Robots do not hold on to life. They can't. They have nothing to hold on with - no soul, no instinct. Grass has more will to live than they do.
Karel Capek
A spark of electricity woke her up. She had gotten used to it; she could hardly imagine waking up without it. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. The programs managing the complicated machinery that was keeping her alive were starting to work; the messages were flashing before her eyes, but she only skimmed through them. It was dark around her, but she didn’t light her horn or switch into infra-red vision. She still wanted to sleep; in fact, she wanted to sleep almost all the time, but her systems had a different opinion about that.
Suddenly, something under her casing buzzed loudly. Sweetie Belle got up on her hooves and looked at the door. A new message appeared, red letters flashing in her mind. When she read it, a gasp escaped her lips.
Attention: hostile objects detected. Proceed in accordance with the Laws of Robotics.
Hostile objects? she thought. What does it mean?
Instead of a reply, she saw a map of the bunker. Several red spots were shown next to its southern entrance. There were also much more green spots scattered all over the map, including two in the room she was in. She switched to infra-red vision and saw Apple Bloom and Dinky sleeping calmly in their beds.
“Wake up!” Sweetie Belle shouted, lighting up her horn – she remembered that none of her friends could see in the darkness.
Apple Bloom opened her eyes and looked around groggily. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Those electric thingies don’t let ya sleep again?”
“It says that there are hostile objects here…” Sweetie replied. “I don’t know what does it mean, but I think we should find Firefly…”
“Hostile what?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “We’d better stay here… What if they find us before we find Firefly? Ah can’t leave Dinky...”
They heard an explosion in the distance. Dinky woke up and looked at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “Fireworks?” she asked.
Apple Bloom went to her and sat on the bed next to her. “We afraid not… But don’t worry, Ah guess somepony will explain that soon…”
“I’d better lock the door…” Sweetie’s artificial eye turned blue for a moment and the lock turned with an audible click. She also doused her horn; now the only source of light was her eye.
“Do ya know where are they?” Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie Belle skimmed over the map. Since she’d last looked at it, more red spots appeared there; the green ones were slowly moving to the centre of the bunker. Some of them were surrounded by the red ones. Suddenly, Sweetie Belle saw one of the green spots moving quickly towards them.
They heard shots on the corridor – a rapid series of bursts, which Apple Bloom recognised immediately.
“It’s Wrench…” she whispered. They heard quick hoofsteps, then somepony tried to open the door to their room.
“Apple Bloom!” They heard Wrench’s voice. It was even higher than usual. “Open it for fuck’s sake!”
Sweetie Belle unlocked the door. Wrench darted inside and fell on the floor, panting heavily. Then she lifted her gun, changed the magazine and pulled the bolt backwards.
“What’s goin’ on?” Apple Bloom asked when Wrench went to the door and looked into the corridor carefully.
“Put yer hooves on dat kid’s ears, ‘cause I’m not gonna beat ‘round da bush…” Wrench panted. “Some fuckin’ guards came ‘ere and are killin’ da guys… They use magic an’ some fuckin’ gas...”
Apple Bloom gasped. She grabbed Dinky and put her on her back. “We need to get out of here…” she said. “Where should we go?”
“Not now…” Sweetie Belle replied, looking at the map. “There are two guards approaching us from the south…”
“From where?” Wrench asked, sticking her head out of the room and looking at the both sides of the corridor.
“From the right!”
“Thanks,” Wrench replied and fired a short burst in that direction. They heard somepony’s scream. Sweetie Belle felt an electric shock running through her body. A robot may not injure a pony or, through inaction, allow a pony to come to harm.
Wrench went back to them. “Dat’ll stop ‘em for a moment… How about da left side?”
“Clean… For now,” Sweetie replied.
“Let’s go,” Wrench ordered. “I’ll cover ya… Dat room is a trap…”
They run out of the room and began galloping down the corridor. Behind them, Wrench began to fire at anypony who tried to poke from behind the corner.
“Weeee!” Dinky shouted, when Apple Bloom hid behind the large rock. The corridor was narrowing there; it used to be a part of some old mine – there were even some remains of the rail on the floor.
Wrench joined them after a minute. She removed the magazine from her gun and spat on the ground.
“I’m outta ammo… But I sent two of ‘em to Tartarus, I think...” she muttered. “How’s our way, Sweetie?”
