There must be something!”
“I want to keep walking,” Shetland said resolutely. Walking was good. It kept her brain busy, a miracle for her developing migraine.
“Well, my presence is not required for that,” Toasty grumbled and turned from Shetland, just to suddenly be stopped in her tracks. She whirled around, but even that motion was stopped by Shetland’s teeth gripping tightly onto her tail. “Let go!” she shouted, her eyelights widening.
Shetland spat out the synthetic tail. “Do you think this is some kind of vacation trip?” she snarled, stomping her hoof on the metal ground. “Do you even remember what danger you’re in?!”
“Of course I do!” Toasty’s voice rose to meet Shetland’s. “I am the one who nearly died. I was going to search for a Voidmarine, or Twilight Sparkle or Princess Luna, not walk around defenseless like an idiot!”
“Well, you look like an idiot!” Shetland shouted. “What if it finds you before you find them?”
“Maybe I would even accept that risk,” Toasty grumbled.
At her words, the larger pony paled. “I would not,” she whispered.
“Well, whose decision is it? Not yours!” Toasty’s cold hoof hit Shetland’s broad chest.
Shetland bit her lips, glaring down at the robot. “You’re not taking it,” she hissed through her teeth, lowering her head right in front of Toasty’s visor. But suddenly, the robot’s eyelights flashed in sudden brightness, forcing her to stumble backwards, rubbing her eyelids as afterimages flashed before her closed eyes.
“You are not intimidating me like this, Shetland.” Toasty’s voice was a mixture of shivering anger and dark sternness. “Now, if you please, you could watch my back until I find someone else who will keep me safe.”
“You-” Shetland hissed, still blinking her watery eyes. “Tartarus!” she cursed loudly, grinding her teeth. “Okay,” she said, her voice shaky, as she glared at the small robot, tears leaking uncontrollably out of her eyes. “You’ll get what you want, I’ll bring you to mom, or- or Luna, they’ll certainly be better than me anyway, I’ll just do it without you, why, it won’t even be a problem! I’m Shetland, the mistress of talky-talk, master of subtlety! Definitely the pony you should send to gently tickle information out of someone.” With heaving breaths, she stared down at the little robot, who had taken a few steps back from her. It took a pause of several seconds, in which Shetland’s breath stabilized, until Toasty responded.
“How did you jump to that conclusion?” the robot asked bewilderedly with a shake of her head. “Of course I will assist you when the time comes. It is just that right now, I am bored. Can we not bridge the time somehow?”
Shetland stared forlornly at Toasty, until her hoof suddenly shot up, hitting her own head so hard it left a temporary mark. “I’m so stupid, Toasty...” she whispered, her voice low.
The robot raised her hoof, as if to object, then she lowered it again. “You… did kind of forget what we were arguing about midway through,” she admitted. “I do not want to leave you to doing it alone, you know?”
“Of course I do,” Shetland said defiantly, raising a leg to push her face into her hoof. Toasty, who hadn’t missed the motion, lowered herself to peek under it.
“Shetland, are you crying?”
“No, I’m not!” Shetland fervently shook her head, pulling her leg away in a motion that brushed over her eyes and glared down at Toasty, mist glimmering in her gaze. She pulled up her nose.
Toasty looked away. “Of course you are not, a pony as tough as you has eyes dry as a desert.” She glanced back knowingly. “However, if the -- certainly negligible -- amount of pressure you are experiencing still seems a little bothersome, a board game often helps to relax.” With a chuckle, she added: “I also learned how to make Boortsog, and I am eager for a chance to try it.” With that, she led the way towards their shared room. The staccato tapping of artificial and biological hooves on the metal ground masked the sound of Shetland’s sniffling.
-----
Toasty tried her hardest to look relaxed as she leaned against the wall, her eyes constantly darting towards the door. Shetland groaned.
“How long ‘til curfew?”
“Five minutes.” Toasty whispered with trepidation. “Shetland… we should go, if somepony finds us here…”
Shetland nickered, but the robot had a point. “Do you hear somepony coming?”
“N-no-”
“Listen carefully.” Shetland warned her.
“I said no, and I mean it!” Toasty protested. Then her ears peaked again, in case somepony heard their conversation.
Shetland pushed herself from the wall and approached the door, biting her lip as she gently knocked. A clattering sound came from the room, as if a dozen pencils had fallen to the ground.
“W-who’s there?” To Shetland’s surprise, it was a high-pitched squeak, wholly different from the charismatic voice she’d first heard from the stallion.
