The mission of Buzzbot

by Golden Paw

Of Loneliness and loyalty

When Buzzbot regained her senses she found herself hanging upside down from a tree branch. Her head was spinning and that wasn't even the worst of it. What the Great and Powerful Trixie lacked in skill she had made up for in strength and Buzz felt like she had been fired out of a cannon. Her vision was full of angry alarms all screaming the same message, “Guh, I’m a mess….”

Looking about herself Buzzbot discovered she was a fair way up a tree. Though she could survive a fall that far to the ground, it would probably lead to some broken servos. The darkness of the Ever Free forest pressed in around her and to Buzz’s surprise she didn't know what time it was, “Great, there goes the internal clock too.”

The forest was so thick here that even if it was daytime, the light wouldn't filter through the dense canopy. Tilting her head around Buzz saw that at least her disguise was still active. A battered and dirty-looking pony with tangled mane and scuffed hooves.

“Well Buzz you're not in Ponyville no more,” Buzz joked to herself, thinking of another film quote from "Unicorn of the Emerald City." The line was overused she had to admit but seemed appropriate in her current situation.

Buzzbot twisted and turned trying to get a hold of a branch close to her head. Her tail was taking all Buzz’s weight and she was sure it wasn’t built for that. Turned out she was right as, with a nasty snapping sound, the over strained connectors attached to the end of her tail gave way.

She missed the branch she was aiming for, dropped, bounced and rattled her way down the tree. Branches snapped and a cloud of leaves chased Buzz down until she finally hit the ground with a heavy thud.

"Bah, rotten hay sticks, I sho….." The distant sounds of howling cut Buzz off mid curse and she felt a gut wrenching fear twist her insides. With mounting panic Buzz tried call up a map, a compass, anything to give some idea of where she was. All that came in reply were overlays of static and white noise.

The howls continued and Buzz fought the urge to just crawl up into a ball, “So this is fear huh?” She shook her head and wasn’t reassured by the rattling sound that came from within. It was hard to focus and as Buzz reviewed her systems she deduced one of her lesnes was badly cracked.

“Okay, asses your situation Buzz: You’re stuck somewhere in the Ever Free forest, badly damaged and have no idea what time it is. Your compass is broken and your vision is impaired. Chances of mission success is…..” Buzz frowned, as the normally dependable numbers failed.

She stood there frozen as the certainty of her goal, her trust in Tinker’s plan and pretty much everything else trembled. Right now all she was….was alone. Suddenly the trees seemed far more imposing, the shadows far darker and above all the sounds of howling were much closer now.

“Must….” Buzz began and shook with the effort, but no matter how hard she tried the smothering fear and hopelessness blocked her every attempt to think clearly. How did ponies stand it? All these conflicting feelings?

Buzz didn’t know how long she’d sat there, shaking in the darkness and cold air before finally plucking up the courage to move. She looked around, but every direction appeared just the same. In the end She just picked a direction and headed forward. It had nothing to do with the fact the howling was probably in the opposite direction, nothing at all...

Time, normally so precise seemed to flow both quickly and yet slowly at the same time. Buzz would stare up at the Moon and it hardly seemed to move at all. But if she didn’t focus on it the next time Buzz glanced upwards it had suddenly jumped.

She willed her legs to move faster, but could only manage canter. Checking her internal power Buzz was shocked to find the levels were dangerously low. That scared Buzz more than the sounds of movement behind her. She should recharge by drawing on the background magic and if that was broken then…..

Buzz broke through the tree line and almost toppled over a sudden chasm which blocked her path. Regaining her balance, Buzz heard the first timberwolf emerge from the trees behind her.

Turning around slowly Buzz saw the savage collection of branches and thorns, all hunger and instinct. It paced back and forth in front of her as if savouring Buzz’s new found fear. Its bark-like body was the shade of dead wood and its green eyes never left her own.

