Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories

by The Psychopath

The Metal Caretakers

Biddy poked the flamboyant creature in its chest, inciting an insulted response and a reflexive pull away while clutching the fluff adorning its chest.

"Stop touching my chest! Who even programmed you?" the flamboyant robot asked angrily.

"That's classified," the sisters responded in unison.

Galah shrugged. "I forgot."

Biddy stared at them, speechless. "Why did you answer that?" she asked them.

"Because it asked a question," Galah answered.

"It was rhetorical..." the flamboyant robot stammered. It huffed and straightened its weird body out, its teeth rotating to display a cigar and a wine glass. "You sure are strange folk," the machine said as it slithered between the four machines present. Its eyes sparked and its 'teeth' spun around uncontrollably when it saw Luna and Celestia. "What are these marvelous designs?!" it spoke in a hushed and awed tone. The flamboyant robot hovered its hands over the two robots of the blue as those it really wanted to touch them but was denied by some greater force. It looked briefly at Galah from over its shoulder before resuming its bizarre approach of the sisters.

"They're from the blue," Biddy explained. "And you seem to be exactly what they were looking for," she lamented.

The machine looked at Biddy with its equivalent of a shocked expression. "Really, now?" It stood up and fluffed up its feathery decoration. "And why would you be looking for a machine like me?" it asked with a tone of false-innocence.

Luna pointed at it. "Because you are like us."

The flamboyant machine laughed. "Like you? I wish. Like them?" it said as it pointed to the other two with its thumb. "They wish." Its 'teeth' spun to depict the image of a face heartily laughing.

"I hate actors," Biddy lamented with a groan. "Always full of themselves."

"Well, I have every right to be," the flamboyant machine declared with a huff. "I am a harmonious sour note. A tumultuous melody. A screeching cacophony of honey-glazed tunes. My name would be Dissonance, as I have taken to call myself after all this time."

"Your words are paradoxical," Celestia complained. She crossed her arms and 'pouted', much to Luna's and the other two's surprise. "I hate paradoxes."

Galah turned to face her. "You...hate paradoxes?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes." She rubbed the sides of her head with the end of her arms rather than the ring hands. "They hurt my processing capabilities."

"Pain?" Luna whispered to herself.

Dissonance clapped their hands together. "Looks like she's developing pretty well, just like meeeeee!" the robot said as they twirled around.

---

"It seemed like Princess Celestia was evolving faster than you, Princess Luna," Twilight noticed.

Celestia tilted her torso hard to the side. "It's more that I was unhinged compared to her." She chuckled in a manner that creeped Twilight out slightly. "I'm sort of burn out from processing so much information all at once, after all. I was more bound tooooo..." She twirled a ring hand in the air as she tried to find the right words. "Have a more vibrant personality? Energetic?"

"Playful?" Luna proposed.

Celestia pointed at her sister energetically. "Yes, that's the one!"

Twilight frowned and stared at the sun princess with suspicion. "So you really are the younger sibling, although I'd say you've changed long since then."

The two sisters balanced their hands in the air, keeping them flat, and said 'eeeeh' in unison.

"It's more that we were forced to change and try and reign ourselves in after we awoke and met the ponies," Luna lamented. She rubbed the back of her head and looked around. "That's for the epilogue of our tale, however."

There was a long moment of silence. "Are you going to...do that every time?" Twilight complained.

"Do what?" Luna asked.

" 'That's for later'," the lavender alicorn quoted.

The lunar princess stared at Twilight. "Yes. That's how storytelling works."

Twilight rolled her eyes and slumped back down. "If you say so," she said with exhaustion.

---

"Hey, lazy bot!" a male voice shouted out.

An impressively tall caretaker had pushed the doors open and ducked under the overhead. The sisters never saw one so tall. "Get back in here! We have another show to do!"

"I'm on a break!" Dissonance shouted angrily. "I have a muse that must be explored! I'll return with many more ideas afterwards."

"What?!" The caretaker pointed threateningly at the fancy robot. "If you leave like that again then you're never returning here!"

Dissonance turned around, waving the male off. Their teeth has turned into a bored face blowing out a puff of air. "Yes yes, you always say that, and yet I'm your money maker." The fancy machine clapped their hands together and trudged forward. "Let's go then."

