The knights of Strike Team Sparkle stared in cringing sympathy for the sparking, twitching form of S.P.I.K.E.'s shiny new physical body. Twilight tilted her head back in almost orgasmic catharsis. "God I've wanted to do that for years." She sighed contentedly.
Rarity had been working frantically for weeks after the attempted coup. With Twilight ascended to the second highest seat in the largest empire in the galaxy, and thereby being able to assign whomever she wanted to any position she chose in the military, Rarity had been the natural choice to replace Admiral Davenport as chief officer on the Damocles. Davenport being one of only three officers that left.
She'd had to reorganize the entire structure of the armada to deal with the gaps in the fleets she had caused. She had to shuffle soldiers and pilots from units they'd been with for years into other units to cover her bases tactically. She'd had to put in requisitions to refueling stations along the path they'd be taking through the galaxy. Every ship had to be fueled, fitted, repaired, staffed, and reviewed. She'd had to have Pinkie's, Rainbow's, and Applejack's mechs repaired with the additions Twilight had ordered. Twilight had said some bold words to the galactic parliament, and Rarity was going to make sure she kept her friend's honor clean.
In the midst of this flurry of organization came the drama with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Having to wait for Rainbow's hand to heal before they could practice squad tactics, then having to wait until Applejack's hand healed. By the time Rarity signed over command to the duty officer every eighteen hours she was mentally and physically exhausted. S.P.I.K.E. had become an integral part of her work. He brought her food when she forgot to eat. He gently but forcefully urged her to sleep every eighteen hours. He corrected Rarity when her frazzled mind ordered the same ship to do two things.
His A.I. had been connected to every ship in the fleet, so he could manifest anywhere in the armada at will, but he began to notice Rarity's loneliness. She still saw each of her friends nearly every day in some capacity, but they almost never had any time to simply relax and socialize. Twilight spent almost everyday on the surface with Celestia. The girls had to practice squad tactics, and she herself was handling a million and one various issues that come up when a fleet is going to war.
In the few precious moments that they scheduled recreation time the couples would dance, and Applejack could always find some good ol boy to cut a rug with, but the officers that were brave enough to ask their Admiral to dance were few and far between.
He decided, as was part of his programming, to consider Rarity's mental health. A physical body it had to be. He decided to fiddle about with the ship's various cargo robots, and secretly ordered a few android units from Terra. It was by no means unusual for an A.I. to have a physical body. It was unusual however, bordering on the illegal for an A.I. to build itself a body without being programmed to do so.
He looked at the various babysitter models that fit his programming and didn't seem satisfied. He examined his code and saw that the base routines were still caring at heart, but with a much wider range of functions. He was still a guardian, but now he was the guardian of a fleet, not a child.
He gave processing power to combat models, but again they didn't seem to be a proper fit. He wasn't a combat unit. He wasn't programmed for offense, or even defenses really. The extent of his confrontational programming was to put himself between his charge and whatever was attacking it. Then get the charge to a safe distance from the attacker while summoning aid. So combat units were right out. Plus if he was a giant mech unit fighting beside Rarity, he wouldn't be able to bring his new body into the ship's interior and make sure she got to bed on time.
It came down to him having to build a unique body for his unique programming and function. His avatar was always a small cartoon of a humanoid purple and green dragon, so he decided to stick with that in principle. He used an interface protocol droid as a base, but gave it various dragonesque features, such as small fringes on the top of his head, that ended up resembling a large green mohawk. He thought it would be disconcerting for a humanoid droid to go about naked, so he requisitioned himself a ship's uniform without rank and had it tailored to his size.
After weeks of scheming in secret he finally asked the Viceroy and the knights of Strike Team Sparkle to assemble in their officer's lounge. They eventually arrived in their pairs, Pinkie hanging off Twilight's arm, Rainbow with her hand halfway between Fluttershy's back and butt, and Rarity and Applejack discussing in mild confusion what could possibly be going on that they hadn't heard about. They sat down and S.P.I.K.E. transferred his central consciousness to the new android.
The automatic door slid open and instantly each member of the squad stood mouth agape at the six foot tall dragon robot that strode calmly into their midst. Rarity walked as in a dream towards S.P.I.K.E.'s creation in open awe. She began to reach out to touch it, to establish whether or not it was real, when Twilight's hand went upside it's head hard enough to scuttle a battleship. The second she had realized that S.P.I.K.E. had a physical form, she suddenly got flashbacks of one million and three little annoyances. "bRuSh YoUr tEeTh tWiLiGhT, DoN't ThRoW FuRnItUrE tWiLiGhT, DON'T EAT COOKIES BEFORE BED TWILIGHT!!!" And her body took over by reflex.
They all stared at her face, almost drunk with satisfaction and were almost afraid. Rarity knelt beside the fallen android. "Twilight what have you done!" She called out dramatically. "You've killed my widdle S.P.I.K.E.y wikey!"
