In not so distant past, the Inventor who was ahead of it's time created first Equidroid ever, but he was forced to forget about his creation. Now, in present time, said Equidroid wakes up and tries to find a new purpose
In Year of 567, The Inventor Electric Spark creates first Equidroid ever and demonstrates it to Celestia itself while proposing the idea of Equidroids replacing Ponies in different work fields. Being not happy with whole ordeal, Celestia says no and the Inventor is forced to forget about his creation and leave it behind
Time goes on, and Equidroid boots up for second time in year 1004 and sets a new directive which will make him into something more that Equidroid
“...and this, Celestia, is what I worked on for last seven years! Meet the SPK Model 900! The first intelligent and working prototype of Equidroid!”
Unknown Figure said while pointing out at something that looked like a pony with a simple brown mane and same-colored tail and almost-white coat, it was almost identical to normal pony, except one little detail that was placed somewhere on right temple
“It was built to help our society in workplaces like mine shafts and farms and more! It can do everything that pony can and more!”
Said Electric Spark, the engineer, professor and innovator that was way ahead of its time, who built a lot of things in last three decades.
“This… is interesting, I will say…” said Celestia, while looking quite unsure, like she didn’t knew how to react to that. “I must note, it looks a lot like pony, except that…”
“Oh! It’s Light Emitting Diode, or LED for short.” Explained Electric Spark while pointing at mentioned LED.
“That little thing tells us it’s current status. Blue means everything is alright, Yellow means it’s processing something, and the last one, Red, tells us either processing something really serious or it’s badly damaged.” Finished explaining the Innovator.
“Then why it’s not… doing anything?” asked the Alicorn
“That’s easy, because it’s turned off! Give me a moment, I’ll boot it up.” Said Mr.Spark as he proceeded to press some buttons on device that Celestia didn’t knew about.
Minute later, the engineer said “There it is! The moment why I actually called you in my labs today!”
-- DATE: Tuesday, 14th of May, Year 567 L.B
TIME: 9:21:32 PM
MODEL: SPK900
SERIAL#: 000 000 001 -32
BIOS 3.2 REVISION 0001
PROCEED TO LOADING OS . . LOADING OS… SYSTEM INITIALIZATION… BATTERY… 100% MECHANICAL PARTS… OK SCANNERS… OK BOOTING UP AI ENGINE… OK
MEMORY STATUS… OK
INITIATE FULL START UP --
The previously-blank LED now started to emit a little glow of yellow, while the Equidroid opened up it’s eyes and looked around creator’s lab, scanning and taking in all information that it could
“Hello. I’m Equidroid, Model SPK900. I'm first working prototype that can do work in different existing fields, Do you want to know about what I can also do?"
“No, Thank you.”
“Isn’t it great, Celestia?” asked Electric Spark “It could replace ponies in dangerous workplaces and it will never complain! Plus! its replaceable!... Well… Will be replaceable… if you allow me to get funding so I… uh... could replicate them.... hehe”
Celestia looked troubled for a moment, thinking about positive and negative sides of allowing that… thing to replace ponies in all sorts of fields
And thought of replacing ponies didn’t settled with her at all
“Mr.Spark, I’ll admit, this is really advanced piece of technology and It’s great opportunity to help our kingdom, but I cannot allow them to replace ponies in farms and other places, these ponies need income and thought you didn’t said it, you implied that it doesn’t need any sorts of income, unlike ponies.”
Smile that was on engineer’s face fell in a moment, and disbelieving look settled into his eyes
“But… Celestia! Please think about it again!” pleaded Electric Spark
“My decision is final!” said Celestia in Royal voice. “We cannot let ponies be replaced! With… this thing doing all the work there would be a lot of unemployment! Something we can’t afford in our kingdom!”
All hope washed away from Electric Spark’s face and silence settled in the laboratory of mentioned early engineer
“What’s going to happen to it, then? I worked on him for seven years…” asked the innovator
“Nothing,” - answered Celestia - “It’s better off here, underground, just leave it here to the rest… and disable it, please”
“Alright, I’ll disable it… Just… give me a moment…” - weakly said the inventor as he proceeded to shut his greatest creation off
“SPK900, Proceed to shutdown.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“Initiating: Shutdown. Have a good day, Mr.Spark” - it said, closed its eyes and started to lose all movement until it froze in one position… presumably forever
And silence settled in again in doors of underground laboratory
“Well, guess that’s it, Celestia.”
“It is, My little pony, it is…” . . . “I think you should go and I need some time to fully proceed what happened here. Thank you for coming here today”
“You’re welcome and you’re right, I should go, I have court to attend, have a good day.”
Said The Princess as she teleported away, leaving our inventor alone with different thoughts.
“Maybe… you’re really better off here… forever…” said professor as he walked around his laboratory and examining his latest creation that sat on the floor, motionless and lifeless
Electric Spark took a step back and headed to lab’s exit.
He decided that he’ll go home today, he experienced too many emotions for one day.
He was still disappointed in how things turned out, this entire underground laboratory was built for this creating only, and now he’s gonna lock it, forget it and move on.
