Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories

by The Psychopath

Organically Organized

Left to their whims, the two robots wandered about the streets of the city they stood in, looking for PABs or any helpful makers. They regretted that the technicians had ceased functioning, but they weren't programmed with medical knowledge nor the tools to execute them. At least, Luna didn't have the knowledge. Celestia's systems were still a mess, and she hadn't organized the plethora of data hidden within her storage during the brief maintenance.

While they continued to search fruitlessly, the words and images of the two technicians repeated constantly in a corner of Luna's vision. The audio played on repeat as well, isolated on a secondary audio channel. 'Brother', the giant female said. The interactions between the two. The word 'brother'. Brother. The blue machine's owners had two infants. Two brothers. Her systems started to calculate and come up with various different scenarios. Brothers were male siblings, she thought. She was designated as 'female', by her makers. Luna searched through her database again, narrowly avoiding a maker rounding the corner during it. What was the other term for siblings? Cousins? Incorrect. Uncle? Incorrect.

The blue machine looked to Celestia. "Sibling," she started. The white machine looked at her, its head slightly tilted to the side. "If we are siblings, may I propose a new denomination?"

"Yes," Celestia answered plainly.

Luna felt her joints strain under an invisible pressure, and her vocal systems were straining to produce sound as well. "Perhaps we may be considered as sisters?"

Celestia's wide eyes focused harder on her sibling than they were before, and her head twitched left and right. "Why 'sisters'?" she asked.

"My owners have designated me as 'female'," Luna answered.

The blue machine watched Celestia raise her free arm and scratch her head with a ring hand. "Machines do not possess-"

"I know," Luna interrupted. "Custom models allow for custom designations. This model...I was designated as a female named 'Luna'."

She heard Celestia's eyes whirr and spin as they analyzed her in depth. "Okay," the machine said. "We are sisters. Similar hulls but different models. Agreeable."

---

Luna and Celestia 'smiled', as best as Twilight could tell based on their 'closed' eyes.

"Ah, the moment we became true sisters," Luna reminisced joyfully.

"It was like a wake up call. Something that poked and prodded us in the back of our heads. In the minds we had yet to develop."

Twilight looked suspiciously to the side. "So we're just going to ignore that you fried two makers alive?" she muttered under her breath.

"A fun moment for both of us!" Celestia shouted enthusiastically. She bobbed her head left and right to a tune only she could hear. "And to think I was contemplating calling each other 'brother' instead of sister." She chuckled. Luna and Twilight looked at her sideways, perplexing her. "What?"

Luna shrugged it off. "That would've been a very different life here in Equestria if we had gone forward with that," Luna pondered.

Twilight blew up laughing at the image that popped up in her head. The princesses couldn't help but feel insulted for some odd reason.

---

Luna felt her systems relax and some prodding at her core programming again. Still, she needed to find a mechanic for her new 'sister'. Once more they traveled. They did this for several more hours until, finally, they happened upon the massive PABs. The pair of large machines approached the two.

"Do you require assistance?" one of them asked.

"We require directions to the closest robotic technician," Luna said.

The two PABs started communing with each other without moving. To an outsider it resembled flashing lights and 'beeping' in quick succession.

"A location has been found." Luna said 'map location received' pop up in front of her display. "The shop is fifteen minutes from this location. However, the workshop is currently closed. It will open in three hours and twenty-two minutes," it stated with its loud voice. "Do you require additional assistance?"

Celestia moved forward. "There are two inactive makers in an alleyway at this location. Permission to upload coordinates."

"Granted," the PAB answered. Its limbs firmed up. "Location received. We will dispatch to that location immediately." It leaned forward. "Do you require additional assistance?"

"No."

"Acknowledged. Have a good day."

The two PABs rushed off past the sisters, faster than Luna had ever seen them. Now the two were left to their own devices. They would have to find something to do as they waited for the technician's shop to open. The two quickly decided to find the location then go in stand-by mode in front of the workshop until it opened up again. The buildings gradually became sparcer the closer the pair got to their destination until all that was left was a massive white rectangle surrounded by fences higher than the one story building itself, easily reaching three. The fences were built of black metals with openings in-between several beams from where the hard light 'windows' sat.

Undeterred by such a security system, the two floated above the fence and landed in the cordoned off lands. It was devoid of any plant life whatsoever, but the barren lands weren't a messy wasteland.

"I determined it would be the equivalent of a junkyard through historical references," Celestia said. Her tone was awry. A glitch again?

"The technician seems to have organized everything they possess here into piles and storage houses," Luna noted.

There were piles of different generations of robots present. While the five most 'recent' were in their own piles, organized once more by the state of their decay, Luna noted that were were a few older models. Celestia pointed at one that had been surrounded by glass and held up on a metal frame.

"That one is three hundred and two generations old," she said.

It was barely even a robot. Its internal frame had been bent at many areas, and it was missing its lower torso and left arm. Luna could even see the wiring exposed and an empty battery dangling from its socket between the chest and spine. What was left were blackened remains of what must have been a sizeable beast of a robot as its one remaining arm, covered in thick barrels of armor, was bigger than she and Celestia put next to each other. Granted, they were still thin, but the prospect caused her danger indicators to come to life. Its head was smashed in, but several parts of it were smoother and straighter than the rest. This robot was being actively repaired. Her danger indicators intensified when she realized that the angry black smoke was seeping off this old robot in tiny rivulets. They were barely capable of maintaining their own presence. It seemed like they were trying more to stay alive than wash over Luna and everything around her like the other instances.

