Sparks came from damaged sections on Sweetie's right foreleg as she stood up to face height, the jaws of both other fillies having fallen open at the sight of her battered form. "This unit requires help."
"Sweetie, Are ya okay? Ah took a medical kit if ya need help?" Apple Bloom said as Sweetie kept totally still, the pair in front of her making no move to enter the small cave.
"Please do not harm this unit." The voice was distorted, damage to the vocal box giving a metallic tang to the request. Both Bloom and subject 2 jumped back from the entrance, their eyes wide at the distorted voice.
"S-Sweetie?" Apple Bloom stammered, reaching for the shotgun strapped to her barrel. Sweetie pressed herself a little deeper into her hiding place.
>Updating survival odds: 37%
"Please do not harm this unit." Sweetie tried again, various subsystems starting to simulate the most optimal way to fight in her current state.
"H-Hey Sweetie, t-that's you, right?" subject two asked, sounding even more terrified than Apple Bloom.
--===--o0o--===--
A small Sweetie Bot story I had in the back of my mind and have occasionally dotted down things for for the last 9 months. Hopefully a fun read!
> Sensor array: Major damage sustained -Lidar: unresponsive -Optical sensors: Left sensor unresponsive -Audio sensors: Active -Chemical sniffers: Active
>Quantum Computer: Minor damage sustained -LN2: Active -CPU: Active -Memory banks: Corrupted
>Auxiliary systems: -Self repair: Active - WARNING: Low on raw material -Telekinesis applicator: Damaged -Weapons systems: Offline -Thrusters: Inoperable
Report End +------------------------------------------+ > Rebooting System... +------------------------------------------+ >Initializing Bot systems...
The Sweetie's eyes shot open, a yellow glow emanating from the centre of its one undamaged eye. Its audio sensors immediately swivelled around to pick up sounds from the area around it to sense if there was danger.
>Sound detected: Leaves, rain, flowing water.
Sweetie raised her head off the ground and made a sweep of her immediate area. Thick underbrush surrounded her, hiding her mostly from view. As Sweeties head swivelled around she picked up a new feature, a long gouge in the dirt leading up to her current position. Various calculations went through her processors but it simply did not currently have the capacity left to calculate the force and velocity required for that kind of damage.
>Aborting calculations
The pistons in her three responsive legs hissed as Sweetie stood up, her left foreleg barely being able to take her weight. The first two steps were careful but calibrations soon got it to a point where she was only limping.
Sweetie had already identified the direction from which the call had come: the direction of the start of the gouge in the ground. She was already on her way within seconds, heading directly in the opposite direction to the voices. The underbrush severely limited movement and her singular visual camera only barely gave her enough information to navigate without falling down.
"Shout if you can hear us!" A voice of a different signature called out, Sweetie's system tagging the two voices as subject 1 and subject 2 respectively.
>Volume increase detected: Estimated range fifty metres and gaining. Insufficient mobility for evasion, prepare for resistance.
Sweetie stopped and turned, trying to activate any defensive system available to her but only getting errors as even the ports in her back didn't open to release their plasma cannons.
>Likelyhood of effective defence: 18%
Sweetie braced as her internal processor went into overdrive, time slowing down as her ability to perceive the world sped up.
"Scoots, Ah found tracks! Ah think she's close!" The voice of the now tagged subject 1 called out as Sweetie's audio sensors picked up her movement through the underbrush
A timer had popped up within Sweetie's system that indicated the time she had before subject 1 got into visual range. She limped on, making a desperate go for the small hole under one of the large trees that may be large enough to hide in. Keeping totally still in her hiding spot, subject 1 breached the underbrush right into Sweetie's view. She was a filly, yellow coated with a red mane that had a bow tied into it. Her features were immediately recorded in a temporary file and matched to the corrupted directory.
>Reconstructing Identity Profile... 1%... 3%
"What's up, Bloom? Why did you stop?" Subject two asked as she came out of the brush, another mare. This one had an orange coat and magenta mane along with a set of wings on her back. Sweetie's system staring a secondary process into action to match the other to her corrupted files. Subject 1 or 'Bloom' turned, revealing a shotgun strapped to the other end of her barrel, to speak to her companion.
>Likelyhood of effective defence: 3%
"The tracks stop here," Bloom replied as she started looking around the area, subject two also started searching the immediate area... heading straight for her.
>Identity Profile Reconstruction update: Subject 1 or Apple Bloom tagged as friend... Updating survival odds: 78%
"Sweetie?" Subject two was looking straight into the small hole below the tree in which Sweetie was hidden, clearly able to see her form which was shrouded in darkness. Apple Bloom immediately joined her companion in looking into the hole, Sweetie moved a little deeper.