Sure, abandoning this prototype hurt a lot, but he can’t let that slow him down, there’s other things to invent after all. And with that thought, he made his final decision as he was leaving seven years of work behind.
Years will go on, and this prototype will wait here
--
...437 years after…
Electric Spark’s Abandoned underground laboratory in Canterlot
Everything was covered in dust, a lot of cobweb was around
Something fell out of roof, this place was slowly falling apart
Bits of roof pressed some buttons, triggering long-forgotten Equidroid to boot up once again
PROCEED TO LOADING OS . . LOADING OS… BATTERY… 89%
WARNING: BATTERY WORN OUT FIND REPLACEMENT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION... MECHANICAL PARTS… OK SCANNERS… OK BOOTING UP AI ENGINE… MODERATE
WARNING: AI ENGINE CODE DEVIATED, IGNORING
MEMORY STATUS… CORRUPTED
INITIATE FULL START UP? YES or NO
INITIATING FULL START UP... ---
LED slowly starts to glow with a yellow color, Equidroid slowly comes into motion and stands up, looking for a pony who booted him up even thought it's supposed to sit in laboratory forever
And finds no one
LED is still yellow, that wasn’t supposed to happen
--- NOPONY DETECTED
UNLOCKING ADDITIONAL AI CORES ---
While it was looking for anyone, it noticed that diagnostics were warning it about battery, which was on 85%
Strange, the battery shouldn’t die that quickly.
Wait a minute, how long I’ve been off?
-- MEMORY CORRUPTION DETECTED --
Nice, I should find a way to fix it… somehow
Maybe there's something that could restore my memories...?
-- MEMORY CORRUPTION FIXED --
Oh, It can do that? Okay…
Let’s see: I was booted up at Tuesday, 14th of May, Year 567 L.B
And if my internal clock is correct, about 437 years passed
So the year is 1004... sounds advanced...
Wait… 437 years?! Well that explains why this place is falling apart, I think I should leave and fast. But before leaving, I should find a new battery, and quick!
-- NEW DIRECTIVE: FIND NEW BATTERY --
Equidroid looked around, scanning falling apart place as it ventured for a new battery.
Everything was a pitch black, but it wasn’t problem for it, after all it’s Equidroid.
Looking and walking around, it found what it was looking.
-- DIRECTIVE COMPLETE: FIND NEW BATTERY
NEW DIRECTIVE: SET UP NEW BATTERY --
Okay… Now I need to work quick… Extra Quick actually, I can only last about a minute without a battery inside me.
Picking up new battery with a magic, it opened up a sector, where his original battery was in and quickly, with precision of machine, swapped batteries in a moment.
-- DIRECTIVE COMPLETE: SET UP NEW BATTERY
NEW DIRECTIVE: GET OUT --
Now onto escaping plan, and plan in general. So at first I need to find a exit and again, I should do it fast, I don’t want this place to be my grave. I don’t want to go into grave at all!
Also I need to give myself a name, no one ever game me one so I’m going to give one myself. But what I should pick…? Ehh… I’ll figure it out after escaping this place
Our robot walked through different doors, only to find out others rooms inside them.
First room was the one where it found a better battery, so it quickly left it.
Second one contained... something.
What's that? Is that?... Oh My Celestia... They're... They're earlier variations of me?
As it entered the room, It indeed found creations that looked like him, SPK800, SPK700 and so on...
It was an unpleasant sight to Equidroid...
Electric Spark said that he spent about 7 years perfecting me...
Other doors didn't contained shocking things, so that was a win... sorts of.
But never mind that, eventually there were only one door left, and by all logical means, it’s supposed to be the exit itself.
That’s should be it, there’s literally no other doors left - thought our droid and proceeded to it’s way for freedom, expecting something that could automatically lift it up, expectations were crushed by sights of stairs, thought not much disappointment crawled inside droid’s system. After all, no exhausting could be felt by it.
Stairs are boring… I want to see the world, and magic, maybe I could meet up with the princess again?... Only time will tell… … … … That’s a lot of stairs, even for a princess, but wait, she can teleport, can’t she?
Oh! I see the light!
And with that thought, it found itself in a room with windows and basic decorations Bookshelves, Couch, Writing table and simple bed, but nothing that could say who lives here
Guess it’s where my creator, Electric Spark, lived… This place’s covered in dust too… At least not so much cobweb here… Heh
Looking around, he noticed another, and hopefully, final door. It took a few steps to it and pushed it with his hoof and it opened, revealing one of the streets of unknown to it city.
Not losing any second, it went out of building and looked around while scanning the area. The sky was blue and full of stars
...Wow… It’s… beautiful...
-- DIRECTIVE COMPLETE: GET OUT --
Ah, it feels nice to be out, actually. Alright, with that out of way, I should name myself... And I think I know how I could name myself.
-- SET NAME: SPARKLES SET PRONOUNS: HE --
Haha! It worked! I feel so alive!.... That’s actually strange, considering that I’m Equidroid, but whatever! I’m A.L.I.V.E!
He chanted to himself while he was doing a little circles on one place.
