//------------------------------//
// 7 - Small Ponies United 
// Story: Sweet Button Mash 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Sweetie Belle marched back and forth between the two she had called. "You're here because I'm challenging you." She swerved in place at Sweetie Bot and Button Mash. "You made her--" She pointed at Sweetie Bot. "To look like me." She pointed at herself.

"This is correct." If there were any issues, Sweetie Bot appeared ignorant of them.

Button laughed nervously. "Y-yeah… Um… Are you mad?"

Sweetie's horn glowed, tugging on a tassel to pull down a sheet, revealing a wall full of pictures of Sweetie Belle taken from various angles. "These were captured by my family. Rarity, mom, dad, cousins… They love taking pictures."

Button inclined his head at the grand display of Sweetie Belle pictures. "Wow… Um, so… What do you want us to do with that?"

Sweetie slapped a pointer she was holding in her magic against the board. "We will judge how well your creation matches me. If you score over 90%, you succeed. Why 90%? Well, she is a robot. Some allowances just feels fair…"

 As Sweetie pointed dramatically between her elaborate array of candid photos and the blinking Sweetie Bot, Button rubbed his neck in apprehension. Was this a test?? What even WAS a passing grade for ‘accurately’ replicating a pony chassis? And how mad was she about the whole thing anyway??

Sweetie Bot however seemed wholly unfazed by their pending judgement. “Excellent idea! Quantifying my fabricational fidelity will provide valuable insights on potential improvement vectors.” 

She peered studiously at Sweetiebelle’s vast array of reference images. “I will grade my own accuracy first to minimize subjectivity!” Clasping her hooves, Sweetie Bot eagerly went to work scrutinizing every curve, angle and proportion of her template’s form. 

As the robot muttered rapidly, overlaying her visual data with the picture set and extrapolating minute measurements, Button anxiously watched Sweetie for clues if this whole setup was innocent fun or secret displeasure. But ironically her expression gave away little! Though maybe she was suppressing a smirk...gah what did it mean?!

“Analysis complete!” Sweetie Bot suddenly announced. “Accounting for cosmetic microvariations in my fabricated coat texture relative to organic hair follicles, I rate my overall faithfulness to Sweetie Belle primary physical presentation a 92.6% match within a .03% margin of error!” She smiled proudly at her assessment. 

Button let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as she rated herself well within the set metrics! Though Sweetie herself remained pokerfaced...stepping forward, he ventured cautiously “S-so by your scoring...did I do good?” Laughing anxiously, he scuffed a hoof waiting for her judgment.

Sweetiebelle's brows fell together. She poked Button with her pointer. "Your bot just told me I wasted my time. If she wasn't so cute, I'd be mad at her."

“Wait!” Button shouted desperately. “What did I do wrong?”’

“You just made her to look like me….” Sweetiebelle fumed. “It was all looks! You just wanted a cute pony to play games with!”

Button desperately tried to align the events of the day with his current circumstances. With warm cheeks, he recoiled. "Is that, um, so bad?" But Sweetbelle was glaring at him all the harder. "Who wouldn't want a cute pony to play with?"

Sweetie Bot inclined her head precisely. "He thinks you are cute."


Button squeaked, waving frantically as Sweetiebelle’s glare intensified. “N-no wait, that came out weird!! I just meant-”

But Sweetie Bot continued cheerfully on, heedless of his flustered protests behind her. “You are quite visually appealing yes, but more importantly you exhibit admirable personal qualities!” Turning, she nodded reassuringly to Button Mash.

“Button created me not purely for aesthetic appreciation purposes, but to share substantive experiences with an emulative personality construct!” Taking Sweetiebelle’s hooves, she met her organic twin’s gaze earnestly.

“He wanted a Sweetie Belle to game and laugh with specifically because YOU brought him joy he wished to recreate!” Letting go with an affectionate head tilt, she gestured back to her nervous creator. “I was crafted to reflect the kindest, smartest, most fun parts of the pony before us now!”