“Lofty Goal?” she asked in concern.
“Yes, that’s me,” he admitted.
Shetland frowned. The disappointment was clear in his voice, but she had no time to wonder where it came from. “I’m Shetland Sparkle. I wanted to speak with you.”
“You can’t.” His voice was dampened by more than just the physical barrier. “You have to go back to your place, t-the curfew can start any moment, you’ll be caught.”
“It’s just a few questions.” Unintentionally, she’d spoken a bit louder, causing Toasty to throw a fearful look around.
“I cannot speak with you, I am under orders.”
Shetland grit her teeth, feeling the sudden urge to buck the door down. But it was massive, not in size but in thickness, made primarily from metal, making it uncertain if she could even muster the necessary strength. Not to mention that such a level of noise would get her and Toasty arrested faster than she could blink. “Let us in!” she demanded, allowing her voice to become a bit louder. “I already know you and mom planned the break-in!”
A hoof poked into her side. “Shetland,” Toasty whispered. “I hear hoofsteps.”
Shetland gripped the door handle, rattling it as it miraculously turned, revealing the unicorn’s pale face. “Inside, inside,” he urged, his magic pushing both mares from behind. He snapped the door shut, somehow without any noise. And not a second too soon, as just after it closed, the distorted voice from a helmet’s speaker called out: “No more talking or running around, you are to all stay in your quarters!”
Shetland let out a long breath. The Voidmarine suspected nothing unusual. Lofty did not share her relief however, staring at her with an unreadable expression.
“How did you know?” he asked, not taking his eyes from Shetland for a second.
“I have my sources,” she said, drawing her lips into a thin line.
“The… the princess could not have told you?” Lofty muttered. It sounded like both an assertion and a question.
“I have my sources.” Shetland repeated. “I know she made you specifically guard the room on that day. I want to know exactly what happened.” As he gave her a thin-lipped look, she responded with a hot glare. “I’ll get this story one way or another, if not from you, then from mom!” The mutual staring contest went on for several seconds and her eyes began to twitch, but she culled the glowing, hot fireball in her chest. “Look,” she said, closing her eyes as she tried to sound reasonable. “We both want the same thing, don’t we? Whatever mom is trying to do, I’d find it hard to believe it would be bad for the colony. And she couldn’t have employed you for a bad reason either, right?” From the corner of her eye, she saw Toasty giving her a wink.
Lofty let out a sigh. “Even if you’re right, I’d still get in more trouble with the princess if she finds out I told you.”
“If she does, then she’ll learn that you helped me in protecting every robot in the colony!” Shetland exclaimed. “Isn’t that more important?” Her eyes narrowed as she saw him squirm, but she reigned herself in. Instead, she put on a smile. “My mom is not unreasonable. Maybe she’ll be mad for a little while, but even if it helps just a little bit, I’m sure she’ll be able to look beyond this. It would help every single robot here!” she repeated, intently watching him, silently pleading.
Lofty let out a strained breath. His eyes closed and whole valleys of wrinkles formed on his forehead. “That is… part of the problem.” It sounded like he was in physical pain as he said this. “If it comes out, it could cause damage that we- that I don’t want to risk.”
So there is more on the line than his career, Shetland thought. Her eyes shifted to Toasty. “Is this something that could be used to frame robots?” she whispered.
“N-no!” Lofty tried to assure her, but his voice had grown in pitch and he’d reacted too quickly. A moment later, he seemed to notice his own mistake and settled down, a chagrined expression on his face.
Shetland bit her lip. “You know, I agree with you in many ways,” she whispered, throwing another glance to Toasty. “We don’t treat robots fairly. We need to stop hanging on to outdated, overly-cautious safety rules that others force on us. I promise I would never stay in the way of that, but right now, my marefriend is in danger.”
Lofty’s head shot up. Luckily, he was too focused on Shetland to notice Toasty’s equal look of disbelief. For a heartbeat, Shetland’s eyes shifted to her and she nearly unnoticeably shook her head. Then, she focused back on the unicorn, noticing with relief that he didn’t seem to catch their quiet exchange.
“You- you two are…” he muttered, looking between the two as if one was going to jump up and shout “April Fools”.
