Giddyup was not surprised. He wasn't often. A knocking at the door? To a human, a cause for severe concern. His human was napping, as were most of the ponies. Twilight was working. It was only logical that he answer it. He left Twilight tinkering on his co-robot to clop up to the door. "I am unequipped to answer the door." He had nothing to work the door with.

Static was the reply, but it wasn't static. It was the opposite of static. The noise made sense to Giddyup as it was all very specific information being given to him, and it informed him. He stepped on a pad he hadn't noticed before, and the door swung open to reveal a bipedal robot. An assaultron. He had existed in the wastes long enough to know those and the trouble they could bring.

This one was dressed and done up differently, with a smiling human face and the painting of a suitcase on its side, it was doing its best to pass off as a salesperson instead of a death machine. "Hello," it greeted with the same enthusiasm. "I didn't know we had residents yet, but it's good to see you. Are the ponies enjoying their new home?"

Unlike Aunt, the robot wasn't that good at emulating human emotional range. Their words were right, but the timber was flat and, well, robotic. "This is not their new home." Giddyup shook his head at the strange robot. Violence had not started, so conversation seemed the best other option.

"You delivered the assigned herd, did you not?" Giddyup could hear a whirring. "Your signal has been validated."

Giddyup was broadcasting Yellow's signal with his files re-opened and held open with unfinished business. He had forgotten! Forgotten was, perhaps, the wrong word to use. He did not 'forget' it. He was always aware of it. But one could easily set aside what one was aware of in the need to focus on more immediate concerns. Other things had outranked it in priority, and he had never returned to considering it. "We have not reached our destination."

"Incorrect. You have reached the stable. We can begin the utopia project now. How many ponies did you bring? Twelve? Twenty-four? Fourty-eight?" The assaultron stood there patiently outside the door, not trying to get past Giddyup and look for himself. "The larger the starting population, the easier some parts of the task will be."

"Four. Three female and one male." That information seemed harmless to share. "My child is also present. Human, male, well behaved and on friendly terms with the ponies. Another robot is in this building, Nanny unit, also friendly."

"Marvelous," the assaultron cheered without tones. "Humanity survived? Exciting." The word would have worked better if he sounded at all excited about it. "That they are already friendly with the ponies is a good thing. If they were a predator, we would have to terminate them."

Giddyup decided swiftly he would not like his child to be terminated. It was good that decision had not been arrived at. "Is four sufficient?"

"It is not." The assaultron pointed down the road. "Resume your mission."

Giddyup considered. Doing what he was there to do made sense, which included... "Our current objective is to confirm the habitability of the destination vault."

"Incorrect."

Giddyup inclined his head at the biped. "I have analyzed the instructions one thousand and fourty-eight times. The odds of my erring are below 1%."

"You have followed your directions correctly." The assaultron brought its hands together and bowed towards Giddyup. "It is now my directions to surrender your ponies to me while you resume your previous direction. Locate additional ponies to create a viable population."

"I cannot comply." Giddyup looked back the assaultron to see the abandoned, but clean, town. "Confirmation of safe habitation has not yet been fulfilled."

He was ready for an angry reply, but the assaultron instead stood up taller. "This is logical." Good! "You are well programmed." It turned in place smoothly. "I will initiate the touring function. You will then be satisfied with the hability rating of the utopia project."

Giddyup could hear the noise of welding coming from the other room. "I will leave them here. Please do not disturb them." He trotted outside and the door closed behind him without prompting. "Initiate tour."

"Initiating tour." The assaultron begin down the road with a wave to the left and right as they went. "This is a model community, meant entirely without duplicity of linguistic device. Towns like this will house the ponies for their happiness and that of visitors, see also: Tourists."

"Define word: Tourists."

"Tourists: Vagrant populations that surrender currency in return for temporary housing, refueling, and often diversions." The assaultron looked over its shoulder, turning its head more than a human would ever manage. "Were you not instructed on this?"

"I was not." Giddyup so no reason to hide that. "I would like to learn more."

"I would like to instruct you." The robots had reached complete accord, and the tour continued.

Twilight sat back with a loud exhale. "Phew! Alright..." With a glowing horn, she set a piece back into place. "You should be ready to begin testing." She reached out and pressed a button firmly. "Awaken!"

Some clicks and beeps, then Aunt awoke. "Good morning, Twilight. Did everything go well?" She raised her graspers into view. They were not changed, and still functional. "Are you done?"

"Can't see it, can you." Twilight looked far too happy about that fact. "Good! The idea is that you can pass as the nice innocent robot you really are." She patted Aunt with a clang of a hoof against her metal. "But when you have to..."

"How do I access it?" Aunt swirled in place in a circle but could not find what or where Twilight had done her work. "Go ahead and tell me, the suspense is killing me."

"This I doubt." Robotic failure due to suspense was nowhere in her training. "But I won't leave you hanging, promise." Her glowing magic tugged gently at one of Aunt's graspers. "This is where the action is at. As you can see, or not see, it behaves perfectly normal. Only when you activate the weapon does it become visible, or usable. Go ahead and use it."

