//------------------------------// // The Doctor is in // Story: Bordermares // by Regidar //------------------------------// The first bandit pulled out his revolver and let loose a couple of potshots, all of them missing and hitting the ground near Big Mac's hooves. Big Mac snorted, and charged the bandit. The bandit turned to run, but it was too late. A powerful kick, and he was flying. "I regret nothing!" he shouted as he smashed into a fence, where he expired. "Hey, nopony smashed their hooves fatally into my buddies spinal cord but me-" The bandit was silence after a quick shot to the face from Twilight. Both of the bandits now dispatch, the Cloptrap returned from its hiding place. "Man, those bandits never leave us alone! Anyway, I was never able to properly show you guys the best part! The New-U station, courtesy of Mahne Corporation! Just go up, and let the machine do its work!" Fluttershy approached it first, and winced as it inserted a long needle into her arm. The Machine beeped and lights flashed, and a 3D model of Fluttershy appeared at the top. "Hmm, you seem to have large amount of magical qualities in your DNA! And you're a pegasis! Seems a little off, but on you go!" Big Mac stepped up and unflinchingly allowed his DNA to be harvested and categorized in the New-U. A 3D version of himself flashed upon the top of the model, and the Cloptrap provided commentary. "Ah, Big Mac! I know you! You were in the Celestian Beatdown tournament, and in the Celestian Incident! Did you ever find your sisters?" Big Mac gave the small machine a look so murderous that the scorching air around them seemed to drop a couple of degrees. THe Cloptrap dropped the subject. "Ah, eh... um, anyway! Next please!" Twilight went up and registered herself. She felt a small prick as it entered her and acquired her genetic code. A version of herself in the odd 3D rendering appeared on the New-U interface. "Ah! Twilight Sparkle! Quite magical, as it seems! Surprised you didn't become a siren!" "I have my reasons to why I stay clear of them," Twilight said, looking to the side, avoiding the Cloptrap. "Ah, very good. Move along then!" Rainbow Dash thrust her arm out, and the needle jutted into her. She looked momentarily pleased, then she recovered her composure. "Ah, the infamous RAinbow Dash!" The Cloptrap said, excited. "You gave hell to the Crimson Mane, and damn, even the whole Celestian Corperation!" Rainbow Dash looked rather pleased with herself. "Ah, but is this Mareoin the New-U detects in your bloodstream?" Rainbow Dash's smirk slid right off her face. "NO! I don't take Mareoin! The machine is lying!" "Machines don't lie, sweetheart!" the Cloptrap said happily, typing something into the New-U, "But Don't fret! I would certainly start using drugs if I had to go through what you did!" Rainbow Dash slowly retreated to the back of the group. "Anyway, you all best be off! You should head to the Doctor's, he's in that house right up ahead!" The group started off towards the house, when a bullet hit Rainbow Dash's armor. She fell on her face, and the rest of the group turned around. Ten odd bandits had their guns trained on the mares, stallion, and robot. The Cloptrap immediately ran screaming to hide under a cardboard box. Fluttershy squealed, and pulled up her SMg, and sprayed wildly into the crowd of bandits. She got lucky and hit one in the face, killing him instantly, but most of the others had managed to escape from the spray of projectiles. Twilight sent Owlysus out, and she pulled up her sniper rifle. However, a well placed shot from a bandit hit her right above the knee, and she fell into the dirt. The pain was overwhelming, and something odd happened to her. Infront of her vision, an grainy image of what looked like Princess Celestia manifested in front of her. "Don't be alarmed. I need you to stay calm and don't let on that anyone is talking to you. You need to defeat the bandits, and then head to Fyrestone to MEET THE DOCTOR. You don't have any reason to trust me, but I need you to believe that I'm here to guide you - I'm here to help you find the Ruins. I'll contact you again soon." The image faded out. "What? Princess... Celestia?" Twilights mind swarmed with ideas and thoughts. Could she really have found her at last? Another bullet barely missing her jared her back to reality. Rainbow Dash picked up her assault rifle, and charged the bandits, shooting them as bullets pinged