"Go where?" Biddy asked.

The flamboyant machine looked around for a moment. "Uhhh, I thought those two would know since they were looking for me. They must know where else to look."

The sisters shrugged in unison.

"We already found three of the black. We believed we could go back to show you our world," Luna explained.

"And I want to see your reactions to it," Celestia sputtered.

Galah leaned in next to Luna and whispered to her. "She's starting to scare me."

Luna patted him on the head after a moment of hesitation.

Dissonance shrugged and readjusted the fluffy scarf around their upper torso. "Well, let's get to wandering, then. I'd love to see what the 'blue' looks like, if you even know how to get back, that is," they said. Their teeth turned to a hand holding a bottle with a cheerful face next to them. "How about I take the lead until we reach the airport, eh?"

"I have a family member at the farm to get," Biddy said as though speaking through clenched teeth.

Dissonance reeled back. "Ew. Must we trek about the mud, dirt, and bumpkins?" The flamboyant machine dusted off their body and readjusted the fluff around them. "I hate dirt, let alone mud."

Biddy jabbed them several times in the chest, her innate strength bypassing whatever absorption the fake feathers had. "If you want to follow us then you'll do what I say, at least for now, otherwise no trip to the blue."

The machine grumbled. "Fine," it agreed reluctantly. "But let me lead us away from the soldiers. They're being weird today." Dissonance looked to the side. "Ah, weirder than usual, I mean."

Not knowing the difference, the group accepted the information and moved on, with Biddy satisfied that she could finally leave the city. She still had a ways to go and groaned internally at the thought. The city came more different and yet more uniform as the group followed the newest addition. Several small parks had been erected with different patterns and designs, some focusing on thick, forested areas and all the bugs within, while others took on sculpted marble designs of indistinct shape or form. There were construction materials around many of them, with plenty of land laid bare. There was still some more 'art' to spread.

During the travel, not many of the caretakers cared about the sisters, much to their surprise. Luna noticed that gazes would avert to passive neutrality when Dissonance was viewed.

"Dissonance," she started. "Who manufactured you?"

The machine shrugged. "I like to think that I just came into existence this way. I don't like to think about that sort of stuff."

Celestia slowed behind Dissonance and poked at their hull. "I can see the remains of a manufacturer's logo," she said.

The flamboyant machine slammed her hand away. "No touching!"

"They built you with such a...strange design?" Luna continued.

Dissonance laughed after they were assured the poker had backed away. "No, I modified myself." The teeth rotated to show a prideful and haughty expression. "I found my calling while wandering through these streets and started modifying myself." They spun around. "All you see before you has been modified in some way."

The machine's teeth spun rapidly and retracted in their extended maw as they grabbed the base. With a few clicks and jerking it up and down, the maw detached to reveal a scarred metal face. There were several dents, gashes, and scratches in the metal, showing that Dissonance had long since covered up whatever had once been there.

Galah and Biddy both recoiled in surprise. That a machine could, or rather would do such a thing to itself disturbed them greatly. Luna and Celestia leaned in with curiosity instead.

"And you two work on the blue, right?" Dissonance asked.

"Three," Galah corrected proudly. "Although I'm starting to run low. Only thirty seven percent left."

Luna floated towards the prototype quickly in response and dissipated her ring hands, creating a sparkling ring of light that quickly vanished into the air. She almost punched Galah with the speed and strength she used to touch his abdomen. The blue machine's limbs creaked and the plates rearranged themselves to show dozens of tiny cables running with blue energy beneath. They briefly shone lightly before Luna's arms returned to normal and she floated away.

"Transfer complete," she stated flatly. "I'm now at eighty-nine percent power."

Galah patted his body after finally unfreezing and checked his personal status. "I'm at ninety four percent charge," he stated in stupefaction.

The three stared at Luna then looked to her sister who was swaying her head left and right to a tune only she could hear.

"Well, I might not have to buy blue under the table!" Dissonance laughed happily.

Biddy looked at them sideways. "But you're of the black," she said.

The flamboyant machine reattached its 'face', with the teeth immediately rolling to a face winking and sticking its tongue out. They lifted their feathery scarf and opened their chest, revealing a faintly glowing blue shape haphazardly shoved into the wiring and various mechanical 'bones' and joints. It was a miracle nothing broke.

