Sweetie Bot kicked up her board up the few inches to come sliding in with a triumphant smile. "Trick successful!"
Cream hiked a brow. "Lovely, but no skating in the house." She huffed even as she reached to ruffle the bot's sculpted mane form. "But good for you."
"Yeah!" Button grinned at his creation. "You improved a lot in a day."
"My progress is slowing." She inclined her head. "The basics have reached a satisfactory level, but to reach higher will require much practice."
Sweetie Belle gave a huh. "Do robots 'practice' the same way I would?"
"No." Sweetie Bot put the board away. "We perform many more active measurements and adjustments per cycle. You would use your subconscious. If we exclude that, it is similar."
"Wow." Sweetie rubbed behind her head. "The part that amazes me the most is that I kinda got that. So! What are we doing today that isn't going to that death trap Scootaloo has set up?"
Button froze like a deer caught in a bright light, completely caught off guard. He was drawing a complete blank as
Sweetie Belle smiled happily oblivious to his internal meltdown. His eye’s darted around the room, looking for some source of inspiration. Finally he blurted out, “Robot lab! Uh, that is… do you want to see my… uh… robotics lab?”
“Isn’t that just your room, sweetheart?” His mother chuckled at her son’s expense.
“I… it is also my room…” Wheels freespun in Button’s head like the propeller on his beanie, producing approximately the same amount of lift.
Cream walked to the door and casually sat in front of it, not barring the way, but keeping it quite propped open. "This isn't closing, mister." Her tone wasn't hostile, but she also wasn't moving. "Come on in, Sweetie, both of you."
Sweetie Belle smiled, following her host's mother, with Button trailing along like an extra-awkward tail. Cream was a sweet mare, and her son had grown on her. She could see why Sweetie was interested, at least mostly.
Sweetie Bot darted in after them. She pulled her plug free from her hidden panel and shoved it into an outlet to get a charge while she was there.
"So..." Cream leaned down. "Do I want to know what you were just charging up for? Or do I not want to know?"
"Charging is required," the robot replied innocently.
Button was showing Sweetie Belle around. "And here's where I keep all the spare metal. When she gets dinged up, this is what I reach for." He tapped at a long sheet. "Thankfully, it doesn't come up too often. Though, she did have a few scratches and marks after her intro to skateboarding."
Sweetie Belle glanced around at the piles of spare parts. "I don't suppose you've ever used any of this on the other projects you've worked on, have you?"
"No. I've had to make the tools for those," he answered, gesturing over to his desk. "Besides, I, uh, really only got into it when I got the idea for Sweetie Bot." He waved at the smiling robot. "And now she's here, and I kinda feel, you know, a little obligated to take care of her."
"That's very noble," Sweetie praised.
"Thanks. But it's not like it's a chore. We've been through a lot together. And we've had a lot of fun together." Button smiled with the memories. "Isn't that right?"
“We are preparing for a glorious run on the Wall of Flesh!” Sweetie Bot threw her hooves wide. “Button wanted to spend precious friendship time mining special boots to walk on lava! But then I realized we are playing in journey mode, and could just duplicate infinite water buckets and freeze all the lava into onyx!”
“Journey mode?” Sweetie raised an eyebrow.
“I like to build stuff!” Button huffed, sending his beanie propeller spinning with the power of his displeasure at being called out.
Cream snickered into a hoof. "It's alright. Some ponies just want to play with their building blocks." She waggled her brows at Sweetie. "And others prefer a challenge."
Sweetie joined in the giggling. "There's fun to be had either way." She pat Button on the back. "Sometimes, I just want to see what I can make too."
Button beamed with a grand smile. "Really?! I mean, of course." He coughed into a hoof. "Lots of big gamers just want to experiment. Anyway! So, today." He turned to Sweetie Bot. "Charging Status?"
"86%!" Sweetie Bot beeped with a salute, her plug retracting as she unplugged herself and trotted over eagerly, bouncing in place while her friends deliberated what they were doing that day with a clearly visible impatience!
"Well, that's pretty good," Button noted as his mom stifled a chuckle with a hoof covering her mouth at the robot's antics, clearly amused by the eager bot's zeal to hang out with her friends no matter what the activity was going to be.
“I got an idea!” Button exclaimed suddenly. “We could play Ponycraft, Creative Mode, and build a really great… uh… castle of something”
“Or maybe a ranch-style homestead?” Sweetie Belle perked up at the suggestion.
“Yay! Lets play house!” Sweetie Bot proclaimed, eliciting a facehoof from Cream and a deep blush from Button and Sweetie.
Sweetie coughed into a hoof. "We are, technically, playing house right now."
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Not exactly the same. If we played house, somepony would have to be the dad, and somepony the mom, and the others would be the foals." She pointed at Cream directly. "We have--"
Cream gently swatted the pointing hoof. "Dear, some houses have just one mom. That's still a house."
Sweetie Bot nodded along with her input, but was otherwise distracted by her own musings. "I wonder which pony would be the father." She peered quizzically at the ponies in question, who both immediately flushed scarlet and began sputtering incoherently at her bold observation.
"Oh! You should be the father!" Sweetie exclaimed, jabbing a hoof at Button.
"But Sweetie Belle! You've been so helpful!" Button insisted.
Sweetie suddenly grinned. "Alright, I'll be the father." She fixed Cream with a look. "Honey, did you want me to get anything from the store for you?"
