Commission: MLP: Marionettes
Chapter 3: Piecing Things Together
By Kendell2
Commission by Alexwarlorn
An orange unicorn with a dark orange mane and tail, a golden eight-spoked wheel as her Cutie Mark sat in a dark room, holding a small wheel that appeared nearly identical to her Cutie Mark in her orange telekinesis. All but one of the spokes seemed composed of a different colored crystal, one lavender, one orange, one deep purple, one pink, one blue, one red, and one green. The final, middle one was composed of a blue crystal of some sort.
She produced a deck of tarot cards and spread them out on the floor. The wheel cast a rainbow-colored beam from its center, picking out three cards which she moved up to be on their own and began to flip over. The first card flipped was of Discord hovering on a throne with two ponies chained to it marked 15, The Devil.
The next card to be flipped was of a dark tower, marked 16, The Tower.
The final card was of a black skeletal horse holding a scythe marked 13, Death.
+++
The Mane Six stood in the throne room not far from Trixie (mainly because they all felt they needed to keep their eyes on her for one reason or another), all shell-shocked by what her wound had been revealed...and so was she.
The azure unicorn simply sat there, staring down at her hooves with a forlorn expression. It disturbed the ponies to see Trixie of all ponies so broken looking.
“...Okay...so...what do we do now?” Applejack finally asked, looking over at Trixie with confusion. “This ain't somethin' we've had tah deal with before...And given we're us, Ah reckon that's sayin' a lot.”
“...Look...I don't know what the buck is going on...but Lightning Dust was gunning for her and the Tree sent me to save her,” Rainbow Dash explained, giving a serious look. “Yeah, she's a robot or a cyborg...but last I checked the Cutie Map never sends us somewhere that doesn't need our help. And for all we know she might even be the Trixie we know turned into a cyborg or something. She at least thinks we're her friends.”
“But...we don't know...” Rarity started, looking for the right words. “The real Trixie might be kidnapped somewhere...We can't be sure...”
“...I think she needs a hug...” Pinkie Pie said in her innocent, straight forwards manner, looking over the depressed android from the distance.
“This doesn't make any sense. How could Trixie be a robot? How can a robot be that life-like when even the most advanced golems only have a rudimentary intelligence at best...” Twilight rattled off, looking a little twitchy...until Spike splashed her with a bucket of water. “...Thanks.”
“You're welcome!” the little dragon replied, leaning on the bucket. “Look, this sounds pretty freaky to me. I've read enough comic books to know that when robots start replacing ponies it normally means an alien invasion or something.”
“But Trixie's our friend!” Rainbow Dash replied, ever loyal. “And even if she's not Trixie...she sure thinks she is...Besides, I've read comics too, and I know the bad guys don't send a crazy killer android after another android that's still on their side!”
The Princess gave a sigh. “I know, but we don't even know if that IS Trixie or even what she was built for-”
“...Should it matter?”
The group collectively turned to the normally timid, shy pegasus of the circle, who looked mildly upset. For Fluttershy that was rather striking.
“Look at her...she's so sad...and she was so scared when she first saw that wound...” Fluttershy explained with a calm, but chastising tone they all knew so well from her. She looked over to Trixie, the mare remaining in her unresponsive state. “...Even if she's a robot and might not be the Trixie we know...she has feelings. She needs our help. Isn't that more important than what she is?”
The group looked to one another, deep in thought and with a mix of guilt and conflict on most of them, Rainbow Dash's face being one of disapproval...then they collectively noticed somepony was missing.
“What are you doing?!”
The group turned and noticed Pinkie had managed to seemingly teleport while they weren't looking at her and was now hugging Trixie.
“Hugging you!”
Trixie looked absolutely perplexed. “Why?”
“Because you looked upset!” the party pony said with blunt positivity.
The azure unicorn gave an angry glare.. “Of course I'm upset! I'm...I'm...”
Pinkie Pie made no attempt to separate her hug from the android, and just gave her a sympathetic look.
Trixie finally looked back to her exposed mechanical casing when it became clear Pinkie had no intention of leaving her be. “I'm...I'm just a robot! A machine!...How would you feel to find that out?!”