Yet despite all this, Buzz got the impression the wolf was confused. It would dart forward but stop short of pouncing before backing away again. Buzz watched this strange behaviour with some flicker of hope, it doesn’t know what to make of me. Maybe I smell wrong or something? If I can just...

Two new timber wolves slunk out of the forest and Buzz felt her heart sink. Both smaller that the first, they seemed to give the first wolf enough confidence to press forward. Releasing a low growl the larger wolf finally made a snap at Buzz and in sheer desperation she flailed with a hoof.

To Buzz’s astonishment she knocked the attacker back a good foot, causing the wolf to leave claw marks in the soft dirt. They all froze and Buzz could almost see the wolves fighting with the confusing situation. I’m not a pony, I’m a machine. Servos not muscles, I can do this.

Buzz’s blow had broken the oppressive spell of fear and filled her with fresh resolve, “Come on then you mismatched collection of kindling!” Her mind cleared and she felt some confidence return.

If the wolves understood what she had said they didn't give it any heed. At the signal from the pack leader, the wolf off to the right launched its attack. Buzzbot was ready for it however. She didn’t even think but simply knew what to do. Turning about she bucked the wolf squarely in the face. Buzz wasn't the biggest pony but with machine pistons and servos she could hit well above her weight.

The wolf's wooden head shattered in an explosion of bark and twigs. The rest of its wooden body collapsed and a fair amount of it tumbled over the steep drop behind Buzz. "The trouble with timber wolves isn't that you can't break them, it's keeping them down. Being made of wood and dark magic they have been known to reform bigger and stronger than before. It’s hard fight a creature that can rebuild itself with a forest’s cast offs easily to hoof." The data was flowing now and Buzz was almost joyful at it. She had whole reams of information at her disposal.

It was the turn of the other flanking wolf now. It darted in from Buzz’s side and she quickly worked out there was no time to turn and bring her back legs around so Buzz didn't even try. I’m a machine. I can do things that a real pony can’t. Remember. Buzzbot sank far lower to the ground than a normal pony would be able to without dislocating their ankles.

The wolf, unused to such flexible prey, sailed over the stooping pony and with only a little encouragement from Buzz's back hooves she redirected its leap into the gully behind her. It fell away with a whimper of surprise and Buzz was amazed she had gotten this far in the fight, but it wasn't destined to all go her way. The pack leader had been holding back, waiting for the chance to strike and before Buzz could regain her hooves the final combatant was on her.

A normal pony would have been savaged by its first strike but instead the wolf’s claws carved a deep furrow in her flank plates. With a sizzling pop her much abused disguise finally failed and Buzz reverted to her true form. Not giving the wolf a second chance she heaved as hard as she could with her front hooves trying to flip the pack leader over her back.

The wolf clung on with its jaw. Failing to get a firm purchase on the metal, its teeth slid down Buzzbot's neck, stripping a number of sensor spines from her back. A fresh storm of ‘Error’ signals erupted to cloud Buzz’s vision as she tried to rear and buck the beast from her back.

Buzz noticed with a pang of fear that the first timberwolf was starting to come back together again, she was already fighting for her life and didn't need another wolf to deal with. Quashing the fear, Buzz reversed her back legs, Twisting her joints like a yoga master and brought them around to come crashing down on the pack leader's back.

With a snap the wolf fell to pieces like the others before it and buzz had some breathing space. She turned about again to face the first wolf that had reformed with even more wood and bark drawn from the nearby trees.

Things were looking pretty grim for Buzz, she could hold these monsters off for a time, but they would just keep coming back. She was running out of options and as her internal alarms were keen to remind her, power.

The now much larger timberwolf came at Buzz again and though she turned to buck it with all her might it didn't stop it. The wolf barrelled into her and they both were carried over the lip of the gully.

