I shifted uncomfortably under the hood of my overcoat as a crowd of ponies jostled around me. Red Heart had gone to buy train tickets, leaving me alone on the platform.

I was truly amazed that she had trusted me, especially given our less than ideal introduction - her bloodied bandages and debilitating limp had turned many heads on our way to the station.

As I'd said earlier though, she had been lucky. If I hadn't fired my Gauss rifle earlier that same night, it wouldn't have still been recharging when my itchy trigger hoof and woeful aim had gotten the better of me. Red Heart would have been Red Splat, and I'd have been well and truly buggered.

"Compass? Are you okay?" said Red Heart, who was suddenly standing directly in front of me.

"You looked like you were in some sort of trance." she replied, while surreptitiously checking my pupil dilation.

"Uh-huh..." Red Heart responded, as she gave me a funny look, "Well, now that you're back, here're our tickets to Edinbuck."

"Yeah, about that: where's the train?" I asked, "That board over there says that it should have been here five minutes ago."

"Wow, you really aren't from here are you?" chuckled Red Heart, "We're in Trottingham, Compass. Everything here's at least ten minutes late."

"Are you nervous or something?" Red Heart asked, noticing my discomfort, "You look like you need to pee."

"I'm just...worried, you know? Buckshot and Mo could be anywhere...or any time for that matter! I've got to find them before they get hurt!"

"Yeah." I said sharply as I glanced back and forth along the track again, "Mo's short for Moon Shadow, though."

"Right," said Red Heart, as she made a mental note, "Compass? What can you tell me about your relationship with your mother?"

"I'm just trying to understand your delusion." she replied matter of factly, "It's very complex, but I think I can help you with it."

"Hold on," I said as I rounded on her, "You said you believed me! I trusted you!"

"Calm down, Compass! Don't get me wrong, I do believe that your friends are in danger, but I think that you're so traumatised by their predicament that you've invented a scenario whereby retrieving them is vital to some grandiose plan to save the world. That way, you have no option other than doing your absolute utmost to save them."

"What!?" I scoffed, "You can't be serious! What about my rifle and my Pipbuck!? My horn, for crying out loud!?"

"Peculiarities, I'll admit. But time travel? Come on Compass, you're too intelligent to believe in that sort of rubbish. I can tell how smart you are just from hearing you speak."

"Right then, nurse Red Heart," I said sharply, "if I'm such a nutcase, then isn't it a bit risky to travel with me in the first place, let alone try and solve my mental issues en route!?"

Taken completely off guard by her sudden complement, I opened my mouth to angrily reply, but was forced to close it again after a seconds long silence.

"I...uh...thanks..." I eventually stammered, "I think that's the nicest thing anypony's said to m-"

Suddenly, my ears were pierced by a shrill scream that was originating from the floor between my forelegs. A young filly had wandered in front of me and peeked up into my hood without my noticing. When her gaze had been met by a scarred, metal horned creature rather than a pony, she had become panicked and frightened.

Unfortunately for Red Heart and me, that meant that everypony on the platform was now stating directly at us (including two military guards). They approached us at a gallop and raised their weapons as the wailing filly was scooped up by her mother.

"Keep your hooves where I can see them!" the first one bellowed, "What's going on here!?"

"He *hic* he's a *hic* monster!" blubbered the tiny pony as she snuggled into her mother's protective embrace.

By now, every equine on the platform had shifted behind the two guards and their rifles but, amazingly, Red Heart had stayed by my side, and had even assumed a position between the guards and me. I found myself smiling under the hood as the command was repeated.

"What do you think you're doing!?" shouted Red Heart furiously, "How dare you humiliate my patient like this! He's recovering from reconstructive surgery and the last thing he needs is for attention to be called to his disability!"

He moved to turn and dismiss the crowd as a light wind tickled my fetlocks. It seems that time was not yet entirely on my side, as the train chose that very moment to thunder into the station, whipping my hood down and causing my Wasteland-honed reflexes to kick in. In a single, practised motion, I pulled my rifle from the concealed sheath under my coat, lowered my centre of gravity and mentally flicked open the alloy horn on my head, readying my artificial magic for action.

Before I could stop myself, I had lined up the rifle's sights with the lead guard's unicorn appendage and was about to mentally queue him and his comrade up as SATS target when my brain caught up with what my body was doing.

It's not like I was worried about changing the future or anything like that - the events of the apocalypse were, are and forever will be set in stone. The Last Day represents a point of convergence; where past and future reduce to a single inexorable path of causal singularity. So naturally, killing two ponies who were statistically going to snuff it anyway wouldn't have made much of a historical dent.