The mane six watched in surprise. Trixie not using third person or big, over the top dramatics was shocking in and of itself...but then they saw a few tears roll down her face. While Twilight thought a life-like robot being able to cry synthetic tears was logical...seeing Trixie cry?
“....I...I just want to wake up in my cart...and...and have my life back...I just want my life back...” the android whimpered, hugging herself, more synthetic tears flowing. “But...But I'm just a fake!” she sobbed. “I...I don't have a life to go back to...”
The pink party pony kept hugging her tight however. “You're not fake to me!”
“Well I should be!...It's how I feel...”
Fluttershy gingerly trotted over and sat down next to the android. “...You're upset...”
“YES! I just said that!” Trixie exclaimed, snapping around to look at her.
“Are you sad?”
“I...I...” Trixie looked prideful for a moment...then slowly nodded.
“Animals get upset and sad...ponies get upset and sad...but I've never seen something not alive get upset,” Fluttershy said in a kind even tone, getting a blink from the android. “...You have feelings. And...that means you must have a soul, because something without one couldn't have feelings. And having a soul is what makes something alive.”
The azure unicorn android looked dumbfounded. “I-I could just be programmed to act like I do...”
“...That's just not possible, Trixie,” Trixie turned, finding Twilight trotting over to them. “...Why would a robot intended to act like a pony be programmed to have a breakdown when she found it out? It doesn't make any sense. Fluttershy's right, a robot programmed to act a certain way wouldn't act like you are...In fact hold on a second...” The mare looked back to Spike and whispered something. The little dragon nodded, jumped down and walked off towards the library.
Applejack trotted over with a sigh, causing Trixie to blink and look her way. “Look, Trixie...Ah don't know much about technology. Shucks, Big Mac knows more bout math than Ah do. But Ah know the difference between a machine and somethin' livin'...Ah've sure seen Winona get upset but never our plow.”
“Trix,” Rainbow Dash said, trotting over and looking to her. “I'm not good at the sappy stuff, it's not my thing...at all...”
“Nope,” Applejack said simply.
“But I know the Cutie Map doesn't send us on false alarms!” Rainbow replied, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “It wouldn't have sent us to help you if you were just some robot. And it definitely wouldn't be sending us ALL to help you...and you at least think you're Trixie and we're your friends...I don't like giving up on ponies who trust me. Just ain't my thing.”
“...That's...noble...”
“Element of Loyalty, what would you expect?”
Rarity sighed. “I still don't know what's going on, darling...but I've never been partial to let a pony in need of help go without it...” she looked to Rainbow and gave a small, unsure smile. “It just isn't my thing.”
The android gave a yelp as the six ponies all hugged her. Her eyes darted around “...I...You six...You six...you're crazy!” Despite her statement, Trixie returned the hug and began sobbing. “You're crazy!...But you're my...friends...even if I'm...I'm not sure if...”
Letting the robotic pony cry it out (Twilight noting her tears were synthetic from a close up examination, but decided telling that now wasn't a good idea), the group didn't move from the hug until Spike returning interrupted.
“Got your book, Twilight,” the little drake remarked, handing a large book to Twilight.
“Book?” Trixie questioned as the hug broke up.
“'How to Tell If Your Creation Is Sapient for Dummies,' it's a book Princess Celestia told me I should really look into after a...hasty decision I made,” Twilight explained, looking guilty in Pinkie's direction for a moment. “And it actually ties into what you just said...” the lavender Alicorn explained, looking through the book. “Okay, here's the question! Answer truthfully, okay?”
The android blinked, but nodded.
“...Why are we your friends?”
Trixie put a hoof to her chin. “...Because...because you forgave me for the Alicorn Amulet...because you trust me after that...or at least I remember you do...And that means the world to me...”
“That's a good answer, but think more feelings than events, okay?”
The android looked deep in thought. “...I feel...good around you...warm...safe...It's why I chose to come here and look to you for help...Ugh, I'm not used to being all sappy!”
Twilight gave a simple, warm smile. “Congratulations, you pass.”
Trixie cocked her head in confusion. “Pardon?”
The Alicorn turned the book to show a step, pointing to it with her hoof. “'One of the biggest proofs of sapience is the ability to answer questions with no clear-cut answer. A preprogrammed golem or other such being without genuine free will cannot rationalize anything it is not explicitly programmed with. Asking a question that requires an emotional response rather than a logical one is a very good way to uncover the truth.'”
