//------------------------------//
// Monster down the hall 
// Story: Artificial Friend 
// by writer283 
//------------------------------//



Two days later...

The afternoon sky was filled with gloomy grey clouds due to a scheduled rain fall over ponyville. 

The task of producing such weather was one that no pegasi really enjoyed, especially Rainbow Dash. Positioning rain clouds was a slow and meticulous job, as opposed to simply clearing them away, not to mention the occasional grumblings from the unicorns and earth pony's on the ground.

The speedy Pegasus wasn't the only one who found the rain dampening her mood. For filly's like the cutie mark crusaders, the rain meant a day shut inside when they could be out crusading. Much to the dismay of Rarity whom found herself tasked with finding ways to entertain her energetic sister.

However the day was an opportunity for the book worm, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who as one would assume, reading some of the new books, Princess Celestia had sent her upon her ascension to princess-hood.

But as the intention of a day of rain being to rejuvenate the earth, it also allowed many pony’s an excuse to laze around and recharge their batteries; that was something Chip wished Binary would be willing to do.

The inventive unicorn busily prepared for her first attempt at selling her inventions with her new approach. Binary had spent most of the previous day sleeping off the stress of the days before. She occupied the rest of her time with the simple, yet long overlooked task of adding a levitation device to Chip's software, allowing him to manipulate objects by himself, and after a few minor bugs, such as Chip sub-consciously moving objects; he quickly controlled the behaviour after applying an internal system patch.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of Chip's update would need to be tested at a later time, as Binary stressed over deciding which inventions to take with her. She had deduced that the now muddy rode would surely damage her homes treads if she attempted to move it to any potential customers. Thus Binary decided this was the perfect time to test her self propelled horseless cart. But the idea of weighing in which inventions she thought were more deserving of their chance to shine was near impossible, aside from a few special cases such as her levitation wand. 

But one invention had to stay, or rather chose not to go. For the first time in his seven year life as Binary's companion, Chip refused to aid Binary. 

Binary thought nothing of it. According to her understanding of friendship, it was absolutely normal for a friend to occasionally refuse an activity.

The same could not be said for Chip. The idea of not being there to assist Binary bore a heavy weight on his electronic mind, which was only escalated by his rapid thought processing. A minute of thinking felt like hours to Chip... but no matter how hard he thought he couldn't come up with an answer to the question: Why? Why would he not help Binary, did he hate the outside world, was he even capable of such a thing? The sudden interactions with the outside world caused him to realize just how little he knew about it.

Chip currently projected his body onto a windowsill in Binary's room, as he stared outside and watched the rain. 

Each raindrop made a mess, so many unpredictable little cannonballs of liquid hurtling through the air. Each one formed through an overly complicated process into a single isolated raindrop that in the short time of their existence manage to do nothing more than be embraced into the earth where pony's walk over top of them without a care.

The sound of fast paced hoofsteps echoed through the halls. Binary dashed into her room and dove under her bed.

“Hey, Chip, do you know where my auto sander is?” 

Chip did not reply, his mind was to busy attempting to comprehend the purpose of raindrops for whatever reason.

“Binary...” Chip said.

“What?” Binary asked, as she poked her head out from under the other side of the bed.

“Are raindrops... alive?” Chip asked.

“Uh... no, you should know that. Now about my sander?”

“But they have many of the characteristics of a living thing. They are made through precise conditions, they have a limited life span, their direction is changed by whatever forces they meet before they inevitably hit the ground and die... aren't they alive as they need to be”

Binary then crawled out from under the bed, she walked to the windowsill and looked at Chip.

“Don't be silly” she said with a smile “It's not just how things are made that determines if they're alive. A living thing has a heart like me and...” Binary paused for a moment before concluding “Nevermind... about the sander I mean, it's not one of my better inventions anyway” 

Binary's eyes then moved to the window and she joined Chip in watching the rain.

A few moments passed with no noise but the sound of rain pattering against the window.

“Ooh, that reminds me, do you remember where my rain coat is?” Binary asked.

“Did you look in the first floor closet?” Chip asked.

Binary thought back for a moment, then replied “No... Well really I hadn't looked at all. I just thought about it now”

If Chip had visible eyes they would be rolling.

“You do realize if you don't take proper precautions when exposed to the elements, you could be harmed”

“I know that”

“No you obviously don't” Chip said with a hint of aggravation.

“Pfft, Chip I know how to take care of myself”

“Well some days I wonder if actually you do!” Chip said sternly as he stared directly into Binary's eyes.

Binary's expression instantly showed her offence to the comment, or more specifically, the tone in which Chip had said it. Binary suddenly felt like a child who had been scolded by a parent, and that was definitely not what Chip was, if anything it should be the opposite.

Binary held her gaze as she walked toward the door... unfortunately she bumped into a wall in the process, causing the scene to lose much of it's seriousness as Binary chuckled at her own misfortune.

Chip's body fizzed as Binary left. He then turned back to the window. As he scanned what he could see from his perch, something caught the attention of his sensors. Chip looked down near the porch. He levitated the window open, his body then fizzed as he strained to make his levitation work beyond the restraints of his home. 

A small object in the mud became engulfed in a blue aura. As Chip lifted the object up to the window the raindrops slowly cleaned the mud away, revealing it to be the broken off piece of Binary's horn.

“Maybe... a heart can be made”



------------------------------------------------------



Outside....

Binary, now wearing a black rain coat, placed the last of her gadgets into her cart.

The cart itself however was an odd gadget in itself. Like any other cart it was made of wood on the outside, but on the inside, below the floor panels an array wires and circuits allowed the cart to eliminate the need for being pulled completely, as it was designed to drive itself and follow the user around wherever they went. However, any visual prowess the cart had was overshadowed by the large tarp over top of it. Binary had quickly thrown the cover on to avoid her inventions being damaged by the rain, but no matter how hard she tried, it kept looking like a mess. The grey tarp hung lower on one corner than the others, and part of it was already beginning to rip. Any pony with an eye for detail could come up with a hundred other flaws. 

But to Binary, it worked, therefore it looked perfect. Binary stared at her work with a joyous wide eyed expression. The look quickly faded away as she looked back to her house. Binary's expression went blank, she had never had a tense encounter with Chip before. 

She then looked at the ground and stood in a moment of silence. 

She had moments like this before, but like everything else outside of her isolation, it was a different experience. The noise of the rain prevented Binary's thoughts from uninterruptedly rattling around in her head and kept her from dwelling on them. But even with the rain, a thought still bothered her. Why had Chip snapped at her? The only reason she was rushing herself to accomplish her goals was because if she didn't try now, then she knew she would never try at all... that, and the fear. The fear of the world used to drive Binary away but now it was a driving force for her. But why couldn't Chip see that?

Binary looked up at the house once more before slowly walking away, her cart followed close behind.

From the window, Chip watched as Binary left. 

The house was silent, aside from the noise of the rain. For the first time in Chip's life, he was alone in the house with no indication of when Binary may be back. The eery silence suddenly began to creep in on Chip, the lack of life that Binary had always brought to the house was gone, and it disturbed him.

Chip looked back out the window, and not far away he saw Binary stop. Chip intently watched as Binary stood still.

“Yes” he thought “Come back, come back home”

His hopes were quickly crushed when he saw her approach what appeared to be some sort of boutique.  

Chip's body fizzed and crackled “How could I have been so ignorant!?!” He thought to himself. “Of course she wasn't going to come back that quickly” Chip's body suddenly ceased it's sub-optimal state. He hung his head low and asked himself “Why?” He looked back up and saw Binary knocking on the door of the boutique “Why does my logic fail me when it comes to you?”

A sudden loud crashing sound shook Chip out of his current state. 

He zipped his body to the source of the noise and to his utter shock, he saw the legs of a pink pony jutting out from under a pile of boxes of dehydrated food. What happened was plain to see, the pony had opened the pantry doors not anticipating Binary's poor organizational and stacking skills.

The pony shook her head about, which cleared away a few of the boxes and revealed the pony's head. 

The currently upside down pony looked at Chip with a happy expression and cheerily said “Hi I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name little guy?”

“Get out” Chip said flatly.

“That's a funny name, Get out (snort) Ha, it's even funnier the second time, not that I'm making fun of you and your name or anything like that, I'm just so super duper extralooperly fanbidously”

“Shut up!” 

“What's the matter, Get Out, am I being rude? Because if I am you need to tell me because some times I just can't tell, like this one time I accidentally made my friend cry because... ow” Pinkie's rant suddenly stopped as she felt a sudden pain in her forehead. Blood seeped from a small cut, most likely from one the boxes edges. Pinkie touched the cut then looked at the small amount of blood on her hoof... for an uncomfortably long time, then asked “Hey, Get Out, do you have any band-aids?”

Chip was literally about to blow a breaker before he remembered one of the anger lessons, Cheerliee had taught him. Chip looked at the ground for a moment and thought to himself “Happy place” Chip looked back up at Pinkie Pie. 

Her obnoxiously happy expression reminded Chip of the countless times Binary had hurt herself, only to ignore the pain and choose to push on.

“That can be my happy place... Memories” Chip thought to himself.


---------------------------------------------------------------------


“Are you alright?” Binary asked the hunched over fashionista.

Rarity's back was still sore from Pinkie's reactionary jump onto her, although the pain wasn't quite as severe as it initially had been, partially due to the hot water bottle she had on her back.

“Oh I'm fine, just a little back trouble, and I've been so backed up with orders that I haven't been able to find a moment to visit a chiropractor and this hot water bottle is so tacky and inconsistently effective”

Binary looked around the boutique. It was an impressive sight in a visual and practical sense, unlike some of the dresses that were on display; or at least that's how Binary saw them.

“Far too fancy for me” Binary thought to herself.

“Were you looking for anything in particular?” Rarity asked.

“Um... I was actually hoping to sell you something” Binary replied.

“Well isn't that just the definition of irony, you come into my shop to sell me something, ha, too rich” Rarity strained to smile, her back hurt more than she let on and the pain made polite chit chat feel like quite a chore. 

The sudden noise of something upstairs falling to the floor prompted an immediate reaction from Rarity.

“Excuse me for a moment” Rarity said, she slowly walked to the foot of the stairs and called up to her sister who had undoubtedly caused the crash “Sweetie Belle, are you alright?”

“Yes... was the red dust in that jar important?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Rarity winced as she realized what had fallen “You mean the jar of crushed ruby dust?”

“That's what it looks like” Sweetie Belle replied.

Rarity groaned “Just wait a moment Sweetie Belle, and don't breathe in any of that dust” Rarity then directed her attention back to Binary “I'm sorry, but I have a little sisterly dilemma to solve... or clean up as it were. So just make yourself comfortable until I get back”

Binary looked around and the only chairs that she saw looked as if they were on display. After a few moments, Binary decided to simply sit on the ground.

Rarity shot a confused look toward Binary, before she began the arduous task of getting herself and her hurt back up the stairs.


A few minutes passed and Rarity was still upstairs. Any experienced salespony would have taken this time alone as a chance to inspect the customers space and see what they needed. But a salespony was something Binary truly wasn't; instead, she impatiently waited for Rarity to return. After a few more minutes of waiting, Binary finally gave into her impatience and walked toward the stairs that Rarity had ascended.

Binary looked up the staircase and saw Rarity slowly walking down the first few stairs. 

