“Oh... right.” Rarity drops the argument.

“So? What do ya girls say? Yay or nay?” I ask. I just stood there with the changelings beside me, waiting. I never took track of time but it feels like two minutes have gone by before Fluttershy speaks up an answer.

“I… I guess we can help them...” She walks over to stand next to us, sitting on her haunches a few feet away from the changelings. Guess she’s still a little hesitant. But hey, she’s willing, that’s all I need.

“If Fluttershy is willing to help these poor changelings, then so am I!” Pinkie happily shouted as she bounded over to our side.

“I guess if Pinkie is going along with it...” Dash mutters with a bit of… I guess I can call it regret? No, there has to be a better word for it. Anyway, she hovered over to stand by Pinkie and Flutters. A ‘whatever’ look plastered on her face.

“Well, if ya think we can help em’. I don't see why not. S’ long they don’t try nothin’.” Aj says and joins us, all while casting the changelings a scrutinizing look. As if trying to find any kind of ulterior motive, or something to that effect.

“... I’m not entirely ok with this...” Rarity hesitantly states. “But… as long you are sure about this, Ember.” The white unicorn joins us.

And then there was one…

“Well sugarcube? Are ya gonna join us ‘er what?” Aj asks Twilight. This whole time she’s been looking more and more sure of something. I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but I have a good idea as to what it could be. Or she’s connecting the dots.

“Quick question.” She says. “How do you know that we would agree to this?”

“Simple,” I coolly answer. “You guys have a bit of an obligation to help those in need. No matter what the circumstances. And I mean that as in all ponies in general, not just you girls. Since you have whole ‘Friendship is Magic’ theme going on.”

“Then why did you want us want to help them?” She asks in a knowing tone. At this I smirk.

“A little birdie told me you girls would. And besides as a former soldier I hate seeing the innocent suffer.” She takes on an angry glare.

“Was this ‘little bird’ you as one of them!?” The girls gasp at this. I nod.

“So you were hear the whole time!?” Rainbow asks in disbelief.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So you were the one behind all those pranks?” I nod again. “That’s so awesome!” Rainbow cheers. “Oh man, that thing when you were spike? The look his face was priceless!”

“Well that explains how much a big help ya were around the farm.” Aj Remarks.

“And that’s how you knew so much about me.” Rarity shoots me a playful glare.

“Yes.”

“But why!?” Twi shrieked. “Why do that!? Why put me through that!?”

“It was a test Twilight. Think of it as one of Celestia’s assignments.” I answer.

“But that still doesn’t mean you get to do that to anypony!” Oh, she means that little rant from a week ago.

“Well hear me out then: Do you know what it feels like to bare witness to the suffering others, and you can’t do a damn thing about it?” She raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. “Exactly. You’ve always found a way to help someone out of any situation. That’s how it’s always been here right? There’s always that one solution that fixes everything? No matter how difficult it is to find the solution?” All of them nod, even the changelings. “Where I come from, that kinda shit doesn’t exist.” They stay silent. “Here’s an example: Let’s say someone’s addicted to some unhealthy substance that’ll end their life short.”

“You mean illegal drugs?”

“Yes, that. I didn’t know whether that existed here or not. Anyway. What happens to them here if someone is discovered to have an addiction like that?”

“Well, the pony would be sent to rehab. And they always come out having kicked the addiction.” Twilight answers.

“And that’s find and all. But back on Earth. The person is sent to rehab, and they either get the help they need and kick it. Or they don’t.”

“What?” All of them ask in unison.

“Let me explain. Back there, people vary widely in an almost infinite fashion.” I pause to gather my thoughts. “And when one random person develops an addiction, they are either able, when provided the help and guidance, to ditch the addiction. Or they don’t, no matter what amount of help they get. It could be due some even that happened in their past, or it could be that they just. Can’t, for whatever reason. That person can be given all the help in the world, and they still wouldn’t get rid of it. The same applies to any other situation. They either get the help they need and better there lives. Or they don’t. They just simply don’t.” I see all the ponies and changelings ears drop and fold towards their heads. Even Pinkies hair deflated.