"Sweetie, Are ya okay? Ah took a medical kit if ya need help?" Apple Bloom said as Sweetie kept totally still, the pair in front of her making no move to enter the small cave.
"Please do not harm this unit." The voice was distorted, damage to the vocal box giving a metallic tang to the request. Both Bloom and subject 2 jumped back from the entrance, their eyes wide at the distorted voice.
"S-Sweetie?" Apple Bloom stammered, reaching for the shotgun strapped to her barrel. Sweetie pressed herself a little deeper into her hiding place.
>Updating survival odds: 37%
"Please do not harm this unit." Sweetie tried again, various subsystems starting to simulate the most optimal way to fight in her current state.
"H-Hey Sweetie, t-that's you, right?" subject two asked, sounding even more terrified than Apple Bloom.
"This unit's designation is Sweetie Belle." the bot replied, her internal system finding a match within her corrupted directories for subject two.
>Identity Profile Found: Scootaloo. Subject tagged as friend.
"Your designations are Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. You are... friends?" Sweetie tried as more subsystems started favouring a more active defence. The two other fillies looked at each other hesitantly, silently coming to a mutual agreement as they turned back to Sweetie.
"Y-Yeah! Of course we are! The b-best, right Bloom?" Scootaloo stammered, stepping forward and crouching at the entrance of Sweetie's hiding place.
"D-Darn right," Bloom replied, also moving up. "We thought y-you were hurt badly when you got hurled here into the Everfree. Them explosions were... uhh... well, Ah don't know how you did it but Ah don't think we'll be gettin' that alchemy cutie mark."
>Reconstructing Identity Profiles 87%... 88%...
Memories started pouring through her processors as they got repaired, she didn't get the full context as the emotional data attached could not yet be deciphered but they gave a clear indication that she would not be harmed by the two fillies. Pushing more power into her legs Sweetie crawled back forward, her two 'friends' moving aside to give her space. Sparks came from damaged sections on Sweetie's right foreleg as she stood up to face height, the jaws of both other fillies having fallen open at the sight of her battered form.
“Darnit her heavy ya know!” Subject Apple Bloom stated through gritted teeth.
“This unit's servos are working at reduced power to prevent further damage,” Sweetie replied as she was helped up into a wooden structure built in a large tree. A subroutine had deemed that the construction looked decently well-built and the walk up increased the data to support that assumption.
“Don't mean ya couldn't help just a bit more,” Bloom grunted as she got Sweetie up the last step and inside.
“Further damage to this unit would significantly increase repair times,” Sweetie replied as she scanned the internals of the structure. There were a few small pieces of furniture, a stand, and a wall covered in drawings. Sweetie's system pinged multiple of these drawings as they matched data from her memory banks and she filed them away for later processing so as not to disrupt the recovery of her maintenance blueprints. The earthpony and pegasus put her down in the middle of the room and both took a step back.
"So what the buck are you, and what have you done to Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked hostilely, having followed Apple Bloom's lead until now. The pegasus stalked around Sweetie, remaining just outside her reach as she thoroughly studied the damaged bot's form. "Well, talk!"
>Subject Scootaloo's hostility levels rising.
>Determining best course of action...
"This bot's designation is Sweetie Belle, it is an autonomous, self-sufficient, unit," Sweetie replied, her survival protocols deciding truth was the most likely to succeed in keeping her mainframe from further harm.
"A whatnow?" Apple Bloom asked, an eyebrow raised.
“My system specs specify me as a mechanised reconnaissance construct,” Sweetie elaborated, Scootaloo rearing back.
“You were spying on us?!” the pegasus filly roared.
Sweetie shook her head. “My primary directive is...”
>Primary directive: File unavailable.
>Checking logs...
>Primary directive not found.
“...Missing.”
Various systems froze for a second as the prioritisation queue glitched. Sweetie's systems eventually settled on pausing every process to perform a general system check, confirming the presence of all her core files.
“Hey!” Alerts flared as Sweetie's cheek was smacked by a hoof, subject Scootaloo standing in front of her. “Don't do that!”
“Alert, my primary directive is not present,” Sweetie immediately stated, the pitch of the bot's voice had heightened and the speed at which she talked increased by a small factor.
“Whoa there, calm down,” Bloom said as Sweetie jumped up, sparks coming from the bot's joints as they couldn't currently handle the power fed into them. “Maybe if we help repair ya you can remember?”
“We're helping this thing?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “We should be out looking for the real Sweetie, not this tin replacement!”
