Lessons Learned
-:: Rebooting ::-
The power surged through Sweeties awakening mind. The kicking and buzzing of her many sub systems slowly reviving her for a dark and dream less sleep. Her restarting balance sensors and spirit levelers told her that she was lying down. The data from her sensors said that she was sunken into some sort and cozy fabric. Her hazy consciousness considered lying down and let the dreams take over. Until her last memory loaded.
She was standing on the top of the earth mother. She sound of the explosion still ringing in her ears. The voices of her friends and the assuring of victory carrying with it a great sense of relief and accomplishment, before being all to abruptly cut off...
Sweetie opened her eyes.
She was in her own bedroom, lying in her own bed. The light of dawn shown in through the windows.
The sight was a bit disorientating. The sun had clearly just been setting. One moment she had been saving the world. The next she was back in bed. Like everything had been one long dream.
But it was not a dream. Her records clearly told her so much. Her belly was empty. Her buffer the same. Her wires were still crisscrossed, and a few new components lay dormant inside her.
Her mind felt heavy and tired. She had not been able to process all this information into her subconsciousness, like she usually did when she slept.
Blacking out wasn't the same as sleeping. Even sleeping required a bit of energy. When she blacked out, she lost all scene of brain activity. She was essentially dead until some new energy came and helped all her thought work again. And it only added to the disorientation, as she had no sense of what had transpired while she was out. No sense of time.
To her. It was like she had been teleported to her bedroom. One moment she had been there, and the next she was here, with a head full of questions. What had she missed? How much time had passed? How did she get here? And how was her battery almost fully loaded? Where was the energy coming from?
-:: New component detected ::-
Sweetie felt the energy pour in from an external source. She turned her head and saw a white, barrel shaped object buzzing gently beside her bed. It had a smooth plastic surface with a few blinking lights. A cord ran from the device to a socket in her foreleg.
“Ah. You're awake.”
Scootaloo's and Applebloom's heads rose over the end of the bed.
The two fillies had clearly been through an ordeal. Scootaloo had a plaster over her cheek and Appleblooms bow was relapsed with a band aid that held a small cloth to her forehead.
“How are you feeling?”
“Confused,” Sweetie answered. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing?” Scootaloo looked puzzled.
She rubbed her cheek.
“Oh you mean this?Ah, Nothing but the price of adventure.”
Sweetie Sat up. she wasn't sure if her friends looked better or worse then when she'd last seen them. They had clearly been bathed and groomed. Yet the lack of dirt and soot revealed a good few scrapes and scrubs.
“What did I miss? What time is it?”
“Its noon.” Applebloom said. Pulling apart the curtains.
Sweetie way dropped.
“I was out for a whole night and half a day!” She shouted. A little louder then she meant to. “Why didn't anyone recharge me?”
“Sorry Sweetie,” said Applebloom. We didn't have any crystals to feed you with. And even if we had, you wouldn't exactly swallow. Your belly didn't have any energy to process the crystals with.”
“And the power was out throughout most of the town.” Scoot added.
“Why didn't anyone take me to twilight's lab? She has a lot ways to recharge me.”
“True. But her basement lab kind of got, shall we say 'invaded' by the worms.”
“The whole castle was full of worms” Said Scootaloo “And once they had gotten in, they had no idea how to get out. So they ended up rummaging through the place and thrashing everything. You should have seen it,” she added, while making a big gesture. “there were worms waggling out of every window. It looked like a big tentacle monster had been summoned inside.”
Applebloom nodded.
“Sim wanted to use the adapter to convert some of that crystal sludge the earth mother puked up. But then Rarity came along and said that she would not allow anyone to tinker with you while you were out.”
“So she kind of went and took you home,” Scoot continued. “And you have been here ever since, while they looked for a way to recharge you.”
“By which we mean that they kind of had to sort everything out first. I mean, there was kind of a lot of confusion going on. With the worms being everywhere and the streets being turned all upside down.”
The two continued to switch back and forth, filling in for each other and taking over the story whenever the other took a breath.
Apparently a lot had happened yesterday evening. Or perhaps some of it had happened this morning Sweetie wasn't entirely sure in what order things had happened to each other, not with her Friends hopping back and forth between what they thought was important.
She felt a bit sad she hadn't been there to see any of it herself. It was like winning a big race only to faint out on the finish line and miss the celebration.
"… And after that, everyone was so tired that we kind of all had to get some sleep.”
