Holy god, getting this out was damn near impossible. In truth it was ready a few days ago but I got hit with the bricks at school recently. Also, if anyone got the reference in this chapter's name then congrats to you. Some familiar characters will be making some minor appearances and will be elaborated on later for those of you who I know will be wondering that.

Equestria. 1847.

Starfire sat on her bed giddy as a school girl. Her parents had asked her what she was so happy about but she said she’d tell them later. She wanted to write this down and get it down when it was fresh in her mind.

She pulled her journal out from under her bed and started writing.

Today my best friend since middle school finally did the one thing I hoped he’d do for the last year now. He finally got the courage up to kiss me today.

She giggled when she got to the next part.

He went to kiss me on the cheek. I turned at the last second and our lips connected. I think my heart skipped a beat…

***

Earth 2025.

Adara looked at the journal entry she wrote the night before and smiled.

7 years ago he pulled me from a plane crash and suffered burns to 30 percent of his body. Six years ago we started dating. 5 years ago we went to the Air Force Ball together. 4 years ago we left the Air Force and now have both have our dream jobs. 1 year ago he popped the question. Today… we’re getting married.

“They’re getting ready to start now. Better not keep him waiting. He looks pretty nervous down there.”

She smiled, “Then let’s not keep him waiting.”

***

Mars 2340

“I like this song,” Apollo said.

“Why? Sounds like just another song to me,” Sara said looking up from her book. They were on the metro into the city when the song came on.

“You honestly don’t remember it?”

“No, why?”

“This was the song we danced to on prom night. You remember that? The next week we met on the top of that hill like always and you kissed me.”

Sara smiled, “Yeah, now I remember it! I loved this song.”

“Funny they're playing it.”

“Yeah. You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” she smiled.

Apollo felt the small box in his pocket, “You’ll see when we get there.”

“Humph.”

***

Jett awoke. Instantly a beeping started next to him. He felt a sudden heightened awareness as his senses returned to him as he shot up.

Suddenly a door in front of him burst open. A doctor walked in with a syringe in his hand.

“Oh good he’s awake. I just hope this works,” he said, “Now I need you to hold still…”

Jett stopped. Syringe. Hold still. He quickly examined his surroundings. He was in a hospital room. Not a modern hospital. Like something 400 years too old. He was alone. No one he knew was in the room with him. Not good. Memories were still slowly returning but judging that he was in an unknown place with an unknown man trying to inject him with and unknown substance, he didn’t really need them to react. Too many unknowns. If you don’t know it, it’s hostile. Hostiles lead to harm. Considering the vulnerability now it would be wise to try to leave. Get bearings first. That syringe wasn’t too pleasant looking.

The man was at his bed now. He grabbed Jett’s arm, “Now this will sting-”

Oh no. Not happening.

He lashed his arm out forward, knocking the man back through the doors and into the hallway. Instantly he started pulling the vital monitors off of himself and started getting out of the bed.

Outside the guards realized something was wrong quickly and rushed into the room only to meet the same fate as the doctor. They lay slumped down against the wall right next to him with large dents in their armor where a fist had impacted it.

Outside the hospital life was going on as normal. That is until a hospital bed smashed through one the upper story windows, taking much of the wall with it and smashing onto the ground. A figure jumped from the opening and landed on the cobblestone surface with a crack as the stone material fractured beneath him.

He rose from the kneeling position he landed in and looked around him. He was in a large city. Almost a castle type fortress city. Strangely reminiscent of the Paris type aristocrat type city and yet still maintained a 21st century look. Tall spires rose up into the sky. Various small objects flew around the city.

“Where the hell am I?”

By now a crowd of people had noticed him. Typical ‘are you okay?’ phrases echoed all around him. Each face was strange, unfamiliar, no one he knew. Not Earth. His databases told him that. This was no place he recognized. The people here were unknowns. Hostiles.

“There he is!”

He looked up back up at the hospital. A guard stood near the hole in the wall looking down at him before turning and running back into the building, presumably towards the stairs. They were coming for him.

"No," he said. Capture would most likely mean death, or worse.

He looked down at his hands, relishing in the feeling of a newfound power. He almost laughed at the powerful feeling. And this wasn’t even full strength. But he still had other things to attend to. Figuring out where he was, how he got here, what exactly was wrong with him. Yeah, a long list indeed. He lowered his hands and took off running with a burst of energy and soon was at a full sprint. Only one thing was on his mind; Escape.

