The knocking came on Sweetie's door, as clear in her new ears as ever. Part of her wished she could get away with hiding in her bed—but she knew better than to try. A meeting like this might never happen again. If she messed it up now...
"Come in!" she called, sounding far more confident than she really felt. "I'm here."
Seconds later, the door swung open, and Apple Bloom was standing there.
The little earth pony was slightly taller than Sweetie expected. The last time she'd been with her friends, she remembered three ponies who were all about the same height, minus the variation from her horn. That was no longer the case.
Apple Bloom stepped inside, though not far. She stopped just through the doorway, leaving the door open behind her.
"You gonna run away?" Sweetie asked, eyeing it. "You didn't have to come if you didn't want to." She stood from her desk, though she left the photo-album behind her.
Apple Bloom stared, mouth still hanging open. For a good long while she didn't answer, remaining silent and still. "Rarity said a bat brought you back to life," she said. "Of course I had to come." She advanced a few steps, eyeing the charger and diagnostic equipment that took a large part of the empty space in Sweetie's room. "She said something about machines, but I didn't think... I didn't realize what it meant."
"That I'm part machine?" Sweetie prompted. "All machine, really. There's nothing... alive, exactly. It's all mechanical."
The apple filly sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "I... I remember saying goodbye last year. My sister said I wouldn't get to come visit again. They d-didn't think you'd last through the night. Hardest thing I ever did. I was just a foal when the fire... when my parents..."
Sweetie nodded once. She wanted to reach out and offer her support, to hold on to her friend and never let go. But she resisted, no matter how much it hurt. Sweetie Belle could cry, but no tears came to her eyes no matter how much it hurt. Moisture was dangerous to her, if too much of it got through her frame. "You promised you'd... r-remember me," Sweetie whispered. "You said that Cheerilee's class was gonna do a memorial for me. How'd that go?"
Apple Bloom looked up. Her eyes were swollen with hot tears, which streaked her face freely now. "Great, it went great. Even Diamond Tiara found something nice to..." She trailed off abruptly. "How can you remember that?" She circled slowly around Sweetie, far enough to get a better view to her left and right. "You do look like her. You have the right colors. But how can a machine be my friend?"
Sweetie winced. This was exactly the reason she was nervous about this meeting. Apple Bloom in particular seemed like a pony who would remain skeptical of her, maybe forever. "I don't know how it happened, exactly." She tapped the side of her head with one hoof, though even that was a lie. Her head felt light, practically empty. From the heat that always radiated from her torso, Sweetie guessed that was where her mechanical mind was really located.
"When I was sick, I agreed to let Lucid Storm try this new... scan. He set it up in the hospital and left it there, waiting to see how bad I would get. When I was... so sick I couldn't even move anymore, and I knew I would be gone soon—that's when he did it. A machine went onto my head, recording everything about me to a computer. I guess it took all this time to put that recording into a pony. Now I'm back!" She held up that same foreleg, flexing the interlocking plastic joint. "Feels a lot like it used to, except for touch. That's worse—but Lucid Storm says he'll figure it all out. He needed a pony who was actually alive to tinker with that stuff."
Apple Bloom held out her leg, touching against Sweetie's hoof. She pressed against the plastic, then pulled back just as quickly.
At least Sweetie Belle could still feel touch in her hooves. That pressure sensitivity was how she walked, and it could also serve almost as well for a hoof shake with a friend.
"That's hard for me to understand," Apple Bloom said. "I don't mean about scans and robot ponies and the like—I know clever ponies can do amazing things. They'll do more amazing things all the time. I just don't understand where the space is for the soul in all this. You ever heard of that?"
"No," Sweetie answered honestly. "What's a soul?"
"According to my granny—it's you." She tapped her chest with one hoof, then settled down into a sitting position. Within reach this time, not about to break and run. "Can't see it, can't touch it. But it's the part of you that goes on when this life is over. The part that loves and hates and fears. The part that misses your family when you've been away too long. The part that feels guilty when you make a mistake, or feels good when you make up for it."
"It's your conscience?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head to the side. "I know I can still feel bad for things. I ran out on my first night, and almost broke myself. Scared my big sister half to death when I did it, too. I still feel guilty about it..." Her head sagged, and her ears flattened as she spoke. She didn't even know exactly how she would make it up to her sister for that surprise wake-up call.
Apple Bloom grunted in frustration. "It's not—well, maybe it is. I dunno. You still sound like my friend. Can you still sing?"
She nodded. "Better, and worse. The way ponies make sounds is different from me. I can't get as loud, but I can sing for a lot longer. Maybe forever." She never needed to pause for breath, though she still usually did. It was instinct, even if no part of her body required breathing. Fans in her torso constantly circulated cool air to keep her insides cool. If they stopped, she would shut down.
