Chapter 1: New world, New Mistress
"My lady!" screamed Dystnine as Copen struck the final blow, causing the android to spasm and shake, before his body erupted into a flurry of white feathers, leaving only his Falcon Quill behind, floating in mid air. The quill then crumbled to dust, releasing a trio of light orbs that quickly ascended to the heavens, leaving only Copen and Lola alone with their thoughts about the battle that had transpired within the depths of Data Center Beta.
"That guy, Dystnine... He's the first robot I've met that's like me. I wonder if we could have been friends if things had gone differently..." Lola mused aloud, sadness dripping from her synthetic voice.
"Lola..." Copen muttered, trying to comfort her, understanding the pain she was currently feeling.
"Sorry... don't worry about it. We need to hurry back and let everyone know we're okay." Lola replied, her usual peppy self slowly returning. Copen nodded, as he turned to leave, with Lola following close behind. As she followed Copen, one final thought crossed her mind. 'Dystnine... I hope both you and Stella are in a better place now. Hopefully a place far away from Sumeragi's nasty reach.'
"Thank you for coming Princess Celestia. I know it's really late, but I just didn't know what to do in this situation," Twilight Sparkle explained to Princess Celestia, as she escorted her into her home. "I hope you aren't upset with me."
"Oh Twilight, I would never be upset with you. Especially not for something like this," Celestia said as she reassured Twilight. As Princess Celestia entered her faithful student's abode, her horn began to glow, releasing a bright flash of light that cascaded all over the interior of Twilight's home, leaving no spot inside covered in the darkness brought by night. Upon illuminating the inside of Twilight's home, an unfamiliar sight greeted Celestia's eyes. Upon Twilight's floor was a unconscious bipedal creature laying on its back. Intrigued by the being that lay before her, Celestia cautiously took a few steps toward it. Upon closer inspection, the being's body appeared to be composed of some kind of metal, despite it looking to be wearing the usual butler apparel, right down to the monocle covering its right eye and a feather-like broach pinned to its left breast. "Twilight...how did this thing get here?" Celestia asked, her voice as calm as the surface of an untouched lake.
"W-well..." Twilight stuttered, before composing herself. "It appeared in a bright flash of light just as me and Spike were about head to bed."
"I assume Spike is asleep right now?" Celestia asked, to which Twilight merely nodded her head. "Twilight..." Celestia began, before a rather abrupt yawn escaped from her throat. "I want you to get some rest. As much as I would like to stay here and keep you company, I need to raise the sun soon, and I'd like get a little bit of sleep before I do."
"B-b-but what if it attacks me and Spike while we're sleeping?!" Twilight stammered, with obvious fear of the metallic being in her voice.
"Twilight... even if it does, I know you can handle it," Celestia said with a genuine smile on her face.
"Are you... sure?" Twilight asked, her fear slowly disappearing.
"I'm positive that you can handle this... thing. Even if it tries to attack you," Celestia said assuringly, further cementing the faith she had in Twilight. "I must head back to the castle, but as soon as I have raised the sun tomorrow, I'll come by to check and see if you're ok," Celestia replied, before being enveloped in a bright light and after a huge flash, she was gone, leaving Twilight by herself once more. Deciding to take Princess Celestia's advice, Twilight walked into her bedroom and proceeded to lay down on her bed, promptly pulling the sheets and comforter over her body as she rested her head on a fluffy pillow.
"Okay... I can do this. All I need to do is close my eyes and go to sleep," Twilight mentally told herself. Slowly, Twilight's eyelids began to shut, as Twilight let the warm embrace of sleep take her... for about thirty seconds before her eyes sprang back open, her mind having drifted back to the thought of the unconscious being that was currently laying in the living room of her home. Sighing, Twilight slowly got out of bed and made her way over to the closet, being extra careful not wake up Spike. Using her magic, Twilight opened the closet door as quietly as she could, and pulled out a rather large yellow blanket. With the blanket in tow, Twilight slowly walked into her living room, stopping just in front of the unconscious metallic being. Grasping the blanket with her magic, she swiftly unfurled it... covering the creature from head to toe with the soft cottony veil, making sure to tuck the corners underneath the being's body. "There we go. Out of sight, out of mind," Twilight thought to herself as she quietly shuffled back to her bedroom, quickly getting under the covers. Letting a yawn escape her muzzle as Twilight rested her head on a pillow, her eyes closed tightly as she finally drifted to sleep.