“That and who would program a TRIXIE robot to be 'sappy' at all?” Rainbow Dash asked with a chuckle and rubbed Trixie's back. “I think we're the only ponies who know that she has that side to her.”
Trixie stood there for a moment, face unreadable...until she gave a small smile. “...Thank you...I...I guess maybe in some sense...I am real...but I'm still not sure if I'm Trixie...” she said looking down at her hooves.
“I actually have an idea how to check if you're her or not...” Twilight replied. “Do you trust me?”
The android blinked. “Um...yes...so long as you're not going to cut me open...I've had nightmares...” Trixie shuddered. “Which given recent events, likely weren't just nightmares...”
The Alicorn replied, giving a reassuring smile. She then cast a spell, a beam scanning over Trixie. “Hmm...a normal scanning spell picks up nothing different from a normal pony. Then again I wouldn't expect them to make it too easy to uncover...”
Twilight cast another spell, causing her eyes to glow. She then cast a more intense spell on Trixie.
“I am uncertain about this!” Trixie replied, now glowing in Twilight's magic.
“Don't worry, this is just a deep scanning spell combined with an x-ray vision spell,” Twilight replied, finishing what she was doing. She then projected a blue grid into the air via her magic, the same spell she'd used to explain Flutterbat's existence. She then focused and an image of Trixie appeared. “Alright...now...”
The image of Trixie flickered and revealed a mechanical silver pony with blue optics, her limbs having a similar structure to a pony's leg bones, as was the skull, but her body having metal plates covering most everything but the joints (which were covered with a black material) that seemed to pull double duty for keeping her skin in its proper place and protection of hardware. While the skeleton clearly was intended to appear equine, it was more bulky than the normal pony's could be. The optics behind her normal eyes were the same as Lightning Dust's.
“Whoa nelly!” Applejack explained, the group all staring in shock at the image. “That's a big jump from anythin' Ah know.”
“That's what I really look like?!” Trixie questioned, blinking and looking back at her hip where her endoskeleton was exposed. She looked back to the projection with a look of awe...and terror. Uncertainity.
“Hmm...interesting...”
“What?” Rarity questioned. “Remember, darling, the rest of us aren't as tech savvy as you are.”
Twilight trotted up and looked at the skeleton, seeing two small holes in her back. “She has two holes were a pegasus' wings would connect to their skeleton...” she explained, tapping her chin. She then looked at the legs. “And the legs seem to have extra hydraulics and, for lack of a better word, 'muscles' that appear to be locked in place. I imagine the basic endoskeleton is modular. One endoskeleton that can be easily made into any of the three tribes. Quite fascinating...”
“Twilight! Not the point!” Rainbow reminded.
“Oh! Right!” the alicorn replied, giving a sheepish look. She then looked back to the skeleton and stripped away another layer of the scan to show mechanical insides, including wires, tubes, and a more equine inner skeleton. The head was full of wires, chips, circuit boards, and other such things, interwoven into a complex web of technology and machinery that seemed to be her brain. Her horn had a pink crystal at its base linked into a stick seemingly made of blue crystal with a phoenix feather at its very core. At the very center of her chest was a complex looking orb-like device that seemed wired to everything. “...I don't see any organics...so you're not a cyborg...but...”
Twilight trotted over and Trixie jumped as she touched her horn to the exposed metal on her hip and did a another scan, adding it to the projection. The wires all began to glow with a blue energy, except for the ones tied into her horn that seemed to glow the same pink as Trixie's magic color. The blue object in her chest, however, glowed incredibly brightly with blue energy. The one exception were several components in her head, which simply seemed dead and black...minus a very dull red glow. Twilight gave a gasp.
“What?!” Trixie asked, looking concerned.
“You...I don't understand...” Twilight muttered, looking closely. “Your...It looks like your horn is made from a magic wand, but the magic signature is completely identical to the Trixie we've known all this time...”
“So...what does that mean?” Trixie questioned, with a slight air of hope in her tone.
“I...I don't know!” the lavender Alicorn admitted. “...The strange thing is it looks like you run on a mana engine, but it seems to be giving a consistent output...even modern mana engines need recharging by unicorns...”