“That… still didn't answer my question.” Twilight said ruefully.

“I said that to you because you had no idea what happened to Chrysalis and her hive after she was blasted to the badlands. I needed to bring that to light to you, to show you that while you think there’s always a way to help somebody. In reality, it’s not like that. Remember Tirek?” She nods. “There’s no way in HELL that anybody can ‘reform’ him. Not even Fluttershy, he is a lost cause as we call it. I’m pretty sure there are some more examples out there in this world. You were just blind to it. All of you.” I turn to everybody. “While I really can’t blame you for not knowing this kind of shit. Being surrounded by happiness and bright days all your lives, and while everything ends up all fine and dandy if anything goes. I just wanted to let you all know it’s not always like that, not always.”

“Are you sure?” Pinkie asks with a sniffle.

“Yeah, I know all too well. And it’s because of that that I want to help these changelings. I want to take advantage of this ‘always help others in need’ thing you have here.”

“How do you know?” Twilight asks out of pure curiosity.

“You know my friend Corey?” All of them except the changelings nod. “We were friends as kids. But something happened that tore our friendship thing apart.”

“What… was it?”

“The very thing that made me into the man I am today; the war. He was supposed to be drafted into the army. But I took his place, I was afraid for him, afraid that he would never come back. So I took his place. To put the long story short I did so by putting him in jail.”

“Huh?” They all ask.

“I know it sounds stupid, but hear the full story and you’ll understand. I’m not going to tell you, I don’t want to relive those years.”

“Oh...”

“Now!” I clap my hands and rub together. “How about we move on and help these guys out huh?”

“Ok!” Pinkie shouts. “You in Twilight?” She asks. Twilight looks up at me, a small, genuine smile curving her lips.

“Yes. Let’s do it.” All of cheer and Twi leads the way.

“Twilight, you sure you got this? You only worked on that speech for a day.” I asked her as she prepared a small stack of cards.

“Yes, I am sure. After what you told us. I’m all too happy to be doing this.” She answered.

“Alright. I’m gonna go get everyone ready.” I walk back inside town hall. The past day was well-spent getting things ready. Twilight teleported the lot of us to her castle to get things started. She explained that she can call a town hall meeting to explain to the towns ponies the changelings plight. While she got those cards ready she told us to get everything set us; the girls setting up the stage and curtains in front of town hall. She wanted to introduce the four changelings to the ponies after she gave her speech.

Let me restart… Kinda got a lot of things on my mind… Ok. Twilight took us to her home, told us what she has planned, told us to get things set up at town hall. The girls set shit up while I told the changelings to wait for their queue and waited with them. Mayor Mare was in on the whole thing and didn’t seem to mind them. In fact, she was even sympathetic when she heard about their problem. And now Me and the girls are waiting as Twilight was about to give her speech. I saw the curtains in front of her open through a window.

“Mare and gentlecolts! Can I please have your attention!” And like that she has lost my attention. Her voice just becomes white noise to me as I tried to find a way to pass time.

“Hey, Ember?” I turn to Rarity. “How is that you turned yourself into a changeling?” Perfect.

“I just used a shapeshifting spell Twilight taught me.”

“But doesn’t that mean you had to… what was it?”

“A live specimen?”

“Yes, that. Didn’t you have to have something like that to turn yourself into one?”

“Yeah. The Queen was nice enough to show me what a changeling king looks like. And to be honest. I kinda like the scorpion tail.”

“Don’t you mean the manticore tail?”

“Yes, there are arachnids that have the same kind of stinger.” She gives me a blank look. “Insects.”

“Oh.”

“If I ever find a way to show you what they look li- of yeah. I forgot Twilight also taught me this.” I hold my hand out and a little screen projects itself. The same-looking one that looks like the grid image Twi did with Fluttershy turned Flutterbat. While I could only create a very detailed lineart of a scorpion, it did give her a good idea of what one would look like. And scare here a little with its looks. I Don’t even know why I decided to show her. I guess I’m just that bored.

