Misty Mountains Cold
Sweetie Bot pushed herself upright, stumbling a bit on her damaged leg. The world was black; only her hearing gave any sense of location. Everything was quiet; all she could hear was the crackling of flames and groaning metal. She began to walk forward, trying to put as little weight on her leg as possible.
With no hoof to spare, all she could do was hope that she stumbled upon her eyes. Until then, she was practically defenceless should one of the attackers have managed to survive the fall. As she stumbled on, she pondered their identity. They obviously weren't police or guards trying to take her home. Were they somehow related to her construction? She would have to ask when... if she got to Manehatten.
She stopped suddenly, her ear sensors straining. Something, somepony was shuffling in the snow. Whether they were friend or foe remained a mystery. Deciding to take a chance, she called out, hoping to locate them.
"Hello? Who's there?" she called, her voice echoing out over the snow.
"Sweetie Belle?" came a familiar voice.
"Bolts! You’re alive!" she cried, joyous to have someone here with her.
She heard his hoofsteps muffled in the snow. The sound came from behind her, or so she thought; the echoes made pinpointing the sound difficult.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm behind you. What's wrong?" came his voice.
I can't see. I need help."
She turned around, facing where she thought he was.
"It's fine. I'm here, no-Ah!" he cried.
"What?! What's wrong?!" she asked.
"Y-Your eyes! They're gone!" he stammered.
Sweetie Bot sighed. She hadn't considered that Bolts might get freaked out at a pony with no eyes.
"Sweetie Belle, why are your eyes missing?"
"It's a long story. Can you just help me find them? I'll explain everything once we get out of this cold."
"Um... Ok," he chattered. Even without her eyes, she could tell he was freezing.
She heard him shuffle off into the snow, his teeth chattering loudly. After several minutes he called out to her.
"It's no use, the snow is covering everything too quick. They're buried by now!"
Sweetie Bot pondered the situation. She may not be directly connected to her eyes, but there may be some leftover link. She searched her data feed, scanning it for any link to her missing visuals. At last, she found what she was looking for. It was faint, only strong enough for one command. Luckily that was all she needed.
"Hold on a second" she said, the signal departed, commanding them to light up faintly "There you go, try and find them now."
"Ah, there!" he cried triumphantly.
She heard more shuffling as he began to dig through the rapidly thickening snow. While she might not feel the cold, she was sure Bolts was. It would not be long before it got too much for him.
"Got them!" came his cry.
She turned to his voice, presenting her empty sockets.
"All right, now there should be a plug at the back. Just line it up and we're good to go!" she said.
"Oh, interesting connection choice. VGA would have been my preference, though I guess HDMI works just as well."
She frowned. "You seem to be familiar with this."
"Oh me? Just a casual interest, that's all," he said.
She felt his hooves on the side of her face as he inserted the cable from her eye into the gaping socket. With a flash and a few relieved beeps the vision in her left eye returned. She saw Bolts' confused face, his grey coat tinged blue with cold as he slotted the eye into place with a click.
"Didn't think I'd be putting someponies eye back into place today." He grinned.
"And I didn't think I'd have my eyes put back in," she said back with a smile. "Speaking of which, put the other one in, will you? Seeing the world with one eye isn't pleasant."
She watched as he got to work replacing her right eye. Once it was inserted and functioning, she looked around her. The train car was in ruins: wheels and charred metal were strewn everywhere. A few dwindling patches of flames cast shifting shadows over the wreck, illuminating the bodies nearby. She didn't need her system to tell her their hearts were no longer beating.
She tore her eyes away, looking back to Bolts. She was amazed to see his saddlebag across his back, its contents apparently undisturbed. He also had another saddlebag behind it, one that was familiar.
"Hey! My saddlebag! You found it!" she cried.
"Oh, this? Um... yeah, I suppose I did," he said.
She grabbed the bag, throwing it onto her back with a well-practised swing. Now where? She knew for a fact that they were closer to Manehatten than Ponyville by now. Besides, the only way back was up the huge cliff they had come down. Unlike her, Bolts didn't have stick pads.