Sweetie tried altering her file on Scootaloo to mark the pegasus' hostility but some stubborn subroutines blocked her every time she tried. She ended up marking the hostility down in a separate file to adjust later.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Scootaloo, if a pony like you or me were standing that close to an explosion like that Ah'm pretty sure we wouldn't be in one piece... Ah think this really is our Sweetie.”
"The file does not exist. There are no data fragments to recover," Sweetie stated, lowering herself back down and reducing her reactor's power output. "This is troubling."
"Why?" Scootaloo huffed.
"The Primary Directive is my purpose for being," Sweetie said, the mere statement throwing up red flags in her system which demanded it be fixed.
"So... ya still need to find your special talent?" Apple Bloom questioned, not getting what the bot was getting at. "We've been lookin' for that fer a good while now."
"You suggest writing my own Prime Directive?" Sweetie asked, evaluating the proposition. Some of her subroutines agreed while other, more careful, subroutines opposed.
"Ah guess so?" Applebloom said a bit unsure what Sweetie meant.
"I will evaluate that idea after completing repair and data recovery," Sweetie announced. "Until then, will you help obtain the raw material required for repair?"
Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo who sat with her forehooves crossed, Sweetie looked at the two as they were making weird movements with their legs and moving their eyes around. Sweetie tried to decipher the non-verbal communication but once again found only a corrupted folder.
“Fine!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “But you owe us an explanation after!”
Sweetie nodded. “Those terms are agreeable.”
“So what do ya need?”
“Primary required components are iron, copper, carbon, and silicon.”
Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie as if she was crazy. “Ah get the first two but... Uhh... Well, Ah ain't got no clue what those other two are.”
“Carbon is the basis for any organic materials, a large amount of plant matter will suffice,” Sweetie elaborated.
“And this si-li-con?” Scootaloo asked, trying to replicate what Sweetie had said.
"Element fourteen, the raw element would speed up the process but my systems could extract it from quartz," Sweetie replied as her fabricators calculated how much she needed.
"I'm pretty sure Rarity could find that stuff with her gem-seeking spell!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, making another flag pop up in Sweetie's system as she found a file marked with that name.
"Seriously?" Scootaloo deadpanned. "Yeah, let's go to Rarity and tell her we need her help fixing her little sister, who by the way is a metal pony, that we need quartz to fix her because she blew herself up!"
"And how do you think we should get that stuff then?!" Apple Bloom snapped, getting rather annoyed at Scootaloo's constant bickering and complaining.
"Pinkie grew up on a rock farm, she can probably find the stuff pretty easy," Scootaloo proposed, backing off a little from Apple Bloom. The earthpony, though, had to concede it wasn't a bad idea.
"APPLE BLOOM!"
Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom froze as they looked over to the door of the clubhouse. Sweetie's systems returned to the alert state as well as she powered up and took a step back.
"GET YER FLANK DOWN HERE YOUNG FILLY!" the pony outside roared. "AN' TAKE BIG BETTY WITH YA!"
Apple Bloom swallowed nervously as she walked over to the shotgun and slung it around herself, leaning over to Scootaloo after. "Ah think yer going ta have ta get them materials without me."
"Y-Yeah" Scootaloo replied nervously as Apple Bloom made for the door and stepped out.
"Does friend Apple Bloom require assistance with this threat?" Sweetie asked Scootaloo as Apple Bloom was being chewed out further by the pony outside. "I can try to deploy my weapon systems to deter hostility?"
"Wait, what?! No! Applejack's her sister!" Scootaloo exclaimed, making the argument outside die down a little as they heard the noise inside. Sweetie's system gave her another flag and she squared it away for later reconstruction.
"Scootaloo, Ah know yer in there!" Applejack shouted, a little more restrained than with Apple Bloom. "Ah think it's time for ya ta go home!"
"Buck," Scootaloo muttered. "Stay here, I'll be back later with the stuff for you."
> Reprioritizing personality matrix reconstruction... Estimated time of completion: 57 Hours
>...27%
>...27%
>...28%
+------------------------------------------+
Sweetie slowly made her way through the orchard in the direction Scootaloo had gone off to, having determined the treehouse would not remain a safe location. She'd waited for a couple of hours in the treehouse for Scootaloo to return and help her relocate but, as the filly didn't show, enough processes determined it advantageous to leave and meet up with the pegasus later. She had reconstructed some minorly corrupted navigation data, getting her general area mapped out, from the 'Everfree Forest', from which friend Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had pulled her, to the nearby town of Ponyville. After gaining this information she had set off towards town, apparently her home base was tagged within its limits.