“I guess over time most of the worms left”
“It was apparently quite the traffic jam, with them all trying to leave at once.”
“Wait a moment.” Said Sweetie “Where is Sim?
“Oh, she wanted to stay with her Grandmole.”
“By the way, Grandmole appeared.”
“And we kind of gave her those blue glowing mushrooms that I made a necklace of, I think they might be the last blue mushrooms that survived the destruction of the underground lake cave, and we put them in a pot and she said that this was the real symbol of the start of the age of illumination for them. ”
“I think in short they are gonna focus a little more on mushrooms now that they don't have to focus so much on crystals. But it was still kind of a sweet moment.”
“Sim could not wait to show every mole the sky. She had to like, go down there and show them the way up”
“And then Celestia was here.”
“She declared them new citizens of equestrian. Naturally many of them though that she was a god. In fact many of them still thinks we pony's are angels. And not just the pegasuses.”
“And then the Diamond dogs showed up.”
“Twilight had her hooves full trying to keep a pack of angry dogs calm. The moles were scared to death. They thought the 'Demon Dogs' had come for them.”
But the Diamond dogs said that they where finally fed up with all the chaos that happens around this town. So they were gonna move out of the quarry and went to form their own kingdom somewhere else.”
“And then she had to go and put this thing together.” Scootaloo pointed to the buzzing barrel. “After that. She said it was just a matter of time until you woke up.”
“We wanted to be here when you did.” Applebloom finished.
She looked at Scootaloo
“I think that's everything.”
They nodded to each other.
“Yeah, Except you forgot the part where Raindow dash showed up. She was so pissed to have been woken from her slumber, and wanted to kick worm tail. She almost whens sonic Rainboom on the earth mother after she saw what they had done to the town.”
“Yeah, there was a bit of confusion like that.” Said Applebloom “we had to explain everything several times over, as more and more ponies showed up”
“But after we did. She called me a hero, and she got me this new scooter you have to see.”
“My sister was just glad that I was alive.” Said Applebloom “She kind of almost hugged me to death worse then the worms did. And she kind of never wanted to let me go.” she shivered. “she can be a bit overprotective.”
“Oh. I'm glad for you both.” Said Sweetie Belle. “I wonder If my sister would ever call me a hero. She probably just scream at me for being stupid.”
At that moment. The door was pushed open, and a tray full of breakfast buns and muffins was levitated into the room. Followed by the mare herself.
“Oh … How is my little hero doing?” Said Rarity.
She sat the tray down on the bed, and gave Sweetie a big hug.
“You dumb, dumb, dumb little mare.” She whispered in her ear. “What were you thinking?”
“Whut?” Sweetie mumbled. The confusion not being allowed to completely settle. “Are you angry at me? Or not?”
She wasn't sure what tone of voice she should adapt. It may have something to do with that she wasn't sure which tone Rarity used. Her older sister beamed like the day, and her voice was almost playful (even when she had called her dumb) which, in itself was a bigger warning clock then if she had just been sad or angry.
“Oh no. I'm not angry Sweetie. I'm absolutely furious. You scared me to death today. ”
It looked like she could not be happier to say it. Yet, it wasn't malice or spite that
“Oh don't get me wrong. What you did was extremely brave. Heroic even. And extremely foolish. Why had you go and risk your own lives like that? You are but fillies. You are … not supposed to save the worlds. Leave that to the grown ups.”
Sweetie frowned, why did her sister have to be like this?
“Hey! You don't hear me complaining when you go out so save Equestira!” Sweetie snapped “In fact, I think its awesome that I have such an Heroic sister. So why cant you think that I'm awesome too.”
“I, well. I don't want to go out risking my life. I never wanted to be a hero. I'm no thrill seeker like Rainbow dash. Its just that. When something happens, some mares just step up while others don't. I guess what I'm saying is that I do what I do because nopony else would.”
“That's just what we did today? So how is that any different?”
“Yeah!” said Scootaloo. Spitting crumbs from the breakfast bun she was chewing on.“If we hadn't been there, then nopony else would have known how to stop the mole king. How many of you knew that he was mind controlling the worms using a magic instrument?”
“The difference is that I am a grown mare an I can take care of myself.” Rarity struggled to keep her tone down. ”And the truth is that you foals could have run to tell an adult, rather then throw yourselves into the fire. Why? Was it because you wanted to be heroes? Was it because you wanted to prove something? Do you actually understand how dangerous what you did was?” She sighed. “Please don't get me wrong Sweetie. What you did yesterday was incredibly brave. But that wont stop me from worrying about you.”
