It had been a week since Tiara and I left the Caretakers Guild and I was now living with my long since missing dad and Tiara was adopted by Victor. Mostly I was with dad in the mines. It was different than I expected. Very different, but useful. Tiara was mostly helping me in the mines or getting to know her new dad. While their combat styles were different, Victor did know about guns, and they bonded over that and barbecue. It was a start.
Mei and Ali mostly just explored around town and Ali made a few vlogs.
I was in the realm of dreams again talking to Greg. The tall wolfman had made a list of all the parts that went to Sweetie Bot. And things he'll need to make a custom part for her that he recommended.
“Alright...so we’re going to need...a lot.” I said worriedly, looking at the list of things Greg gave me to look for.
- 1 OS/AI installer unit
- 3 Backup Talismans
- 1 Civilian Weapons Package
- 1 Basic Trooper Weapons Package
- 1 Advanced Weapons package
- 1 Tactical Weapons Package
- 1 Heavy Artillery Weapons Package
- 1 Magical Energy Weapons Package
- 1 Stealth Weapons Package
- 1 Ammunition upgrade package.
- 5 Mana upgrade chips
- 1 First Aid OS Installer
- 10 Self Repair Talismans
1 Augment Weapons OS Upgrade
- 2 Gold Ingots
- 1, 70% or more purity Electronium Gem
- 52 Micro Tower Processors
- 70 AAAL980 Circuit chips
- 1 9973M95 Mother Board
- 7 Flash Power Talismans
It was… a lot.
"I recommend seeing if you can request it from the Adventures Guild as a custom Quest reward, or head on over to Armageddon, dungeons on that planet might have them if you can cross reference what you need with what typically drops in their dungeons." Greg suggested.
"Can't we just buy them?" Sweetie Bot asked.
"It'll be a small fortune. Like you, these upgrades are rare."
“Also gonna be one hell of a quest for all this stuff.” I said honestly. “Unless it’s gonna be multiple small quests for each one then that would be easier but still.”
"If I were you, I'd start with the OS/AI installer. It's basically what installs Sweetie Bot into a body and with that, I can properly hack the OC and remove the restrictions she has, then install the custom one as an update and bam, she'll be no different than any other Synthetic." Greg informed.
"That would be lovely." Sweetie Bot nodded.
“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed. “So time to head off to the adventurer’s guild to see if we can find a quest for it.
Once we were back in the waking world, Tiara, Mei, Ali and I all began to think about how to get the OS/AI installer.
"Well, good news and bad news." Mei said from her desk computer. "Good news, both the Custom Quest option and Armageddon dungeons drop this thing as a reward."
"And the bad news?" Tiara asked.
"Well, to get it as a custom Quest reward it's basically having to typically fight off hordes of robots for a certain amount of time, and the dungeon route, it only drops in level three boss chests."
“So either spend hours grinding or….spending more hours grinding.” I said. “Are any of us really ready for a level three dungeon?”
"I can enter them but never actually tried beating a floor before." Ali said.
"Level two." Mei sighed.
Tiara just looked at me and shook her head. I sighed. "Looks like our only option right now is the custom Quest, but unless we have a fuck tone of EMP and AP supplies, won't be easy." She said, fluttering her wings a bit.
"I can probably make some EMP stuff but it will take time, and Button doesn't use guns… though, maybe fire magic can help. They are just metal and wires." Mei suggested.
"True… and with Loop, we'd just have to last long enough to stock up the fire energy and MP then shoot off payloads." Ali added.
"Did this just become possible?" Tiara asked.
“Yes it did.” I nodded with a smile. “So Hoard Battle it is?”
"Seems like. Guess I should start making EMP weapons and Ammo." Mei said. "Though… maybe I can also… if I have the right parts…"
"Got ideas?" Tiara asked.
"Lots. But I'll need a few things."
"What things do you need?" I asked.
"For right now, some Fire Gems and Mana infused metal, steel preferably."
"Simple enough." I nodded. "We might already have the metals thanks to dad."
"We can probably grab anything else we need down into the mines too." Ali said.
"True, you did say for personal mining it's fifty rem for the day and you keep what you can dig up." Tiara stated.
"Yep, so let's get to mining then."
A short trip and two hundred rem later, we were all digging away at the rock and dirt around us in the mine. On top of getting what Mei needed, we used this as an opportunity to just stock up on whatever really. Coal, plain rocks, tin, copper, aluminum, emeralds… Rubies… Diamonds… Mytheral… huh… oh hey Geodes!
As I dug I also began finding other random things. Tin cans, bullets, broken tools, a flaming skull…
Wait what?!
"Hold up, Flaming Skull?" I asked in confusion and worry.
"Huh." Mei said, looking the flaming bone over. "Hmm… nothing major in terms of magic. Think this is just for decoration."
"A flaming skull… just for decoration?" Tiara asked, voicing my thoughts.
"Yeah, takes all kinds and all." Mei shrugged, tossing it into our ever growing pile of non-ore finds.
After that I was finding weird stuff left and right. A statue of a chicken, a Monkey's paw, two nasty looking swords linked by long chains, a set of…. Printer ink, a fossils of a foot, a glowing white crystal on an orange plate, a large mallet that cracked with electricity, a Pokeball, rock salt, A blinking eyeball necklace, a gold nugget, Ginger ale, a book of dream magic, a coffin filled with potatoes, fossilized eggs, another pokeball, Maud Pie's head…
Wait what?
"Hi." Replied the mare. I remember her from back home. She was a guest speaker in class once. Talked about rocks and… rocks… the meaning of life and death and the greater mysteries of the universe, and rocks. Huh, actually this Maud looks… younger… maybe a few years older than me? "Can you pull me out?"
"Uh...sure…" I started as I pulled her out. "Why...is your severed head here?"
"Not severed." She replied, pulling her out enough so her front legs popped out and she pushed the rest of herself out of the rocks. "Just stuck."
"Uh, hey… how did you get there?" Tiara asked as Mei and Ali shared a nod.
"I broke the first rule of Minecraft." Maud stated simply. Some ah's and chuckles were the reply. "I was actually looking for you all."
"Us?" Mei asked.
"Why us specifically?" I asked the younger Maud.
"I watched your adventures." She said simply. "After the fight in the dungeon and that ship tour Ali posted, I saw you needed an experienced resource gatherer."
"Huh… didn't really think much about that…" Tiara said.
"Mostly because everyone kinda treats the Gatherers Guild like a bit of a joke…" Mei stated. "Everyone in that guild just hords raw materials and stuff and sells it to whoever."
"But we know how to get stuff, and fast." Maud added.
"Which will help us a lot." I nodded. "Cause we need to find a whole lot of stuff."
"True, plus it takes the workload off of us… but what do you want in return?" Ali asked.
"Button Mash." Maud said.
"... What?" Was the collective response.
"He's cute, socially awkward, and seems like a fun guy to date." Maud explained.
Before I could reply, I remembered what the Time Walker said about my… future. One will find me… I found Sweetie Bot… now Maud found me...
“I mean...sure why not.” I said carefully. “We need the help and...well more the merrier I suppose.”
"Good. So, anything specific you all are looking for?" Maud asked.
"Mana metal and Fire Gems, but honestly we're gathering whatever really, gotta stock up." Tiara said.
"Alright. I got a few things." Maud said, tapping her Assistan-
FWOOSH!
Suddenly I was outside the mine entrance, half buried in various ores, wood, rocks, gems, and other random materials and items. Maud suddenly popped herself out of the pile and was now on my back. "Will this be enough?"
To say Maud has a little of everything would be an understatement. To say she has a supply of everything is underselling it.
Simply put, Maud had a warehouse of almost everything that can be mined from the dirt.
"I always forget how much the Assistant can hold…" Tiara groaned, nursing a bruise to her arm. The explosion of materials sent us all rushing out of the cave and somewhat bruised from the impact. Ali just wishes he was filming when it happened.
“My question is...why the hell did you do that?” I asked Maud.
"Proof of my skills." Maud stated.
"That you can horde like the rest of them?" Ali asked, rubbing their nose.
"That I can find lots of materials faster than most. All those materials were what I found while looking for you all."
"Were you looking since that video went live?" Mei asked.
"Since last night."
"Damn!" Tiara yelped. "All that in one night?"
"And most of this morning."
“Good lord.” I said in surprise at how efficient she was. “That’s really fast.”
"How old are you?" Ali asked.
"Seventeen." Maud informed. Huh, only three years older than me. "Mom and dad were Gatherers and so I grew up in it, they taught me everything and by mixing it with Terran Gem abilities and vibrational location Abilities, I can basically see everything around and under me for miles."