“Yep,” Shetland lied, noting from the corner of her eye that Toasty was eagerly nodding along to everything. Well, if we’re going to play this, might just go all in, Shetland thought, then reached her hoof around Toasty’s side, pulling the small robot in to lean against her. “We haven’t told anypony… don’t wanna raise attention while it’s dangerous.” She could have congratulated herself for the words that had tumbled out of her mouth. Now, he wouldn’t even share her stupid fairy tale about their relationship, as it would place them in danger! “But I’m obviously worried about her, she’s already suffered terrible damage. Her data core had to be transferred into a new body.” she swallowed as the memory of Toasty’s old, broken body, half buried by the raging sandstorm, tore into her thoughts. She took a long, rattling breath. “Believe me, I never want to see something like that again!” Maybe it was the memory that gave her voice the necessary urgency, or her eyes a haunted look, but Lofty finally lowered his head, giving them a tiny nod.
“I suppose… if she’s your marefriend, then I can trust that you wouldn’t share anything that would hurt her,” he said quietly, as if he was speaking more to himself than to Shetland. “Just… promise me that, please.” His lips quivered as he looked at Shetland, his eyes bloodshot. Suddenly, she noticed large bags under his eyes, as if he’d been lying awake all night.
“I’ll-” Shetland began, but she stopped herself as she realized what she was about to promise. She glanced to Toasty, hoping the robot would give her a suggestion.
“We will obviously not share this information with anyone who would wish harm on my kind.” Toasty promised.
“Yeah,“ Shetland hastily added. “Only with those who will help us find the bad guys.”
Lofty gave each of them a glance, before turning around. At first, Shetland was about to snarl and grab for his shoulder, but all he did was light his horn and activate a coffee machine on his nightstand.
“Oooh,” Toasty marveled. “The only coffee machines on Horizon I have seen so far have been in the kitchens.”
“Don’t we have one?” Shetland pointed out.
“It is still in our kitchen. Plus, princess quarters. It does not count.”
Lofty let out a tired chuckle. “Hope you don’t mind, I’d rather retell this story with a less tired brain.”
“If…” Toasty’s voice fell silent, but she gawked at the machine from every angle. “If you are not too attached to it, would you sell it to me?”
Lofty threw a confused look to Shetland. Then both of them raised an eyebrow at Toasty. Shetland was the first to ask: “What the heck do you need a coffee machine for? There’s one in our room.”
“Yes, but that is yours. Technically, your mother’s. I want my own.”
“What for? You don’t have a mouth, you cannot even drink coffee!”
“Do not shame my dreams, Shetland,” Toasty replied stubbornly. “I want my own coffee machine, regardless of what you or anypony else says.”
Shetland threw another glance to Lofty and they shared a mutual shrug. With a ding, the coffee machine finished pouring the unicorn’s cup of disgusting sludge.
“I assume you’re already aware of the official version? That I slept on the job and let some unknown figure break in?”
Shetland and Toasty nodded. “So that’s certainly wrong.” Shetland said, her voice hardened. “And you, and with you, mom, know who broke in?”
“That’s how it was supposed to go,” A dark tone had snuck into Lofty’s voice. “But if it had gone as planned, if I had been more suspicious, then it would have gone quietly, nopony would have known it even happened.”
Toasty perked up. “But you were awake, right? You must have seen who went inside!”
“I did.” Lofty mumbled. Then he let out a sigh. “Princess Twilight employed me to stand guard while she distracted the hyenas with something.”
Toasty threw a look at Shetland, whose expression had fallen. So, the dinner “to get to know our allies” had just been a fake. A sudden, dry chuckle erupted in her throat, interrupting Lofty. “Wow,” Shetland said with a sudden grin. Such a scam from the princess of friendship. I underestimated her. A deception like this fit more to the changeling queen… but then, Queen Twinkle and Twilight had always been fairly close. There was no reason not to assume she’d picked up a few tricks.
Lofty cleared his throat. Shetland’s grin instantly evaporated as she settled back down. “I was told I should just do a normal guard job,” the stallion said, his voice getting slower, until the words were nearly crawling out of his mouth. “Until a robot would appear. I would then make sure it could enter and leave the room unseen.”
“So…” Toasty’s eyelights widened. “It was that robot?”
Shetland grit her teeth. If a robot had done all that damage, it was obvious why Lofty wouldn’t want to reveal it.
But the stallion shook his head. “No… maybe.” he whispered. “You see, the princess only gave me as much information as I needed. So… I was confused when there was not one, but two robots.” He watched the baffled looks of the pair. “Of course I questioned it, but they assured me it was fine, the plan had been changed, and what was I supposed to do, sabotage the princesses’s plan?” he swallowed. “Princess Twilight must have trusted the robot she was sending, so when it assured me it was fine… I just stepped aside.”