With this new power, no one could catch him, not if he wanted to.

***

Spitfire awoke and smiled. She slept wonderfully last night. Her bed at the HQ, her clothes that let her stretch her wings out nicely just as she liked, her room, all of it was homely. How good it felt to be home again. She pulled on some of her clothes and checked herself out in the mirror before walking out the door. She walked down to the cafeteria and started to make breakfast.

The other Wonderbolts were already there eating; all gave friendly smiles, happy to have their friend back.

Spitfire smiled back at them. She had missed them dearly, but fortunately she was back now.

She was just about to sit down when Soarin’ yelled across the room.

“Hey Spitty! There’s a call for you!”

She sighed, “Alright!”

She walked over towards the hallway near the HQ lobby. A phone was mounted on the wall.

“Hello?”

Princess Celestia’s regal voice flowed out of the device, “Well it seems I didn’t take your warning about your friend seriously.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“You better see for yourself.”

Ten minutes later after finishing breakfast Spitfire left for the hospital. She entered the building and walked up to where the android was staying. She had walked past a doctor sitting in a chair with an icepack on his head and two guards getting their upper torsos wrapped. Two dented pieces of metal were next to them. The Princess and Shining Armor were waiting for her.

“So what happened?” she asked.

“Take a look,” the guard Captain said. He opened the door to the room. There was no bed.

“Okay so what am I looking at?”

“Look left.”

She did, “Jesus Christ.”

A large gaping hole was in the wall where the window should be. An IV bag was hanging out of the hole. She walked towards the hole and stared down to the ground below. The large heavy hospital bed/stretcher was lying in a pile of metal and bedding material on the ground. A large crack in the cobblestone road was just a few feet in front of it.

The Princess raised an eyebrow, “Jesus Christ?”

“Sorry, old habits die hard.”

“I can understand that. Took months just to get Luna to stop saying ‘thou’ every other sentence. So I guess your friend woke up.”

“Woke up being a mild term,” Spitfire laughed, “No one was hurt?”

“Not seriously, though my guards have their pride hurt by the fact they were bested by a teenage robot. But I need to know how dangerous he is.”

“Why?”

“Well he incapacitated my guards and threw a several hundred pound hospital bed through a wall without a second thought, and jumped out of a three story building before running off into the urban landscape. What I need to know is if he’s a hazard to the public.”

Spitfire frowned, “Why? You’re not planning on hurting him are you?”

“No, but I need to get him captured if he’s dangerous.”

“Now wait just a minute here. Jett is one of the gentlest people I know. He’s only dangerous when provoked the wrong way.”

“Okay,” Shining spoke up, “If he’s provoked then how dangerous is he?”

“Uh, he won a fight against 16 people before.”

Shining blinked, “Okay, I’ll have my guard search the city for him. If they see him they will be instructed not to engage him.”

“For whose sake?” Spitfire asked.

“For his. Your friend may be good at fighting but my guards are the best. They will keep him contained.”

Spitfire laughed nervously, “Princess, I don’t think you understand. He would only do this unless something made him panic.”

“Captain, you have my word your friend will not be harmed. But we may need your help to find him.”

“Why?”

“You’re the only familiar face he knows here. It seems logical for him to seek you out.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was a pitter patter of footsteps down the hallway. A person was running through the hallway. Spitfire turned.

A girl with dark purple hair with pink highlights ran into the room. Spitfire recognized her immediately. The Princess’s protégé, Twilight Sparkle.

“Princess, we came as soon as we got your message. Is it true that there’s an actual android here?!” she asked.

“Ah, Twilight. I was wondering when you and your friends would arrive,” the Princess turned towards Spitfire, “Twilight and her friends will be assisting you in finding him.”

“Ooh, I can’t wait!” Twilight said, “This is so exciting! A real life android. I can’t wait to study it when we find it!”

Spitfire’s eyes widened, “Princess?”

“I wonder what it’s powered by. Well I guess we’ll find that out when it’s dismantled. I wonder what kind of code it runs on!”

“Princess!” Spitfire was panicking.

“Twilight,” Celestia said.

“Do you think it uses binary or ternary code? Or maybe something else entirely! Oh I can’t wait to see what makes it tick!”

“Twilight!” The Princess said sternly.

Twilight stopped and shrunk down.

“Twilight, we’re not hunting for some specimen to be dissected and studied. We’re looking for a person who just happens to be a machine. Now he has the same rights as you and I or any other citizen and he will be treated as such. Plus he is an important person to Spitfire here.”