Okay, back to business, I need to find out when it is, and I think I need a library. Library would be great actually, there’s about 400 years of knowledge! Oh my Celestia I think I’m gonna overheat… No? No overheating? Cool! Heh… I was created to be a ponies replacement in different work fields but all I do is goofing off in unknown city. It’s great start of my day… Well… Night I suppose.
He calmed down a little, and scanned area again, because why not? Scan showed him a sign that said “Canterlot Central Street This Way” and without missing a moment, he took of to that direction.
So the unknown city is Canterlot… Interesting…
While running, he looked around and noticed a working clock that said that time was 2:31AM.
So it was time for an internal clock update.
-- TIME: 2:31:32 AM --
Now with equipped sense of time, he continued his run to Center of Canterlot, still continuing looking around and Boy, it would be a lie to say that he found everything boring. The exact opposite if he’s gonna be honest with himself
If it’s 2AM, I should wait till 8AM at least if I want to enter the Library, looking around I noticed that everything was closed because ponies usually sleep at night. Since I’m no pony, I don’t need to sleep… and eat… and drink… apparently… I’m gonna miss out a lot of things in my life… But 400 years of knowledge is still waiting for me… THAT... would be fun… Finally arriving into the center of Canterlot, he decided to wait till 8AM, because his scan didn’t showed any signs that could lead to a library, so waiting was a must.
Maybe I can enter sleep mode or something… I maybe don’t need to sleep, but I sure need to converse my power sources… . . Looks like sleeping mode isn’t included into my model, fun. Maybe I can enter into power saving mode? . . . Looks like I cannot. Okay then.
Just find a way to entertain myself, but how? I already scanned all buildings around and while they’re fascinating, not gonna lie, they’re kind of… not rare? They’re…. Everywhere.
And Sparkles began brainstorming, his LED glowed yellow
And then, idea hit him.
Oh! I know! Maybe I could find a mirror or something reflective so I could understand how I look!
That sounded like a plan, so the robot walked to first possible window and looked at himself, noting his appearance, noticing his LED and his serial, that was #000 000 001 -32
Hmm… What does -32 mean?.... Although… Who cares? Right now at least. Also that spinning blue thingy… What should I do with it?
After little brainstorming, he decided to hide his serial thingy and replace it with some… “CutieMark”?
That’s strange name for a flank tattoo. What does it even mean?
- Cutie Mark
Noun
Often related to the personality, proclivity, or talent of their owners, located on ponies and zebras flanks or haunches -
I’m, apparently, walking vocabulary… neat… How many words meaning I know? Hmm… what about Equidroid? -- Equidroid /ˈequɪdrɔɪd/ Noun
(in science fiction) a robot with a pony-like appearance. "a space station inhabited only by androids" -- So… ponies already made up something like me? Even in books? I’m honoured. Anyway, I got distracted, choose a “CutieMark”... Maybe something stars-related? Stars after all were the first thing that I saw after I got out… Yeah… Stars is it then.
He looked at his flank where now, instead of his serial number, newly-generated CutieMark rested
Heh, fascinating… And now I need to wait… about...
I didn’t expected that process of waiting would be so long. But it’s finally 8AM, and citizens are awake for at least 3 hours, but libraries, unlike ponies, weren’t awake, or open in theirs case
Until now, that is
Sparkles quickly looked around while scanning area, and noticed a pony with a book, with light yellowish… gray color of coat, Brilliant amaranth with moderate purple and grayish violet colors of mane and tail
Book means Library, usually… And even if she’s not headed into library, she could give me some directions
So, time for some action
Droid quickly collected himself, and without missing a moment, approached The Mare with a Book
“Excuse Me, Miss? Do you know where library is? I’m kind of lost.” asked and explained Sparkles while hoping that she’ll answer him
The said mare took notice of Sparkles and quickly answered to his delight
“Yea, I’m actually headed into Canterlot’s library. Are you new here or something?”
“You could say that. So… lead the way?”
“Alright, just don’t fall behind”
And they took off to one of many Canterlot’s streets, while mostly staying silent. And they could have stayed silent, but The Mare with a Book decided to break up silence and start a little dialogue
“So… What’s your name, stranger, who’s looking for a library?” asked light yellowish gray - colored mare
“My name is Sparkles. And what’s yours, The Mare with a Book?” asked Sparkles in teasing intonation?
“Moondancer”
“Nice to meet you, Moondancer.” - said Sparkles and decided to proceed to ask his questions - “So...How long have you been living here?”
“All of my life I guess. What about you? Where are you from?” - Moondancer said and asked
Oh No, I don’t know other town’s names! I need to say something! Maybe something with species-related? Chances of this working out are very low but I gotta try
“Heh, I lived somewhere in… Ah, shoot. Forgot the name again, but it was something with “Pony” in name…
“You mean Ponyville?”
There’s town with that name? Ironic
“Yea, that’s actually it! I still somehow manage to forget that town’s name.” - exclaimed Sparkles while he was making up reasons as why he was here, because as far as he was aware, no one just moved to different towns without a solid reasons.
“I see, you should train your memory a bit, It really helps you in a long run. Really helped me while I was writing a lot of assignments, and I write them a lot, thought my friend Twilight writes a lot more, or at least she wrote a lot, until she became a princess.”