As the sun began to slowly rise, thanks to Princess Celestia, everypony in Canterlot was busy shedding the shackles sleep had placed on them. "Alright... now that the sun has been raised, I should probably go check on Twilight," Celestia muttered to herself... before looking back at her still not made queen-size bed. "Hmm... I suppose a few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt," Celestia said to herself as she got back in bed, using her magic to pull the covers over her as she did last night. "I'm fairly certain Twilight is completely fine right now."
As the rays of light from Princess Celestia's glorious sun entered through the windows in Twilight's home, the being under the blanket began to stir. First a few whirs and clicks, followed by it's eyes opening. All around him, all Dystnine could see was a yellow fabric. "A... cotton blanket?" Dystnine questioned aloud. Moving his arms upward, Dystnine pushed the blanket off of himself. Leaning forward, Dystnine began to look around, taking in his surroundings. The walls and floor around him appeared to be made of lapis lazuli or some other similarly blue stone. The interior décor was somewhat lavish, but gave off an air of knowledge, with giant book shelves that nearly reached the ceiling, primitive mechanical devices that served unknown functions, and a wooden desk almost completely covered with parchment, ink pots, and quills. In front of him was a descending blue spiral staircase. Dystnine's curiosity got the better of him, as he slowly stood up and walked over to the staircase. Looking down, Dystnine saw a white marble balcony. Dystnine began to walk down to the balcony, having to crouch midway due to his height. Upon reaching the balcony, Dystnine walked over to the railing, looking out at the city below. All around him were tower-like buildings, grassy parks with wooden benches, bridges with flowing rivers underneath, and what appeared to be tiny horses walking around. 'Are these creatures the inhabitants?' Dystnine thought to himself, before sighing. "Mistress Stella would have loved it here." Out of the corner of his eye, Dystnine noticed the Falcon Quill pinned to his left breast, it's golden shimmer taunting him. "So... is this punishment for my failure, fate? Is this with what I'm cursed?" Dystnine said to himself, his internal rage and sorrow making his electronic voice slightly echo. "Then so be it. I shall keep this as a reminder for my inability to avenge my mistress," Dystnine said to himself, his voice dripping with grief. Walking back up the staircase, Dystnine came face to face with a lavender unicorn staring him down with fear in it's eyes. Dystnine tilted his head in curiosity, before realizing that the unicorn was probably scared of him. Dystnine opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, the unicorn let out a rather high pitched scream before running into a room and slamming the door shut, with an audible click being heard shortly after. Shaking his head, all Dystnine could do was stare at the locked door to the room the screaming unicorn went in. "That could have gone better."
As Twilight quickly slammed her bedroom door, locking it with her magic, she began to hyperventilate in the corner next her bed. "Twilight! Are you okay?" asked Spike, a rather worried look adorning his scaly face.
"It’s awake,” Twilight stuttered, fear still in her voice.
“What’s awake?” Spike asked, unsure of what Twilight was talking about.
“The thing from last night. It's awake. I heard something moving around in the study. When I went to go check, that thing was just staring at me," Twilight said, slowly getting a hold of herself. "Spike, take a note. Princess Celestia needs to know that the being is awake." Hearing this, Spike quickly whipped out a parchment and a quill, ready to transcribe Twilight’s words. "My dearest teacher. I hope you’re doing well this morning. However, I must inform you that the mysterious metal being in my home is now awake and I don't know what to...," Twilight started, before her nose began to twitch.