---

The roll down the steep incline hadn't been a pleasant one. There were roots and rocks sticking out at odd angles. Thankfully the timberwolf took most of the big hits, smashing off pieces of wood as it collided with the obstacles. Finally the rolling pair fell right onto the newly reformed timberwolf at the bottom of the gully. It had a brief moment to look up and shrug before it too was broken apart again by the combined weight of Buzzbot and its pack mate.

Buzz just lay among the debris and played dead. There was no meat on her so she hoped that eh wolves would leave her be. Timberwolves are ‘arcanovores’, they feed to drain the magic of their prey.

The hard data corrected Buzz’s mistake and she finally knew what to do. It would be risky, Buzz might not have enough reserves to power up again...but being torn apart by angry timberwolves would otherwise be a certainty.

Buzz allowed her core to flutter and die, she let the sustaining magic drop to a trickle until she was barely active. After what felt an eternity Buzz sensed the wood all around her begin to rattle. She watched with dimmed eyes as the two timberwolves amalgamated into one huge monster, its bulky form only just fitting in the ravine they found themselves in.

It turned around with some effort to looked right at Buzzbot but she dared not move. She didn’t stir even as the wolf’s breath washed over her. Buzz remained dead and lifeless as with curiosity and hunger the wolf licked and gnawed on her leg.

The terror, numbing and painful surged back, yet Buzz forced herself to remain still as prodding and grinding its teeth the timberwolf finally lost interest. Buzz could have cheered as her attacker gave her one last snuffle and then began making its way along the gully.

Buzz lay there for what could have been hours. The fear of the wolf returning freezing her in place. She watched as the flashing red bar of her power core slowly dwindled, the magic that drove her very being draining away. All Buzz could do was lie there, battered and broken. She’d gambled and had lost. How could I fail? I know the future and it works out okay? Was I wrong?

The last dregs of power…..didn’t disappear. Buzz watched in fascination as the meter held stubbornly at three percent. It shouldn't be able to do that, everything Buzz understood about machines and herself told her she should be offline by now. Yet there is was, that tiny spark that refused to die.

It was then that Buzz realised the moon was now fully overhead, shining down into the gully and bathing her in its radiance. Buzz didn’t know if it was just the fevered results of misfiring connections or something else. She could almost hear the distant voice in her mind, “Everypony deserves a second chance.” The one thing she couldn’t deny was that her power gadge had changed, the reading was three and a half percent…

---

It was well towards morning by the time Buzz had enough power to begin moving. She cautiously got to her hooves, fearing at any moment that she would stumble, "Thanks Tinker, you’re a genius." Buzz heard her voice had dropped back into its robotic tone, all the better to save power. She sat back on her haunches and stared up into the night sky in wonder.

Luna's moon had past its apex and was even now creeping back down behind the trees, still it managed to give Buzz some comfort even though her mission was in tatters. Had she heard Luna? Truly heard her back there? Every logical thought tired to explain the voice away but somewhere, deep inside, Buzz hoped it was true.

Buzz had heard that some ponies in the past had wished on the celestial bodies of the sky, believing that the royal princesses would hear their wish and come to their aid. Well I’ve tried everything else, guess it couldn't do any harm. Buzz wasn't even convinced a robot could make wishes and felt a little foalish for even trying. Plus the Royal Sisters had never confirmed or denied that the idea had any truth to it.

Feeling foolish and a little silly, Buzz tried anyway. As it was the moon Buzz addressed the Princess of the Night. "Princess Luna, if that was you and you’re willing to help me some more I could really use a hoof here. I’m fresh out of ideas."

Buzz waited for a while, but when no cosmic event came to the rescue she turned, head drooped in dismay and began to trot slowly along the gully. She therefore missed the silhouette of a pegasus flying across the moon.

---

After stumbling for a time she saw a way up and out of the ravine. It was a steep path leading in a zigzag pattern up the incline. The moon still just peaked over the lip of the chasm, and Buzz trotted on in its fading pale blue sheen. “The moon, that’s it. I was able to draw enough power to restart from the radiated magic it cast.” Buzz assured herself, that made far more sense than voices in her head.