"I use it when I want to do something fancy for the show," Dissonance said as they fluttered their fingers in the air. "They're technically illegal, but they can never tell I have anything since I rarely have much in them." The machine closed its torso. "These hands are also something I added. Always liked the big fingers."

Conversations continued between Dissonance and the sisters mostly relegated to the newcomer's additions and what they did to get them as they were. A few caretakers had gathered around something the group couldn't determine. Curious, the three of the blue eagerly moved forward to see the source of the commotion, unintentionally pushing people aside roughly. A lance of yellow-orange liquid flew though the air and landed on the streets with a loud and continuous sizzle.

"Get out of here, you idiots! This isn't a show!" one caretaker shouted.

The others were quick to listen and bolted off, but the robots remained. The caretakers clad in thick plates of metal were there, giving a sense of unease to the sisters. They were doing their best to try and hold down a gigantic reptilian creature that had broken out of a large metal vehicle. The walls of it were bulged outwards in various areas, and it didn't take long to understand why. This behemoth of a monster was covered in red, bulbous scales with various lanky strands of flesh growing from between them in several parts along its back. Its head was thick with two eyes, but its lower jaw was partially split apart, kept together by a strong webbing of flesh, almost like it was slowly fusing together.

"What is it?" Luna asked Biddy.

The metal caretakers threw chains over the beast, working with the regular caretakers that had just emerged from the front of the vehicle.

Biddy rolled her eyes. "It's a delele, called so because of that weird sound it makes when it's about to spit acid."

"But I didn't hear it make any noise." Luna was interrupted before she heard a low, guttural drumming noises followed by the hissing 'lelele' noise that came from the muscle contractions of the creature's throat. "Oh."

"They'll never manage to get it to calm down if they keep attacking and strangling it like that," Biddy complained. "They're just going to continue stressing it out, and it's likely that that creature is going to hurt or seriously injure one of them."

Heaving a simulated sigh, the triangular robot slowly moved forward, making sure to keep herself at an angle so that the thrashing creature could still see her. It took no time to get annoyed at two of the caretakers handling its chains, using its strong, six-digited claws to try and swipe them away, but the metal caretakers were the closest to its limbs, and pneumatics absorbed most of the blow, shifting the metal of the armor to lessen the strike on its wearer.

"What are they doing?" Dissonance shouted. "Come back! It's going to kill you!" Biddy ignored the warnings and continued. The flamboyant machine's teeth spun to show someone shrugging. "Well, I tried," they said half-heartedly. They fluffed up the giant scarf and crossed their arms through it. "Maybe I'll have some inspiration for a future show."

Biddy dodged to the side, avoiding the metal caretaker picked up and thrown towards her. She analyzed it as best as she could and shook her head. She started fumbling with her left forearm, then hit it with a fist. A very loud and reverberating 'ding' resonated from it. The delele flung its upper body straight into the air as it looked around for the source of the sound. The caretakers were stunned a moment, confused, but they too were attracted to the source of the noise when it happened once again.

"Down here, you giant," Biddy called out.

The creature slammed itself down and stared at her, its teeth bared and its opponent unflinching. Getting a better hold on the chains while the creature was distracted was the first thing the caretakers dealt with. As the monster readied to spit its acid, Biddy struck her arm once again, stunning it. It laid its head down, allowing her to check its scales and coo at it.

The flamboyant machine leaned in towards the other three. "What's she doing?" Dissonance asked the Galah.

"She's good with animals," Celestia said. "Taught me that the best way to knock out an angry is with a rock."

"A big rock," Luna added.

Dissonance slowly retracted themself, looked at the two with skepticism. "Riiight. A farmer taught you to do that to their machines." The two looked at the flamboyant machine and nodded.

They watched Biddy somehow taming the gigantic beast, occasionally using her greater strength to grab and push down its head or hold it in place. She let go of it and slowly walked backwards towards the group whilst keeping her eyes on it.

"I wish I could take it home with me, but these creatures have no use on a farm and are quite dangerous to the livestock if left alone," Biddy lamented.

Several armored guards came from around the corner, chains in tow and slowly approached the incident while one holding the creature back let go and moved to the machines.

