Drone Pony 6: "Training" Exercise and Aftermath

"Target in sight!" the faint voice from above calls, "Permission to strike?"

"Granted!" You holler to the drone hovering high above, before shifting your gaze to the target itself.

"Rifle!" the cry comes as she drops her munition.

You see the object falling from the sky, picking up speed as it rushes toward the target fifty feet ahead of you. With a loud splat, the water balloon explodes in the dead center of the bullseye, sending water flying in all directions in great shimmering droplets.

"Splash!"

You cheer for PQ-1, motioning her to come back down so you can give her another water balloon from the bucket beside you. She doesn't even land fully, just hovers beside you with barely contained excitement as you grab another of the cool globes and hand it to her.

"Am I doing well, Commander?" she asks as she carefully takes the water balloon from you, cradling it in her front hooves before deftly placing it on a small pylon on the underside of her left wing.

"You are," you say with just a hint of pride as you hand her a second balloon, "Should I ever need you to prank somepony you'll be more than up for the task."

She makes a giggling sound, something she'd taken up in an effort to "be more appealing, or at least less strange" for you. Sometimes you wonder if she ever does anything because she wants to instead of in regards to her own personal mission, but so far it hasn't been a problem.

"And if the Commander ever needs defending, then I will be up to the task!" she says all too happily, smiling as she takes a second balloon from you and hooks it to the pylon under the other wing.

"I doubt that'll be necessary, but it's a comforting thought."

"Yes. The Commander seems quite capable of taking care of himself," she says, smile slowly fading, "Sometimes I wonder if you really need me."

You blink a few times before saying: "What?"

"The Commander is very self reliant, and not unnecessarily so," she says, smile completely gone now and replaced with that analytical attitude and tone that the drones are known for, "It is sometimes difficult to maintain confidence that I am necessary. This does not mean I will stop being there for the Commander, or that I would ever fail in my duties. And yet, my emotions fluctuate strangely when I consider that I may be an unnecessary luxury."

"Hey," you say softly, cupping her head in your hands as she floats at head level, "You are not unnecessary. You're here for a reason, right?"

She nods quietly as you feel the heat coming from her face increase, that familiar whirring sound telling you her emotions are fluctuating again. Sure enough, the lights that make her cheeks turn red in a blush come on.
Seeing them makes you smile a little as you remember installing the chip. You rub one of her cheeks with a thumb as you try to comfort her, until she's smiling again.

"Thank you, Commander," she says softly, briefly nuzzling your hand with her face before hovering back and up from you, "I apologize for questioning my role. I trust you, Commander. If you say I am needed, then I believe you."

Something pangs in your chest as she says this, though you can't quite put to words why.

"Alright then," you say, trying to shake the strange feeling, "Let's do a moving run this time. Fly from behind me to the target with one, then the opposite way. Got it?"

"Confirmed!" she says faintly, before taking a position within yelling distance high above and behind you. She's little more than a pony shaped shadow as she starts her run, flying in lower toward the painted target as she steadies herself.

"Rifle!" she cries as she passes overhead, the first water balloon dropping and streaking toward the target.

It hits with a great thwap, the water spraying a considerable distance the direction it was traveling. You briefly applaud her accuracy, before she takes a readying hover at the other end of the yard.

"Ready!" you shout, giving her a thumbs up.

She starts her run, hovering forward and picking up a little speed, flying just slightly lower to aim the balloon properly. A gust of wind kicks up, making her wobble in the air briefly as she flies. She doesn't make a sound as she corrects her course and keeps going, before the familiar shout comes down.

"Rifle!"

You shade your eyes from the sun as you look for the water balloon in the air, expecting it to be heading for the target at any mome-

You feel something smack your head, half staggering you as there's a sudden pop. A good liter of water splashes down from the impact point, soaking your clothes as you let out an expletive in surprise. You rub the spot on your head where the balloon hit, feeling your soaked hair in the process of rubbing the smarting sensation away. You spit the small amount of water from your mouth and clear your nose, before raising your arms away from your body and trying to gauge just how soaked you got.

"Commander!"

You look up in time to get tackled by PQ-1, the drone flattening you onto the lawn as she clings to your wet body and knocks the wind out of you.

"Commander! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Are you injured? Do you need a medic? Should I go for help?"

You cough as you get some air back in your lungs, before putting your hands on the drone and limply try to get her off of you. She gently shakes as she pleads your forgiveness again and again, the whole time just holding onto you like you're about to disappear. You finally get a good hold of her and gently push her away, telling her it's alright, that you're okay.

"Are you sure? Are you injured?"

"No, I'm fine. Just...let me up."