Curling a hoof proudly to herself she proclaimed “In short, he made me in hopes I could make more friends as cool as his favorite - you!” Sweetie Bot beamed adoringly between the two, blissfully unSelfconscious about embarrassing admissions. After all in her programming emotional honesty was essential for friendship! Why leave ambiguity?

Sure enough Button was attempting to vanish inside his propeller beanie, brilliantly crimson faced. But Sweetie herself had softened, rubbing a foreleg self consciously. “O-oh! Well that’s...really nice actually.” She shot Button a shy glance, unable to suppress a tinge of pleasure at the sincerity of his awkward attempt at connection through Sweetie Bot.

Clearing her throat gently, she levitated the pointer into its holding bracket. “Ahem! Yes well...I can see this was all in good fun now.” Sweetie scuffed the floor, fiddling the tassel cord. “Sorry if I made you worry, presenting my um, Sweetie Catalog.” She flashed them a wavering grin. “J-just thought it’d be a fun project! No harm done...”

Wide eyes blinked slowly around the Crusader club house. “I just want you’s guys to know that this never happens at the Manehattan branch. I’m just saying.” Babs Seed finally spoke up.

“To be fair cuz, this has been an… odd week for all of us here.” Applebloom gave an embarrassed smile.

“By ‘all of us’, she means Sweetie Belle, Button Mash, and Botsy.” Scootaloo corrected. “Weirdest thing I did was invite Rumble to sit in on the meeting. Sorry Rumble, I did not know Sweetie was gonna do… any of that when she said she was inviting Button and Botsy. I thought we were just bringing friends to the clubhouse…”

“No worries.” Rumble sat back munching popcorn. “Anyone wanna take a five bit bet that this goes sideways and the Sweeties end up dating?”

Sweetie Bot considered her organic double, numbers flashing as she ran them. "If she were interested, I predict a 49% chance of success. I am ready to proceed."

Button tackled her. "No! Override! No!"

"Override accepted." Sweetie Bot nodded, abandoning the idea as simply as that.

Sweetie Belle inclined her head at the exchange. "Was she ready…. Nevermind. Look, let's focus on the really important part." She waved over Sweetie Bot. "You made that! That's… amazing. Seriously, Button, you should be proud, even if she is a living proof of your fascination with me."

 Button rubbed the back of his neck, blushing furiously as all eyes swiveled to him. “O-oh! Y-yeah, I’m still really proud of Sweetie Bot and how she’s been progressing socially.” He patted said robot affectionately as she nodded agreeably beside him.

“Indeed!” Sweetie Bot chimed in, draping a congenial hoof over her creator. “While my functionality remains constrained to safe interactive parameters, I have been gathering extensive friendship data across multiple social contexts.” She projected a scrolling holographic chart displaying various behavioral analyses and models under the header [FRIENDSHIP ARCHIVES].

“Observations range from interpersonal dynamics - “ An animation of the Crusaders group hugging played out. “ - to etiquette nuances - “ Rarity sipping ornate tea morphed to Pinkie noisily slurping punch. “- to recreational engagement!” Game sprites gave way to a bouncy dance party. 

As the data fritzed out to rainbow static, Sweetie Bot beamed proudly around the circle of politely smiling ponies. “I continue archiving insights toward friendship mastery! My success metrics correlate directly to Button Mash’s design acumen.” She threw a hoof around him in a half hug as he rubbed his neck, grinning self consciously under everypony’s looks.

“Yeah so, heh was just looking to make a good pal is all.” His eyes tracked unconsciously to Sweetie Belle as she smiled back gently. 

“I think ya did just fine.” Apple Bloom drawled supportively. “Maybe just uh, work on those combat reflexes. But Botsy here’s a real peach!” Various friends nodded and voiced agreement making Button finally relax, tension giving way to bashful pride.

“Aw thanks everypony...couldn’t ask for better pals - organic OR machine!” Laughing softly, he met Sweetie’s gaze. “Especially you Sweetie...thanks for being cool with your robo-sis and junk.” 

