Sweetie Belle sat on her bed, looking at the flyer in her hoof longingly. Today was the day of the Sisterhooves Social, held at Sweet Apple Acres where sister pairs would compete against each other in various events. Sweetie Belle had been looking forward to the Social ever since Apple Bloom let her know of its date. But when Sweetie had told Rarity this, the fashionista announced that she and her friends would be in Manehattan for a fashion show that day and she wouldn’t be able to compete with her in the Social like last year. Sweetie, though saddened to no end, said she understood to which Rarity promised to be there for her the following year, no buts about it. That didn’t cure Sweetie’s sorrow of not being able to compete in the Social this year, however, especially now that she had an upgrade they’d plow through the competition in the Big Race event.

Sweetie was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door.

“Come in!” she called.

The door opened to reveal Jenny, a small smile gracing her metal face. “Hi Sweetie Belle!” she said, and strode over to the bed, her robotic feet making loud clanking noises with each step. “I finally found some free time to come here and see how your training was coming along.” She sat down on the bed, which sank underneath her immense weight, but thankfully didn’t buckle and collapse. “So, how’s it coming along?”

Sweetie sighed. “Alright, I guess.”

Jenny sensed the depression in Sweetie’s voice and frowned. “Is something wrong, Sweetie?”

Sweetie turned the flyer around so Jenny could see it. She looked down and read the text printed upon it. “’The Sisterhooves Social: Where sister pairs compete against each other in all kinds of neat events for pseudo glory and fancy ribbons. Be at Sweet Apple Acres on the date of 1/5/02 at 1:00 pm if you wish to compete."

“I was looking forward to competing in it with Rarity like we did last year.” Sweetie let the flyer fall to the floor and sighed again. “But she had to go to a fashion show in Manehattan, so she couldn’t compete.” Another sigh. “I guess I’ll give the Anti-Gravity thingie some more practice instead.”

Jenny looked down at the little robot filly sympathetically. Being the oldest sister of her own siblings (whom were still, thankfully, powered down and in storage), Jenny could only make an educated guess at how Sweetie Belle was feeling right now.

“. . . Sweetie, I could compete with you if it makes you feel better.”

Sweetie blanked for a moment, then looked up in surprise at the humanoid robot girl. “You want to compete in the Social?”

“Sure, I mean, I’ve got a few hours to kill before mom wants me back home.” A panel in Jenny’s wrist opened up and a built-in cuckoo clock rose out. “It’s now . . . 12:53 pm. Our rocket boosters will get us to Sweet Apple Acres in time if we leave right now.”

“I don’t know, Jenny,” Sweetie replied worriedly, “the flyer says ‘sister pairs’ and we’re not really sisters.”

Jenny furrowed her iron brows. “Just because there’s no blood between us doesn’t make us unrelated; mom created us both, therefore we’re sisters.”

Sweetie tapped her chin in thought for a moment before smiling. “Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask.”

Jenny reached down and ruffled Sweetie’s synthetic mulberry mane. “That’s the spirit kiddo.” She activated her rocket boosters and opened the nearest window. “Well, come on; you’ve gotta show me the way.”

Sweetie smiled, and activated her own rocket boosters. Her aim faltered, however, and she banged her head on the window frame as she flew out after Jenny, who giggled.

“Want me to kiss your boo boo, little sis?” she jokingly said.

“Ha ha,” Sweetie responded, rubbing her metal plating whilst rolling her eyes. She began heading south. “It’s this way.”

With a haughty smile, Jenny followed.

As it turned out, the question of whether or not Sweetie and Jenny would be allowed to compete in the Sisterhooves Social wasn’t about whether they were true sisters. Rather, Granny Smith was adamant that their ‘fancy hi-tech doohickery’ would give the robot pair too great of an advantage over the other sister teams.

“C’mon, Granny Smith,” Sweetie Belle whined. “Please let us compete.”