"Machine, how did you do that?" the metal caretaker asked angrily. "Who programmed you with such knowledge and capabilities?" He leaned back and looked Biddydee up and down. "I don't know your make. Are you a custom? Do you have any blue energy within you?"

"I'm a native model," Biddy responded with a heavily insulted tone. "And how am I supposed to be of the blue if I'm functional here?" she asked.

The male was taken aback. "Wh-You're displaying...emotions? Wh-wh-what is your primary directive?"

"I just came here to make orders of black energy for my farm."

The metal caretaker put a hand to his hip, holding a deformed bulge that the sisters hadn't yet noticed. "What did you do to that thing?" they asked Biddy.

"I soothed it. Deleles are calmed by that song, provided it's as close as possible to the sound their father makes when displaying safety around the nest after the mother has hunted and killed everything around." She tapped her head. "It took a few attempts to get the right sound." She pointed to the creature who was now lying down and staring at her. "If you get that thing back in that vehicle it will go on a rampage again. It's far too small for that lizard."

The metal caretaker shook his head. "I'm getting advice from a robot of all things." He heaved a loud sigh. "I'm no idiot and I saw firsthand that what you did worked." He looked back then analyzed the machine. "I think I heard of self-aware robots in this city, but I thought that was just a publicity stunt." His body tensed and he pulled out the misshapen metal object from his hip. It was almost as long as his arm, and he was quick to point it at the sisters. "What are these?!" he shouted angrily.

"What are what?" Luna asked.

"Don't move!" the metal caretaker shouted. There was a loud beep before the caretaker spoke again. "I have a possible illegal blue here. Might need backup. Will advise if containment necessary or a false alarm. Determining threat assessment at this time. The source are robots."

Dissonance slid forward, standing between Biddydee and the metal caretaker. "I'm sure you're quite mistaken. There are none of the blue here." They procured a card from the flood and handed it over to the caretaker. "You see, these are just tricks for my show. They can walk fairly easily, and the lights on their bodies are just added features." They laughed then leaned in and whispered. "Unfortunately they don't turn off. Good thing we don't need sleep, eh?" Dissonance winked and backed away to the sisters. "Watch and you'll see!"

Galah leaned in, obviously stress-whispering. "What are you doing? How do you know that's why he thinks they're of the blue?"

"Oh right. I forgot we have plenty of glowing robots over here that hover everywhere constantly," the flamboyant machine growled back. "C-can they even walk without the hovering?" Their teeth spun to that of a face chewing on its nails.

"I don't know! I've never seen them do anything but hover!"

"W-watch closely...!" They slapped Luna in the head angrily and put their hands on their hips as the sisters realized what was wanted and dropped onto their 'feet'. "There, see? It's all part of getting the new programming running and determining any hiccups in the execution thereof."

"Another one?" The metal caretaker lowered their weapon. Luckily, he was too far to notice the fine details on Dissonance's teeth. "Hey wait, I know you. You're that weird, really sporadic machine from the...oh, what's it called again?" They snapped their fingers several time. "Neon Feather. The sergeant major talks about it so much I can never forget the name. She says she's obsessed with this weird robot that uses blue energy to make its show 'explosively fantastic'."

Dissonance's gears got caught on a wire, producing a nasty wharbling whirr noise. They had to slam their chest to get it untangled. "What? Blue energy? A-Blbfg I eh, rrm. I don't know what you're talking about," they attempted to deny. They crossed their arms and turned their back on the metal caretaker.

"Oh, calm down. She told us to leave you be since the amount you use can hardly be considered useful to anyone but some trickster machine with a flamboyant and showboaty personality." He readjusted the metal shape in his arms. "I don't know how you use it, and I should take you in, but if the measures were negligible then I can figure that you're using some weird thing with those two as well." He pointed aggressively at Dissonance. "You're lucky you're famous in this city. In any other I would have shot you to pieces already and scrounged through the remains." He put a hand on his hip and pointed the object to the sky. "I can't defy orders, though. Not sure why she doesn't do it herself and call you for acquisition and the establishment's owner in for questioning," they mumbled.

Loud thumps filled the air, terrifying the sisters. It became louder and louder until the buildings started shaking violently with every boom. The delele was starting to stress out as well, and the crew were starting to panic as it became antsy. Green cones of light slowly emerged from behind a building further down the street, and the metal caretaker that had confronted the group was clearly getting furious. He started yelling into the air whilst looking towards the source of the many cones.