Bolts sneezed behind her. His body temperature was falling fast. With a faint whoosh, he collapsed, his body shaking violently. Sweetie Bot looked around. She had to get him out of this cold. She ran to the train wreck, grabbing a loose piece of metal in her teeth. With a screech, she ripped it free, laying it on the ground to form a makeshift sled.
She looked further down the canyon. It was their best bet of finding shelter in this frigid wasteland. She lay the shaking Bolts on the cold metal, his eyes fluttered faintly. He was alive. For how much longer, she couldn't say.
Her system could, unfortunately. In his current situation, he had just under an hour and a half to live.
She began to carve a path down the canyon, the freezing Bolts pushed along in front of her, their tracks disappearing almost as soon as they were made.
It was slow going as they trekked through the snow. With Sweetie's damaged leg, they moved much slower that they should have. The moon was high in the sky by now, its light pouring over the snow as they walked. The canyon walls were crooked and irregular, sometimes narrowing to merely a foot, other times opening out to wide clearings.
It was in one of these clearings in which they found shelter. Sweetie Bot cried out in relief the moonlight illuminated the cave mouth in the wall. With renewed energy, she raced forwards, the sharp wind cutting off as they stumbled inside. The cave was relatively big. Her eyes scanned the walls, reporting that they were a 2:1 ratio of granite and limestone.
She turned from the walls to tend to Bolts. She was hesitant to touch him, lest her metallic skin stick to his. His entire body was convulsing as he shook violently. Icicles hung from his nose and his fur was coated with a layer of frost.
"S-ss-sso... c-co-ld," he stuttered weakly. Hypothermia was setting in now; all she could do was try and warm him up.
But first, she needed something to burn. She could have sworn she remembered seeing some sickly-looking trees a little while back. Would they be enough to fight back the cold? There was only one way to find out. She helped him off the sled, leading him deeper into the cave away from the howling wind.
"All right, you're safe now. Just stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said, turning to walk back out into the snow. She felt Bolts touch her hoof and she looked down at him.
"T-th-ank... you," he said. She smiled at the shivering colt.
"Don't mention it," she said as she stamped back out into the cold, the sled in front of her.
She slowly made her way back, squeezing through a particularly tight spot with some difficulty. Her leg was still causing her problems. It made walking awkward and her manoeuvrability was severely compromised. She cried out as she lost her footing, diving head first into the snow to a depth of 0.54 metres.
She dislodged the snow from her face, lifting herself to her hooves with one leg. She didn't even need to look for her system to point out the crooked trees, their bark black and cracked with cold and wind. They were just taller than she was, their branches reaching desperately for the lip of the canyon.
She walked on, approaching the small group of sunken trees. With a quick scan, she knew they should light; their moisture levels were about 34%, just low enough to start a fire. She placed a hoof upon the weak trunk of the nearest tree and began to push, its bark snapping as it leaned closer to the ground.
With a final shove, the tree toppled, Sweetie Bot falling with it. The canyon filled with sharp echoes of the cracking tree, reverberating off the cold stone slopes. She set to work, breaking down enough of the sickly twigs to last the night. Her system ran rough calculations, estimating about 8.46 trees to last until 8:00 am that morning.
Sweetie Bot broke down ten just in case.
With the final tree down, she began to arrange them on the sled, their branches scraping the snow. She was almost finished when she heard it. She wasn't sure what it was at first, its sound drowned in the wind. But as it got closer, it became much more recognisable.
Wingbeats.
With her unneeded breath caught in her throat, she fled to the edge of the canyon, hoping that whoever was flying overhead would neglect to examine the canyon. The moonlight shifted as the flyer... flyers came overhead, blocking the moon. She peered up, hoping she was sufficiently hidden.
The flock of pegasi glided overhead, their wings struggling in the strong wind. Their mission must have been of significant importance to fly in such dangerous conditions. She gasped as the lead pegasus was illuminated, his familiar black outfit shimmering.
