Roborganics

by The Psychopath

"Not for ponies"

"I've gotta get back in my body and figure out what's going on! Quick, back into my body. I should get back into my body once I connect the cord."

Louis clumsily got back onto the table and, just as difficultly, put the cord into the slot on his neck. However, even though this method always worked, no matter how hard he closed his eyes, he felt no transfer. There was no black, no sense of death, no nothing.

"Hm? Did it work?" Louis asked.

He lifted his arm to his face to wipe the blurriness from his eyes, but realized it was still the one covered in the red moss, and it was slowly turning purple as time passed. He began to stress even more, pounding on the table as he tried to force himself back into his body.

"Come on! Oh...crap..."

The student tore the cable out from his neck and jumped to the floor. His only act was to try and bust the door to the capsule down to reach his body by any means necessary. Unfortunately, he slowly gave up and slid down the window of the door, creating a squeek sound as he did so.

"Dangit! My body...There has to be an override button somewhere."

In a last ditch effort to free himself, Louis started to scan the whole capsule in search of this "secret" button. After all, many handheld devices had a hidden hard-to-reach reset button somewhere. Digging behind the contraption, he accidentally slammed a hoof into the back, making a compartment door that was previously unknown very well known. There were no buttons, but it had a list of compatible subjects.

"Why is this here? Why didn't they put this in the manuals? Hmmm. For some reason most of this crap has been hidden by muck and whatnot...Looks like it's part of the filtration system. I wonder if I can distinguish some...words...'Warning: Not compatible with ponies'. What?!"

Louis was completely horrified at seeing this. Did Roborganics plan this from the start? Is that why this part was always hidden in the filtration systems? What purpose would they even have to turn everyone into cartoonish ponies? Granted, they had extremely beneficial powers and abilities, but this was not the way to go! If anything he had to get to the Roborganics store and his mother was the only one who could get him there. He had to endure it, but he felt something heavy weighing on his chest. Was he already growing a heart? No! He couldn't think about that now. Rushing down stairs, the neuropony's 'ears' were assaulted by extremely loud electrical guitars, drums, and what sounded like a very low and gravelly voice.

"What the hell, mom?! This is why she didn't hear me yell, but how did I not hear this? Mom. Mom! MOM!" Louis yelled.

"Woo! Melodic deathmetal Dethklok! What?! Huh?"

Louis' mother turned off the old stereo speakers and looked at the neuropony right before her.

"Why were you listening to heavy metal?"

"Melodic deathmetal. It's different. It was great back in my day. It was the 'bees' knees'!" Louis' mother laughed.

"Bees' knees? What are you talking about? Stop acting like YOU'RE SEVENTY-FIVE!"

"Hey! Don't raise your voice at me!"

"S...sorry."

Louis' ears drooped down, and his mother couldn't help but find that adorable.

"Why are you still in that body? I thought I asked you to get out of it."

"I know...but I can't get back in my body."

"What?!"

"I tried everything I could. I just can't."

"Are you sure you tried everything?"

"YES! This is serious! We have to go to the Roborganics store and get this straightened out."

"Okay. Get in the garage. I'll get the keys."

"Can't we just walk there?" the neuropony begged.

Louis' mother just stared viciously at him, making the little pony shrink down and slowly inch towards the garage door like a hermit crab. The second the closing sound resonated, the neuropony sighed in irritation at seeing the red sports car in the cement-gray garage. It was a red, very sleek and aerodynamic model whose speed was excessively high even by the new-fifty's standards. The student never talked about it because his mother was always so calm outside of the house, but she was a rabid monster who was all about extreme sports and violent activities. This was why the young adult hated cars so much and walked every day. Now he had no choice, so he waited for his mother, stress welling up inside him.

"Oh. Come on. Hurry up. I don't want to stay in this death machine any longer. Ah! There she is. Finally!"

"Hmph. There we go."Louis' mom said as she strapped into her seat."Are you ready?"

"No."

"Put your seatbelt on, and too bad."

"But--"

"YEEHAW!"

The student's mother had activated the garage door to start opening, if ever so slowly, but she couldn't wait. The car was even short enough to run through the tiny gap below the door anyways. And so she slammed her foot on the pedal, letting the engine roar with extreme power and tenacity. The wheels screeched on the street as its driver braked and sharp-turned towards the city. All the while, Louis was clinging against to his seat in a foolish attempt to keep his life intact. His mother really didn't care for the street code. It was no wonder she got her permit removed seventeen times.