“Ember?” I heard some disembodied voice.

“Huh?”

“Twilight is calling you out there darling.” Rarity explains.

“Oh. Ok.” *Weird, wasn’t she supposed to call the changelings?* I gear up metaphorically and walk out the main doors. And nearly gawk at the sight of every single pony that lives here gathered around town hall. I had to quickly brush this off as Twilight was addressing me.

“Ember? Why don’t you explain to everypony what I mean about ‘The Test’?” Oh, really? You’re trying to show them what I did to prove some kind of point? Fine, I can play this game sparkle farts.

“Oh, yes. You see everybody.” I address the crowd. “There was a reason why there was a changeling in town last week.” They start murmuring in confusion. “Twilight here is right, I did it is a last minute test I created.” The murmuring grinds to halt. “Yeah, you heard right. I’m Meto.” I smirk at their collective gasp. I let that hang in the air until one pony raises her hoof. It was Octavia. “Yeah Octavia?”

“So, it was actually you who made fun of me at that party?” I nod with a fond smile. “... I never knew you know how to have fun like that.” The crowd erupts into brief cheering and laughter. I mean brief because I had to help up a hand to get them to shut up.

“Alright, back to what you were all called here for. I did that little test because I ran into and made a few new friends last week. And these friends of mine have a little problem. But before I get to that, allow me to introduce you them. Let me go get them.” I walk back into town hall and call the changelings to follow me outside. They do so and the ponies gasp when they see them. “You see, these friends of mine feed off of one thing most of you are familiar with; love, and they’re starving. And also because of certain circumstances,” I glance at Twilight with a small scowl. “I have decided to help them any way I can. And to do that, I need all your help.” I get many confused stares. “They need love in order to live. And I can't just give them enough to live by myself. So basically I’m asking for all your help if you all want to. I am asking that you give these guys some love. Literally and metaphorically.” With nothing else left to say I wait as the ponies take their time to think about it. It surprisingly didn’t take long for them to come to an answer. I’ll skip the little details and say that they were overwhelmingly accepting and collectively agreed to help out these changelings.

“Are there any more questions?” I call out to the ponies. None of them responded. “No? Ok then! I guess you can go about your business or whatever.” The crowd of ponies disperses as they do whatever they were originally doing. I really didn’t expect them to start asking a fuck-ton of questions about changelings and what’s gonna happen from this point. And while most of them were simple to answer -and while the questions I didn’t know a thing about the changelings answered themselves-, it was just tedious to stand there and answer. It was like being that guy at a seminar whose sole purpose was to answer any question presented to him. Basically it sucked.

Anyway! After that, Twilight told me she would handle hot the news spreads and make sure that my newly made friends live comfortably. And instructed me to keep them safe, as she said, “You never know who might not like the idea of changelings living with us”. Of course she would take over. At least I still get to keep them safe. I like doing that; keeping others safe. It gives me this feeling of purpose, like I really serve no other purpose but protect my friends.

Like I’ve said, old habits die hard.

Anyway, after all of that the changelings said Mirage was calling them back, so they left. And now I’m just laying around watching the latest episode of Regular Show.

*I really need something to do right now…*

-You can always starting making another robot body for yourself, that was what you originally planned right?- Embris suggested.

*Yeah, I guess I can always do that again. Then again, I also start industrialization for this country.*

-Yeah yeah. “But I don’t want to do that because this planet doesn't need that yet.” I know.- She rants.

*Fuck off… I’m gonna get started on the that android body.*

~Hold on.~ Ruby said.

*What Ruby?*

~If and when you ever you… transfer your mind into that of an… android like Spark. What of me? Will I be left behind?~

*I have plans for that, I’m not exactly going to transfer my mind to an artificial body like you said. It’s gonna be more like an upgrade.*

~Wait, what do you… Oooh. I understand. Yes, that is an excellent alternative.~

*Yeah, let’s get started!* I get off the couch and head to my room.

