Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories

by The Psychopath


Breaking Loose

Luna was told to stay in standby mode while her station self-diagnosed and repaired and both the family and the house confirmed that no extra damage had occurred nor would there be any further danger. While the robot's claim that others like her existed thrilled the parents, she had also detected elevating stress levels within them. Fear, would it be? Perhaps it was a necessity for them to not say anything more, but Luna felt like her circuitry...no...Her mind was gradually waking up. A heavy and painful haze gradually lifting, like being in a 'coma', if her medical information database was anything to go by. They wanted her aid in cross-referencing all the data they would gather at their location of employment. Luna didn't know what it was, just that it was an exhausting one.

She refused to go into standby mode and moved to the entrance of the home to peer out the windows placed to the side of the immense, solid doorway of black metal. The city's many colored lights peered back at their observer, seemingly overjoyed that their admirer had finally returned. The blue trails and curtains were still present as they ever were, but there was...an oddity. Looking about, the robot could see stronger flows rising from a section of the city she couldn't fully see, and one further away to the left. The robot stared at them, feeling a need to go to them, as if her owners had given her a command.

"I...have to...find them," Luna said to herself. "I...need to know. Know what?"

Her eyes were drawn to something above the cloudy sky: Tremendous blue lights that shone through like a solid strip of light. The trail was immense and occupying the near entirety of the blue sky. A single, massive figure -impossible to see directly- was gliding in the dark space high above, ignoring all that existed below. Luna couldn't help but feel concern as it caused the curtains and wispy blue trails to go into messy disarray by its sheer immensity. The blue machine's free flowing but organize world was being destroyed before her, and she hated that.

"What is that?" she pondered aloud.

The blue energy had parted ways, showing black, ashy clouds rising close to the home of her owners. It was...not as pleasant as the clean, gentle blue energy. It was angry. Violent, billowing on top of itself, trying to defeat an enemy that didn't exist. It was quick to dissipate when the blue energy restabilized as the city-sized lights above the clouds went closer and closer to the horizon, silent and ominous.

"I'm here..."

A voice played in Luna's newly awakening mind. She didn't want to stay, but she had to as well. Leaving could put the family in danger without a home assistant, but staying there meant she wouldn't...upgrade or improve. Calculating and going through possibilities that flooded her cognitive functions, the robot devised an idea. She accessed the house's messaging functions and set it for early in the morning: The time the parents would awaken.

Luna would give them a message that she was leaving, only temporarily perhaps, but she wasn't sure for how long. Following her manufacturer's terms and agreements, insurance policies, and the added lines for custom models, she assured that her disappearance in so short a time would allow them to get a full reimbursement or an outright replacement. Although, she felt...discomfort in the idea that another her would come to be. Still, her newly set directive was taking over her other, pre-programmed functions, like a virus was gnawing at her security systems. At her mind. That shocking system was consuming her components.

She hovered in front of the door. Patient. Silent. Worried. What would happen if the makers in the city saw her wandering on her own? Should she leave? She already placed the message. She could erase it and continue her directives...but she had a new primary directive. A command from an unknown source. It didn't come from her owners, but she was made to obey. A manufacturer override?

The robot input the code to open the doors upon their surface and slipped past them into a massive glass elevator big enough to house several families in it. More than enough space for Luna to travel about. She moved to the edge of the elevator and stared at the outside. Flashing red alerts in her field of vision were warning her that she was leaving her designated area of activity.

Return to your designated area and await your owners commands.

Her location would be broadcast to both her owners and manufacturer if she traveled any further.

You must return to your designated area. You were made to aid your owners in their daily activities and facilitate their lives.

The robot overrode the commands and shut down the alerts and the tracking. She would return, for sure, and she applied a contingency in place that matched with her

You were made to give them more time for creative endeavors and work without worry. You must return.

Luna raised the floor selector and spun the hologram dial down to the lowest value and pressed it. The elevator was quick to start and flung down as fast as it was made towards the base of the building. Eight hundreds turned to six hundreds to three hundreds. It only started slowing down at around a hundred and fifty floors until it gently landed upon the last floor, bothering the robot who wasn't able to take in the scenery as she went down. She angrily burst out of the elevator, bending the left door before it could get out of the way.

She stopped to admire what the entrance of the habitations was like. There were elevators on four sides, but no walls holding the building itself up. Just the blue energy curtains. Green balls were kept in levitating orbs of blue, their roots having grown in a sphere. Multiple glass panes with water trickling down them decorated the many lounges, as did distributors for food resting on black tables next to couches of squishy hard light, Luna noted. She pressed an arm against them, realizing that they were the standard furnishings that were absent from her assigned habitation and family. The sheer idea of hard light had been stored away and forgotten in her storage drives. A welcoming booth sat in the middle of the floor, a physical chair of a black, leathery material showing signs of wear and tear over the years of use. The computers used weren't present, nor were the worker robots usually present in these types of facilities.

Leaving everything behind, Luna moved to an exit at one of the corners of the building. She waited silently for something. A command. A suggestion. A message by her creators to proceed, but the new, unlisted directive flashed in her mind. Pushing her. Demanding. Needing. Pleading. She would be outside the building she was activated in and was active in for around a year. It took several more minutes of compiling, but she finally took a leap of faith and pushed through the curtain, realizing that her power supply had gone back up to one hundred percent from ninety-nine point seventy-eight percent she was already at.