"What's the matter?" Spike asked, unaware of what caused Twilight to stop talking mid sentence.
"I smell... something... cooking," Twilight uttered, before her eyes widened. "Send that to Princess Celestia while I keep an eye on our mysterious guest and make sure that it doesn't burn our house down." With that, Twilight made her way out the bedroom door. Spike looked at the half finished letter in his claws, before breathing a vivid green flame upon the parchment, turning the letter into a wisp of smoke that quickly flew out the bedroom window and up to the ivory towers of Princess Celestia's castle. After the smoke disappeared from sight, Spike went over to the foot of Twilight's bed, before getting up on it, and going back to sleep.
Twilight's heart raced as she slowly made her way to the kitchen, tippy hoofing every step of the way so as to not alert her mysterious guest. As Twilight approached her kitchen, her mind began to wander to a very dark place. She expected to turn the corner and be greeted by either a sharp knife of a massive wall of fire. As Twilight peaked her head around the corner, all of her worries instantly vanished. Before her, the metallic being was in front of the stove, it's back facing Twilight, accompanied by the sounds of something sizzling and humming. Suddenly, the being turned around, causing Twilight to duck away in fear. Poking her head back out, Twilight looked up to see the being looking at her, it's orange eyes locked with hers. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but before a single word could escape, the being raised it's left arm, the palm of it's hand facing Twilight, silencing her, followed by it very loudly clearing it's throat. "Can you please go take a seat over there?" it asked in a very polite manner, pointing to the dining room table. Not wanting to be rude, Twilight slowly made her way over to the table, sitting on the plush cushion just at the edge of the table. As soon as Twilight sat down, the being quickly walked back over to the stove where a skillet was sitting on the burner. Quickly, it grabbed a spatula from one one of the drawers, using it to flip the contents of the skillet. Twilight watched the being in curiosity, not understanding why it was being extremely courteous, despite being an intruder in her home.
'Is it truly being nice... or is it just a farce?' Twilight thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted however by the sound of silverware being placed on the table. Looking up, Twilight was in awe at what was sitting in front of her. Before her sat a decently sized stack of fluffy golden pancakes, lightly drenched with syrup, and an almost non existent piece of butter. Garnishing the plate was a small dollop of raspberry jam and what appeared to be two hollowed out pieces of toast with sunny side up eggs in the center. Curious, Twilight's horn let off an orchid aura as she picked up the toast with her magic, pulling it up to her mouth. Giving it a few sniffs and smelling nothing other than egg, Twilight cautiously took a bite. Twilight's eyes widened, before putting the rest in her mouth. The taste was simple, yet felt complex. As Twilight picked up the other piece of egg-toast, before she could even take a bite, there was a knock at the door. Setting the egg-toast back down on her plate, Twilight got up from the table to answer the door... only to stopped by the being.
"Allow me to get that for you," it said, before walking over to the door. Upon opening the door, a blast of light gold magic forcefully knocked the being backwards, causing it to land on it's back with a loud, *thud*. As the being attempted to get up, the same magic aura raised it into the air, as Princess Celestia walked inside, a scowl on her face and her horn glowing brightly.
"Where is my student?" Celestia asked, her voice calm, yet serious. Noticing the being trying to move one of its hands, Celestia loosened her magical grip a little bit. Upon having regained some of its movement, the being pointed towards the dining room, where Twilight was sitting with her wide and mouth agape. Upon seeing her faithful student unharmed, Celestia rushed over to Twilight, wrapping her in the warm embrace of a hug. "Twilight. Thank goodness you're ok. When I got your letter and saw that it wasn't finished, I was worried that something bad happened to you."
"Princess Celestia...wait, unfinished letter?" Twilight asked in a confused tone, before realizing what she was talking about. "I'm sorry for making you worry by sending you an unfinished letter, Princess Celestia, but when I was having Spike write it, I smelled something cooking, and I was afraid that the being was trying to burn down my home,” Twilight said with some shame in her voice. “I’m sorry if I disappointed you.”
