Nopony was left who could remember how it had happened, how the world had fallen into darkness. At least nopony who would do anything. Nopony who would oppose the robots.

Or so Nightmare Moon believed…

Twenty floors above the dark city, Celestia lived in a run-down tenement. An eccentric and brilliant mare, Celestia was a loner, a thinker. A mare of ideas. Ideas forbidden in Nightmare’s society. The society in which she worked. The society in which she lived. The society that she would set free.

And so Celestia worked far into the night, when the watchful eyes of Nightmare’s robo-ponies weren’t upon her. She’d set her skillful hooves to work creating a device to bring about a change, to create a machine to bring freedom, to create a mare to save the world. Twelve years Celestia worked, and on a cold night, with a full moon hanging in the sky, the great and powerful Trixie was born. A perfect unicorn, an unbeatable machine, hell-bent on destroying every evil standing between ponykind and freedom, built for one purpose, to destroy Nightmare’s army of evil robots. She was ready, willing, prepared to fight.

Trixie set out that night to reach Nightmare’s fortress. She descended the twenty floors easily, her horn glowing, illuminating her armored facemask as she levitated down the stairs. As she exited the tenement, she spotted a pair of figures moving about in the darkness. She focused, and felt the machinery in her head shift and move, allowing her eyes to adapt. She could see them clearly now. They were robotic earth ponies, painted a dull green, with a single glowing red eye in the middle of their face and simple rifles attached to their sides. Sniper Jacks.

The Robotic unicorn braced herself. Her arsenal was simple, but she knew how effective it was. The Gatling guns on her sides roared to life as the Jacks turned to face her. Trixie let out a shout as the bullets shredded the robots, spraying oil and gemstone shards about. This was it. There was no going back. She would save all of ponykind, or die trying.

Metal husks fell to the ground and stayed there. Ponies stuck their heads out their windows and doorways as the blue unicorn strode through the streets. A crowd began to gather, following Trixie. Following their new hero.

Within the walls of Dr. Nightmare’s fortress, two lights went off in a dark room, the only illumination coming from the thousands of other tiny lights in the room. The sole occupant of the room, a robo-pegasus, seemingly normal save for the lines and bolts that allowed her joints free movement, sat up slightly, eyeing the two lights. She tapped them, the console, and finally pounded a hoof on the panel below the lights. It opened up, revealing a digital map of the city. Two red spots stood out on the map, their location about a mile from the fortress. As she watched the screen, another light on the wall went out, and another red dot appeared. And another. And another.

The pegasus smiled, and began to pull her purple and black flight suit on. It had been so long since she had last shown off. Nightmare had her watching the screens, a dull and monotonous job. She stepped out of the darkness into a simple barracks. Five other robo-ponies sat about, but they turned to her as she mussed up her rainbow mane, opened a small locker and began to pull out dynamite, grenades, and various other explosives.

“Ooh, hey! Is it a riot! Are the ponies revolting? C’mon Dashie, tell me!” A pink pony with an elaborate poofy mane was jumping about, the various blades strapped to her vest clicking and chinking as she bounced. “C’mon! I wanna know! I’m bored, I wanna party!”

“I hope they aren’t angry. I mean, it’s okay if they are, but…” Sitting in the corner, a quiet yellow pegasus stared at the floor as lightning crackled and arced between the plates of her armor. Her cutie mark, three metallic butterflys, shined in the light of the electricity.

“Come now darlings, we can handle this!” A ivory colored pony with an elegant purple mane stood tall, strutting about the barracks. “No matter our enemy, I’ll show them the flames of my passion!” She laughed, and small traces of smoke began to spill from her mouth.“They cannot stop us!”

“Eeeyup.” The large, armored stallion stood taller than any of the other ponies in the room, green eyes practically glowing beneath his helmet.

“We’ll show those breathing pony folk, they’ll see our metal is no joke.” A robotic zebra in a thick, fur lined coat stepped forth. Water condensed around her hooves, and the air became cold around her.