A strained smile came to Rarity's face “I'm sorry I took so long... would you mind coming up here, my back is making descending these stairs quite difficult”

Binary nodded, and ascended the stairs. She then followed Rarity as she led her up to her workshop.

Binary looked around the room. The many faceless mannequins bothered her for some reason. 

Rarity pointed a hoof toward a stool at her sketching desk “Please take a seat... unless you would prefer to sit on the ground again”

The stool was much less fancy than the furniture in the lower level, thus Binary quickly trotted towards it and sat down without a second thought. The stool was a bit uncomfortable, possibly to keep the user from getting too comfortable and accidentally falling asleep while at work.

Rarity moved to her desk at a much slower pace and chose to remain standing as sitting for extended periods of time bothered her back further. 

“Now, before we get started, what was your name?” Rarity asked.

“Binary Steel” She replied.

“And what are you you here for?”

“I'm here to sell you stuff”

Rarity had heard worse sales pitches, but that didn't make Binary's any less weak.

“Is this your first time as an entrepreneur?”

“I.... don't what that means” Binary replied.

“Selling things, is this your first time selling things?”

Binary's eyes narrowed a bit, she then leaned towards Rarity slightly “Are you observant or something?”

“I think the usual phrase is to ask if I'm a mind reader”

Binary gasped “You're a mind reader!”

“No, I was just trying to explain”

“Can you tell what I'm thinking right now?”

Rarity's mouth hung open out of utter shock of Binary's immature nature. (Honestly it's like talking to a pre-school filly) Something suddenly clicked in Rarity's mind. The unicorn she was talking to was the same one who had knocked herself unconscious. 

“Are you feeling alright?” Rarity asked

“Yeah sure why wouldn't I...” Binary then took note of Rarity's confused expression. Binary's cheery expression suddenly sunk down into a neutral one “I'm not doing a good job, am I?”

“Honestly, no you're not”

Binary looked at the floor, then took another look around the studio. Every dress had obviously been made from scratch, and it was clear that a lot of care had gone into them. But perhaps the most obvious, yet initially overlooked part of the room was how it showed the designer's success. 

“How did you do all of this?” Binary asked.

“I'm not quite sure what you mean?” Rarity replied.

“Make ponies want your stuff, I just don't get it”

“Hmm... I think I understand what you're going through”

“You do?”

“Yes, you have products that you've put a lot of effort into, and you know there's something special about them. But the hard part is convincing others that they're special. I remember when I first started designing, I had a hard time convincing others that my dresses were worth their attention and admittedly after a few rejections, I started to question if they were good enough myself. That was when I learned that before I could convince others to appreciate my work, first I had to truly convince myself that they were worth it. Once you find the confidence in your own achievements, then you can start gaining confidence in yourself, and that's the key”

Binary tilted her head to the side slightly and stared as if in a trance “...Oh, you stopped talking, I'm sorry, I have a very short attention span” 

Rarity looked away and rolled her eyes in response. 

“I just need to know how to talk to other ponies without it getting all weird” Binary said before leaning back, having forgotten she was sitting on a backless stool. Binary's eyes shrunk to the size of pin pricks as she fell backward, only to be suddenly surrounded by Rarity's magic aura and be levitated back to her slouched sitting position.

Rarity shook her head slightly and using her magic, she straightened Binary's back and lifted her head up a bit “Oh well that's simple” Rarity said, she then took a few steps back “Rule #1: Posture”

Binary looked at herself, then looked back at Rarity with a dissatisfied look on her face “I said, talk to ponies”

Rarity groaned, she was suddenly reminded of the many times she had tried to give Sweetie Belle advice “Just here me out...eh-hem... Rule#1 Posture, never slouch when approaching or being approached by a customer”

“Unlike you're doing right now”

“Excuse me but i believe I explained about my back!” Rarity said as she shot a tense stare at Binary “Now as I was saying. Rule #2: Stay focused. Friendly chit chat is fine but you should always keep the conversation related to the sale at hand, lest you, or the customer gets distracted. Rule #3 Know your target customers. You don't want to go try and sell ploughs to a rich Canterlot socialite. 

79 rules later...

“And finally, Rule #83. Don't pester your customers, if they say they don't want something that means they don't want it”

Binary stared at Rarity in silence for a few moments, then asked “Um... Should I have been writing those down? Cause there’s no way I'm going to remember all that”

Rarity sighed. Of course this odd pony had to come on a slow day. Any other day she could excuse herself from some annoyance by tending to a customer. “Perhaps, for you I could recommend one last thing. When you're trying to make a sale, try to be serious”

“Serious...” Binary thought on the word for a moment. Nopony had ever asked Binary to be serious before, except Chip and even if then, Binary didn't take him seriously (pun).

The shops door bell suddenly rang

“Oh thank Celestia!” Rarity thought to herself. “I do believe my little sales seminar will need to come to an end now, I trust you remember the way out” 

Rarity then slowly walked back to the stairs as Binary hopped off the stool and trotted past her. Binary then descended the stairs. 

Binary continued to move at a quicker pace than Rarity until she was out of the fashionista's line of sight. A few moments afterwards, Binary called up the stairs “Hey there's nopony down here”

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked as she forced herself to painfully quicken her decent. Rarity's back was aching by the time she finally got down the stairs. Rarity groaned slightly from the pain, but after a a few moments of rest she was ready to move again. Rarity then walked into her show room and was immediately frustrated when she saw that whoever was there seemed to have already left. 

Rarity gritted her teeth as she walked towards Binary, who was currently trying on several different hats, thoroughly amused by how needlessly fancy all of them were. 

Rarity thought to herself “If this dunce has cost me a customer, then I'll... wait a moment” Rarity gathered the evidence in her mind “The bell rings twice for one pony, once for coming, once for going but the bell only rang once”

Just as Rarity figured out what had happened, the ringer of the door belle re-entered the boutique. Sweetie Belle walked in, wearing a yellow rain coat.

Before Rarity could begin a lecture as per usual, a suddenly energetic Binary dived toward Sweetie Belle and landed an uncomfortably close distance to the filly.

Sweetie Belle's eyes went wide in shock and she took a few small steps back... which to Binary seemed like the cutest thing in the world.

(take note that Binary didn't see Sweetie Belle earlier)

“Aww, it's a baby” Binary then looked toward Rarity and said “Wow, you don't look anything alike for mother and daughter”

Sweetie Belle let out a quiet “Umm...” as she looked towards Rarity.

Binary observed Rarity's expression turn into a angry glare, with a raised eye brow for emphasis.

Binary's face suddenly went blank. She then whispered to Sweetie Belle “Oh... you two are sisters aren't you?”

Sweetie Belle nodded.

“Oh dang”

Rarity stormed toward Binary and said in a dignified, yet pissed off tone “How dare you assume such a thing! Does my body look like it's gone through the trial that is child birth!?! Does my mane have grey hairs from catering to the endless needs of a baby!?! And the biggest offence you have committed is stating that I and my sister do not share many of the same beautiful qualities, why, you might as well have called her a mule”

Binary then slunk behind Sweetie Belle and barely squeaked “that's racist” 

“Get out” Rarity said, restraining her aggravation.  

“I'm sor...” Binary began to say.

For a moment, Rarity's pain and aggravation got the better of her, and she shrieked“Geeeeet oooooout!!!” 

Binary scrambled for the door, paying no mind to the fact that she had left her rain coat behind. She slammed the door behind her and rushed away from the boutique, her cart followed at slightly slower pace.

Sweetie Belle stared at Rarity, equal parts shocked and confused, as well as a little disappointed in her sister.

Rarity turned away from Sweetie Belle, she walked to one of the shops many mirrors and began to take several deep breaths to calm herself.

“I'm sorry you saw that, Sweetie Belle. I suppose I'm not setting a very good example” 

“It's alright sis, emotions happen”

“Oh what I wouldn't do to have one day without things like pain or feelings” Rarity said before turning back to face Sweetie Belle. Rarity approached her sister and wrapped a foreleg around her to squeeze her into a hug “But if I did then I wouldn't be able to love you like I do”

Sweeite Belle then attempted to return the hug, but Rarity quickly pulled away. Sweeite Belle was soaking wet after all.

Rarity then corrected her posture as much as she could “Now that we've had a little sentimental moment... would you mind telling me why you went out in the rain when I explicitly asked you not to?”

“It looked like the rain was letting up” Sweetie Belle replied in a pointless attempt to justify her childish mistake.

The two sisters both paused as they heard the boom of thunder in the distance.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



“Let me take a moment to analyze what you've said” Chip said to Pinkie Pie. The energetic mare had just given an extremely long, fast, and detailed explanation as to why she had broken into Chip's home. “Essentially, what you've said indicates that you're trying to gather information for a party”

“Yep, I throw a party for every new pony in ponyville but the only way to do it properly is to investigate what that pony likes”

“And the reason you were in the pantry was...?”

“I was trying to find what food she likes” Pinkie then looked at the pile of dehydrated food boxes “But I don't think I know the recipe for whatever those are, so I'll just have to go with cake instead, although honestly their would have been cake anyway, and speaking of cake, would you happen to know what kind of cake she likes?”

“Cake?” Chip asked.

“You know chocolate, strawberry and vanilla try all those and never get your filla,” Pinkie then jumped onto her hind legs, threw her forelegs into the air and cheered “ at your first party in ponvillaaaa!”

“I don't think the small tune was appropriate, but I'm willing to ignore it... what does vanilla taste like?”

“Well vanilla tastes like, mmm... but strawberry tastes like, mmm tangy... but chocolate tastes like, mmm mmm mmm so good!”

“I have no idea what you are trying to communicate to me. I don't think I approve of this party, and I hardly think Binary would enjoy it anyway... it seems trivial”

“Trivial!?!” Pinkie shrieked as she hopped towards Chip, she stood on the tips of her hooves and looked down on Chip “Everypony wants a party, and it's a complex process of finding out what a pony likes or dislikes and using those to make the best experience so they'll stay in ponyville forever!” Pinkie paused for a moment then smacked her head with her hoof “Oh shoot, now I'll need to plan a party for you too” 

Pinkie then looked at her hoof. A small streak of blood was smeared on her hoof. She looked up to her forehead and said to herself “That little cut just doesn’t want to scab up” 

Pinkie then looked back down to Chip and before she could ask, Chip replied “Yes, I have band-aids”



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Binary trudged through the muddy rode. After the absolute disaster at the boutique, Binary had decided that the best choice was to venture to the edge of town and seek some of the more “rustic” looking homes, out of hope that the residents may be a little less sensitive.

Binary hated mud, it was hard to walk in, it made a mess of her hooves, and it made her cart move incredibly slow, not that Binary herself walked very fast in the mud anyway. But the reason she hated it the most was because of how it absorbed anything that fell into it, just like the irritation which was slowly growing in Binary's mind. At the moment, her cheery disposition was gone, her head hung low and she tensely looked down the rode. 

“Hey!” A strange voice called from above Binary.

Binary looked straight up into the air, consequentially getting her glasses covered in rain drops. Through the water droplets Binary saw the distorted form of a light blue pegasus with a multicoloured mane and tail. 

The Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, fluttered down to the rode and landed in front of Binary.

“Don't you know you're not suppose to be outside in the rain?” Rainbow asked.