“So in other words: we're just more confused now?” Rainbow questioned.
“More or less...though one thing I can say...” Twilight replied, trotting over to the image. “Whoever built her, and likely the robotic Lightning Dust you fought, is clearly brilliant, and well-funded. Trixie's body is primarily composed of a mithril alloy!”
“Mithril?” Fluttershy questioned.
“Mithril is a magic metal, very rare and very expensive. It's extremely strong, but also very light weight. That does make it a perfect fit for a robot intended to emulate a pony but still be durable enough to survive activity and combat...but to be able to afford THIS much...” Twilight explained, looking lack she was racking her brain. “I've only seen a few guards with armor and weapons made of it, and normally those are elites who EARNED it.”
“That does explain how Mecha Lightning Dust didn't get her head taken off by that train tunnel,” Rainbow Dash admitted, remembering that nasty impact.
“...I'm not opposed to being composed of an extremely rare and expensive metal...” Trixie admitted, looking at the image and getting a prideful look that was much more reassuring on the showmare's face than the forlorn one she'd had before. “It feels very fitting.”
Twilight trotted around the projection, specifically the tubes that lead throughout the android's body. “There are tubes for oil throughout, but these tubes are for something else...for some reason they all seem to group up near the stomach in a circular fashion...”
Trixie blinked. “Why would I have a stomach?” she questioned.
“I imagine to emulate equines...but all the lines meet at your stomach, so that system likely has something to do with it...Fuel isn't needed, considering your mana engine and oil could only work if you drank it...I'm not really sure what that could be...”
“I do not drink oil...that I know of,” the azure android replied, then blinked, putting a hoof to her chin. “Unless I sleep walk to do it...”
“It's odd...but not the strangest part...” Twilight explained, pointing a hoof to the image of Trixie's 'brain,' specifically the dead portions. “These areas are inactive and looks burned, but mana is still heading along wires TO them...it's like your system is trying to activate them but can't...I wonder...”
+++
Lightning Dust landed at the door to Rainbow Dash's cloud castle and mechanically checked the door. It was locked.
Without missing a beat, she flew up and found a window, entering the structure and beginning her search.
Tank's head emerged from his shell, looking up in confusion. The android ignored the little tortoise without even an acknowledgment. Her eye fell on the Wonderbolts posters...and for a brief moment a ripple of anger appeared on her face before vanishing, like something trying to force its way to the surface.
Coming to the kitchen, she ran herself a few cold glasses of water and drank them while looking around to continue her search.
After searching for the open areas, Lightning Dust began methodically looking through the closets with no emotion, not noticing Tank following her. Finally, opening the last closet, she found no ponies, but a pair of black sunglasses. The android untied her head, exposing her mechanical eye and the damaged area around it. The tortoise gave a gasp and retreated into his shell at the sight.
Picking up and putting the glasses on to better cover her battle damage (pony sunglasses being rather large), she turned and looked out the window. Finally, her eyes fell on the Crystal Castle.
+++
Trixie eeped at Twilight touched a horn directly to Trixie's head, right where the bits of her 'brain' that weren't functioning sat. “I'm beginning to feel like a test subject...”
“Sorry, just your technology is so advanced I needed to use multiple different spells in order to get a clear picture of what's going on in there,” Twilight replied, looking genuinely apologetic.
Trixie blushed. “Well at least I have that to brag about...and being composed of mithril.” The android then blinked. “...At the risk of being scanned again, how can I blush?”
The Alicorn looked at the projection she'd made. “Looks like there's a light projector of some kind in your jaw. I assume that's what's doing it.”
Twilight then put her horn back to Trixie's head in a different spot and gasped after her scan was completed. “This magic signature...”
The Princess of Friendship turned and added the new data to the projection, causing the fried components to glow red. The grid flashed and the Alicorn Amulet appeared, glowing the exact same red color.
“The Alicorn Amulet?” Rarity questioned, the six ponies, one dragon, and one android staring in shock.
Twilight nodded. “I did some scans of it after we got it off Trixie. Those components are saturated in magic residue from it...Which means...”
Trixie's eyes widened. “I was the one who used the Amulet?”