Working on this theory Buzzbot did her best not step into shadow, always keeping the moon in sight. She finally crested the summit of the gully was not at all surprised to see she was still in the woods, but now there was at least a path to follow. It was clearly cut through the trees and had clumps of stonework here and there.

With no better option coming to mind Buzzbot proceeded to trot along the path as fast as she dared. The sounds of night animals could be heard moving through the woods all around Buzz, but mercifully there was no howling anymore.

As she progressed Buzzbot noticed the path became more stone and less dirt. This raised her spirits once more. That hopefully meant she was getting closer to civilisation. She picked up her pace and found that the forest was starting to thin out a bit. Then all of a sudden she came to a tree line with another deep drop off.

Over the gap Buzz could see the ruins of a castle and she finally had a point of reference. “That must be the old castle of the princesses!” She looked up at the moon once again, now almost gone, and frowned. Well if her wish hadn't worked it was certainly a great coincidence.

Her happier mood evaporated suddenly as Buzz heard something moving in the bushes behind her. She was in no state to face anything else tonight, but Buzz wouldn't go down without a fight. Not after finding a point she could navigate by.

Buzz tried to make herself look as big and threatening as possible, planting her hooves solidly and glared back at eyes reflected in the moonlight among the shadows of the trees.

"Come on, I haven't got all night!" She called out in her robotic voice.

Even though she was expecting an attack, the speed at which the shadow hit her was amazing. Buzzbot didn't have time to move before she was pinned to the ground. Buzz kicked and squirmed feebly as she saw other shadows converging on her.

"Chilax, were here, it's us Stage," the familiar voice came.

"Settle down there, you’re with friends sugar cube," Buzz knew those voices and she stopped struggling. With a flickering glow Twilight shed light onto herself, Rainbow Dash and an orange earth pony. ‘Applejack’, oh….

"Stage Cloak, thank Celestia we found you," Twilight said with a relieved smile.

---

"I've never been so happy to see another pony," Buzzbot said and she really meant it too. They had set up camp to wait out the last of the night. Four ponies, three flesh and blood one machine sat around a small camp fire that Applejack had kindled. "But I don't understand how did you found me? Or even knew it was me?" Buzz said in an amazed synthesized voice.

"Oh that was simple," Twilight answered, "I cast a finding spell on one of the dresses you made at Rarity's. You must’ve put a lot of yourself into it to leave such a lasting impression and we just followed where it lead us. As for how we knew it was you, I would recognize your outline anywhere, I have been studying that X-ray Nurse Redheart made of you."

Twilight looked a little uncertain with that comment. "Though it's very strange to see you like this Stage Cloak, I didn't know you could um....shed your skin?" Twilight looked a little nauseous at this idea and Buzz was quick to remove that concept from any pony's mind.

"Oh no no, nothing like that I assure you," Buzzbot waved her forelegs in an effort to dissuade that unpleasant idea. "When I got attacked by a pack of timberwolves whatever was left of my magic seems to have failed and I turned into this. I, I think it's my natural form." Buzz didn’t dare look Applejack in the eye as she lied. She still didn't trust her not to see through it.

"I can't thank you enough for coming to find me." That last one was for real, so Buzz finally looked to the orange earth pony. Applejack was smiling and though Buzz couldn't currently show it she would have been smiling too. "So I guess you sorted out Trixie then?" Buzzbot asked, overjoyed to be with her friends once again.

"Did she ever" ‘Dash’ hovered with her wings. "I didn't know Twilight had it in her, best prank ever! Of course most of it was my idea," Rainbow continued, buffing her hoof on her chest. Twilight blushed at this praise from Rainbow Dash. "Then we came out to find you of course." Dash finished with a big grin.

If Buzz could have shown it she would have been tearing up at this point. "You did, even though you hardly know me and I’m not a real pony. You still came to find me?" Even though her voice was robotic the emotion could still be heard in it.

