Act 4
Epilogue
Sweetie Belle woke up in a hospital, her vision hazy. She saw orange and yellow shapes above her, and vaguely heard voices. In another moment, she could recognize Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who began to cry tears of joy and hug her tightly. There were no words for several seconds.
“How? How did I?..”
Rarity answered her question. “We found you, at the bottom of the mountain, looking much worse for wear. We were afraid you wouldn’t make it, but she saved you.”
Rarity gestured at a pony with a white coat, criss crossed with scars. On their flank was a cutie mark showing a wrench and a gear, in colors that nicely matched the pink and purple of her stylishly short tail and mane.
Sweetie Belle was confused. “Why? Why did you save me? I thought you hated me.”
The other Sweetie Belle looked at her for a moment before looking away. “I realized it wasn’t you I should hate. You and your friends helped me realize that animosity wasn’t going to help me any. First it was when you broke down crying over your friends. But what sealed it was when they came to me, tears in their eyes, your body draped over one’s back, begging me to save you.” She paused for a moment. “I was so touched by how much they cared for you, in a way nopony had ever cared for me. I threatened to kill them with the robot legions for bothering me, but they persisted.” She looked at Sweetie Belle again. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy the very thing I wanted more than anything else, so I took parts from the bot soldiers to stop you from dying. Your own repair nanobots will handle the rest.”
“Thank-”
“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it for you, I did it for your friends. They helped me find out who I am.”
“Your cutie mark?”
She nodded. “Building bots for somepony else felt different when I did it of my own free will. I’m going to set up a workshop in the Everfree forest- well, takeover Machination’s workshop. I’ve got some assistants. We’ll figure out how his tech worked, then seal the blueprints away somewhere nopony can find them.”
“So we’re both going to be Sweetie Belle, then?”
“No. You’re Sweetie Belle. That name doesn’t fit me.”
“Then who are you?”
“You can call me… Sweetie Bot.” She paused pensively. “It fits. You’re going to need to rest for at least a week for repairs. Your friends here will keep you company.” She walked over to the bed, then extended a hoof. “Till we next meet, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle shook her hoof. “Until then, Sweetie Bot.”
And then she left, leaving the pony with all the time in the world to figure out what it meant to be a robot.