She lowered her eyes. And Sweetie finally got what it was that Rarity radiated. She was angry, sad, and scared that her little sister had risked her life, but above all else she was happy that she was unharmed.
Sweetie dropped back onto the pillows.
“I just. Want you to be proud of me. I just wanted to say sorry for all those gems I ate. That's all I wanted. To repay you for those expensive, hoofcrafted gemstones. And make my own stash so I would not have to bother you for gems again.”
“One thing king of led to the other after that.” Said Applebloom.
“I just wanted to be allowed to take care of myself.” Sweetie continued ”You have said that I am eating you out of the house.”
“Oh Sweetie...” Rarity sighed, and gave her little sister a kiss on the forehead. “you don't have to prove anything.”
“Luckily, I think we have found a solution to that problem.” Said a fifth voice from the door.
Twilight stepped into the room. No doubt having been eavesdropping outside, waiting for the right moment to make an entrance.
“You mean this.” Said sweetie, and Raised her hoof to show of the cord dangling from her foreleg.
“Yes.” Twilight said with a smile. “We figured that since you have an appetizer that not only rivals but sometimes surpasses spikes, an alternative could come in handy. Unlike Spike, you don't need the gems themselves. ”
“But, what does it run on? Sweetie asked. “Wont the generator need power in order to regenerate power? Don't that defeat the purpose of having a power generating device in the first place?”
“Nope. Its hoof cranked,” said Twilight.
She opened the lid on the generator and revealed a big dial.
“You just turn this dial a couple of times, and the dynamo will spin up and keep generating power for approximately one hour per turn. Should be enough to charge you up throughout the night. At least by my estimations, I haven't really had time to test it properly yet. But I got to tell you. Those kinetic force crystals that the moles provided are a blast. By outfitting a multi-layered cylinder with such components we created a ball-bearing dynamo that could almost spin forever after just a little push. Well – not forever – but approximately one thousand seven hundred and nine rotations after a single crank …”
“Ah hem.”
Rarity coughed in her hoof, stopping twilight from going out on one of her teck-savy lectures again.
“Oh, right. It should work – its what I'm saying.”
“Yes, It does.” Said Sweetie. Noticing that her battery was almost full. “But … does that mean I don't have to eat?”
She looked longingly over at the silver tray.
“In all due technicality, you don't need to eat. But that does not mean you don't have to.”
“And it does not mean that you get to skip out on breakfast, like you tried yesterday.” Said Rarity, levitating a breakfast bun over to Sweetie.
As if on cue, her belly had rebooted enough to realize that it was completely empty, let out a dissatisfied rumble.
Sweetie picked up the buns, and gulped it down in one bite. The Idea of not having to eat was a new one to her. Everypony did need to eat to recharge, except her. But that did not mean she did not get to enjoy the sweet tastes that life had to offer.
“Other then that. We kind of need to discuss what you have done to yourself, little mare.” Said Rarity. “I've heard that you mounted a drill on top of your forehead.”
“Yeah. We helped her build it.” Said Applebloom. “And she shrunk it into her her horn by using some crystal that twilight had given her.”
“Very interesting,” said Twilight. “Not exactly how I imagined that spell gem to be used, but very interesting how you managed to apply its energies to a much bigger object.”
“That's not all,” said Sweetie. “I got a new drill from the moles, Its kind of the one we used to break into the vault,” She added a little sheepishly. “And I got a adapter. Its a device that allows me to convert one form of energies into another. I'm basically able to recharge the magic crystals with my own energies.”
“Really? Most interesting. We should really get to the lab and do a few tests. I hope Spike has been able to clear out most of the ...”
“AH - HEM!”
“Oh, sorry.”
“I'm happy for you Sweetie.” Said Rarity “Truly I am. But you are gonna have to get rid of that drill.”
“Why? Does Sim want it back?”
Applebloom and Sweetie belle shook their heads.
“No. I don't think so. The topic has not really been brought up yet. I mean it is kind of theirs. But I think she kind of thinks you deserve it, for freeing their people.”
“So what is the problem?”
Rarity cleared her throat.
“The problem Sweetie. Is that I don't want you to go digging around in ancient caverns or anything.“
Sweetie got angry.