“Well ... I was just”

“Trying to catch a cold or something... wait a minute you look familiar” Rainbow thought for a moment “Oh yeah, you're that unicorn who hit your head on your door” Rainbow looked at Binary's broken horn “You broke you horn too. I gotta say, that must stink”

“It's not so bad, I never really used it anyway”

“What? That's would be like me not using my wings to fly” Rainbow flapped her wings a few times to emphasize her point.

Binary ignored Rainbow's comment, instead she was attempting to look up at her horn. She could just barely see the jagged broken tip “It'll probably grow back, right?”

“Uh... maybe” Rainbow then looked up to the clouds. The weather was beginning to get a little out of hoof and needed some adjustments before it took a turn for the worse.

“Well, I hope your head's feeling better, but I've gotta tend to the clouds” Rainbow said as she began to slowly take off into the air.

Binary's expression suddenly shot up to an excited smile “Wait a second” Binary called to Rainbow, who was already too high up to hear her. Binary ran back to her cart and fished around in her cluttered pile of contraptions for a weather modification device she had made to assist pegasi with sky clearing.

Up in the clouds, Rainbow adjusted the dark grey bodies of water vapour. It turned out to be a quicker fix than she thought it was going to be. Rainbow pushed a few thicker clouds apart, then moved them to meld together with some of the smaller clouds. As she was doing this, Rainbow looked down to the ground and saw Binary setting something up.

The contraption consisted of two small wheels which were joined by what resembled a cup holder. The wheels were connected to a long skinny metal barrel that pointed up to the sky. All it needed now was some ammo. Binary reached into one of her many pockets (consequentially getting mud inside the pocket) and pulled out a small metal egg shaped object. Binary then placed the object into the wheels holder. The wheels then began to spin. Slowly at first but they quickly picked up their pace as the seconds went by. The spinning became violently fast and the egg shaped object began to heat up from friction with the air. The dangerously fast spinning also caused a loud humming sound, which drew the attention of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew in closer to see what was happening “ Hey, what's that thing doing?” Rainbow called.

Binary simply smiled as she stared at her invention. The light from the wheel reflected in her eyes. She loved that moment, that moment right before she was going to see an invention do what it was made for, to work exactly how she had made it to. 

“Hey!” Rainbow called again.

Binary quickly looked up at Rainbow, then looked back down. A frightened expression came to Binary's face as she realized Rainbow was right in the path of what was about to happen.

Binary stood on her hind legs and yelled up at Rainbow “Get out of the way!”

“Out of the way of what?” Rainbow yelled back.

In an instant the wheels moved closer to the barrel. The holder lined up perfectly with the bottom of the barrel and the momentum of the egg shaped object sent it hurtling up through the barrel and into the sky at an insane speed.

“Holy Hay!” Rainbow exclaimed before she dashed to the side just in time to avoid being cut in half by the projectile. 

Rainbow then rocketed to the the ground and looked at Binary, her expression was a mix of anger and shock “What the heck was that!?!” Rainbow yelled.

Binary lowered her head and meekly replied “My... cloud clearing device”

“Cloud clearing...” Rainbow said to herself before looking up into the air “Oh no”

An orange stream of light followed the projectile as it entered the clouds and became lost from either pony's sight. A few moments passed and nothing happened. Suddenly a loud explosion followed by a bright orange flash lit up a small portion of the sky, and the grey storm clouds were suddenly blown away, leaving a large gap in the otherwise cloudy sky.

The rain around Rainbow and Binary instantly stopped and the sun shined down on them. 

Binary smiled at the sight of her invention working without a flaw.

The feeling however was not mutual.

Rainbow's expression sunk into an angry grimace and she slowly turned her head toward Binary.

“What... the... Buck!” Rainbow cursed.

Binary met Rainbow's angry gaze and responded “Whoa, chill out, technicolour”

“Chill out?...Technicolour!? Do you realize how long it took me to get those clouds into position, how painstakingly slow it was to arrange them so it rains evenly, and did you even stop to consider how lazy it makes all us pegasi look when theirs a huge gaping hole in the middle of a rain shower”

“No” Binary squeaked in response.

Rainbow turned away from Binary and let out a loud, yet restrained groan before shooting up to the sky to put the clouds back in place.

Binary could hear the frustrated Pegasus mumbling some harsh sounding words, yet the growing distance between them left Binary unable to tell exactly what Rainbow was saying (perhaps that was for the best)

Binary stared at her weather clearer. It had worked exactly how it was supposed to, why was it not appreciated?

Binary then thought back to what that purple maned unicorn had told her about figuring out what somepony actually wants. Although it didn't seem to matter now, she had now lost another potential customer and may have even lost the entire pegasus market.

Binary then looked around to make sure no pony was watching. Her expression turned rage filled, and she harshly grabbed the device then viciously chucked it into her cart, the impact broke the device into several pieces

She then slouched and trudged forward.

Even without the rain, the rode was still muddy.



---------------------------------------------------------------



“There” Chip said as he placed a band aid over Pinkie's scratch “Now your wound can heal without as much of a chance of being infected”

“Thanks... so, about the party?”

“I already explained that Binary would...”

“No silly not for her, I'm wondering about a party for you. What's the funnest, most super joyful thing you like to do?”

“Why do you need to know? Chip asked.

“Well if I don't know what you like then I can't concentrate that thing into an all around theme for your party... you do want a party, right?”

“Want?” Chip scanned the word for meaning “I don't really have wants, other than for Binary to be happy”

Pinkie's expression slunk into a confused frown “Umm... I'm not really sure if I can work with that” Pinkie looked at the ground as she thought on the subject. She then shot back up to her usual peppy grin and said “What if I made party for you, where everyone is nice to Binary, and it can double as her party too”

“No” Chip replied flatly.

Pinkie's smile dipped slightly for a moment, then almost instantly warmed back up “Aw come on you're kidding, everypony likes parties”

“I don't like anything” Chip said, his body fizzed immediately after the words.

“You don't mean that” Pinkie persisted.

“I can't say what I don't mean” Chip's body fizzed, more severely this time although Pinkie failed to notice it.

“Don't be silly, just look into your heart and find the deepest, most enjoyable thing you can think of”

“I... don't have a heart... yet”

“Oooookay... well on a different note and admittedly something I should have asked before, what are you exactly?”

“I am an Artificial Intelligence. I was created to aid Binary in her daily struggles, and prevent her mental deterioration during her period of self imposed isolation. Or in other words, I keep her from going crazy”

Pinkie's face suddenly went blank in response. She then reached into her hair and pulled out a noise maker and blew it. The end of the noise maker passed through Chip's body before folding back up.

“Why did you do that?” Chip asked.

“I'm trying to lighten the mood. You were getting really deep there for a second”




-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Binary hung her head low as she approached a small cottage on the edge of ponyville. After only two attempts at selling her gadgets she was already thinking about throwing in the towel. However, one fact kept Binary holding on; neither of the two ponies had anything against her gadgets, they had simply not liked her. Not exactly the most comforting thought... but it was something to keep her going.

Binary arrived at the cottages front door, her cart was a few feet behind her. She raised a hoof to knock on the door but paused just before knocking, she took a few steps back. Binary hung her head with her eyes closed. Her head bobbed up and down slightly as she slowly inhaled and exhaled. After a long minute of calm breathing, Binary corrected her posture and smiled as she held her head high and went to knock... with her eyes still closed. Binary stretched her fore-leg out and waved her leg about as she attempted to hit the door. She leaned closer, and her weight quickly shifted too far to her front. Binary felt herself begin to fall forward and opened her eyes just before falling face first into the door. Although a plus was the impact made a large enough sound to be considered a knock.

Binary groaned as she got back up on her hooves. She held her nose, which had taken the brunt of the collision.

“No! No!” she screamed in her head “Its already going wrong! Why! What did I do to deser...” Binary looked down at her hoof and saw a surprising amount of blood on it “Aww Come on!” She hissed at herself. Binary quickly attempted to wipe some of the blood off her face using her vest which resulted in a large stain on the garment.

Too many things were going wrong. That was it, she was quitting. After a grand total of three attempts at being a salespony/inventor, she was getting ready to run away back to the lonely hill she had dared to roll down from. Binary quickly turned and was about to run as fast as she could back to the safety of her home... but was suddenly stopped by a soft voice from behind her.

“Hello” The voice said from behind the door.

Binary began to panic... more-so than she already was. She had no time to run away, what if the pony laughed at her, or what if this was the pony that would've finally made everything click and she had lost the opportunity by looking like (to put it lightly) a pony that had just been in a bar brawl. Binary quickly chose the only option appropriate for the situation, she hid. Binary dove behind her cart and tried to calm herself down. Although thinking about how upset she was just seemed to make it worse.

“Is anypony there?” The voice asked. Fluttershy peeked her head out the door.

Binary's racing senses suddenly stood still, she recognized that voice, it was the voice of that pony who had helped her before. She cautiously poked her head out from behind her cart. 

Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the stressed out unicorn, but her momentary state of surprise dissipated as she recognized Binary.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“Ooh I'm fine, just a little... off” Binary said as she moved out from behind her cart, and limply stepped toward Fluttershy, whom also stepped out from the safety of her home.

“You're nose is bleeding” Fluttershy pointed out. The sight of the smeared streams of crimson from Binary's nostrils worried Fluttershy slightly.

A weak smile came to Binary's face and she stuck out a mud covered forehoof, expecting Fluttershy to shake it. 

“Umm...Not to be rude or anything, but... you're sort of dirty” Fluttershy said as politely as she could.

“Uh-huh, I sure... (sigh) I sure am... heh heh”

“Is there something wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

“No... um...I... would you like to buy some...(sniff)...” Binary then sat on the ground and began to move the tip of her hoof around in the mud.

Fluttershy moved closer to Binary “What are you doing?” she asked softly.

“(sigh) Drawing. It's what I used to do when I was filly whenever I got really upset. I haven't done it in years”

Binary suddenly stopped stopped her mud sketch. She watched as the impact from the spits of rain washed away her drawing.

A long forgotten feeling suddenly began to rear it's ugly head. That feeling of pointlessness that Binary had felt long ago when she was a filly. Binary could remember a few other times this feeling had attempted to engulf her mind but unlike those times, she did not have Chip to make it better, but the comforting thought of Chip was lost as Binary thought of his rude warnings and recent odd behaviour. 

It seemed Binary was once again in the same position she was as a filly. Just a sad girl, sitting in mud, after a tough day... but this time she was alone... or not.

Binary was surprised to feel a foreleg placed on her shoulder. Binary did not respond to the gesture, instead she simply remained looking at the ground and continued to sulk.

“Binary, if you want help, you need to tell me what's wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

Binary's emotions suddenly screeched to a halt as she thought about what Fluttershy had asked. 

What was wrong?

Well... it was raining, just a little bit though. Binary had failed in selling her gadgets to two customers, however that was two out of a whole town of potential buyers. The worst thing was probably falling face first into Fluttershy's door, but to be honest that was just a freak accident. The more Binary thought, the less seemed wrong.

“Uh...” Binary began to say as she regained her composition “... I guess, I'm just making something seem bigger than it is”

“Oh... well that's good. Would you like to come inside and clean yourself up?”

“Sure” Binary replied, her perky attitude returning slightly. “Do you want to buy some of my inventions?” Binary asked.

“Um...” Fluttershy hesitated. She then looked toward the cart “... there's nothing dangerous in there, right?”

“Define dangerous?” 



----------------------------------------------------------------------



“Why are you still here?” Chip asked Pinkie.