“Yes Princess. I’m sorry,” Twilight hung her head, “I guess I got a bit carried away.”

There were more footsteps down the hallway as the rest of Twilight’s friends arrived.

“Geez Twilight, when did you get so fast?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“When she started training for the running of the leaves silly!” Pinkie laughed.

“Okay, now that we’re all here, can we get started?” Shining asked.

“Spitfire,” Celestia said, “Can you fill them all in?”

***

Jett was running. He ran through the cobblestone streets of the city, past all sorts of people from aristocracy to the average person to a group of punks. He didn’t care. Those guards would still be looking for him.

He didn’t tire; not any more. Without the signal limiting his every move he could do so much more now.

He ran into an alley way and crouched down and started panting. Not out of a physical response but out of panic. He had hidden behind a dumpster in the alley way. He continued to pant; the feeling of panic began to increase. It was suddenly he realized something. His vision had a display system activated. In a corner of his vision was a radar, upper was a segmented bar, along the side was a view of a human body with various icons and overviews near it. On the other side were a group of icons, each on was red in color with the word OFFLINE next to every single one.

His memory still failed him. Something was missing. He remembered his name, that much he knew, he remembered where he was from, what his home was, he knew what he was; but not exactly. But people, he couldn’t remember anyone.

He held his head, “Why can’t I remember?!”

He brought his hands down and noticed the black metal material of his left arm. He stared at it, his vision focused on the object and he watched it glow in a blue outline. He looked at it and then to the other; difference. One clearly was more dangerous. Maybe a weapon. He held it up in the light before turning to the metal surface of the dumpster. He looked from his arm to the metal and then struck forward. His fist hit the material with a loud bang. He looked at his arm, no damage, his HUD confirmed that. But the dumpster had a large depression in the side. He stared at the dent. He was a robot, he knew that. But what kind? A war machine maybe. He was quite capable of being dangerous. Maybe the icons were weapons.

Or he could be a servant type drone. But why include the metallic arm?

His thoughts were interrupted.

“What was that?” a voice said.

“What was what?” another responded.

“Did you not just hear that bang a second ago?”

A second ago? Had he really been thinking for only that long?

“You’re hearing things High Winds.”

“Dude, I swear to you I heard something.”

“Well fine, go check it out if you want,” a sarcastic response came.

Jett panicked. He looked around the alleyway. To his right was door. He checked it. Unlocked. He quietly opened it and crept inside and closed it behind him.

“Maybe I will.”

Footsteps. Jett stayed hidden behind the door. They got closer.

“Let me guess, nothing,” a voice called.

“Screw you Iron Sides,” High Winds responded.

“Was I right?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Let’s just get on with the patrol.”

The android sighed as the guard left. He turned around and looked at his surroundings. Dark.

He blinked and watched everything light up with a greenish tint. Night vision. There were racks of clothes in rows all over the room. He guessed that there was some kind of fancy retailer out front as there were a lot of fancy clothes in the rows before him.

He stood up and began to walk through the rows. He found a door labeled ‘Storage’ on it. He guessed he was in the back. He walked back through the rows. He had to find something to hide himself. He walked along the rows of clothes when a hoodie caught his eye. He wouldn’t exactly fit in with it in an aristocrat city but it was something.

He pulled it off the hanger and pulled it on. It was black and zipped on nicely. More importantly, it hid most of the androids metallic arm. He pulled the hood over his head before stepping out into the alley way again.

He calmly walked out of the alley and into the light of the fortress city. He found a direction and started walking, blending in with the crowd.

***

“Alright!” Shining Armor called, “We’re looking for a boy no older than 18 years old. He has black hair, blue eyes, and a prosthetic left arm. From what we can tell the subject is normally peaceful until provoked. If he sees you he may panic so be careful.”

Rainbow Dash yawned. Everyone plus a group of guards was standing outside the hospital, “Big deal. What is this guy? Some super human?”

“Were you paying attention, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

“Uh… no? Sorry, guess I was busy trying to figure out a way to ask if the Wonderbolts have an opening.”

“Well, we’re looking for an android. He’s a super advanced machine that looks human only he’s not. Apparently he panicked when he woke up and escaped the hospital.”

“Oh.”

Twilight turned, “Alright everyone, let’s spread out and find this guy. Rainbow you’re with me. Fluttershy you go with Pinkie. Rarity you and AJ will be a team.”