“Why am I not allowed to be who I am! What if someone told you that you were not allowed to be a unicorn? What if someone forbade you from using magic? Or sew? ”
Rarity sighed.
“Its not about you being a robot Sweetie. Its about that you are my little sister. And I don't want you to get hurt. Our parents gave me responsibility over you. And Its my job to look after you. To make sure that you are raised right.”
Rarity averted her eyes for a moment, and suddenly looked very sad.
“Every time you are out crusading I worry that you might hurt yourself. Or worse, that you are gonna stop caring if you break something, because you know you always can repair it.
Twilight cut in. “Because you know so little can hurt you, you take bigger chances. You become reckless.”
“But above all else. I guess I'm scared that you are gonna stop being a pony.”
Sweetie looked at her sister with the biggest eyes.
“When you don't want to eat breakfast anymore. When you don't want to wear your skin, Its very hard to argue against it because I know you don't have to. And every time you run off to Twilight to get some new upgrade I'm worried that you are gonna come home with eight legs of seven horns, or having done something else to yourself, just because you can.”
“I would never...” Twilight begun. But Rarity hushed her.
“I know. But my little Sis here might do it to herself. I would have been just as disappointed if you had come home with your body full of tattoos one day, or having gained some dark spell (don't ask me how, its just an example).”
She touched Sweeties horn.
“I'm worried that that drill is the start of something.
She sighed.
“You are a robot. That's just the way it is. But I don't want you to alienate yourself from Ponykind.
“Oh Rarity...” Sweetie leaned forth and gave her sister the biggest hug. She remembered Sims questioning, about why she chose to be the way she was. She had worried over these questions But she had never thought that Rarity might have them as well.
“You are going through a tumult time of your life right now Sweetie,” said Twilight. “I realize that. We all go though that time when we are testing out limits. When we want to find out just what we can do. But you got to be careful so you don't end up hurting anyone else, or yourself.”
“Sweetie. I know you are exited about all that you are. But you need to learn how to restrain yourself”
“I know.” Said Sweetie, breaking from the hug “But how am I suppose to learn how to restrain myself when you put restraints on me?! I don't see you doing that to any other pony. All others have to learn to use their powers in the right way without having their powers taken away when they push a little to hard. So why should I? I promise i will learn to handle my abilities. But i can't do it if you put me on a leash.”
Twilight made a strange face.
“That was a surprisingly mature way for such a young filly to lock at it.” She said, and smiled. “But I have to agree. We should not have looked for alternative ways to reel you in just because we could.”
She smiled.
“I guess we have a lot to learn as well. This is a new face in all of our lives. And I guess we are only gonna have to learn how to get along with them.”
She looked at bout Rarity and Sweetie when she said it.
“So. No more Restriction spells?” Sweetie asked.
She did a quick internal systems check. Though a lot of wires had been drawn around the distribution center, those that were connected told her that she was, once again in complete control over her energy setting.
“No more restriction spells. Instead … ” Twilight's smile became a sinister grin. “We will use a more traditional punishment.“
Applebloom, Who had been downing a glass of strawberry juice, sprayed the liquid all over the sheets.
“Punishment? For what? For saving the day?”
“No. That you can't be punished for. You are to be celebrated for what you did. But don't think this means you're of the hook. You still committed several severe crimes. You broke into the Diamond dogs homes. Attempted assaulted and robbery. And then you broke into the palace treasury, and attempted even more robbery, and assaulted the guards.
“But we did help free an entire people of moles and we did stop the evil moleking from destroying Ponyville!” said Scoot. “Is that not wort some pardon on our punishment?”
“And the mole king would have broken into the palace anyway!” Said Applebloom.
The Cmc addopted looks of guilt on their faces.
“We where used.” They said in their defense
“I know,” said Twilight. ”Luckily for you, you are under aged, so I guess your ignorance can be forgiven. More importantly, no one but a select few knows about Celestias secret vault, or the break in. And we want to keep it that way. No one is going to report about a crime that no one has seen happening. The guards are sworn to secrecy, and I'm trusting you girls can keep a secret as well.
“Crusaders honor.” Said Scoot, and threw a salute.
“Besides. I'm sure tomorrows newspaper is going to be mostly about the giant tremors that shook Ponyville.” Said Rarity.
“Now.” Twilight continued. “Me and your sisters and wards have bee discussing what to do with out. Ill have you know that I was considering Royally grounding you for a month...”
there was a collective DAWWWWWWWWW! From the trio.