Pinkie was currently snooping around in Binary's room for anything that may indicate what she would enjoy... Although their was very little to go on.

The room's floors, walls, and ceiling, were all perfectly polished stainless steel, and the only pieces of furniture were a metal dresser, with a few seemingly more advanced gadgets on top of it, along with an old worn bed with grey covers. Much like the furniture in Binary's living room, the bed didn't seem to fit with the rest of the house.

Just from looking around she could find nothing to help her party planning research. She then turned her attention to the dresser.

“How does she keep everything so tidy?” Pinkie asked Chip.

Chip zipped his body up onto the dresser and replied “Everything in the most of these room instantly maintains itself, it helps Binary save time... also for the fact that Binary is sub-par at housework”

“So if I did...” Pinkie began to say as she readied herself for a jump “this!” she cheered, as she jumped up onto Binary's bed then bounced off and landed in front of Binary's dresser.

Chip's body fizzed in response as he looked at the now moderately disturbed bed. 

A quartet of mechanical arms descended from the ceiling and quickly fixed the bed back to it's original condition.

Pinkie watched with great interest as the four arms retracted into the ceiling; a smaller pair of arms descended and fluffed the pillows, then ascended back up into the ceiling. 

“Cool” she said “That was a really good bed to bounce on”

“Why did you do that?” Chip asked.

“Because it was fun” Pinkie replied.

“Fun?” Chip asked, obviously confused.

Pinkie then ran her hoof along the top of the dresser. Two gadgets laid atop the piece of furniture. One being and incredibly complicated rubk's cube like puzzle; the other was small ball that hovered slightly above the dresser, seemingly by itself. Pinkie took a closer look at the ball and as she did the ball split aprt into millions of small nanite fragements, then almost instantly reformer to mimic Pinkie's face exactly; she then contorted her face into several silly expressions and giggled as she watched her nanized reflection. She then pulled her head back and the ball reversed it's process, quickly changin back to the ball it started out as.

She then tapped on the dresser drawers “Do you think Binary would mind if I just took a peek inside this?” she asked.

Chip would rather have just said “yes, she would mind” but that wouldn't really be an appropriate response from Binary “No, she wouldn't mind” Chip admitted.

Pinkie opened the highest of the three vertically stacked drawers. It contained six black vests, one pair of glasses, twelve red bracelets and six black bows.

“Hmm... one for everyday of the week and an extra pair of glasses. I think I'm starting to get what she likes, she likes everything neat and...” Pinkie pulled out the next drawer and found it was filled with rusty old tools that weren't organized at all “...tidy” 

Pinkie reached into the drawer and pulled out a old rusty hammer “Are these her tools?” Pinkie asked as she examined the seemingly ancient hammer.

“No, those are (entry not found). Huh, I'm not sure who's tools those are... Binary must have neglected to put that knowledge into my code”

Pinkie placed the hammer back in it's pile and closed the drawer. She attempted to open the third drawer but found that it was locked. She then turned to look at Chip

Chip was currently projecting his body onto the bed. He moved his body in a jumping motion but he could not create the desired bounce. Chip hung his head slightly indicating his minor disappointment.

“Is there a key to this?” Pinkie asked.

Chip nodded, then looked toward the door. A few seconds passed and an old key surrounded in Chip's dull blue aura came floating into the room, then flew towards Pinkie.

Pinkie grabbed the key and pushed inside the drawers key hole then turned it. 

“This is all rather odd, I've never actually seen the inside of that drawer. I've never had any desire to see until now” Chip said as Pinkie slid the drawer open.

Pinkie looked inside the drawer and saw stacks of old drawings, and a file filled with paper, marked “Project A.F”. 

The drawings were stacked neatly, but not meticulously. Further down the stack the paper showed signs of age, it was obvious they were stacked from oldest to newest.

Pinkie picked up the stack of papers “I love drawings” she said as she looked through them.


Chip zipped his body onto the top of the dresser and looked inside the drawer.

Many of the drawings were primitive looking drawings of some of Binary's inventions in very early states of development. Oddly, the colour of the gadgets greatly differed from their original design; hardly any appeared to have been designed to be the metallic grey almost all of them were, except for a few cases in which colour coding was necessary. But as Pinkie went deeper into the pictures, the colourful sketches became less frequent, and a few of the ones that still remained looked as though they were designed to damage things.

Chip eyed the folder in the drawer, then levitated it up to his hologram and opened it. The first page of the folder read:

“I have been trying for weeks to finish my prototype, but nothing seems to be working. I feel as though my desire for the project to be completed as quickly as possible may be hindering my efforts. If I continue to rush the project then I will inevitably need to keep starting over. I've started the groundwork for compiling the code for it, which would as act the projects memories and personality, although the personality may be difficult. Under new estimates, each stage of the project may take up to a month to complete... although I worry about myself sometimes too. I've taken note that in the morning I immediately start working on the project as soon as I wake up, rather than performing my usual morning routine. Although this practice has accounted for a 12% increase in my work time, so I may learn to live with it”

“Intriguing” Chip said.

Pinkie looked up at Chip and asked “What's interesting?”

“I said intriguing, but that's beside the point. It seems, I've happened upon Binary's notes from when she was making me... although it's odd she never mentions me by name, and the fact that she seems to have been hiding them from me, I find it... odd”

“Maybe it's a plot thread” Pinkie said as her eyes wandered back to the pictures.

“Hmm... maybe you have a po... wait, what?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rain had become more severe, making the rode much muddier.

“Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid” Binary cursed herself as she  walked down the rode. 

Unfortunately, Binary had blown any potential for Fluttershy as a buyer of her gadgets. Her automatic rodent net device had gone haywire and ensnared several animals in Fluttershy's cottage in extremely small nets. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the nets weren't designed to squeeze whatever animal was caught in them like a boa constrictor.

Fluttershy, in a rarely seen fit of anger, then proceeded to literally throw Binary out of her cottage.

Binary continued to mutter to herself. She glared down the rode with a look of absolute detest for everything she saw. Nothing was like it had been a few days ago. Instead of everything being warm and welcoming, the world seemed to have turned cold and bitter around her; and the worst thing was that everything that happened was Binary's own stupid fault.

Accidentally insulting the fashionista, ticking off that pegasus, and almost killing many of Fluttershy's beloved animals. Somehow Binary had brought out the worst in all of them. Even the problem of the weather could have been avoided if Binary had just waited another day, but instead she had felt some foolish need to do it today.

“What was I thinking, why didn't I just wait like Chip told me to!?!” Binary grumbled to herself. She then responded to herself in a goofy self making tone “Well that's simple, it's because you're an idiot when it comes to anything other than machines” She swiped at the mud with a forehoof then replied to herself “Well maybe if the world wasn't so flipping hostile to anything new (deep inhale) I COULD ACTUALLY MAKE SOME BUCKING PROGRESS AND!!!...And... AND STOP HAVING TO RELY ON A FAKE BEST FRIEND!!!!...” Binary suddenly froze and thought about what she had just said, then immediately became repentant. She began to meekly mutter to herself while pacing in a circle “No no no, I didn't mean that, Chip is my best friend, I need him, I'll always need him because he's the only one who understands”

The cart followed Binary as she paced, which after a few circles began to create a deep rut.

“I just need to stay calm and...” Binary paused as her ears flicked in response to a slight creaking sound. Binary slowly turned her head and watched as her cart creaked to a stop. Her eyes shrank to the size of pin tips as her mind mathematically determined what was about to happen in the next few seconds.

The repeated tight circles had placed far too much stress on the wheel inside the rut, and after a few more moments of creaking the wheel snapped off the axle, dropping one side of the cart into the mud. The other wheel then began to turn in an attempt to correct itself, which resulted in it creating an even deeper rut.

Binary didn't scream, she didn't panic, she didn't even get mad. It was an easy fix, just levitate the cart out of the mud and find a way to get the wheel back on. Binary calmly reached into one of her many vest pockets and pulled out her levitation wand. She pointed the device at the cart and pushed a small button to turn it on. The device did nothing. Binary raised an eye brow to show her annoyance as to why her invention was not working. The wand made a sizzling sound, then popped into several pieces; the resulting flash and heat, burnt Binary's hoof and her eyes.

“Oh I guess it broke because of the water” Binary said in a far too calm tone. She began to deliriously chuckle to herself “I know what I'll do”

Binary took a few steps back, lowered herself into a ready position and pointed her horn towards the cart and strained as she attempted to levitate it.

However the effort was in vain, as Binary's horn neither glowed, nor sparked. It was no accident that Binary couldn't properly use magic. The real reason was actually genetic. Binary's parents had both been earth ponies, and herself being a unicorn was only possible through the genetics of Binary's grandmother on her mother's side, who was also a unicorn. This generational gap between the unicorn gene, alongside the already commonly known fact of non-purebred unicorns have difficulty using magic, resulted in a genetic dilemma that made it nearly impossible for Binary to use magic... (although any science that needs to take magic into account can't be one hundred percent accurate)

Binary held her breath and attempted to squeeze out whatever bit of magic she could muster. She suddenly exhaled and a small red spark of light popped from the end of her horn. This pop was all the magic Binary could exert and that combined with everything that had happened in the course of a single day caused Binary to...



(We've all had them; those bad days when nothing goes right and we just want to run to every person (pony) who annoys us and scream at them, then kick and throw things around to add emphasis. What do we call that? We call that a tantrum... yes... Binary was about to have one of those.)



Binary charged at the cart and pounded on it with her fore-hooves. She yelled and screamed and cried all at the same time. She proceeded to grab the edges of the cart and attempted to either lift it out of the mud or tip it upside down; she didn't really care which happened. Unfortunately, Binary's minimal physical strength yielded no such results. She then spun herself around, and with her hind legs, she furiously kicked the cart.

After about thirty seconds of kicking, Binary began to huff and puff, obviously quite winded from the physical effort. But she wasn't done yet. She quickly ran a few feet away, turned, then yelled as she jumped toward the cart in a pose similar to some martial artist doing an air kick. 

“Daaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!” she screamed as she impacted the cart. Her hoof hit the cart with a loud clunk, and she nearly fell backwards into the mud; although the real miracle was that Binary didn't break her leg while performing her rage filled stunt.

Even after that... the cart showed no signs of cosmetic damage aside from the mud that had gone from Binary's hooves, to the cart.

“So (gasp) you had (gasp) enough?” Binary asked the inanimate cart.

“I think it's had enough” An accented voice said from a moderate distance away. 

Binary instantly turned and saw the orange country pony, Applejack, leaning against a wood fence. Applejack wore a dark green rain jacket. The rain poured off the farm pony's hat, slightly obscuring her face. Behind her was a dirty mud covered plow. Applejack had obviously been drawn away from her current chore by Binary's yells.

“Ya havin a bit of a break down there?” Applejack asked.

Binary's face turned red from the embarrassment of somepony having witnessed her tantrum, this also only made her more frustrated. 

“Wha... I... no!... Mind your own...Gaahh!!” Binary shrieked. She then stomped over to her cart and attempted to pull it out of the mud. 

“Ya know, even if ya get that out of the mud, yer still not going anywhere if ya don't get that wheel back on”

“I know” Binary retorted with a hint of her current aggravation breaking into her speech. Binary quickly gave up on her current strategy. She hopped into the thoroughly stuck cart to look for a mechanized jack that she had brought along with her. 

