Bits of Ash

by No one is home

The Origins of Bullette Bell

The room was dark enough to obscure faces, which almost seemed ridiculous, given that anypony who made it into this room already knew every other pony in the room.

“We’ve had real breakthroughs!” A mare’s angry voice cut through the darkness.

“You were supposed to produce soldiers, not foals!” A harsh, deep, male voice cut in.

“We’ve figured out the creation process! There were… problems with the forced aging.” The female pleaded.

“Your goal was to create adult automatons, instead you give us foal soldiers who never truly grow into adults, physically or mentally.” A second, condescending voice cut in.

“We’ve broken through the process of creation…”

“And in doing so we’ve taken a horrible risk.” The original voice asserted his authority. “If the Steel Heart Kollective learned what we’ve done we’d have a war on two fronts. No! The council has decided to move to end this definitively. You are to destroy the three prototypes immediately. The ‘Crusader Initiative’ never happened. We are moving forward with the ‘Blaze Solution’.”

“I want to go on record to say you’re all fools.” Starless Night sneered as she strode from the room. “My project could have won this war. Be glad there won’t be any history left to judge your ‘final solution’.”

“Did we just drive through a spy movie?” Galus gawked out the window. “Because I’m pretty sure we just drove through a spy movie.”

“Whoa, I get it! That scientist mare was talking about building robots… but what’s a ‘steel heart collective’?” Sandbar rubbed his chin thoughtfully with one hoof.

“Oh! I know! It’s just like in Star Pony III!” Silverstream perked up. “They must be a race of robot ponies, and they’d be super peeved if they found out these other ponies were cloning them as soldiers!”

“I hope you’re taking notes class,” Discord smirked as he steered the bus in a screeching left turn into the near future, “Because this next part will definitely be on the test.”

“I… can’t.” Starless Night looked incredulously at her partner, her well regulated mind taking in his denial.

“They *aren’t* fillies. We *built* them.” She snapped coldly.

“Isn’t that how they make steel heart fillies?” The assistant looked on pleadingly, trying desperately to see some remnant of the mare he fell in love with.

“The council has already decided. We have hours, at best.” The unicorn mare responded coldly. “Is this honestly any worse than what we built them for. Think about it, Cog, they were supposed to be soldiers. Steel heart duplicates, manufactured in hours, grown into adults and trained as soldiers in weeks to fight and die on the front lines. If it comforts you, there won’t be anyone left to judge our crimes.”

“No… I guess there won’t be.” Starless only flinched slightly when she heard the click. “Maybe it’s appropriate, you know. What has the whole empire been doing for years now, but making foals just to turn them into soldiers. Maybe this is the gods way of telling us that maybe that’s just all the empire’s good for anymore. If that’s all we’re ever gonna do, maybe it’s better if it all burns.”

“I’m sorry, Cog,” Starless night sighed. “For everything. Make it a clean shot. And make it quick, before you lose your nerve. I don’t want to live with what’s coming. You know if you don’t, I’m going to follow orders just like I always have. It’s me or it’s those three foals, Cog. This is why I never wanted to start a family. You can see what kind of mother I would have…”

The research facility was buried deep, no pony ever heard the gun go off. It would be decades before any pony ever dug this deep again. The spell that would place them in stasis commanded the entirety of his last hours. He had lost the pony he loved to his own hoof. Perhaps the foals they had made would have a chance if the planet could ever forgive what pony kind was about to unleash…

“I don’t like this field trip.” Ocellus declared glumly. “These ponies are mean. This universe is mean. Can we go home yet?”

“Wow… that was pretty harsh.” Even smolder looked vaguely uncomfortable.

“What this have do with pony friendship?” Yona looked confused.

“Yona has a pretty good point.” Gallus nodded. “I know it’s a whole different universe with completely different rules, but can you even have friendship in a place like this?”

“Dude, for real.” Sandbar looked fairly traumatized. “That pony just killed his wife. That’s pretty much the opposite of friendship.”

“Well it’s not a lesson about their friendship, obviously.” Discord huffed. “You asked where the Sweetie Bot came from, and I showed you. A good teacher answers his students questions.”

“What about the weird pony… thing? Creature?” Silverstream rolled a claw as she tried to find the right word. “I think it was a pony anyway… Where does he fit into this?”

“Another good question!” Discord proclaimed cheerfully. “And to answer that one, I think we need a ride down memory lane…”