“Well that answers that,” Rainbow Dash said...then blinked. “Wait, so Trixie was a robot that time?!”
“And possibly all the times after her,” Twilight replied. “So...we've been running into you this whole time?”
The group looked to one another in confusion. The Trixie they'd been interacting with a robot all this time and didn't even know it? It made them shudder to think about...except one.
Fluttershy gave Trixie a friendly nuzzle. “That means the Trixie that became our friend really was you.”
The android blinked in confusion and shock. Then slowly smiled and returned the nuzzle. “I...I guess...but that still raises the question of what happened to the real Trixie if I'm not her...I...”
“True...but I think I get what must have happened to you,” Twilight replied, looking deep in thought.
The group all blinked and stared at her in confusion.
“Think about it...the Amulet corrupts the mind of the wearer. Removes all inhibitions and makes its user into a megalomaniac...it must have damaged these components and rendered them unresponsive messing with Trixie's head...” the lavender Alicorn explained, trotting over and looking at the image. “The question is what are they?”
The azure android looked at them...then remembered. “They tried to show me some strange number code on a paper. They were surprised I didn't seem to understand it...maybe they were trying to trigger one of those parts of me?”
“Maybe...” Twilight put a pondering hoof to her chin. “...Maybe they're-”
Before the conversation could continue, a loud crash of breaking glass rang out. “That can't be good,” Spike muttered.
The door to the throne room was kicked open, Lightning Dust slowly trotting in. No more emotion appeared on her face at all, she merely looked around the room and saw Trixie. Without a word, she took flight directly at her, causing Trixie to backpeddle in surprise...
And Lightning Dash ended up being sent flying backwards by Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee.
“Hooves off her!” Applejack spat back, coming down from her apple buck.
“Careful! She might be like Trixie!” Fluttershy warned, concern clear in her tone.
Lightning Dust simply sat up and flew upwards, dive bombing the group repeatedly and dodging Twilight's attempts to cast a spell on her.
“Is there anything we can do to help her?” Fluttershy asked, taking cover behind the table of Friendship.
Twilight looked back to her scan of Trixie. “...I might have an idea! Hold her off! Trixie with me!”
Trixie blinked and followed Twilight to nearby door.
Lightning Dust attempted to fly after her prey, only to have Pinkie Pie be (somehow) revealed when the door slammed shut, party cannon at ready.
“Say hello to my partying friend!” the pink party pony exclaimed with a strange impression before firing, a burst of party supplies slamming into Lightning Dust dead center and sending her flying back into the opposing wall. Rarity quickly tried to control the curtains in her telekinesis to wrap the pegasus android up, but the turquoise pegasus merely spun around, ripping them out of the walls like a tornado before tearing them to shreds with a pegasus wing blade spell.
Applejack tried to dash in and attack, but had to dodge several wing blades. “Dang it! Since when can she do that?!”
Rainbow Dash flew in front of her and blocked Lightning Dust's next strike with the same type of spell. “Wonderbolt and Guard technique,” she explained, giving a glare and not taking her eyes off the android. “Which you have to swear to never use against an innocent pony when they taught us that at Wonderbolts Academy!” The cyan pegasus then blinked, having to dodge a punch from Lightning. “Wait a second, how CAN you use that? You got kicked out before we...ugh...why does my head hurt?”
Rainbow Dash held her head...then had to be pulled out of the way of another wing blade slash from Lightning Dust by Fluttershy (moving faster than any would expect the pegasus to move). “Thanks Shy!”
“You're welcome...” Fluttershy said with a kind smile.
Rainbow Dash returned to the fray and began basically sword fighting Lightning Dust with their wings. That was until they locked blade spells and Applejack dashed up, giving a buck to the pegasus' face hard enough to launch her into the ceiling.
Lightning Dust fell back down and landed hard on the ground, black shards of her sunglasses falling to the ground. She lifted her head, and everypony but Rainbow Dash took a step back in shock when her glowing blue optic stared through the hole in her shades.
“...That's just buckin' creepy,” Applejack remarked, before having to hit the deck to avoid another wing blade spell and Lightning Dust narrowly avoided several crystals and other objects being rapid fired by Rarity's telekinesis. The pegasus android flew up to dodge a blast of Pinkie's party cannon...and right into Fluttershy's Stare.