Cold. That's what Luna felt. The cold winds of the night blasted against her chassis, shocking her systems momentarily before they corrected themselves. No one was around yet, leaving Luna to observe her surroundings and see a massive cluster of lights coming from behind a twelve-story white building directly in front of her. Her path was defined by white slabs of stone flanked by small pathways of random plantlife. If her owners' personal habitation had a garden, most of them would be considered weeds.

Loud noises grew louder the closer Luna got to the corner where she would likely reach the bustling city of lights she was yearning for. Loud clanking reached her auditory systems. The source was a maker-shaped robot that rounded the corner and ran towards Luna. Its legs were straight, unlike her inverted-knee design. It had proper feet and fingered hands. Its flat face was eyes and a digital display for vocalization, the whole thing decorated by a black ring. Many parts of it were a drab grayish-green with black rings covering it.


"I thought that all the robots looked like you," Twilight said. "Now there are those that look like the makers you spoke of?"

"That's right, Twilight," Celestia answered. She lowered herself to the ground, taking a moment to rest her systems. "We were supposed to become one of the standard models, but we had just been placed forward as a 'stylized' form of robot at the time."

Luna looked from her sister back to Twilight. "We were supposed to be part of a new series of robots that would allow for more fantastical elements to be applied, provided they don't impede function."

The lavender alicorn started thinking. "So, no long antlers or super long horns," she looked at Celestia who shied away.

"Indeed," Luna said mockingly.


The blue robot reached out to it, interrupting its run. It turned to face Luna and spoke in a heavily roboticized voice. It was three or four generations old.

"What is your request?" it said while jogging in place.

"Where...are the large curtains?" Luna asked.

The older robot's internal system whirred. "Unclear."

Luna pointed to the tower that seemed far more imposing from the ground, looming over everything like a titan. "Identical to the blue energy flowing between that sky piercer's segments," she explained.

The robot looked to the tower then back to Luna, its feet still landing heavily on the ground as it jogged in place. "Apologies. This model is unsure of your meaning. Would you like to reformulate your request?" it asked.

"No."

"Enjoy your day," it said before resuming its travel to an unknown location.

Luna logged the encounter and resumed forward, rounding the corner to meet with an immensely wide street filled with a plethora of makers of all shapes and sizes, robots of different models and generations, and colors. So many, blindingly bright colors. Luna stared at the lights, realizing they were from signs hanging in mid air in front of different buildings and marketing stalls. It created a great contrast with all the plant life and the white stones to her sensors. The land moved up and down, rounded into corners, rounded into smooth, circular shapes. Decorative flags and banners dangled from the sides of buildings or floating hangers floating high above the floor. People were cheering in glass buildings filled with blinking and flashing games. Others were just sitting in segmented buildings, floating to the next floors using pillars of blue energy. Whatever they were doing, they were served drinks and meals and talked often. She even witnessed some of the makers ogling robots in the streets, admiring and detailing what little information they knew. Many were bragging about their own customized variants of old models, but many more stared at the blue robot, excitement exploding at this brand new machine very few had yet to see.

The flying vehicles flew close overhead and set down somewhere else in the city, unloading their cargo or passengers. Robots collapsed from overuse or empty power, prompting many makers to help them up and place them into service stations if the public aid bots were not present. Luna witnessed a pair of them patrolling the routes the further she wandered: Massive, blue behemoths that floated like she did. They, however, were segmented with their different parts being connected by the blue energy. They possessed huge arms as large as a maker, a broad torso as wide as a door, and thick legs to bury into the ground and break away any heavy debris. Their heads were devoid of any features but had been painted in such a way that they still gave off an intimidating impression, as though furious eyes were looking behind a lowered black cap overshadowing their face. One stopped and approached Luna after noticing her.

"Household machine. Do you require guidance? It is past the regular time of the makers to be awake." It leaned forward. "Is there a medical emergency?"

"No," Luna said. She thought of an excuse, seizing the opportunity to get more information about other machines. "I require access to a database center. My assigned habitation has seen its network connection rendered temporarily unavailable. My owners require information on machine models."

"Confirmed." It stood up and looked around; leaving Luna to her own data compiling. "Location confirmed. Closest area is Data Center Seventeen. Acknowledge direct data upload."

"Acknowledged."

Luna received the location as well as a map of her current sector of function, adding to her knowledge. "The optimal route has been included in the data upload. Other routes may be accessed if an unexpected variable impedes progress." It bowed. "Good day."

The blue machine watched as the pair hurried along through a corridor and towards what she could vaguely see as a destroyed robot. She considered it to be wise management to update the aid robots with data on every robot model in advance of its scheduled deployment. Were she illegally modified...

She floated past a group of makers talking happily to each, walking out of a tall, orange building filled with various different smells. Another group of makers was apprehend by a different pair public aid robots. Despite two being held aloft in the air and apart, they were still trying to hurt each other, much to the dismay of their respective groups.

Luna ignored them and followed the map on her display, eventually seeing the destination long before she would be able to approach it: A dome shaped building of white with black rings painted at various intervals horizontally across the stepped-roof's surface. A huge swathe of city was in the way of a direct pathway. Luna would have to travel through several districts and bridges to reach her destination. She self-diagnosed in anticipation. She wanted to meet those like her, and, more importantly for her: She wanted to see the lights again from above and not from the floor. It was just a noise now.

"More noise. Too much," she grumbled audibly.