The olden mare chortled half-sarcastically in her chair on the platform, her bullhorn in front of her. “Compete, yeah right; more like mop the floor with yer fancy schmancy gadgets n’ junk.”

Sweetie looked downcast while Jenny put her hands on her hips. “Miss Smith,” she said, “we’ll willingly handicap ourselves to make the competition fair.”

Granny looked up at the teenage girl. “How?” she inquired.

Jenny activated her ‘Toy Car mode’ and collapsed her body into a smaller shape, resembling, of course, a remote-controlled toy car. All that remained of her normal appearance was her head, which sat atop the little gadget with a proud smile upon the face. Granny stared in surprise at the teenage robot, now no taller than Sweetie next to her, and furrowed her brows in thought.

“Ah still don’t know ‘bout it,” she said. “How do Ah know y’all won’t cheat anyway?”

“Look,” Jenny replied; the sight of a talking head atop a toy car slightly unnerved Granny Smith, “I already studied the race course and all I need to finish it in this form are this,” a panel opened up in front of Jenny’s face, to which a metallic hand rose out and waved before retracting, “and this,” a spring mechanism activated in Jenny’s wheels which caused her to bounce about five feet into the air, startling Granny Smith.

“And I promise not to use anything but my own four hooves and mouth,” Sweetie proclaimed, her previous sorrow dispelled.

Granny Smith looked unsure. “Well, Ah’m still not too sure ‘bout lettin’-“

She stopped herself mid-sentence upon seeing the look in Sweetie’s eyes. The look which all adults dreaded. That which could easily override their sense of authority if weak-willed. Granny Smith had used it on her own parents as a filly, and even a few times as a mare, all to the same effect of getting what she wanted. Now, however, she was on the receiving end of that look, and it made her cringe with regret at what she was about to do.

Curse you, puppy dog eyes . . .

“Alright, fine,” Granny Smith said. “Y’all can compete.”

Sweetie Belle immediately beamed while Jenny merely rolled her eyes with a small smile.

“But if’n either of ya cheat, Ah’ll personally drag ya outta the race with my false teeth. Am Ah clear?”

Both robots nodded.

“Good.” Granny Smith leaned back into her chair. “Now head on over ta the startin’ line.”

“AND MAY THE BEST SISTERS WIN!!!” Granny Smith shouted into her bullhorn.

The crowd of ponies in the bleachers cheered uproariously and stomped their hooves in excitement. The race was about to begin.

Sweetie & Jenny stood at the far end of the racers, whom were casting aside glances at the robot pseudo-sisters every other second. While Sweetie paid no attention to them, Jenny used her retractable hand to wave hi, which the other teams returned awkwardly.

“ON YER MARK!!!”

All the racer’s attention immediately shifted to the racetrack in front of them. They were all eager to start the race, and equally determined to come out on top.

“GET SET!!!”

Sweetie stuck her tongue out in anticipation while synthetic sweat began dripping down her face. Jenny revved up her motor and furrowed her brows in determination.

“GO!!!”

The dirt leading up to the mud pit was assaulted by a barrage of hooves and wheels as all the sister teams galloped madly to gain an early lead over everyone else. Sweetie and Jenny fell into fifth place in the crowd by the time they reached the mud pit. While Sweetie followed everypony else in simply jumping over the mud, Jenny used her spring mechanism to propel herself across. Landing on the other side, they rushed to the next leg of the race which was the barrel hop. Once again, Sweetie simply hopped across and Jenny used her spring to bounce across them. The robot pair passed the team of Sparkler & Dinky while making way toward the crates, putting them in fourth place.

For the crates, Sweetie made use of her enhanced strength gained from her upgrade. Unlike the previous year where she couldn’t hoist herself over the first crate, this time she easily climbed over each crate until she reached the other side. Jenny once again relied on her spring to bounce up and over each crate to join her. They then made way toward the picnic tables where the next leg of the race was located. The sister pair of Berry & Pina, who were the winners of last year’s Big Race, were already at the table and shoveling pie into their mouths when Jenny and Sweetie arrived.