“Stop!” the yellow pegasus ordered. “If you're like Trixie I know you don't want to do this!”
The result was Fluttershy swearing she saw Lightning Dust's face become one of pleading suffering before her body seemed to FORCE itself to move forwards and take a very forced swing at her with a wing blade to force her to duck before bucking her back. It looked less like Lightning Dust had resisted the Stare and more like her body was moving against her will while her mind was trying to obey it.
+++
“Spoiled...are you certain we should do this?” Filthy Rich questioned, looking at the letter from a private boarding school inviting Diamond to come, signed by a Headmaster Masquerade. The boarding school looked fantastic, with qualified teachers, and great housing...but the father still looked uncertain.
“Of course, I mean it's such a great opportunity for our little Princess! It will be so good for her and Silver Spoon is going to the same place,” the older mare replied, putting a hoof on her husband's shoulder. “And it will go so fast you won't even miss her, trust me...”
Suddenly, a maid entered into the room, looking to her bosses. “Mrs. Rich. There are two ponies here for you.”
Spoiled gave her husband a kiss and headed to the door. “I'll be right back, dear.”
Opening the next door to the living room, the elder walked out to see Cover Story and Gear Shift standing before her. “Hello, you called for me?”
“We need to speak with you, Mrs. Rich,” said Cover Story, then showed her a piece of paper.
“...Leave us. This is a private matter,” the older mare said simply.
The maid politely bowed and trotted off, closing the door behind her.
Spoiled Rich looked at the paper, which had a 1-7-5-14-20 pattern written in golden text for a moment. She finally took what looked like a small spray bottle and sprayed it on the paper, causing it to fade and turn into 'AGENT.'
“Hello, agents.”
“Hello, Mrs. Rich,” replied Cover Story with a respectful nod.
“So, are you here to take IT away?” the elder mare asked with an air of disgust and upset.
“Finally we can get rid of that thing and get a real child...” she muttered.
“We're not here to pick up G4T03, Mrs. Rich,” Gear Shift replied, face becoming more emotional, but only slightly.
The elder pony snarled. “And why not? I've got the cover story already and was planting it in Filthy's head. She's not needed here anymore.”
“That's not our job, Mrs. Rich,” Cover Story continued.
Spoiled Rich gave a growl of fury. “Then why are you here? I thought I was finally going to be able to get back to enjoying my retirement!”
“We understand you are upset, Mrs. Rich,” Gear Shift replied, giving a respectful bow. “G4T01 has gone rogue and we're trying to locate and recapture her. We also have G4T08 searching for her in Override Mode, but lost her signal somewhere in Ponyville.”
“It's little surprise. We've been having trouble with our spy equipment in Ponyville since Princess Twilight's new castle grew...” Cover Story replied, getting a nod from his partner. “Its magic seems to interfere with our transmissions.”
Spoiled scoffed in annoyance. “I'm retired. I have no idea what any of the Generation Four Marionettes look like except the ones you've saddled me with.”
“My apologies, Mrs. Rich...” Cover Story replied, the black suited stallion producing a picture of Trixie and another of Lightning Dust.
The older mare looked closely at the pictures and pointed to Lightning Dust's. “I saw that one heading towards Princess Twilight's castle earlier.”
The two looked to each other in panic for only a moment. “Thank you, Mrs. Rich. We'll remind the others you're waiting for G4T03 to be picked up.”
“Thank you. See? That wasn't so hard.”
As the two left, Spoiled Rich headed back to continue her talk with Filthy...only to find Diamond Tiara poking her head out of her room. “Diamond Tiara? How much did you hear?”
“Nothing...”
Spoiled nodded, assured the little robot couldn't actually lie to her when directly questioned.
“Mother, who were those ponies I saw? The ones in the black suits?” the small foal asked.
Spoiled Rich blinked, noting something on her 'daughter's' face that made her pause. Less so than when the little filly had chewed her out in front of the entire schoolyard, but still disturbing. The foal seemed frightened. Almost like she was a young foal looking for comfort after seeing the boogieman. “...Old co-workers of mine...” Why did Spoiled get a cold chill down her back?
+++
“This isn't good...” Gear Shift stated as they left the Rich household. He took out a bottle of salt water and sipped it. “We'll need to call in a memory squad for clean up...”