“We can go left, there’s an old exit there… But we must be quick. There’s more of them.”
“Shit… Apple Bloom, I can carry Dinky if ya want…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll manage…” Apple Bloom replied, gritting her teeth. “I carried Sweetie away from the fire…”
“Are ya sure? Ya know, I don’t look like, but I’m strong too…”
“Four guards are walking toward us!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Let’s go!”
They ran forward. The corridor was going deeper and deeper. That exit was actually somewhere outside Canterlot, which meant that they wouldn’t have any buildings to hide in once they got out. However, it didn’t bother Sweetie much at the moment; she was more concerned with getting out of the caves.
They left the corridor and entered the large cave the Fireflies were using as a storage. Apple Bloom collapsed on the ground, panting. Dinky rolled off her back, laughing. Wrench began to search through the crates.
“Back to da drum magazine, I think…” she muttered, getting the magazine from the crate and attaching it to her gun.
“Apple Bloom, are you okay?” Sweetie asked.
“Yes…” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah can carry Dinky…”
“Honestly, you don’t look like you can…” Sweetie Belle shook her head.
“Okay, Ah can’t!” Apple Bloom shouted. She got up on her hooves shakily and wiped sweat from her forehead. “But Ah will if Ah need to… Ah won’t leave her!”
“Nopony asks you to leave her! Wrench or I can carry her…”
“But… Ah told Derpy that Ah’ll take care of her…”
“We can help ya too,” Wrench said, standing next to her. “Take my gun, I’ll take da kid…”
Apple Bloom said nothing. She took the gun – it felt heavy and uncomfortable to carry. She watched Wrench putting Dinky on her back. Even though she was skinny, she had no trouble lifting her.
“Hey, there’s somepony there…” Dinky chirped, pointing at the stack of crates. Apple Bloom lifted the gun immediately; her hooves were shaking, but she tried to look like she knew what she was doing.
“Get out of there!” she shouted.
“She’s not hostile,” Sweetie Belle said, looking at the map.
“Don’t worry, it’s only me,” said the pink pegasus, emerging from behind the crates. When Apple Bloom saw her, she immediately lowered the gun. She didn’t trust that thing in the slightest.
“Firefly!” Wrench exclaimed. “What are ya doin’ here?”
“What I can do best, I’m afraid…” Firefly replied. “Running away…”
“Well, we all do…” Wrench said. “Ya know, boss, pegasus’ manure hit da windmill, time to pack da saddlebags and start from da scratch…”
“Yes, but… It was I who brought those ponies here… And now I’m running away while they suffer… Just like I did in Cloudsdale…”
“Oh, c’mon, boss…” Wrench rolled her eyes.
“Excuse me, but I think that arguing over that while we’re still being chased wouldn’t be wise,” said Sweetie in her best robotic voice. While she could make her speech at least partially normal, she often chose to use a bit more artificial way of speaking. For some reason it was making ponies listen to what she was saying.
“She’s right,” Wrench said. “‘Sides, boss, I’m not da best pony to discuss such stuff… Let’s go.”
They trotted down the cave. Firefly moved some crates that were obscuring the passage to an old crystal mine. They entered it and looked around unsurely.
“It seems that we’re safe…” Apple Bloom said. Her voice echoed through the corridor, roughly dug in the hard rock. “Ah don’t think they know about that part…”
“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Firefly replied. “After Princess Cadance’s wedding the guards searched those caves quite well… In fact, that’s what gave me an idea to build a hideout here – a friend of mine is a guard and he told me about them…” She sat on the ground and rubbed her temples. “And now it’s a trap for all those ponies…” she whispered.
“Don’t be sad, Firefly,” Dinky said, looking at her from Wrench’s back. “Everything will be okay…”
Firefly stared back at her, but said nothing. Sweetie Belle helped her get up and they trotted up the stony path. Sweetie had to move carefully – while her artificial hind legs were good for almost every kind of terrain, she was sliding hopelessly on the rocks. Eventually she turned the map off, focusing completely on keeping the balance. Soon they reached a more even part of the caves. Some crystals were still on the walls, its faint light helping them find the way.
