The next morning, Scootaloo had once again woken up bright and early. She got some breakfast before saying bye to her aunts and took off out of the house and towards the Crusader Clubhouse. Scootaloo made sure to kick her scooter into overdrive, wanting to show her friends what she'd found last night.
Scootaloo reached the clubhouse in record time, practically leaping off her scooter as she rushed up the ramp and towards the door. She flung it open, startling the other Crusaders who had once again been waiting for her, even though Scootaloo had been in a rush to get there.
"Girls! You'll never guess what happened last night!" Scootaloo said with a large grin across her face.
"Mah sister flipp'n out that tha orchard had caught fire." Apple Bloom responded.
"Wait, really!?" Sweetie Belle questioned, staring at Apple Bloom.
"Yep, she's also assum'n we probably had someth'n ta do with it." Apple Bloom exclaimed with a slight grumble.
"Heh, yeah, we didn't cause that this time, yeah..." Scootaloo trailed off, before quickly remembering what she was going to say originally. "Anyways, not that. Look at what I found in a fallen shooting star yesterday!"
Scootaloo rose her left forehoof, exposing the watch which reflected some of the sunlight that had entered through the open windows of the clubhouse.
"Ya found ah hoof band in ah shoot'n star?" Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Technically that's a meteor." Sweetie Belle stated, earning blank stares from the other two fillies.
"Nope, I found something even better. Watch this!" Scootaloo instructed as she pressed on the green button, causing the hourglass symbol to rise up.
Scootaloo fiddled with the dial for a few seconds, before pressing down on it, sending a wave of green light which engulfed the clubhouse.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shielded their eyes with their hooves, waiting for the green light to fade before they lowered them. What stood in front of them where Scootaloo had been standing caused both their eyes to widen and jaws to drop.
Standing in front of the two crusaders was a large orange furred creature that looked sort of like a dog. The creature had a large mouth which was open, exposing a large amount of sharp teeth. It had sharp black claws on each paw, along with what looked like gills on the sides of its body. The hourglass symbol had appeared on a purple and orange shoulder pad which was located on the creature's left shoulder.
"W-What in tarnation..." Apple Bloom stammered.
"Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle called out, even more shock going through her body when the creature grinned at her, before nodding.
"How 'n the wide world of Equestria did ya do that!?" Apple Bloom questioned.
The cre- Scootaloo pointed at the shoulder pad which had the hourglass symbol on it.
"The watch did that!?"
Scootaloo nodded, before sniffing around the clubhouse. For some reason, a chill had run down her spine.
"That's so cool! Can you turn into other creatures?" Sweetie Belle asked, taking in the sight of the creature her friend had turned into.
Scootaloo didn't answer, instead she let out a low growl which caused the other two crusaders to get a little worried.
"Scootaloo? Ya alright?" Apple Bloom said, Scootaloo only growled a little louder.
Then, the front door of the clubhouse exploded, sending chunks of wood flying across the room. Scootaloo rushed over to her friends and shielded them from the debre, which cut into her back. A few streaks of pain shot up her spine, but she could take it better than her friends.
Scootaloo couldn't see what had blown up the door due to this creature not having eyes. But what it lacked in eyes, it more than gained in all the other senses.
Scootaloo turned to face the door, seeing through a strange black landscape with particles that outlined the clubhouse, as well as a strange looking object which was levitating a few hoof lengths above the ground.
"What is that!?" Scootaloo heard Apple Bloom shout.
"It sort of looks like a robot." Sweetie Belle answered.
The robot had something sticking out of it, looking sort of like a small tube with a sharp end. The tubes end began to glow with energy, earning worried looks from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The next thing Scootaloo knew, a large red bolt of energy was flying towards her. She ducked, narrowly avoiding the energy which collided with the clubhouse wall behind her, scorching the wood.
So, a robot wanted to attack her and her friends huh? Well guess what, if you startle the mut, you're gonna get bit! Scootaloo lunged at the robot, using one of her claws to slash at it. Her claw made contact with metal, followed by sparks which flew from the opening that had been made with the attack.
The robot backed up, slightly stunned from the strike, and began charging another beam of energy. Scootaloo quickly rushed over to her friends, picked them up, and jumped out of the way towards a small window. The window sill shattered, along with parts of the wall around it as Scootaloo bursted through, landing on the ground with as much grace as a mule.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle quickly scrambled to their hooves, watching in horror as the robot flew towards them from the new hole in the clubhouse.
"We've gotta go!"
Scootaloo stood back up on all four claws, pointing to her back with one of them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got the message and jumped onto Scootaloo's back. Scootaloo then took off as fast as she could, running in a random direction through the orchard. The robot followed them, matching Scootaloo's speed easily.
"It's getting closer!" Sweetie Belle cried out, eyes locked on the robot in a very stressful staring contest.
The robot charged up another beam of energy, which was unleashing at the trio. Scootaloo dodged to the left, letting the beam strike an unfortunate apple tree instead.
Scootaloo picked up the pace, managing to run out of Sweet Apple Acres and down the dirt path towards Ponyville.