A pair of rapid hoofsteps sounded in the hall. Before either of them could react, somepony else came stampeding into the room, her wings buzzing to speed her just a little more.
Scootaloo crossed the room in a blur. She stopped directly beside Apple Bloom, looking Sweetie Belle up and down.
"Hey, Scoots," Sweetie began, raising one hoof.
She hadn't got it down again before the pony rushed forward to embrace her, pulling her into a tight, shaking hug. "You're back!" Scootaloo didn't cry as openly. Her voice cracked, but when she let go, she pretended not to notice the tears. "I didn't know if it was real. But here you are, all... robot, now?"
She nodded. "Pretty much. Just don't ask me to vacuum the floors, I'm still not very good at it. The power cable isn't long enough." Now she didn't have to fake a smile anymore.
"Can't be worse than you are in the kitchen," Scootaloo countered, beaming right back. She was taller too, even taller than Apple Bloom. Her wings were much bigger than Sweetie remembered. Could she fly with those?
Sweetie suppressed that question. She didn't want to make her friend feel bad if the answer was no, even another year later.
"You don't wonder if she's for real?" Apple Bloom asked. "You just—hear, and assume?"
Scootaloo took a step back, gesturing at her. "If that's not Sweetie Belle, who else am I looking at? I know my friend when I see her." She leaned forward, patting Sweetie Belle's head with a hoof. "Bit of a small fry though, isn't she? Guess you didn't grow up since we saw you last."
Sweetie would've been frustrated at most ponies calling her short. After today, she would let Scootaloo call her anything she wanted. "It hasn't even been two weeks for me," she admitted. "Since we talked last, I mean."
"Woah. Guess we'll have to catch you up on everything." She sat down as though she were about to get started, then jerked suddenly up into the air. She drifted back to the ground, wings still spread. "Wait. I'm gonna get some snacks. What do robots eat?"
"Electricity," Sweetie answered, defeated. "I haven't felt hungry since I woke up. But I still miss eating things. The bat who made me says that's probably not gonna happen for a long time, though. Eating things is complicated, and there are a lot more important things to work out first."
Scootaloo shrugged. "Alright. One sec." She darted back out the door the way she'd come, leaving Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom alone in the awkward silence all over again.
"I want this to be real so bad," the earth pony whispered. "Of course I want my friend back. I want you to be Sweetie Belle."
"I am," she said. "I don't know about souls or whatever. I can't even pour a glass of orange juice without burning it. But do you think maybe—I could be like... a probationary friend? You could just give me a chance... p-pretend I'm the real Sweetie Belle. Then wait and see if I'm not."
She sniffed, and her voice felt like it would crack. But it never did, just as she couldn't cry. Was that a feature on Lucid Storm's list?
Apple Bloom was silent and still for a long time. Finally she leaned forward and hugged her. Lighter than Scootaloo had, but the love behind it felt no less real. Tentative, but sincere. "I'll try. It's good to see you again, Sweets. Missed you a lot."
"Missed you too," she squeaked. "Not as long as you two, but just as much. When you left the hospital, I didn't think I'd see you again either. I wish I was a real pony—but I'll take this if it's all I get. Beats being dead." She giggled at the morbid joke. Apple Bloom didn't share her amusement.
Instead she let go, looking awkwardly away. "While you were, uh—while you were over there... did you talk to my parents? Did they have anything to tell me?"
Sweetie settled back down onto her haunches. "I don't remember anything from while I was..." She shrugged her shoulders. "One minute, I was in the hospital room, getting ready for the scan. The bat talked to my sister, told me it might feel a little funny—then I woke up in the garage, and my body was all weird. There wasn't an in-between."
"Oh," Apple sighed. "Worth a shot. Let me know if you remember anything, though. Promise?"
"Promise." It wasn't exactly a hard thing to offer. From what little Sweetie knew about how the process worked, she was fairly confident it would never matter. She'd have to ask the bat engineer about where her “soul” was in the robotic body he'd built. Maybe he could add room for one in the next update, if he hadn't thought of putting it into her already.
"Got snacks!" Scootaloo hurried back in a few seconds later, balancing a plate of snacks on her back. "Borrowed these from your sister, Sweets. Sorry, she... made me promise not to let you have any." She settled them onto the empty place on Sweetie's desk, beside her photo-album.
"That's fine," she said. "Just having you two here is enough for me. You can tell me how good the apples taste."
"Great, obviously," Apple answered, without so much as biting one. "Rarity always buys from my sister, so I know they're good. We don't sell no junk fruit."
They arranged the cushions beside Sweetie's bed, so everyone had somewhere comfortable to sit. Technically Sweetie didn't need cushions—but not having them would've made her feel even shorter compared to her friends.
"Now, where to start," Scootaloo continued, once they were in place. "After the memorial, I guess. Let's not talk about that... too depressing. But it's over now. Anyway, you were around when Cozy Glow got turned to stone. But a few weeks after, there was this new loser that showed up..."