“D’ya think da guards really killed ‘em?” Wrench broke the silence. “B-because dat’d mean dat… dat Scrap Yard was first in line…”
“Ah don’t know… Princess Celestia wouldn’t like that…” Apple Bloom said. She snuffled, thinking of Scootaloo; shortly after they’d found each other, she disappeared again.
“I no longer know what Celestia approves of…” Firefly said with a sigh. “And Luna is no better…” She rubbed her temples again. “For the last few years I was preparing for the time when the princesses finally clash, hoping that I’d save as many ponies as I can… And when it came, I couldn’t safe any!” She banged her hoof against the ground.
“You still have us…” Dinky said. “And mommy is in Manehattan…”
“Yes, but you managed to save themselves… And you, Dinky… You’re more brave than I’ll ever be…”
“Thank you.” Dinky smiled. “But you’re brave too, Firefly. You–”
Suddenly, a magic bolt hit her. Her body immediately went limp and she rolled off Wrench’s back.
“Run!” Sweetie shouted. Her “hostile objects” alarm went off again. Wrench caught Dinky and tried to put her on her back again, when another beam of magic hit her in the chest. She collapsed next to Dinky, her eyes wide open.
“Run! Ah’ll stop ‘em!” Apple Bloom shouted, pointing the gun at the five guards running towards them. Firefly and Sweetie Belle reluctantly listened to her.
She sat on the ground, aiming the gun carefully. Her hooves were shaking, but the guards were only a couple of yards from her; it was impossible to miss.
Four of the guards run away when they saw her, trying to hide behind the rocks, but the fifth one was still galloping towards her. She could see every detail of his uniform, including the gas mask dangling from the straps. She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. The guard stopped only a yard before her, smirked and used his magic to levitate the gun out of her hooves.
“That’s how you do it,” he said, pulling the bolt backwards. “And now, say goodnight…” He released the gun from his grasp and aimed his horn at her. Before Apple Bloom could make any move, something hot hit her chest and her vision immediately faded.
***
“We must go back!” Firefly shouted. She was flying a few feet above the ground, carefully avoiding the stalactites.
“They’ll only get us too!” Sweetie replied. Part of her mind also wanted to go back and check what happened to Apple Bloom, but another part – the one that became quite vocal since she’d become a cyborg – was telling her that getting out of the caves was more important. The laws of robotics were flashing before her eyes. Of course, the first one, about not allowing a pony to come to harm, was more important than the third, about protecting herself. But above them all stood the zeroth law – and whoever wanted to catch her, could and wanted to use her to harm ponykind.
“These spells… they weren’t lethal…” Firefly gasped. “They’re gonna throw them into the dungeon! We must go back!”
“They’ll imprison us too! We’re close to the surface… When we’re free, we’ll be able to help them...”
Firefly sighed. She had to admit that Sweetie was right – a blind charge at the guards could only bring more harm. Now she needed to be careful, hide somewhere and think about the plan to get her friends out of the dungeon.
Several spells hit the walls and stalagmites behind them. Sweetie began to run faster, trying to keep up with Firefly, but her hind legs were sliding. Suddenly, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel, only two hundred yards from them.
A spell hit her, leaving a burn mark on her casing. She collapsed heavily on the ground. Firefly didn’t notice that; she remembered how fast she used to fly when she was young and she was making a good use of her wings.
Sweetie’s vision started to darken, but she was still conscious. The guards appeared in front of her.
“What do we have here…” one of them said.
She could barely see him. Part of her vision that wasn’t covered in darkness was obscured by the zeroth law.
A robot may not harm ponykind, or, by inaction, allow ponykind to come to harm.
Again, she felt a spark of electricity. It jolted her body awake; she could see everything clearly again. She got up and before any of the guards could react, she bucked one of them in the chest.
Sweetie Belle screamed at the top of her lungs. A lightning shot out of her horn, knocking down another guard. A beam of magic hit her, but she didn’t feel that, too focused on trying to reach the guards.
She heard a shot. One of the guards was levitating Wrench’s submachine gun and aiming it at her. She ran towards him and spun, trying to kick him with her hind legs. Just when she heard the sound of his jaw snapping, she felt an electric shock in her hind legs. She collapsed on the ground.
Warning: hind legs damaged.
“No!” she shouted, trying to get back on her hooves. Hydraulic cylinders in one of her legs got shot before she reached the guards and now she couldn’t stand properly.
“Demolition spell! Quick!” One of the guards shouted.