This was obviously the search party, sent to assist the ponies who attacked the train. They were looking for her. She watched silently as they carried on down the canyon towards where the train wreck still glowed faintly. It would take them little time to realise she wasn't there. Then they would search the only place she could have gone.
The cave was not the safe haven they had hoped for. They had until morning at the latest until they had to carry on. With a heavy heart, she watched the last pegasus depart. she walked in the other direction, the firewood before her as she made her way back to what she had thought would keep them safe.
Bolts was in slightly better condition when she returned. He was sitting up, still shaking, but awake. His eyes lit up at the sight of her, a smile spreading over his frozen face. She unloaded one of the trees, breaking it into pieces to form a fire. He watched her, his eyes following the powerful movements of her motorised legs.
She knew he was staring, but she didn't mind. She owed him an explanation. He struck her as the kind of colt whose curiosity was not easily satisfied.
With a reasonable pile of wood sitting on the floor, she pushed the rest away, not wanting it to fall prey to any embers that may escape. With their supply safely out of the way, she set about lighting the fire, her horn illuminating the cave with red light as it charged. With a sizzling beam, the fire sprung into life, its warmth rolling over them.
Sweetie Bot turned back on her temperature sensors. Heat may not be essential anymore, but it still felt nice. With a sigh, she joined Bolts, leaning up against the cave wall. They were silent for a moment, watching the fire light run across the walls. Bolts asked the first question.
"So what are you?" he asked uncertainly.
She sighed again; she knew no matter how long she 'lived', answering that question would not get any easier.
I'm a... well... a robot," she said quietly. The words sounded stupid.
Bolts, however, didn't think so.
"I've never seen technology so advanced. Did Rarity create you?"
Sweetie Bot laughed at the idea. "Rarity building a robot? I don't think so. I don't know my creator. This is all I have of him."
She reached into her saddlebag, bringing out the worn photograph of her parents and the wiry-looking pony. She handed it to Bolts, who examined it closely.
"Wait, I know that guy!" he exclaimed.
"You do?!" she said, her excitement peaking.
"Yeah! He's Professor Ruttlebridge, the ex-leader of the Manehatten Institute of Engineering," he said cheerfully.
Sweetie Bot couldn't believe it. The only pony to survive the fall was the one who knew how to find her creator? It was amazing! It was-
"Wait, did you say ex-leader?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, handing the photo back "He was dismissed after an incident with a fellow lab worker."
"What kind of incident?"
"No one knows. He took it pretty hard, though. Never invented again, so they say."
Sweetie Bot looked down at the pony in the photograph. His grey mane was messy and unkempt, the strands leaning over his glasses. His eyes were bright, sparkling over a wide grin as he stood next to her parents. How could somepony like that fall so far?
She would have to ask him. Now that she knew who he was, finding him would be so much simpler. Drawing her thought from her creator, she turned her attention to Bolts’ saddlebag. She was still intrigued to know its contents.
"So what about you? Your 'family' would be expecting you in Manehatten by now, wouldn't they?"
He shifted uncomfortably.
"That obvious, huh?"
She nodded, smiling to let him know it was fine he had lied; she hadn't been entirely truthful. He brought his bag forward, flipping open the top. The interior was bulging with an assortment of metallic contraptions of the like Sweetie Bot had never seen before. Springs and gears lay riveted to thick brass plates in complex patterns. She picked one up and examined it; it looked like a miniature steam engine strapped to a handheld whisk.
"I like inventing things," he admitted, staring fondly at the bag of contraptions.
"So why are you going to Manehatten?" she asked curiously.
"My dad doesn't like my inventions," he said sadly. "Think I should be working in a bank rather than a lab."
He paused, picking up another contraption and turning it over in his hooves.
"So I decided to go to Manehatten to show the Institute my work. I could start living there, work where I wanted to work."
He sighed, placing it down gently.
"Then this happened," he said, smiling at her sadly.
An idea popped into her head. If those soldiers came in the night, she was no use if she couldn't move.
"Could you help fix my leg? You know, ‘cause you’re an inventor and all that?" she asked hopefully.
His brow creased. "It depends. I'm not that good. What's the problem?"