"Um, ah know we're be'n chased by ah killer robot right now. But is it really ah good idea bring'n it in'ta town?" Apple Bloom questioned, before ducking as another red beam of energy flew right over her, singing the left tip of her pink bow.
Sweetie Belle tried to cast any sort of spell at the robot, but her horn failed to even ignite. "We don't really have any other choice!"
It was true, and they had already entered the busy streets of Ponyville, bystanders watching in shock as the robot fired another blast of red energy which nearly hit Scootaloo's back legs.
"Twilight can help us out right? She knows all sorts 've things 'bout electronics." Apple Bloom pointed out.
It was true. The towns librarian Twilight Sparkle was probably the only pony in Ponyville who knew about high machinery, so it was off towards the library. Question was, which street led to it? Scootaloo hadn't been paying attention to which street she had been running down, focusing more on losing the robot. Even then, she had no way of reading any street signs without her eyes.
But if she got to higher ground, then Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle could point out the direction and she could just jump on the roofs of the buildings.
With that thought in mind, Scootaloo rushed over to an abandoned market stand and leaped onto it. She then jumped from the stand to a nearby roof, getting several pieces of straw in her paws as a result.
"There!" Sweetie Belle shouted, pointing towards the treehouse that was the Golden Oaks Library.
Scootaloo took off in that direction, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The robot trailed right behind them, firing several more beams of energy which either struck the thatched roofs of buildings, or the street next to it.
The Golden Oaks Library was getting closer, now outlined by a set of grey particles. They were almost there! Just a little bit--
"Uh, what's that beep'n?" Apple Bloom asked, a familiar beeping sound filling Scootaloo's ears.
Wasn't that the beeping that signalled that the watch was almost empty!? Scootaloo picked up the pace, now knowing that her timer was running low. Scootaloo took one last leap towards the balcony of the library, transforming back into a filly mid air in a flash of red.
The three fillies hit the wooden floor of the balcony with three consecutive hard THUDS. Apple Bloom was the first to recover from the rough landing and rushed over to the door that led into the library.
"TWILIGHT!!!" Apple Bloom shouted, frantically banging on the door, trying to get the unicorn's attention. But Twilight didn't seem to be there.
The other two crusaders joined her once they recovered, crying out for Twilight's help. After a few seconds of banging, they heard the sound of an energy beam being charged. They each turned around to see the robot aiming one last red beam right at Scootaloo.
"Use the watch again!" Sweetie Belle said frantically.
"I can't! It's recharging!" Scootaloo answered, seeing that the watch was still glowing red.
With hope fading away, the three fillies held onto each other as tightly as they could, squeezing their eyes shut as they waited for the beam of energy to strike them.
Instead of the wave of pain they were expecting, they heard the sound of a spell being casted. Slowly, the three fillies opened their eyes to see Twilight Sparkle, standing in front of them with a magical barrier between them and the robot.
The robot's beam of energy struck the barrier, cracking it slightly but not breaking through. Twilight lowered the barrier and fired a beam of magic, which struck the robot directly in the head.
The robot bursted into a pile of metal and sparks, falling onto the balcony in a destroyed heap. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twilight all let out a low sigh in unison, before the unicorn turned to face the three fillies.
"Were you three trying to get your cutie marks in robotics again? Don't you remember what happened last time?" Twilight asked, a stern look on her face.
"It wasn't us! Pinkie promise! We were just in our clubhouse and then that thing attacked us!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"It's true!" Apple Bloom followed up.
"Yeah! Scootaloo was just showing us what this strange watch wa-" Sweetie Belle was cut off as Scootaloo put a hoof on her friend's mouth, silencing her.
Twilight was about to respond, but stopped when a loud BANG rang through the streets of Ponyville. The three fillies and librarian rushed over to the side of the balcony, spotting a much larger red and orange robot standing in the middle of town, red beams of energy charging in its robotic claws.
"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight muttered, staring directly at the robot.
A split second later, a cyan pegasus stopped right in front of the unicorn. "We've got a BIG problem!"
"Rainbow, get the other girls and group up at the library." Twilight instructed.
Rainbow Dash gave her friend a quick salute, before taking off towards the homes of their other friends.
Twilight returned her gaze to the three fillies, who were still watching as the large robot began firing blasts of red energy at buildings.
"You girls stay inside! We'll take care of this." Twilight stated, rushing off into the library and down the stairs to the bottom of the second floor.
The three Crusaders made their way into the library, staying on the second floor instead of following Twilight, who went down another flight of stairs and vanished from sight to the first floor. They gave each other a few glances, before hearing the sound of another beam of energy striking a building.
Scootaloo looked over at the entrance to the balcony, an idea forming in her mind.
"I can help."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at her friend like she had just suggested bungee jumping to try and get their cutie marks. "How!? Did ya see the size of that thing!?"
Scootaloo looked at her friends dead in the eye, before raising up her left forehoof. The watch seemed to agree with her, since the second her friends locked eyes on it, it changed from red to green, signalling that it was ready to be used.
"Oh yeah... forgot about that." Sweetie Belle stated.