“Think you can eat an entire pie?” Sweetie hurriedly asked Jenny as she began madly tearing away at her own.

Jenny smiled wryly while she returned to her default form. “I’ll have it gone before you can look up; just concentrate on eating your own.”

Sweetie barely heard her pseudo sister over the sounds of her own chomps and gulps as she shoved her muzzle into the pie (apple, not surprisingly) and madly swallowed as much as she could with each bite. Apparently, Dr. Wakeman had built into Sweetie an artificial digestive system, converting what she ate into a synthetic oil which would keep her alive and operational; it’s designs based off of those provided by an associate of Wakeman’s who only went by the initials of J.N.

Berry & Pina had finished and left by the time Sweetie was done eating her pie. She looked up to see that Jenny’s pie was gone and the teenage robot was back in her Toy Car mode. Sweetie didn’t bother asking how Jenny had finished it, however, and they made a mad dash to the next leg. Sweetie & Jenny got in front of the hay stack and began pushing against it across the ground toward the stopping line; Jenny used her retractable hand while Sweetie pushed against it with her metal-plated head. The combined strength of both robots saw them moving the hay stack swiftly across the ground, passing Berry & Pina and Cloudkicker & Alula in turn to take second place.

As they raced toward the grape stomp, however, Jenny fell behind Sweetie to which the robot filly looked back in frightened concern.

“Are you okay, Jenny!?” she called back to the teenage robot.

Jenny used her retractable hand to wave and motion toward their grape stomping station. “It’s just a minor malfunction with my engine!” she called back. “A few quick repairs and I’ll be back in the race; just worry about finishing with the grapes!”

Sweetie nodded and made way to their station. She hurriedly jumped up into the barrel and immediately began madly stomping upon the tiny, succulent, purple fruits it housed. She had no need to worry about short-circuiting from liquid seeping into her systems thanks to her parts being 100% liquid resistant. Mud, however, was a potential hazard, which is why both she and Jenny had jumped clear of the mud pit.

Sweetie had stomped about one third of the grapes into juice when all the other sister pairs caught up and began stomping their own grapes. Panicking, Sweetie increased the frequency and strength of her own stomps. It mattered little, however, as Berry & Pina and Dinky & Sparkler managed to finish their own grapes and move onto the next leg while Sweetie was still waiting for Jenny to catch up.

“C’mon, Jenny!” Sweetie called to her as she drove herself over, finally finished with her repairs.

“Ready to roll!” Jenny replied. Her retractable hand grabbed the glass and set it upon their stool. Sweetie jumped out of the barrel and scurried over to the next leg.

“You sure this’ll work?” Jenny asked as she followed.

“It worked last year,” Sweetie replied while going long.

Jenny drove next to the bench upon which rested their crate full of apples. As per Sweetie’s instructions, Jenny slammed her hand down onto the opposite side of the bench from the apples, in turn sending them flying through the air towards the robot filly. Sweetie lifted up the catching crate and carefully positioned herself so that all the apples fell into the crate at once. It was almost a carbon copy of her stint with Rarity the year prior, the only difference being she got every apple in at the same time rather than having to bunt one in with her flank at the last second.

With their crate fully loaded, Jenny & Sweetie took back second place and made way to the final leg alongside the sister pair of Golden Harvest & Noi. The two pairs ran/drove like mad toward the chicken coop where the eggs to carry were located. It was just barely, but Sweetie & Jenny managed to enter the coop first. They quickly grabbed ahold of a single egg, Sweetie with her muzzle and Jenny with her hand, and began carefully carrying it out to the egg basket.

“Okay . . . easy,” Sweetie said, moving slowly to keep the egg balanced.

