Complete the Circuit

by Jeff Nunchucks

V - Connections Available

Vera glared at Gerard in open disgust. She hated the mercenary with a fiery passion, as she did all the rest. The cloaked griffin lounged against a brick chimney, seemingly asleep even as Vera scanned the apartment complex. Were it not for Airfoil's insistence that she have backup, she would have left him behind long before leaving the compound.

As it was, she was stuck with the lazy griffin and no amount of protesting could budge the immovable Pegasus otherwise. Still, she owed him and his fiery partner, especially after all they had done for her. Vera had begrudgingly conceded, hoping for an opportunity to rid herself of the mercenary as quickly as possible.

Half an hour ago she spied the hired goon take a dive into an alleyway to avoid a contingent of lunar guards soon after her employers had departed with their "package." His escape was not before tossing a hefty bag of bits into the hooves of a cloaked stallion, who was by far the largest pony she'd ever laid eyes on. Amusingly, the guards seemed to have thought he was the perpetrator, despite being well over twice the thief's size, and had taken him in to custody. Apparently they had eventually realized their mistake, and had now come for the real one.

"Two fifteen AM, guards take thief into custody, heading towards Canterlot dungeon."

Gerard simply stretched his brown feathered arms in response.

"I said-"

"Yeah, I heard ya the first time." He slurred, leisurely pulling out a notepad and jotting down Vera's words. He stood up and stretched, arching his back like a cat. "Cool. Looks like that's our job done then."

Vera gnashed her beak in frustration. "Your job is done when I say it's done, merc," she spat.

"Yeah? You wanna try spying into the palace itself? Place is swarming with guards. I dunno 'bout you, but I don't get paid enough to stick my neck out for a two-bit - GRK!"

Having finally lost her patience Vera grabbed him by the throat and squeezed, her mechanical arm immobilizing him even as he flailed. She pulled him in close until they were beak-to-beak as he looked into her eyes with terror. His beak opened and closed in silent gasps as he struggled to breathe past the female griffin's vice-like grip.

"You get paid to follow orders," she snapped. "And our orders are to keep an eye on the team. Understood?"

The mercenary nodded frantically, blue skin starting to show beneath the feathers on his face. Vera released him and he dropped to the apartment roof violently gasping for breath.

Just as Vera was about to turn back to watching the guards, she heard Gerard murmur, "Damn psycho..." under his breath.

Faster than the eye could see she swiped her talons at his throat, causing a ruby spray to erupt from his neck as he stood frozen in shock. He clutched his talons to the gaping wound, dropping his note pad and worked his jaw as he attempted to speak, but only a drowning gurgle escaped his mouth. He collapsed to the shingle roof, his pleading eyes staring up at Vera who seemingly ignored him; she merely inspected her metal talon with a bored expression as crimson blood dripped from her chrome fingers.

She was interrupted by a soft call on the radio. "Vera, come in, this is Hydronia."

"Go ahead, ma'am," Vera said, flicking the blood off her talons.

"We've got what we came for. Head back to the rendezvous point."

"At once, ma'am."

"Did you have any trouble?"

"No, but our thief got caught and Gerard here seems to have had an... accident."

"Dammit, Vera, can't you just play nice with the new kids for once?" came the bass of Airfoil's voice, sounding tired.

Vera smirked. "They're mercs. We can always hire a new one."

"Not at the rate you go through them." He paused briefly. "Just get back here. We'll discuss this later."

"Understood sir. I'll be there soon."

She clicked off the radio and glanced back down at Gerard. His now lifeless eyes stared blankly past Vera as his tongue lolled out the side of his beak. Blood streamed down the roof shingles into the rain gutter, surely to leave a horrible discovery for the ponies in the morning. She reached down and picked up the mercenary's blood-soaked notepad, chuckling as she imagined how panicked the easily spooked ponies would be.

Confident she wouldn't be leaving any major clues behind, Vera dove off the side of the building and spread her metal wings, flying in the direction of her colleagues.