Sweetie waved him off with an amused little eye roll. “Pffbt please! I think she’s pretty great.” Leaning conspiratorially toward Button she mock whispered “Just between you and me I think she got the looks AND brains in this equation.” Button snorted as Sweetie shot him a playful smirk. Yeah...he was a pretty lucky guy friend wise, robot and otherwise!

“Yep, you’s guys are just doing normal friendship stuff, like building robot dopplegangers and holding mock legal hearings about said robots.” Babs rolled her eyes with a grin. “But ya know what? At some point it just got so weird that it’s normal again. Wow, cuz, I sure picked the right week to come visit.”

“I know, right?” Rumble laughed out loud. “It’s like that movie ‘Weird Magic’, but it’s an interactive theatre. Honestly, I thought the cutie mark day camp was a one off, oddly weird thing you fillies did, but this is just how you roll. I want in.”

“Wait, what?” Scootaloo did a double take, suddenly aware of her guest.

“I want in on this friend group.” Rumble smirked confidently. “I can be the snarky one.”

“You can’t be the snarky one.” Scootaloo glared daggers at the cocky colt. “I’m the snarky one!”

“Pretty sure you're the competitive one, and you're just being competitive about snark, but fine, you can be the snarky one, and I’ll be the athletic one.” Rumble conceded with a too wide smile.

Sweetie Bot clicked with a finished calculation. "Due to slight imperfections, you win the physical aesthetic competition." She nodded, confident in this, but also not looking at all upset by it.

Sweetie Belle colored at that. "You're saying I win the pretty contest? I…" She rubbed at one warm cheek. "I wasn't even trying…"

"The numbers do not lie," sang out the automaton. "You are superior." She touched noses with her original model. "All praise."

Button burst into giggles. "She's not wrong."

"Button!"

Half the room laughed at the two. Apple Bloom shook her head. "Seriously, you two are somethin' else. Ah seen worse though…"

Sweetie Bot beamed around the circle, oblivious to her template's mortified blushing and Button's mirthful snorting. Clearly optimal socialization continued according to prime directive!  

"Validating all my friends' strengths is pivotal to stable interpersonal bonding. Is this assumption in error?" She darted questioning looks between the Crusaders' smirks and Rumble's barely contained guffaws as Sweetie Belle shrank under her mechanically precise praise.

Apple Bloom stifled further snickering with a hoof. "Aw, it ain't so off base, Botsy. Might jus' need a tact filter is all!" Scootaloo nodded sagely, holding up the metaphorical mirror.  

"Yeah, like, we can SEE Sweetie Belle's a total looker." Scootaloo smirked at the furiously shrinking filly. "Ya don't gotta SAY it and embarrass her! Even if it's super obvious." Sweetie's burning face completed the absolute picture of mortification.

Button waved frantically, finally recovered enough to intervene on her behalf. "Eheh what Scoots MEANS is, maybe keep the specific compliments between us?" He tried steering Sweetie bot onto a less precarious track. "Focus more on quintessential internal traits!"

Sweetie Bot blinked processing, then brightened. "You imply emphasizing abstract intangibles makes subjects more comfortable receipting praise!" Filtering archived social data she continued carefully. "Shall I highlight metaphysical qualities over precise physical metrics?"  

Her friends nodded encouragement. "Bingo! That's using your noggin gears!" Apple Bloom affirmed. "Whatcha makin' of Sweetie Belle otherwise?" She winked slyly Sweetie's way. "Show off that psycho-analyzin'!"  

If robots could gulp nervously Sweetie Bot might have as she parsed Sweetie's entire behavioral dossier. "W-well according to my archives her temperament exhibits passion, wit and selfless consideration!" A collection of clips played out displaying Sweetie's laugh, her snarky grin, and the kindness in her eyes. "While mere bytes fail capturing her soul's shine..." Sweetie Bot finished softly, smiling affectionately Sweetie's way.

A collective " Dawww!" rose from the circle at her sincerity. Sweetie Belle managed a touched if still self conscious little half smile back. "Yeah uh, that robot gets it! Good job Button." Scootaloo ribbed him playfully. The inventor colt chuckled, exchanging a wink with his finest creation. Yeah, she was really picking up on this whole friendship thing!