Jenny held onto the egg by the palm of her hand, making sure not to grasp it too hard lest she crush it. Unfortunately, this only served to make the egg wobble in their collective grasp. When Sweetie changed direction upon reaching the ground, the egg shifted too far to the left and tipped over in Jenny’s palm.

“Jenny, look out!” Sweetie called.

It was too late. The egg fell out of their grasp and plummeted straight to the ground where it made a wet splat upon contact and shattered. Frustrated, Sweetie turned around and ran around to the coop’s entrance, to which Jenny followed her. Meanwhile, Golden & Noi had secured their egg and were making way down the ramp to the basket. They carefully maneuvered the egg into the basket and sprinted toward the finish line.

Sweetie was about to rush outside the coop with the next egg alone, but Jenny clasped her hand on the robot filly’s shoulder plate and spoke. “It’s over, Sweetie.”

“But . . . but . . .”

Jenny shook her head. “We’ve lost.”

Sweetie sighed in defeat. “I know.”

Jenny smiled. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t finish the race together.”

Sweetie looked back with a small smile of her own. “Okay, sister.”

The two proceeded to successfully carry another egg down to the basket outside the coop before completing the final run to the finish line where Golden Harvest and Noi were waving to the cheering crowd. Golden looked at the two robots as they approached and smiled.

“That was a great race,” she said.

Sweetie half-smiled. “Yeah, I guess it was.”

The yellow-coated sister pair was soon presented with their ribbons and carried off by the cheering crowd, just like last year. Jenny watched them go before re-donning her normal appearance and looking down to Sweetie.

“That was a lot of fun, wasn’t it Sweetie?”

The white filly sighed and looked downcast. “Yeah, I guess it was.”

Jenny frowned. “Is something wrong, Sweetie?”

Sweetie briefed a glance up to her before looking downcast again. “I’m just a little bummed we didn’t win.” She lifted a hoof and stared at it. “I was really hoping to show everypony how awesome I’ve become after my upgrade; maybe make some new friends too, you know?”

Sweetie felt Jenny clasp a hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie . . . I purposely lost us the race.”

Sweetie’s eyes widened in shock and she turned to Jenny. “What?”

“I lied about my engine breaking down,” Jenny replied, “and I also intentionally let the egg fall to the ground.”

“Why would you do that?” Sweetie asked, more curious than angry.

“Because I didn’t want anyone trying to befriend you for the wrong reasons.” Jenny knelt down so she was at eye level with Sweetie. “Had we won the race, odds are you would’ve had a lot of ponies trying to be friends with you only because your new gadgets would help them with small, menial tasks that would’ve distracted you from the their intended purpose; to protect your friends and family from harm.” She smiled in earnest. “I learned from firsthand experience that, sometimes, people will forget about a robot’s friendship and only see them for the services they can provide.”

Sweetie mulled over all of what Jenny said for a few moments before looking downcast. “Is that why Apple Bloom and Scootaloo love my new gadgets, because they think it’ll help them with their chores and junk?”

Jenny’s smile changed to a happy one and she stood up. “They were your friends long before discovering you’re a robot, right? No, they’re probably just excited to see stuff blow up and whatnot. And there isn’t really anything wrong with lending them a ha-err, hoof at certain tasks using your gadgets; friends help each other out, after all. Just make sure they don’t start taking unfair advantage of you and there’s no need to worry.”

Sweetie took another moment to mull over all of what Jenny said before looking up to her and smiling. “Thanks, Jenny, for everything.”

“Don’t mention it, little sis,” Jenny replied, playfully ruffling the robot filly’s mane. She then opened her wrist panel and checked the time. “3:24 pm. I should get going.”

Jenny activated her rocket boosters and rose a few feet up in the air. “See you later, Sweetie,” she said, looking down at her.

Sweetie returned her gaze and waved a hoof. “Goodbye, big sis,” she replied.

Jenny shot straight up into the sky and quickly disappeared from sight while Sweetie began happily cantering back home.