“...But that would be no better then a prison. Besides. You three have proven that any attempts to lock you up or restrict you will only cause more harm then it does good. You have proven to have a neck for getting out of your restraints, no matter what form they take - With extreme collateral damage as a result.
So – Instead of risking further destruction I have decided that you will putt all that energy to good use. You are gonna help with the renovations around Ponyville. You are gonna help fill in the holes and stabilize the foundations user our town.
Then you are going to renovate the caves in the mines outside Ponyville, and help the diamond dogs and the the moles move out of their ruined homes.”
“And what will you be doing?” Scootaloo cheekily asked.
“We are going to help you with the renovations, and be keeping an eye on you at the same time. Not gonna lie, we are probably gonna be doing most of the work. Then I have a lot of paperwork to fill in and damages to cover, both here and in Canterlot. You happened to leave a few big holes behind in the castle and mountain.”
She rolled her eyes with a satirical smile.
“Guess that will be my punishment for causing all this in the first place. With my restriction and all.”
The Cmc looked at each other. Almost like they shared a hive mind they cried:
“CMC community Service YAAAAAAAAY!”
“I'm gonna use my new scooter to carry tools around town!”
“Ill be supplying all the material and refreshments from the farm!”
“I'll use strength to carry bricks all day!”
The two grown up ponies listened with disturbed smiles as the cmc ranted on about their plans. This was the kind of Destructive enthusiasm they had hoped to contain. But they said nothing. Instead opting for slowly backing out of the door.
Outside in the corridor. They looked at each other with a barely contained nervous laughter. They only hoped that their combined oversight would spare Ponyville from another apocalypse.
“Well. I guess this is the sort of thing I have to get used to in the future.” Said Rarity.
“Well. It is inevitable that all foals go through some change when they grow up Sweetie is no different. I guess there is a sort of comfort in that. But she is not going to stay the same little foal forever.”
“I know. Said Rarity with a sigh. I guess I have just not been able to accept all the changes just yet.”
“Don't worry Rarity, As long as we accept her for what She is, she is not going to become alienated.”
Down in the lobby, Twilight gave her a reassuring hug.
“But Rarity.” Said Twilight.” This whole affair started because of Sweeties sensational hunger for gems. Or more specifically because her battery runs out of energy to quickly. I have been thinking, and a generator could be placed in her body with the aid of a decompression spell. Alternatively, we could always get her a better battery.
Rarity gently put her hoof in front of her mouth in a silencing gesture.
“Don't say that to her,” she said. “You do not want a hyperactive little filly who is incapable of tiring out. Do you?”
”Point taken.” Twilight said with a smile.
********
Three days later.
********
“Ok Sweetie, now lets try that again.”
Sweetie closed her eyes and focused. Directing her consciousness into the adapter. The many machines around her began to buss and beep as they recorded the many activities that went on in her little body as she pushed some electricity into the adapter.
The pure energies of the adapter was transported into a secondary chamber. what Twilight and Sweetie called “a blender.”
At the same time. A string of magic was being loaded into the spherical chamber from the other end of the device. The two energies mixed together before taking on a clear pink energy.
Sweetie could see it clearly with her own eyes. As the blended was a big, glass made sphere standing upon a pillar of metal in the center of Twilight's lab. Wires ran between Sweeties open chest and the device. A device that shone in a shivering pink, A magical aura suspended in the center of a glass canister.
There, the energy took on the properties of a select choice of magic from a selection of magical crystals that had been placed in sockets on the outside of the sphere shaped blender.
“Wonderfull Sweetie.” Said Twilight as she cheeked the data on a paper being spewed out from one of the “monitors.”
She had been running a number of tests on Sweeties abilities to adapt one form of magical energy into another.
It was by her estimation that, Using this technology, Sweetie would be able to create and maintain a multitude of spells using only the minimal drain on the magical “charges.”
These “charges” were the different colored gems plastered around the blender. Minuscule crystals containing only a touch of any given magic. (Be that earth pony, unicorn or pegasi magic)
“Thanks to the adapter and the blended, you'll only need a spark of magic energy that served as a base code for the type of magic you are trying to create. Think of it as adding a drop of hot cause into a really tasteless paste.” Twilight went on.