off her armor. Laughing maniacally, she smashed the butt of her gun into the heads of one of the thugs, crushing his skull. However, do to this, she could not see the other bandit taking careful aim, and getting ready to fire into the weak point of her armor. Fortunately, Big Mac noticed this, and solved the problem by smashing in the skull and upper back of the bandit with his hooves. Only four bandits were left at this point, some having been slain from Owlysus clawing their eyes out, and they were pissed. And by that, I meant pissing their pants. Getting ready to run, the bandits turned hoof, but Rainbow Dash wasn't going to let them get away so easily. Shooting like a maniac, she gunned down two instantly, and another got five feet before collapsing. The fourth one was about to go down, but Fluttershy shoved the gun down. "No! We don't need to kill senselessly!" The bandit disappeared, and Rainbow Dash scowled. "You can't be so lenient! If there's anything the Crimson Mane taught me is that never leave survivors!" Fluttershy gave Rainbow Dash a look. "What's the worst that could happen from showing a little compasion?" *** Jake Evermane, the bandit who had been unlucky enough to have been drafted into a raid on Fyrestone Depot and have all of his friends and raiding buddies wipped out by four strangers who showed up from out of nowhere, ran into the secret tunnle which lead to his boss's lair. "Nine Hooves! Three mares and one stallion killed everyone in the raiding party on at Fyrestone except me!" The terrifying monster that was the head of the bandits in the Skag Gully area of the Arid Badlands scowled. "No pony but me kills my bandits! We'll keep sending bandits until they are exterminated!" *** "Attention citizen of Fyrestone! The bandits are gone!" The Cloptrop happily announced to the deserted town. "Citizen? As in, one?" Twilight Sparkle inquired. "Well, shoot. I thought I was a goner that time!" came a voice coming over a soundsystem from a nearby garage. "Had to lock the place up tight. I'll let you in.. hold on.." The garage in question's door shuddered, then died. "Damn circuits are on the fritz again. Give it a switch from out there, will yah?" Fluttershy looked to her left. A switch lay there. She pressed it, and the biu;ding across the way exploded. "No, not that switch! The other one!" Closer to Big Mac there was a switch. Big Mac pressed it, and the garage door opened up. Inside the garage, there was a pony wearing a lab coat with his back turned to them. A table with a dead mare on it stood in front of himTuringing around, they could see he was a brown colored, brown maned colt with a face mask on. He lifted up a buzz saw menacingly, and then cut off the left hoof of the dead mare. "Thanks fer openin' her up again. Name's Whooves. They don't let me cut on colts anymore since I lost my license, so now I keep the med vendors 'round here runnin'. From the vendors you can buy all the healin' you could ever want from a real doc... thankfully without a "Ruins-are-a-myth,-you'll-get-yourself-killed" lecture." The group took a look around the shop while Doctor Whooves sawed on the dead body. "Yup, no pony hangs out in Fyrestone anymore... 'cept T-Niegh, but he's out in that farm near Skag Gully. Whatcha colts doing here anyways?" "We're looking for the ruins, sir," Twilight said, swatting Rainbow's hand as she tried to grab some money out of one of Doctor Whooves's lockers. "Pff! That load of skag dung? honestly, you really think that place exists?" "Think?" Rainbow Dash said indignantly. "THINK? We don't 'think', mister fancy doctor guy, we KNOW the Ruins are there!" Doctor Whooves backed away from the raging Dash. "Woah, come down, little filly. Well, since you guys are here, why don'tcha do me a favor? Clean up some of those damned skags in the just outside of town. They piss me off, plus, I want to make sure you can hold off against those things. they can get pretty brutal you know." The group looked at each other, shrugged, and went outside. Once outside, the Cloptrap ran screaming down the road. "THEY'RE BACK!" Everypony turned, to see about twenty five or more bandits standing in between them and the way to Skag Gully. "Oh. It's on," Rainbow Dash said, her eyes narrowing. "Eeyup." "Why does this keep happening to us?" Fluttershy said, curling up into a ball. Twilight sparkle sighed, and cocked her gun. "What's the harm in letting him live, you said."