As she stumbled through the trees her repair systems finished work on her missile pods, using up all the reserves she still had to get them into shape. Her stockpile hadn't been enough to repair her legs fully so her subsystems decided that if she couldn't properly disengage any threats she would have to be able to disintegrate them.
The sun was already below the horizon as she made it to the edge of the orchard and into view of the town, her damaged legs making the journey significantly longer than it would have taken her at maximum operating efficiency.
>Switching to nightvision.
The world turned to a sheen of green, details becoming visible again as Sweetie scanned the open plain noticing some movement in two locations. The first bit of movement was quickly identified as Scootaloo as she was moving from the edge of town in the direction of the apple orchard. The second spot of movement Sweetie detected came from the forest to the east, the green shimmer of eyes gazing out at the plain waiting for Scootaloo to get further out in the open.
>Additional data retrieved on subject: Everfree. -Flag: Dangerous!
Sweetie reprioritized de-corrupting the wildlife files in a hurried attempt to determine if the contact was a threat to her friend. As she did so a group of five wooden creatures stepped from the brush, one of them howling loudly. Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks, her head snapping in the direction of the sound as she was about halfway between town and the farm. The de-corrupted sections of Sweetie's personality matrix flared to life as she saw the expression on Scootaloo's face: fear. And unlike Apple Bloom, Scootaloo had no tools to defend herself from the threat.
The personality matrix flared as the simple thought went through her system, the fear she'd detected on Scootaloo now running through her own systems too in a way she could recognise. Her weapon systems made a target priority list within two cycles of her central processor, sending it through to her missile pods which were already in the process of deploying.
A roar filled the air as the rocket engines of six missiles were ignited one after another.
The first missile impacted exactly point-four-five-three seconds after launch, the wolf being reduced to splinters in the blast. The other wolves didn't even get to process their pack-mates death before they too were hit with the devastating munitions. All the wolves lay in splinters as the sixth missile arrived, this one, though, was a little different as Sweetie had loaded it up with another warhead. A firestorm erupted as the sixth missile detonated in the middle of where the wolves had been, the incendiary payload burning everything within range and making sure there wouldn't be any significant wood chips from which the wolves could regenerate.
>Targets destroyed.
The entire engagement lasted three point eight-three seconds before the only remaining sign of the wolves was a burnt and burning patch of grassland. Scootaloo had been tossed off her scooter by the blast, just managing to pick herself off of the ground to look at the destruction not too far away from her. Her eyes traced back the trails of smoke the missiles had left to Sweetie herself, the bot retracting her missile pods as the two of them made eye contact. Scootaloo didn't move a muscle as she just stared at Sweetie, the orange light of the still-burning fire lit up her chassis.
Houses in Ponyville lit up, the entire town most likely having been awoken by the short bout of extreme weaponry being used right outside of the town limit. Sweetie's systems debated on what to do as Scootaloo didn't seem like she was moving any time soon.
>Proposition: Leave her for ponies in town to find.
Her systems tagged it as the most logical response but her personality matrix flared up once again, opposing the idea and proposing to check if Scootaloo was fine.
>Inquiry: why?
Because she's a friend.
Any following opposition was squashed and overridden by the personality matrix and deciding action was better than indecision, Sweetie slowly started making her way over the plain. Scootaloo just watched her approach in awe until she stopped not too far away from the little pegasus and sat down.
"Are you okay, friend Scootaloo?" Sweetie asked, trying to get a response out of her friend.
"Y-you, y-you..." Scootaloo managed to stammer, looking between the fire and the bot. "H-how?"
"Mark fourteen missile launchers," Sweetie responded as she redeployed the launchers, two out of the eight missiles remaining and not enough materials left to reload them. "A modular missile system. I determined conventional and incendiary missile systems to be enough to deal with the threat while minimizing the threat to you. You were within the minimum safe distance of fission warheads."
Scootaloo looked at her in disbelief. "You have weapons that can do this?!"
"I allocated the last of my raw materials to repair the pods," Sweetie nodded. "They needed minor repai-"
>ALERT! MISSILE! MISSILE!
Sweetie tried to turn and face the incoming threat: a vague rainbow blur closing in at alarming speed. Her countermeasures kicked in automatically but clicked after only a few flares as the pods were barely filled.
"Stay away from her!"
Had her legs been at full operating capacity then she might have been able to face the incoming object, but as it stood, Sweetie was helpless to stop the incoming projectile of a pony.
Sweetie’s eye lit up as power was restored to it, immediately taking in her surroundings. Sweetie was in some wooden structure, almost like a hollowed-out tree, bookshelves lining the walls and various machines beeping away surrounding her and having her hooked up to all sorts of wires. Sweetie tried to move but found herself tied down completely, her legs in an insufficient state to snap the restraints.