"So you're Toph from Avatar." Mei stated.
"Just not blind." Maud replied with a nod.
“If only I knew who or what they are.” I said, cause even though I had seen a lot so far, I sadly haven’t seen The Last Airbender yet, which was something everyone told me to either watch or go to.
"In any case, in exchange for my skills and current supply, I'd like to date Button Mash." Maud stated.
"Well, what about Sweetie Bot?" Tiara asked.
"Her too. I swing both ways and frankly my parents were hoping I'd end up in a harem where my work and lovelife mix."
I blushed a bit at that… harem… shit now that Maud is here I do have a harem!
"Sweet!" Cheat said from the back of my head.
I sighed. And he's been so quiet up until now…
"Well, guess I'll get started on this stuff. You all head back, and… introduce Maud to Sweetie and Button's dad." Mei said, snorting at the mental image I was about to face when I got home.
“God…” I groaned. “This is gonna be...a whole lot of annoying when she meets those two.”
And so, when I came home with another mare, and explained the… arrangement, Dad promptly said 'That's my boy!' and gave me a hug and a chuckle.
Sweetie Bot was surprisingly more impressed with Maud. The three of us were… now… in my room…
Sweetie Bot was still looking over Maud who impassively sat and let the bot look her over. "So what's this about?" Maud finally asked.
"Well, you will be entering courtship with my…" I looked at Sweetie, seeing that look she gets when what she wants to say and what her programming wants her to say are conflicting. "Boyfriend," She finally forced out, smiling at the small victory of Free will over programming. "And I, just doing a basic physical scan of you."
"Oh. Anything of interest?"
"To be blunt it would be shorter to list what isn't. According to my scans despite being flesh and bone your skin seems to have the density of iron."
"That's my Iron Flesh ability. A defensive ability that makes my skin as tough as iron, while not making it weigh or turning it into said metal. There's a lot of abilities like that." Maud informed.
"And your bones are either made of or coated in titanium."
"Metallic Skeleton Ability rank 8."
"You're blood flow and oxygen intake and distribution is practically flawless."
"Enhanced Respiratory Rank 2. Helps keep me from getting tired."
"Your eyes can, and I double checked this, see in Thermal, Night, and X-Ray Vision!"
"Thermal Eyesight. Night Vision, and X-Ray Vision abilities. Help when looking for different items and frankly it's better than flashlights and light spells."
"Your liver and Kidneys can probably filter our ethanol."
"Poison Resistance Rank 8."
"Your ears could pick up a dog whistle."
"Heightened Hearing, Rank 3."
"In short… are you even a pony?"
"Yes. Abilities just tend to do this to you after a while."
I just sat and listened to all that. Processing the fact Maud has all those abilities and probably more.
"Uh...huh." I started. "That's...quite a lot to be honest."
"They're just some of the basic abilities you can acquire. Anyone can get them, it's all in how you use them." Maud stated simply.
"Hm. Still, it's weird. I know you can all augment yourselves with these abilities and such but given my backstory, it just feels strange to see organics able to augment and upgrade their bodies." Sweetie Bot stated. "While there were some with robotic limbs and such that was just cybernetics, not… whatever you do."
"You do know you can also get abilities and such, right?"
"I can?"
"Yeah, so long as you have an Assistant."
Sweetie looked at the Assistant tattoo thing on her left leg. She tapped it and sure enough, she had an ability skill tree and all that. "Hm. Interesting." She hummed. "So, how long until you go off and take on this horde of robots?"
"Tomorrow afternoon." I said. "Give Mei time to make Tiara her EMP bullets and this other thing she's trying to make."
I kinda lazed around, playing some more games and just hung around. Maud mostly seemed to be writing stuff down as she and Sweetie Bot talked about… well, a little bit of everything. How dates should work between them and I. Comparing materials and their uses, rocks, and about Sweetie's upgrades we gotta hunt down.
There was a knock at the door, and Tiara quickly walked in. "Hey Button, Victor is taking me to watch a Tournament, he figured you might wanna tag along."
"Tournament?" I asked curiously. "What kind?"
"Combat. The most popular kind these days." Tiara said. "Come on, I'll tell you along the way." With that the two of us were off. Once we were on the street Tiara began explaining. "So, since everyone and their mothers, grandmother's, great grandmother's and so on are all capable of obtaining vast amounts of power and abilities, Tournaments are how people show off their skills with the powers they obtain and the weapons they use. They're several kinds with the most popular one being Combat. That in itself has several subcategories. 1 V 1, Team Battle, Survival, Free for All, Raid, and Grudge Match."
“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “How often do they hold tournaments?”
"Practically every second." Tiara laughed. "Tournament arenas are typically owned by an Admin, and they can end one tournament in one arena they own and just start it up in another so not only is the entertainment endless bit also the profits. Rarely do they charge admittance, just for the food really. Every tournament is broadcast live across all worlds so if a crowd favorite is off planet in a different arena the fans can still watch them."
“Cool.” I said honestly. “Must be really interesting if people tune in or go there all the time.”
"Heh, definitely. Trust me, you'll be talking about them for a while."
Once we got to the Arena Victor took us inside and we found our seats. The view was of a massive almost gladiator style arena, but bigger… in fact I'd wager all of Canterlot can fit inside this Arena. There was a clear, semi-visible barrier between the viewers and the battle grounds.
Soon the barrier displayed a screen, multiple all over and it showed the 1 V 1 and then an armored lizard man appeared on screen, their name in big bold letters. Apaco.
After that, another came in, this guy looked mostly human save for his odd hexagonal pupils. His name was Kul.
“Is there anything special about those two?” I inquired, not having heard of either of these two and not sure if there was pamphlets that talk about the current compatants around.
"You'll see." Victor said, giving a knowing grin as he leaned back in his chair.
I turned back to the screens on the barrier, the two were easily two miles from one another, dots in their vision. Close up shots of the two showed Apaco cracking his knuckles and Kul twitched his fingers, lightning crackling from his fingertips.
It was a blur, the two were standing still one moment the next there was a sonic boom followed by the two suddenly clashed against one another as air and lightning spun around the two in a vortex that soon slammed against the barrier with the force of an atomic bomb. From within the vortex the two continued to slam against one another, explosions of wind and electricity were held back by the barely seen barrier and could have easily sent us back to our beds after respawn.
“Sweet Celestia!” I gasped in shock at how fast and powerfully they were going.
Tiara whistled. "Now that's some power!"
"Meh." Victor said. "Kul did more damage their last battle at this point."
“Really?” I asked in surprise.
"Oh yeah, these two have a history." Victor said. "Rivals for the last sixty two thousand years, every chance they get the two get into an arena and settle their score til the next one."
“...” I thought for a moment. “So which one tops in this situation?” I asked.
"Score wise or sex wise?" Tiara asked.
“Might as well go sex wise cause...sixty two thousand years of fighting might lead into that somehow.” I said simply, having read enough comic’s to know that sooner or later two characters that hate each other hook up for some reason.
"There were a few flings but nothing serious. In the end they get more fun out of the Arenas and Dungeons." Victor said. "But score wise Kul still has a solid sixteen wins over Apaco."
"Damn. So how strong are they?" Tiara asked.
"Level four Dungeon strong."
“Wow.” I said in surprise. “That’s pretty strong.”
"I brought you two here to show you how strong you can get. Cause these two started off like this." Victor then handed me a tablet where a video of Kul, younger and wearing simpler armor was getting mauled by Shadow Creatures. Ouch… "That dork, can now do that." He motioned between the tablet and arena.
“Uh huh…” I started. “It’ll only take sixty thousand years but we’ll get their eventually.”
"Maybe. Normally." Victor said, putting the tablet away. "You, my friend, have an ace in the hole that can help you jump thousands of those years."
"Loop…" Tiara said.
Nodding, Victor pointed at Apaco. "Like him."
Tiara and I turned and stared at the armored lizard man. He has Loop too...
“Wait...multiple people can have the same legendary ability?” I asked. “I kind of thought...it was one per person?”
"Yeah. Legendary abilities can be owned by multiple people but it's like, one in like, a trillion people or so get a legendary Ability and only one can only be owned by one person at a time."
"Wow… So has two people with Loop ever formed a party?" Tiara asked.
"Yes. It. Is. Amazing. And throw in Generation, it's straight up broken." Victor said with a chuckle.
“I can imagine.” I said honestly. “But it’s probably extremely rare for that to happen, not like everyone runs around like a jackass screaming ‘I have a legendary ability’.” I said honestly.
“There have been a few.” Victor replied.
“Oh come on…” I groaned.