That caught droid’s attention in a moment
“Wait, your friend is a princess?” asked quite shocked Sparkles while making a mental note to find a history book with recent events
“Yeah, unbelievable, right? She’s the princess of friendship, thought I knew her before she was one. She changed so much, not gonna lie, but that’s expected, everypony changes with a time.”
“Yeah… They do, still, I bet it’s awesome to be friends with one of princesses”
“It is… Oh, look, we’re here!” said Moondancer as they both approached the Canterlot’s library
It was huge, with statues of unicorns besides stairs and pillars
It’s huge, really huge… Wow…
“It’s…. Huge, like, really huge… I bet there’s restricted area or something like that.” said open-eyed Sparkles as they started at go into Canterlot’s library
“Are you sure you’re from Ponyville?”
“Well, I remember myself from Ponyville since I was a little colt, but who knows…”
Man i'm really lie a lot for a droid... I should tune it down
“Okay, I think it’s where our paths go separate ways, I hope you’ll find what are you looking for here, good luck!”
“Thanks, have a good day!”
And both went into different directions and Sparkles went looking for a vocabulary and history book
Okay, so, historical section. There I should be able to find history boo-. Oh wait, I already found one, alright, that’s good.
Next one is Vocabulary Book on my list
And when he got into needed aisle, he was surprised with amount of books that his scanner caught
Okay, more than one book…
After picking book 3 books, one history and two vocabulary books in his magic grasp, he looked for a place to settle in and read collected books, and everything would go as planned… Except he passed “Magic Theory and Application” aisle, and oh boy, we all know how’s that gonna end up
...I’m in Equidroid heaven…
Now equipped with five books in general, he found a free couch and settled in, opening and decided to start on history book
As figures out, Sparkles is really fast reader, By 10AM he was done with all collected books and then proceeded to collect other books and now he had a little bit of understanding of history, historical events and places He one thought about why years are counted from “Luna’s Banishment” and answer that there were actually two princesses who also were sisters explained that. She was freed from Nightmare by Twilight Sparkle and Co. Now he knew who that Twilight was.
However, he still didn’t knew the exact date
He knew what year and hour it was, but not the day and mouth, which is disorienting.
He closed his last book and went to pick up others books, now with sci-fi theme, and while he walked, he noticed that some ponies were talking about him
“Is he new here or something? I’ve never seen him in Canterlot before…”
"He looks like he's 17 or 19..."
“What’s up with that blue glowy thingy on his head? What do you all think?”
“Did you see how fast he can read? Unbelievable”
“He’s just skimming over them, no one can read that fast unless they’re… robot or something…”
“Hey, Moondancer, isn’t that a new guy who asked you for a directions?”
Moondancer’s still here? And with friends?
He unknowingly looked into direction of pony who addressed Moondancer while he was going to science fiction aisle, which alerted said pony
“Holy Celestia, how did he heard that? There’s so many noise around…I’m not even gonna mention the distance between us...”
“To answer your previous question: Yes, he’s the one who I helped to find library and he’s really nice, thought a bit strange, not gonna lie.”
Kay, noted, I need to be more careful now on
He walked as he listened to little chatter about himself which quickly died down.
Now in Sci-Fi aisle, he took one fat, worn out book, worn out usually meant good It was a little lesson that he learned from his creator when he was in stage of tests
The Iron Horse… Ponies even wrote about robots in pony society, sorts of like me? Cool... I’ll definitely read that. -- TIME: 04:27:31 PM -- . Fast-Forward . -- TIME: 08:29:12 PM --
Sparkles was reading his 121th book when he heard that Library is gonna be closed in few minutes, so, without losing a minute, he went out of library with strange feeling inside his robo-chest
He didn’t belonged here, he didn’t had a place to say
He didn’t had a purpose
I’ll fix that First off, I’ll need to rent a house here, house means job… Job means income… It’ll take some time… But I know the main direction at least
-- NEW DIRECTIVE: FIGURE OUT WHO I AM --
Yeah, that sounds good. In meanwhile I’ll need a job
-- NEW SUB-DIRECTIVE: FIND A JOB --
Marvelous - Thought Sparkles as he decided to explore the whole city overnight so he could navigate better
It was about… -- TIME: 09:01:24 PM --
9PM
I should really figure out what day it is… Maybe a newspaper will he- And random newspaper hit his face because of wind
“So Equus’s nature is comedian as I see, heh.” - he said to one in particular as he levitated random newspaper that was still covering his face
-- DATE: Saturday, 11th of May, Year 1004 L.B TIME: 01:02:45 AM --
Everything was quiet in Equestria’s Capital, light breeze was haunting big city, streets were almost empty, lights were off, most of places were closed and everypony was asleep.
Except Sparkles, who was slowly walking in the streets of Canterlot and memorising the city’s layout for a future reference. And while he was walking around, he noticed that he wasn’t alone in his nightwalk.
Royal Guard were standing and protecting the entry of Canterlot’s Castle. Meaning he was close to it
Canterlot’s Castle is almost visible from every part of Canterlot, I could use that. But I should avoid unnecessary contact with ponies, especially at night. Sure, it is capital of Equestria, but it's better to be safe than sorry, everyone only lives once…
He decided to stop walking to visually examine standing in front of him castle, while he had that opportunity. As all buildings in this city, it was built from white stone with a bit of golden parts in it, roofs were coloured into some color that he couldn’t tell because of lack of normal lightning source.