"Wait...she got her permit removed seventeen times! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!STOP THE CAR!"

"Nope. We're stopping at the store and that's final. SHARP CORNER!"

The car had already reached the city in under five minutes. Its speed was unmatched, so it always came to everyone's mind how this crazy women got such a fearsome vehicle. Unfortunately for her need for speed, the drag race was halted by a loud screech and seat bounce.

"What in the world..."the mother said with her mouth agape.

"I thought I was the only one..."

In front of the Roborganics store stood thousands of neuroponies, and each one had a variable amount of the colored, organic moss on them. Many had less of it than others, but these ones looked like recent models. The two got out of the car and walked slowly towards the enormous and enraged crowd. Many of the ponies had collapsed on the ground and were 'crying'. Quite a few people were trying to comfort them, but it wouldn't work. Others seemed to be going crazy while others had suddenly started to have a spasm on the ground.

"Mom...I think this is worse than we could imagine."

"You think?"

A weird static noise was heard from the store loudspeakers. They had turned on and were transmitting a rather frightened voice:

"I...I don't know what's going on. None of us do. Whatever is happening, it's happening across the globe. The whole planet of Eku is affected. This is more than a basic programming error, but rest assured. Roborganics is looking for a way to help you all."

The silence created by the announcement was overshadowed by the uproar from before. It was clear that nobody believed them and wanted answers. Some were even starting to lift dangerous objects in threat of destroying the building. To this the store replied with calling its security task force and more than likely the local law enforment that would arrive much later for certain.

"H-hey! It's you again! Remember me?"

"Huh?"

A black and turquoise unicorn had come running towards Louis and his mother in all due haste, but he seemed strangely out of breath.

"I was the unicorn from several weeks ago...I...Give me a moment." the unicorn seemed to be gasping for air.

"What's wrong with you? We don't have lungs."

"Yeah? Well now I do."

"I don't know what's going on, though."

"No one does, but I think everyone is going to go crazy. Me and a group of others are going to search for the factory of Roborganics and try and get a straight answer."

"But the main headquarters' location has never been found!"

"True, but we have some hints that could help. We think it's somewhere in the Baltimore sea."

"But...that's two months from here. I don't think our bodies will hold out for that long."

"It's okay, Louis. I'll make sure that mummifying effect doesn't happen." the student's mother replied.

"How do you know about that?"

"A mother must know everything for the safety of her child. I even learned methods to lengthen the conservation of your body, so be ready to get back to your home after your trip."

"But...You're okay with this?"

"Louis..."the young adult's mother sighed in irritation and crossed her arms."Just do as I say. The procedure only works for two months. If you delay even one day you know what will happen."

The little pegasus nodded and looked downwards in sadness, its lips trembling. The unicorn had something important to say, though:

"M'am." he said as he stepped forward."I don't know about you, but I suggest finding a way to protect your home, or better yet, to move everything out. My friends and I have accepted what is happening to us and are willing to live with it, if we can. However, even if we live with this, others can't. You might encounter some...horrid things in the future. These sort of events never happened well in the comic books and stories I read, so I doubt they'll end up good here either."

"Hmmm. True. I'll do what I can. Now go."

"Don't worry. We'll take good care of him. Scout's honor!" the unicorn pounded his chest with a hoof.

The unicorn pleaded his sniffling friend to follow him, and after some more words from his mother, the pegasus accepted albeit half-heartedly.

"I hope what you said is wrong."

"Of course it is. This isn't a book. People are smarter than that."

"Then why'd you tell that to my mother?"

"To make sure she protects herself and your body twice as heavily."

"That seems effective, but...I really hope that doesn't happen."

"I would say 'relax', but you don't seem to be capable of such things yet."

The pegasus jolted an angry glare at the fellow neuropony who looked away sheepishly.

"I wish I never even used this model. I wonder if I can trust this guy? He didn't even present himself beyond 'remember me' and 'I'll take him to my friends'. I hope I'm not delving into something bad."

Author's Note:

Aaaaand it starts.

Comments

[ferret]

"Not compatible with ponies" - but, he's a human. Something's just changing his robot into a pony. If it was happening because the capsule is "not compatible with ponies" then it would never have started happening! I'm missing something here.