The rainbow colored pegasus pulled down her goggles. “This is gonna be awesome! Nopony messes with us! We’re the baddest ponies around! And whoever we’re fighting,” She smiled wide, and began to lead the group out, “They’re gonna be scrap. Nopony fights the Shadowbots and walks away!”

The door closed behind the robots, and the lights in the barracks went out.

Trixie’s guns roared as more robots fell. Behind her ponies had gathered into a large crowd, cheering and shouting with each evil robot that fell. Before her stood Nightmare’s fortress, a tall intimidating building covered top to bottom with telescreens broadcasting propaganda. Trixie trotted forward into the courtyard of the fortress- then jumped back at a sharp hissing sound. The blast barely missed her, and she felt a few shards of shrapnel embed themselves in her side. She groaned, but shook it off. The city needed a hero. The city needed the great and powerful Trixie. She looked up to see her next enemies, and felt a shiver run down her metal spine when she saw them. An entire army was pouring out, and at the front were six robot ponies that seemed to be the leaders. The army finally stopped pouring out, and the six stepped forward.

A pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail stepped forward. “So this is it? This is the big trouble? One robot?” She threw her head back and laughed loudly. “You have no IDEA who you are messing with! Do you know who we are?”

Trixie huffed, turning away. “Of course I know. After all, I was built to destroy all of you.” She turned her gaze to the six. “First, Pinkie Pie, A.K.A. Cutmare.” The pink pony giggled happily, bouncing about in anticipation. She had several long sinister looking blades attached to her hooves, and numerous others on her person. “Big Macintosh, or Gutscolt.” The big one stood silent, his eyes glaring at her from beneath his helmet. “Rarity, the infamous firemare.”

“Infamous? Infamous? INFAMOUS?” The ponies purple mane and tail suddenly burst, revealing large, bright flames. “How dare you, you common back alley scrap heap! I’ll melt you into slag!”

Trixie ignored her, turning to the next of the group. “Zecora, the icemare.” The zebra stared at her opponent, the ground beneath her freezing and cracking. The others kept a slight distance from her, understandable as the very air around her had begun to condense. God knows what that kind of cold she could make if she truly tried. “Fluttershy, otherwise known as Elecmare.” The shy pony whispered something softly, and her eyes met Trixie’s. She could swear she saw pity in the yellow pegasus’ eyes. “Last but not least, Rainbow Dash…”

The colorful pegasus was floating just above the ground, forehooves resting on the releases for the bombs she carried. She gave an evil smile at Trixie.

“The blast crazy Bombmare.”

She laughed again, throwing her head back once more. “You’re pretty smart aren’t yah! Too bad smarts don’t match up well against nitroglycerin and c-4!” Her eyes went cold, but her smile remained. “So you got a name we can put on your gravestone?”

Trixie stood tall, and began to spin up her guns. “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, but I am not the one who will end up in the ground!”

The army charged, Trixie opened fire, and so too did the Shadowbots. Within seconds, the crowd stood and stared, gasped, shouted. The battle raged, and as the sun began to rise, Trixie stood amongst the debris and scrap, wounded, low on energy, fighting just to remain standing. The Shadowbots stood over the beaten mare, and behind them were more robots, with reinforcements pouring out from the fortress. The telescreens suddenly changed, showing a face that sent shivers down the spines of every pony in the area. Nightmare moon had arrived.

Celestia stood near the back of the crowd, disguised with a simple, dirty cloak, and stared in shock and horror at the battlefield before her. Trixie was doomed. There was no way for her to win, no way to even survive. Nightmare’s voice boomed out from the telescreens;

“Finish it.”

Celestia looked to the crowd, hoping, praying they would help Trixie, join the fight. But they stood, silent and still, and watched as their hero died.