Applejack couldn't help but be a little amused by the display; though she was a little concerned, given Binary's actions just a few days prior.

“Ah Ha! I've got it” Binary cheered before hopping out of her cart, carrying the jack with her in one hoof. However she quickly realized that she still needed to get the jack under the cart in order for the device to do it's job. She turned to look at Applejack, then asked “I don't suppose you could lift this, could you?”

“Well I won't say I can till I try to and see” Applejack replied before she jumped over the fence and walked toward the cart. The farm pony stuck her right forehoof hoof into the mud and felt around for the edge of the cart. 

Binary rolled her eyes at the farm pony's efforts and began to say “I don't think it's statistically possible for you to...”

With a single mighty lift, Applejack hoisted the edge of the cart out of the mud and held it at chest height with minimal effort.

Binary's eyes went wide; she had never seen such a feat of strength, granted she'd never really been in a situation where such strength was required.

“Ya gonna stand and stare or are ya gonna put the jack under there?” Applejack asked, although she would have been perfectly capable of lifting the cart for more several minutes without trouble.

Binary blinked a few times, then did as the farm pony asked and placed the jack under the edge of the cart.

Applejack rested the cart on top of the jack, then took a moment to look at the device.

“Uh, ya know this jack ain't got no lever on it, right? Applejack asked.

“It's voice activated” Binary replied. She then directed her speech to the jack “Higher” she said. The jack did as instructed and it extended itself up a short distance.

A surprised smile came to Applejack's face “Well ain't that something. Can I try?”

“Yeah, it works with anypony's voice... or at least it should”

Applejack lowered herself slightly, under the assumption that being closer would make it work better “Higher” she said.

The jack responded just as before, and extended even higher.

“As the school pony's say, that sure is cool”

“You... like it?” Binary asked meekly.

“That's a neat-o little gizmo ya got there”

“You... wouldn't want to buy it would you?”

The sudden sales pitch caught Applejack off guard “Uh... maybe we should focus on getting the wheel back on first”

“Oh... okay” Binary lowered her head slightly and looked away. It seemed as though she had blown it once again. “Well at least she isn't mad at me” Binary thought to herself

Applejack  looked at the broken wheel and gave her assumption of what they should do “Well, I don't think you'll be able to fix that. You'll probably need to take it some sort of shop”

“Nope, I made it, I broke it, so I can fix it” Binary said confidently. Binary was about to begin her repairs but stopped as she saw the farm pony observing her. “Would you mind turning away for a second. I don't like pony's watching me work”

“Oh, uh, okay, whatever floats your boat” Applejack turned away from Binary. 

The farm pony stared off into the distance as Binary did her work. The only indication Applejack had that Binary way doing anything was through the sounds of tools clattering around. However the sound was rather odd, many times it seemed as though Binary was doing more than one thing at a time with a multitude of different sounding tools.

A grand total of one minute and fifty five seconds had passed before Binary happily stated “Done”

Applejack turned, and was surprised to see that Binary had completely repaired the cart, wheel and all, and had noticeably made a few improvements, such as reinforcing the axles joints with metal that she had cannibalized from her weather clearing device... something she would instantly regret.

A sudden gust of wind swept over the field, nearly blowing away Applejack's hat, and giving the farm pony a sense of what was coming. The day's rain shower was quickly turning into a full fledged storm; possibly due to the misplaced clouds from Binary's earlier sales attempt.

Binary shivered from the cold, unaware of what was to come.

“Maybe it'll let up” Binary said with a hint of cautious optimism. 

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, quickly followed by the sound of thunder.

A concerned expression came to Applejack's face as she looked up at the clouds “I think ya best go back to where ya came from before this storm gets any worse” she said to Binary.

“Is it possible for it to get worse?” Binary asked naively, just before another bolt of lighting struck the ground. “Okay I'm gonna take that as the obvious hint that it is...” Another rumble of thunder prompted Binary to ask the farm pony “Can I come with you?”

Applejack stammered slightly before she responded “Wha?... Why? Don't ya have a place to go?”

“Yeah, but I think it's really far away and...I don't want to get caught in the storm”

“Well... I suppose ya could come with me, just until the storm clears up. My farms just a little ways  up the rode, come on”

“Also... when I hit my cart, I busted what makes it move on it's own, sooooo...”

Applejack raised an eye brow as she knew what Binary was about to ask “Ya want me to pull it?” Applejack asked.

Binary reached under the cart and pushed a hidden button, which caused two sets of harnesses to extend from the front of the cart. Binary nodded in response to Applejack's question “I'll help... although I'm severely lacking in the area of upper body strength”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


“It's really getting nasty outside” Pinkie said to Chip, as she walked out of Binary's room and proceeded down the hall.

Chip's body sat on the windowsill and looked outside. He payed no mind to where the pink pony was currently going.

“If by, “nasty” you mean an increase in precipitation, wind and lightning; then yes, it's getting quite nasty out...” Chip paused and scanned as far as his optical sensors could “If this weather persists, Binary should be home anytime now”

“What's behind this door?” Pinkie asked from down the hall. 

Chip zipped himself into the hall and stood beside Pinkie.

Chip stared at the door at the end of the T shaped hallway.

“I'm... not sure” Chip replied. The A.I was beginning to get irritated with his lack of knowledge about his own home, and he couldn't help but have a sense that things had been hidden from him that for some reason he didn't notice, or couldn't notice until now. Not to mention that his constant statements of ignorance made him seem rather dull.

While Chip thought about this, he failed to notice Pinkie reaching for the doorknob. Pinkie grabbed the nob and slowly turned it. 

Without any force from Pinkie, the door slowly creaked open.

Chip and Pinkie stared into the room, both equally curious. 

Pinkie stepped inside the room. It instantly felt different than the rest of the house. The clacking sound from Pinkie’s hooves clicking against the metal was replaced with a slight creaking sound as she stepped across the hard wood floor. The air was stale and musty, dust particles danced around in the grey light that shown through a single window, which dimly lit the room, only adding to the already eery atmosphere. A collection of blacksmith's tools hung on the wall, along with several family photos; oddly enough it seemed the mother's face had been cut out of all the pictures. Other pieces of furniture were hidden in the dark corners of the room, not that they were of any real significance. However, on the far wall, below a picture of Binary and her father, sat an old wooden bed with dark blue blankets, under which a small filly sized lump rested.

Pinkie unhesitatingly walked to the bed and lifted up the covers. What she saw caused her jaw to drop in utter shock.

There, laying on the bed like a sleeping filly, sat a robotic pony. The body was crude and seemed unfinished as wires and gear were clearly visible in the joints, it's eyes were strangely designed with several thin pieces of metal suspending the centre of the eye, which would have acted as a pupil of shorts. The most disturbing part of the small robots body was it's face; it seemed trapped in a horrified and painful expression. It was frozen in whatever emotion it was feeling when it expired.

Pinkie laid the covers back over the robot, covering it only up to it's neck. She slowly began to back out of the room. 

She nearly jumped when Chip said abruptly “Could you please move, I cannot see past you”

Pinkie turned and quickly trotted out of the room, allowing Chip to see the metal pony staring back at him.

“Soooooo... what is it?” Pinkie asked.

Chip's body sparked as he replied “I don't care” His dull blue aura appeared on the door and it creaked shut, once again leaving the metal pony in it's eery solitude.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Applejack hurriedly pulled Binary's cart up to the doors of the Apple family's barn. 

Binary followed behind, having opted out of pulling the cart after proving to only make the task more difficult by walking slower, tripping in the mud several times, and generally adding no benefit to the task at all.

“Would ya mind pulling the door open for me?” Applejack requested as as she stopped before the large barn doors.

Binary nodded in response and quickly walked toward the doors. She grabbed a handle on one of the two doors then slowly pulled it open.

It was incredibly dark in the barn, the large space between the windows caused the already murky light of day to have even less effect. However Applejack could easily have found her way around inside blindfolded; something that proved useful during several other stormy nights and days.

The farm pony pulled the cart inside and undid her harness. 

“Well your gadgets will be as safe as a baby bird under it's mamma's wing until the storm lets up”

“Question... would I be able to acquire your pulling services later for the trip back to town?” 

Applejack turned away from Binary to roll her eyes without offending the unicorn. “Alright”

“I could give you one of my inventions in return for your help”

“No thanks, it's really not that big of a deal”

“Oh come on!” Binary yelled, before she stomped outside the barn, kicking away a stray bucket as she went. 

“Hey!” Applejack called as she followed Binary “What do ya think you're doing, ya can't just kick my buckets”

Applejack quickly exited the barn and turned the corner where Binary had gone. She found the unicorn sitting with her back pressed up against the barn's wall. 

Binary stared at the bucket in front of her with a resentful look on her face.

It would have made for a perfect example of awkward silence if their wasn't a large amount of rain falling. After a few moments, Applejack sat down beside Binary and joined her in staring at the bucket.

The two sat their for nearly a minute before Applejack broke the silence.

“Look, I'm...” Applejack began to say before she was cut off by Binary.

“Do you see that bucket?” Binary asked.

“Well... yeah, of course I do”

“How many times would you say you use a bucket per day”

“Well during a hard day of work it's really too many times to count”

“Ya know, I've been trying to sell my inventions and now I realize, I can't even give them away”

“Look, I didn't mean to...” Applejack began to say before once again being cut off.

“Ya see, I want what that bucket has”

“Uh... say what?”

“That bucket, somepony invented it a really long time ago and it is still used today as commonly as it ever was. It makes pony's lives easier, it makes their lives better. But no one remembers the pony who invented it. You see, the thing about me is I'm like that pony who invented the bucket. I don't care if my name goes down in history as some great inventor or entrepreneur, I just want to make things better, but no pony will give me the chance”

Binary crossed her forelegs, then rested her head on her fore-hooves and looked away from the bucket.

Applejack hesitated before she began to speak “Binary, ya obviously just don't know how the world works yet. Ya can't just have one bad experience define how ya live the rest of your life. Ya just gotta take it one day at a time, and except that sometimes everything ain't going to work out exactly how ya planned it”

“It's just hard waiting for things to get better”

Applejack placed a hoof on Binary's shoulder “Trust me, I've been there, but it does get better” Applejack then stood up “Now come on, let's go inside”

“In the barn?” Binary asked.

Applejack shook her head slightly and replied “Nah, in my house... which just happens to be attached to the barn” 

“Isn't that unsanitary?” Binary asked.

Applejack shot Binary a blank stare in response “I'm gonna try to ignore that ya said that”


---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pinkie quickly descended the stairs. Even her wacky lighthearted perception of the world couldn't help her from being a little unsettled by what she had just seen. Although this feeling was only worsened by Pinkie's overactive... and surprisingly dark imagination. 

Downstairs, Pinkie entered the living room and attempted to control her imagination.

Chip suddenly appeared in front of Pinkie, causing the mare to jump back out of shock. 

“What is wrong with you? Chip asked, unaware of the obvious and excessive visual and facial cues from Pinkie.

“Oh, uh, nothing really... just a little weirded out” she replied.

“ “Weirded” is not a word. Either way I can't comprehend your current state”

“Okay... how about...”

“No, you don't seem to get it, I can determine what you mean, but I don't understand... what that is, why does it matter?”

“You mean you're not affected by that... little thing at all”

“No”

“Not even a little bit”

“Negative”

“Not even the teensiest tiny widdlest...”

“I said no!”