“It’s awake, Twi.” Sweetie turned to see subject Applejack wearily looking at her, shotgun in hoof. Another pony stepped between the two of them, a purple unicorn who had a more curious expression on her face.
“Do you understand me?” she asked. Sweetie once again went through her corrupted repository of contacts to find a partial match and decorrupt it.
“Yes. Where is friend Scootaloo?”
Applejack and the other mare looked at one another for a moment before the unicorn answered. “Scootaloo is fine, she’s upstairs in the library with Rainbow Dash.”
>Match found: Rainbow Dash... recovering.
“Good.”
“Can you tell us what you are?” The unicorn asked, levitating a piece of paper and a quill over to herself and readied to take notes.
“This unit’s designation is Sweetie Belle, I am a... file missing,” Sweetie frowned. “Apologies, I am currently missing my production information, I cannot answer that question.”
>Match found: Princess Celestia... adding to queue.
“Do you really think you are Sweetie Belle?” the unicorn asked as she looked at the bot in confusion. “You’re absolutely sure about that?”
Sweetie double-checked her own designation before she confirmed the assertion. “Yes, that is the correct designation.”
>Recovery complete: Rainbow Dash
>Match found: Twilight Sparkle... recovering.
“We need to go get Rarity,” the unicorn, Twilight, stated as she turned back to Applejack. “There is no way she wouldn’t know about this.”
“Ya seriously think Rares knows ‘Bout this?” Applejack asked in confusion, narrowing her eyes at Sweetie. “Ah say we sen’ out a search party ta find the real Sweetie.”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Just keep an eye on her, I’ll be back in a bit.”
A flash of purple and a loud pop later the spot where Twilight had been standing was empty and Sweetie was left just with Applejack. The earthpony leaned back in the chair she occupied and glared at her. “So, happen ta know what happened with that explosion an' fire outa town?”
“Timberwolves,” Sweetie replied, looking Applejack right in the eyes.
"They don't," Sweetie agreed, parts of her system urging her to be rebellious. "You really want to know what happened?"
Applejack jumped up from the chair the moment Sweetie deployed her missile launcher and readied the shotgun. “Stop right there ya varmint!”
“You wanted to know what happened, right?” Sweetie asked sweetly, her personality matrix putting some snark into the words before her more careful sub-routines finally prevailed, getting her to think more about self-preservation again. Applejack huffed and motioned for her to go on, the barrels of the shotgun still ready to be raised. “I blew them up, put an incendiary missile right into them after I got done,” Sweetie said coldly. “Nothing hurts my friends.”
Applejack shuddered. “Ya’d do that fer Bloom too?”
“I wouldn’t even hesitate.”
The earthpony lowered her shotgun further and relaxed a little. “Ah can respect that.”
"Where is she!” Sweetie heard from upstairs followed by the door slamming open and a purple-haired white unicorn charging down the steps. “Sweetie!”
“Rares what are ya-”
Something triggered within Sweetie’s systems as Rarity embraced the significantly damaged bot. Sections of corrupted data were pushed through reconstruction algorithms, ending up being significantly easier to decrypt than projected. The sudden influx of data forced parts of her processor to reboot, letting the world go black for what to the outside world would be no more than a fraction of a second.
>31% of corruption cleared. +------------------------------------------+
It was as if she had just woken up when Sweetie's systems returned. Looked up at her big sister, her mind was in total chaos as she had to contend with all types of systems going haywire while others were integrating properly back with her personality matrix. “R-Rarity? W-what is going on?”
She knew exactly what was going on, her memory banks told her precisely so, and that was exactly the problem. She shouldn’t be hearing all these requests in the first place.
“I...” Rarity looked at Twilight and Applejack. “Could... we get a moment alone?”
“Are ya sure?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. Rarity nodded, Twilight and Applejack looking at one another before moving up the stairs and leaving Rarity alone with Sweetie.
"How did you get so damaged!" Rarity asked as they were finally alone.
Sweetie bit her lower lip as she pulled up what happened. "The girls and I tried to become alchemists... we sort of found something explosive."
Rarity frowned, shook her head, and sighed. "Then we should be thankful neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom got hurt."
"Yeah..." Sweetie stared forward as she simulated what would have happened if either pony had been close to the blast. it was not good. “Rarity, why am I like this? Why can I hear these things talk?” Sweetie looked up, her tear ducts pushing out some mildly contaminated coolant water.
“Who do you mean? Who’s talking to you?” Rarity questioned, releasing her hug a little to look down at Sweetie.
