Dither stood towards the back of the crowd, watching patiently as Princess Twilight and her small group of followers arrived. She had been one of the first to arrive but had steadily retreated as more and more ponies had arrived. It seemed it would still be a little while before any of their ‘guests’ actually arrived so Dither passed the time admiring her surroundings. It was a nice day and the light reflected brightly off some of the more metallic buildings. Part of her missed living in Canterlot, Fillydelphia was far more industrious and lacked the elegance of the capital.
“I do hope you are paying attention Ms Byte” Came a slightly robotic voice from her fore hoof.
Dither lifted the hoof and fixed the device attached to it with a flat expression.
“Of course I am Talos” she mumbled with a roll of her eyes “Nothings happened yet and I’m tired. I didn’t get any sleep last night, I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday then got sent straight here without any down time… Not that I’m not hugely grateful of course!” She quickly added.
“Of course Ms Byte” came the monotone reply “It was my simple intention to ensure you remained alert. It would be unwise to allow your mind to wander under the current circumstances. Your father had to pull a number of strings in order for you to be here”
“Uh huh” she yawned in response “I’m just here to observe, you’re the one who needs to run as many non-invasive scans and tests as possible. These aliens are likely to be far more advanced than us and I just know Quest-Tec won’t be the only company hoping to gain advances from their technology”
“Indeed Ms Byte” The screen on the device changed to a live feed of the crowd from a near by camera “I have already identified members of five competitor companies in the crowd. I must say, they look far more professional than yourself”
Five members of the crowd on the screen were outlined and text detailing their names and employers appeared alongside them.
Dither huffed and quickly tried to brush her mane into a less messy state with magic.
“Maybe if I hadn’t just worked a 12 hour shift and been teleported hundreds of miles..”
“I must disagree Ms Byte. Having been operational for exactly 157 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds I am yet to observe you adhere to company policy regarding dress code once”
“Whatever” Dither mumbled looking back to the front of the crowd “Oh hey, I think Twilights going to make a speech. It must be nearly time”