It was a beautiful day outside. Sweetie Bot knew this because her heat sensors registered at 21.1° C, her hearing sensors heard birds chirping, and her vision sensors detected no clouds in the sky. Over in the next room, other sensors indicated that Rarity's heart rate, breathing rate, and core temperature were elevated, which, despite what it sounded like, were indications that she was going to be in a good mood this morning. All in all, it was going to be a good day.
She performed her daily self-inspection and found no exterior damage worth noting, but her sensors did indicate that it was time for an oil change. Pleased with the results of her diagnostics, she happily trotted downstairs.
Rarity's breathing and heart rate soon returned to within normal parameters and before long, she too came downstairs, bringing with her her typical morning scent. She smiled at seeing her robotic younger sister. “Good morning, Sweetie Bot.”
“Mornin', Rarity!” Sweetie chirped. “Can you change my oil today?”
“Of course, Sweetie,” Rarity said pleasantly. “You know I'm always happy to help.”
Sweetie grinned as she lifted the oil can. Rarity winced as she lifted it in her magic.
As per usual, Sweetie had trouble staying still for too long (she was always afraid of her joints freezing up without the oil to lubricate them), and Rarity ended up with about two thirds of the oil in her slot and one third all over her hooves. With a pained smile, Rarity left to go scrub her hooves and bleach the floor.
Her morning routine completed, Sweetie shook her body as she prepared to travel. Wheels flipped out from hidden slots on her legs and extended on their miniature hydraulic lifts to raise her off her hooves. She retracted her decorative tail and extended the rear of the jet engine from her tail hole, and opened her mouth to facilitate her air intake.
With a loud whoosh, fire erupted from her hindquarters, and she started to roll forwards and travel through the kitchen and out the door on her way to work.
If only she’d remembered to actually open the door before leaving through it.
* * *
Sweetie Bot rolled into work precisely on time, just as she always did. She retracted her wheels and extended her tail, and quickly headed up the stairs to sign in. She nodded her hello to the secretary, who winced as she walked by, and headed back to her office.
Well, calling it an 'office' might have been a bit of an exaggeration. As a member of custodial services, she got what was probably more accurately termed a 'broom closet'. But it was hers, and she liked it.
She lifted the poster showing off processors and slid inside. Her inbox was full, of course, so she began checking out the paperwork for what she had to do today. Politicians seemed to complain about the littlest things, and so she was never quite sure what to expect—or just how accurate their service requests were, like the time she was called to a 'massive coffee spill' that had probably been fourteen fluid ounces at most. But in the organic's defense, he had been very, very tired, and it had probably been a big deal to him.
Today’s docket included a few minor electrical problems, a few burnt out lightbulbs, a couple requests for more toilet paper, and one side table that needed refinishing. She grinned. This wouldn't be a bad day at all. She reached blindly up for the electric tape, accidentally knocking over a pair of shears. They fell off, cartwheeling to the ground. They landed pointy-side down, bounced off the tile, and landed point-first into an electrical socket. She giggled at the improbability that had just occurred, and reached up to take them out…
And completed the circuit. Energy flowed through the shears, through her body, and into the ground. Sweetie Bot’s circuits nearly overloaded, but thankfully was stopped from any permanent damage when the fuse blew.
Unfortunately, this particular outlet just so happened to not have a fuse connected to it. Instead, the only fuse it was connected to happened to be the main fuse. Which just so happened to be connected to many other important things.
“Sweetie Bot!!” the cry came almost instantaneously.
Sweetie Bot emulated a sigh. She had spoken too soon.
* * *
One of the advantages Sweetie Bot had over living beings was her ability to turn off certain sensors. This meant Sweetie Bot was sometimes assigned dangerous duties that normal ponies were unable or unwilling to perform.
“Sweetie Bot! Somepony clogged the toilet again!”
“I'm on it!” Sweetie said cheerfully. She deactivated her scent function and happily trotted over to the secondary closet where they kept the cleaning supplies. Extending her legs, she lifted her body high enough that she could see the supplies on the top shelf. She looked over the gathered supplies and grinned. They had been restocked recently. She lifted one box that she didn't recognize. It read 'toilet cleaner', written in a messy, definitely-organic script. She peeked inside and squinted. Her ocular circuits gave her conflicting information. “This looks similar to sodium; but the label clearly says it's toilet cleaner.”
She shrugged. Organic ponies were always coming up with new things. It must have been so nice, having a real brain filled with such new and interesting ideas instead of her positronic brain that could only react to stimuli. She trotted over to the bathroom and peeked inside.
Her eyes widened. This was a colossal mess. She almost considered deactivating her vision sensors, too; but then she remembered that she would need to see what she was doing. This was so dirty she calculated that she would need the entire bottle of toilet cleaner to start. It would be a good idea, she thought, to add the toilet cleaner directly to the water and move on from there. So she opened the bottle and dumped the entirety of the bottle into the standing, filthy water.
And then the world exploded.