Rainbow Dash held out a hoof. "Hey, hey, hey, Scoots told us all about how you stepped in and saved them from Trixie. That was pretty awesome of you taking the rap like that. I don't care if you really were a changeling or a whatever you are, you’re still okay in my book." Dash went on with a big grin. "Once Trixie was dealt with I was ready to fly out here by myself and find you but.....".

Applejack then cut in, "But we told her that we could find yer a whole lot faster with us working as a team." Dash just shrugged.

"I still reckon I could have found her fine by myself but hey, it all worked out alright and I wanted to make sure you guys didn't miss out on the fun." Rainbow said with a confident smile. "So spill the beans Stage, what happened to you. It looks like you picked a fight with something big out here?" Dash asked seeing how bashed up Buzzbot was. The pony-bot chuckled sadly.

"Something like that, some Timberwolves thought I would make a good dinner, almost did to be honest. But they found my true form a lot less appetizing," Buzz explained wearily, "That's the only reason I got away at all."

"No kiddin sugar cube, mighty hard taking on timberwolves. I've run into em a few times, but ain't never heard of em leaving their catch alive before." Applejack moved up to Buzzbot and rapped on her damaged flank with the back of her hoof, "I ain't no smithy, but from what I see you got some right fine metal armour on yer. Do a lot of hoedowns do yer?"

This was getting uncomfortably close to matters Buzz didn't really want to talk about. She could see Applejack's mind turning things over. Earth ponies were good at practical thinking and Buzzbot was worried what conclusions the farm mare may be coming to.

"Aww ‘A.J’, she's been through enough today already without you asking her even more questions, right Stage?" Rainbow Dash jumped in again. "Plus it would have been awesome to see you taking on those timberwolves! How many were there, were they big?" Buzz knew she would have to give Rainbow a blow by blow account before she would be happy.

That was fine by Buzzbot, it had changed the direction of the conversation and she was grateful for that. Buzz still kept an eye on Applejack though as she recounted the fight with the wolves. A.J still looked thoughtful even though she was happy to see 'Stage Cloak' and that made Buzz uneasy. She couldn't say the whole truth without giving away certain facts but did her best to tell a good tale.

Twilight listened to all of this with only half an ear and Buzz could almost ‘hear’ her mind working. 'Stage Cloak' fascinated Twilight and not just because Buzz wasn't a normal pony. Buzz was certain Twilight was good at making deductions, no doubt piecing the puzzle together. All the evidence pointed to Buzz being built rather than ‘born’.

How could Twilight not see how all the parts would go together? Surly she recognized screws and bolts. Buzz knew she had herself a definite assembled look.

"Stage Cloak, um...." Twilight began but trailed off. "Never mind it's just good to see you again," Twilight smiled but shared a look with Applejack that Buzzbot couldn't miss.

Buzz offered to take first watch for the night but Rainbow was having none of it, "Nah its fine Stage, I’ll do it. You've been through a storm and need the rest, plus how could I sleep after a story like that, sooo awesome!" Rainbow began fighting imaginary wolves and if Buzz could she’d be smiling at the antics.

Applejack was already bunking down in a sleeping bag. Ever practical she’d had brought along supplies not knowing how long they would be in the forest. That’s the famous Applejack. Buzz thought happily, I’m so lucky to have this chance to see them at the start.

The next problem came when Applejack offered the said food to Buzz. She had no way of ‘eating’ it right now, “Ur no thanks I’m not hungry…”

Buzz cringed at the shocked looks the other gave her. “Really? Stuck in the woods fer nearly three days n yer ain’t the least bit hungry?” Applejack asked with another knowing look towards Twilight who shook her head. Applejack shrugged, “I guess yer know yer own body Stage Cloak.”

Buzz fidgeted before turning back to Twilight, "Um, what happens now? I don't want to head back to Ponyville looking like this. What will all the others think of me?" Twilight scrunched up her muzzle and Buzz nodded, “Exactly.”

