(Story extract)

“Right… okay, first things first, I don’t want to have a paperweight’s worth of lead in my ass again, we need to take her back to the factory.” Gesturing to the robotic mare on Minty’s back, I shuffled about, letting off a slight groan at the weight of all the stuff I was carrying on my back. Okay, maybe I should find somewhere to put all these… hundred and fifty… goddesses, did I really take that much? Could’ve sworn my pip-buck responded with a cheeky beep after I’d thought that… guh. I need to get more sleep. The robot- uh, Sweetie Belle… oh hell, I’m just going to call her Sweetie Bot, looked over at myself quizzically, sliding off Minty’s back and hopping into the snowy street with a thud and light, odd, monotoned scream.

“Please don’t take me back there, all the other ponies there treat me funny. You both are extremely more likely candidates for inducing fun, anyways!” She bounced along in the snow, her leg servos whirring loudly, her mannerisms even managing to draw a confused look from Minty. I shot him a smirk of ‘told you so’, drawing an eyeroll out of him as we followed behind her, the small robotic filly garnering quite a bit of attention from passers-by and other ponies who were just starting to wake up themselves. Minty tugged at his combat armor again, grumbling and seeming to try and get the kevlar tighter around his body – c’mon, he gets a new jacket and suddenly everything isn’t warm enough? Sheesh. The robot paused at the end of the street, looking around what was left of the large city with a grin. “Mooscow. Sensors indicate many sentient life forms within the brick walls, including Sweetie Belle!”

“Right, sure, sure… Uh, Sweetie? Look, we kind of have to go back to the factory, just to see if it’s okay for you to stick with us, alright?” Minty trotted up to the small filly, resting his metallic hoof gently against the side of her head. The filly, um, ‘blinked’ I guess, looking up at him wide-eyed and cheery. My unicorn friend chewed at his lip, the robot refocusing. “It isn’t that we want to take you back and leave you there, but… we don’t really own you, yet. Well, I mean, we need to adopt you, or, uh, something… Twintails, what’s a word for owning a sentient lifeform in the form of a robot?” Blinking a few times, I shrugged in response, the filly scanning over Minty’s face for a moment, her smile fading.