//------------------------------// // Robot Helper // Story: Let's Rock! // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// Rock found himself at his first stop for the day, 'Sweet Apple Acres. At least I should be here according to the map I scanned thanks to Twilight.' he processed. The robot looked at the large red barn in front of him at the end of the dirt path and he could an orchard of apple trees that go on for miles. "Huh. It does live up to its name." Rock joked finding himself in front of the small door of the house next to the barn. He knocked on it, hoping to get an answer. Tapping his foot, the robot patiently awaited for somepony to answer. Eventually, his prayers were answered as an orange pony with blonde hair and a stetson on her head opened up the door. "Howdy there. Judgin' by your appearance, ya must be Rock. Twilight told me about you. Name's Applejack, by the way." the pony introduced quickly. "Hi, Applejack." Rock greeted, "Did Twilight really tell you about me already?" "Yep. She stopped by earlier today and told me ya wanted to meet me and our friends," the farmer revealed with a friendly smile. "Pleasure to meet ya, by the way." "Oh. Okay. Well, did she tell you that I'm a robot?" he questioned. "Well, she did tell me that you were an assistant from where you're from," Applejack told him, "Are ya willing to help around here for today? My sister's at school and Big Mac is already at work. We could use an extra hoof out there." "Sure." nodded Rock, "What do you do here anyway? Farm apples?" he questioned. "Yep! Mah family has been farmin' apples for generations. Now, how about ah take you to the orchard so you can learn the basics?" she offered. Rock nodded, allowing the earth pony to lead him to where he was needed. Along the way to the spot, the two ran into a larger red stallion dragging along a wagon full of apples on his back, "Hey, Big Mac?" Applejack called the stallion over to ask a question, "Do ya need any help over there?" Big Mac shook his head, "Nope." he continued to walk along the path back to the farm. "Hi, Big Mac! Nice to meet you," Rock introduced. "Are you Applejack's brother?" "Eeyup." Big Mac responded to the robot before getting back to work once more. "Not a pony of many words are you?" asked the robot boy. "Eenope!" Big Mac answered in a proud tone, never stopping what he was doing. "Hey, Applejack. You mentioned you had a sister too?" The mare nodded, "Yeah. Applebloom's at school, which is why ah was hopin' you could pick up her slack." she answered. The two stopped once Applejack found where she wanted Rock to start. The robot looked at the tree full of apples. "Ah already brought the buckets needed to be filled." the farmpony said to him. She reared her backhooves before driving them into the bark of the tree, making it shake violently and have some apples fall onto the bucket perfectly. "I think I can do this." Rock used his sensors to find the perfect spot to hit the tree. He turned into Mega Man to give him an upgraded advantage in hitting the tree. The Blue Bomber moved his hand back and punched the tree, this time it fell down and all of the apples somehow managed to land right on top of the ones Applejack got. The robot rubbed his head sheepishly at the sight, "Uh... Sorry? I wasn't expecting myself to hit it so hard." Applejack sighed, "That's fine... Just don't overdo it again..." she warned him. "Or I'll have you empty every darn tree in this orchard." she threatened in a joking tone. Mega Man raised his hands in defense for his overdone actions, "Okay, okay! I hear you!" with that, he removed his upgraded armor and became Rock again, deciding to take things slow for this chore. 'After all, I have to get on their good sides.' Applejack huffed, "Alright. Just make sure it doesn't happen again." she ordered. Rock saluted in response to what she said and went right back to work. Hours passed and Rock dusted off his hands, he had made his way back to the barn where he was introduced to the elder of the Apple family, Granny Smith. And after a nice plate of apple pie baked by her as a thanks for helping, Rock was on his way to wherever the next of Twilight's friends lived. "I've already been getting along fine with Fluttershy, Spike, Twilight and Applejack. Maybe I should see Rarity.' he thought, looking over the map he downloaded into his data. 'She should be on the other side of town inside of her boutique.' Along the way, Rock managed to see the confused looks of ponies that had never met him, each of them whispering something, "It's okay, guys. I'm not going to hurt any of you!" he eased their troubling thoughts, 'I can't. I'm a robot. I'm bound to protect all organic life unless they're harming another.' Eventually, Rock made his way to the Carasoul Boutique. "Nice place. I can see where it got its name from. Now let's see if she's even home to begin with." he knocked on the door to the boutique. Rock got a closer look at the home. 'Wow. She really went all out on detail for this place. Then again, she has to make an impression for business. Kind of like Light Labs. A door opened, "Welcome, come on in!" a female voice welcomed in a friendly tone. Rock decided to follow the voice into the house. He noticed that it was a lot bigger on the inside, clothes hung all over the place and knitting tools, needles and yarn were all over the place, "Oh, please excuse the mess, dearie." the white unicorn said. "It's fine," the robot assured remembering how messy Dr. Light's lab can get after he experiments or upgrades his capabilities, "I assume you're Rarity? My name is Rock." "Where are my manners?" she chided herself, "Yes, darling, I am Rarity. Twilight told me you would be coming sometime today or tomorrow, Rock. This... organized chaos you see here was a result from me trying to finish my recent order for a party in Canterlot." "Oh, so you make clothes? That's pretty cool." Rock complimented, looking around at her inventory, impressed by the large amount of clothes and styles she made. "Why thank you, Rock." Rarity leaned forward to get a closer look at what he was wearing, "I must say that is a simple, yet suitable shirt for you. Blue matches you for some reason." she observed. Rock smirked at that comment, her not knowing what he was thinking about. "Yeah you're right... Blue does suit me..." he agreed. "Anyhoo..." the unicorn trailed off, "What do you wish to talk about or do here, Rock?" "Well, where I'm from, I'm a lab assistant. I met Fluttershy and Twilight earlier today and wanted to get to know each of you. Since I need your help." "Oh, how thoughtful of you, Rock!" Rarity cheered, lifting up some designs with her horn and lying them onto a table, "I've never made clothes for a bidpedal creature such as yourself!" Rock gulped, 'What have I gotten myself into? And for that matter, is that magic she's using? Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, alicorns. Everyone here is a pony of sorts. And they have special traits given by what species they are.' Rarity lifted the first shirt on Rock, which she belived didn't fit him. The process of Rock trying on different clothes and being her manequin lasted for what felt like an eternity to the robot, with him remaining still for most of it while Rarity got his measurements and the necessary equipment to start making him a new shirt. The unicorn removed the last shirt, feeling satisfied with a yawn, "Oh, dear... You must be tired, Rock..." she said. "I'll let you go for now. Thank you for your help..." she sighed, walking away to her bedroom to get her beauty sleep. 'Luckily for me, I'm a robot so I don't have to sleep. But I should probably head back to the castle anyway. I'll meet Pinkie and Rainbow Dash in the morning, then I can go find Proto-Man with them and find a way back home before Wily gets here.' Unknown to Rock, a figure with glowing red eyes was watching him through the window. "Oh, Wily will be seeing you soon enough, Mega Man." he gloated, wrapping his scarf over his face and finding a spot to hide away from Rock.