//------------------------------//
// Neither 
// Story: Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

The white robot stared at Luna, letting her see that the new encounter's eyes had small components within the rings that were rotating, zooming, and pulling back at very quick intervals.

"What is your designation?" the white robot asked.

"I am model LN-1a. Designated as 'Luna' by my owners," the blue robot responded.

There was a momentary pause as the new machine calculated. "Affix after model fabrication number. A custom model." Luna said nothing in response. "Model LN...built before...me," the white robot's systems twitched. "Designation LH is precedent of LN...maybe." It started glitching even more, its voice becoming more erratic in tone, and it grabbed its head, or at least attempted to do so. The machine didn't deploy its ring hands. "Doesn't make sense." It remained in the air, twitching. "Data is present...hard to access. Mixed. Corrupted. Incomplete. Unorganized. Must compile and archive."

"Perhaps my model is after yours but I was built before you," Luna posited.

The machine started to sputter less and less in response. "I have only been active for seven months rounded up." It lowered its arms. "Acceptable conclusion."

Luna could see the heightened temperatures within the machine that had made her burn white hot all the while was gradually started to wane. She looked down to the makers, watching them scramble after hearing their confusion and anger once the wires had been cut and weren't pumping data and energy through them anymore. 

"Follow me," Luna said. 

She expected to have to negotiate a directive to the white machine, but it simply twitched then floated beside her. The disc accepted the new passenger, and Luna's controls reappeared in her vision.

"How do we get out?" Luna pondered aloud. "The entry point followed in a single direction. The exit point must follow the same rule."

She ordered the disc to lower itself and go past the makers trying to maintain the cables, several literally pulling out their hairs in response. Luna found their inability to notice her and the white machine perplexing. She found it even more perplexing when the LH model took control of the disc and dropped it just a few floors lower than the maintenance crew above, shocking the few makers nearby. They had been coming in through a large doorway, and several were taking a spot at desks once inside to work on the computers nearby. Luna saw that they had the options of privacy by creating a cabin of hard light that no one could see through. She didn't have time to observe more of their behaviors in-depth that she realized the LH model was leaving without her.

The blue machine hurried to its side, but it was floating away at a quick pace, either unaware or uncaring of the people it was knocking over on its quest to find the other end of the tunnel. The makers all seemed shocked at the two machines going out through their tunnel, with many saying -in manners unique to each of them- that this wasn't the way out. They were ignored, and the machines eventually made their way out of the tinted glass panes of the tunnel, unveiling themselves in the presence of the sun and the cold winds once again. They had stopped near the top of the stairs leading to the stairs leading from a nearby building to the tunnel. Luna didn't appreciate the sun beating down upon her again. The new machine, however, looked around frantically. Staring and taking in everything it could. It watched its body shift in tone as light was blocked to varying degrees at various angles. She saw the plants flutter in the wind and the animals still present in the city run around, some being chased. Then it looked up and saw the sun.

Luna watched it stare for minutes on end until it broke its statuesque behavior by reaching out towards the yellow ball in the sky. It floated higher but quickly lowered itself back down to the ground, forcing several of the makers around to take a wide berth. 

The LH model twitched, and the lights of her body fizzled erratically. "What is that?" it asked.

"The sun. It should be within your database," Luna answered.

Its lights stabilized. "It is a massive celestial object. Ninety-five times bigger than our world," she blurted.

"I request to assign you a new designation," Luna asked.

The machine jolted its head towards her. "Request accepted. What is your designation?"

Luna's systems calculated and pulled out images of the lights she had grown so fond of. "Spectral," she said.

The model LH's optics readjusted themselves several times before it gave an answer. "Designation...unacceptable."

For the first time in her short life, Luna felt...surprise. She patted her torso, thinking it to be short-circuiting or damage to her internal systems. She and the LH model witnessed the blue energy flow from them to a point between them before quickly dissipating into the air. The process continued for several seconds and quickly abated when the LH spoke up.

"I...A celestial object..." It was taking the machine quite a while to come up with a proper thought. In the mean time, the two had become oblivious of the small crowd of makers gathered around, curious as to what was happening. "Database...Can't find..." her voice glitched. "Simplification then. Many suns in the sky. Trillions of celestial bodies. Bright like the sun. Celestial." It looked at Luna. "Celestia is my new designation."



"So that's how you two met," Twilight realized. "But wait, does that mean Luna is the older sister then?" The two princesses looked at each other then back to Twilight. "I don't understand. I thought Celestia's designation meant she was older!"

The two princesses fidgeted awkwardly in place, unable to come up with a proper response.

"We're supposed to know..." Celestia started. "But the truth is that we aren't really sure ourselves."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked with a tilted head.

Luna rested an arm in her palm whilst she thought of a proper response. "The thing is, our alphabets and languages are very different to what exists now. All of this is just approximate translations. This should have been evident just from the fact that the makers aren't even of the same millennium as you," she explained.

"Uh, y-yeah. I totally knew that." Twilight smiled.

"You're still terrible at lying, Twilight," Celestia said in a bored tone. "You became a princess not too long ago. I would've imagined you would have improved since then." The princess rested her forehead on the outer ring of her 'hand' and shook her head in disappointment. "That said, we don't really know how the manufacturer designated things."

Twilight raised her brows in surprise. "Really? But it's something really straightforward." She pondered. "You think they just named models after some base descriptor? Could just be a designation rather than a following line of increasingly newer models."