Shetland’s mouth was dry as she whispered. “And who are these two robots?”
Lofty sighed and glared fretfully at the ground. “One, apparently, is the robot Twilight sent. But the other…” He shook his head. “I didn’t recognize her. And the crazy part is, the robot we do have insists she couldn’t remember the other at all!”
At that, Shetland jumped up. “You’re bullshitting me!”
But Lofty only gave her a pained expression. “That’s about the reaction I got from your mother.” he sighed. “Believe it or not, that's what happened.”
“What a load of crap!” Shetland hissed. “How convenient that the other witness has forgotten, so any other version of your story must be false!”
“He might be telling the truth,” Toasty interjected quietly, taking the wind out of Shetland’s sails. “It is quite likely, even.”
Astonished, Shetland and Lofty stared at her. Toasty met each of their looks sternly. “Shetland, I could not remember who attacked me in the sandstorm. It… is-is quite likely the attacker can… hack us.”
Shetland’s jaw dropped. “Hack a robot?” she whispered. “Who can hack a robot? You build firewalls like…”
“Like an immune system.” Toasty affirmed. “There are few who can breach our defenses. Even less who could alter a memory to that degree. But it is not impossible. The A.I. of Hiroshimare hacked thousands of firewalls in a second, for example. And even among organics, there are a few who would be capable of such a feat. I would trust Scalloway to do such a thing.”
“Scalloway?” Lofty repeated. “The cranky old breezie? Seriously?”
“He managed to restore many of my mental capacities after I was nearly destroyed,” she confirmed. “He is exceptionally skilled and dedicated in his work.”
The lump in Shetland’s throat could have easily been a boulder. Hadn’t there been a hacker attack when the hyenas landed? Had she not caught Gan trying to sneak into the mainframe? She jumped up, but already a second later, her resolve disappeared and she just stood there, staring into emptiness as her thoughts outraced her unmoving legs. It still didn’t add up. She grit her teeth. “I need to talk with mom. Now,” she decided as she turned to the door.
“What are you doing?” Lofty now jumped to his hooves as well. “Y-you can’t go out there, there’s still the curfew!”
Shetland regarded his objection with a quick nod. “I was counting on that,” she said darkly. “They’ll bring us right to her.”
With a long sigh, Toasty got up, right as Shetland bucked the door open.
---
Shetland smashed her hoof against the metal bars, earning a startled look from the unarmored Voidmarine. So, there had been a little oversight in her plan. Maybe bucking the door open wasn’t the brightest idea. While it did save some time by summoning a whole bunch of Voidmarines, it made them somewhat less accepting of her demands to be taken straight to her mother. Instead, they’d deemed it safer to jail her in the barracks! On the other hoof, that’s a good thing, she thought in an attempt to stifle her annoyance. At least our guards are doing their job and not backing down. But all her mental gymnastics achieved was a dry snort. At least she had managed to convince one of them to go and notify her mom. Shetland was certain it wouldn’t take much longer. There was no way Twilight was asleep yet. In times of stress, her mother rarely went to sleep before she would collapse at around 4 or 5 am. Grumbling, she sat back down, putting a hoof around Toasty’s shoulder and earning a relieved look from the guard.
Toasty gave Shetland a sour look. “I’m not sure I would agree to this plan in retrospect. I did not look forward to being in jail.”
“We’ll be in here for the night at most, then we’ll get out with a fine.” Shetland said automatically, having studied the laws of Horizon as she’d trained to be a Voidmarine herself. “Not that that’ll happen, mom’s gonna let us out.”
“I still did not want to be here.” Toasty said gruffly.
“First time in jail?” The Voidmarine asked, raising an eyebrow at Shetland.
“Never in jail, though I’ve been in detention dozens of times,” Shetland answered.
“No.” Toasty simply answered, not meeting either of their eyes.
Shetland gasped. “When did you get thrown in jail?”
“I do not want to talk about it,” Toasty said and refused to answer any more questions. With a long sigh, Shetland leaned back, simply waiting for her mother to arrive. She didn’t have to wait long. As the automatic doors to the barracks opened, a furious Alicorn rushed through, her feathers as wild as her ethereal mane, which looked as if it were reenacting a thunderstorm.
“What did you think you were doing?!” she shouted into the room, then lowered her voice a little as her eyes fell on the startled Voidmarine. “Please, give us a moment of privacy.”