Pinkie jumped out first, circling around Trixie, and rammed her bladed forehooves into the mare’s side. Trixie screamed as the pink pony hoisted her up, and threw her, leaving long gashes that spilled oil and coolant. Big Macintosh spun, bucking Trixie square in the chest, sending her flying towards Rarity. She opened her mouth, spilling a jet of fire that slowed and blasted Celestia’s creation away. Trixie flew, and was struck with a cone of ice and freezing wind. The mare fell to the ground, her hind legs completely frozen, as Rainbow Dash trotted up slowly. She jammed a grenade into the long gashes in Trixie’s side, and pulled the pin. Trixie’s eyes went wide as she saw the bomb. The blast ripped her in half, spilling scraps of metal and magic gems about. Her lower half had shattered, leaving barely a trace. Trixie stared at the crowd. If she could cry, if she could scream, she would have. The crowd stood silent, some crying, others simply looking away. As the rest of the robots present descended upon her, Trixie felt that last spark of hope within her die.

The crowd began to disperse, crying and moaning, and Celestia began to push through them, using her wings and magic to shove her way through. By the time she reached the courtyard, it was over. The robots were marching back into the fortress, the six with them. Celestia began to rummage through the wreckage, looking for some sign of her creation’s fate. She finally found it, and her heart broke. All that was left of her valiant robot was her facemask, chipped and battered. The alicorn cradled the mask in her hooves as the realization hit her. This had not simply been a robot. This had been her daughter. Twelve years of work, of sacrifice, of effort, and she had created a daughter. A daughter she had sent to die. A daughter who had been slaughtered while those she sought to save simply watched and did nothing. Celestia turned, hiding the mask beneath her cloak. Nopony, flesh or metal stopped her.

Celestia screamed and flipped over her workbench, scattering tools and metal about the floor of the beaten up room. Her magic wrapped around the bottle of whiskey as she took another pull, burning all the way down. She turned and saw it; the only picture of her daughter she had, taken the day before she was finished. She looked complete; the only parts missing were her armor and weapons. Other than those, she was complete. A beautiful unicorn, a beautiful daughter. And the very next day, Celestia had watched her die. Tears came to the doctor’s eyes, and she screamed again, flinging the bottle at the picture. It missed, knocking over a box of gems. The contents fell to the floor, clattering and clinking. Celestia trotted over, and stared through blurry eyes at the shimmering gems. She slowly levitated them back into the box, and stopped. She wrapped her magic around a small purple gem. It had cracked in the fall, leaving a large crack in the middle. She stared at the crystal, as memories stirred within her head.

Emerald.

The name floated in her head, along with pictures of a stallion from years ago. The sunlight shined in through the window, illuminating her sun shaped cutie mark. She raised her head high, mane floating behind her as she flipped her workbench upright. She began to work, grabbing hydraulics, gearboxes, and metal plates. She would not simply lie down and die. She would create another daughter, but this time, this time she wouldn’t let her die. She wouldn’t let her fight a hopeless battle for ponies who couldn’t, no, wouldn’t stand for themselves. She would raise this daughter, teach her right and wrong, and keep her safe. She would never give up; she had sworn long ago that she wouldn’t.

As the sun began to set, Celestia looked lovingly at the mechanical skeleton before her. It had gone faster this time; after all, there was less guesswork involved the second time around. It was almost finished. It needed a chassis, a body to house the machinery, but it was almost finished. The chassis, and the programming, that was all.

Or was it?

Celestia’s mind raced as she thought carefully, before face-hoofing. A name! She had yet to come up with a name! The doctor once more turned to the window. In the distance she could see people building a crude memorial. The setting sun cast it’s light on the construct, causing it to sparkle in the light of the twilight.

Something in the back of her mind clicked. That was the name. Celestia leaned in close to her daughter in the making, laying a kiss on the metal cheek joints. “Twilight Sparkle. My creation. My daughter.”

The sun set over the city, and Celestia continued to work. She would not let this one die. She wouldn’t let her fight. Even if she held some hope for the future of ponykind, she felt none for the city. After all, she had seen the true face of all the people in the city that day. She had seen their true colors.

There was no reason to fight for ponies who were already dead.