"Bullet in my hydraulics," she said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. "It doesn't hurt, but it’s jamming the system."
"I don't know. I can have a look," he said.
She offered her right leg forward, presenting the wound. This was her first real look at the hole the bullet had made in the metal plates of her leg. It was black around the edges, the metal buckled inwards slightly where the bullet had entered. The hole itself wasn't very big which was something.
He examined the leg, peering into the hole. It was slightly weird to think about somepony else looking at her insides without an X-ray. He mumbled as he began pressing at points down the side of her leg, feeling the almost invisible joint at the back. Finally, he pulled back, sighing.
"Well, the good news is that both the shell and interior are unharmed. The bad news is that without disassembling your leg, I can't get the bullet out."
With a pop, the shell disengaged, the gaps between the two halves of her leg widening as one side removed itself. He raised an eyebrow as she giggled.
"Well that's useful" he commented as he took the shell in his hooves and placed it gently on the ground. His eyes widened in awe at the interior of her leg. It was filled to the breaking point with all matter of motors, hydraulics and sensors, all connected with thick bunches of cable that disappeared up her leg and into her torso.
"It's a miracle nothing was damaged," he gasped as he spotted the bullet. The brass case was wedged between the casing and the piston rod, blocking it from extending its full length. He reached into his bag, pulling out a large pair of brass tweezers. With shaking hooves, he reached in, grabbing the bullet carefully. He wiggled it from side to side, trying not to damage the rod as he extracted it.
With a slight grind of metal he pulled the offending object out of her leg. He sighed as he held the bullet up to his eye.
"That's quite the shot," he said admirably. "That's a 45mm round you took to the leg."
Sweetie Bot flexed her leg experimentally, watching the hydraulics move smoothly along their tracks. To see her working laid bare like this was unnerving, like watching someone dissect a heart. It made her feel all the more distant from the real ponies of the world.
Bolts caught her distant look as she stared at her exposed leg.
"Is it weird? Seeing your insides like that?" he asked.
"Slightly," she admitted. She was lying. Slightly didn't even cover it.
"Well, I think you're amazing," he said as he replaced her leg cover. She looked up at him, catching the blush in his cheeks as he looked away quickly. She smiled at him.
"Thanks, Bolts," she said quietly.
"Don't mention it, Sweetie Belle," he replied.
"Call me Sweetie Bot," she said.
He smiled. "Sweetie Bot. I like it"
They lay back up against the wall, side by side as they watched the fire, its embers spiraling into the dark as they slipped into empty, dreamless slumbers.
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awesome. I love sweetie bot stories. it'd be funny if sweetie bot was sweetie belle. you know like after the accident they she was saved but converted into a robot because her mortal body was too damaged.
4323289 Yeah I've seen stories like that, the great thing about Sweetiebot is so little was said about her you can make up anything you want!
Sweetiebot took a bullet. To the knee.
that train wreck reminded me of Uncharted2: Among Thieves. was that what inspired the wreck?
4328287 No it just came to me though I can see why you would think that.
Bolt and Sweetiebot are a cute couple. I can't wait to see their further adventures.
4330284 Well then you'll be pleased to know that this very morning I had the greatest idea for a sequel. The details are sketchy but I think it would be a good story when I get around to it, first I have to finish this one.
Really? Only a total pleb would choose VGA over HDMI, the isolation issues alone would speak volumes. But then again, I would've gone with Parallel communication myself.
4324153 ahhahahahahahahaahahahahahhaha if only her adventure had ended there and she became a guard
she can say i usted to be an adventurer like you then i took a 45 millameter round to the knee
You know how heavy a 12.7mm gun is?
savetheptboatinc.com/WWII0172.JPG
A 45 mm gun wouldn't be able to be carried by a pony unless it's the size a Hawker Hurricane.
warthunder.com/upload/image/Dev%20Blog/hurricanes/1_51_000005.jpeg
And those are just 40mm guns. 45 mm guns would be something installed on a heavy battlecruiser, like the Bismarck or Yamato.
Still, great story!