The spell sent her flying against the wall. She looked around, confused. The messages were flashing before her eyes.
Warning: Cooling damaged.
Casing integrity: 64%
Overheating: shutting the secondary systems down.
She tried to get up, but she collapsed again. She remembered the sharp pain in her legs that continued even when they were gone. She remembered the fire. Then she thought about Dinky Hooves and that Firefly was right about her: she was much more brave than any other pony she knew, including herself.
She aimed her horn at the guards. The last lightning depleted her energy, but she still could shoot another one.
“Rarity!” she screamed, hitting the closest guard with her magic, before she collapsed again. Last messages appeared in her mind.
Overheating. Shutting the systems down.
Energy low. Entering the power save mode.
***
Firefly was crying openly. Again, she managed to escape, leaving everypony that trusted her behind. Even Sweetie Belle didn’t make it. She circled Canterlot and landed on a cloud just below the magic dome protecting the capital against Luna’s forces.
“That’s just not right…” she said to herself. “Kids are dying and being tortured while I’m still alive… I left them… All of them… even her… even my baby… Again...”
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the gun cocking, somewhere above her. She slowly turned back to see two armour-clad pegasi aiming their guns at her.
“It’s you, ‘Chaser… I’d never say you’d end up in the army...” she said. Although Cloudchaser was no longer that curious filly with braces she’d remembered from her foalhood, she recognised her immediately.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Cloudchaser replied. “Interesting how life screws us all...”
“What will you do now? Take me to the dungeon so Celestia can tear my guts out? Or maybe send me to the moon? No big deal… The guards on the ground already took those kids, I shouldn’t be a problem...”
“Kids…” Cloudchaser muttered. “It’s always the kids…” She pointed at her companion. “Even her. She’s seventeen, we keep her only because there’s so few of us… Tells much about Celestia, Sparkle and the rest of the company…”
“Does it change something? She’s able to shoot me as well as you… Come on, do that. I won’t stand being locked in your dungeons… Shoot me here or make that kid do it. It’s just one more wasted childhood…”
“No one will die today, Firefly,” said Cloudchaser calmly. Her wingpony was looking unsurely at her.
“So, you’re gonna imprison me? Kill me silently later, so Celestia wouldn’t have to deal with the martyr? Fine. But I still wonder what happened to you, ‘Chaser… I would never say you’d become Celestia’s–”
“I said no one will die today, Firefly…” Cloudchaser said with a sigh. “Do you have any hideout here?”
“Several… It doesn’t matter now, I can even tell you where they are…”
“Hide there and wait. From what I’ve heard, it won’t take much longer. I’ll take care of your kid…”
“What? You’re letting me go?”
“The fact that I work for Celestia doesn’t mean I agree with her… And certainly I don’t agree with Sparkle’s recent orders. Now, go away before I change my mind.”
Firefly took off and disappeared between the buildings below them. Cloudchaser lowered her gun and looked at her wingpony.
“Swirl…”
“Yes?”
“In case somepony asks: we encountered the second fastest pony in Equestria, who ran away to Manehattan. We had no chance, since the armours additionally slowed us down. Understood?”
“Understood.” Cinnamon Swirl nodded.
***
Reloading systems…
Evaluating damage…
Cooling damage: safe mode enabled.
Hind legs damaged.
Casing integrity: 55%
The messages were flashing before Sweetie’s eyes. The sensors in her left side were telling her that she was lying on something hard and cold. The right side was warmer; when she opened her eyes, she realised that a shaft of sunlight from a small window in the cell’s wall was falling on her solar panel, powering her systems.
She tried to get up. Her hind legs weren’t supporting her and she collapsed on the stony floor again. She gave out a small grunt of frustration and looked at her body. The casing was charred. There was a large hole in it, just below the left solar panel; she could see some wires and pipes through it, as well as her own hairless skin. She tried to get up again, with much the same results as before.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked nopony in particular.
Hind legs damaged.
“Well, thank you!” She groaned. She wished Apple Bloom was there with her. She started to wonder what she’d do if she was in her place.
“Definitely, she wouldn’t give up…” Sweetie muttered to herself. After a few attempts, she managed to sit down and looked around her cell. It had a small window and a massive, iron door. It was clean and dry, except of something that looked like a pile of wet fabric stacked in one of the corners.