---

Circuit stood alone in the dignitary suite. It was quiet here. Transistor's apartment had overlooked a busy street, so all Circuit had known was the constant bustle of activity as ponies went about their daily lives. When Circuit had asked about how Transistor slept at night through the noise, he had replied "You learn to forget it's there." The concept of "forgetting" had been a difficult concept for it to rationalize, adding to the growing list of inexplicable traits and paradoxes it had observed in organics.

It shelved that conundrum for a later time, as right now the most pressing question to answer was "Why?" Why would Transistor's old colleagues kidnap him? Airfoil had suggested that what they were working on was something Transistor himself had been personally invested in, so much so that he had been its driving force. They wanted to turn the ponies and, presumably, other species of Equestria against the diarchs, to make them cave to their will, but to what end?

Circuit's attention was drawn to the files its creator had loaded within it shortly before his capture. Perhaps there was something in those that could provide some clue. As it accessed the files, Circuit rapidly realized they were dated back over twenty years, several before its design had ever been conceived. The resulting data dwarfed that which composed its own code. Granted, the vast majority of it pertained to Circuit's construction and design, but nowhere in them was anything that could give a hint as to what Transistor had once envisioned.

Reading its internal clock, Circuit found the amount of processing time that had been used to search the new files equated to only thirty minutes. It searched again, certain that there must be something of value buried in the data.

Its undivided concentration was broken by a knock on Circuit's door. It checked its clock again, noting that the time was still in the early hours of the morning. Not many ponies would willingly be awake at this time. The anomalous behavior piqued Circuit's interest as it approached the door, eager to discover who had arrived. From the short list of ponies it had deemed the most probable, the arrival was one of the lowest on the ranking.

"Private Vigilant Eye. Good morning."

"Uh, good morning to you too. 'Circuit' right?"

"Affirmative."

"Riiiight... Can I uh, come in? I... wanted to talk to you."

Circuit stepped back from the door, letting the nervous guard in. She looked around the room, evidently curious as to what the interior looked like. Vigilant let out a long whistle, dropping from a high to low pitch.

"Wow... This room is bigger than my apartment."

"I expressed similar observations."

Vigilant laughed nervously. "You lived in an apartment?"

"Affirmative. It was the home of my creator."

"Huh. And here I was thinking you were built in some fancy lab somewhere."

"I postulate that was the original intent. However, due to the circumstances surrounding his legal disputes, he was forced to continue his work in secret and on a low budget."

"Dang. So your entire body was already built then? Transistor spent twenty years just on programming you?"

"Correct."

The mare had quickly gone from nervous to intrigued, her cat eyes burning looking deep into Circuit's ocular units. It entertained the possibility that she shared its desire to understand the many anomalies in the world around them. Aside from the Princesses, Circuit had never had a proper conversation with anyone other than Transistor. Circuit found itself enjoying the simple exchange, beginning to understand why the ponies were so fixated on social interaction.

"I have been reviewing data files partitioned in my memory banks. If the development logs that I have stored is of any indicator, my current state far surpasses the original scope of the project. If I had been coded according to the original plans I would have been far less sapient."

"Huh. So what were you supposed to be then?"

Circuit paused, reviewing what little it had learnt of itself. Amidst all the design specifications, there had been nothing indicating a purpose behind its construction.

"I... do not know," it said, perturbed at the sudden realization that it did not know why it was built. Circuit pondered this. Why should it be upset that it did not know its true purpose? Ponies did not, nor any other organic, leaving them open to seek their own. Why then shouldn't Circuit?

"Uh, hello? Equestria to Circuit?" Vigilant said, breaking Circuit out of its introspection and looking slightly worried.

"I apologize. Not knowing my purpose is... uncomfortable."

"Oh... Sorry I asked then." She looked away sheepishly.

"It is alright. You were curious, as am I. What did you want to discuss with me?"

Vigilant straightened her posture slightly and cleared her throat. "Well, it would seem that Princess Luna wants me to be your official escort and guard while you're in Ponyville. And, well, I guess I wanted to let you know to avoid any confusion when we leave tomorrow." She paused for a long moment as she looked up at the ceiling lost in thought. After a moment of contemplation she turned back to Circuit with a slightly annoyed expression. "Then again, I guess that's not really a concern for you, is it?"