The marine nodded and almost dropped his ID card in his haste to leave the room. Outside, he took a quick turn to the left, which Shetland knew led to the bathrooms. She looked after him for several seconds, until the automatic door closed again. Only then did she turn her head to her mother. “Hey, mom.”
Twilight snarled. “Did I hear this right?” She asked, struggling to keep her voice in line. “You were out after curfew, broke into another pony’s dorm and vandalized their door?”
Shetland icily returned her mother’s glare. “Lofty Goal,” she said, gripping a metal bar with a hoof as Twilight’s face fell.
“I… told you not to speak with him,” Twilight said, carefully observing Shetland, who was hissing through her teeth.
“And I know why, so drop the act, mom!”
“Shhhh!” Twilight’s head jerked side to side, making sure nopony was listening. Then, she slowly turned back to the earth pony and let out a heavy sigh. “I hoped you wouldn’t find out.”
“Yeah, but I did.” Shetland crossed her hooves. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered, searching her mother’s eyes. But Twilight seemed just as adamant to avoid meeting hers. Shetland snarled. “Did you think you couldn’t trust me? I would have prefered to know when you used me as a distraction in that little plan of yours!”
The Alicorn’s head reared up. “I was not going to gamble the plan on your acting abilities, Shetty!”
“So you don’t trust me!”
“It was better if nopony knew.” Twilight stated objectively as her eyes hardened. “It was less risky if you didn’t know.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me afterwards?” Shetland’s eyes were now tiny slits. “You let me stumble in the dark when you had answers!”
“Because…” Twilight paused. “Because I didn’t know what you would do, if you knew-” She bit her lip. “How much has Lofty told you?”
“He told me that you planned to use a robot to spy on the hyenas, but that there were was a second one which only he remembers,” Shetland said drily.
“Which could very well be true,” Toasty chimed in, receiving surprised looks from both Sparkles. “It is possible that my memory has also been altered during the sandstorm.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes… it points to a theory I’ve been holding for a while now.” she looked around, frowning. “But we’ve already said too much in this place. Shetland, Toasty, you have a royal pardon.” She raised a unique purple ID card to a scanner and the cell door opened. Toasty stumbled out first, but was stopped by Twilight’s wing. “Shetland, please bring a couple breathing masks.” Twilight said, her horn glowing. Shetland knew there was no time to protest, and so she smashed an emergency case holding a dozen and put one over her own muzzle, when the feeling of teleportation hit her. That weird nasal-headache feeling that slowly seemed to pull her entire body through her own nostrils. She landed on the cold, rocky ground, holding her chest as her stomach lurched. Faintly, she felt the other breathing mask float out of her hoof.
“Sorry,” Twilight muttered, looking out over the plain, dusty fields, certainly at least mile away from the lights of the colony. “But this is the only way I can be sure nopony will overhear this.”
Shetland groaned, slowly sitting up. “You said you have a theory?”
Twilight nodded. “We now have three cases of a digital attack,” she began, glancing to the colony. “The first, when our systems were hacked during the hyena’s landing, nearly resulting in casualties. The second, when your friend here got lost during the sandstorm and could not remember who attacked her.”
Shetland gave Toasty a worried look and scooted closer.
“It could,” Twilight muttered. “Have resulted from a regular blow to her head, which would have shaken her processor, but that seems ever more unlikely. And now, if Lofty did not construct an extremely unbelievable story to cover for himself, we have proof that not one, but two robots have been hacked,” Twilight ended with a grim expression.
“Princess Twilight?” Toasty whispered. “Do you have an idea who would be able to do such a thing?”
“No,” The Alicorn admitted. “The only person I know of would be Scalloway, and I would never suspect him of such a thing. I’ve known him to follow the breezy pacifist philosophy religiously, he would never support such a thing.”
“Isn’t there anyone else-” Shetland wanted to ask, but Toasty reached up, sealing her mouth with a hoof. Her eyes were fixated on Twilight.
“What if I am hacked?”
Shetland’s eyes widened as Twilight gave Toasty a pitying look. “I have considered that.” she spoke in a low voice. “On one hoof, if you were supposed to become a puppet, why nearly destroy you?” she pursed her lips. “Yet, on the other…when Shetland took you with her when she spoke with Lofty, you’d learned too much.” she swallowed. “I’m so sorry, but you will either have to shut down until the situation is resolved, or let Scalloway access and delete the memory.”