Sweetie Belle listened for hours, chatting with her old friends about all the crazy and amazing things that had happened in Equestria since her death. She ached in their defeats, thrilled in their victories, and more than anything else just wished she could've been there to help.
But thanks to a few new inventions, she would get to be there for the next adventures.
That was almost as good.
The End
I quite enjoyed this story. It has the appearance of a light fluffy story about a girl getting a second chance at life, but the emotional/philosophical content lurking just below the surface gives it a much more sinister feel. The question "Is Sweetie Bot actually Sweetie Belle?" is unanswered, and probably unanswerable. While every character has their own unique answer to this problem, each stemming from their own personal history and experiences, the story itself doesn't say if any one of these characters is "right". It simple leaves it open to the reader to decide how they feel and think about the situation.
Great job, I quite liked this short story.
Such a down-to-earth take on a classic fandom concept!
By the by, how did the whole idea behind Sweetie Bot come to be, anyway? Did a brony get really excited about robo-ponies or something?
How tragic. Sweetie Bot is being forced to be Sweetie Bell and her sister is in complete denial that she is actually dead. I hope Sweetie Bot gets to be herself. Maybe Twilight can employ her in the government in a few years…
Awesome story, thank you very much Starscribe!
11377636
Let me disagree here. Sweetie Bot is not forced to be anything.
If you want to be technical, Sweetie Bot is a neural network based on the personalities and memories of Sweetie Belle.
And now we are at the junction: if she thinks like Sweetie Belle, acts like Sweetie Belle, has the memories of Sweetie Belle, thinks she is Sweetie Belle... then [is she || she is] Sweetie Belle?
(CGP Grey made a great video on a very similar topic: The trouble with Transporters - i.e. what is the definition of 'you'?)
Short and sweet story. Added bonus that there were some computer technical concepts that were presented inconspicuously.
11377665
I'm of the opinion that she is "a" Sweetie Bell (to within 99.87%), just not "the" first one.
11377665
I disagree.
When she was interfacing with the computer she believed it and the bat (whose name escapes me) and it heavily implied she has hardware code embedded in; we have no idea how many shackles are on her mind.
The way the story was written heavily implies she is incapable of challenging her identity. She is able to make new memories but I doubt she could grow as a person.
11377620
IIRC, Sweetie Bot is from a really early time in the fandom, I think from a video series which took existing episodes, edited and re-dubbed them to make something new, similar to how those anime abridged series tend to go. Don't quite remember what it was called, unfortunately.
11377704
Friendship is Witchcraft maybe?
11377707
Yeah, that's the one!
Pretty sure sweetie bot is from there.
In the stories description is says Sweeties been dead for years (meaning more than one) but in the story it say only 1 year. I know its a small detail but I'm just curious. Overall this was a great story.
Love the happy-ish ending
This felt like it could have been the start of something much longer until you wrapped it up. Here’s hoping your muse bugs you about it in the future.
11376632
Prove this boolshit
This is the first story I've seen that took what is basically a meme character, and did a story that really made me think. As other commentors noted, it's been done before, but never with this level of unsparing humanity ("pony-anity?") to it. Weaving in the issues of informed consent at the heart of so much IRL ethics - this version of Sweetie was suffering a terminal illness and "agreed" to something she really wasn't in a position to understand - makes this all the stronger. Applebloom's question of "does Sweetie Belle (Prime) have a soul" is particularly apt here. This one... she does, and that's good writing. I wish there was more, but leaving it open-ended is a very good way to end this too.
That was cute, but I wouldn't call copying someone's memories to a robot a 'resurrection'.
sweetie bot must make toast, this I demand! but you don't have to listen to this comment or its silly demands
11377968
this is something the Bobverse books kind of deal with, well, except there's no magic there...sort of. they did end up finding what can be described as a soul in the 4th book but Bob basically understands that he's both the Bob and also an artificial intelligence constructed from the brain scan of a guy who did something as silly as paying to get his head frozen, and then getting hit by a car. its a duality he's accepted which is kind of why he was the only actual successful human-generated AI (since he also meets an actual sentient machine born AI at some point)
Wow, that was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be and mostly sweet, annoyingly leaves a variety of questions unanswered like whatever happened to her parents or how they feel about the whole deal.
11377616
She's not sweetie belle, she's a copy but no one involved cares so I don't think it matters.
11377636
I don't think she can be said to be being forced anymore than you could say you're forced to be you, she has the memories and personality of sweetie belle, she is an imperfect copy but to her she is sweetie belle.
If someone made a copy of you, it would still believe itself to be you and would be upset that someone was already living its life.
In sweetie's case the original is dead and the copy can take over.
Sweetie seemingly knew this would be the case if they were successful, she passed on everything she could to sweetie bot.