"Most likely not, but I appreciate the sentiment." Surprisingly, Circuit was pleased she was coming. It was not sure what awaited it in the new location, but for some reason it was at ease with the prospect of facing the unknown with the nervous mare. "I am happy then to have you as my companion."

The blue fur on the guard's face suddenly flushed a deep red. Circuit worried that she had become sick, or worse, that it was a negative reaction to what it had said.

Its concerns were allayed as Vigilant looked at Circuit with a bashful smile. "Well... thanks. Maybe this whole thing'll actually be fun." She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, looking much less uncomfortable in Circuit's presence now. "Anyway, I need to go get some shut-eye, start getting used to the new sleep schedule. Take it easy, big guy."

She turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Big guy? Circuit cocked its head at the moniker. Perhaps I can discuss that with her later.

Circuit stepped over to a window on the far wall of the suite and pushed the velvet red curtains aside. Somewhere in this direction lay Ponyville, hidden under the cover of night, and its new home for the foreseeable future. With nothing else to do until the stewards came to retrieve it for the journey, it opted to put a pause in its search for meaning. Instead it stayed looking out the window, watching the city as it slept and speculating on what answers it might find in the coming days.

---

Luna was already waiting in the dining room when Celestia entered for breakfast, looking much less irate than she did last night. Granted, she still seemed groggy and tired from losing as much sleep as she did. She yawned loudly as she entered, and Luna thought her ethereal flowing mane looked somewhat disheveled, though no pony other than her would ever have noticed.

"Coffee, sister?" Luna teased, but still levitated Celestia's favorite morning brew - a caramel mocha in a mug the size of a small bucket - to the sleep-deprived alicorn.

Celestia closed her eyes and sniffed the coffee in bliss as she took it, ignoring her sister's tone. This was one of the few moments in the day when the two sisters could just sit and talk, at least during the work week. Weekends, of course, they could both relax and enjoy each other's company when they weren't pursuing their own hobbies. Governing a country was a full-time job, after all.

"Mmm... Add a little whiskey and I might even be able to function today," she hummed as she sipped the delectable liquid.

"Expecting today to be a rough one?"

"No better than usual, at least. Especially not after a perp walk in the middle of the residential district last night... Oh, the press is going to be all over me so much I'll need flea shampoo to get them off."

Luna snickered at the exaggeration, but sympathized with her sister's frustration. "If it helps, I shall see if the interrogation of the thief has yet borne any fruit before turning in myself."

"Oh, you found him?" Celestia looked up from her coffee. "Good, that's one less headache to worry about. Thank you, Luna."

"Indeed. I've not yet heard the results, but he has apparently... what's the expression? 'Sung like a canary'."

Celestia took a large gulp, and said, "Good, the last thing we need right now is a major security breach, and in the treasury no less."

Luna set down her own coffee, a black cold-brew, and dropped her voice to barely above a whisper. "Speaking of security breaches, sister, are you certain it was wise to send Circuit to Ponyville to be with the Elements? Whoever captured this... Doctor Transistor clearly has ulterior motives, and if they know of his existence that may make him and any anypony around him a target of their machinations."

Looking her dead in the eyes, Celestia cocked an eyebrow. "'Him'?"

Luna blinked, suddenly realizing what she'd just said. "Yes, well, it hardly seems appropriate to refer to an intelligent being as 'it', regardless of whether or not it fits the definition of what can be considered alive."

"To be fair, Circuit seems difficult to offend; 'they' said as much themself," Celestia said, making air-quotes with her hoof as she did so. "Though on that matter, I doubt anypony has ever bothered to ask their opinion. They probably don't even care."

"Possibly," Luna sighed. "After speaking with Circuit, you get the impression that such topics are little more than a fascinating subject. But I digress, putting Circuit in the care of the Elements of Harmony exposes them to as much risk as... 'they' are in. Hence, I took the liberty of assigning one of my guards to accompany them."

"Did you now?" To Luna's surprise, her sister actually sounded pleased with her revelation.

"I- Yes. I thought it prudent at least. I would very much like to send more, but I fear that may draw undue attention. But more to the point, you do recall that Twilight is no longer your student, yes? She is a princess of equal status to us and has her own duties to fulfill."