“Only if the Mane Six have discovered what the target really is,” Cover Story replied, downing an entire bottle of cold salt water without looking buzzed. “But we need to get in and get out as quickly as possible. We haven't been able to get much intel of the inside of Twilight's castle and it keeps frying our surveillance equipment whenever we try to plant it.”
“Regardless, we need to hurry before she can tell them too much or G4T08 causes too much trouble.”
“Gear Shift?”
The duo turned, seeing a yellow Earth Pony mare with a blue and pink mane trotting over to them. “Sweetie Drops?” asked Gear Shift.
“Bon Bon, call me Bon Bon,” the Earth Pony replied, then gave a smile. “Long time no see.”
Gear Shift gave a sincere smile. “Same here. Hope you've been doing well.”
“Can't complain. I like Ponyville, is a lot better than fighting monsters on a daily basis...” Bon Bon remarked. “I'm a candy maker now.”
“Glad you've got a new job,” the black suited pegasus replied. Cover Story cleared his throat. “Sorry, we need to go, maybe catch up later?”
“Sounds good...”
As the duo turned to walk away, Bon Bon blinked. “Wait, Gear Shift. I thought the agency was shut down, why are you still wearing your suit?”
“Oh? This? I just got another job that requires black suits and sunglasses, Bon Bon.”
“Right...” Bon Bon blinked as the two headed off. Her look then became more suspicious. That was until she groaned, holding her head. “Why does my head hurt?...”
+++
“What's the plan, Twilight?” Spike asked, sitting on Twilight's back as the two were now in the castle library looking through books.
Twilight looked through several of her vast collection of books before finally pulling one on medical spells out. “Found it! Trixie, come here!”
Trixie trotted over to the mare. “Yes?”
“You remember how it felt to wear the Alicorn Amulet, right?”
Trixie gave a shudder. “Of course I do.”
“Good! Focus on that!”
The mare whimpered and backed up a little. “Do I have to?”
Twilight gave a sincerely sympathetic smile. “I know it's probably hard for you, but it might be the only way to save Lightning Dust.”
“...Fine...” the android replied, taking a deep breath and thinking back. Remembering the sense of power...the sense of strength...the sense of freedom, like all inhibitions were gone. Like nothing should stand between her and her desires. Like her inhibitions and restraint just burned away. The lack of empathy to anypony else...then the crushing guilt when it was taken away. The return of those inhibitions and morals. What she'd genuinely believed was the single most humbling experience of her entire life (and was until she realized she was an android). As she focused, Twilight began charging a spell...
+++
Fluttershy, ever the pacifist, kept an eye on her friends to pull them out of harms way if needed or merely distracting their enemy as Lightning Dust got back up from another party cannon impact. The android grabbed Applejack's leg as the farmer threw a punch at her before pressing her skin against the exposed, hot metal on her face. Applejack cringed in pain until Rainbow Dash gave the turquoise pegasus a flying kick off.
“You okay, Applejack?” Rainbow asked as the Earth Pony held her leg like it'd been burned.
“Yeah, but that metal on her head's hotter than a tin roof in the middle of summer!” Applejack replied, blowing on her burn.
“Yeah, I remember, it was hot before...”
Rarity managed to catch Lightning Dust off guard with a barrage of crystals, knocking her back, allowing Rainbow to do a flying punch and knock her on her flank.
Thankfully, before the battle could continue, a certain lavender Alicorn burst through the door to the library. “I've got it! Hold her!”
Trixie dashed out of the door way while manifesting several scarves and launched them, wrapping around the pegasus' limbs, Rarity using the remaining curtains to bind her limbs further while Rainbow Dash flew up used her wing blades to block Lightning Dust's own from slicing them. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie held onto Lightning Dust's legs with all their strength.
“I'm sorry, Lightning Dust, this isn't going to be fun but it's the only thing we can do,” Twilight apologized in advance. The alicorn flew up and cast the x-ray vision spell and touched her horn to an exact part of her head while casting a second spell. Purple mana flowed from Twilight's horn into the wire her horn was directly on top of, flooding it with energy. For a moment Lightning Dust expression went back and forth between a complete lack of emotion and sheer panic.