“Oh Twilight. I’m not disappointed in you. I will admit I was a little mad, but seeing your situation see you had no real choice in the matter," Celestia said, her voice full of understanding. "I'm just happy that nothing bad happened to you."
"Excuse me," said a voice, causing Celestia and Twilight to look up at the being, still suspended in the air by Celestia's magic. "As heartwarming as this moment truly is, could you please put me down?" the being asked, it's voice calm yet stern. Seeing no immediate threat, Celestia's magic began to fade, causing the metallic being to land on the floor in a hunched position. After standing up, the being leaned forward, bowing it's head slightly in a respectful manner. "It is nice to meet you Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle. I am Dystnine, Gargantua's top-of-the-line multi-purpose android. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Dystnine replied, his electronic voice soft as a psalm.
"Well... it's pleasure to meet you too, Dystnine. Sorry for restraining you, but I had no indication that you weren't a threat," Princess Celestia stated.
"I understand, there's no need to apologize. You only did what you thought was the best course of action," Dystnine replied, before walking past Celestia and into Twilight's kitchen, stopping just in front of the stove, before looking back at Celestia. "Since you're here now, would you care for some breakfast?"
"This is so delicious! How has nopony even thought of this?!" Celestia beamed, having taken a bite of the egg-toast combination that had been sitting on the plate in front of her. "What are these even called?"
"They are referred to by many names, with the most common being eggs in a nest," Dystnine replied, as he carried a platter with a fancy crystal tea set resting on it over to the dining room table with a single hand.
"Eggs in a nest? That's a rather simple name for a delicious meal," Celestia remarked as she cut off a piece of the waffle stack in front of her, before lightly dipping it in the tiny bowl of syrup next to her plate.
"Like I said, there are other names. I could list a few, if you so wish," Dystnine offered as he set the platter down upon the table. "I sincerely apologize for serving herbal tea, but unfortunately I couldn't find any coffee beans, nor anything to grind them up with. Please accept my humblest apologies."
"It's quite alright, Dystnine. Besides, I don't believe Twilight likes coffee in the slightest," Celestia responded, before looking over at her faithful student, who looked like she was about to explode, with a look on her face equal parts curiousity and shock. "Dystnine, you might want to sit down for this," Celestia said, her voice and facial features telling the android that she had experienced something similar with her student in the past. As Dystnine sat on a cushion adjacent to her, Celestia cleared her throat slightly, prepared to open the flood gates. "Do you have any questions for Dystnine, Twilight?"
The moment that those words were spoken, Twilight took a very deep breath, before spewing out a barrage of questions... at a rate so fast that it bordered on incoherent babbling. As Twilight asked her seemingly infinite queries, Dystnine listened with intent. Eventually, Twilight's endless deluge of questions began to slow down to a screeching halt, with Twilight panting from speaking for so long uninterrupted. "Is that all of them?" Dystnine politely asked, to which Twilight nodded, still catching her breath after her question barrage. "To answer them in order: Yes, yes, yes, no, no, yes, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, yes, no, and yes."
"B-but... that's only fifteen... answers. I had over... fifty... questions." Twilight stated between breathes.
"You are correct, Mistress Twilight. However, a vast majority of your questions had the same or very similar answers to others, hence why I only gave fifteen answers," Dystnine explained.
"I... guess that makes sense... Wait, mistress?" Twilight asked with a look of confusion.
"Did I say mistress? That... surfaced out of nowhere. Hmm. I suppose old habits die hard," Dystnine swiftly replied, having already grabbed Twilight's plate, and started heading towards the kitchen sink. When Dystnine walked past Twilight, she noticed the broach on his left breast, and used her magic to grab it while Dystnine was unaware. With the broach now in her grasp, Twilight pulled it close to examine the golden feather-like accessory. Before she could look it over more throughly however, Dystnine's hand reached out and grabbed it.
"Please, let go," Dystnine spoke in a low tone, his voice having a slightly distorted echo to it.
