Sweetie Bot sighed in relief as the Super Speedy trundled on, the stars watching its steady progress. She felt her body sag as her system decided to initiate its exhaustion protocol. She fell to the deck, breathing heavily as her fake lungs exhaled at a constant five metres per second.
She heard Bolts walk over and slump next to her, his heart fluttering in his chest. They lay in silence, neither knowing what to say. Instead, they watched the hills roll by. Flim and Flam stood by the control panel, talking in hushed tones as they steered the craft onwards.
"Will Scrubs be OK?" asked Bolts, breaking the silence.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," replied Sweetie Bot. "The rest of them didn't see him let us go. They have no reason to suspect he helped us."
"I hope he finds somewhere better," said Bolts. "He's too nice to be a bandit,"
"I agree. When all of this is over, we'll find him. I'm sure he'd have plenty of business with the farms in Ponyville."
"And what about you?" inquired Bolts. "Will you go back to Ponyville?"
Sweetie Bot stopped. She hadn't really thought that far ahead. What if the Professor gave her the answer she was dreading? Could she face her family again knowing their love went unreturned? What then?
"Sweetie Bot?" said Bolts, interrupting her thoughts.
"I... I don't know," she said. "I suppose; Rarity and my parents would be so upset if I didn't come home."
"You could always stay in Manehatten with the Professor," he said. "That way, I could see you all the time."
She ignored the artificial blush rising in her cheeks.
"That would be nice," she said. "I'd like that."
They lapsed into silence once again, each thinking their own thoughts. Sweetie Bot shifted ever so slightly, pressing the side of her barrel up against Bolts. She felt him shudder, whether from her touch or the cold metal, she wasn't sure. Either way, his heart rate jumped, beating heavily in his chest.
The Super Speedy trundled on into the night, the quiet grumbling of its engine punctured by the occasional bang or whistle. Sweetie Bot watched the stars overhead, mentally flicking away the constant notifications about her system. It seemed to be doing some sort of total system check, probably because of the damaged she had sustained.
She absent mindedly ran a hoof over the small dent in her skull, just below her right ear. It wasn't serious, just annoying. With an internal bleep, the check finished, the constant stream of diagnostics coming to an end. She was just about to dismiss the last panel when she stopped, her eyes scanning the words.
It appeared to be a final report, listing all her functions and their current status. All appeared normal. She ran her eyes down the list, halting as she reached the end. What she read chilled her to the motherboard.
X-38 INDEPENDENT ARMED UNIT
STATUS: UNIT READY FOR COMBAT
She stared at the bright green text in front of her. There was no denying it now. She had though her Battle Sequencer and weaponry might have been the Professor's way of keeping her safe, but now her system had diagnosed her ready for combat. She hadn't been made to replace a foal.
She had been made to kill.
But why? Who uses a war machine to replace a child? What was Professor Ruttlebridge thinking? Horrid thoughts filled her head. What would have happened if she had discovered her weapons earlier? All that destructive power in the hooves of a child...
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't hear them until it was too late.
She jumped up instinctively as bullets peppered the deck around her, narrowly missing Bolts. She looked up, fear gripping her as a dozen pegasi circled above her, each wielding rifles. One of them swooped low, only to quickly rise again as Sweetie Bot loosed a laser in his direction.
The pegasi darted around, all too aware of her laser. Their black outfits made them hard to distinguish from the dark sky above. Only the red flash from her laser provided an illumination of the attackers. She fired off another shot, trying to draw their attention to her. She might be not be bulletproof, but she was a damn sight more durable than the others.
More bullets came raining down, leaving large holes in the deck. The Super Speedy gave a jolt as a bullet hit its mark, severing a pipe near the rear of the craft.
"That's the steam pipe!" shouted Flim.
"We're not going anywhere without it!" finished Flam.
Already, the craft had begun to slow down. Soon, they would be sitting ducks.
"Bolts!" shouted Sweetie Bot. "Help them fix the pipe while I hold them off!"
He nodded, sprinting towards the controls. Sweetie Bot turned away, sending another volley of laser blasts into the night sky. However, the pegasi proved too elusive, ducking and weaving between her shots. She spun around, letting off more lasers on the other side. Her system vaguely saw Bolts climbing onto Flam's back, one of his devices held tightly in his magic.
With a shove, Bolts clambered onto the mass of machinery at the back of the Super Speedy. Any other time, he would have loved to examine the mass of whirling gears and compacted springs; however, now was not ideal. He flinched as another hail of bullets came down and Sweetie's laser went off in response.
He looked back, watching Sweetie as she fought, her head constantly moving to keep track of the swarm of wings above her. Bolts was never one for violence, but when Sweetie Bot fought, it was... elegant, like dancing. She would pirouette and dive, strong and confident in her movements. It was beautiful. She was beautiful.
He shook his head. He could think about that later. He had to focus on the task at hand. He turned away, spotting the damaged pipe some distance away at the back of the craft. He began to crawl, inching his way forwards. The pipe was swaying from side to side, white steam billowing from the ruptured ends.
He shielded his head as bullets sprinkled the metal next to him, bouncing off the thick sheets beneath him. He could hear the laser blasting off every few seconds. How long could she keep up that sort of attack? Her laser used up an awful lot of power. The craft had slowed to a crawl now, the lack of steam depriving the engine of its lifeblood.
A scream drew his attention. He looked back, watching Flim as he fell backwards, red slowly seeping into his shirt from the bullet hole in his foreleg. He writhed in agony, clutching his leg as Flam tried to stem the flow of blood. Just beyond them, he saw Sweetie, her laser still going. Her body was sagging, the laser starting to take its toll.
He turned away, determination in his eyes. He pushed on, the device firmly in his grasp. It resembled a clamp; however, large pieces of metal had been welded to it and fixed with rubber, forming an airtight seal. He reached the end of the machine, the pipe snaking in the air in front of him.
He reached out with his magic, grasping the pipe ends. He carefully manoeuvred the pipes together, placing the clamp over the split. With a loud clunk, the device slammed shut, the flow of steam continuing along the pipe. Within seconds, the engine changed tone, the grumbling returning as it picked up speed once again.
"Sweetie!" he yelled, standing up to face the front of the craft. "The pipe's fixed!"
She turned to his call, smiling at the news.
"Good job, Bolts!" she cried.
Her face fell, turning to one of alarm.
"Bolts!" she screamed "Look out!"
He didn't even have time to turn as the beat wings fell upon him and a pair of hooves grabbed him roughly from behind.
Sweetie watched helplessly as the pegasus descended on Bolts. He cried out as he was lifted into the air, kicking at his kidnapper.
"Sweetie!" came his cry, "help me!"
But there was nothing she could do, not without hurting Bolts in the process.
"I'll find you, Bolts! I promise!"
With his hostage in tow, the pegasus took off, zooming away into the oncoming dawn. Seeing the pegasus leaving, the others relented their attack, quickly turning around and racing after their comrade.
Sweetie Bot took their bearing, calibrating it with her internal map. There was only one place they could be going.
She turned away from the fleeing pegasi, running up to the Flim Flam Brothers. Flam was still tending to Flim's wound, bandaging up the bloody hole halfway up his leg.
"We need to chase them," she urged, "before they get away!"
"If you hadn't noticed," started Flam.
"I have a bullet in my leg," finished Flim.
"We can get you a doctor," she said.
"Even if we could catch up to them," grimaced Flim.
"We have no idea where they’re heading," said Flam.
Sweetie Bot shook her head. "I know exactly where they’re going" she said.
"Where?" said the brothers in unison.
"Manehatten"