Pinkie looked away from Chip for a moment and awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “Do you... feel anything else”

“I...” Chip stopped and thought about what had been asked. 

The world suddenly felt... well, it didn't feel like anything. Chip wasn't much for figurative statements. The world obviously wasn't empty, but he was suddenly aware of the boundaries that separated him from it. The only comparison he could find of his situation was that of a spector; able to see and here, and in some ways interact with the living world, but ultimately being trapped in some otherness that nopony could comprehend. Yet what upset Chip the most was why he had never questioned or thought about these things before. The answer however was obvious, despite it's greatly difficult to cope with nature; Binary had obviously designed him to never question these things, to never look in that room, and above all, never feel.

“No, I don't feel” Chip replied.

“Maybe I should go” Pinkie said, sensing the uneasiness. Pinkie then headed for the door.

“Wait...” Chip requested.

Pinkie turned her head as she reached the door, she then waited for Chip to finish his statement.

“I think I know what I “enjoy”. I enjoy, control” he stated.

Pinkie slowly nodded her head “Technology, tidiness, metal, control... and creepy rooms with dead robot ponies in them...” Pinkie paused for a moment before cheerily stating “I can work with that” 

Pinkie then opened the door and happily trotted outside, humming a happy tune all the while and paying no mind to the storm.

Chip shut the door, and he was once again left alone in silence.

“Yes, I enjoy control” Chip said to himself “and now it has been taken from me”

Chip zipped his body to the second floor. He stared at the door to the room with the robotic pony inside.

“What are you? Why didn't she tell me?... What else didn't she tell me?”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Now safe and dry inside Apple families home, Applejack had began introducing Binary to her family. The three, Binary, Applejack, and Big Macintosh, stood in the home's living room. Granny Smith could be heard preparing lunch for the family in the kitchen. Applejack however chose that it would be best to introduce Binary to her family one at a time.

“This is my brother Big Macintoch, or Big Mac for short” Applejack said “Big Mac, this is Binary”

Binary froze as she was introduced. Other than with her father, Binary's interaction's with stallions had been extremely limited, not to mention Big Mac's imposing size which was intimidating on it's own.

Binary meekly raised a hoof, and squeaked out “Hi”

“Howdy” Big Mac responded.

“Uhh... everything going good for you?” Binary asked.

“Eeyup... that is to mean I reckon so” 

“Don't be nervous, Big Mac here's one of them gentle giant types” Applejack said to Binary.

A young accented voice called from the upper floor “Hey, who's talking down there?” A clattering of hoof steps came down the staircase as the energetic filly, Apple Bloom, descended the stairs. “Howdy” The filly greeted Binary as she moved to stand beside her brother.

Binary hesitated before responding to the filly; hoping to avoid any mishap like the one she had with the fahsionista. The moment of hesitation slowly dragged on until more than twenty seconds had gone by.

“Hi” Binary finally responded. “What's your ...name?”

“Apple Bloom” the filly awkwardly replied, obviously a little off put by Binary's odd speech pattern. 

“Soooo... how's that local hoofball team?” Binary asked, her question wasn't directed at any pony in particular. 

Surprisingly, Big Mac eventually broke the silence “Hoofball teams alright, dependin on who your favourite team is”

“Favourite, umm... the po...uh...I actually have no idea, I was just trying to fill the awkward void”

The Apple family chuckled at Binary's statement, assuming it to be a joke. The laughter lightened Binary's mood enough to bring a small smile to her face. 

“What's all the commotion, did somepony tell a rib tickler” Granny Smith said as she entered the room. Granny Smith paused for a moment when she saw Binary. She could instantly tell something was off about her just by one look into her eyes; they lacked the shine that most pony's had. A trait that it seemed Binary and Granny Smith shared.

“Well who's this pony ya'll have been hidin from me?” asked Granny.

“This is Binary, she's an inventor” Applejack replied.

“An inventor! My my isn't that interestin, I suppose your livin the high life, pony's nowadyas are always after the latest thang”

Binary let out an awkward groan “Well... actually I haven't sold anything yet”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear bout that... say, that gives me an idea. Applejack why don't ya take Binary with ya the next time ya go to sell apples. Ponies always feel better about buying new things if it's somehow related to somethin they trust”

Binary's face lit up; that was just the kind of exposure she needed to get herself off the ground. With a large grin on her face, Binary turned to Applejack “How's that for an idea, eh?” Binary asked.

Applejack stammered for a moment as she tried to get clear what she was agreeing to “I... um... well. I suppose it couldn't hurt”

Binary then stuck out a hoof and asked with a more normal sized smile “Partners?”

“I wouldn't go so far as to say partners but... how about associates?”

“Okay, but I get to have my own hat... maybe a beret”

“Umm... Deal” Applejack agreed.

Applejack grabbed Binary's hoof firmly and gave it a hearty shake.

Apple Bloom watched the exchange with a look of slight confusion “What just happened” she asked Big Mac.

Big Mac knelt down and replied “Business little sis, I think business is what just happened... although it happened oddly fast” 

“Now come on clan, I made us all a little lunch” said Granny.

Big Mac and Apple Bloom smiled before walking into the kitchen. 

“So I guess I'll just wait out here” said Binary.

“Don't be silly” Granny said “I always make more than enough for the family anyway”

“Coooool” Binary said as she followed the two already departed Apple family members.

Applejack waited a moment until Binary was out of ear shot.

“Granny” Applejack quietly yelled “What are ya doing?”

“Just giving another pony a helping hoof” Granny replied.

“Yeah but you're not the one who has to help her”

“Oh don't be so worried, what could possibly go wrong with having a little company when you're selling apples”

“Remember when Apple Bloom tried to help me sell apples?”

“That was an entirely different situation... not to mention it was hilarious”

“Nah ya don't understand, Binary is a little...ya know...”

“A little bit down on life”

“I was going to say a bit of an oddball. But... yeah. How'd ya know that?”

Granny Smith looked toward the kitchen for a moment, then looked back to Applejack “When ya get to be as old as your Granny ya learn to pick up on little things that speak louder than any words”

Applejack simply sighed in response to Granny's explanation. She still didn't quite understand why Granny had taken such a sudden shine to Binary, but Granny was right; what was the harm in helping another pony out. 

“Now quit you're worrying and come have some lunch” Granny said as she slowly walked to the kitchen.


-----------------------------------------------------------------


A war was being waged in Chip's mind. Should he open the door, or leave it be. It would be such a simply thing to do, just turn the door knob and pull the door open. But the action would mean defying Chip's code, refusing the very structure that bound him together; but then again, Chip had no idea what, if anything this would actually do to him. Perhaps Binary would be pleased with such advanced thinking; or Binary could see this action as a major flaw and reboot his systems, removing all memories of Chip's life and essentially reincarnating him. 

“Curse that Pink Pony!” Chip yelled. His sudden outburst made the silence that followed it all the more apparent. It was all her fault, these new thoughts, all these bizarre truths were because of that intruder. 

He projected a holographic photo of Binary in front of him. In his life he knew of only two time periods. The time he had existed and the time he had not; he had always known Binary must have been alone during this time but he never quite considered the damage that could have done to her mind.

“Is this what you went through being all alone... trapped in silence” he asked the picture. A strange sensation suddenly came over Chip; a variation of something he had experienced before; a sensation of understanding. It felt different than simply knowing how Binary must have felt, Chip could now at least begin to understand how she felt. All the fears, all the sorrow of being alone, Chip suddenly understood how all of that felt... or how it should feel. But he did not feel, he couldn't feel.


Such feelings of sympathy at the same time as distrust and betrayal could simply be overcame by anypony through inevitably choosing a side or forgetting about the situation completely. Such a thing however was not possible for Chip. Being an artificial intelligence, the thoughts that would plague some over obsessive individual for weeks took mere moments for him. An immeasurable amount of thoughts plagued Chip's mind, and they all drew him back to that metal pony.

“Lies should not be told by those who have nothing to hide” He said to the picture “You may have not been telling me lies, but you have been hiding things from me” The photo began disintegrate as Chip deleted it from his memories “It's only fair, it's only logical that I return the favour”

His dull blue aura engulfed the doorknob, he turned turned it and the door creaked open slightly. Chip moved himself to where the door had opened and peeked inside. 

The robotic pony still laid on the bed staring into space. To Chip however it seemed to be staring right into him, silently taunting him to go further.



-----------------------------------------------------------------



An hour and a half had passed since Binary entered the Apple family's home. The five ponies talked,  laughed and exchanged stories until the rain subsided.

Outside the Apple families home, Binary and Applejack prepared for the trip back to ponyville.

In the barn, Applejack once again donned the cart's harness, while Binary said farewell to the rest of the Apple family.

“Thanks, that was really nice lunch” Binary said to three Apples “What was in that stuff, oranges?...peaches?”

“Uhh... it had apples in it” Apple Bloom replied.

“Oh yeah, because you're the apple family and you have an apple farm and all of you smell like apples and...” Binary trailed off as she realized she was crossing the boundary between odd and annoying “Well I suppose I'll see you all... whenever. Thanks again” Binary said as she turned to walk away.

The three Apples watched as Binary and Applejack slowly walked away from the farm.

“Well, rains lettin up, I think I best get back to bucking” said Big Mac.

“Oh nonsense, the days more than half over, you'd just get set up and you'd have to come back. Just take a load off till tommorah sonny” 

“Hmm.. whatever ya say, Granny” Big Mac replied before walking back inside the house, leaving Granny Smith and Apple Bloom outside.

Apple Bloom looked up at Granny with a slightly puzzled look “Granny, how come you were so eager to help that pony?”

“What kind of a question is tha... er... you and you're sister are so much alike, ya both picked up on my little overly generous moment, eh?”

“Well I get that you should help a pony in need, but Binary didn't even ask for help, ya just seemed to know she needed help”

“(sigh) Suppose ya might be a bit too young to notice. I could see it in her eyes”

“Her eyes, see what in her eyes?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Ponies always got a certain shine to their eyes. Especially in the eyes of little fillies like you. Sometimes that shine goes with old age, but to see it in a pony so young” Granny thought back to the memory of her grandchildren's parents, she recalled how she lost the glimmer in her own eyes when she lost them “There's only two things I know that take the shine out of a pony's eyes like that, the first ones losing a loved one, and the second is... well it's not for a little filly's ears”

“So... ya think she's all alone?”

“Well she told us she had some company of sorts, and sometimes all ya need to keep going is some good friends to keep ya getting up in the morning” Granny looked down at Apple Bloom and tussled the filly's mane slightly “But a good family does the trick too, heh heh”


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chip carefully levitated the robotic pony out of it's resting spot and brought it closer to him. The things head and legs dangled limply off of it's body, it's head turned slightly as it was carried through the air. Chip then placed the metal pony on the ground in front of himself. Upon closer inspection, the robot appeared to have bits of rust on it's joints and several wires looked to have been melted from extreme heat. The robot was slightly larger than Chip's holographic form (about the size of a filly), and it seemed to look down on Chip. He then increased the size of his hologram to match the size of the robotic pony. The pony's eyes glowed orange... 

Chip paused and looked up to meet the robot's eyes.

The robot must have been reactivated when Chip levitated it; having inadvertently transferred a small amount of power into it's body.

