• Published 12th May 2014
  • 853 Views, 16 Comments

Manufactured Emotions - Bright Keys



Volt Spark has finally completed his masterpiece: a pegasus robot that can think and learn for itself. Now the machine must make his way through a world he knows nothing about.

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A Rainy Day

Author's Note:

Forgot I had this sitting around, came up with the title on the spot.
Fail. :facehoof:
No, it's not back yet.

The next morning, Alpha’s diagnostics told him something was wrong. “Oxidized” it said. Alpha had no clue what that meant, but when he got out of bed he quickly found himself on the floor as his knee buckled beneath him with a loud creak and yet another new feeling.

“What was that?” Called Omega from her library, “You’d better not be messing around in there!” Hoofsteps could be heard, loud and upset as they marched down the hall.

Alpha got to his hooves, shifting his weight away from the knee that had caused him to fall over. He noticed upon further inspection that it had a few orangish spots on it. He figured that he should show them to Volt Spark as soon as possible, so he limped his way out of the room.

Volt looked up as he entered the kitchen. “What was that sound?” he asked, setting down the newspaper.

“Something’s wrong with my knee.” Alpha said. “The sound was me falling out of bed.”

“Let me take a look,” he said, beckoning with a hoof and adjusting his position in his chair.

Alpha nervously made his way over to Volt Spark and held up his knee for him to look at.

“It’s covered in rust!” the scientist exclaimed. “I’ll be right back with the supplies to repair it. Stay here.” He left, brushing past Omega as he did.

“Where the hay is your ear?” she asked, legs crossed.

“Copperwire took it.” Alpha said.

“Why?”

Alpha shrugged “He said he needed it.”

“He’s probably going to install a tracking chip so that they always know where you are.”

“I don’t think so,” Alpha said, “but they did say they were going to make me a morality chip so I didn’t steal from somepony again.”

“Whatever,” she sighed, “I’m going to go read.” She turned and walked off.
"That's all you ever do." Alpha complained quietly as he watched Omega walk away.

"Hello Volt Spark." Copperwire said as Volt entered the lab. "The chip is installed. Could you give this back to Alpha please?" He held up Alpha's ear.

“Of course!” he smiled, “I’m surprised you got it done so fast. You truly have a gift.” He took the ear and put it in a pocket. He glanced at the empty metal skeleton of the new robot as it stood on the plinth. “Are you sure you do not want to help?”

“This was easy compared to refining the code for Omega and Alpha, and yes, I’m sure.” Copperwire said.

“That’s a shame.” he sighed, “but I still respect your decision.” He went over to a box of chemicals and began searching for the rust remover and oil.

“So, Alpha got caught in the rain eh?” Copperwire said. “I heard you yell all the way over here.”

“Yes, and now his leg is rusted.” He pulled out the supplies and a clean rag and then turned back. “What will you be working on now, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“I might practice my coding more.” Copperwire said. “Learn better wiring techniques, stuff like that.”
“Alright,” Volt said, “good luck. Excuse me.” He left the room and headed back to the kitchen.

“You’re back.” Alpha said when Volt Spark walked in.

“Yes, now hold still.” He bent down and began to clean the rust away.

“Can I take the book of emotions with me as well as the history book?” Alpha asked while Volt Spark worked.

“Of course, but where are you going?” he asked.

“Can I not go into town today?” Alpha said.

“No, not until it stops raining,” Volt said firmly, “That’s what caused the rust.”

“Oh.” Alpha said. “What can I do here?”

“You can always read or you can try to find a special talent. I don’t know how your cutie mark works, but you’ll never know if you don’t try. There. Why don’t you try moving your leg for me.”

Apha moved his leg without any creaks or difficulty

“Alright, I’m going to get back to work. Stay inside until it stops raining and don’t get wet.”

Alpha nodded and decided to explore the lab some more.
He discovered a swimming pool, but that was out of the question. There was an exercise room, a storage room and more. He ended up in an amazing room with a ceiling that was painted to look like the night sky and had a huge telescope. There were several book shelves and desks full of papers and scientific instruments. Alpha explored the room, looking through the papers and books, eventually turning his attention to the telescope with curiosity. He twisted a knob and watched in fascination as another piece moved with it. The thing was covered in gears and such and beside it was a large red lever. It looked important.
Alpha stared at the lever, debating whether or not to pull it. Eventually curiosity won out and Alpha pulled the lever. With a loud creak, the roof began to split open and the rain began to pour into the room. Alpha panicked slightly, pushing the lever back where it was as quickly as he could. There wasn’t much damage, but a stripe of the room was wet, including himself. Alpha freaked out slightly, as he had just gone against what Volt Spark had told him. He made his way out of the room, hoping to find a place to dry himself off. He turned a corner and came face to face with Omega.