11377697
She had also just woken up and wasn't in the best mental condition as she's an imperfect copy taken of someone in pain and very poor health running on an imperfect simulation and she was the first one to function well enough to not collapse on startup. She should be allowed some initial confusion. She seemed to stabilize and seems relatively normal later on in the story.
11377746
It is a basic fact of life.
Life ends.
Until true immortality happens, it's a undisputed fact.
11377746
wow I mean if you haven't had to, then good but I've had to watch 2 grandparents die from horrible degenerative diseases, 1 cousin die behind the wheel, and recently lost my closest grandmother whom I was taking care of, and my uncle in the span of 2 months, and someday I'll be arranging my mother and father's funerals, its just a fact of life.
11377994
tell that to the immortal jellyfish
11378007
and ?
no, not a fact
11378116
do you just not have any family then? like i'm deeply confused on the hangup here, everybody has to confront the death of someone in their life at some point, and one thing everybody will inevitably have to do is confront the death of their parents, and quite possibly their siblings. Even the death of pets is fairly traumatic, you can't spend a decade with a dog or cat and not be heartbroken when they're gone. its just a fact of life that you are almost certainly going to out live your parents and possibly one or more siblings, and your pets. its so much a fact that a very large chunk of human culture revolves around death and how to cope with it. hell, britain just shut down for 10 days to mourn a queen.
import soul
11378125
there is.
to whom do I owe it?)
prove that this is a "fact of life")))
oh, how conveniently and imperceptibly you replaced "this is a fact" with "almost certainly"
no, the culture revolves around death because of the fear caused by this.
A pretty good little story.
Anyone else get Undead Robot Bug Crusaders vibes from this Sweetie Bot? There's plenty of differences to be sure, but spoilers are very similar...
Heck. This was great.
Thank you for writing this Starscribe! it's every thing i hoped for and SO much more! I'll be fighting for more chapters as soon as the opportunity to do so arises. (so glad so many are enjoying it)
"Where is it in you?"
"... Well, dang."
Lovely little tale, with just enough philosophical weight to keep it from feeling too fluffy and inconsequential for the subject matter. But overall, it's triumphant. Nothing quite like flipping off the Reaper, even if the species in question only has one digit per limb. Thank you for this.
A smart girl, recognizing that her brain isn't where it used to be. Still, a marvel at the pace of equestrian technology.
For the soul question, it always boils down to, would it truly matter either way?
11378299
Hey! 👋 been a hot minute since that one updated hasn't it?
11383516
Three updates this year to the sequel is rather good, actually.
11383526
.... We need to update tracking, that was completely missed! 😱
11378115
Although the jellyfish is biologically immortal, it can still be killed by other means. It can dry out and die, it can starve to death, or if it is lucky to survive so long, it can die due to freezing when the sun is no more. It will die eventually. The statement "Life ends" still holds true.
11384679
unless people take this jellyfish to another sun. the statement is still incorrect
11388804
We wouldn't say no, but we also wouldn't do... that.
Oh yes there is certainly far more to this story
11384679
I think the sun will go out just as soon as we finish taking it apart through starlifting. A few million years, tops.
11384740
What even is this argument? You just argued against the sun exploding with “well. Other stars exist.” Not only is the jellyfish still vulnerable to dying, and given how long of a life that would be it would be statistically likely, if not almost assured it would be dead by then. And that’s just pushing the goalpost to the heat death of the universe. Death is a huge factor in all known life and the human psyche is wired around it existing. You just saying it isn’t is ignorant. Intentional or otherwise. The closest you can escape death would be to be born and grow up without other people who can die. (Which means you would be alone) and live for however long you have until you expire. Science has yet to find any way around this yet to my knowledge, and again. We still can’t stop the end of all things without leaps in knowledge humans are far from reaching.
Sweetie is up and ready to go. Rarity is reacting a bit too mildly but she is going in the right direction at least. It has the right tone and feel. And it has a nice place to end it. Overall a good story.
The only thing I dislike is the length. Short stories aren’t too much to my tastes and this story while good, has reawakened an itch for sweetiebot stories that this wasn’t long enough to satisfy.
You said this might get future chapters and the commissioner said they would try and get more. But even if not, this was short and sweet. Now if you’ll excuse me I now need to go read more sweetiebot
11378125
I think what they're saying is that "the last enemy to be defeated is death." Basically we should be trying to eliminate death by old age. We should use science technology to keep everyone young and healthy indefinitely and colonize other planets so we don't run out of room. Death is bad, so let's get rid of it.
11441817
and a huge chunk of even scifi is about exploring the ramifications of a world without death, and what lengths people would go to obtain that and whether or not its something we should even want
well nice short story. Glad there's a smidge more to read.
So far I'm loving this story. I wish I didn't miss it the first time around -- I could have argued with the fatalistic deathists in the comments!