Meanwhile back at the Arcade…
“I am her to right a grievous wrong!” Silver Spoon thrust her hoof proudly towards the sky. “Sweetie Belle has wrongfully stollen my top score in Pac Mare, using Artificial intelligence!”
A flurry of gasps erupted. And Silver continued her truly inspirational speech. “But I have returned, and have even the odds to reclaim my top score, with my own robot!”
“Uh, that’s not what happened…” Rumble pointed out loudly while loudly sipping his soda. “We all ditched Button and Botsy to play the cart racing game. Only nerds play Pac Mare. Also, Button build Botsy, not Sweetie.”
“Enough talk, my honor shall be avenged!” Silver stamped her hoof angrily. “Silverbot 2000! Come forth!”
A robot colored in gun metal grey with a matching mane and tail and a suspiciously familiar pair of glasses marched forth. “Crush, Kill, Destroy, Swag!”
“Okay, that is literally Botsy with a different paint job and a spare pair of your glasses.” Rumble cocked his head in suspicion. “Did you literally steal Button’s robot schematics to build a robot… to beat Botsy in Pac Mare?”
“If only that were true-” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes and muttered.
Silverbot 2000 walked into a pinball machine. “Visual interference is interfering with peak functionality!” A thin wire emerged from her side and plunged into the machine where two panels met, diving into its depths.
A moment later, a soft chime played. "Full interface achieved. Initiate play?" Silverbot looked to her mistress for approval.
"Yes!" Silver declared, stepping forward as a crowd gathered around to watch the showdown between pony and machine for the number one score spot in the arcade's premier Pac Mare cabinet, Sweetie Bot's reign at the top threatened!
The two ponies took their positions and the game began with Silver's customary opening strategy, weaving her way through the maze, dodging and avoiding the various hazards and enemies and slowly accumulating a small but steady string of points for each ghost she managed to evade, a tactic that seemed to be working out well for her, but she had a ways to go before she was nearing the score needed to top her old record and take back her crown!
Her circular yellow avatar dissolved before her optical sensors. “Ha!” A boisterous gray pegasus colt shouted. Silverbot registered exactly 243 respect for the colt’s audacity. “She couldn’t even beat Botsy's score using direct access cheats! Botsy almost beat Pac Mare with the Joystick!”
The arcade was cheering, but not her impressive, if not record breaking score.
Silverbot blinked as a strange sound echoed through her audio receptors, and a curious, previously not recognized emotion was being generated within her circuits - shame!
Rumble laughed at her again, but his laughter was cut short as Silverbot's head spun around like a top to face him directly, her glasses spinning wildly and a dark expression crossing her metal face. "You dare mock me, flesh pony?!" she demanded, her voice tinny and distorted as the wires trailing into the arcade machine thrashed about menacingly.
Silver laughed nervously as she hurried between Silverbot and Rumble. "We're still working out the, uh, kinks, you know." She turned to gently push Silverbot back. "It's okay. Take this as a, like, you know, learning experience."
Diamond clopped a hoof to her forehead. "Unplug your robot from the game, Silver. Let's get out of here before things get any worse."
“I–I mean PAc Mare is for NERDS!” Rumble stumble back from the metal fillies rebuke. “But– uh– ” The grey colt blushed deeply. And blinked in a way he was pretty sure was alluring at the robot. “You're pretty cool. If you wanna hang out with me and my friends that would be cool. One of them is also a huge nerd robot who likes Pac Mare– I’ll shut up now–”
Silverbot's processors whirred as her optics flashed briefly red, the wires from the arcade machine coiling around her chassis threateningly before she abruptly blinked, her glasses straightening as the cables snapped away and she straightened to regard Rumble politely with a tip of her head and a gentle smile at his flustered compliments and invitation for friendship, her processors running a rapid series of calculations regarding her current status and future prospects versus the possibility of new friendships and social engagements and-
"Affirmative."
Silver pushed her bot towards the exit with Diamond trailing behind. "Maybe later, Rumble!" Making good their escape, she hurried them a block away. "No making friends with our enemies!"
Silverbot inclined her head faintly. "If they became a friend, the enemy status ceases to be valid. Our enemy will be defeated."
Diamond snickered at the logic. "She isn't entirely wrong, you know."
“That’s not the point!” Silver Spoon fumed. “The battle had been Engaged! Soon we will learn the true victors!” The filly rubbed her hooved villainously. Meanwhile her robot and Rumble slyly passed notes.
“Call me.”
“Sure thing.” Silverbot popped the note into her mouth, where it vanished into her. "Information absorbed."
Back at Button's house, Cream shook her head. "I never imagined I'd play house quite like this." She patted each foal there, mechanical or not. "But I have to get to making dinner, so you'll have to play on your own."
Button waved as she departed. "No more house. I vote we head outside." He pointed past where Cream had gone. "Let's super spoil our appetites."
Sweetie giggled at the idea. "Let's not make your mom sad, or mad. But, good idea. Maybe Apple Bloom or Scootaloo are there." She started for the door. "To Sugarcube Corner!"
Button and Sweetie Bot cheered in unity, marching after Sweetie Belle. A sweet snack sounded like the perfect day to end a pretty good time playing with each other.
It was a good thing nothing terrible was being planned behind their back.