Everyone nodded.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

***

Spitfire was standing in the hospital room. Jett had left his bag when he left the room. She hefted it up. A picture fell out.

“Ah hell,” she knelt down and picked the photo up. It was them. Herself, Jett, Dane, and Gin, all posing for a photo in Yellowstone. She smiled sadly. She hoped Gin and Dane were okay.

She pocketed the picture and left the room.

***

“Ugh, this is taking forever!” Rainbow sighed.

“We have to find this guy Rainbow. And be happy we have the guard helping us,” Twilight said.

“I am but still. Can’t you do some kind of spell thing to find him?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Twilight asked, “So far I haven’t found anything.”

“Well I hope we find him soon. I wanna get a chance to talk to Spitfire before we go.”

“Well if we find him I’m sure you will,” Twilight smiled.

***

Jett walked quietly down the sidewalk. He had blended in nicely with everyone else around him and so far had not roused any suspicion. There was still a nagging fear that he would be found and caught. But his chances of that happening went down if he left the city so he decided it was worth the risk.

He spent the last few minutes trying to find a way out of the city and had determined that there was a gate but it was on the other side of town. He’d been walking for a while now.

He turned a corner when he accidently bumped into someone.

He looked up, “Sorry ma’am.”

There was a girl in front of him. She had purple hair with pink highlights and held a small book in her hand. Up above her hovered another girl. She had rainbow colored hair that she wore in a tomboyish fashion and cyan blue wings sprouting from her back. She looked a bit impatient.

The girl looked up from her book, “It’s alright…”

Her eyes drifted. She looked over his features. Though she tried to be quick about her investigation, Jett saw her examining him. Her vision went down his left shoulder towards his arm.

Her gaze fell upon the gun metal fingers of his hand sticking out of the sleeve. Jett looked up at her.

She gasped and looked up, “Rainbow…”

“What?” the girl asked.

“That’s him.”

Jett blinked, “Shit.”

The girl raised her hand. It glowed brightly as a bubble materialized on both sides of the android and enveloped him.

“Gotcha,” she smiled.

Jett simply turned around and ran through the field.

“What the?!” Twilight said.

Jett didn’t give her any time to say anything else and took off running the other way. Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to do this the hard way,” she said before flying after him. Twilight held on to her book and ran after him.

“Rainbow! Stop him!” she yelled and began throwing up walls of energy in an attempt to stop him. He continued to run through them like they weren’t there.

“Who is this guy?!” Twilight yelled as she started to fall behind as the android increased his pace.

“Rainbow! Keep on him!”

“Gotcha!” She called, “Alright Speedy, show me whatcha got!” She zipped after him. The android looked up at her. She was getting closer. He sped up and ran across the street, past carriages and the aristocracy. They all gave startled expressions as the robot ran by. He picked up the pace. Dash may have been fast in the air but Jett had the cover of the streets. He soon saw her fade away behind him. He couldn’t shake the feeling though that she’d be back.

He turned a corner only to see two guards on patrol. He quickly figured out that running at nearly 37 MPH made it difficult to stop on a dime. He skidded across the ground as he fell on his back. The guards quickly noticed him and pointed their rifles at him.

“That’s him!”

“You heard the captain. Don’t make him panic.”

The android, still on the ground, looked up at the guns pointed at his head. His eyes widened and flashed emerald green.

“Uh, I think it’s too late fo-”

Jett grabbed the barrel of the closest gun and yanked it from the guard’s grasp. He stood up and whacked the butt of the weapon across the guard’s helmeted head, knocking him out. He turned towards the other guard and punched forward, forcing the other guard back.

When the guard recovered a second later he found the barrel of a bolt action rifle aimed at his head.

The guard raised his hands, placing his gun on the ground.

“Now kid, just hold on a second here,” he reached for the weapon. The android’s eyes flashed a rainbow spectrum and he shoved the weapon further into the man’s face, making him back off.

“DO NOT TOUCH ME, CREATRUE,” came several different voices layered over each other. He suddenly twitched and faltered.

“There he is!” Twilight shouted.

“Geez he’s fast,” Rainbow yelled.

Jett turned. The two had found him and were standing near the corner. Two others had joined them. One had blond hair with a freckled face. Atop her head rested a cowboy hat. In her hand was a lasso. The other girl wore a midlength skirt and had purple hair. She had a fancier look about her.