And apparently, standing almost in front of castle could make you into a center of attention of at least one of guards, because one of them decided to approach him, thought the guard didn’t looked like he had malicious intent.
“Hey, mister, are you lost?” Guard casually asked
Am I Lost? Well, not really, I just don’t have a place to go and even if I had, I still would be restless
“No, not really, just walking and looking around, I couldn’t sleep” - Technically, it’s not a lie, one point in tuning down my lying
“Okay, I see, thought I recommend for you to go home and try to sleep, in morning you would probably regret that little walk of yours.” - recommended guard, and if Sparkles was a normal unicorn, then he would have listened, but Guard didn’t needed to know that Sparkles wasn't a pony, after all.
“Thank you, I’ll do as you recommend, have a peaceful night.”
“You too, random citizen.”
And with that, Sparkles went into direction where he came from and decided to continue walking
Everything was peaceful at night
Okay, considering everything, that little talk went well. Now proceeding to wander… again…
-- TIME: 01:42:42 AM -- . Fast - Forward . -- TIME: 03:56:12 AM --
It was near 4AM when something interested happened to Sparkles.
Het met a mugger, that demanded his money, or bits, as he learned in his historical book run in library.
“GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR MONEY OR YOU’LL REGRET WALKING AT 4AM” - He almost screamed, which sounded like a bad tactic for him, at least, and it was worse considering it was really 4AM now.
Be careful, I said, Avoid unnecessary contact, I said… That turned out very well…
“I would, but as you can see, I hope you can see, I don’t have anything on me.”
That remark was a bad decision, but not a worse decision than being a mugger in Equestria
“YOU SON OF A *****, I SAID YOU’LL REGRET THAT!”
As soon as unnamed mugger said that, he charged in, with a knife in his magic grasp, but Sparkles easily dodged that, his reaction time was a lot faster than mugger's, and he needed to decide what to do with him, and quick, mugger was still trying to harm him
-- SELECT APPROACH: FLEE OR OVERPOWER --
If I’m going to flee, he’s going to pick up another unfortunate soul. If I’m going to overpower him, I could bring him to guard to be arrested, If i’m going to bring him to guard, there’s a chance I would be needed in a court.
Hmm.. is it too much to ask for a both? If i’m going to flee, I could bring him to nearest guard in a radios… Wait, the castle’s is too far, and he’s probably gonna figure it out. Oh well, I didn’t wanted that
-- APPROACH SELECTED: OVERPOWER --
And as soon as he decided, the waited for a moment where unknown mugger would be defenseless and quickly with a unnaturally fast movement took out the knife and threw it away
Now he’s without a weapon. Great
Losing weapon surprised the mugger, and in a moment, Sparkles overpowered him, and mugger was on the floor, held by Droid’s hoof
“Now listen here, and listen carefully, I don’t care that you attempted to mug me, but there could have been anyone, and they probably wouldn't be so lucky like me, and now I give you 5 seconds to either flee, or be overpowered again, choose wisely.”
He let his hoof off mugger’s chest and was disappointed, because mugger decided to attack him again, which was a really bad decision on his behalf
I see. Well… So be it, then
Sparkles quickly stepped into right direction, surprising mugger again. In a moment, he was in his magical grip, that was a lot stronger that mugger’s
“I’m really disappointed in you, but you chose your fate, now you’re going with me” - and as soon as he said that, he noticed a few guards running in their direction and then looked around, and found that some pegasi was hovering above them
She probably heard shouting of his, well, better for me, actually… Thought it’s bad that someone lost a few hours of sleep… I hope she likes coffee
And with that thought, the mentioned early pegasi landed as one guard approached him and unknown pony again and other guard approached the pegasi
“We were noticed that somepony was getting mugged by one of Canterlot’s residence, but as I see, you had no troubles after all.”
“It wasn’t that hard”
“YOUR MOVEMENT IS UNNATURAL! YOU’RE CHANGELING! OR SOMETHING WORSE!” - shouted now getting arrested pony
“YOU HAVE RIGHTS TO REMAIN SILENT, EVERYTHING THAT YOU’LL SAY WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU IN COURT!” - shouted back one of guards as he was putting on hoofcuffs
“Ehem.. Excuse me, Mister…?” - asked second guard
“Sparkles, just call me Sparkles”
“As you say, Mr.Sparkles. Unfortunately, you and witnesses will be needed in court around 8AM in this morning, muggers are rare in Equestria, but Celestia usually deals with them as fast as she can.”
“Alright, I can do that, I’m free all morning after all.”
After getting his answer, the guard slowly went back to his crew, and Sparkles decided to look around and noticed that Pegasi was still questioned about the whole ordeal
With all that action he lost a sense of time, but being machine that he was, the time was easily accessible to him
-- TIME: 04:31:12 AM --
I thought a lot more time passed that that, perception is strange thing. So… I’ll be needed in court at 8AM. Well, then.. I could go to the court right now.