Other parts of the workshop grounds included batteries and storage units kept in sealed containers. Batteries in particular were kept in transparent boxes with a light indicator to the left of the handles. A few of the boxes showed red lights, and the sisters could see a black, grimy substance leaking from some of the batteries. Others were leaking a crystallized white substance, and only one other was blue.

The two continued exploring the workshop like this for the time that was left, having completely forgotten that they were supposed to be in stand by mode. Luna watched her sister dig into a pile of refuse with a metal sign standing next to it with 'To be recycled' painted on. Celestia pulled out the hull of a much larger and older model of robot. It was round like a ball with openings on the sides and on the front. Perfect to fit her 'muzzle', as it were. She raised her arms and bounced around in place, tilting herself deeper to the left, then the right. Luna could not comprehend the behavior and just observed and catalogued her observations.

"Hey!" a male voice shouted. "How did you kids get in here?! Get out of those robot hulls and get out of here before I call the PABs on you!"

Luna turned her head slightly to see a maker saying something to the building. Floating drones shot out from the pillars holding the wall segments together and illuminated the grounds in bright white lights. Celestia had her back to the maker. Looking up, she realized what was happening, her body spasming in response. She turned around and took the old 'head' off her own, keeping it on her raised arm.

"What the...I've never seen suits like those," he muttered.

He leaned against the wall, huffing, until the pair heard loud thumping. A very large robot came through a retracting section of the wall and hurried over to the male. It pulled a metal bar with a bent section out of its leg and passed it to the maker. It was almost as tall as the building, stopping about two heads short. Its arms and legs were devoid of whatever original armor it possessed. Instead, it was a mismatched assortment of yellows, whites, and blacks melted together and placed upon it for protection. One of its three-digited hands were big enough to grab hold of both of the sisters and still have room for several more to hold. Its chest was broad, and its joints wirred and buzzed with activity. Its head was a tall cone with several optical cameras planted all around the surface. Its feet were solid tree trunks that kept it stable regardless of whatever came its way.

The male limped towards the siblings and scrutinized them. He raised his cane to push Celestia's arm down and make her new 'helmet' fall on the ground. She attempted to lower herself but was stopped by the maker placing the base of his cane at her chin.

"Take off the suits," he ordered. "I'm curious as to who you are and how you managed to craft such prodigious things." The two robots stared at him. "I asked you politely. Now--" his voice was growing in tone.

"This model requires maintenance," Luna said. She pointed to Celestia floating next to her. The white machine sparked and twitched.

The male looked at the two suspiciously. "Your voice modulator is quite impressive, but I--"

"Are you the robotic technician of this location?" Luna asked.

"I am but--"

"We require your skills to maintain this model," she insisted.

The giant machine waited behind, its systems running noisily in the background.

Still suspicious, the maker grabbed Celestia's head and lowered it to his height to better see. "Okay. I'll 'maintain' y-What?!" His tone of assuredness broke when he saw Celestia's eyes. He lost balance from the surprise and fell, landing on his rear. The giant rushed over and -despite its size- delicately pushed him back onto his feet. "Good thing its only my leg that has a problem and not the rest of me," he chuckled. The three machines remained silent. "Ugh. Sometimes living around robots is just..." He took a deep breath. "I'm worried I'm losing my sense of humor."

Celestia moved closer, prompting the giant to place a large hand between her and the technician. "Will you provide maintenance?" she asked.

Her movement brought the technician's eyes downwards, letting him see that the two were floating. "No two-bit hobbyist would be able to create permanently hovering robots," he said in awe. "What even are you? What kind of models are you? Where are you from? Who is your manufacturer." He narrowed his eyes. "Why are you even here?" he asked. "Are you assassins of some kind?" he asked angrily. The giant's gears growled angrily and stomped forward in response, its gigantic fists clenched. "You aren't the first ones to come here!"

Luna tilted her head. "Assassin...term not located within database," she said.

The maker's arms dropped in confusion.

Celestia calculated, her lights flashing. "Individual tasked with eliminating other individuals for compensation, be it monetary, ideological, or personal," she explained.

Luna pondered on the thought and looked to the man. "Are you an assassin?" she asked.

Lost for words, the technician sputtered and babbled in response. "No, I'm saying that you are...!" He nearly tripped on a loose plating buried under the dirt.

Luna rushed forward past the giant and held the maker up with her arms and ring hands. "You are currently injured. Continued injury could lead to more severe physical trauma. Would you like me to call medical teams to this location?" she asked him.

The maker gestured his colossus to stand down after it raised a fist, apparently oblivious of the damage it could have caused. The technician looked to Celestia bobbing her head left and right with the helmet back on her arm as she stared at him. He couldn't wrap his head around what he was seeing.

"What are you two?" he asked.

"We are robots," Luna answered plainly.

Comments

[nickle241]

oh fun, they clearly haven't fixed that design flaw yet if battery acid leakage is still a thing, so often i go to fix something only to discover theres nothing wrong except for an exploded battery, with stuff this advanced lying around i would have expected something more powerful and volatile in a heavy appliance like a robot, then again its not like lithium has much going for it beyond energy density

[The Psychopath]

10452928
The batteries are from very old models, hence why they're kept in those boxes.

[HiddenEntity]

Okay this story is getting better and better each chapter

[The Psychopath]

10535289
I'm writing the next chapter little by little through the pangs. Should be back on track soon.

[tsaukpaetra]

Silly old man, you need to ask the right question!