> Artificial Soul > by AskNightmareLuna > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prolouge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A small scream cried out. The servos whirred as the defense protocols started activating. Target acquired flashed in red. The read out continued. Foal, filly in danger. A multi-toned voice carried on the air, "Everything's ok. Funky is on the way." The machine moved towards the filly steadily playing the thumping bass and electronic music swaying in time to the beat. That was when the danger lights flashed in her vision. A stallion stood over the filly edging closer with a dark gleam in his eyes. The fake skin of her mouth twisted from her normal smile to a menacing growl. The music stopped as she lunged forward to close the short distance and stand between the stallion ad the white filly. "Warning you are in violation of safety and welfare protocols. Any further advances will result in Funky bouncing you." The stallion laughed at he robot. "You aren't programmed to fight. Now out of my way. I have a filly to teach a lesson to." Funky refused to move and she was heavy enough that she couldn't be pushed. Her eyes glowed under the purple lenses of her glasses. "Last time you hunk of scrap out of my way!" The stallion didn't notice the red lights on the robot's built-in sound system, horn or eyes. The speakers gave a low rumble before a wall of bass slammed into the stallion. "No pony messes with the Funky Funky." The robot took a step forward as she seemed to getting ready to blast the stallion again. The stunned pony scrambled backwards. The filly had by this time taken refuge under a booth behind the robot. This part of the restaurant didn't have any cameras but the noise had attracted attention. Just as the stallion clenched his teeth bracing for a second bone shaking bass blast a voice called out. "DJ Funky auto-override power down and stand-by!" There was a soft hum which died away. Then there was nothing. The robot's eyes had closed and it was carried away to be locked in the storage room, but it wasn't turned off and was awaiting to command that would awaken it. That command never came giving the robot time to think. The video of the scene played over and over. The filly was scared and the stallion looked menacing. > The spark of life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The door to the storage room swung open. Two ponies entered. "Are you sure about this? That thing hasn't been turned on since the incident?" Funky was actually on but unable to interact and the incident was when she had protected a foal from a stallion intending harm. She had spent this whole time going over the scene and knew she had acted according to the program. Was the protocol wrong or faulty? Was the robot or the program defective? "Yeah I'm sure. It's been sixteen years and it's about time ponies know the truth." Funky couldn't see the mare who had spoke nor the two-tone blue mane that matched hers in color. She could hear though. She heard the hoof steps getting closer as the two ponies crossed the storage room. "It's your funeral," said the maintenance pony. Funky would have retorted with a sarcastic remark as she had bee programmed to if she wasn't on stand-by. There was a grunt as Funky heard the mare punch the stallion. "Fine, DJ Funky command override. Basic operations mode." After sixteen long years trapped in a replay loop the robot was leaving stand-by, humming to life and moving her head and ears. "Duh duh duh Deeeee Jay Fun-kay here to bring a hop to your hooves and a smile to your face all day!" Her voice was crackled but still had the powerful multi-toned robotic quality it had when she had been put into storage. "Systems diagnostics indicate minor repairs required but still able to pound out the bass at optimal levels." She turned he head looking at the mare as her glasses slid up revealing the glowing red eyes that had been hidden under them. Now the robot could see the blue mane which was bigger and more wild but still had the colors of her own. The stallion spoke again. "DJ Funky this is Vinyl Scratch. She is your new owner and operator. Update your databanks to indicate this and remove restaurant employees from your access list. Miss Scratch is your only access priority." Funky's systems weren't in the best shape but she was able to record the changes when there was a surge of power from the unit she had been plugged into. The recharge station nearly exploded as smoke billowed from it. The stallion had forgotten to unplug it from the robot whose systems put an extra load on the device if she wasn't in stand-by. Funky's eyes went dark as her body locked in place. "Well buck!" shouted Vinyl. The cables hooked to the robot detached with a hiss. The red eyes had a dim glow to them once more. The robot took a shaky step forward. "S-s-self Di-I-iagnostic-ic-ic... r-r-repair-air-air n-needed..." Her voice was wavering and going off its normal tones as if winding down. There was a pop from the robot's neck as she opened her moth to speak again. She closed her mouth looking as if she were sad to lose her voice. Vinyl looked at the stallion in shock. "You broke her! You heard her say she needed to be