Sweetie processed this information. As she did, she called for the energy inside the blender. The pink light was sucked into an exit port. The magic led out along a single wire back into her chest, and up into to a focal point in her horn. Here, the energy was allowed to spread across the structure of her forehead appendage, resulting in colorful aurora around her horn.
It was similar to lighting a light bulb. Lighting up at the same time as she reached her conclusion.
“In other words, Ill be using my own energies to make a spell, rather then draining the magic out of a charged crystal. And since the adapter/blender can always replenish the charges with new energy, there is no chance of the charges running out of magic.”
“Now you got it,” said Twilight with a broad smile.
As part of the test. Sweetie switched the active magic back and forth a few times, between all of the alternatives. The color inside the blender when through all the colors of the rainbow as Sweetie when through the different magic charges. The energies of the adapter working back and forth through the blender.
Yet, every time she switched the charge. The color inside the blender took on a darker and darker tone, until eventually, it all resembled green much.
“Interesting.” Said Twilight. “My data is showing that the spell inside the blender still corresponds with the charges data.”
“So why does it change color?”
Twilight checked her notes for a moment.
“The loss of color seems to indicate that the individual traits of the magical charges, those given by the the traits from those who original donated a little bit of their magic, is being erased, and replaced with something else.”
“Replaced by what?”
“Well – yours. Not the electricity that is. But the other, more subtle kind. The kind that requires simple good electricity to function: Your Cybermagic.”
“It seems that as you keep blending, the traits of the original donors is being erased and replaced by your traits.”
Sweetie looked back into the big glass blender. The aura of magic inside slowly took on a light green color. The same color she saw sparked behind her cybernetic irises.
“My magic.” She said, and touched the glass.
“Well.” Said Twilight. And shut the observer of. “There is more to you then meets the eye. In fact. I have developed a theory on why you are able to control crystal magic. I think its because when you send a wave of electricity through a crystal you also carry with you a flavor of your cybernetic pulse. This pulse forms the cup that holds the energies together, while the electricity provides the power. Its almost a symbiotic thing. As one can function without the other. Its this magic that spreads across any device you stays connected to for long. Making those devices and gadgets take on traits of you.
Sweetie turned her head around. Over in the corner. The Drill had been placed in its full scale upon a podium.
Its diamond encrusted sections glistered in the many strange lights of the laboratory, as did the several pink lines that framed the constructions with swirls running from tip to bottom.
Lines that hadn't been there before.
She also remembered the drill that her friends help make. Who had seemingly run just because she willed it.
Perhaps it was a part of her repair system that sweeper along into everything that became a part of her for any extended period of time? Reshaping the construction into something that always matched her aesthetic design. Just like how her cutie mark would always appear sooner or later on every new plate that was placed on her flank.
And the drill had been a part of her for longer then any other external component so far.
Sweetie wondered if she really considered the drill a part of her, or if it was just a tool to be put away when she did not need it.
Either way, she knew Sim sure had felt like it belonged to her now. That she had earned it.
Sim had said her goodbyes before venturing back into the underworlds with her Grandmole and her people. Sweetie wondered what would become of the moles now that they knew they could access the sky. It was clear that they were not going to abandon Moletown. All that their people had made was down there. Though it was clear hat there was gonna be some reforms now that the mole king was no longer with them.
As a partying gift, Sim had left the drill with Sweetie. She argued that it had served its purpose now that it had helped her reach the sky. And besides, the drills power was going to be wasted on any machines that they had.
Rarity had not been fond of the idea. But she had been convinced by twilight that denying Sweetie an upgrade – particular once she had earned for herself – would be like denying a unicorn a spell.
Granted – Not all spells are harmless, and can e very situation – and a drill tends to only have a few situation uses (like making a hole or breaking a giant enemy crab)
And Ponyville did at the moment not need any more holes.
It had been hard work to restore the streets to their former dirt covered glory. But when you lived in a town as destruction prone as Ponyville, you could count on everypony to help in the reconstruction. (and the local constructions crews weren't complaining about the steady income. Insurances on the other hoof were a nightmare.) In just a day or two the town was back to normal, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. (And for this town, that might be saying something.) And surprisingly, it had gone without the Cmc demolishing a single building in the process.
Afterwards they had reached an agreement in form of a compromise: Sweetie was allowed to keep the drill. But she wasn't allowed to use it. (At least not until she came of sufficient age). Unless she was helping Rarity or Spike find some gems of their own.