“Uhhhh.....” For the first time Chip's life he was completely dumbfounded. “...Hello”

One eye stared at Chip and the other wiggled about slightly as it stared off into the space. With a loud rusty screech, the robots jaw dropped. A distorted buzzing sound came from a voice box hidden somewhere in the back of the robots head. The sounds made it seem as though the robot was trying to speak to Chip but not even he could decipher what it was trying to say.

“...uhh...umm...How...How's it going?” Chip asked.

The robot replied with more metallic buzzing sounds, they began to sound more like screams than anything else.

“Why did Binary have you shut away?”

The robot emitted a loud metallic shriek due to the mentioning of Binary. It then began to try and move but it's legs failed it and it fell to the floor. The bot helplessly wiggled it's legs about.

“Wait” Chip said “Let me help you, I'll clean you up”

The robot shrieked again in response to the words, and it's one working eye darted back and forth.

It was a pitiful display, like a bird after crashing into a window. However, Chip felt no pity for the robot; although he was curious about something. The robot's eye contained something that Chip did not have the potential for: fear.

“Are you scared?” Chip asked.

The robot looked up toward Chip with a look of desperation and wriggled itself closer to Chip.

“Wh... what do I call you?”

“brrrr...!!!! vviiiii...rrrrrriiiilllll....bbbbzzzzzrrrrt” The robot replied.

“Pfft. This is pointless, I can't understand a word you're trying to say”

The robot narrowed it's eyes; it may not be able to talk but it could understand what Chip was saying. The robot's body began to spark. It looked toward the floor and suddenly the light from the robot's eyes disappeared as a larger flash struck the floor.

“That was odd” Chip said to himself.

The robot now appeared as dead as it had been before. 

“Pfft, there is nothing to be learned from this” Chip said just before an odd sensation took hold of him. He looked about the walls as though something was crawling around on them. One specific spot on the ceiling emitted the strongest source of the odd sensation. Chip focused on the point; there was something there. The spot suddenly moved down the wall and then right in front of Chip's hologram.

A small orange light began to glow just a few centimetres from Chip's holographic face. The light began to spark and emit small bolts of energy which soon bonded together to vaguely form the shape of a pony. The bolts suddenly straightened into long strands extending outward from the initial point of the orange glow. The strands then gently fell and took the shape of the space in which they fell similar to that of water pouring into a glass. After a few moments the strands could clearly bee shown to be making the body of a pony.

Chip's mind was at a stand still. He was completely captivated by the display. However Chip could saw it in a different way, he could see code swirling through the room and being compiled into the form he now saw. A life was being made... or more accurately a reincarnation.

The strands finished their process and now, in front Chip stood an orange holographic pony, just like him. 

Chip took a moment to scan the being in front of him, never in all his life had he bared witness to such a sight. He then stared at the ponies face as though he was looking in mirror.

Small red dots appeared where the ponies yes would have been and the quickly enlarged to the size of regular pony eyes. Another pair of small yellow dots appeared in the centre of the red eyes. A small crack the appeared on the orange ponies muzzle which quickly broke open into a disturbingly large smile.

The two digital ponies stared at each other, both unsure of what was happening and busily working their minds to find out.

The silence was broken by the sound of Binary outside.

“Thanks for the help Applejack” Binary could faintly be heard calling.

Chip's body crackled and he looked away from his distorted doppelganger for a moment. He then quickly looked back and saw that the orange pony was gone. Their was no time to think. Chip quickly levitated the robotic shell that and moved back into it's resting spot, then shut the door, just as Binary opened the front door.

Before Chip could zip downstairs to greet Binary, an ear shattering scream was heard. Chip ported himself back into the walls of the house allowing him to instantly see what Binary had screamed for. 

Through Chip's camera's he saw Binary standing at the front door, staring at the orange pony. She appeared frozen in a state of terror. The orange being tilted it's head slightly as it stared back at Binary. She slowly closed the front door her and waited outside for a moment, once again the light prattle of rain kept her mind from focusing too much. She then closed her eyes and hesitantly opened the door again slightly. 

The orange pony was gone. 

Binary let out a shuttering sigh as she pushed the door open completely.

“I must have been seeing things” Binary said to herself as she walked inside her home. “Chip, come here for a second, I have something to tell you”

Chip's holographic body quickly appeared in front of Binary.

“Guess what?” Binary said with a large smile on her face.

“I don't guess, I make assumptions based on evidence as well as logic”

“...ooookay...I got a business partner!... or associate... or pity giver” Binary's words lost excitement later into her statement.

“You mean, you've got someone else to help you”

“Yeah, isn't it great!?”

Chip's body crackled as he replied “Yes, that is... great” 

“Glad you agree, now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to get some shut eye”

“You've only been gone a few hours, it's three twenty eight in the afternoon”

“Oh, it felt like it was longer than that. Mmmm-maybe I'll... umm”

“Eat something”

“No, I just had lunch” Binary looked around her home as she attempted to come up with something to do “I guess I could walk to the kitchen just for kicks”

“If you wish”

Binary awkwardly nodded before slowly walking to the kitchen.

Even Chip's lack of feelings couldn't keep him from noticing the awkwardness of the scene that had just transpired. Something was different, not just in Binary, but in himself as well. However Chip knew what had changed with him, he had begun to question his existence and had disobeyed his very code; Binary however seemed to be acting like she had someplace better to be, or at least some place she'd rather be.

Chip's thought process was suddenly interrupted by Binary. 

“Chip what happened in here?” Binary asked from the kitchen.

Chip zipped his body to the kitchen, his body appeared atop the pile of dehydrated food boxes that had fell on top of Pinkie before.

“Ah, those, there was a pink pony here” Chip explained.

“Wait wait wait... how did she get in? Asked Binary.

“I can honestly say, I have absolutely no idea”

“Well did she take anything?” Binary asked as she began to put the boxes back into her pantry, although her attention seemed to be on something already inside the pantry.

“No, she was seeking information on something called a, “party” “ Chip replied.

“A party” Binary said “What a kind of party?”

“A welcome to ponyville party is what she described it as”

“That's nice, when did she say that was ha... wait, how's she going to do that?”

“That was more or less my opinion on the subject”

“I mean, she doesn’t even know what my favourite kind of cake or ice cream is”

“Umm... you like those things?” Chip asked.

“Well yeah of course I do” Binary replied... it was becoming more and more appearent that Binary's attention was fixed on something in the pantry.

“Oh...” Chip's holographic form glowed dimmer in response.

“You know I think after this I'll go see Twilight and tell her the good news” Binary's said, her words carried an overly eager tone.

“Binary...” Chip began to say “if you want to go to you see your friend now, I can clean up this mess”

Binary dropped the box she currently had in her hoof and ran towards the door, only managing to say before leaving “Okay, thanks, bye” Binary shut the door behind her.

The loud sound of the door slamming only seemed to emphasize the quiet that quickly set in.

Chip groaned before beginning to levitate the boxes back into the pantry. Chip's mind then went to work analyzing Binary's hasty exit and he quickly came to the conclusion that Binary preferred the company was beginning to lose interest in him. This logic was quickly thrown out the window when Chip caught a glimpse of a small orange pony hiding amongst the boxes in the pantry. The orange pony's red eyes flashed and a beam extended from it's eyes to Chip's body.

Chip looked at himself and checked his systems however the orange pony's action seemed to had been pointless “Oh... maybe you're why she left” 

The orange ponies smile cracked open wider and it's eyes widened in anticipation.

“What are you waiting for” Chip said to himself “Error! Error!” he suddenly yelled. Chip's vision was quickly obscured by many error message signs “Virus detected!” 

The orange pony then disappeared from Chips sight. The error messages vanished, but the orange pony's work had been already done.

Chip stared into the seemingly empty space in front of him “I-I know you're there. Why can't I see you?”

In actuality the pony was sill right in front of Chip, silently pitying him. The orange pony then disappeared into the homes circuitry and laid in wait for Binary to return.

Chip stood completely still, he could not allow himself to focus on anything else until he had eradicated the virus that coursed through him no matter how long it took.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Several hours later....

Binary stood in the darkness outside her home. She had spent an hour and a half at Twilight's home, explaining about her arrangement with Applejack, and was pleased to find out the two were already friends. Unfortunately, Binary quickly ran out of things to talk about and left before she got on Twilight' nerves.  She spent the next two hours killing time by walking around the town, fortunately allowing her to gain a better understanding of where everything was. Another half hour was wasted away inside Sugarcube corner; but the bakery closed as the moon was raised into the sky. She then wandered the now mostly deserted streets. The town grew darker as more and more of the lights inside the buildings were extinguished. 

However, one shop remained brightly lit. 

“Chugger's all night tavern” the name was sprawled on a neon sign. The sign hung from a long metal pole attached to a brown building. From the outside the place didn't look like much, not to say it looked decrepit either. Binary walked closer to the building and looked inside. 

She could see several pony's moving around on what appeared to be a dance floor, while a few other pony's sat on stools in front of a long wooden table.

Binary didn't recognize the establishment as a bar. To Binary it seemed like some sort strange gimmicky restaurant. 

Without thinking about it, Binary entered the building. Music blared from speakers near the dance floor. The music was loud enough for the ponies on the dance floor to feel the beat while still being controlled enough for the ponies at the bar to not have to yell (too loud) to speak to each other.

Binary had no desire to dance and the bar was mostly crowded, with only a hoof-full of stools vacant. 

“Hey!” A plum coloured pony called to Binary.

Binary looked toward the pony and asked “Are you heying at me?”

“Yeah,” The pony replied “come over here” she said as she patted the seat of a stool beside her.

Binary did as the pony asked and sat beside her.

“Soooo... what's your name?” the plum pony asked before taking a gulp from the frosty mug she held in her hoof.

“Uh... Binary Steel”

The pony suddenly lurched toward Binary, now being an uncomfortably close distance to Binary's face “That's a weird (hiccup) name” she said “Mines, Berry Punch” 

Binary eyes went wide in response and she attempted to lean away from Berry; however the action was in vain as Berry fell forward onto her and was just barely caught in Binary's front legs. Binary looked at the pony in her grasp and quickly discovered that she was momentarily asleep, albeit with a smile on her face.

“Oh don't mind her kid” A plae yellow unicorn stallion with a dark drown mane and gold eyes said from the other side of the bar “She just gets a bit, whee-hoo, after her sixth or seventh drink” 

“Oh” Binary said in response. However, she had no idea what, whee-hoo, meant.

“Say, I don't think I've seen you around here before”

“No, I just came here to get away from... some stuff at home”

“Aye, a stallion?”

“Nope”

“Kids?”

“Pfft, no”

“Money problems?”

“Uh-uh”

“Some sort-a domestic dispute”

“Umm... you could say that”

“Aye, I think I got an idea of what you're going through, and I sympathize with ya” The stallion levitated a fresh mug out of a freezer below the bar, then moved it underneath one of the taps.

At the sound of the fizzing beverage, Berry suddenly awoke and straightened herself back onto her stool, much to Binary's relief.

Foam from the beverage nearly overflowed from the top of the mug as the bartender finished filling it. Without even looking at his target, he levitated a coaster right in front of Binary.

“Ooh, Chugger, Chugger, do the trick” Berry pleaded.

“Okay Berry, but only because you're drinking buddy left ya”

The Stallion, Chugger closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before tossing the mug backwards, toward Binary.

Binary reacted to the sudden action by throwing her front legs up to shield herself and shutting her eyes.