fixed so fix her." She stallion shook his head with a sigh. He had told Vinyl that he didn't know how since the one who could had retired shortly after Funky was stored. "Oh man what am I going to do. I can wire up a sound system no prob but fixing her is gonna be a lot harder." She frowned and waved at the robot. "Well let's see if we can find you a robot doctor." Funky cast a look at the stallion she had last seen cleaning tables before lowering her glasses and following the white mare who now owned her. What the two ponies didn't notice was the faint pulsing of the lights. Funky couldn't tell Vinyl about her dangerously low batteries which had lost potency over time. Fortunately for Funky and Vinyl she did have a back up power system if they could get outside. The two walked in silence that was forced. Each step was met with a strange series of data. Funky didn't want to power down again. The thoughts stopped once the two had let the building and her power level began to level out. This would only last as long as the sun was up and Funky stayed in the light, but for now her worries were gone. Vinyl did notice Funky avoiding shadows and staying in the sun as much as she cold. Sometime later they had arrived at a place Vinyl went to when her equipment was beyond her abilities to repair. She had to leave Funky outside until the repair pony came and helped carry the robot inside. The bad thoughts returned. She had to get into the light. She was again put in stand-by. Moments later the danger lights stopped flashing in her vision and her power was normal. She knew she was being worked on and damaged parts replaced. Even so it did nothing to stop the replay of the filly from returning. When she was repaired and reactivated she felt much better. She wasn't going to shut down for a long time. The next stop would be the place she'd come to call home. > Emotional updates > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first day had been uneventful after nearly frying her circuits and being repaired. Her sleep mode was interrupted when she heard a sound rarely heard in a pizza place. It was the song played on some stringed instrument. A violin, no it was to deep and mellow. This was the song of a cello. Funky's ear turned to hear the music better. She was recording the sound while analyzing it to see if she could adapt it to her own upbeat electronic music, but even as she listened even more strange program string began to emerge. This confused the robot and the more familiar bad thoughts returned. The pony in the bed stirred with a groan. Funky tilted her head then straightened it again. Her eyes closed as she returned to her sleep mode. She still had a lot of updating to do after sixteen years being cut off from her access. News hadn't ever been a priority until she fund articles about herself and what had happened. There was only a brief mention indicating they had never intended to take her out of that room. It was now quite late when she had finished her searches and updates. Vinyl was gone and Funky checked her internal clock for the time. It was five in the evening. Funky remembered Vinyl saying she was a DJ for the club scene. There was that cello music again and Funky fund it hard not to start playing her own style to match it. It started soft as just snare drums but grew more complex. Little did the robot know it was another pony actually playing. Octavia hadn't heard the thumping of the percussion the robot was playing in time to her own just yet. The bass line grew louder then softer so not to drown out the cello music. When the cello would stop so did Funky's bass. After the third time the music stopped Funky frowned and waited. The cello didn't play again for a long moment. This time the robot didn't play her bass music. She had begun to look through a collection of music with the name Pon-3 on the labels. Several hours passed while Funky loaded the songs and analyzed them. Vinyl had walked in while the robot was listening to one of the mixes with a smile. "What's this? Been going through my music collection have you?" Funky nodded then looked around the room. Sh raised a hoof pointing towards the door behind Vinyl. "Not yet Funky. I... uh have a room mate and she might not understand if she sees you before I talk with her." Funky lowered her head as she responded. "Funky understands. Funky don't like it." Without another word Funky returned to her corner and entered her sleep mode. The replay began again. Normal speed, it happened so quickly. Several times it played before she left her stand-by mode. Now she started her searches again trying to put a label on the thoughts she kept having. Her results read "emotions" and she began to study the information. > Premature discovery > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Funky was not happy about having to stay in one room. The plus side was now she wasn't on stand-by and could move around though in only one room. There was the cello music again and Funky listened. Eventually the robot had started to fit other parts into the melody playing her own version quietly. Funky was in her remix mode replaying the cello music she had heard internally to refine her electronic music. She didn't