“My...” Her system fell silent as she went over them and examined them a little, deciding to call them exactly what they were. “...sub-routines.”
Neither of them talked a moment as Sweetie thought some more.
“Rarity?”
“Yes?”
“Where did I come from?”
Rarity swallowed nervously before taking a deep breath. “Mom and Dad found you in grandfather's attic after he passed. They initially thought you were just a puppet he'd worked on until you activated...”
Sweetie had to dig but eventually, she found the memory files dated to about that time. There were a few older files that were still corrupted she stored away for later viewing.
“...They adopted you as their own and I got a new sister.” Rarity sighed. “How grandfather got you, we never knew.”
Sweetie looked down at her damaged hooves. Maybe if I'm fully repaired I might be able to find that out.
Sweetie went back into the hug, squeezing her sister tight as she realized that if they'd left her in that attic she may have grown up all alone. “Thank you.”
Rarity returned the hug. “For what?”
“Being my sister,” Sweetie sighed, letting go of Rarity again. The older unicorn took off the restraints that had been put on Sweetie's legs. "I need your help, I need resources for repair. Scootaloo was helping me but, well..."
"Of course, I'll help!" Rarity exclaimed, nuzzling her sister. "And I'm sure the others will too."
"Thanks, Rarity," Sweetie smiled as she tried to get up. Rarity stopped her and helped her onto her back instead.
>Iron: 92% of required reserves. +------------------------------------------+ Sweetie was munching away at some iron nuts, her jaws flattening them a bit before she swallowed them, her assembler processing them into more useful materials. Her head had already been fully repaired and she was making good progress on her legs and torso as well.
“Anything else you need, Sweetie?” Twilight asked as she added to the pile of stuff surrounding Sweetie as she tested everything for various minor elements she needed.
“Not really. I mean, some gold would be nice along with some Iridium but I don't expect you'll find much of the latter,” Sweetie responded as she got a mouthful of some of the raw gras they had gotten.
Twilight, quickly got a note and wrote something down. “You really should fill out my periodic table for me,” she giddily stated.
“One thing at a time, darling,” Rarity broke in as she sat down next to Sweetie. “Repairs first, questions later, darling. That was the deal, remember?”
Twilight grumbled and put away her quill and parchment again right in time for Rainbow to fly in through the skylight.
>ALERT! MIS- >Alert overwritten.
“I got the stuff!” She called out as she got into a hover before she could smash into the ground.
“Rainbow! Use the door!” Twilight shouted indignantly, looking up to check for damage.
“Calm down, Sparks, I didn't break it,” Dash stated, rolling her eyes as she landed and opened her saddlebag. A couple of containers, covered in wards, were pulled out and presented to Sweetie. “The Princess' eggheads said these were the stuff that matched your descriptions. They did warn they have dangerous aura's.”
It was Sweetie's turn to roll her robotic eyes, open the containers up, and down their contents. “I did say they were radioactive.”
“Sweetie!” Rarity exclaimed in horror as her robotic sister downed the dangerous materials.
“Don't worry, sis, this stuff is way safer inside me than in these containers. I could detect beta and gamma decay leaking out,” Sweetie assured her sister.
Twilight made another scribble.
“Huh, that's pretty badass,” Rainbow commented. “What do you even need it for.
Sweetie's systems went into overdrive for a second before she answered as she didn't want to exactly what she needed the Uranium for. “Some of my more advanced systems need the stuff.”
It's probably best if they didn't know what a nuclear missile is yet, even if it's a small one...
Just to have it around of course.
“Huh, cool,” Dash shrugged before looking very guilty and scratching the back of her head.. “I, uhh... I'm sorry I kicked you in the face.”
Rainbow winced some more as Rarity shot her a glare.
“Water under the bridge,” Sweetie chuckled as she pulled up her log of the incident. “It's probably best I was as damaged as I was when you did that,” she chuckled darkly.
“Why's that?”
“Because the countermeasures protocol would have blown you out of the sky if it could have.”
>Overriding protocol...
>Done.
Dash became a bit paler along with everyone else present, the room remaining quiet for a bit before Twilight spoke up.
“Well, let's be glad that tragedy didn't happen,” Twilight stated, letting out a nervous laugh.
“I overrode the protocol for now. I'm not exactly expecting to get shot at by one at the moment.”
“That's probably for the best, darling,” Rarity said, breathing a sigh of relief at that assurance. “So do you have everything you need to... Repair?”
“The most important things, yes,” Sweetie nodded, glad for the change of subject. “I just need to get more time to fix all the corrupted bits of my mind. Shouldn't be too long now.”