"B-b-but why? I was just looking at it," Twilight stuttered, her magical grasp on the broach not loosening.
Not saying another word, Dystnine quickly produced a black cloth from his cufflink, enveloping both his hand and the broach and pulling it out of Twilight's magic with ease, startling Twilight. "Huh?! What, how, what?!" Twilight sputtered, her mind unable to completely comprehend what Dystnine just did.
Celestia silently stared that the scene that lay before her as she took a sip of her tea. While her face showed no emotion, deep down, she had seen this scene play out many a time before. However, this time she decided to try something different. "Dystnine, is something troubling you?" Celestia calmly asked.
Dystnine looked at Celestia for a moment, before sighing. "Yes, but...i-it's difficult to answer. I truly doubt that you'd understand," the android replied, synthetic voice dripping with grief.
"Dystnine, over my two thousand years of ruling Equestria, I've seen a lot of things happen. I'm certain that I'd understand what's troubling you...that is, if you want to tell us," Celestia calmly stated.
Dystnine pondered Princess Celestia's proposal for a moment, his eyes closed in thought. "Hmm... I'm sorry, but no. I understand that you want to help me, but I honestly don't think I'm ready to disclose my personal problems to someone I have only just met," he replied. "However, that won't prohibit me from telling you both what this is," Dystnine said as he retracted the cloth surrounding the feather broach in his hand.
"Dystnine, not to be rude, but what's so special about an ornate broach?" Twilight asked, having recovered from the shock of Dystnine pulling the broach free from her magic with ease.
"This is no ordinary broach. This... is a Falcon Quill, and it is considered a privilege to own one," Dystnine explained, earning curious looks from both Princess Celestia and Twilight. "It is a symbol of great respect and power... but not for me... not anymore. For me it stands as a symbol of my failure," Dystnine said as grief once more overtook his voice.
While both Princess Celestia and Twilight's faces showed sadness, Celestia showed a small amount of skepticism in Dystnine's statement, fully knowing that she couldn't pry into what Dystnine meant in the slightest, and would probably never know as long as he was this depressed. It was then that a thought crossed Celestia's mind. "Dystnine," Celestia said, gaining the android's attention. "I have a request for you."
"I'm listening." Dystnine responded, looking intrigued as to what this other-worldly princess would request of him.
"I want you to stay here with Twilight." Celestia said rather bluntly, causing Twilight's jaw to drop in shock. "I also want you to assist her in anyway possible, until I personally relieve you of your duties."
"Understood. Are there any other caveats I should know of before I agree?" Dystnine asked.
Celestia thought for a few moments, before settling on one last thing. "Make sure that no harm comes to her." she said, causing Dystnine to nod in understanding. "Twilight, can you come with me for a moment?" Celestia asked as she and Twilight went out onto the balcony, with Celestia closing the door behind them. "Twilight, I want you send me letters on any progress Dystnine makes towards talking about his past with you."
"But, Princess Celestia, why are you entrusting this to me?! I'm unqualified for such a task!" Twilight exclaimed, her voice getting somewhat shrill.
"Twilight... I know this seems like an impossible task for you to accomplish, but I have faith that you can do it." Celestia said with a warm smile, causing Twilight to perk up a little bit.
"Are-are you sure?" Twilight asked with a slight stutter.
"Yes. I truly believe that you can get through to Dystnine." Celestia assured, causing Twilight to smile. Looking through the glass balcony door at the clock in the dining room, Celestia let out a gasp. "Oh my, it's almost time for day court. Twilight, keep me in touch about Dystnine's progress." Celestia said as her horn glowed with a golden glow, before she vanished into thin air, having teleported back to Canterlot Castle.
"I'll do my best." Twilight said to herself, before sighing in exasperation. "It looks like I got my work cut out for me." Twilight mumbled before going back inside... only to be greeted with a stare down between Spike and Dystnine. "Yep, definitely have my work cut out for me." Twilight thought to herself.