"Heard about one guy who got Frictionless after slipping on a banana peel." Tiara chuckled.
“That must have been...embarrassing.” I said honestly. “Getting a legendary ability from the oldest comedy gag in the book?”
"Heh, a little but he made the most of that Ability." Victor said. "My point is Button, yes it can take a long time to get that powerful, even with a legendary Ability to help, but you need to remember we literally have all the time in the world to get there. And trust me, the time will just fly by."
“I...practically just got here though…” I sighed out. “It’s...still gonna take a while to adjust.”
"That's what Tiara and your team are for. They'll help you when you're down or when things get hard."
"Yeah, I'm here for you Button." Tiara said with a nod. "I got your back, and you'll have mine."
“Yeah...that’s great.” I nodded, smiling at them and trusting them but looked down at my hoof as I remembered what Cheat could do to me.
"Oh don't go blaming your anger issues on me!" Cheat yelled, appearing next to me.
"I'm not...entirely." I said carefully. "It's a whole other thing here Cheat…"
"Look, all I do is focus your anger into power. The more anger you have the more damage you do, so if you're holding onto a fuck tone of anger then don't just expect you're berserker state to be all sunshine and rainbows, I just convert the emotion to power, what you do with it is all you."
"Says the guy that goads me into being pissed." I growled. "And you're only...what? A fourth of what you really are? What'll happen when I get the rest huh?"
"Honestly? No idea! To be frank, all I do know about what I can do is that I can do what any Symbiote can as well as the converting anger to power thing for Berserker stuff. Aside from that, no idea."
"Right…" I sighed out. "This sucks…"
"So you just gonna complain about it when your friends are trying to get you hyped?"
"I'm allowed to be concerned about my problems." I frowned. "Plus how can I get hyped when I could get pissed and accidentally hurt them."
"So watching an epic fight gets you mad… how?"
“I’m not getting mad at the epic fight, I love it...but I’m worried about if I get that strong and then get as pissed as I was before…” Button shook his head.
"I think that's what meditation is for? Oh! Or sex, just drown the anger away in mindless physical pleasure. You got two babes to help with that now."
“That won’t actually solve the problem though.” I deadpanned.
"No but it will be fun. Hey, ten rem that when you get back Maud and Bot are making out."
“Should I even bother making that bet?” I sighed out.
"Probably not but the real question is, when you walk in on it, are ya gonna watch or are ya gonna join in?" Cheat asked, giving me a perverted grin. "Bet Maud is into some real kinky stuff, no mare that stone faced can't be."
"Can we not think of that right now?" I said, blushing brightly at the thought.
"Oh don't act like you didn't think about it, she literally hunted you down to date you, she ain't just kinky, she's a fangirl of yours, meaning she is gonna be one wild roll in the sack."
"We're in public damn it...can't be thinking lewd thoughts." I said nervously.
"Hey, they can't hear me, just you." Cheat said with a chuckle. "Watch." He said, leaning next to the ear of the person in the seat in front of us. "Nipples." He said, making me jump but the person didn't react. "Told ya. I'm just in your head manipulating your audio and visual systems to give myself a body that you can see and interact with but I can't interact with anything else." He said, jumping into the seat next to me. "It's like, being crazy, but you actually aren't cause I'm the one in your head "
"Not helping Cheat…" I grumbled.
"Welp if you don't like this body I can always change it too." He said, suddenly morphing into Sweetie Bot. "I can be like this." They said, matching her voice even before morphing into Maud. "Or this, though I ain't doing her monotone voice." They said, and yeah hearing Maud talk out of Monotone is… weird. Another morph and now they were… a gender bent me. "And don't lie you did have this thought pass your head before." They replied as the gender swapped me, the voice was a softer, higher pitched take on mine. Finally though they were back to the copy of me, wearing the helmet. "And yes, you'd feel it if we did it."
"I was meaning the fact that I'm basically talking to myself and looking crazy…" I sighed.
"Nope, altered your head and perception. We're actually talking in your head, you just feel it like it's physically talking. You think Victor or Tiara wouldn't have asked who you're talking to by now if I didn't?"
"True…" I sighed out. "But...I still have a lot to think about."
"About us fucking or about your Berserker stuff?"
"Mostly the berserker stuff…" I answered simply.
"... So us fucking is still on the table?" Before I could answer, Cheat was suddenly in that gender swapped form of me. "Why Button you privy little boy you~"
"I hate you…" I told him as I facehooved.
"Awe, love you two little brother~" Now I was blushing a bit at that time they were using. "Hehe, that settles it, keeping this look."
"Celestia's flank...why me…" I whined.
After the tournament we headed home. As Cheat expected Maud and Sweetie Bot were, infact, kissing. Not full blown making out but kissing. "Oh! Master, you're back!" Sweetie said, a blush hitting her cheeks. "Maud and I were just… Romancing one another?"
"More or less." Maud replied, giving a small smile to Sweetie before looking back at me and before I could speak, planted a kiss on my lips too. Sweetie and I both were blushing now, and when she broke our kiss she was faintly blushing. "How was the Tournament?"
"It was really cool." I answered honestly.
"I'm glad. Sweetie Bot and I figured we can all go out on a date in the realm of dreams, I know a lot of nice places there and given how busy our days might be, probably would be best for romance to happen there."
"Works for me." I nodded with a smile. "Can't wait for our date."
"Yes. Date! I, uh… will go make dinner!" Sweetie said, flustered as she headed to the kitchen.
"Awe, cute, she's all hot and bothered." Maud chuckled. "This is nice. I'm glad I decided to go after you."
“Well...it’s certainly different for the mare to come looking for me...or just...any mare wanting me.” I said nervously.
"That's weird." Maud said. "Oh right, you're Isekai. Well, maybe instead of thinking about all those bitches, think about all the girls here who will want you." I blush at the thought… "Males too if you're into them."
“Gonna stick with mares at the moment.” I said nervously.
"Fair enough. So, what should we do until dinner is ready?"
“Hmm…” I thought for a moment. “Talk? I have plenty of questions for ya.”
"Sure." Maud said as she and I sat on the couch. Still weird that my bedroom is the size of a house, but it's nice to have a couch. "So, what do you wanna know?"
“How long have you been...gathering?” I asked curiously.
"Since I was six." Maud said simply.
“What places have you gone to to gather?”
"Mostly in mines, but anywhere underground really. I typically end up digging my own tunnels when I detect something of interest or I'm just bored."
“Sounds fair.” I nodded. “So...besides what you said before...why me?” I asked. “There’s something more to it than me being a decent pony right?”
"Well, a little." Maud said, reaching into her Assistant and pulling out a rock with an orange dot on it. "My family typically has always married into harems or chosen a lover with one of these. They're called Choosing stones. You flip the stone up like a coin and think about the person you wanna persu. If the dot is orange, then you two are incompatible or you won't fit into the harem. But if it's green, then you're a match. See." She tossed the rock up, and upon catching it in her hooves, she looked at me and the orange dot turned green. "I've been tossing it up since I was ten, wondering who I'd be compatible with. When watching the Livestream, I gave it a toss, thinking about you and it finally turned green."
“That’s...amazing.” I said in surprise, not knowing there was such a stone out there that could do it.
"Things like this are all around, one of the members of the Family made all kinds of items like this to help find your perfect mate or family. Seeing it finally turn green… I was so happy. My sister's all found matches long before me and most of them are either still dating their match, in a harem or engaged. Heh, feels nice to finally be with my best match."
“I can imagine.” I said honestly. “And now you're here, with me and I can help make you the happiest mare...next to Sweetie and...however many other women I’m going to date…” I started. “Oh boy...I just realized that harems are going to be a bit harder than I thought…”
"It happens, but we'll all be helping out. So, any more questions?"
“What’s the strongest monster you fought?” I inquired.
"Hmm… Riptide Mole. Their claws ignore most armor and they can control the ground with Terra gem abilities."
“Sounds like a very dangerous enemy underground.” I pointed out.
"They're not the worst, but they are a pain, especially in numbers."
“Anything can be a pain in numbers to be honest.” I said honestly. “So...I know this might be a bit of a personal question...but why are you still...monotone?” I asked nervously. “Like...this is a wide world….I’m not expecting you to be like Pinkie Pie or something but...I’m sorry this is a dumb question.” I sighed out.
"It's just how I talk. I can smile, have a bit of tone to my voice but mostly I've always just sounded monotone. " She explained.
“Alright.” I nodded. “And I’m glad I can see your smile.”
"Me too… so,any more questions?"
“Hmm…” I started. “How do you like Sweetie? I know you two were...getting friendly before.” I blushed at remembering that little bit.
