-Maintenance Room: Spike-
Soft lights of blue and green glowed within the darkened room, Twilight's Number One assistant, Spike, held in stasis as his hand was being replaced and programmed.
The dragon was a marvel not only of other bots of his caliber, but of robotics as a whole… From the moment of his conception, life itself had seemed to bloom from seemingly nowhere. What was meant to be a useless statue of haphazardly connected servos and wires had quickly become its own life form.
No pre-destined assignation, no need to follow given orders... Twilight had not just built a machine, she had unwittingly given it life.
And now he stood in a lonely room, body, mind and soul on standby as his creator’s machines made him whole once more.
“Hello?” A voice seemed to echo from the sleeping machine.
“Hello!” The voice called out once more.
“Well, isn't this a sticky wicket…”
-Morning-
“Oh good, the new hand installed perfectly!” Twilight cheered as she brought her assistant out of stasis. Lights flooded the once shadow obscured room, its occupant stirring from his slumber.
With a grand yawn, followed by the stretching of limbs and a bit of scratching upon the base of their tail, Spike looked to Twilight as he clenched and unfurled his new claw. “Heh, you're too good to me Twi.” Spike said happily.
Smiling softly in return, Twilight turned to a screen to her left that showed pertinent data involving her precious assistant. Finding nothing wrong after a third and fourth diagnostics, Twilight tapped Spike’s chest lightly, “Welp, I’ve had some sleep and I am starving!”
“Well, I could always go for a good bacon and eggs with coffee.” A voice not belonging to anyone echoed out of Spike.
Spinning in place, Twilight looked to Spike, the dragon looking absolutely mortified.
“Twilight, that wasn't me!” He shouted defensively.
Nodding, Twilight opened a chest port on Spike’s body and plugged his core into a handheld device. “I’ll isolate the bug and have it purged from your systems.”
“Wait wait wait!” The voice pleaded, Spike’s hands shooting up pleadingly. “Oh, sorry about that…” The voice relented as Spike slowly moved his arms on his own volition.
“Right, you're getting deleted.” Twilight said calmly, Spike nodding in agreement.
“I CAN HELP YOU WITH NATHAN!!” The voice shouted, causing Twilight to stop and immediately unplug her device.
“Tell me everything you know…” The mare whispered in reverence.
“TWI!” Spike shouted. “You can't just trust every disembodied voice we come across!”
“Not now Spike, I'm doing…” Twilight isolated the rogue program and had it transferred into a new portable. “SCIENCE!” She declared as she raised her device.
"Perfect, it had to be Membrane…" The voice echoed from its new home.
"Membrane?" Spike asked as he set his chest in place.
"A… scientist. Quite famous where I'm from." The voice replied.
"And where are you from?" Twilight asked as she began her walk. "And just who are you? Oh I have so many questions…" She squee'd silently.
"All in due time my dear," The voice stated. "But first, you really should eat."
As Spike prepared Twilight's meal, the unicorn scientist sat down with her hand held device. "So, it's obvious you're an artificial intelligence meant to be a part of Nate, but that doesn't tell me much." Twilight stated.
"Well, allow me to introduce myself," The A.I. began. "I am Aaaaal-" Only to cut himself off.
"Aaaal?" Twilight asked as she tapped a pen onto a notepad.
"Al," The A.I. responded. "Call me Al."
"Just 'Al'?" Spike asked incredulously, a plate of pancakes in one claw and a small jug of freshly squeezed juice in the other. "What's your exact designation?"
A small hum left Al's current holding place as if he were pondering a suitable answer. "I wasn't exactly programed with a designation. I serve one purpose: analyze Nathan's progress and unlock more of his abilities as he reaches certain… thresholds we'll call them."
Twilight, for the most part, stayed silently enthralled as Al spoke. Even as she mindlessly chewed on a pancake whole, her eyes never left where Al's voice echoed from.
Slightly perturbed, Spike took the small device from off the table much to Twilight's dismay, said mare whining as she reached out for Spike… food still in her mouth.
"Alright, fine, let's say we believe you," Spike said as he placed the device on a rather high and unreachable shelf much to Twilight's dismay. "Where did you come from, and how did you get inside me?" He asked with just a hint of animosity.