“You’re soaking wet again!” she whispered harshly, “What’s wrong with you?!”

“I pulled a thing.” Alpha said with a shrug.

“You idiot!” she sighed, “Look, come with me, we’ll get you dried off.”

Alpha looked hurt, but followed after Omega. She led him down a hallway to a weird room at the back of the lab. There was a weird machine that was basically a glass chamber.

“Get in.” she said.

Alpha walked to the center of the chamber and sat down. Omega closed the door and switched it on with a lever. A gust of warm wind rushed around, drying him off.
“What was that?” Alpha asked.
“It’s a dryer,” she said, switching off the machine, “It’s used to dry special machines. I don’t know why Volt didn’t use it earlier.”

“Any more interesting places here?” Alpha asked, exiting the dryer.

“The library’s the only interesting place around here, but you might like the astronomy room.” She turned around and walked away.

“What’s an astronomy room?”

“It’s a room where you look at stars,” she said without turning around.

“Would it have a lot of books and a big thing with a knob that moves another thing?” Alpha asked. “Oh, and a flippy-stick that would make it rain?”

“Yes, and it’s called a lever.”

“I’ve already been there.” Alpha said.

“Then go somewhere else.”

“Okay. I’ll find something, I’m sure of that much.” Alpha said.

After a few hours Alpha had found the kitchen, the library, made his way back to the astronomy room and the dryer room, went to the lab, where Copperwire quickly pushed him out, other labs, each like the one Alpha was built in and all of them full of dusty documents and books Alpha didn’t understand, as well as computers left to gather dust. Finally he made his way back to the living quarters, where he found his room and laid on his bed. After a while, he turned to his side and looked at his apple. It seemed different than he remembered. It had black spots on it every so often and was slightly misshapen compared to when he got it. He picked it up and took it to the lab where Volt Spark seemed to be working on something.
“Something’s wrong with my apple!” He said.

“Can it wait? I’m a bit busy,” Volt said, sifting through boxes of machinery.
"No, I'd rather it not." Alpha said, trying to show Volt Spark the apple.

With a sigh, the unicorn turned towards him, “Yes?”

Alpha held out the apple towards Volt Spark with a worried look on his face. “What’s wrong with it?” He asked.

“It’s just molding,” Volt said, “fruit does that when it get’s old.”

“Can we fix it?” Alpha asked.

“Maybe but it wouldn’t be worth it. The apple’s time on the planet is over and you have to let it leave when it’s ready to.”

“So what do I do?” Alpha asked

“We should throw it away,” he said, “there’s no reason to keep a rotten apple.”

“But Applebloom gave this to me.” Alpha said.

“In a few days the apple will start to smell and then it will be full of bugs and get gross. The apple is dying and we have to get rid of it.”

Alpha looked sadly at the floor. “Okay.” He said.

“Just put it in the trash and it’ll get taken out with the rest of the stuff,” he said, turning back to his work.

Alpha looked at the apple and trudged away, doing as Volt Spark said.

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to teach him about death.” Copperwire said, not even looking up from his work.

“What?” Volt glanced at him, “Oh, I guess it may have been a bit frank…” He swallowed and looked down at the project.

“You’re making quite some progress on it.” Copperwire said. “But then again, I’m making progress on my own little project.”

“Really? What is that, exactly?”

“Think of it as an… insurance policy. Just because I’m not helping you does not mean I’m not having anything to do with it. You’re using the same programming base as Omega and Alpha, right?”

“Yes,” he said, “I’m trying to see if I can manage a unicorn model this time though.”

“Programming’s all I need to know.” Copperwire said, returning to his work.

After Alpha got rid of the apple, he looked around to see no one was around and walked to the second lab he found while he was exploring. He looked at the various papers and books in detail now that he was going to stay there for a while. After a while, he put the books where he found them, understanding a little more than he did before, but not much. After a bit of searching around, he found a cardboard box that had “Wind Up Toys” written on it in marker. Inside were bags full of pieces. Alpha took out one of the bags and looked at it puzzledly. Eventually he opened it and read the slip of paper that was inside, which appeared to be an instruction sheet.

After a bit more work, he had the small toy built. He dug around some more and found some paints, and a few minutes later it was crudely painted to resemble Omega. The sun had long gone down after this point, so Alpha decided to go to bed, the small toy resting on the table where the apple used to be.