“Ooh! Applejack darling! Get that ruffian!” she yelled.

Jett turned and tossed the weapon over his shoulder before running again. The four girls behind him gave chase with the Rainbow haired tomboy taking the lead.

“I’ll admit!” she huffed, “You’re fast whoever you are! But I’m faster!”

“Rainbow! Don’t you do anything rash now, ya hear?!” The cowgirl yelled, “Ya’ll saw what he did to those two guards!”

“Twilight!” the purple haired girl called, “Can’t you use your magic on him or something?”

“I tried that Rarity! Nothing works on him! I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Jett continued to run. The well-crafted weapon still bounced along his back as he ran. He looked back. They were still on him. He looked forward again. Coming around the corner were four pairs of guards. He skidded to a stop. Right of him was more guards. To his left was an alley way. A bottleneck but it was his only escape.

His HUD showed everything. All the guards, the strange girls chasing him, the rifle on his shoulder. He did a quick probability calculation of trying to fight through all the guards. Not good. His chances were significantly higher if he tried the alley.

He looked behind him at the girls chasing him. They had stopped and blocked the street he came from.

“Alright Speedy,” the rainbow haired girl said cracking her knuckles, “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Jett stopped. His movements slowed, they were too slow, deliberate. Too slow for any organic to notice. He kept his hooded head down and slowly raised his hands.

“Now that’s more like it, Partner,” the cowgirl said, “Well that wasn’t as hard as I thou-”

Jett bolted for the alley. He ran with such a sudden burst of speed that he took some of the dirt on the ground with him. He thought he would make it through the alley when a rainbow blur landed in front of him.

“Oh no ya don’t, Speedy,” she said. Jett stared at her without expression. His radar tracked movement behind him. He turned to see the purple haired book girl blocking his other exit. She raised her hand and a large wall rose out of the ground behind the rainbow haired girl.

One exit had a small army of guards plus a girl who seemed to have the ability to alter physics as she saw. The other had a tom boy and a wall.

He turned to face the rainbow girl. She cracked her knuckles, “Oh no, you’re gonna have to go through me if you want to escape! And I’m not some hospital wall.”

Jett started backing up slowly, “Not through you…”

He was halfway between her and the purple haired girl. He stopped.

“… Over you.”

He sprinted forward. When he was almost close to hitting her he jumped up towards one of the alley walls. His feet connected and he pushed off towards the other wall. His feet connected again and he pushed off and up. He corkscrewed over the baffled girl and the large wall behind her before flipping and landing soundly on the other side. He gave a quick glance behind him before running again.

***

Spitfire glided over the city. Her eyes were scanning the ground for the missing android. After dropping his bag off in her room back at the HQ she took off for the city to join the effort to find him.

She was about to bank left and go back over a district she’d been over a thousand times before when a white sphere of magical energy appeared next to her. The face of the Princess appeared inside it.

Spitfire jumped, “Ah! Geez, Princess. Can’t you just call me on my Cell?”

“I would but considering you don’t carry yours on you this was the only way I could contact you.”

“I carry a phone on me,” she said reaching into her pocket and pulling out the device.

“I mean your Equestria phone.”

“Oh, sorry. Not parting with this thing though.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” the Princess laughed.

“So do you have anything?” Spitfire asked hopefully.

“Well we did. That’s why I called. He was spotted near the business district. Though I specifically had Shining tell them not to engage that didn’t go all as planned. They chased him for a while but he slipped through at the trap they had set up.”

Spitfire grinned lightly, “I told you he was good.”

Celestia laughed lightly, “Yes well, he does appear to have some talent. But we need to find him, soon.”

“Has something else happened?”

“Well, during the chase he overpowered too guards and stole one of their rifles.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah well that’s not the kicker. Twilight’s magic had absolutely no effect on him. Your guy managed to evade the elements and even escape Rainbow Dash, going as far as to jump over her and the wall Twilight summoned behind her before running back into the city. So far no one has seen him.”

“Oh… that’s bad. So he’s running around the city, armed and dangerous, and scared out of his mind.”

“Yes. And I’m afraid the sight of more guards will make things worse. You know him better than anyone here. Where do you think he would go?”

Spitfire put her hand to her head, “Hmm. He is a wildly unpredictable there. I have no idea where he would go. But I think I have an idea on how to lure him out.”

“Well I’m all open to it. Your friend has just single handily avoided and humiliated the best fighting force on the planet,” Celestia laughed, “I’d like to know where he got his training from.”