"I know you're all okay with me, but you know me. The rest of Ponyville well...." That was only half true of course. Buzz was already walking a very fine line, the Element Bearers had some idea of what she really was and even more so now, having seen Buzz without her disguise. That had a huge potential for problems in the future. If a robot pony was seen in Ponyville's past then who knows where it would end.

"Well you can't just stay in the Ever Free forest Stage Cloak, you will have to come back some time," Twilight mused, "Plus I still think we should ask Princess Celestia if she knows anything about your past and who you are. I've looked through all the books in my library and didn't find anything on you."

Not surprising, Buzzbot thought. They were about forty years too early for even the concept of robots ponies let alone having a book about them. Twilight went on. "The closest thing I could find was the legend of pony golems. But even those descriptions were vague and those early golems were basically automatons, not independent and with no thought of their own." She looked calculatingly at Buzzbot, "Whereas you seem to have free will?"

Buzz looked even more down, despite lacking her normal disguise to show her expression. Yep they are starting to work it out, that I'm not a real pony at all. If they look under my hatch they will see 'property of Tinker Track of T.C.A.P' dated far too far in the future. The best thing to do for the whole of sapce and time is jump in a pool of molten metal. No unlikely in this day and age, may be a volcano?

Buzzbot raised her head and looked right at Twilight, "I can't go back to Ponyville, not like this. You should..." She paused before going on. "I should go, you should all just forget you even knew me." Twilight looked aghast. Time to play my final card if all went wrong. I gave it my best shot, but I won't cause the collapse of the future as I know it.

"Twilight I can't tell you the whole story, but I have been lying to you all since I got here, I do know who and what I am, but I never meant any harm to any pony. The more ponies that know the truth, the wider the ramifications could be and some of those could be huge. Thank you all for being such good friends, but it's best for everypony if you just leave and forget about me."

"Awww that's just stinking thinking," both Buzz and Twilight jumped, they had forgotten that Applejack was there. She had been so quiet they both assumed she was asleep. Applejack brushed her blond mane from her eyes and glared at Buzzbot. "Now I may not understand all the hoo ha about what’s goin on here, but there ain't no way were gonna do what ya'll are suggestin there!"

It seemed that Rainbow Dash was also listening in and added her two bits as well. "Yeah you gotta be crazy Stage Cloak, if you think were gonna just let you walk out of here like that. So you’re not a normal pony and yeah you’re made of metal. But it's not what a pony looks like or what they are made of that's important. It's what they choose to do. You've been a good friend to us and even if you can't tell us everything, you've shown you’re 'A' okay in our books." Rainbow announced in a tone that brooked no argument.

Buzz was about to debate the point, though how to convince these ponies without the whole truth would be tricky, it was hard enough to believe the full truth of the situation. "But, I...." Applejack cut her off again.

"No buts sugar cube. That's final, we're not forgettin yer nor letting yer all wonder off into the woods to be finished by them there timberwolves." To reinforce the point Applejack put her hoof to where Buzzbot's mouth would have been.

Rainbow Dash leaped in again. "Nope, no chance and that's three against one miss iron pony. You’re staying with us and we'll see you through whatever it is. It can't be so bad you need to run off and never be seen again." Buzz was moved by their support, they didn't really know what was going on, but would help their friend any way they could, even a fake pony like her. After that Buzzbot just couldn't walk out.

"That’s fine, but just one question?" Buzz asked.

Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all looked to her with a "Yes?"

"Are you sure Luna didn't send you, because when I was down that gully.........”

Author's Note:

There we go, things are starting to run smoother now. I may be able to increase the rate at which I can get the next few chapters out. It's amazing what a little practice can do for you. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a big turning point for Buzz and how she gets along with the others. Will have the next one out soon fingers crossed.

(Wow looking back now I can see that I did rush some of these a bit. It was still fun of course and that's how you learn. Well glad I reworked this chapter too. I think it better for it.)