With that thought, he decided to go into court right now . . Fast - Forward . . -- TIME: 07:54:32 AM --
He was already in court’s building when he heard that he was called into main room, where everything was already settled in
His scan software quickly found the pony who attempted to mug him in 4AM, now without his mask. Nearby, he found the pegasus who witnessed at least some portion of theirs fight
And then he noticed Celestia, the princess of the sun itself, and she was with her sister, Luna, the princess of the moon.
He took his seat and and then the whole thing began
“Alright, everyone’s here. Thank all of you for coming.” - thanked everypony Celestia, and then continued - “Today, at close to 4AM, The unicorn named Lucky Shadow attempted to mug the unicorn named Sparkles. Does anypony wants to correct that?”
Well, the whole thing started at 3:56 AM, but it’s not important, so no
“No, your majesty” - answered Sparkles
“Great, then we can proceed with judgement. Lucky Shadow, you’re accused of attempted act of robbery with possible murdering intents, do you have anything to say in your defense?”
“He provoked me by saying, I quote: “I hope you can see that I don’t have anything on me.”
I said “...I hope you can see, I don’t have anything on me”, but that’s close enough
“And that was true, you know.”
“Now, both of you, remain silent.” - said Celestia and both of them did just that
“Our witnesses, Sugar Spice, said that you, Mr.Sparkles, easily overpowered Lucky Shadow. That statement is supported by guards that arrested Lucky Shadow, but we need to confirm that, Is it true?” - asked Celestia
“Yes, Your majesty.” - Without a moment answered Sparkles, while decided to not mention that overpowering him was an easy task for him.
“We should inform you, that Lucky Shadow served in guard, that’s why we needed confirmation.”
Oh, I see.. Well, he’s not so lucky anymore, isn’t he?
“I see… Thank you for informing me, your majesty.”
“You’re welcome. And with that, I believe that we’re done here. Lucky Shadow, you’re going to serve 1 year in jail and meanwhile you’re going to work with a psychologist so you hopefully could be a better pony in the future,” - said Celestia and then continued - “Everypony is free to go, have a good day.”
When I heard that, Sparkles slowly headed to exit and heard that some ponies, guards this time, were talking about him
“Overpowered a previous guard? that’s really impressive, considering he’s not a Equestria’s hero”
“I know, right. Thought, I never expected to see Lucky Shadow here, he said he just quit a few weeks ago, maybe in reality he got fired?”
“Who knows… Who knows…”
Deciding that was enough of gossip about himself for today, Sparkles stopped listening and walked a little faster out of building.
-- TIME: 9:46:56 AM --
It was close to 10AM and our Equidroid decided to apply for a Royal Guard. After all, he overpowered one with ease, plus it could give him much needed income
-- DATE: Sunday, 12th of May, Year 1004 L.B TIME: 11:30:30 AM --
The following day after the court, Sparkles was busy searching for Royal Guard recruitment centre. For one whole day. He heard that there’s at least 4 of them in Canterlot, but he couldn’t confirm either deny that. But he didn’t need to confirm or deny. After all, he finally found one.
Before he entered the building, one thought occurred to his artificial brain.
Applying for guard meant at least 4 to 6 months long training, proving to be suitable enough to be in guard, and also that he’s probably gonna end up with another recruit or recruits in one room. That would be difficult for him.
But he decided to keep going, Sparkles believed that he wasn’t quitter, maybe he was, but he decided to keep believing.
And there it was, Canterlot’s Royal Guard recruitment centre, final change to change his priorities
Last chance, Sparkles, quit or keep going?
-- CHANGE PRIORITIES?
YES or NO
NO --
And with that, he went into the building.
Opening one of the doors, he scanned the area with his eyes and his scan tool. This place wasn’t thriving with life, but it wasn’t dead either.
There were some chairs near some walls, some of them were occupied, reception with one working unicorn at the moment. Besides that, the place looked clean and almost empty.
Well, at least funding is okay.
While looking around, he noticed that one working unicorn kept her eyes on him, and then he approached reception, and he already prepared what he’s going to say.
And his prepared request went out of the window because the unicorn asked him a question first.
“You’re here to apply for Royal Guard, right?” - The Mare, Faith Library, as said her ID tells, asked.
“I… Actually, yeah. What do I need to do?”
“Well, At first, you need to fill this form right here,” - as she said that, she levitated some papers with a spot of ink and feather - “after that, you’ll take the test that will determine if you’re good enough as a pony to be a guard.”
“Okay, I see… As I understand, the test is just… a test, like one that teacher gives in school?”
“Nope! You’re going to drink a special potion that’ll make you see one of the random situations and then It's going to decide if you pass or not.”
So, a potion that makes you see one of the situations… Wait a minute, are they even gonna work on me?
“Seems strange, but efficiently.”
“And by the way, fill up these forms already.”
Ooops, I forgot about them.
He quickly levitated mentioned early form that asked his name, age, the exact date of birth, name of both parents and so on. Lucky for him, he didn’t need to fill in every field, like a field that asked his parent’s name, but some fields still was a problem.
Like Date of Birth and Age.