Were you trying to say that for the purposes of preventing ponies from using the capsule a second time, after having been converted from robots to ponies? And Louis felt betrayed because the fact that they put a warning in there for organic ponies meant they knew there were going to be organic ponies, but didn't tell anyone so we'd all jack into the robotic template things? That's... really convoluted reasoning. If this is the case, please add at least a paragraph carefully describing Louis's thoughts and reasoning to come to this conclusion.

Other than that, awesome story so far!

[The Psychopath]

3982858 It did? I didn't rush it either.

[The Psychopath]

3982659 I don't...understand what you're trying to ask me.

[ferret]

3986338

Could you explain what Louis discovered when he broke the back panel, and why it means the company knew all along? Because it's really not clear. No no not in your comment reply, in the actual story. What is Louis's reasoning? As-is it goes like,

Filtration system says "do not use on ponies." Therefore, Galactimegacorp intended to trap them in pony bodies. The horror!

It's the equivalent of saying that a warning label not to put car parts in the burger machine, means that hamburgers are hypnotizing us into crashing our cars. I cannot leap this gap in logic!

[The Psychopath]

3989863 There's a clear mention that there are more than just "ponies" on the labeling. The others have just been chewed up by all the crap going through the filtration. There's most certainly others intact on the list, but the pony one is the only one that caught Louis' eye due to his current state.

The machines had only ever been intended for human whilst bionic prosthetics were intended for every species. I thought that was clear as well. If you want, I can have the group discuss that discovery in the next chapter.

[ferret]

3989897

It's very clear that the capsule, and the remote bodies and consciousness transfer were only intended for humans. No need to discuss that any more, if someone as blockheaded as me could pick it up. That's the thing though. A pony never touched that particular machinery, or filter. The only pony is a robot pony outside of the machine whose robot body was never in it. The only thing that ever used the machine was a human being. Even if the strange alien moss makes said robot a soft smooshy pony, that still doesn't explain what was going wrong with the capsule in the first place.

If the label on the filter says something like "Don't insert ponies, gerbils, ~~~~~, dingoes, alpacas, ~~~~~, ~~~~~, seagulls or ~~~~~" I don't see how that's such a horrifying discovery. I can't fathom connecting that with the horror of getting stuck in your robotic body. If anything, she should be blaming that strange moss for breaking her robot body so it can't get her back into the human one. There's nothing about the capsule that indicates it would ever trap anyone, intentionally or unintentionally.

I still can't stop laughing at how the pony in the picture is horrified not at changing into a robot, but changing into a pony!

[The Psychopath]

3990052 "The capsule seals up and turns the inside into a sterilized vacuum". I think that was explained in the first chapter. Since it seals up and prevents bacteria and such from entering, there's no way to reopen it without retransferring back into your body. That's why some have still died previously, as was explained as well.

As for the label, it's mainly just confusion from Louis as to why it was hidden and related so directly to his situation.

[FenrisianBrony]

Huh, this is different, but is also awesome. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.

[The Psychopath]

4005175 Plenty of stuff. Maybe. Or maybe I'll just stop it right here.
reactionface.info/sites/default/files/images/1287666826226.png

[FenrisianBrony]

4005847
That sir would be what I believe is called a 'Dick move' by today's youth.

[The Psychopath]

4006074 rottenecards.com/ecards/rottenecard_89613575_4psc7vyvy8.png
i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/hindu_heat/trollface-1.jpg

I'll have something to tell you about this story if you want to read it, and it has nothing to do with spoilers. I'll pm you if yes.

[FenrisianBrony]

4006389
Yeah, go ahead. As long as there aren't to many spoilers.

[ferret]

Not sure if you changed this chapter, but it's a lot more obvious that Roborganics must have knew that there were going to be ponies, yet went through with the project anyway. Maybe I'm just paying attention for once in my ooh balloon.

[The Psychopath]

4069618 I didn't touch anything. Also, if this is what you truly believe, then I can't wait to see your reaction when the ending comes.

[ramdom_player201]

Hmm, capsule not fully compatible with pony model. Seeing as how the pony model was new and the capsule might be something he's had for a while, the fact that it lists the pony model at all despite being a new release implies that the pony model has been in development for a while, long enough to be mentioned in a compatibility notice on a not new capsule.