Aunt opened and closed the grasper slowly at first, then reached out and patted Twilight with it. "It's hard to imagine this is now a dangerous tool."

"It's for defusing dangerous situations, not making them." Twilight nodded firmly along with her words. "And I trust you will know which is which."

"Thank you for your vote of confidence." Aunt presented her grasper. "How do I use it? I've tried what I could think of." But the grasper was still just that, offering no real threat to anything.

"Imagine a crab." Twilight lifted her hoof. "Pincing." She wagged the hoof that had no opposable digit to make the motion properly. "Go ahead."

"Pincing." Aunt arranged her grabber more like a crab's claw and made a pinching motion. With a loud click, a blade slipped free of the center of her grasper, presenting a long and sharp blade that fit between either side of her grasper. "Oh my!" She turned her grasper to examine from different angles. "This doesn't look safe at all."

"It is not safe at all." Twilight waggled her hoof at the revealed weapon. "But it is difficult to counter and should be rugged enough. It is, in the end, a simple device, being a sharp edge. Press that against something you don't like and it will not like it. Simple as that. Now, I considered a ranged option, but we're lacking the tools for that. The simplest way would be to integrate an otherwise functional firearm, which we do not have, at least not one that isn't already claimed."

"You've done great." By moving her grasper like a crab, Aunt was learning how to extend and retract that potentially dangerous blade. "One thing."

"Hm?"

"It's still at the end of my arm." She reached out with the blade tucked away to poke Twilight with the grasper. "I don't mean to be self-defeating, but I'm not that strong. Even with a blade, I can't be all that much of a threat."

Twilight pushed the grasper away before she held it in both hooves. "That's why it ejects that strongly. Spring it out when you're already touching something and it will handle the force part. Don't swing it at somecreature already out."

"Oh! I see... very clever." She began to punch the air, working on the timing of the end of her swing and clicking out the blade into place. "I feel... dangerous, but not in an entirely bad sort of way. I hope I'm still your dear aunt, dear. I'd never want to hurt your cute little head."

"Thank you." Twilight dipped her head. "I trust you, but..." She paused to let out quite a thunderous yawn. "I'm tired... Where's Giddyup? He was on watch, wasn't he?"

"Hm?" Aunt turned in place, not seeing Giddyup. "Wasn't he making sure you were safe, Twilight? When did he leave?"

"I wasn't paying attention." Twilight blushed with an arm behind her head. "I was caught up working on you. By the time I looked around, he was gone. I would have heard an actual fuss, so I doubt he got into a fight. Nothing looked torn apart..."

"He won't forgive us if we delay any further." Aunt jetted in a roar into the living room to prod at Stan. "Giddyup is not here and we aren't sure where he is."

"What?!" He went from sleeping to wide awake quickly as the news reached his brain and shocked it into motion. "Bloody hell! Where'd ya last see 'em?"

Twilight pointed to where he was sitting. "He was watching me work. I completed my adjustments and he was gone. There was no noise, just him not being there. I'm truly sorry."

"No time for sorries." Stan hopped to his feet, long-arm held firmly. "Sky!"

Sky sat up sharply. "Ya wha?" He hopped down with a clop. "Who's dead?"

"Hopefully nobody ain't deserve it. Giddyup's gone missin'! C'mon!"

"On it." The two headed for the front door in solidarity without any other words wasted.

Twilight pointed down. "I'll stay here with the others."

"Ya do that." Stan grabbed the handle and wrenched it open. "We'll be back with Giddyup or maybe not at all. Still safer in here." He slammed the door shut when Skyline was past it.

Twilight sank to her rump with a tired sigh. "I'm exhausted! Aunt?"

"Yes?"

"Can you watch over me?" Twilight flopped over, grabbing a pillow to prop her head against. "I'd feel safer, knowing you were there."

"That's... actually very flattering. Would you like to hear a story? I know some just for brave little ponies."

Twilight smiled, her eyes already closed. "That actually sounds nice... but I'd like to hear about a brave robot that proves they are more than they seem to be."

"Of course." She was quiet a moment. "I know of a brave and stalwart pony of a robot that was so much more than they were manufactured to be. They didn't know, of course, but they always tried to be the very best they could be." Twilight made quiet but pleased noises as Aunt went on, weaving the tale of the Giddyup unit that could. That Aunt had borrowed from her giddyup friend's life was of little consequence, even if both of them knew who Aunt was talking about. That was, perhaps, exactly who Twilight wanted to hear about as she faded off, far too long without sleep.

She just hoped silently that she'd wake up to news that the real Giddyup would be returned to them, safe and sound, maybe with a tale of heroism and valor that'd make them laugh or gasp, but he wouldn't be hurt. They'd... Oh, she was asleep. She'd have to find out later.

I'm late today, gasp! But here it is.

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