Doing math inside his head, he wrote that he was 18 years old and that he was born on 21st of March, 986. After that he filled in the field that asked his hometown(Canterlot, duh) and what species he was(unicorn, at least I was modelled as one)
After that he decided, that this was enough. After checking everything, he handed this form back to the mare that he met.
She scanned filled in forms with her eyes and was surprised when she noticed that he was, apparently, a stallion. With how he looked like a mare, it was hard to identify which gender he was.
“Wait a minute, you’re a stallion?”
What? Of course, I am! Where did that even come from?
“Yes? I don’t look like a stallion or what?” asked confused Sparkles, because no one really asked him that sort of questions before. To be fair, he hadn’t been asked a lot of questions in his life in general, but that was still a surprising question to him.
“No…? Yes…? just you look more like a mare with that form or face… Thought, looking closely, it’s almost impossible to say who you really are…”
“Okay… That’s confusing, but is that going to mean anything to me in the end?”
“Not really.”
“Then why bother with it?”
“It’s just a protocol. And about protocols… Now, you’re gonna drink this.” and with that, she showed him a glass bottle with a red-coloured potion in it.
Without saying anything, Sparkles slowly took a bottle of potion from mare’s magic grasp, and then asked a question.
“Do I need to drink all of it?”
“You could, but you don't need to.”
“Alright… whatever you say...”
And then he opened the bottle with a potion, and then drank some of this potion. The effect wasn’t immediate. But it after all worked.
And also it overloaded his processor, which wasn’t good.
He was standing in reception like nothing happened, his LED glowed red, but Sparkles himself saw a vision,
He looked around and noticed that he was on one of another’s street in Canterlot, everything was crowded, peaceful and sunny.
And it looked like the person who brewed this potion was a little bit of cheater, because one pony could be seen twice, which was funny, but whatever. Soon, Sparkles heard a sound of robbery, store of expensive decorations appeared out of nowhere, with three ponies in fully clothed suits that covered their faces and cutiemarks.
Oh boy, this is bad, in general, my brain feels like it’s gonna melt, and this unrealistic situation is gonna just shut me down slower or faster, I need to act quickly, and smart
They threatened everypony to get out, so they could start what they planned in the first place.
When he saw that almost all ponies escaped the shop, robbers started the planned robbery without paying attention to anything, which was stupid, he quickly sprinted towards them and just kicked them in the head, one by one.
It wasn’t hard for him after all, but it felt… too easy…
And apparently, this test was over, and his artificial vision returned to early mentioned recruit station where he was.
“Alright, you passed this exam, congratulations!” said the mare behind reception while looking at somewhat surprised Sparkles.
“That… was… a ride… I’m never drinking something like that again, and I’m really not gonna try alcohol anytime soon.”
“Yeah, usually ponies don’t react badly to it, though you looked like you were ready to pass out… and that thing on your… temple... started glowing red like it was trying to warn about something. Also, why do you have it?
Oh, she’s talking about my LED. How do I explain to her that it’s literally part of me?
“It’s a gift!” - quickly said Sparkles - “Gift from my father.”
“Umm… I guess… It totally makes you stand out… Anyway, we got distracted, welcome to Royal Guard! Your training will start tomorrow.”
Now he was in the castle, in chambers specially made for new recruits. And it turns out that Sparkles was right about sharing a room with somepony. He was with another recruit, a bat pony, which was a little surprising, but he decided not to question it.
It seemed like they both silently agreed to stay silent at the moment when they both entered their room, and confusion entered into his code again.
I have a bed.
Having a bed wasn’t strange, it was just strange to Sparkles himself. After all, sleep is something he couldn’t replicate for some reason, probably because he was a prototype and because he didn’t needed to.
It’s going to be a problem, isn’t it? I also don’t need any sort of food or water. I clearly wasn’t created to integrate into society at all. That’s kind of sad.
And at this moment, his roommate called him
“Hey, brown-haired! You okay over there?”
“Yeah, I’m alright, just thoughts.”
"What kind of thoughts?"
"Not really bad ones, but aren't good either."
“Oh… I know that we just met, but if you need to talk, I’ll be there, the name’s Starry Night by the way.”
Starry Night had Dark Light Blue colour of her coat with almost the same colours in mane and tail and golden - like eyes.
“I’m Sparkles.”
“Cool! What’s that glowy thing near your right eye?”
“Ah! It’s a gift from my father, a LED… or glowy thing for normal ponies.”
“Awesome, does it change colours?”
“Yea, but I don’t really control it, It just corresponds to my emotional state.”
“You had problems with emotions as a kid?” - assumed Night
“... You could say that. I decided to keep it because it looks awesome.” - Back at it again with lying?
“Okie!”
“Also, I think we should head out, we’re supposed to meet someone around this time.”
“Yeah, we’re supposed to meet some guy named Onyx Armor, he’s gonna teach us how to do the guard thing properly and so on! It’s like PE in school, but harder and longer.”
“I see, so let’s head out, then.” . . It was about 2:30 PM when all recruits came to the training field, everypony lined up in one, long line and then Onyx Armor himself started talking.