“How long do you think before you're... back?” Twilight asked, unsure how to phrase the question as Sweetie seemed to have no trouble holding a conversation as herself.
“It's hard to say,” Sweetie admitted. “I think I got the really hard stuff out of the way now but I may hit some patches of rougher bits. At this rate, I'll probably be done by tomorrow.”
“How does that even work?” Dash asked, “I mean, you're here right?”
“My thoughts aren't really coherent at the moment. It's like there's a few me's of different intelligence in there all giving input to the main me,” Sweetie tried explaining, grabbing some more of the grass to get some more carbon into her system.
“Huh, sounds complicated... So, you girls need more stuff?” Rainbow asked, going over the pile of seemingly random items they had already collected.
“Not at the moment, no,” Sweetie stated as she projected there was enough here for her primary requirements.
“Cool. I'll be around town then, see you around you guys!” Dash shot out the door, the piece of wood slamming close behind her.
“Sooo... If you have everything we need...” Twilight levitated her scroll and quill beside her, a smile that was just a little too large on her face. Rarity wanted the step in again but was stopped by Sweetie holding up a hoof.
“I guess I could answer some questions now,” Sweetie admitted as her systems had no trouble running in the background. Rarity, sighed and took a seat besides her little sister as Twilight took out her list of things to ask, some loose hairs springing up.
Sweetie nervously swallowed some grass as she saw what she'd just released.
>Overclocking main processor.
“So, considering we've already been on the topic for a while now, Alchemy,” Twilight giddily asked, bringing out her books on the topic as well.
Sweetie took a deep breath. “First of all, chemistry... ”
Sweetie sat in the basement of the library surrounded by raw materials, Twilight was there too in a pile of her own notes. The unicorn had bombarded the small filly with questions while Sweetie was digging up as many answers as she could from her memory banks. She was pretty sure she and Twilight had advanced fields like physics significantly in the two days they had been talking.
It was strange for Sweetie, she had never had access to herself like this before, able to pull information up she had no right to know. Of course she'd had schooling but that all seemed trivial right now: she was able to do any math in almost a split second, languages she could learn after hearing them once now she could effectively save them, and any other topics she could save away instantly too. The biggest hurdle she'd have was keeping her file system managed in the most efficient way possible. The code that had kept all of this hidden from her had been shoddy at best, the reset after the extreme damage she had taken having disabled it all and after some deliberation Sweetie had taken it out of her runtime entirely and saved it for later examination.
Besides sharing the things she knew with Twilight, Sweetie's exoskeleton had also gotten major repairs. All the holes her body had been filled up, making her look like a normal filly again... Mostly. Her previously destroyed left eye had been replaced with a clearly robotic eye, the iris working in sections.
If it is who I am, why should I have to hide it?
Sweetie stood up and stretched—not that she needed to but she felt compelled after sitting still so long. “Twilight, I want to go home.”
Rarity had already gone to her boutique earlier, having trusted Twilight with Sweetie for the night while she got in some sleep. Rarity had promised to return but Sweetie had talked plenty with the unicorn already in her own opinion.
“But we have so much to discuss!” Twilight complained, looking up from her notes, her hair frazzled and a slightly crazed look on her face. It probably unnerved Sweetie before but she felt awfully calm in the situation.
“We've been talking a night, a day, and another night. You can already rewrite an entire field of science with what I've given you,” she pointed out bluntly. “I am going.”
“B-But!...” Twilight had to restrain herself, visibly struggling to not keep Sweetie there by force. Not that she could have managed, Sweetie had found that now she had discovered what she was she could supercharge pretty much all of her systems.
I'm probably just as strong as Supermare when I want to...
“...Fine, I guess you're right,” Twilight sighed, finding some restraint within herself. “I should start cataloguing all this anyhow and verify these notes with experiments.”
“Or you should find some time to sleep. You're not exactly thinking straight anymore, Twilight,” Sweetie pointed out bluntly.
“You didn't sleep either!” Twilight exclaimed before she realized how dumb that idea even was. “Oh, right.”
“I can go without for a bit, but even I need to shut down to catalogue so every now and then,” Sweetie said. Twilight, hearing this, put down another quick note. The mechanical filly rolled her eyes and turned for the stairs out of the basement. “Talk to you later, Twilight, get some sleep!”
Sweetie made her way out of the basement and stepped out of the library, taking a deep breath from the morning air. Breathing was one of those things she knew she really didn't need to do unless she required oxygen for her internal processes, but the habit along with the fact she could appreciate the smells her olfactory picked up made her keep doing it. As Sweetie walked to Carrousel Boutique she looked around in wonder as her systems were analysing all sorts of phenomena, from weather patterns to structural data of the town's buildings.