"Pfft, phrasing…" Al replied, which only caused the dragon to growl. "Alright alright! Do you remember the door?"
"Door?" Twilight asked, finally having chewed through her food.
"Yes, the one electronically locked. Where you found Nate?" Al spoke.
Spike's face seemed to scrunch slightly before his eyes shot open. "Yeah… I had to hack the door… it's what blew my claw off."
Laughing, Al spoke. "Yes that's it! When Nathan's stasis pod opened, I was activated as a… fail safe so to speak."
"A fail safe? What for?" Twilight asked as she decided to cut her remaining pancakes into bite sized pieces.
"I couldn't be sure that Nathan wasn't going to destroy everything he came into contact with," Al stated. "So I locked the door just in case he was a little… unhinged."
"He drew a smiley face into a wall," Spike said as he folded his arms and shot the device a dirty look. "Which he named. Unhinged doesn't cut it."
"So many possibilities…" Twilight muttered in reverence.
Clearing a non existent throat, Al continued. "After locking the door and weathering his initial outburst, I dimmed the power of the facility. Then you four showed up."
He stayed silent for a time, Twilight and Spike waiting patiently for him to continue… or at least Twilight was.
"And then…" Spike growled out.
"And then?" Al asked in a hushed tone. "Oh! And then! Yes, you can probably figure out that I was attached to the door at this point. Despite my best efforts from keeping you out, you managed to stay one step ahead of me at every turn." Al explained.
"What can I say, he's a marvel." Twilight beamed, Spike smiling at the praise.
"Well, finding no way to counter his attempts at opening the door, I attached myself to him." Spike grunted at this as he flexed his new claw.
"Yeah, and you blew off my arm." Spike said in a low growl.
"Eugh, testy." Al retorted. "I didn't want to damage you, but it's what happened and I apologise."
"Wait!" Twilight cried as she shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, her eyes shining in epiphany. "You said you govern Nathan's growth, yes?"
"Hn? Oh! Yes, that's right." Al replied, albeit a little confused.
"Does the other robot come paired with an equal artificial intelligence?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, my colleague in a sense. His name is Tom." The A.I replied.
“Maybe we should take this to Sunset,” Spike offered. “She’ll need to hear this too.”
"Quite so!" Al declared. "Who knows, with any luck she can help us find Tom."
"And where can we find Tom?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Exactly where you found me!" Al replied happily enough. "Now, follow meeeee…… I forgot I don't actually have legs."
After a bit of cleaning up, Twilight and Spike found themselves in front of Sunset's room, neither really wanting to knock.
"So… who knocks? Do you knock? Do I knock?" Al asked, his little box glowing as he spoke.
"You know you don't have hands either, right?" Spike shot back in annoyance.
"Well I'm not the one avoiding my coworker like the plague!"
"Well, I'd love to knock…" Twilight muttered. "But it's only six forty-three A.M. Sunset is barely even awake at nine." The unicorn explained carefully.
"Oh for the love of…" It was at this moment several loud and obnoxious foghorn noises and alarms began to chime and cry from Al's box.
Try as the two might, neither Twilight or Spike could muffle the noise. Seeing no other option, Twilight threw caution to the wind and began slamming her hands on Sunset's door.
"SUNSET!!! SUNSET HELP!!!" The lavender unicorn shouted desperately.
The door immediately open and a pair of claws immediately ended up over Spike and Twilight's mouths.
"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Emerald asked, glaring at the pair. "And what is that noise?"
Eyes wide with fear, both unicorn and dragon pointed at the now quiet box in Spike's claw.
"Oh good, more dragons." Al quipped.
Emerald blinked. "Did that thing just talk?" She asked, looking at the box and removing her claws from the pair's mouths.
"Hello! I am Al, now I'm quite sure you have quite a number of questions of my being here…"
Twilight thusly cleared her throat, "We have coffee, so… could you get Sunset to wake up?"
"This couldn't wait til later why?" Emerald asked, crossing her arms, still annoyed.
"Because there's a one of a kind robot with a one of a kind Artificial Intelligence that needs an equal or greater wake up call." Al explained.
"I don't see why that can't wait a few hours more for when Sunset is actually awake. And you guys are very lucky I put on those headphones on her last night or else you'd probably be putting out fires. Again..."