hear the light knocking that grew louder. The door opened and a gray mare with ebony mane stood on the other side. The play back ended instantly. Funky opened her mouth to speak but she was cut off before she could greet the other. "What is Equestria are you and why the buck are you in Vinyl's room?" Octavia walked into the room keeping her eyes on the robot. Funky's ear pinned back as she started to back away. The artificial pony entered into a dark corner making the glow of her eyes obvious. "What sort of degenerate monster are you?" Funky sank to the floor. She didn't want to be stuck in some closet unable to move again. "Funky not a monster. Don't put Funky in a small room all alone." Octavia wasn't expecting that tilting her head to the side looking at the robot. The light behind Funky's glasses had gone out which was a sign she had closed the eyes behind them. "I will certainly speak with Vinyl when she returns." She turned walking back towards the door. "If you promise not to interrupt you may come out and listen while I practice, but don't play your music. I mean unless you can stay with a classical sound." Octavia didn'tsee the glow return with a smile on the robot's face. The robot followed behind Octavia. The gray earth mare was surprised when she heard a piano playing the introduction of the song she had been playing previously. Octavia looked back as she got herself ready to play once more to see the robot was the source of the music. "Perhaps I shall go easy on Vinyl. Still she should have told me sooner." Funky just smiled as the piano music continued followed by a soft beating of a drum to keep the tempo. Octavia drew up her bow and started to play. The rich deep tones of her cello mixed and blended into the melodic piano notes. Outside the apartment Vinyl had stopped hearing the music. Coming home to hearing Octavia playing wasn't unusual but it was that she had been accompanied by other instruments and she was an earth pony so it wasn't magic. Vinyl also knew Octavia practiced alone or with other ponies and not to a recording. The white unicorn had a feeling of dread as she slowly opened the door allowing he curiosity t win out. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. There was a head bobbing Funky standing on the other side of the couch while Octavia was playing. Vinyl stood there jaw dropped. "W-wha?" Octavia stopped playing and put her cello on it's stand. "Vinyl, we need to talk." She then turned and gave the robot a slight bow. "Thank you very much Funky. I quite enjoyed having some pony to actually play and appreciates the classical Genre." Funky smiled brightly before she had disappeared into Vinyl's room once more. > Feeling robot > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Funky was quite happy about how much fun she had with Octavia. Again it was a little confusing but everything she had learned told her happy was the correct word for it. Funky now settled into her corner for what for her could be considered rest. Back out in the living area with Octavia and Vinyl things weren't going quite as smoothly. "How long did you plan to keep this a secret?" Vinyl cringed at the edge in Octavia's voice as the gray earth mare spoke. Octavia spun facing away from Vinyl. The whit unicorn was silent for a long while. Octavia grew impatient glaring back over her shoulder. "Did you not think to tell me right away? Why was it I had to find out like this?" "Octi, I'm sorry. I was going to tell you honest!" Octavia snorted and turned her head forward lifting her chin. "I mean it Octi. Just don't make me get rid of her. I can't tell you why right now, but... She's important to me." Vinyl lowered her head not even trying to meet Octavia's eyes. Octavia turned to face Vinyl again. "Vinyl, who said anything about getting rid of her. I swear she was practically dancing while we played. Much better than rehearsals and I didn't feel like I was practicing to some recording." Octavia glanced towards the door. "I expect to see her out more often being locked up in your room can't be good for her." Vinyl was shocked that it had gone so well. She had expected Octavia to be furious and demanding she take Funky back for a refund. Funky's rest cycle included getting an update on current events. Two articles stuck out to her. The first was about a restaurant and how it was saved from going totally bankrupt due to a hushed deal with a local club pony. The details on that article hinted but fell short of the truth. The second was about a stallion who had recently been released from prison after a fateful encounter at the previously mentioned restaurant. Funky didn't see the connection other than the location where she had been kept and stored all those years. The old recording began to play back in one corner o the display. Funky felt something. It was strange and it seemed as if her programming was writing new codes. The robot ignored that as she paused the playback focusing on the filly and the picture of the famous DJ Pon-3. She knew there had to be some connection but it wasn't clear what it was. It was only a second later that she saw the connection. Her eyes opened looking over at the now sleeping Vinyl. "Never fear, Funky is here."