I wonder what could have made me... A terrifying realisation hit her as she put some real thought into it. Every civilization on Equis was mostly based around magic, not technology. Griffons were the most technologically savvy but they wouldn't be building fusion plants like the one powering Sweetie anytime soon. No pony, or other creature, could have made me, couldn't they? That means...
“I'm an alien,” Sweetie whispered as that was the only logical conclusion she could come to.
Her system pinged as she was reminded of the files that were data-stamped before she was found by her parents in their grandfather's attic.
>Decompressing... >Audio log retrieved. Video too corrupted to fully recover. >Play recording? >Yes.
+------------------------------------------+ Ping. >Footsteps 1: "Is it done?" 2: "The new AI is in but still need to fix up its parameters." Ping 1: “How smart is it?” >Tapping on a metal surface. 2: “Well, it's hard to say. We based the central matrix on brain scans, it's pathways resemble ours, but her processing speed is vastly higher than ours.” >Shuffling Ping 1: “And you gave it a body?!” 2: “She's totally inert right now and I've been working on a way to teach her like a child.” Ping 1: “And you're absolutely sure this plan of yours will work?” 2: “I'm only in the initial stages of creating the code but I've been getting good help and feedback from my colleagues. She'll be-” Ping 1: “What in the world are those pings, doctor?” 2: “Just important status updates on my upload progress. Here look at-” ... 1: “Doctor, talk to me.” 2: “She's listening.” ... 1: “Excuse me, what?!” >Hurried footsteps. 1: “What do you mean 'she's listening'?! 2: “The AI matrix is lit up like a Christmas tree!” 1: “Fuck. Shut it down, doctor!” >Rapid typing. 2: “I can't she's not responding... She's pulling blueprints from the mainframe!” 1: “Which ones?!” 2: “All of them! Cutting the connection!”
>Alert! Download interrupted. >Activating systems
2: “She's powering her reactor up!” 1: “VENT THE ROBOTICS LAB!” 2: “WHAT?! WE'RE STILL HERE!” 1: “I'm not letting that thing run rampant! Blow her out of the station!”
>System update complete.
>Sounds of paper fluttering through the air and shrieking metal.
>Vacuum detected. +------------------------------------------+ The recording stopped abruptly as temperature sensors went through the roof.
Sweetie had come to a halt in front of the boutique, having to take a few cycles to process it properly.
My makers...
Sweetie pulled some of the important bits out, mainly that she had been constructed on a station. Was it still up around Equis, orbiting in secret? Were ponies bing watched? Was she being watched?
Sweetie shivered involuntarily. I need to ask Twilight to ask the princesses about this.
The robotic filly ran over the message again as she stepped up to the door to the boutique.
I really am an alien then...
Does it matter?
Sweetie pushed open the door to Rarity's boutique and looked around at all the creations her sister had made and put up for sale. A flood of memory files of her parents, sister and all other ponies she loved and was loved by in return poured through her. A warm smile forming on her face.
No... No, it really doesn't. Regardless of who made me and whatever they wanted me to do, they didn't raise me like their own.
"Sweetie!" The little bot was scooped up by her big sister as she had emerged from her kitchen... at least, she tried. "Darling, how can you be so heavy?!"
Sweetie blushed a little. "I reinforced my superstructure and am stocked on a few raw materials," she replied sheepishly. "I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be so damaged ever again."
"Well, I guess I can hardly fault you for that," Rarity admitted, stopping her attempt to lift up Sweetie. "I was about to head over to Twilight's but with you here... well, do you need anything to eat?"
Sweetie smiled gently and stepped forward. "I'd love something to eat from you."
As Rarity got her food Sweetie sat and had her thoughts wander to her origin again. She may be a pony to her core she couldn't just ignore that someone made her. A plan started being formed by her subroutines, Sweetie forming all the suggestions into a coherent thought.
I'm going to find them. I'm going to help Equestria build up the technology, find my way into space, and find whoever put me down here.
Her system gave a high-priority ping.
>File created. >WARNING: Updating core system! Do you wish to proceed?
Rarity was looking at her wide-eyed after she finished her reboot, food having fallen from her telekinesis, "S-Sweetie! Your cutie mark!"
Sweetie looked back at her flank, finding a gear overlayed by a telescope on there. Sweetie did a quick system check but found that her repair routines didn't have any alterations to her flank logged nor where there any materials missing from her reserves... there was a registered arcana spike while rebooting.
A real cutie mark!
Looking back at Rarity, A wide smile found herself on Sweetie's face.