"Well, physically she is quite sexy, cute and personality wise I can tell she is a good person, if still fighting against her old programming, but you all are working on that. All in all, I like her, and she clearly loves you and I'd say I've worked well enough into her heart."
“That’s good to know.” I nodded. “Better if everyone is happy with each other than not right?”
"Plus, she has a cute squeak when you grab her butt."
“I...mean your right.” I said sheepishly.
"Yup." She said with a smile and a nod. "So, anything else?"
“How do you feel about cuddling?” I asked, cause I might as well get that question out of the way.
"More than welcome it, and if it leads to more… physical activities well, I won't mind~" Maud said, giving me a surprisingly seductive wink with her smile.
“Sweet Luna…” I muttered softly, blushing a bit at the seductive wink.
Thankfully the cuddling was short lived otherwise Maud and I just might have gotten to second base before our own first date. Dinner was delicious and then came… bed. My bed was already fairly large but being between Maud and Sweetie Bot made me… it made it difficult to actually fall asleep.
Eventually I did though and finally was in the realm of dreams. I let up with Sweetie and Maud and we all headed for someplace Maud knew.
When we arrived we were at a restaurant, inside the mouth of an active volcano. "Like it?" Maud asked as we all took our seats. The floor was glass, at least from looks and the magma below bubbled lazily.
"This is quite the feat to place a restaurant here." Sweetie said.
“Never expected to have food in an active volcano before.” I said.
"It's a smokehouse, they cook the meat over the heat of the magma and it gives a really good flavor." Maud said.
"I have yet to eat meat yet. Is it good?" Sweetie asked.
“It’s actually really good.” I said honestly.
"Especially when they're seasoned and marinated properly."
We put in our orders and the smells of smoked and grilling meat was really good. Our food arrived and it was like nothing I've Ever had before… well, it was like nothing I've Had before, this is my first time eating smoked hot wings. Sweetie Bot got the Barbecue ribs and was already a mess after her first bite. Maud ate cleaner but still rapidly devoured her ham.
With the meal done we moved along to some sightseeing. This was an underground river where we road on a boat as the ceiling above us was lit up like the night sky with all sorts of glowing gems and insects and reflected on the water underneath, making it look like we were sailing lazily atop the stars.
"This is… amazing." Sweetie said with a large smile.
“Absolutely beautiful.” I said in awe.
"I found this place some years back when I was first using the Choosing stone. I wanted to bring the one I matched with here." Maud said, leaning against me. Sweetie smiled as she leaned on Maud. "never thought I'd bring two here."
"This is Lovely Maud." Sweetie said.
“And I get to see this with the best mares in my life.” I smiled happily.
We sat through the ride just cuddled up against each other, enjoying the moment. When it ended we headed in for a cafe and just made small talk. Maud talked about her family and sisters, and while fabricated Sweetie talked about the memories she has working as a singer in the store I found her in. Despite that being a simulation and all that, it was nice that she has her own history.
"So what about the other ones?" Maud asked.
"Others?" Sweetie asked.
"You know, Applebloom and Scootaloo."
"Oh! Oh yes they also had robotic counterparts made. Applebot was largely used in, well, agriculture and also office uses, but Scootaborg was purely military."
“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Even as robots they still do what they're good at.”
"Yeah but, are you gonna find them?" Maud asked. "They are your friends, are they?"
Sweetie seemed to think that over. "Well, I can see us obtaining friendship. At the very least, why break up the set right?" She chuckled. "Meeting them would at least be enjoyable."
“That means we would...probably need three times all the items we need if we find the same models as you.” I pointed out. “Which...isn’t going to be entirely fun.”
"Not like we can't enjoy the journey though, that's where all the fun is." Sweetie Bot stated with a smile.
“True.” I chuckled as I softly nuzzled Sweetie. “This is nice.”
"Guess you best make a list then." Maud said. I raised an eyebrow. "Heh, it's typically an Isekai things. Everything from an Isekai world is a real place or thing here, so most make a list of places and people and stuff to get and explore and all that."
"That does sound like fun." Sweetie said. "What would you put on the list Button?"
“I...don’t know actually.” I said. “Maybe go to Minecraft or something? The game was fun back home so might as well.”
"We can work on it. Plus games and such you've played here are also real, so it can be a whole thing if you want." Maud said.
“That sounds great.” I said honestly. “But right now...I’m just wanting to spend time with you two.”
"Yeah." Sweetie said.
"Same." Maud said.
With the cafe behind us, we headed for this peaceful lake area, it was calm and the water was clear all the way to the bottom. We all sat by the lakes edge and just enjoyed the sounds for a while. The date ended with us all exchanging kisses and when we woke up- Holy!
"Button, that face is gonna stay that way if you don't stop." Dad laughed as my huge grin managed to stay. I had a good morning three way.
"I made sure the door was closed last night." Sweetie said, setting the places if eggs and pancakes down.
"And I lost my V-card." Maud said happily, her Monotone voice had the hints of joy but her own smile gave away how she felt.
As I opened my mouth my assistant just played a clip from a song I’ve never heard of. “I just had sex!” The song declared joyously from my Assistant. “Well...yeah.” I said sheepishly.
"Well, second time but all in all I guess it's still accurate." Dad said with a chuckle. "So, big day today?"
"Button and them are supposed to be getting my OS/AI installer for Greg. He needs the original installer to make me an update that will block out my original programming so I will have total free will." Sweetie said happily.
“And we have to do it in an endless robot spawner.” I added. “Which...kind of blows but that was the only way we could get it without going to a too high level dungeon.”
"That won't be fun." Dad sighed. "Just remember, if you don't win it this time you can always try again."
“We have all the time in the world...hopefully.” I said nervously.
After breakfast I headed out to the ship to meet up with the others. Sweetie Bot can't fight until a weapons upgrade or her OS/AI installer thing is fixed and Maud, while she can fight, she desired to stay and get to know dad, being a miner the two should hit it off well.
A whistle caught my attention and I saw Cheat walking next to me, still in that mare version of me. "That. Was. Hot."
“Yes, yes it was.” I nodded.
"Wow, boy gets his first three way and now he's a man!" Cheat said with a chuckle. "I'm almost jealous, though not gonna lie, really digging this female body. Had such fun last night in the realm of dreams."
“I’d rather not know what you did all things considered.” I said honestly.
"All I'll say is that it was sloppy and I loved every second of it." Cheat chuckled. "I can see why your dad swapped."
“Alrighty then.” I nodded, rather quickly wanting to avoid that information. “So anyways, gonna be fighting a whole host of robots today.”
"I know. Don't worry, I got your back. And head. Legs. Underbelly."
“I know I know.” I nodded. “Just...hopefully things will go well today.”
"It will, now come on, the others are waiting and I really wanna see what Mei made."
“Fine fine.” I nodded as I got onto the ship. “Let’s hope everyone’s ready.”
Once on the ship Cheap left again and I saw Tiara, Mei, and Ali all on the bridge. "Glade you made, I made some great stuff!" Mei said, dropping a bag filled with several grenades, each one with a blue band around it. "I made about two hundred EMP grenades, four thousand EMP bullets for Tiara, and I made this for myself." She said, motioning to the odd backpack device where what was or is her portal gun was hooked too via a thick cable.
"And that is?" Tiara asked.
"An energy weapon, not like the ones that shoot lasers, like the ones that take the various elemental energies from your body and shoot it out in their raw form!"
"So, while fighting the robots it's a Flamethrower?" Ali asked.
"Well… more or less. I've set the fire to burn at up to five thousand degrees, more than hot enough to melt these robots into scrap metal. I also made several hundred rounds of incendiary and Thermite bullets for Tiara. For you Button I made these." Mei said, putting before me two odd horse shoes. They were metallic, the height of my hoof and they looked mechanical.
“And what are these?” I asked as I gently took the horse shoes and looked them over.
"Modified Power Hooves. An altered version of a hand to hand, or rather, hoof to hoof weapon built for Equines like yourself. They boost the raw punch, or buck, ten fold. These are infused with Fire Gems so not only do they help you hit harder, they'll set anything hit on fire if it's able and by pouring your fire energy into them will increase the heat of the impacts."
“Sweet.” I said with a smile, putting on my new power hooves.
"And lastly for Ali." Mei said, handing the Kangaroo a bag filled with fire gems and what looked like leather gloves. "Fire gems and a Pyromancer's Flame. This way you can join in on the fight."
"Wow." Ali said, taking the bag. "I've rarely fought before… but I guess I'll start." He laughed, putting the gloves in and absorbing the gems.
"Alright, let's prepare then start the quest." Mei said as we all began our prep work.