Celestia nearly choked on her drink as Luna spoke. "Ah... Yes, I had almost forgotten. Old habits die hard, I suppose... Even so, I still believe it is the best choice. Twilight and her friends have been more than proven capable of handling themselves in dire circumstances over the years. Do you disagree?"

"No, but I still believe it poses an unnecessary risk. The fewer ponies involved in this, the safer they will be."

"While I don't technically disagree with you," Celestia said, looking down into her mocha as she swirled it around the mug, "I believe Circuit may turn out to be quite the game changing factor. Depending on the lessons they learn there, that is, what the Elements can teach them, I do think it is a worthwhile endeavor. And if I know Twilight and her friends even half as well as I think I do, they will agree to the undertaking once they know the full story."

"But do you truly think that Circuit is that valuable an asset?"

"I do." Celestia took on a stern countenance as she faced her sister. "Luna, Circuits creators embezzled tens of millions of bits and over twenty years to create the being that currently sits within our very walls. I have to believe that all that time, money, and effort was not spent building a simple novelty item."

Luna sighed, then laughed in spite of herself. "If you had told me a thousand years ago that one day our ponies would create a machine capable of emulating life itself I would have laughed the sun itself off your flank, yet, here we are."

"As the old curse goes: 'May you live in interesting times'," Celestia laughed.

"And times are very interesting indeed." Luna downed the last of her cold-brew. "Very well, sister, it seems you've persuaded me. I must insist, however, that you inform the Elements of the risks they are to be exposed to should they commit to this undertaking. The least you could do is allow them the opportunity to make an informed decision."

"Yes, I agree." Celestia finished her mocha as well. "For now, I must go raise the sun. By the time they arrive in Ponyville, I'm sure Twilight and her friends will have already made their decision."

---

Hydronia flipped through the late Gerard's bloodstained notebook, scrutinizing all the observations Vera had made on their mission. Most of it wasn't particularly useful, though not to the griffin's discredit. Times guards changed their posts, their patrol routes, how they responded to the thief, and a slew of ponies being out and about late at night.

Quite the inspired diversion tactic, Hydronia thought, impressed. Wouldn't have expected Vera of all people to have come up with that, let alone convince somepony to actually go through with it. Still, it's a shame he got caught. Hopefully she didn't give him too much information.

One group of timestamps caught her eye however.

0145: cloaked stallion departs target's apt bldg thru fire escape
0147: thief passes bag to cloaked stallion
0148: guards arrest cloaked stallion, hdg towards canterlot palace

"What's all this about a 'cloaked stallion'?" Hydronia demanded, causing Vera to flinch. As tough as she was, not even the ruthless griffin wanted to risk angering Hydronia.

Vera cleared her throat, unsure of how to give a satisfactory answer. "I watched him come busting out of the fire escape not long after you guys left-"

"YOU IDIOT!" Hydronia roared, hurling the notepad at the griffin with enough force to knock feathers loose. "That was the android we spent years building, and you didn't think to follow it!?"

"I- My apologies, ma'am, but I didn't know about-"

"And now the bucking princesses have their hooves on it. Who knows what it's told them by now!" She put her nose in Vera's face, forcing her to shrink back. She could practically see the steam blowing out the mare's ears in her rage. Through clenched teeth she seethed, "Go. Back. And. Find it. If you come back with anything less than an eight-digit grid coordinate, you can kiss those wings and claws of yours goodbye, do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"GO!"

Vera turned and bolted away from Hydronia, quickly taking to the skies in the direction of Canterlot. She was none too eager to get as far from her wrath as physically possible If the madmare was any angrier, she would have burst into flames. In spite of her fear of the volatile pony, Vera found herself morbidly curious about this "android." Indeed, they had never told her - or anyone in the compound - about what they had done all those years ago.

But now she was very curious about this wild card.

Author's Note:

Daddy's home, boys.

And he brought the mothafucking milk.

Comments

[Aiwhisper]

Wow glad this is my first time reading this, it’s good but not wait five years good.

[Osiris Prime]