She reluctantly lets go, backing away from you as you slowly get up with a groan. You pop your back in the process, deciding to turn it into a full body stretch despite the wet clothes. Thankfully, it's a warm day out, so the wet clothes are more a weighty bother than a truly discomforting one. Still, it sends a bit of a chill through your body.

"Well then, I think that's enough target practice for today," you say with a hint of sarcasm, turning around to head inside, "I need a hot shower and a change of clothes, I think."

"Allow me to help!"

PQ-1 darts by, heading inside ahead of you. As you enter the living room, you can hear her starting up some bath water as you begin to remove your wet clothes. The heavy feeling shirt comes off first, exposing your wet skin to the suddenly cool feeling air and giving you goosebumps as you head into the kitchen and toss the wet shirt in the sink for now. The wet clothes can go in the drier later, for now you just need to get them off, grab some dry clothes, and take that hot shower.
You remove the shorts you were wearing next, not wanting to drip any more water through the house. You're in the process of removing your socks when PQ-1 rounds the corner from the hallway.

"Commander, I've started the bath with warm water for you and-," she stops, one leg raised mid stride as she no doubt spots you sitting on the floor and removing your wet socks in nothing more than your underwear. "Commander?"

You stop for a second, then continue to struggle with the wet socks. Darn things keep clinging to your feet and making life difficult.

"Commander, why are you altering your chassis?"

"What?" you ask with a grunt, popping off your second sock before throwing it in the sink with the other clothes, a small squelch coming from the pile of soaked fabrics.

"I've never seen you alter yourself in such a way before," she says slowly, "Are you certain you're alright?"

Come to think of it, you never did change in front of her. She was always prepping a brief or doing something else.

"Uh...no. My chassis, er, my body, is just covered in clothing. The clothing you soaked."

"I'm truly sorry, Commander," she says sheepishly, head pointing toward the floor as she apologizes, "My algorithms failed to adjust at the time of launch due to the wind and some distractors, and....I didn't mean to."

"I know, I know," you say exasperatedly, "It's fine. I'm just saying. The stuff I'm removing are clothes. Like, additional stuff you could put on a frame, if that makes it any easier to understand."

"I understand what clothes are, Commander," she replies, "And have noted how you typically appear on varying days of the week. However, I was not aware of the underlying chassis appearing as it does. It is not as bulky as your clothes would make you appear."

"...Thanks?"

It's hard telling if that was a compliment or an insult, but knowing her it's probably just a blunt observation again.

"I am intrigued. If the Commander would not oppose, I would like to observe how you perform maintenance on yourself. For reference purposes only, I assure you," she says quickly, blushing as she stares at you.

"Perform maintenance?" you repeat, staring at her as your cheeks start to burn, "You mean wash myself?"

"I suppose that is correct, yes."

"You can't just watch me bathe, that's...kind of weird."

She cocks her head to the side, silently awaiting an explanation.

"Oh jeeze," you sigh, putting your face in your hand before looking back up at her, "Alright, look. Where I'm from, people don't just walk around exposing their naked bodies to each other. I know ponies do it here, most the time, but my....my kind are different. You just don't do that except with people, or more typically one person, you love. Or a doctor. Anyone else, you have to have certain spots covered up or it's considered...uh, inappropriate."

"And what spots must you keep covered to be considered appropriate, Commander?" she asks bluntly, "In your present state you're exposing over 82% of your body's surface area."

"Yeah, see the last bit of clothes I'm wearing? That's what's gotta be covered."

"Oh!" she says happily, as though having put all the pieces of a puzzle together after some minor struggling, "I understand!"

"Good," you say as you get up off the ground and head for the restroom, bare feet sounding against the linoleum floor, "I'm going to take my shower now."

"Understood, Commander!"

You shut the door behind you, removing your wet undergarments, then open the glass door to the full shower before stepping inside and shutting the door to that behind you.
You're basking in the warm water when the door suddenly opens, and you instinctively cover yourself as PQ-1 walks through the door, balancing a set of dry clothes on her wings.

"Commander, I have shut off all visual optical sensors to help facilitate your privacy," she says happily, "I noticed you entered without gathering an appropriate assembly of clothes, so I took the initiative to gather clean variants of the ones you normally wear on this day of the week."

She sets the clothes on the ground behind the door, before deftly turning around and heading out the door.

"I'm sorry again, Commander," she says one final time before shutting the door behind her, leaving you alone again.

You sigh as you go back to relaxing, then wash yourself thoroughly, before the door opens a second time.

"Commander, my sensors are still off for your privacy," she says upon entry again, "But I was wondering if you required anything else?"

"No, thank you, I do not," you say as you run the washcloth over your neck, eyes closed as you clean up.

"Oh. Also, Commander; My thermal sensors noted an anomaly in your signature during my last entrance."

"Hmm?"

"There seemed to be an increased amount of heat in the region you described as-"

Oh for the love of-