“Alright.” I nodded as I fully got my power hooves on, making sure they fit comfortably.
Once they were on and fashioned I felt as Cheat materialized the armor around my body, the hooves part melding into the power hooves as well. Huh, cool. Hey even the back hooves were raised to make me even while standing.
I headed to the medbay and grabbed some potions. While I was waiting for the others I decided to look into the others, Applebot and Scootaborg. Hmm...
“Where can I either find them, or...possibly have to buy them…” I muttered while bringing up my Assistant and looking through where to find Applebot or Scootaborg.
Let's see… Applebot, parts, upgrades, ah, locations… Armageddon, Office Building and Farm dungeon loot. Scootaborg, Pegasi/Enclave and various Military compound dungeons. Shit- wait… both can spawn in level one dungeons! Hmm… this can work...
“Alright...so I never thought I would be trying to pick up chicks in dungeons…” I said honestly. “That...sounds like an anime…”
With that information in tow I brought out a sheet of paper and thought back to what Maud said… list of places to go huh… Let's see, fantasy back home… Daring Doo. Meeting her would be cool, Visit Canterlot, Manehattan, Los Pegasus… Trottingham. Mom's from there...
“So basically just go back home and visit places I couldn’t go to before?” I muttered to myself, finding that a little strange...but then the thought of my mom smacked me hard...sure I have dad here but...I’ll never see her again. “Oh wow...that hits hard…”
"Seems so." I looked up, seeing Cheat sitting across from me. They were armored up too, only missing the helmet. "Think you'll see her?"
“I might meet her but...I won’t meet my mom.” I sighed out. “But...maybe one day she’ll come here...and I can show her how I’ve grown up.”
"Hm. Hopefully. So, think this will end up okay? There are going to be a lot of robots and they will be armed."
“With our group, our gear, and the fact that Loop will be going on constantly...but uh...I actually forgot to ask if there was a drawback to this ability…” I frowned.
"Some." Cheat said. "I looked it up back in the dream realm a while ago. As you know it loops between two people and double the energy of you and your party member every ten minutes, but for every extra person is a five minute penalty. For the whole team it will be every twenty minutes your energy to double."
“Alright, and is there any ‘it doubled too hard’ kind of thing?” I asked curiously, having heard the ‘too much of a good thing’ saying seemed possibly applicable to Loop.
"Yeah. There is a limit to how much you can double your energy. Say your energy is naturally at a thousand MP, and after some time using Loop you hit like, a million MP. You can suffer Burn Up, meaning your other energies, say Fire, build up too much for your body to hold and you literally explode. Then, there is also Burn Out, using your energies too fast and too much. Loop also while doubling your energies doesn't do a full Regen. Say your energy loops to two thousand, but you have a hundred MP left. When Loop hits, your energy cap will double to four thousand but your reserves will be two hundred."
“So then how do you stop burn up or burn out at that point?” I asked. “Kinda sounds hard to goldie locks it.”
"Several ways. Rapidly swap between energies to use them but also you can give others not in your party special items to feed them certain flows of your energies for a battle. Some items and weapons can store excess energies for attacks or use later."
“Well it’s a good thing I have these.” I said while showing my nifty new shoes.
"That will help." Cheat said with a nod. "For love and for glory, as they say."
“Alright.” I nodded as I stretched out a bit. “And gonna need to search a few places as well.”
"Hm… so… want a quick BJ before you head off?"
“You...can just up and do that?” I asked nervously.
"Well, it will feel like it, as real as Maud this morning, but if you want to do it with me physically, I'd need a body I can puppet. Like a flesh golem. Or maybe some Ability I can unlock later? Either way your stuff will sadly just end up on the floor."
“Well...aren’t you the suit of armor?” I asked curiously. “The one I’m currently wearing? Couldn’t you just...uh...absorb it?”
"I'd get pregnant." They said. "And as kinky as knocking up your big sis will be, you ain't ready for kids, and since my true body is inside you, you'd be carrying that kid to term."
“Yeah let’s not do that.” I said quickly. “Also...big sis?”
"I'm a chick now, so, big sis." They stated. "Honestly, I kinda like it, nice ring to it and all… plus… I do have all your memories Button. Even ones you don't remember, it's almost like I was always there… for me anyway…"
“And...the minor part on the incest bit?” I asked nervously.
"You forget my jokes about you and your mom and your dad turn mare?" I sighed, but nodded. "Yeah that wasn't really a joke. Incest is only a taboo in certain cultures and social circles and kids born from it aren't genetically messed up. Don't believe me, look it up."
I stared at Cheat, then did look it up and… Sweet… they're right?! As if this reality couldn't get crazier!
“Uh...huh…” I started. “That’s...quite a thing I didn’t expect...”
"Yup. Hence, all that incest porn." Cheat finished, stretching… her... legs. "Say… how's it feel now having a girl inside you~"
“Please don’t say it like that…” I said nervously.
"Well it's true. In any case, just try not to stop moving. In these Survival quests the key is often constant movement."
“Yeah, that’s about right.” I nodded.
"Well, good luck."
We began the quest and we're teleported to this… place. It was massive ruined town. We were all dropped in the center of it. There was a timer in our huds. Five hours.
Tiara whistled. "I knew it was gonna be long but damn."
"Think it will be enough?" Mei asked, raising her Energy Gun.
"So long as Loop starts us, it should." Ali said, starting up his camera.
“Now remember...we need to keep track of things cause apparently Loop has a kind of...bad side effect.” I said nervously.
"Sounds about right." Tiara said. The timer started it's found down.
Immediately from buildings and in the distance, many mechanical constructs began marching towards us. Some looked humanish. Others looked a little like ponies, several were giant robotic spiders, mobile tanks, and I think I also saw Mecha Godzilla…
"Well shit…" Ali said dumbly.
“Okay...so what’s best, charging forward or running for cover?” I asked worriedly.
"I can give air support." Tiara said, spreading her wings. "Button, charge in and go nuts, Mei, Ali, stuck close and keep them off Button's back." With that she flew up and started shooting.
… I'll do that.
I charged in, letting fire energy flow into my power hooves and I jumped on one smaller robot, the heat melting their she'll and crushing and turning the internals to melted slag. One down… whatever five hours worth will add up to left...
“Alright, so far so good.” I said as I charged off again, spinning around and bucking a bigger robot hard enough to send it flying into a bunch of smaller bots and knocking them over like dominoes.
As they began to circle me, cover fire from above took out half while was able to smash up the rest before spikes from the armors stressed the smaller ones. Five more minutes until Loop hits.
"Alright, so far so good…" I muttered as I tried to send a message to the others about how long Loop has.
As I rushed along the road I backpedaled when the rapid fire of bullets nearly hit me. Turning I spotted a more heavily armored tank robot, rolling on four wheeler legs. One arm seemed to be a minigun, the other looked like… fuck is that a rocket launcher?!
“Alright...let’s try something…” I muttered as I formed claws through my power hooves and raised it up, feeling the energy of the fire gems in it start to flare up. “Here goes nothing.” I said as I swung it in an uppercut motion, sending three large flame slashes towards the heavily armored robot.
The impact knocked it aside, the armored plate turning red with heat but it still moved, shooting at me with the Minigun while trying to take aim with the launcher. I bolted for cover, the loud screech of the rocket and was quickly replaced by a large explosion that knocked me over. A light ringing in my ears quickly faded as the found of the weighted movements of the robot's wheeled legs rolled near me.
I got up, breathing heavily and trying to move.
“Ow…” I groaned as I tried to get up. “Come on...get up…”
As I was feeling the thing rumble the ground as it got closer I managed to stand again, spotting the fucker trying to take aim.
"I'm gonna do something. Sorry in advance!" Cheat said.
I wanted to question it… woah… woah…
I felt… good. The pain and exhaustion was gone and I felt like… I felt awesome!
I felt a grin cross my face as I rushed along the side and bucked the gun arm, the metal nickeling and bending before I spun around, Loop finally kicking in as I poured way more fire energy into my Power Hooves and punch-melted the head, torso, and lower torso of the bot in three punches.
“Now this is great!” I laughed as I swung my power hoof and sent a wave of fire out towards the smaller robots rushing at me and burning them rather fast.
"Good that worked. I'm kinda maybe sorta forcing your body to pump excess Adrenaline. I'll try and keep it up for as long as possible but if it starts putting too much stress on you, I'll have to slow it down and then stop it and then It's sleepy time for a while."
“We’ll just have to work through it until I can’t stand anymore.” I said simply as I rushed forward again to fight some more.