S.P.I.K.E. manifested in his old form beside the crying Admiral. "No no. That was a long time coming. Honestly I should've expected that. But don't worry Rarity, ten seconds." They all counted down in their heads, but only Twilight counted the exactly ten seconds of awkward silence accurately before a maintenance robot came in with a new head for S.P.I.K.E. and they watched uncomfortably as his damaged dome was removed and replaced.
Applejack shuddered. "Buuuh. Don't do that again."
Pinkie Pie was flicking his head spikes as Rarity marveled. "S.P.I.K.E., this is incredible. I didn't know you were this creative. And I must say I LOVE the design. It's so. . . YOU!"
Twilight after coming down from her hate boner glared at the new android. "Yes, very nice, so glad you asked for permission to assume physical form."
S.P.I.K.E. shuddered and the assembled wondered at the fact that he seemed genuinely afraid. He dropped to his knees and pathetically begged, "Please Twi! Please don't deactivate me! I did it to help Rarity! You're always busy with Celestia, and she's got so much to do I thought that this would help!"
Rarity came to the side of the terrified android. "You'll do no such thing to my little S.P.I.K.E.y wikey! Just look at this body he's made. It's a work of art! Quite frankly it belongs in a museum!" Twilight continued to glare.
Pinkie Pie took up the charge. "Yeah come on Twi, it's neato!" She put on her biggest puppy dog eyes and pressed her breasts together in the way she knew Twilight had a hard time resisting. "Pwease? Pwetty pwetty pwease wid kisses and whipped cream and sugar on top?"
Applejack and Rainbow joined the wall between S.P.I.K.E. and Twilight. "Yeah come on Twi. It'd be a downraght waste of a good piece a hardware to shut him down now."
Rainbow begged. "Please Twilight?" They all stared at her earnestly.
She only continued to glare. "Real reason S.P.I.K.E."
They all turned as one to see a very nervous look on S.P.I.K.E.'s face. His robot body couldn't sweat, but the hologram emitters in the ceiling projected little beads of sweat trailing down his face. One distinctly good thing about S.P.I.K.E.'s programming, he couldn't lie. He dissembled, he looked away, he gave convincing half truths, but Twilight only stared. Finally he broke down and said in an apologetic mutter. "I didn't want Rarity not to have anyone to dance with."
Twilight face palmed, Rainbow Dash laughed until she cried, Applejack snickered in surprise, but Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all had tears in their eyes. They all thought that was the sweetest thing they'd ever heard. Rarity stepped forward and bowed. "I would be honored, Sir." S.P.I.K.E. projected a glowing red blush onto his face, and delicately took her hand. He began playing soft waltz music and the two gently swayed about the floor..
Twilight rolled her eyes hard, but was soon crushed to Pinkie's chest and was spun wildly about. Rainbow and Fluttershy took hands and soon each couple in the room had joined the impromptu ball. Applejack smiled wide and shook her head. She fixed herself a drink and waited for the song to end. They bowed after their dance and Applejack cut in. "Alright Mr. Fancy Feet, don't leave me the seventh wheel. And play somethin with a beat." S.P.I.K.E. changed the music to a livelier song and the evening was spent in a whirl of dancing and drinks.
Every knight of Strike Team Sparkle got their chance to dance with the new android. Even Twilight begrudgingly let herself be talked into dancing with her old babysitter. Even in her ascended state she still couldn't dance to save her life, but S.P.I.K.E. made up for the both of them. Rarity'd had the best evening since the episode with Luna and could scarcely have had a better time. Eventually the couples decided they wanted to finish the night right, and the groups made to disperse.
Twilight called Rarity to wait a moment and she sent the rest of the group, S.P.I.K.E. included, out of the room. She psychically blocked S.P.I.K.E. out of the security feeds, and telepathically asked Applejack to ensure that none of them were listening to the conversation through the door. Twilight had enjoyed the evening well enough, but boundaries had to be set. She stared hard at Rarity, who grew slightly worried at the look her Viceroy was giving her. "Rarity. . .". Twilight's voice purred with barely hidden emotion.
"Ye~"
"DO NOT FUCK MY BABYSITTER!!!" Twilight screamed in unchecked emotion.
Rarity reeled from the volume and the vulgarity of the command. She babbled indignantly. "Wha-je-bra-ba! You think~! In all my~! Why I never~!" Twilight's gaze didn't falter. She stared hard back. She realized Twilight was earnest in her order. "TWILIGHT?!" Rarity shouted in disbelief.
Twilight ever so softly spoke into Rarity's mind. "You can't lie to me Admiral."
Rarity's face went beet red. She hung her head and whispered. "I'll be good."
Twilight smiled and walked past her. "Good. And I'll vouch for you to the girls that you haven't." She called over her shoulder as she walked out the door, "Not that they'll believe me."