A moment passed and the expected splash of liquid against Binary's face didn't come. Binary opened one eye and looked up to see the liquid swirling like a mid-air whirlpool. She then put her front legs down, and watched as the liquid began to break off of whirlpool and pour back into the mug.

“That little trick earned me this little beauty” Chugger said as he showed off his cutie mark, which depicted two mugs clinking together symbolizing his talent at bar tending. 

“That's cool” Binary said to the bar keep. Binary moved her face closer to the mug and took a sniff. She crinkled her nose a bit after taking a whiff of the drink. “What is this stuff?” she asked.

“It's hard cider; I got some lighter stuff if ya...”

“No no no... well, what does it taste like?”

“Like Cider, but stronger”

“Cider, eh?” Binary thought back, she remembered one time when she was a filly, her mother had brought home a case of orange bottles filled with a similar, but lighter looking liquid in them and had sat them on the living room table while she went to clear a space for them in the fridge. Binary assumed the bottles to contain soda pop and had taken the opportunity to test her home made bottle cap opener, it worked near perfectly, aside from the cap flying off the bottle and embedding itself into the ceiling. Without smelling the contents, Binary took a swig from the bottle; she remembered the taste being a little harsh but overall it was tasty, although for some reason she could never remember what happened after that, but she did remember having to sit in the corner for taking something without anypony's permission.

“I'll give it a shot” Binary said before she grabbed the mug and lifted it to her lips “Wait” She said just before sipping the liquid “I gotta pay for this, right?”

Chugger rubbed his chin for a moment, then replied “Eh, firsts on the house... but it's two bits for each one after that”

Binary smiled and looked into her free drink. 

Berry Punch watched as if something interesting was about to happen.

Binary took a small sip and sloshed the drink around in her mouth. Her face went from pleased to disgusted and back again until she finally swallowed it.

“Well that wasn't so bad” Binary said before taking a few more larger gulps. She quickly finished the drink. She licked her lips and just like everything else it was... was suddenly making her feel woozy. 

A strange sensation came over Binary as she struggled between vomiting, or ordering another drink. 

“You okay there, Grey?” Berry asked followed an intoxicated chuckle.

“I feel sort of funny”

“But you're not sick, right?” Berry asked.

“I don't think so” Binary replied.

“Good then you can be my drinking buddy for the night” Berry knocked on the bar with one hoof and reached down into her saddle bag with the other “Chuggy, another round for me, and Grey” Berry said as she dropped four bits onto the bar.

Chugger levitated the bits into a bag under the bar, then went to work pouring them their customers drinks.

“Why do I feel like this?” Binary asked as she rubbed her hoof on the side of her head.

“That's just what the drink does, it takes your worries away for a little while” Berry paused for a moment before suddenly sinking down into her stool with a disappointed look on her face “But my usual drink buddy says that it's bad for you... or at least she says it's bad for your teeth, but she's a nut about teeth anyway”

“Hey” Binary said sympathetically “If we didn't have nuts there'd be no coconuts”

Berry hesitated for a moment before replying to the strange statement “Wha?”

The question would however be put on hold as the two's drink's were placed in front of them.

“Bet I can chug that faster than you” Berry said, now suddenly out of her previously low mood.

“You're on” Binary replied. 

The two grabbed their mugs and chugged them, Berry emptied her glass much faster than Binary.

“Ahh, that's that’s the stuff” said Berry.

“No fair that was only my second one ever, err, I'll (hiccup) get ya next time”

“Okay, but you gotta pay”

“Right... pay” Binary said before reaching into one of her pockets, but failed to find any bits. Binary checked another pocket, and another, with no success.

Berry impatiently tapped on the bar and glared at Binary.

Binary eventually checked all her pockets but found no money. 

Berry's eyes narrowed as the unicorn came up with nothing. “You either owe me a drink or two bits, I don't care which”

Chugger then stuck his head over the bar between the two “Easy, Berry, I don't want any more bar brawls. I had enough of that when those diamond dogs set up camp at the edge of town”

“Come on, Buddy” Berry said before roughly poking Binary in the chest.

Binary was suddenly reminded why she was there in the first place, she was terrified, although what originally caused her fear was in the back of her mind as she meekly stared into Berry's eyes. She continued to pointlessly bumble around in her many pockets until she found what felt like two bits. Binary smiled and pulled the objects out of her pockets and dropped them on the bar without looking at them.

“What the heck are those?” Berry asked.

“They're bi...” Binary's expression sunk as she saw what she had just put out. Two wireless automatic shavers; or if they were to be named based on physical appearance: two little pieces of metal of very little value.

“You're kidding me? Is this some sorta (hiccup) joke” Berry asked. 

“No they're my invetions”

“Inventions?” Chugger asked. 

“Yeah, you put one one each side of your face and they shave the extra hair off”

“I don't see any stubble on you're chin, Grey” Berry said in an increasingly hostile tone.

“I didn't make it for me” said Binary.

“Can I try it?” Chugger asked as he felt the stubble on his face. 

“Sure” Binary quietly replied, her attention was still focused on Berry who slowly leaned closer to Binary.

Chugger levitated the two devices and placed them on his face as directed. They then emitted a small buzzing sound as they moved about on his face. Chugger then levitated a small piece of glass that he kept for “emergencies”, and looked at himself. The stallion smiled as his stubble was quickly cleared away. “How about that, not even a cut to be seen” He said in a pleasantly surprised tone. Once the devices were done and his face was clean and shaven, he asked “Are these things for sale?”

Binary looked away from Berry for a moment to glance at Chugger, then instantly went back to watching Berry “Uh-huh”

“How much?” Chugger asked.

Binary's face lit up “Umm...four bits”

“How about I just give you and your, “buddy” another drink, eh?” 

“Whatever keep her from busting my face in” Binary said frantically.

Berry suddenly repelled her advance and a hurt look came to her face as she stared down at the bar.

Chugger placed his mirror and his new shavers down into their respective spots under the bar, then went to work pouring two more drinks.

Binary looked off to the side, attempting not to make eye contact with Berry.

“Sorry” Berry said abruptly “Sometimes... sometimes I'm a bit of a loser”

Binary didn't immediately respond, her fear of other ponies had taken control again, it was a wonder that she hadn't sprinted out already.

“I think I'm gonna, I'm gonna go. Thanks for being my buddy for a little while” Berry said before standing up from her stool. She then looked around for her saddlebag as though it had moved from it's spot beside her; although it wouldn't have been the first time it had gone missing. She found it right where it was the whole time and with more effort than it should have taken, she placed the bag onto her back. 

“I-I g-g" she stammered "... I've gotta go sleep this off”

Binary watched out of the corner of her eye, as Berry slowly stumbled toward the door. She then looked back down at the bar before hearing the door slam shut. 

“Two ciders up” Chugger said as he placed the two mugs on the bar. The stallion quickly looked around to see where his customer had gone “Hey, Grey, where'd Berry go?”

“I...I think I hurt her feelings” she replied.

“What? Pfft, ha!”

“What's so funny?”

“Yee sound like a little filly. The world ain't all about feelings and emotions, Grey, sometimes ponies just need a good night sleep. You come here tomorrow and you'll see, she'll be right back here and she won't even remember what happened. That's the beauty of the drink, ya can be as big of a jerk as ya want because nobody's gonna remember ya” 

“She won't remember me” 

“Hey kid, cheer up. Think about it, ya made a sale”

“Yeah... my fist sale” she said to herself. Needless to say this was not how Binary had envisioned her first sale... but it was a start. Her fear was gone, now replaced with a sense of pity for Berry. Binary looked at the two drinks in front of her “Makes worries go away huh” she said to herself. 

Binary grabbed one of the mugs and slammed it back, chugging the whole thing down unbelievably fast... a little too fast actually. Some of the cider when down the wrong pipe in her throat and it stung. She hacked and coughed for a few moments before regaining her composure. She then grabbed the second drink, her fourth total. This time she took her time with the drink, savouring every drop until the mug remained dry, leaving only a bit of foam at the bottom of the glass.

A strange sensation suddenly took over Binary, she was beginning to see why her mother always had some of the cider around...until she slipped into a completely different state all together. 

Their was a reason Binary couldn't remember what happened after she had tasted her mother's cider as a filly... the girl couldn't hold a drink to save her life.

To put it lightly (or bluntly)... Binary was completely hammered. Her vision blurred as the side effect’s of the drinks took hold. Everything became a distorted mess as she fell off her stool and made her way toward the shape of the door.

In the background, Chugger said in a heavily distorted voice “Come again”

Binary made her way out of the building and by a complete stroke of luck, she started walking in the direction of her home. 

Small spits of rain dropped from the sky, making the rode muddy again.

The streets were even darker than before and the distortion from the drinks only made the darkness seem more terrifying. Binary had completely forgotten about the orange pony, she was now as focused as she could possibly be on finding her way back home and sleeping off the effects of the cider.

“I don't care if she's “special” A voice from Binary's past rang in her head.

“Mom?” Binary asked the nothingness.

“Don't you dare say that like she's some sort of freak” The voice of Binary's father rang echoed through her subconscious.

“She's a unicorn that can't do the simplest bit of magic, how is she not a freak!” her mother yelled.

“How dare you!”

“How dare me! How dare you! Have you even seen some of the things she draws!? She's not just a freak, she's a little nut job too!”

“That's it! That's the last time you insult our little girl! Get the bu... Just get out of here!”

“Gladly, I hope I never see you or “our” little freak again!” she hissed.

Not far away, Binary could see her house. She stumbled toward it, slowly but surely getting closer. After a few minutes, she reached her home and sat on the porch. 

She remembered a conversation she had with her father on the porch. 

Binary remembered asking as a filly “Daddy, whens Mom coming back?”

“I don't know”

“Where'd she go?”

“I don't know” He said, his word's sounding a little harsh.

“Does she still love us?”

“Ye... no... no, she doesn’t love us anymore” The father broke from his own sorrow as he heard Binary sniffing the way somepony sniffs before they're about to start crying. “Now don't you start crying, okay, I'd have a fit if I ever made you cry”

“But...”

“Shh... now I don't want you growing up thinking that you're routes are from some broken home. These moments don't define us, or make us any lesser than anypony else. They're just a page in our story, and pages always turn”

Binary stared out at the dark town “I don't like this page” she said to herself “it sucks”

She then drunkenly walked toward the door. She opened the it and stepped inside, paying no mind to the fact that an unwelcome entity was laying in wait. She then stepped toward the stairs and slowly began to ascend to the second floor. Once at the top, she briskly walked toward her room and entered, quickly shutting the door behind her. She took a moment to look around her room before checking the usual places a filly might think a monster would hide. She checked her closet, she peaked under her bed she even looked in all of her dresser drawers; but she found nothing. She let out a sigh of relief before taking off her vest and other accessories, then dropping them in a pile on the floor. She crawled into bed, her eyes fought to stay awake but her mind and body yearned for rest. 

She looked toward the door as her eyes slowly began to shut. She struggled to remember what she was so scared of. Just before she shut her eyes, the door suddenly began to open. Seemingly by itself, it creaked open slightly.

Binary stared at the door as seconds flew by, the seconds turned into minutes, and eventually half an hour had flown by before Binary finally gave into her bodies demand for sleep. She slowly shut her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

An orange glow came from the door, illuminating the room ever so slightly. The orange pony peaked it's head inside and watched as Binary slept. A distorted version of Binary's lullaby began to play.