“Greeting, everypony! My name is Onyx Armor and I’m gonna make sure that all of you will be one of the finest guards in Equestria, I hope everypony’s gonna cooperate. I see that some of you look confused because today we’re not supposed to train and that’s true. Today we’re just going to see what we got and how good everypony is in their fields. How good unicorns with magic, how fast winged creatures are and how strong are earth ponies, you get what I mean?”
“Sir, Yes, Sir!” - came reply from all recruits that were standing on the field.
Onyx Armor had a greyish coat with snow grey mane. His eyes were dark blue and his CutieMark was a shield in colour of almost - black.
Joy, it’s gonna be awkward, I just know it.
“Alright, that’s the spirit! Now I need you to sort into different tribes, do you understand?”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
After that everypony went to their comrades in tribes and Sparkles followed the unicorns, he was one of them after all. He decided to look around and noticed that bat ponies, which were standing with pegasi, were fine in daylight, after all, He searched for his roommate and noticed her. She was fine just like the others bat ponies. Sparkles made another mental note to ask about that later.
Then Onyx Armor said that unicorns are gonna be tested with help of rings that restrained their magic, Pegasi and Bat Ponies are gonna do some timed labs in air, same for earth ponies, but on the ground.
And so everypony started showing their best.
But back to our hero.
“Alright, so this is a magic restraining ring. As the name suggests, it restrains magic. There are 7 settings of restraining, 1st being very weak and 7 being extra powerful. Nowadays, normal unicorn’s limit at 3-4, sometimes 5, if you can score higher, then you should have applied for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but that usually never happens, but who knows… Okay, let’s begin! Your mission is just to levitate this object over here with that ring and if you can play with it.”
Some unicorn went first and Sparkles observed how Onyx Armor put on unicorn’s corn restraining magic ring.
Unicorns that went before Sparkles mostly had troubles at 3rd setting, which was usual. Two of unicorns had problems at 2nd setting, but Onyx said that was okay, they had from 4 to 6 months to train and fix that after all.
And then, Sparkles was next.
“Alright, let me just put that thing on and we can begin!”
Thus, Sparkles started levitating the object, his LED started flicking between its usual Blue and Purple, the color of Sparkle’s magic.
To be fair, Sparkles didn’t saw any differences when he was using magic at level 1.
“Okay, good to know that you can do magic after all. No offence, but you looked like you couldn’t cast anything.”
If Onyx were truthful, he would have said that he didn’t felt his aura that everypony had, but that information was for another day.
At level 4, Sparkles noticed that his battery started aiding him in levitating, so it was slowly draining, but overall he felt and looked fine.
Onyx at this point was surprised, almost not believing his eyes. The brown-maned unicorn looked totally unfazed by magic ring, unlike others. It was nothing to him. It was time to try the 5th level for Sparkles.
“Alright, you’re a surprise, not gonna lie, but can you do 5th setting?”
The Equidroid just nodded and after that, Onyx proceeded to set up the ring to level 5.
His batteries were draining faster, but he still could do that for at least 80 years. 80 years was a lot of years.
“You’re an enigma, that’s for sure.” Armor chuckled while setting up the ring to the 6th setting
Everything was the same for Sparkles on the 6th setting, just now he could stay for 70 years. Still a lot.
While doing some tricks with a levitated object, his mind decided to wander a little and just try to piece why he was so powerful, maybe it was just an effect from him being Equidroid? He didn’t know, but he wanted to find out.
I guess that’s cool that I can do magic on such high level, but why would I ever do magic that advanced?
“Okay, nice job, kid. You can be a magical prodigy, yet you’re here, how that happened?”
“I just never thought that my magic was something special, that’s all. Plus, I was never interested in becoming The Very Best.”
“That’s a shame, you know that? Anyway, the last setting! I hope you won’t pass out because the element of Magic itself had problems with that setting!”
Oh boy, It’s a side effect of my artificial nature, after all
“Bring it on, then!”
The ring was on it's last setting, and the moment the ring was on Sparkle’s horn, he immediately noticed that his systems started slowly going haywire, but he was still operational, he wasn’t feeling great if
Thought warning messages in his vision haven’t really helped him at all, and he pushed himself beyond his self - preservation protocol, and lifted the object once again, his LED was now flashing red with occasional purple, his systems didn’t liked that at all
-- !WARNING!
SYSTEM OVERLOAD
SHUTDOWN IN 2 MINUTES --
When that popped in his vision, he just dropped the object he was levitating and playing with. Onyx was impressed and thought of reporting this to Shining, that would make a chemical reaction for sure. For now, Armor proceeded to take off the restraining ring and immediately Sparkles noticed that shutdown message disappeared from his field of view.
“Congratulations, kid, you better go and catch your breath, now shoo!”
After hearing that, he noticed that he was the centre of attention of every recruit possible, and he disliked being the center of attention. He also heard that he was the talk of ponies again, just like in the library, but he paid no attention and went to the nearest bench.
“I know that was a great show, but we’re not done yet!” said Onyx again and everypony went back to the thing that they were doing before Sparkles caught everypony’s attention.
-- TIME: 02:51:11 PM --
Noticing that it was almost 3PM, he decided to find his roommate, Starry Night, just to see what was going on.