She crawled to the door and banged her foreleg against it. She waited for a few minutes, but nopony replied. Then she tried one more time.
Suddenly, she froze. Slowly, she looked to her right, at the pile of wet fabric. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she could swear that she heard a groan coming from it.
“Who’s there?” she asked. Her ears perked in attention.
Another moan. Something moved under the mouldy blankets.
“S-sweetie…” It was a raspy whisper, but she recognised the voice immediately. Deep underneath all the mechanisms, she felt her stomach twitch. As quick as she could, she crawled to the pile, grabbed the blanket with her teeth and pulled it.
“Rarity!” she screamed, seeing who was hidden underneath the blankets. She shuddered; the life-supporting system started to work faster, the damaged cooling started to give out warning sounds.
“Sweetie… Belle…” Rarity whispered. She tried to reach her hoof to touch her, but she couldn’t. “I’m… sorry… She… made me… tell...”
“Oh Rarity, you don’t have to be sorry!” Sweetie hugged her sister tightly. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. “It’s not important now…”
“I… tried…” Rarity took a few laboured breaths before continuing. “She… too strong… Not her… self…”
“Who?” Sweetie asked. “Who’s not herself? Princess Celestia?” She struggled to find the right words to describe what she was feeling seeing Rarity in such a state. “She did... that to you?”
“Celestia?” Rarity coughed. Several drops of blood stained her already dirty coat. “No… She’s… she’s… Twilight…”
“Twilight?” Sweetie asked. Her voice was quivering. She felt the mechanisms going into overdrive, but she didn’t care about that. “Does she know that you are here?”
“She… did… that. Find… Luna… she… can… stop…” Rarity coughed again. Dirty bandages around her forehead were soaked with fresh blood. “No… time… S-sweetie… I… love… you… stay… with me...”
“I love you too, sis…” Sweetie replied. She embraced Rarity, whose body was shivering and twitching uncontrollably. “I won’t leave you…”
Rarity sighed. Her body went limp in Sweetie’s hooves. Despite her mechanisms overheating, Sweetie felt cold. She went quiet, desperately listening for the faintest breath, the weakest trace of the heartbeat. It took a while before she looked into Rarity’s remaining eye, and realised that her sister was gone.
A warning message flashed before her eyes, but she ignored it. Few green sparks shot from her horn when she lifted her head. All she wanted to do was to scream.
She screamed at the top of her lungs. She felt something breaking inside of her chest; the edges of her vision filled with red letters, but soon they disappeared. Her eyes started to glow white. The delicate sensors and pieces of metal her artificial eye was consisting of ceased to exist in a split second; however, the sorry remains of the cells at the bottom of her eye socket suddenly got hit by a magical spark that caused them to divide rapidly.
A magic wave didn’t stop there; it went down from her horn, spreading on her whole body. Every device created by the chaos magic couldn’t stand a chance against it; one after one, they broke into single atoms that were thrown out of her system. Now her organism went into overdrive – scars and burn marks on her skin disappeared, and the skin soon was covered with a layer of thick, white fur. Her damaged lungs healed.
The healing wave of her magic reached the hind legs. Mangled remains of prosthetic implants got smashed into pieces. Old wounds opened, pierced by two shards of bone, quickly forming a pair of femurs. Sweetie gritted her teeth and levitated herself with magic. When the femurs were complete, other appendices popped out of them. Patellas, tibias, fibulas, cannon bones, pastern bones, tarsi, tali and coffin bones formed from them. Soon, they were covered with a layer of muscles. Sweetie screamed in pain, when the nerve endings in the stumps of her legs started to expand, connecting her new limbs with the brain. Soon they were followed by veins and arteries making its way through the flesh.
Finally, a layer of new skin grew on her hind legs. She fell on all fours, panting heavily. The magic, however, was still flowing through her veins, looking for a way to release.
Sweetie Belle looked at the solid, metal door and thick walls of her cell. She aimed her horn at them and fired a powerful magic beam, tearing a large hole in the wall effortlessly. The guards, alarmed by the noise, ran to her, but just one look into her glowing eyes was enough for them to run away.
Sweetie Belle smiled. She was basking in magic, drunk with it. She took a few steps forward and trotted down the corridor. Another wall fell under her spell.
Rarity… she thought before her mind drowned in the raw power of her magic.