"This is our chance," Dissonance yelled. "Let's go!"

"But the delele...!" Biddy said.

"You can stay here if you want, but I'm not interested in seeing one of those things when it pops by. If you're really from here then you know what they are!" Dissonance said. They grabbed Biddybee by the shoulders. "There's no reason to worry about them. That caretaker knows. Let's go!"

She looked back and forth between the two and clenched her fists while her eyes sparked. "You're right. Let's go."

As the group fled through the city, the sisters took the lmead effortlessly, but cars were starting to travel around again, albeit in small quantities. It took some time, but everyone had managed to reach the outskirts of the city with some effort.

Looking back, Dissonance sighed in relief. "If I was a caretaker I'd probably be panting and exhausting right now with the trek we made. Might need a refill on black energy, though." They noticed the other four staring and shrugged. "Oh, why not?"

They keeled over, struggling to hold themselves up, needing to push against their own knees to keep from falling over. Dissonance continued pretending to be gasping for air and suffering, going so far as to clutch the fluff at their chest like their lungs were burning. Biddy rolled her head and walked away. The other three followed her. Even for the sisters, the day was filled with much information, and they needed time to sift through the information and determine what they would keep and discard, among other things.

"Wait!" the flamboyant machine shouted. "You don't like my performance?" The group didn't answer. Eventually they went off the damaged, dusty road to walk and float over the ashy grass and mud. "What are you doing?"

Biddydee turned around first. "What are you doing? It's quicker to reach the farm if we cut through these woods."

"But...It's dirty," Dissonance complained. They stroked their giant scarf. "I'll get sticks in my fluff," they complained like a child.

The triangular robot shrugged and gestured the others to follow. Being left alone after what had happened began stressing the actor's circuits, and they reluctantly screamed 'fine!' and followed, complaining about how disgusting the woods were on the way.

"What was that?" Galah asked Luna. "You can transfer energy to other machines?! I didn't know you could do that!"

"It's an emergency feature in-case there are no maintenance terminals nearby or there is a power transfer shortage," Celestia explained. "It allows a machine with enough energy to transfer some to another model, allowing them to save all crucial data and enter sleep mode until they can be transferred to a functioning station or be powered in another fashion."

Luna looked at her forearm. "I saw...I was told to do that. Red lights flashing across my screen. You would cease to function..." The machine grabbed her now trembling arm with the other to steady it.

A malfunction from not having been at a maintenance station for so long. She was starting to miss the station back home. Home. With her makers. The ones who acquired her and unboxed her. Luna wanted to somehow instantly reach it and enter her station and just stay offline for a few days.

"What are these bizarre program executions?" she thought to herself. The blue machine looked up at her sister giggling as she talked to a Galah too confused to know if he should be happy or angry. "Is this what she exe...feels all the time?"

"There you are!" a worried voice boomed out. It was Rahllup. She rushed forward up the steep hill the group were on and bear-hugged Biddybee. "I was worried. You were taking way too long!" She caught sight of Galah, and her internal furnace flared up, making the glass acting as false eyes brighten angrily. "And y-" Her furnace flickered dark. "What is that thing supposed to be?" she asked after dropping the triangular machine.

Dissonance was whining and complaining about all the dirt on their legs and the various debris getting stuck to their scarf. Judging by the almost inaudible tone of their mumbling, they sounded close to crying, even if robots couldn't cry.

Biddy slouched down and looked at the flamboyant machine slowly making its way forward. Her face became covered by a hand dragging across it. "An actor..." she groaned.

Author's Note:

WHOOOOOOOP

AND BOOM! BIG CHUNGUS CHAPTER. I wrote 3k in two hours. Tired.

Comments

[HiddenEntity]

Okay so the name says otherwise, but I'm getting Trixie/Discord/Rarity vibes from Dissonance, sooooo yeah.

I am so happy this story made it back into the featured box, I never would have found it again.

[coto616]

10710988

I have the same idea, but more like for Rarity

[Anon E Moose]

10710988
Agreed. A mix of all 3.

[tsaukpaetra]

Haha. "I'm not fired, I quit!"
It's rather amusing the amount of freedom they're enjoying. Just up and walk away with no consequences....