“Ey Ember!” I heard Corey call from upstairs.

“Yeah dude?” He comes down the stairs.

“Hey, umm… me and Brittany have been thinkin’... Uh, we’ve been wanting to get our own house, and… yeah.” Ah! Perfect, I’ve been wondering when they would want to move out.

“Oh, yeah. By all means go ahead.”

“Really!?” He says with a smile.

“Yeah dude. You really think I would keep you and Brit here against you will?” I looks away suspiciously. “... I’m not going to question it.You can go buy a house if you ask Mayor Mare at Town hall.” He looks at me blankly. “... I’ll take you there.”

“Wait...” I snap my fingers and I teleport the both of us to the front of town hall. Corey stumbles a bit. “Ok, so that’s how it feels to teleport.”

“You’ll get used to it. C’mon.” I lead Corey into Mayor Mare’s office who was conveniently stamping papers.

“Mayor?” I ask.

“Oh!” She jumped slightly. “Ember! What are you doing here? And who is your friend here?”

“This my friend Corey.”

“Oh! Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” She holds out her hoof and he walks over to shake it. “How can I help you two fine gentlecolts?”

“Well Corey here wants to buy a house for him and his fiance.” When I said that her eyes visibly brighten.

“Wonderful! What kind of house are you looking for?”

“Well...” He looks off to space as he recollects what he wants.

“Oh yeah, before I leave, Whatever house he decides to get will be paid by me.” I turn to Corey. “Don’t worry about holding back dude. Go nuts.” I fluidly spin on my heel and walk right out. “I’m probably going to regret saying that…”

-Yep-

=Definitely.=

“So now just turn these blank ones into the infamous ‘Grey Goo’.” I say to myself as I input a few more lines of code and a few parts into the enlarged nanobot. Yes, I created another setup where I can modify my nanobots. Man, fucking magic, makes my life a fucking heaven.

~Pray tell, what is this, ‘Grey Goo’?~

“Oh it’s just what some people refer to a sentient, self-replicating glob of nanobots that devours the world.”

~Oh…~

“But in this context I'm using it as a little joke. You know what I really plan for this.” I say and shut the hatch after fixing the new parts in place.

~I know, just to hear you talk about it so lightly…~

“Oh come on. The Grey Goo is just a scenario, we haven’t even gotten close to making anything like that kind of shit yet.” I look into the files in the bot and make sure the newly added parts and code are operational before unhooking it from my desktop, shrink it back down, and use my magic to carefully place the bot into a glass slide to view on a microscope. To observe the effects of course! “Now, let’s see what’s going on in there.” I put the slide in place and look into the eyepiece.

~Why is your blood turning grey!?~

“The new nano is replicating, reprogramming, and essentially taking the place of every blood cell.”

~And why is that a good thing!?*

“I figured in order to keep you around I would turn my body into an android than transfer my mind to one. And the easiest way I can think of is replace every cell in my body to a nano.”

~Oh… I see. That makes sense then… But how is this going to work?~

“Simple,” I say as I watch the red cells are devoured, and turned to grey little nanos. “Before the nanos destroy a cell, they scan and copy the genetic info a specific cell, and the accompanying nano since there is a nano for each living cell in my body. Once they have the genetic info the nano rapidly duplicates and devours the call and old nanos. The process should spread all throughout my body and should turn me into a full android. The nanos will still be slip up as they take different functions as they replace organs, tissue, and things like that.” I explain, Ruby goes silent for a minute.

~... This is wonderful and all, but, how will you know this is going to work?~

“I just inject them into my arm and let them do their work. And if I have to, all cut my arm off.”

~Oh…~

“Don’t worry Ruby. I know what I’m doing.” I eagerly touch the pointer of my left hand to the little pile of grey blood and it quickly ‘soaks’ into my skin. At first I feel nothing, but I can only watch in glee as I can feel the nanos do their job just like a programmed them to. The skin on my hand briefly tints red before the grey color comes back. The red tint travels as a wave across my arm and the little bots replace my organic cells, it cascades like a small wave as it continues its trip across my body. Splitting when it reaches my legs and wings. And in no time the feeling and red rings fade as the process is nearly complete.