Spitfire stared at the orb and laughed, “Training?!”

Celestia frowned, “Yes, why? What’s so funny?”

“He may be a military prototype but he hasn’t had any. Everything he’s doing is most likely just being made up on the fly. The more he sees your guards the more he’s learning. So by now avoiding them is second nature.”

“Well if we can find him safely I may just offer him a job.”

“Not if I give him on first,” Spitfire said.

“I’m sure. So what’s your plan?”

***

Something was definitely wrong. I couldn’t remember anything. It was odd; and scary. I had all the skills I needed, I knew what I was, I knew who I was, I just couldn’t remember anything about my life. Why?! What the hell was wrong with me?! It was extremely upsetting. The fact some kind of medieval knights with guns were looking for me didn't help either.

I crept along the rooftops. I had stayed hidden into the night now. I had listened enough to learn this city’s name was Canterlot. It was darker now meaning I had the home field advantage. Though this city wasn’t my home, that much I knew, the darkness was where I could work best. These creatures could not see in the dark like I could, they could not move as silently as I could, they certainly could not hear me unless I wanted.

Though there was something interesting going on. I could detect some movement away from all other parts of the city, though towards what I had no idea.

Guess I could go find out, cause whatever it was it had the guard all worked up.

I crept along the roof tops. It looked like they were all heading towards a part of the city. Then suddenly, the guardsmen disappeared.

Hmm, strange. I crept along to the roof tops. I came to an intersection in the street. It was dark. Night vision came in handy.

I scanned the street.

…

There was… there was a girl. She was just… standing there. She had a leather flight jacket on with cargo pants and some kind of military style boots on. She kept her large orange wings close to her back as she swung her well-toned arms in boredom.

There was… there was something about her. I stayed hidden along the rooftop. She turned her head and I got a look at her face. She had an ace beauty to her face. None of her features were too pronounced over the others. Her eyes were an amber color that glowed whenever the moon light hit them. Her hair was styled like a candle flame and was the color of fire. She was beautiful. Not like a supermodel beautiful but almost in an angelic sort of way. And yet… there was something familiar about her.

My vision glitched. Pixels flew across it. There was a sudden pain in my head.

Images flew across my eyes.

I’m Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts.

Listen, Spitfire, if you want I’ll try to help you find your way back.

Really? You mean that?

Yes, you can stay with me and my sister for the time being until you can return home.

Beautiful aren’t they?

I guess.

Pinned ya!

Uh, yeah, I guess you did.

Chillax Jett. No one but us will know about this. Though I’m keeping that picture.

What’s wrong?

What’s wrong? I’m not real! I’m not a human! I’m a machine! I didn’t want you to find out because… because I thought you’d think I was a freak.

I don’t think you’re a freak. You’ve shown me more kindness than anyone I’ve ever met. You’re the nicest person I’ve met here.

I just want to have the right to find out what who I am.

Well I don’t know who you are to you, but to me you’re my friend. And that’s all that matters to me.

Shut up you. You’re such an Apple Polisher.

Hey call me what you like but that was still amazing.

So I’ll see you after class?

Yup. Hanger 7 at 3:00. We’ve got flight practice after school my little navigator.

Jett? Are you alright? Jett… I am so sorry. Sssshhh. It’s ok. It’s gonna be ok.

I… I…

It’s alright. I know. It’s gonna be fine. Just let it out. I’m so sorry.

The whole time I’ve been trapped in this insane world you call home you’ve always been there. You saved me when I first appeared here when I was still a total stranger to you. You took care of me, welcomed me into your home, and comforted me when I was sad and encouraged me when I doubted myself. You’re the most human person I’ve met here and you’re my friend. I don’t want to see you lose that.

But I am only a machine. All that can be programed.

Let me ask you something. If you were always a real person, from the moment you were created until now, what would you have done differently?

I… I don’t…

If you do this, you’ll lose who you are. Everything you worked so hard to find will be gone. And…And I’ll lose the only true friend I have in this crazy world.

Jett, will you go Prom with me?

Spitfire you don’t have to do that. If you want to go with Dane you can. I don’t want to be the thing stopping you.

I know. But I want to stay. I’d rather stay with one of my best friends and keep him company rather than know he was alone.

After what you did to me on that cruise there is literally nothing you can do to make me feel embarrassed at all.

Oh I think there’s a few more left… See? I win. And it wasn’t that bad.

Yeah it was!