As I rushed through the hordes of robots, I spotted Tiara flying above, shooting the few ones that fly and trying to take out some heavy hitters. Mei and Ali were doing well, they kept moving while shooting off fire.
Mei's gun was melting these boys with ease. The small ones became white hot melted slag while the larger ones became bad modern art that sparked and screeched.
Ali, for having not fought much, picked up that Pyromancy fast, rapidly throwing exploding fireballs and EMP grenades into the larger groups of robots. All in all it was going fairly well. Soon an hour had already passed and Loop had hit three times, giving Mei, Ali and I lots of MP and Fire Energy to work with.
“How long do I have Cheat?” I asked as I sent a massive fireball off and destroying the massive tank robot easily.
"Well your heart is holding out well, though your muscles wanna turn into jelly. Take a healing potion otherwise I'll be on leg duty for your body."
“Alright.” I nodded as I pulled out a healing potion and chugged it. “Still glad healing potions actually taste good.”
As we were reaching the halfway mark I made a B-line for another tanker, turning it to slag quickly as-
Suddenly, a tall broken down robot bear with a tie and hat holding a microphone popped out of nowhere, screaming in my face and then began biting my head!
I panicked but rapidly punched it to melted metal. Fucking! Freddy! Fazbear!
“Please tell me the rest of Fazbear’s motley crew isn’t here.” I said worriedly, not wanting to see more of those bastards.
"I'm not making that bet." Cheat replied as I groaned and got up, rushing Back towards the others. We managed to keep moving while also keeping close. Tiara was looking sore, stopping only for a potion or to reload. She often swapped between EMP and the Thermite bullets, both tore through the robot's.
Mei has to limit how much fire her weapon spat, the barrel was looking slightly warped ad she tried using water and a little ice magic to cool it off quicker.
Ali was thankfully holding up well, just sore from throwing the fireballs.
Thankfully our luck was holding out, and soon we were down to the last hour. "Fuck, I am so sleeping for a week after this." Tiara huffed as she reloaded her magazines.
"Same." Ali and Mei said.
“I’m doing my best not passing out from a lack of adrenaline.” I said. “So...I have no idea how long I’ll be out…”
"Well, at least Tiara took out that Mecha Godzilla. Props." Ali said, giving her a thumbs up.
"I got revenge for King Kong." She chuckled tiredly.
"Incoming in the sky." Mei said through a yawn as she raised her weapon.
"I go- … Button… you'll wanna see this…" Tiara said, looking at what I could only see was a blur in the air.
“What the hell am I seeing?” I asked carefully.
"One of Bot's friends." Tiara said.
I widened my eyes, the blur slowing just enough for me to see it… Scootaloo… er, Scootaborg. She was built very differently from Sweetie Bot. Her body was larger, heavily armored and her wings were a mix of metal with small jets under them. Her eyes were covered in a crimson visor and popping out of her front legs and sides were various nasty looking guns.
"Well damn, talk about luck… or uh, maybe not!" Ali yelped as the Scootaborg fired large caliber bullets at us from above.
We rushed inside a still standing building.
“So...we’re gonna need to try and befriend her...maybe it’s until the time is up and then she’ll be willing to talk?” I asked, hopeful in thinking that this quest was a job for her and she’ll stop trying to murder us when the time is up.
"If she's part of the enemies in the quest then no, it looks like she's programmed to see us only as her enemy. Good news though, if we can beat her and not break her too badly, Greg could probably fix and reprogram her." Mei stated.
"How do we fight and not too badly break that flying Artillery tank?" Ali asked, yelping as a fifty caliber shot through the wall a few feet away.
"If she is a military bot, it would take a lot of EMP bullets and grenades." Tiara said. "There's only half an hour left. If we don't beat her before the time is up, we'll win and she'll be put back into some other quest as an enemy. As is we get whatever the enemies drop be it their parts, bodies and drops, meaning if we play our cards right we can walk out of this with Scootaborg, lots of scrap metal, and whatever robotic parts that aren't broken, and our main prize, the AI/OS installer."
“So how much EMP bullets and grenades do you have?” I asked.
"I got a few hundred left on the bullets."
"Two grenades left." Ali stated, holding them in his hands. "Got a plan?"
"Okay… first thing's first. We need to ground her. I still have some Thermite mullets left so if I hit her jets she'll crash. I doubt that alone will disable her so once she is you guys throw the EMP grenades and I'll shoot off EMP bullets from above. With luck the Thermite will blow a big enough hole in her armor to let them affect her internals. If not… well, plan B."
“Hopefully we won’t need to go do plan B...whatever that is.” I said worriedly.
"Pretty sure Plan B is to melt her." Mei said, Tiara nodding.
“Well...I guess I’ll play distraction then.” I sighed out.
"Alright. Here's hoping it all ends well." Ali said as he fixed his camera. Huh, I forgot he was streaming.
“Well...here goes nothing.” I said, taking a deep breath as I broke cover and ran along from cover to cover. “Should I try and diss Scoots here to distract them better?” I muttered, remembering that I wanted to...possibly date this robomare and didn’t entirely want to piss them off too hard.
"Well, if she's anything like Sweetie Bot, I'm willing to bet they programmed her with Scootaloo's personality as well, so I'd say go for it." Mei said.
Nodding, I ran outside. If this Scootaborg is anything like Scootaloo, then I know just what to say to get her attention.
“What? You need some rinky dink jet engines to fly cause your wings couldn’t handle it!?” I called out
That seemed to get her to look at me. Good. I ran, dodging her bullets and thankfully the armor even took a hit and saved me a nasty wound. What else? If I can ground her without Tiara, she can save those bullets.
“Your scooter skills suck!” I called out, knowing full well Scootaloo always prided herself in her scooter skills and calling her out on that would definitely do something.
It did. She now had a Grenade Launcher out and was shooting me with it. I helped, dodging and trying to get closer to her. She's flying low now though. Time to reel her in.
“Rainbow Dash is overhyped and arrogant as shit!” I called out again. “She crashes into Twilight’s library more than doing any actual stunts!” I said, which was...to be honest sadly true even if I did see some of her stunts and while they did look cool...poor Twilight.
That did it. She dropped to the ground like a bolder, and if looks could kill I'd be-
I ducked. She has laser eyes!?
As she was about to shoot again, two EMP grenades flew under her and her back wings and jets blew In a flashy explosion. The grenades went off and soon a heavy rain of EMP bullets sent electricity coating the robot mare's body as Scootaborg sparked and fizzled for a while, giving a low robotic groan before she froze in place.
"Not the plan I had in mind, that'll do." Tiara said as she ran over, followed by Mei and Ali.
"She offline?" Ali asked.
Mei quickly rushed over to examined the Scootaborg. "Hm. Looks like those thermite bullets exposed her flight processors, and the EMP round and Grenades had room to fry her Power Talismans. Those will be an easy repair though." Mei said, sighing with a smile.
I smiled too. And all with five minutes to spare. We turned seeing other robots still marching towards us. Heh, small fry.
"How in the hell did you luck out in Finding a MK 95 Scootaborg?" Greg asked. After the round was over, since Scootaborg was… offline, I was able to store her into my assistant with the AI/OS installer. I gave that to Greg and pulled out Scootaborg. He was surprised to say the least.
"It was rather fortunate." Sweetie Bot said.
"Definitely impressive." Maud said with a nod.
"I'd call hacks but I had nothing to do with it." Cheat said with a chuckle. Huh, they don't usually accompany me here unless it's to tease me… wait, in the dream realm they have their own body! Shit!
"In any case, fixing her power Talismans will be simple enough, her wings and Jets, well I have some third party parts that should work just as well." Greg said.
“Hopefully when she wakes up she doesn’t want to murder me for all the bad crap I said.” I said nervously.
"That will be easy enough to reprogram." Greg stated as he got to work.
While we waited I began looking into the other upgrades Sweetie Bot needed. "Girl are you just gonna stare or are you gonna make a move?" Cheat asked as I looked over, seeing them next to a very flustered Sweetie.
"I- It's just, you look so much like Button, just… as a mare…" Sweetie said.
"Kinky." Maud said with a small smile.
"I like you even more now." Cheat said, grinning back at Maud… Mother help me...
“Sweet lord…” I muttered. “Can any of you help me with figuring out what to get Sweetie next?”
"Well, seems fitting we get her one of those weapons packages, then she can join our merry band of misfits on an adventure or two if she wants." Cheat said.
"That does sound enjoyable. And if I can help get the upgrades." Sweetie said, looking excited now.
"Hm, does sound like fun. But won't Loop take longer to work if we all go?" Maud asked.