Finally, Lightning Dust seemed to freeze up. Rainbow Dash, who was nearest to her head, heard a loud spark and crackle like radio dying. Twilight stopped the spell and Lightning Dust's emotionless expression dissolved into one of pure shock and horror.
Twilight panted, falling to her knees and sweating. “Are you okay, Twilight?!” Fluttershy asked, rushing to her side along with Rarity. Spike simply moved to her side
“Y-Yeah...” the Alicorn replied, looking drain. “Just a bit winded is all...”
The group collectively let go of Lightning Dust as she began to struggle in blind panic. The android looked down at her reflection in the cold crystal floor and tore off the sunglasses to fully reveal her robotic optic. She slowly brought a trembling hoof to the mechanical eye like it was an utterly alien piece of her. “What...what did those freaks do to me?!”
The group got the distinct feeling that if Lightning Dust was actually breathing, she'd be hyperventilating as she walked backwards in abject horror from her own reflection. “Why am I a bucking robot?!”
“Lightning Dust!”
Lightning Dust spun around and Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders. The pegasus found the sight of utter terror on the previously confident and cocky pony disturbing on principle...but also noticed a strange expression of...guilt when the mare saw who it was that had grabbed her.
“Lightning Dust, I know you don't like me and you're probably scared half to death but try to calm down and tell us what happened so we can help you!”
The pegasus android shuddered, seemingly too busy being horrified to be angry at Rainbow Dash. “I...they came up to me on the train I was on and showed me a paper with a bunch of numbers on it...” Lightning Dust explained, eyes wide as dinner plates. “Then...I just couldn't move and they called me G4T08. Told me to go after...G4T01 I think and retrieve her...and somehow I just knew that was her!” she explained, pointing a shaking hoof to Trixie.
“...G4T01...” Trixie muttered.
“...If she's 08 and Trixie's 01...Does that mean there's a 02 to 07?” Twilight questioned, putting a hoof to her chin.
“And...and my body wouldn't move...I couldn't do anything but go after her and fight Rainbow Dash when she showed up...I...” Lightning Dust fell to her flank, hooves to her head. The others looked horrified, realizing what that meant: Lightning Dust had been aware of everything the entire time.
“It's just like my nightmare...” Trixie muttered, unconsciously putting a hoof to her chest at the memory of being utterly helpless as those black suited stallions sliced her chest open.
“I...I thought I died...” she said in an utterly broken tone. She looked like a little bit of pride was the only thing keeping her from curling up into a fetal position. “I...I did get hit in the head by that train tunnel right, Dash?”
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. “Yeah...”
“Then I woke up and...” the pegasus android put a hoof to her mechanical eye. “I still couldn't move by myself and I had this blasted thing! All I could do was come after you girls until...How...how did you...” she asked, looking to Twilight.
“It's a mana transference spell,” Twilight explained. “More specifically one used to recharge somepony suffering from severe mana drain. I realized what must have happened to Trixie: the Amulet's corruption must have burned out some kind of failsafe trying to counter it and reinforce itself...So I asked her to remember it and checked WHERE the power to those failsafes was located by finding where the power cut off when they tried to kick in, then used the spell to transfer mana into the wires feeding into yours. Since you run on a mana engine, it was enough to overload them and fry them.”
“Uh...Twilight, can yah put that in layponies terms?” Applejack asked.
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “I used a medical spell to overload her failsafes with mana after figuring out where those were with Trixie's help.”
Lightning Dust's good eye blinked and she looked to Trixie. The unicorn android turned and showed the exposed mithril on her hip with a still uncertain expression. “I'm a robot too...”
“So...so how did we even get like this?” Lightning Dust questioned, the pegasus touching her eye again.
“...We don't know...” Twilight replied with a sad sigh. “That's what we're trying to find out...”
“Great...” the pegasus looked down. “So I'm a robot somehow...great!” She kicked a wall. “First the Wonderbolts kick me out and now I'm a bucking robot!”
Trixie trotted over and put a sympathetic hoof on her shoulder, about to say something.
“Uh, girls?” Spike asked. “The ponies we're fighting are both wearing black suits and sunglasses, and look really really creepy, right?”
“Yes,” Trixie replied.
“They're coming to the door.”
To Be Continued