Oh come on. Don’t tell that was your first time being kissed by a girl?

I… er… uh…

Oh. My. Gosh. It was! I just stole your first kiss!

Merry Christmas Jett.

Are you also too lazy to read some to me?

No I’m not. Where do you want to start?

Just turn around and let me scan your wings.

Looking to catch a girl topless?

Oh shut up. I don’t need you teasing me.

That was fun. I enjoyed that a lot. Thanks.

Heh, well Dane had to talk me into it. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun to. You’re pretty good at that.

Please go.

Not without you.

My vision returned. That was… weird. Okay, that girl is familiar. Who is she?! I hate not knowing things. Maybe she knows why I don’t remember anything.

I guess I could find out.

***

Spitfire was bored. Her plan would work, she was sure of it. She knew him well enough that his curiosity would get the best of him. However she didn’t anticipate he would take so long.

She sighed and swung her arms.

A voice in her head spoke to her.

Still no sign of him, Came the regal voice of the Princess.

I know, I know. Just wait. He’ll be here. And you’re sure he can’t hear this?

Yes I’m sure. Unless your friend can pick up telepathic signals then we should be fine.

If he could I wouldn’t doubt it.

Spitfire sighed and turned her head. She suddenly became vaguely aware of someone watching her. Odd as it was she didn’t feel threatened by it.

I think he's here.

We'll have the guards standing by.

She turned and looked around her. A shadow moved in her peripheral. She turned. She heard the cocking of a rifle. A figure emerged from the shadows.

It was Jett.

He looked a little battered and bruised but otherwise okay. He wore a black hoodie over his head that hid most of his face. Though through the black she could see two blue orbs glowing underneath it. A rifle was at his shoulder, aimed at her. He moved forward with almost military precision and carefulness. His expression was not something she found comforting. He looked angry; anger that had only been a few hours old but yet festered like a millennium old grudge. But underneath it was something else. Fear. Fear was one of the causes of anger. Anger gave strength.

She turned to face him, “Jett-”

“Shut up!” he snarled. Instantly she shuddered. He had never been angry with HER. She stopped. Something was wrong.

She raised her hands, showing she was defenseless. He continued to move closer to her but still kept the rifle aimed at her head.

“Jett I-”

“Who are you?!” He asked, moving in a circle around her, “I have no fucking clue who you are but you are familiar to me. WHY?!”

Spitfire paused. Familiar? That was all she was to him? Familiar? Unacceptable. She knew for a fact she was a lot more than familiar to the android. Unless…

“Jett,” she said calmly, trying to keep her cool, “I’m a friend. One of your best friends. Now please…”

“How do you know my name? How do I know you’re not lying?”

“I…I… I don’t…”

“Where am I?! This isn’t Earth or any other human world. You are obviously not HUMAN so where the hell am I?!”

“You’re in Canterlot-”

“Don’t tell me something I already know! I’m not an IDIOT!” he roared.

“Okay, okay. You are not an idiot. That much I already knew. To answer your question, you’re in a nation called Equestria on the planet Equis.”

“System location.”

“I… I’m not aware of-”

“Galaxy name.”

“I… I don’t kn-”

“Star type. Number of planets in the system. Universal Star date.”

“I… I’m no-”

“How can I trust you, creature? When you are unaware of your own location in the universe or even when you exist?”

“I… I know what you are. You told me once.”

“What am I?”

“You’re a… what was it?” She rubbed her head, “You’re a… a type 1 class 7 artificial intelligence powered by two type 100 fusion reactors with a positronic brain running it all. You were designed to resemble a human as an AI prototype. As for the arm, you lost it in a Spaceport Bombing when you were only biologically 11 years old but cybernetically 4. You’ve been in service for 9 years though you resemble a teenager in appearance.”

He stopped. She had him.

“What… what else do you know about me?”

She looked at his eyes. She could see more of his face now. His anger was waning; fear mixed with curiosity was now in control. But there was something about the fear that spoke to her and she decided she’d answer any question he asked.

“I know that you come from a military family as you were a military project. Though you were only one of two in the project to learn your true identity. You had a sister you called Cat. Your best friend was another android named Dane and a bartender named Gin. And me; whom you rescued and kept safe for the last six and a half months before I returned home.”

“And... And... How did I get here?”

“You saved my life from a collapsing building. You told me to go home and to leave you there but I couldn’t. I brought you with me to return the favor. Though by my count I still owe you for taking care of me for half a year.”