"It doesn't affect me like that. Symbiotes are one with their host meaning as far as the ability is concerned I'm just Button. I see your point though… maybe you all could swap out with Tiara, Mei or Ali? Keep the group at four so Loop won't take over thirty minutes to kick in." Cheat stated.
“Maybe.” I said honestly. “Will depend on the kind of quests we go on.”
"Fair enough. So, you two gonna give Button another morning wood special?"
Sweetie, and I, went crimson red with blush while Maud simply seemed to ponder that over.
"Wait how did you?!" Sweetie started asking.
"I'm Button's Symbiote, I'm always there." Cheat grinned perversely.
"Nice." Maud said, her grin not as perverse but still one of joy and contemplation.
Yeesh, at this rate Cheat might actually… wait… I excused myself real quick and headed off. The Time Walkers better be open.
Thankfully they were and I entered. This Time Walker was a lot taller, female too. "Huh, you've been here already. More questions?" She asked, her voice a little high pitched and raspy but still pleasant to the ear.
"Yeah...I just have some more questions." I started. "Is Cheat one of my...four early marefriends?" I asked carefully.
"Hmm, a question of the past and present that bleeds into the future. I can tell you some." She said, waving her hand as the outline of a clock appeared in front of me, the clock vanish, showing me an image of the battle against the robots. It showed how I got shot, even blown up some and fell over, when Cheat began pumping me with adrenaline to keep me going. "The foundation is there, they have saved you, many, many times." It then showed when the large fifty caliber hit, the impact spot was cracked but I kept going. "And save you they will always do. There is a spark there, something that can blossom." It then showed us talking in the ship, and then earlier before I left to come here. "They feel close to you, and more than just your relationship with them as a Symbiote. This is not an uncommon occurrence."
"Really?" I inquired.
"Yes. It all depends on the Symbiote, their personality, and their host. Some adopt guardian or friend roles, others parental, sibling, and some develop feelings for their host. Symbiotes have no real gender and can reproduce in several ways with their host or others."
“That’s fair.” I nodded. “And...yeah they mentioned what would happen if I did that.” I said sheepishly.
"The foundation and potential is there, and they have filled the criteria, it is up to you if they are to become your lover, or to stay in their selected role as a sibling figure." The Time Walker finished, the clock viewing thing vanishing.
“Right…” I started. “That’s...gonna take a while to get used to.” I started. “So...I...know this question might not entirely work but...will I ever see my mom again? My version of her, not...someone else.”
"The question all Isekai ask but can never find an answer. I can not tell you that you will meet her again, nor can I deny you will not. All I can say is that Time will reward those who wait in patience with their rewards."
“Worth a shot.” I sighed out. “Will I...find someone to help me with...my rage problems?” I asked carefully, having a feeling the Time Walker would know what I mean.
"Two are with you now, one could be with you soon, and the last will appear to you in the near future."
“Right.” I nodded. “Just uh...ponies are quick to anger and Cheat is about rage so…”
"Your Symbiote may turn your anger into strength, but the fire that fuels it resides within you alone. Emotions, like all energy, can be controlled. Do not fear your anger, control it. You can find a teacher."
“That would be for the best.” I nodded. “Cause...ponies are rather emotional…”
"Remember, anger, rage, hatred, are tools. Learn to use them and you will have no fear."
“I’ll try my best.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
I headed back to the others, Scootaborg was looking just about repaired and the girls… Cheat included… given they are basically a girl now… "Sup baby bro?" Cheat asked as I walked over to them. "Borg here is looking almost new."
“And I have...an important question to ask.” I said honestly. “So which should we start with, talking about Scoot’s progress or...my weird question?”
"Scootaborg's progress." Maud said. "Leave the weird question for last."
“Alright, so how’s her progress going?” I asked. “And...I hope you got rid of the...bad things I said before from her memory…” I said nervously.
"Well you're in luck then." Greg spoke up. "Her Hard Drive got wiped in the EMP onslaught. She's gonna boot up in factory new mode. Just installing you guys as her Commanders and then after a Nanobot injector and one of my suppressors she'll be at Sweetie Bot's current level of free will capabilities."
"Well, guess that's better than how I started." Sweetie said. "So what's the other question then Button?"
“Well…” I started nervously. “How would you all feel if...Cheat joined in?”
They were all quiet for a moment, Sweetie was blushing and even Cheat was slightly red on the cheeks.
"W-well, technically they already have been. Given they are part of you in the waking world… and apparently have been present for our… private escapades, making it officially would make sense." She rationalized.
"I wouldn't mind." Maud said.
"Wait, so I'm in? Like, actually in?! Yes!" Cheat cheered, tackling me til she was atop me and I was under her. "Don't worry little bro, big sis is gonna take real special care of you~"
Sweet Mother have mercy!
"Hey, no public sex!" Greg yelled. "At least not in this part of the dream realm."
"Awhh. Killjoy." Cheat huffed, getting off of me for now as I got back up red as an apple.
A short bit after that and some… rather physical flirting from Cheat Scootaborg was back online. Once the suppressor chip was placed in and working she looked around at all of us. "Commander Sweetie Bot. Commander Maud Pie. Commander Cheat Code. Commander Button Mash." She addressed us each with a nod and salute. "How may I be of service to the cause?" Her visor was no longer on, so her almost purple eyes looked at us. Wow she does look a lot like Scootaloo, except… taller. Actually, I think she's a full foot taller than me.
"Was I like that at all?" Sweetie Bot asked.
I thought it over.
"Less military but….kinda." I said sheepishly. "But Scoots, what are you allowed and not allowed to do?"
"You give me orders and I do them." She stated firmly.
"Orders like that?" Cheat asked.
"Anything within the law, I can do." She stated.
"Huh…" Greg hummed. "Maybe since she's a military model the suppressor chip isn't as effective…"
"So you can actively have your own free will and date me?" I inquired to Scootaborg.
"Negative. 'Date me' and 'Free will' are not in my programming." Scootaborg said.
"Wow, already on the hunt for more baby bro?" Cheat said with a sly grin. "And I was worried my pervertedness wasn't going to rub off on you."
“Shush you.” I chided. “So...that kind of blows...gonna have to fix that with...more quests.”
"I can actually make it here thanks to this " Greg said, holding up the OS/AI installer. "This is the installer for Sweetie Bot. Everything about her personality and ability to socially interact with others and such is in here. I can just remove the Personality of Sweetie Bell and reprogram in one for Scootaloo, or if you can get me her installer I can just hack and modify that one."
"Add it to the list I suppose…" Sweetie Said.
"So what do we do with the flying tank?" Cheat asked.
“Well...we can have her help us find the parts we need.” I said honestly.
"True, her fire power alone is worth it." Sweetie said. "And until I get a weapons package I'm not good for much…"
"You can't just pick up a gun in your… magic and use it?" Cheat asked.
Sweetie shook her head. "My programming is still very strict. Even with the suppressor chip keeping most of it away I'm still limited. As I am if I pick up a weapon I can't even use it, not unless one of the packages is installed, on top of an arsenal of weapons It would also install the use and combat programs for me to use them."
"True, though I can probably make some, the ones made for her specifically would work better. I can probably make something more compatible if I had Scootaborg's installer but that would be a while from now." Greg said. "Her internal OS already comes with a special learning and combat matrix that Sweetie here does not have."
“Right…” I started. “Hopefully what we need for Scoots will be a lot simpler to get than what we still need for Sweetie.”
"Hmm…" Cheat hummed aloud. "Victor works in the villains guilds as a raider, Echo Dash is a former adventurer and even Button's dad did some adventuring before… that would make… nine, ten plus me but until I get a flesh golem body I don't fully count…"
"Thinking of something Cheat?" Sweetie asked.
"Well, given we know three fairly high level people, if we all team up we can effectively have two teams and kinda… Tourist our way into the higher level dungeons."
Sweetie and I shared a confused look as Maud seemed to frown but was thinking it over. "Maybe, but if you also include Sweetie, Scootaborg and myself that's thirteen."
Wait what?
“Excuse me?” I asked. “What’s going on now?”
"It's a… well, it's not really cheating but it's frowned upon." Cheat started. "It's called Touristing. Basically when entering a dungeon with a team, the dungeon only checks to see if at least one member meets the requirements to enter, not the whole team. This means that we can use say, Echo in a team with us to enter a level two or three or even four. Basically most people use this to quickly obtain loot or even Skill Points. It's frowned upon since most of the time the one with the requirements does most of if not all the work but the lower ranked members often get the most reward out of it."
"It especially sucks for the strongest member since to counter this the dungeon will spawn in more enemies than usual rather than just kick them all out." Maud added.