“Ruby, you still there?”

~Yes, I am still here. Although, shouldn’t of these… things, try to replace me?~

“... That’s what I thought at first,” I said. “but I soon figured I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Since the bots can compensate on account of magic. And since magic goes against the very laws of physics back home they can’t do anything to you. If anything, I was expecting them to start creating a second heart. But I guess that didn’t happen.” I says as I cast a diagnostic spell. Which tells me there is no said extra organ. “And I’ve said once I’ll say it again. Fucking magic. At this point I’m just really glad it’s decided to work with me whenever I do shit like this.”

-Hold on… wait a fuckin’ minute…- Embris interjects. -Does that mean you’re a robot now?-

“Well, by definition I’m a cyborg now. but I guess you can say that I am a robot now.”

-...-

-...-

-...- Embris.exe has stopped working apparently.

=... Can you still use magic?=

“I dunno. Lemme try...“ I snap my fingers and a forty-four magnum pistol in the form of scattered parts appears on the table I used for all of this. “Yep, still can.”

=Awesome.=

“I know right? Holy shit this is fucking epic!” An unrestrained smile cracks my face. “I did it. I finally did it. I turned myself into a fucking robot...”

=Just like we wanted as kids!=

“Yeah! And I get to keep my dick!” I cheer.

“Ember? Is that you yelling?” Spark calls from upstairs.

“Yeah! Just a little excited is all!”

“About what?” I smile again.

“Hold on!” I walk upstairs to find Spark in the living room. The stairs groaning a bit when I take steps on them. “Hey Spark.”

“Hey Ember.” Damn, she has gotten really casual. I didn’t program her to be like that… This magic shit really is doing a number on her in a good way. “What were you...” She trailed off when she turned to me.

“What?”

“... Your eyes...” What?

“What?”

“Your eyes… They look, different.”

“Really?” I snap my fingers and a handheld mirror appears in my hand. I then immediately move it to where I could see my face and I’m shocked at what I see. Instead of the normal circular iris, a fucking half-open robotic iris sit in their place. Even with my yellow color. “Huh, that’s unexpected.”

“What have you done to yourself?” Spark asks.

“I basically fulfilled my childhood dream of being a full-blown robot.” I say with a nostalgic smile.

“Really?” She responds with a raised brow. “Can you prove it?”

“Yeah, hold on.” I use a small knife I conjured to prick my finger. Grey ‘blood’ balls up and retreats before the little cut quickly closes up.

“Wow… That looks really unhealthy, but, what I saw was… your.. blood right? That was… that was thee... nanobots right? You have completely replaced your organic body with those, things. Am I correct?”

“Yeah.” I simply answer.

“Wonderful! I’m glad you got to live your childhood dream.”

“Thanks… where’s Chrysi?”

“She’s up in her room.”

“You know why?”

“No.”

“Oh. Has Corey been around?”

“Yes, he and Brittany came by and picked some of their things up. He told me he bought a house for themselves.”

“Nice, you know what kind of house he got?”

“I think he bought a two-story.”

“*Long sigh* I knew it...”

“What?”

“I told him he wouldn't have to worry about paying for since he nor Brit have a job.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I hope you do have the funds…”

“I should… but even then I’m willing to bet I can ask Celestia for a grant if I need to.”

“Oh, of course.”

“What do you mean ‘of course’?” I ask incredulously.

“You can always flex that ‘political muscle’ you have to get what you want.”

“How the hell is that relevant to what we’re talking about?”

“I am just saying if any of the ponies ever find out...”

“That I can just chalk it up to that? Clever.”

“Thank you.”

“I just wonder if that would even be a problem…”

Author's Notes:

To those who don't have idea here's what a mechanical iris looks like.