Shetland let out an indignant cry. “You can’t force her to do this!” she exclaimed. “I-It’s illegal, any sort of mind manipulation is utterly illegal!” A cold hoof poked her side and she looked into Toasty’s dim eyelights. The robot’s ears were folded tightly to her head.
“It is not illegal for robots,” Toasty whispered sadly. “But do not shout, please. I would agree regardless of legitimacy.” She met Twilight’s rueful eyes. “I will not inadvertently help whoever is hacking my people. I wish to let Scalloway perform the memory cut.”
“Thank you,” Twilight whispered. She looked like a mountain had been lifted from her heart. Shetland could not say the same for herself.
“But please,” Toasty raised a hoof. “Allow me to keep my memory for the sake of supporting you in this discussion, if I may be of help.”
“Of course.” Twilight smiled. “I sent for Scalloway yesterday, and he will not arrive before tomorrow morning, anyway. I’m afraid you’ll have to stay under my watch for so long.”
“That is acceptable.”
“So…” Twilight awkwardly looked back to Shetland, whose face could have been carved from a slab of granite. “I am nearly certain there is an incredibly knowledgeable hacker hiding in the colony. I do not think it is one of the hyenas, however,” Twilight responded to Shetland’s raised eyebrow. “It always seems like they are the suffering party, aside from the robots.”
“The hyenas know, though,” Shetland grumbled. “One time, at Coltville, I saw Gan try to break into the mainframe at night.”
Twilight paused. “I have not been informed of that,” she said sternly. “Did he succeed?”
“No.” Shetland shook her head. “He didn’t get inside. Claimed he was lost when I found him.”
“Strange…” Twilight whispered. “Of course, we cannot completely disregard the option that he wasn’t lying-” Shetland snorted loudly. “-but I also find it very unlikely.” She opened her wings, beating on the warm air as she thought. Then she let out a sigh. “But it’s still sketchy proof-”
“There is more!” Toasty exclaimed. Both mares raised their heads. “The landing! Think about the landing!”
“It was the first sign that something was up, yes,” Twilight whispered. “The hyenas tried to land, when suddenly all our systems failed inexplicably.”
“Hold on!” Shetland suddenly exclaimed, her eyes widening. “That wasn’t the first strange thing, mom. First, the hyenas refused to synch up with our systems!”
Twilight gasped. “Right. They did not connect.” her eyes widened.
“And now we know why.” Shetland said grimly. “They know there is a hacker. They know it’s in our system and they knew from the start!”
“The attempt to get into our mainframe…” Twilight whispered, her right hoof trembling. “That means they are trying to trace the hacker without our knowledge.”
Toasty gasped. “That means they really are on our side?”
Shetland spat out. “If you can call it that! They’re still sneaking around us and keeping us away from solving the issue.” she glared at Twilight. “Is that finally enough proof to confront them?”
Twilight visibly deflated. She looked weirdly crumpled, as if her real age had suddenly caught up with her. “No,” she sighed, holding up a hoof to cut off Shetland’s protest before it started. “If we confronted them, they would demand to know how we gained our knowledge. And how are we going to openly explain that I had someone search through their room?”
Shetland could have exploded. It felt like a horrible joke that the answers were so, so uncomfortably close, and yet she could not ask the final questions! “But when?” she demanded to know.
“Soon,” Twilight stated, her eyes lighting up. “I’ll be frank, Shetty. I do not know myself how much more patience I have left for them.”
Shetland took a deep breath, wrestling with her anger. “Did we actually find out anything during the spying act itself?”
Twilight sighed. “No, nothing out of the ordinary. But I should have guessed. Who would leave incriminating documents lying in their room? No, they’ll have it all stored inside their heads.”
“Then we have to get it out of there.” Shetland said grimly.
“Yes, we do.” Twilight agreed. “But I’m not sure how…” Suddenly, her mouth opened wide as she yawned.
“You should go get some rest,” Shetland whispered. “You’ll probably have better ideas when you’re not ninety percent asleep.”
“No… I can’t,” Twilight mumbled, holding out a wing over Toasty. “I have to watch her until Scalloway arrives to… to do his thing.”
Toasty met Shetland’s eyes. “I will stay with her. Do not worry, I will be careful to be as safe as I can.”
Shetland could only frown.
“Well,” Twilight spoke with another mighty yawn. “I should teleport us back before I fall asleep out here.“
“I will make you coffee!” Toasty exclaimed eagerly.
“That would be very friendly of you,” the Alicorn said with a tired smile.