"Yeah, but to get all this done it's the best option to get stronger fast and get all these parts quickly."
“At this point it would just be trying to get them on board with it.” I said honestly.
"I bet Victor would help, maybe your dad too, though I'm not sure about Echo Dash." Sweetie said.
"He mostly just works with the Caretakers Guild but we'd have to talk to them about it as well as with Ali, Mei and Tiara." Maud said.
”Alright.” I nodded. “Let’s hope it all works out.”
"Touristing huh?" Victor said. Once we all woke up I headed off to Tiara's to tell her the news while Maud and Sweetie talked to dad about it. "Hmm… I can see your point, it would make helping those Synthetics easier… plus the Skill Points, spells and items you'd get would help you to quickly stand on even ground with the dungeon itself… plus it could be fun…"
"So… you'll do it?" Tiara asked.
"Hmm… sure, on one condition."
“What’s the condition?” I asked carefully.
"Echo is there too." Victor said with a smile. "I wanna rematch and between the both of us I bet your combat skills can skyrocket with proper training."
“I was gonna need a teacher anyways...but for something completely different.” I said nervously.
"Oh? What for?"
“Ponies have a rather...bad habit of getting their emotions from zero to a hundred and...well my whole thing is about rage…” I said nervously.
"Ah, I got ya." Victor said. "I know a guy who's whole shtick is anger and rage. I think I can get him to give you a few pointers."
“Thank you.” I nodded. “I’d rather...not accidentally have my rage get out of hand…”
"Fair."
With that I went back home and saw Dad and thankfully Echo. Dad was willing to help just to help while Echo had reservations. Thankfully after telling him Victor wanted a rematch and would help train us, desired to go for it.
"This will be so fun! An outing with my son and their whole team!" Dad said… heh.
“Glad your excited dad.” I smiled.
With dad, Echo, Victor and the rest in tow we headed back to the ship. This was Sweetie and Maud's first time on the ship. They liked it. "So how are we gonna do this?" Victor asked.
"What do you mean?" Echo asked.
"Well, is this gonna be part time for us or full time?"
"I'm okay with being full time helping the kids." Dad said. "The Miners guild pays by the ore you sell so, I don't have to worry about putting in hours."
"Same with me. We get a call about a task or job and it's up to us if we think the pay is worth it." Victor said.
"For me I have to check in at least once a week but it's only for about a few hours." Echo said.
"So basically we can do this full time. Nice." Victor said.
“Neat.” I nodded. “But...hopefully we can at least make it a little more bearable than you three power leveling us a lot of the time.”
"We can keep it fair." Dad said. "Taking a break between each Tourist trip so the kids can all learn and adjust to the sudden boosts in power."
“Works for me.” I nodded.
"So does this mean we can also camp out by the dungeons and in the hazard zones more?" Tiara asked.
"Easily. This ship has a galley and enough rooms and storage space. It'll make a nice mobile base until we go back home." Echo said.
"Guess we'll be in Button's room then." Maud said.
“You can camp in hazard zones?” I asked. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
"You can, and it is, but that's where guns and defense systems mobile bases can have come in." Echo stated. "Actually, Scootaborg could probably handle that well by herself."
“Neat.” I nodded. “But uh...is she strong enough for a level two dungeon?”
"Won't know until we get an Assistant on her." Maud said.
"I keep some on me for work." Echo said, pulling out the slip of paper.
Putting it in Scootaborg showed she could easily handle level two dungeons and beasts. After filling up her ammo we began to work on the next parts for Sweetie.
"Okay, so it looks like we can easily split up into three groups and each come back with an upgrade." Dad said. "So far it looks like we should go after the weapons Packages, that way she can help in more quests and later on with other adventures we find along the way."
“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded. “So who’s going with who?”
"Victor, Maud, Tiara and Ali can retrieve the Tactical Weapons Package. Button, Sweetie, Echo and Mei will get the Civilians weapons package. Lastly, I'll handle the Basic Trooper Weapons Package." Dad stated.
“Works for me.” I nodded.
"Wait so I need to…" Ali said, quickly sifting through his Assistant and pulling out several body cameras. "Catch all the angles. I can set them all up to easily Livestream on my page and I can edit the footage for YouTube later."
“Can’t wait to see all the negative comments about what we’re going to do on the video.” I said honestly.
"Eh. There's worse complaining about your armor."
"Internet bitches say what?!" Cheat yelled from the back of my head. Ouch...
“Fair there Cheat.” I muttered to Cheat’s comment.
"So we all get one then?" Tiara asked as Ali gave us each a camera.
"Yeah. Lot of viewers want to see the adventure from multiple angles and thanks to the money from the Robot Battle, I was able to get some quality cameras. Two hundred and fifty yottabytes of internal storage for HD recording both in video and audio and cased in Adamantium."
"Wow, kinda surprised they'd use it for cameras." Mei said, looking the small device over.
"Some people take their camera's very seriously." I said honestly.
"Very true Button." Ali said with a nod.
"Cameras aside, let's form the parties and then head out and grab these upgrades. Now there's good news and bad news." Victor stated. "The bad news is that all these Upgrades only spawn on Armageddon or on their respective Homeworld territories. So we got options there at least. The good news is that, save for the Heavy Artillery Weapons Package, all these upgrades spawn in level two dungeons. The other one spawns in level three."
"So the question is, do we head for Homeworld or Armageddon?" Echo stated.
“Which one’s closer and or which one’s less of a hassle to get everything we need in one trip?” I asked.
"Well, closest would be Armageddon, but it's a… really dangerous planet. Even the Safe Zones are more often a battleground than not." Echo sighed.
"Yeah. Bad enough the Planet is basically every world ending scenario all glued together on one world, but majority of the people who life there are fucking nuts." Victor said. "Went there as part of my Raider Guild initiation. Place is a Mother damned deathtrap."
"I went there back when I was on an adventure. Saw some things there that still haunt me." Echo shivered.
"It's really that bad?" Tiara asked.
"You don't give a planet a name like Armageddon unless it fucking earns it and this planet wears the crown of crowns of Apocalypse."
“So who’s the king of it?” I asked carefully. “Cause even if it’s every end of the world scenario all at once on one planet...there has to be one that is the absolute worst right?”
“Emptiness.” Victor said, which sent a shiver down my spine for some reason. “I’ve heard stories about how… outlandishly horrible it is.”
“The hell would cause that in every possible end of the world scenario?” I asked carefully.
“Imagine a space about the size of a small country...and remove Existence from it.” Victor answered me. “A spot where true emptiness exists, not a single atom of anything that makes this infinite plane of ours function...but is it’s own pocket dimension filled with the unknown.” He said. “It is ‘Fear of the Unknown’ personified, and if you try to scry for it, look for it on any maps, or anything from a birds eye view, it looks like a hole was made in it even though you're sure you got the right coordinates.”
“Damn…” I blinked in utter shock. “Why the hell…”
“Nobody knows.” Echo answered. “No matter who you ask, even if you got Mother herself down here somehow, she’d refuse to answer. Time Walkers told me that when I heard the rumors.”
"So, avoid that place… what about Homeworld?" Tiara asked.
"Not too much of a better boat." Dad sighed. "While less… extreme than Armageddon, within Apocalyptic Territory there's a universal rule… there are no rules. Gangs and raiders that are wannabe chaos guilds live there and given The environment and local population all live semi self-sufficient from most of creation. I hear some of the top Heroes Guilds use these territories and Armageddon as a Right of Passage. Survive the worst creation can make naturally, you can survive what people make."
"So fucked either way huh?" Mei stated.
"Basically." Dad nodded
“Shit…” I sighed out.
"Well, bad as the place is, Armageddon would be our best bet…" Victor said. "There's a reason the place is visited still, rather than just ignored… the dungeons drop way more loot and higher tier than normal. I'm talking about a shadow Creature here in a level one drops… five to twenty rem or so. On Armageddon the same Shadow Creature in a level one drops a hundred to five hundred easy."
"It's the only planet with Guaranteed Loot Drops too." Echo said. "It's one of the unique things about the place. So we enter the dungeon that drops the upgrade and walk out of there with the upgrade, hell maybe even multiple."
“Works for me.” I nodded.
"You sure Button? It won't be… pleasant…" Ali warned.
"But we'd leave it way better off than we arrived…" Mei stated.
"That's the lure of Armageddon. You can go in and leave with a fortune, but you'll also leave with so many nightmares." Victor stated.
“That sucks…” I sighed out. “But...it’s at least quicker than Homeworld from what’s being told.”
"Well, I'll remake the plans so we're in two groups to better the odds. Off to Armageddon then." Dad said.