Sweetie didn't understand the difference. But that was the way grown ups were. You had to become one of them before you were allowed to make your own decisions.
Not that it mattered anyway. As Sweetie was sure she wast going on any excavation expeditions anytime soon. The new wire she had installed in her leg made sure of that.
Besides, she needed her horn for other things. Like all those spells she still hadn't been able to cast.
“But we are getting ahead of ourselves.” Said Twilight. “I wont be able to make a device like this who is stable for some time. And even then, I'll need components that are small and durable enough to fit inside you...
Sweetie wasn't listening. Her eyes had wandered away from the drill and over to the nearby table, onto a cup that stood so arrogantly upon a stack of paper. The cup that some days ago had been standing upon the armchair of Twilight throne.
The green inside the blender shivered as Sweetie selected the levitation magic, ( a donation of Twilight ). And with the adapter running the produced a constant stream of magic energy that she led out her horn.
A light green magical aura formed around her horn as she summoned the courage to use it.
She focused on that defiant little cup. It had refused to be levitated before. But this time she had an idea.
Instead of trying to grip around the cup with her mind. She charged up her horn and locked onto her target.
-:: Firing ::-
A beam of green electricity shot across the room. It missed, and knocked a breaker stand over the edge.
Twilight caught it in her magic just before Sweetie fired again. And struck a rack of test tubes.
Sweetie jerked her head back, and the rack was sent flying skyward, into another save from Twilight's grip.
But the third time Sweetie struck true. The beam bounced into the cup, and with the speed of electricity, an sparkling aura was formed around the object.
Very slowly, wobbly, and by an unshure hoof, the cup began to rise. Held in the air by a line of electrical levitation magic.
Sweetie bit her Tongue trying to keep the energy output just right. Not to much, as not to sent the cup flying, or to little to drop it.
Commanding the cup proved way more difficult then commanding her body. Her body had wanted instructions, where as the cup could receive none. Rather it was the line between herself and the object she had to control. Like a fishing line between herself and her catch.
The thread of energy remained in the air. A connection between her horn and the object in the form of a small visible magical ray that wriggled in the air. Sparkling and buzzing like lightning. And it carried the magical energy of the spell and its property's over to the object.
It was not like twilight magic, in which the connection between the object and the caster and the aura was invisible. It was the best she could do. And there was nothing wrong with that.
This was her way of doing magic.
This was her magic.
The cup wobbled around in her unsure grip before coming to a relatively sure stop, hovering in the middle of the room.
There where two ways she could go about this: she could carefully calibrate the exact amount of force and energy output she needed to apply to every the individual object, and every other object after that, and then save that as a setting for her magic output she would assess every time she cast magic.
Or - she could not do that and let the magic energy flow freely. Manually regulating the energy output and learning to control the magic flow by trial and error – like “fleshy” normal ponies had to do - right?
After all: twilight had said that learning is the best experience.
The other alternative fleet like cheating.
Besides. Using magic was way to much fun to be left to run on autopilot
“Sweetie! You did it ! You did it!” Twilight shouted. Dropping the breakers and glasses onto their ensured destruction upon the hard cellar floor.
She stumbled over the wires and more or less fell over Sweetie to give her a big hug.
She sudden snuggle attack Sweetie to jump in surprise. The cup shot skyward and embedded itself in the roof.
“Um, whoops!”
Twilight laughed.
“Na, It does not matter, every unicorn strugles with levitation in the beginning. What does matter is that you are taking the first steps to learning the use of something we previously though impossible. Oh this is great! So many wonderful discoveries that awaits us upon the uncharted field of Cybermagic! Oh I can barely wait... “
Twilight Hugged Sweetie closer as she went on one of her teck-savy ramblings. Sweetie was just glad she did not have to breathe.
She wrapped her tiny hooves around twilight's legs, and slowly but firmly her machine muscles removed the Alicorns death grip.
Then Sweetie had a thought. She tapped and opened her horn. She reached inside her open chest, and removed the wire that sent the blended magic back into her.
She instead opened up a port in her leg, and hooked the wire up there. She den aimed her hoof at something, a broom that had been left by spike after the cleaning out of the worm invaded laboratory. She sent a tiny overload down her hoof, Busting an internal coupling and letting the energy run out over her metallic hoof.
With a bit of aiming – she let another lightning beam fly – this time out of her hoof. It connected with the broom, carrying the magic energy with it and forming the same connecting bridge.
