//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Tired 
// Story: The Tired Automaton 
// by Partycannon_ 
//------------------------------//


-::Hello World::-


I felt each dial turn, every fluid flow, each gate alter. I didn’t breathe, I couldn’t and that alone upset me more than what I could have ever imagined. I flew awake, flooding my eyes with a stream of darkened colors. It was my room thank Celestia, the light was off and the room laid still in the gentle darkness. Lastly my eyes found Rarity asleep beside me on a wooden chair, her head resting on my bed.

I wanted to speak but it felt wrong, I needed my big sister. I tried everything but I could only make sounds. I reached for her, only just noticing the large bandage across my hoof. My eyes blurred and my hoof became unfocused.

“R-R-R” I squealed, finally allowing my sister to stir awake.

“Sweetie Belle! I’m so glad you’re okay.” Rarity quickly threw her hooves around me and I managed to return the hug.

“R-R-” I tried to spit out but each sound made me more upset then the last. It was so easy before.

“It’s okay darling, just relax. Take as much time as you need.” She pulled away from the hug and brought her hoof to my cheek, wiping away something.

“R… Rar… i-ity.” My words came out foul, a metal filter over the sounds. Our eyes met and she held a pleasant smile but it wasn’t hard to see it holding back a sadness. A wave of guilt pounded into me as she waited.

“W… wh-at h… happ-end?” I asked pleadingly, ignoring the wrongness in my voice. Rarity frowned, like it pained her when I asked, the expression only added to my guilt.

“First, let’s remove all that gunk from your nose.” I was extremely off-put by her response. A tissue in a floating blue radiance levitated to my muzzle while Rarity looked at me expectantly.


-::F.A.K.E: Sneeze: Ready::-


A stream of boiling liquid shot threw my head and filled my horn with a burning sensation. Even though it felt wrong, a strange curiosity took over and I pretended to blow into the floating tissue. Without skipping a beat my horn discharged and my sister never seemed to notice. She levitated the used tissue away before turning back to me.

“Last night it seemed that you got into… a um, well, an accident. You passed out at the sight of your own blood and Nurse Redheart helped me patch you up on her way to work. Good thing too, I am quite queasy around blood too.” The accident…

“Redheart gave you some medication while you were sleeping, I’m sure your speech will be fixed when it begins to wear off.” Rarity gave a lighthearted smile.

I pretended to smile back. I knew that wasn’t true, it was very difficult to do everything from moving my hooves to using my voice. The only thing that was mostly normal was thinking and it was still hard to do that with the green lines of code in my vision along with my lack of sleep.

Thinking, instead came with a terrifying rabbit hole: Who am I? Have I always been like this? Will I awake from this nightmare? But the most prevalent question is Rarity. Does she know I’m a robot? Can she help me? I know at the very least I can trust her. I opened my mouth and shut it soon after. The picture of Scootaloo, her eyes filled with a flame. Pointing an accusing hoof as she began to scream with a fierce hate-

“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity broke my concentration. Her wary expression causing me to look away shamefully.

“You know, you can tell me anything.” I felt my eyes open wide.

“If anypony at school made you want to do this… or maybe you are simply feeling bad all the time. You will tell me, won’t you?” I cringed back. I realized that she didn’t know and that I was alone. Rarity took my head between her hooves and brought my eyes to hers.

“Promise me. Promise me that you will always come to me if you ever need me.” Her face, her stream of tears, it broke me.

“I pro-mise.”

It broke me because I had to lie.





Hours passed. Rarity sat on the wooden chair as she worked. She brought a few objects into my room which allowed her to continue with the dress, everything positioned in a way that she could always keep an eye on me. She opened the curtains and the room lit up well enough which went against her obsession with keeping every light on. It made me smile, at least she remembered all the times I mentioned the blinding lights.

We mostly kept quiet, every now and then Rarity would ask if I needed anything or needed to use the restroom which gave me an awful vision of her watching me while on the toilet. So I gave a polite ‘no’ each time. Why a robot needed to use the restroom was beyond me and I choose I really rather not think about it.

I also choose to ignore the green text, it usually held nothing that was useful in any way. The red text seemed more important but when reading, it only seemed to be filled with ‘Errors’ which seems to cause me more stress. The more stress also causes more red text to appear, so I ended the cycle as soon as I could.

I am sat up while moving my hooves, pressing them against my bed. It felt like my hooves were asleep, just without the pain that comes along with it. I couldn’t gage exactly how much energy to put into my hooves but it became easier the more I practiced.

Finally, I was using my voice a lot. I wanted to figure out how to use my words naturally, like before. There was a bit of urgency in becoming normal again, the ponies around me needed to see me as before. This was far more important than giving up.

“Sweetie Belle, darling. I need to go out for a little while. Are you… okay alone? It will be a very short while.” Rarity said, convincing herself more than me. She wore a large frown as she approached.

“I’ll be okay Rarity. Don’t worry, I will be h-here when you get back.” I stated with the brightest smile I could muster. With a simple nod she used her magic to put on a nearby hat before starting for the door. She opened the door and turned back to me, I smiled in return. She trotted on the other side of the wall and turned back again which I presented her with another smile.

“I will be back.” She watched me intently.

“See you soon.” Finally, she closed the door. Then I listened, waiting until I heard the front door shut which held a heavier slam. After that I waited for a few more grueling seconds and answered with a sigh but without the air escaping me it felt somewhat meaningless.

I jumped down from the bed and fell to the floor in the same instant. I attempted to bring myself up, it was a lot more difficult then what I anticipated. I spent a long time learning to walk again, this time while testing the vocal range instead of just the sounds. The more I practiced the easier it was until I felt comfortable.

Free from the inability to walk and a watchful guardian I found myself at the bathroom. When I twisted the nob however it greeted me with a strong resistance. She locked the door. I frowned, in a way I expected it but my curiosity only grew. I thought about maybe picking the lock with magic but the robotic body responded with a forceful yawn.

In a tired defeat I walked a lap back to my bed without failure. The soft blanket greeted me gently. A large wave of tiredness washed over me, it must have been all the physical work I did. I opened my eyes which I didn’t realize closed. Actually, I don’t think that is how robots work.

“Whatever…” My head fell to the pillow.






-::Battery Low: 15%::-