"My auditories must've failed me, we don't have time, because if someone gets to Ben before we do then it's a lethal weapon that you let loose on the world."
Emerald rose an eyebrow. "If it's so important, why not take Nate and go? I don't see why you need Sunset to come along."
"That's a fair point…" Twilight muttered. "Well, I did want Sunset to join us since she was there to get Nathan… could you tell her where we went when she wakes up?" Twilight said meekly.
Emerald shrugged. "If it's so important, I'll join and give her the details when she wakes up. Besides, maybe this guy isn't as nuts as Nate."
"Oh very! Eh, that is the… not nuts part. Eh, probably…" Al replied hesitantly.
"So, ready to go?" Spike asked a little less worried.
Emerald shrugged. "Sure. So long as nothing wakes up Sunset, it should be fine. Let's go."
-Nate: Half An Hour Later-
With a sigh and a languid stretch, Nathan began to blink his eyes awake, several notifications and messages cascading along his sights. "That never gets old…" The bot said to no one, unplugging himself from an outlet he found while exploring Twilight's lab… at least he thought it was Twilight's lab.
"Hey!! Helllooooo~" He practically sang out. "Anybody home? No? Just me then…" Shrugging, he decided to explore more of the lab he found himself in. Gray walls, white ceiling, bright lights shined from the room's bulbs… though not much for interior decor, Nate did think the room could use more color… even if all it housed was a mass of wires, scrap metal, and oversized military grade supercomputers.
Having had enough of the drab scenery, the bot decided to see if there were any warm bodies… or other machines able to hold a conversation. If the lab was drab, then the rest of the home was a breath of fresh air.
Finely polished wood lined cream colored walls, the furniture was comprised mostly of olden day styled pieces straight out of a picture book. "This… looks kinda nice." Taking a seat, Nate blinked as he tested a cushioned chair for a bit and found it more than comfortable.
"Not bad… what else is here…" Walking away, he found his way into a more modernly furnished living room, several photos lining the walls and a fireplace. Some were of Twilight, others of Sunset, some of a white unicorn with blue hair, a blue unicorn, and another white unicorn that looked a lot like Twilight.
"God why do I feel like I know these ponies… think… what were their names…" Grunting, Nate shook his head and looked around more, eyes widening at the massive bulbous window that gave him quite the view of the sky. Drawing closer, he took note of a rather old yet incredibly well kept telescope.
Shaking away the child-like awe, Nathan went back to exploring the rest of the home, finding a broom closet sized room decked floor to ceiling in computers, an empty stasis stand covering most of the floor space.
Resisting the urge to try and use the stasis stand, Nathan quickly walked away and stumbled into a larger, incredibly disheveled bedroom, it's walls completely covered in books. In fact, the wall wide bookcases were probably the only structured part of the room.
Slowly stepping out of the room, Nathan went back to exploring until he found another bedroom. This one was far more neat and organized than the last one and the walls were painted a dark purple with a few orange and red swirls of fireballs carved here and there. There was a finely made dresser with a vanity mirror off to the side, next to it, a metallic rifle lined with orange safety tape hung off a hook. He would have examined the futuristic rifle further had it not been for the gentle breathing coming from behind him.
Spinning in place, he took note of Sunset, wearing what were probably noise canceling headphones, sound asleep. Finding no other options to cure his boredom and curiosity, he went up to her, crouched down and began to nudge her.
Sunset groaned and swatted Nate's arm before turning over in her sleep. Feeling rather emboldened, Nate began to poke Sunset's face, finding an odd amount of amusement in trying to wake the girl up. Sunset groaned again and smacked Nate's hand away again before turning over once more, and a frown on her face.
Seeing no other options, Nathan had carefully removed Sunset's headphones and once again applied gentle pressure to her cheek. "Hey… Princess. Wake up already, I'm bored." The bot said unashamedly.
The next second, Sunset's eyes shot up, bloodshot. A moment later, they narrowed into a glare towards Nate before she outstretched her hand and it and her horn started glowing, the weapon flying into her hand as she aimed it at Nate.
Not even bothering to flinch or pull away, he simply said, "This is not the fun I was looking for…"