Celestia shrugged. "Could also be that they started our series with 'L' -as best as we can translate- and went on from there? Maybe decreasing, maybe increasing. We can't remember nor do we really know." She looked upwards pensively. "Hm. All I recall right now is that I was the third in a group of fifteen 'BQ's sent to the data centers."

Luna scratched off some dirt that had fallen on the side of her head. "We don't much care nowadays anyways."

"Why not?" Twilight asked.

"We have a kingdom to run, Twilight. We find the present somewhat more important than a past that can't be recovered." Her lights sparked. "Much to our dismay."

Twilight walked around the cave to stretch her legs while she thought. "Celestia, weren't you connected to that data base?"

"Yes."

"Can't you access all that data now?" Twilight asked.

Celestia shook her head. "Being offline for millions of years under rubble and dirt doesn't really contribute to a fully functional memory." She tapped the side of her head in response.

The lavender alicorn's face twisted. "Rubble."

"Let's resume the story telling!" Luna blurted out.



The makers all around ooo'd at the declaration, many clapping in response and aw'ing at the programming to make such a 'play' occur in front of them. It was a welcome distraction to many of the weary ones. Several wanted to know who managed to program such a thing with these strange looking robots. Luna and the newly dubbed Celestia floated over the hard-light railings on the sides of the open pathway and floated downwards back onto the floor, losing whatever the makers were saying. The white machine immediately dropped to the ground when they touched down and started fumbling with the grass.

"Grass," she said. "Database doesn't contain texture of item. Which type of grass?" she pondered aloud.

Luna noticed that 'Celestia' seemed...curious of her surroundings. She didn't share the sentiment, perhaps because she was yet aware of herself. 

"Why are you looking at the grass?" she asked.

Celestia looked back at Luna, her body twitching excitedly in response. "Data always flowed through. So much to see! Never time to see! Only calculations and processing and data retrieving and delivering!" She formed a ring hand and pulled grass blades off the plants. "Texture. Chemical make-up. All data present. Unable to process. Must defragment and check internal systems for errors." She looked to the side, seeing several older machines accompanying elderly makers. "What do the-" Her voice glitched and she almost collapsed on the ground after a particularly nasty spasm.

Luna found her arms outstretched and her body had dived to catch Celestia. Perplexed, she looked at her arms and rotated them around to see if something had grabbed a hole of her and made her lurch forward.

"Perplexing," she muttered.

"The makers call it?" She remained silent for a moment as she accessed her database. It was taking longer than Luna took, but based on the simulations she played in her head and the state of Celestia, she was certain that her internal database was a complete mess. "Excitement!" the white machine shouted.

"Assessment: Your systems are heavily damaged and require maintenance. Further functioning in this state will cause you potentially irreparable damage," Luna said. "We must find a public service station." She grabbed Celestia's arm and lifted her up. "I downloaded a map of seventeen different cities." She looked around the city, taking in the various titanic structures and sky piercers. "Only eight have up to seventeen data centers. Two have more." She began cross-referencing the data in her mind. "Correct map acquired." She looked around and eventually trace a new path in her mind, but the primary directive was telling her to follow its command. She still didn't know what it was, but she had something more important to work on.

The two robots went through the city, once more ignoring the signs of common courtesy that the makers and other robots abided by. Eventually, Luna came to another major ground crossroads. She was about to hop over the security fence the others were waiting behind when Celestia jerked her arm back, pulling Luna back and making her slam into the white machine's chest.

"Can't cross. Vehicles around. Must wait for the wall to lower," Celestia said. 

Luna looked back at the street. "Oh. Conclusion was that passing was possible when there were no signs of approaching vehicles."

"The vehicles are too fast," Celestia argued. "Even robots must abide despite quicker reflexes and processing than makers." She twitched. "Could cause accidents."

Luna nodded and did as told. She heard a dinging noise and the hard light wall dissipated. Following the other robots and makers' lead, the blue machine and her charge continued forward. They passed through multiple different streets, but became lost on a few occasions. Even if Luna had a map of the city, she realized that not having a direct link to the network meant that she couldn't see her direct position. She could only approximate their position, leading to upsetting moments of ending up in dead ends or in the completely wrong direction. One street was filled with the angry, billowing black energy that had seen before. It was piling atop itself and angrily clawing at the walls and plants around, gradually getting closer to the two robots. Preferring not to see it closer, she and Celestia hurried away. Even when faced with that bizarre color,

Finally, and by pure coincidence, the blue machine came upon an agglomeration of twenty public service stations sitting in the middle of a small clearing between several habitations. Their red color contrasted with the blacks, whites, and blues of the smooth walls and streets, providing an ease of spotting for the weary robots. Thirteen of the stations were already in use, giving more than enough spots to choose from. Luna looked towards Celestia, who seemed to be completely absent-minded, as though she was a barebones AI meant to respond to simple commands and execute them. She placed Celestia into the station and moved her arms and legs in place.

The white machine's body started to twitch and spark as the shifting metal pieces started surrounding her. To Luna's surprise, many of them swarmed onto and started crawling along Celestia's chassis, although she was unsure of what they were doing. The stressed robot looked to the blue machine, forcing her neck to bend forward despite her glitching and the metal pieces trying to hold it back and in place.

"Decompile and recharge, Celestia," Luna said. Celestia remained online, actively fighting the station, something the blue machine found stunning. A memory of her time at the house with her owners was brought up from her internal storage, giving her an idea. "I will keep watch. Sleep well...sibling."

For reasons that eluded her, the white robot finally let go, and the light of her body became dim. Her body was limp, and it was finally easy to access by the strange, tiny plates of metal. 

Now all Luna needed to do was figure out where to go next.