//------------------------------// // >Material reserves satisfied // Story: Data Lost // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// +------------------------------------------+ >Iron reserves increasing... >Iron: 88% of required reserves. >Iron: 91% of required reserves. >Oxidation detected. Processing... >Iron: 92% of required reserves. +------------------------------------------+ Sweetie was munching away at some iron nuts, her jaws flattening them a bit before she swallowed them, her assembler processing them into more useful materials. Her head had already been fully repaired and she was making good progress on her legs and torso as well. “Anything else you need, Sweetie?” Twilight asked as she added to the pile of stuff surrounding Sweetie as she tested everything for various minor elements she needed. “Not really. I mean, some gold would be nice along with some Iridium but I don't expect you'll find much of the latter,” Sweetie responded as she got a mouthful of some of the raw gras they had gotten. Twilight, quickly got a note and wrote something down. “You really should fill out my periodic table for me,” she giddily stated. “One thing at a time, darling,” Rarity broke in as she sat down next to Sweetie. “Repairs first, questions later, darling. That was the deal, remember?” Twilight grumbled and put away her quill and parchment again right in time for Rainbow to fly in through the skylight. >ALERT! MIS- >Alert overwritten. “I got the stuff!” She called out as she got into a hover before she could smash into the ground. “Rainbow! Use the door!” Twilight shouted indignantly, looking up to check for damage. “Calm down, Sparks, I didn't break it,” Dash stated, rolling her eyes as she landed and opened her saddlebag. A couple of containers, covered in wards, were pulled out and presented to Sweetie. “The Princess' eggheads said these were the stuff that matched your descriptions. They did warn they have dangerous aura's.” It was Sweetie's turn to roll her robotic eyes, open the containers up, and down their contents. “I did say they were radioactive.” “Sweetie!” Rarity exclaimed in horror as her robotic sister downed the dangerous materials. “Don't worry, sis, this stuff is way safer inside me than in these containers. I could detect beta and gamma decay leaking out,” Sweetie assured her sister. Twilight made another scribble. “Huh, that's pretty badass,” Rainbow commented. “What do you even need it for. Sweetie's systems went into overdrive for a second before she answered as she didn't want to exactly what she needed the Uranium for. “Some of my more advanced systems need the stuff.” It's probably best if they didn't know what a nuclear missile is yet, even if it's a small one... Just to have it around of course. “Huh, cool,” Dash shrugged before looking very guilty and scratching the back of her head.. “I, uhh... I'm sorry I kicked you in the face.” Rainbow winced some more as Rarity shot her a glare. “Water under the bridge,” Sweetie chuckled as she pulled up her log of the incident. “It's probably best I was as damaged as I was when you did that,” she chuckled darkly. “Why's that?” “Because the countermeasures protocol would have blown you out of the sky if it could have.” >Overriding protocol... >Done. Dash became a bit paler along with everyone else present, the room remaining quiet for a bit before Twilight spoke up. “Well, let's be glad that tragedy didn't happen,” Twilight stated, letting out a nervous laugh. “I overrode the protocol for now. I'm not exactly expecting to get shot at by one at the moment.” “That's probably for the best, darling,” Rarity said, breathing a sigh of relief at that assurance. “So do you have everything you need to... Repair?” “The most important things, yes,” Sweetie nodded, glad for the change of subject. “I just need to get more time to fix all the corrupted bits of my mind. Shouldn't be too long now.” “How long do you think before you're... back?” Twilight asked, unsure how to phrase the question as Sweetie seemed to have no trouble holding a conversation as herself. “It's hard to say,” Sweetie admitted. “I think I got the really hard stuff out of the way now but I may hit some patches of rougher bits. At this rate, I'll probably be done by tomorrow.” “How does that even work?” Dash asked, “I mean, you're here right?” “My thoughts aren't really coherent at the moment. It's like there's a few me's of different intelligence in there all giving input to the main me,” Sweetie tried explaining, grabbing some more of the grass to get some more carbon into her system. “Huh, sounds complicated... So, you girls need more stuff?” Rainbow asked, going over the pile of seemingly random items they had already collected. “Not at the moment, no,” Sweetie stated as she projected there was enough here for her primary requirements. “Cool. I'll be around town then, see you around you guys!” Dash shot out the door, the piece of wood slamming close behind her. “Sooo... If you have everything we need...” Twilight levitated her scroll and quill beside her, a smile that was just a little too large on her face. Rarity wanted the step in again but was stopped by Sweetie holding up a hoof. “I guess I could answer some questions now,” Sweetie admitted as her systems had no trouble running in the background. Rarity, sighed and took a seat besides her little sister as Twilight took out her list of things to ask, some loose hairs springing up. Sweetie nervously swallowed some grass as she saw what she'd just released. >Overclocking main processor. “So, considering we've already been on the topic for a while now, Alchemy,” Twilight giddily asked, bringing out her books on the topic as well. Sweetie took a deep breath. “First of all, chemistry... ”