The broom left its leaning place by the wall and seeped over the floor a couple of times as she tried to sweep the broken glass of the floor.
The sweeping was not made more gracefull by that Sweetie was jumping up and down grinning mad with excitement. She had just done Levitation with her Hoof!
Twilight herself was jumping up and down around the room, nearly getting broken glass in her hooves as she realized Sweeties potential. That, for Sweetie, her horn did not have to be her magical focus point.
The victory dances ceased as the unstable blender gave a spurt, coughed up sparks, and went dark. The last of the magic cascaded out of sweeties hoof with such force that it sent the broom flying skyward. Uppon which it to embedded itself in the roof.
Twilight, having calmed her own excitement, gave sweetie a new approving hug, and helped her remove the wires from her body.
“Thanks Twilight.” Said Sweetie, as she put the chest plate back on. “do you think that device will be ready soon. I really want to show of this new trick for my friends.”
Twilight sighed as she looked at the dark blender. The silver tape that most of the components were fastened with had begun to come loose in places.
“I don't know. ” Its possible it wont be ready until next autumn.
“Oh” Sweetie sighed in disappointment. But then quickly changed back to optimism. “OH! Oh! Do you mean it will be ready for nightmare night!”
“That was an oddly specific.” Said twilight, eyeing Sweetie skeptically. “I hope you are not planing to do something too overblown. Not like you did last time, with the skin and everything.”
Sweetie nervously, and seemingly innocently scratched the back of her head.
“No, no,” she said reassuringly. “I wasn't thinking about anything like that.”
She felt the miniature cyberbrain inside her neck.
“Besides. I have a even better idea for next nightmare night.”
The end.
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any plans for a sequel, please say yes
Fun!
Well, as they say; alls well, that ends well.
This story was a fun ride, the whole way through.
8610435
Seconded.
8610555
...how is it that you said the same thing I was going to say (while not the same words)?
Sweetie Belle, more than meets the eye.
I'm not sure but I think you have a repeated chapter emergency emergency and lessons learned
I ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONTINUE THIS WONDERFUL STORY
PLEASE
Oh God I barely started and I am already cringing from the unbelievable amount of typos.
Dude, just ask for an Editor. Those typos are really the only thing that's making bad name for your MASTERPIECE stories!
Good story, but the typos got pretty bad in some places in this last chapter.
8671390
Well, not exactly like you did. But the term comes from when a show (I don't know what show it was) ended on a 'To Be Continued' with someone literally hanging off of a cliff. So episode left off on a literal cliffhanger. And thus, the term "cliffhanger" was born. You didn't leave it off with anyone hanging off a cliff. But close enough.
If there's a sequel, the first thing you have to mention is how Sweetie gets in trouble from that Nightmare Night.
9393101
Sorry, he doesn't seem to use any sort of check, either computer, or proof reading. Hell, I'm Russian, and even when I'm in a hurry I either don't make mistakes at all, or very rarely, or I catch them the second I type stuff out. When I'm not sure, I stop, and go for dictionaries. And I would let go of misprints, sometimes it's funny what a mistake can be, but he's consistent in making them...
Just now, I let a mistake through, but I reread it, and corrected it.
"when I'm in a hirry"
Not intentional, just wrong key, but I caught it the moment I sent the message.
Honestly, I liked the original story better.
Compared to it, this one feels incredibly shallow.
9940580
https://m.Star vs the Forces of Evil
If this really is the end, all I want to say is you did an amazing job with writing this and I don’t think you could’ve done anything to make it greater than it already is.
8546766
Since Ponies style it just like how hair gets styled in real life, it evidently shared many traits with hair. I tend to assume that since it is treated like hair by characters in the show, and is loosely based off of manes in real life, then it is most likely analogous to actual horse's mane's, even if they aren't exactly horses.
9939599
this among many other problems is why this sequel is much much worse than the original.
It’s such a good story
Grown-up to making everything up as they go along that just as Clueless as you are
Hello again Sweetie Bot fic, many years later !
Another story Finnished, only took me a day to fully read but was amazing, I really hope there will be more stories, I saw another story you posted with 14k words which I'm surprised since 14k words is the length as some of the chapters to your 300k+ story.
None the less, I will also be reading that, I saw you haven't been online since 2022 and I hope that changes so I can see some new stories, could be another sweetie bot story (which I would most be excited for) or some other MLP fanfiction.