“And… And my friends and sister?” He asked.

She sighed, “Your friends escaped. As for your sister… she… she was killed a few months earlier at her defense job.”

He stood still for a while before staring at the ground, “Oh…”

He suddenly looked incredibly sad. The gun lowered. The look on his face pulled at her heartstrings. Slowly she began to walk forward. She went to embrace him in a hug when in a burst of light the royal guard appeared, blocking all four sides of the intersection.

Instantly Jett tensed up and raised the rifle, the barrel only a centimeter from Spitfire’s head.

“Was this it?! All that was just bull shit to trap me, wasn’t it?!”

“No! It… I was just going to talk to you! This was only as a last resort.”

“Why should I believe you?!”

A man stepped forward. He had blue hair and was in guard armor. Two almost crystalline marks were on his hands along with a diamond shaped gem on his forehead. Captain’s bars were on his shoulders. He was Shining Armor.

“Because you’re out of escape options, pal.”

Jett turned and aimed the gun at him. Several voices spoke at once, “These weapons are crude and primitive but this rifle will be enough for us to blow your head off.”

Instantly the rest of the guard raised their guns and aimed them at the android.

Shining laughed, “Not before you go too, Speedy. So what’s it gonna be?”

“Your primitive weapons cannot harm us, creature. You lack the required technology to damage us. And your other abilities are no match for us either. Now step aside.”

“No. You’ll have to go through us first.”

Spitfire spoke up, “Jett please. You’re hurt and I just want to help you. No one here means you any harm.”

He turned. They layered voices faltered, “Can you fix me?”

“I… I don’t know. But you’ve ALWAYS been there for me and I just want the chance to do the same for you.”

“But I don’t even know who you are! All those people you described. I don’t know any of them! I just know my name, where I’m from, and what I am. That’s it!”

“You… you really don’t remember me?”

“I never saw your face before five minutes ago.”

This was bad; for more reasons than one. Six months: gone. Six of the happiest months of Spitfire’s life were gone to him. She felt sick to her stomach at that thought. And yet… she was familiar to him. Maybe she could work with this.

“You… you said that I was familiar to you. In what way?” She asked.

“I… I’m having vague flashes. I… I don’t know what they are. But for some reason you keep popping up in them.”

“Do you remember anything from them?”

“I… I don’t know! My memory banks are locked or damaged or something. I don’t know okay?”

Spitfire put her hand into her pocket. Jett aimed the gun at her, “What are you doing?”

“Relax, I’m just getting something.”

“What?”

“Proof that what I’ve told you is true,” she raised a photograph from her pocket. Jett still kept the gun aimed at her but reached for the picture. He viewed it with curiosity. It was four people, sitting on a log in a forest. One was brown haired girl who looked something like a badass who was giving a white haired boy a noogie. Both were laughing. There was a black haired boy with a metallic arm laughing at the sight and pulling an orange haired girl close. She had a blush on her face but still smiled.

He stared at it inquisitively, “That’s… that’s….”

“Us. The white haired boy is Dane and the Brown haired girl is Gin the bartender. That was taken when we went to Yellowstone.”

“Then why do I have no memory of that?”

“The only thing I can think of is that you were damaged when you fell into ground when you arrived.”

He continued to stare at the picture, “Why do you care so much?”

“Because you’re one of my best friends. And there’s no way I’m gonna abandon you like this. So put simply, you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.”

“Can we hurry this up Captain?! I want to go home!” a voice shouted from the crowd.

“Shut up Cloudburn,” came the reply.

“Please, Jett. Put the gun down. I won’t hurt you, I promise. I just want to help you.”

He looked up from the picture and past her at the line of guards, “What about them?”

“You have my word they won’t harm you.”

He looked down at the picture, “… Okay… okay.”

He raised the gun and quickly disassembled it down to its base components before dropping all the pieces down onto the ground.

“Now what?”

She reached out, “Come with me.”

He looked at her hand inquisitively.

“Come on. I don’t bite,” she gave a reassuring smile; “You can trust me.”

Slowly his arm reached forward and grasped hers. He looked at his hand up and then up to her face. She smiled warmly.

“Come Jett, let’s get out of here.”

Shining raised his arm, “Stand down everyone. Let them pass through.”

Spitfire led Jett through a path cleared by a group of guards.

“Where… where are we going?” the android asked.

“You kept me safe and welcomed me into your home. Now I’m returning the favor.”