No, the real reason that I couldn't follow through with my attack was that the pair of them were greener than the text on a terminal monitor. They were young, they were inexperienced and I was scaring the shit out of them.

I thought about what to do; SATS was good for that sort of thing, and came to a familiar conclusion.

I turned the targeting power of SATS away from the guards and instead directed it toward the train itself, selecting a portion of the locomotive's drive system.

A moment later, I had delivered an electromagnetically accelerated kinetic round into the piping that lined the engine's boiler. Steam blasted from the now warped and broken assembly, creating a moving shield of superheated water vapour between Red Heart, me and the rest of the ponies on the platform.

"That's our cue to leave!" I shouted as I grabbed Red Heart by the collar of her nurse's cape and started running along the track behind the train.

A cacophony of confused screams and shouts from behind us heralded our escape as we continued further and further down the track.

Seemingly, one of the crowd was a bit more resourceful than the guards - somepony had just fired an absolute doozy of an anaesthetic spell at us, and both Red Heart and I were rapidly losing consciousness.

I heard hurried hoofsteps approaching from the platform as the pair of guards came to take us prisoner.

"We, uh, contact the Ministry of Morale!" his partner responded, "And we tell them we've caught a pair of spies!"

I awoke for the umpteenth time to find myself sharing a warm embrace with Buckshot. Having never shared a bed with anypony before, I was amazed by the sense of security the contact between our hides offered. The comfort was absolute, and I sighed contentedly while nuzzling into his neck. So blissful was this feeling that the events of earlier had been reduced to nought but whispers on the horizon of my mind.

These questions and hundreds more had been throttling my brain as I slipped in and out of my serene state throughout the night. When I was asleep, I would dream of the Doctor. When I was awake, I would worry about the Doctor. Only in the cosy transitional zone of fatigue in between the two could I find respite from my woes.

It was in this delightful state of mind that I currently bathed, swimming just above the level of conscious thought. In my reverie, I laid my head on the pillow and tightened my grip on Buckshot’s muscular body.

His thick mane smelled deeply of the earth (in a pleasant way, mind - nothing like the various stenches of the Wasteland that I had recently encountered). Since falling asleep, we had subtly shifted positions so that our bodies fitted together like a pair of spoons, and I felt Buckshot’s reassuring bulk rising and falling as he breathed.

Outside the Claymore’s window, a light rain was falling, eliciting a gentle tinkle from the corrugated iron sections of roof in the shanty town. I noticed that the residents of the ruins had constructed simple streetlights that filled the decaying streets with a feeble orange glow. Sodium based bulbs, I mused.

Blinking slowly, I continued to relish the feeling of safety I was being treated to, and let my eyes lazily trace the strong curve of Buckshot’s back. My gaze eventually found his flank, and I felt a sweetly familiar tightening between my legs as I ran my hoof over it. His coat had assumed a dark blue tint from the outside lighting, making it almost indistinguishable from my own hue. I rubbed back and forth along his hide, savouring the tactile pleasure of being so close to another pony.

Returning my attention to the window, I was surprised to see that a diffuse blue glow was currently supplementing (and in some places, practically replacing) the orange haze of the streetlights. It was also moving, indicating that the source was mobile.

I accidentally nudged Buckshot as I stepped off of the bed and approached the glass, eliciting a small moan from him as he reflexively rolled over. My view wasn’t much improved by the change in perspective - the glow’s origin was moving slowly through the shanty town’s narrow streets, preventing direct line of sight.

I would have liked to think that this was normal for Edinbuck; that it was just some innocuous little thing that went on at night - like a guard patrol or something similarly mundane.

Rapidly losing patience, I trotted over to the bed, lowered my head to his ear and shouted:

“LACTOSE!” he screamed as he shot upright, driving his forehead into mine in the process. Buckshot immediately clutched his head tightly and shouted out in pain:

Reeling from the impact, I propped myself up against a wall in an attempt to hasten my recovery and concentrate on getting rid of the pounding behind my forehead. By the Goddess, was Buckshot’s head hard!

“It’s...oh Goddess, my head. It’s outside. There’s something I wanted to – ooh... Something I wanted to ask about.”

"Ah get nutted in the face so you can satisfy yer curiosity!? By Luna, Compass, you need to work on yer social skills!”

“Whit light? The blue wan? I, uh...cannae be sure. Havnae been near these parts for a good few years.”

“Edinbuck has its own guards, Compass - Ah’m sure they can take care of it if anything’s up. Now, can we, uh...” he stammered while blushing brightly, “...go back to spooning? Ah...Ah really liked it.”

I smiled as the statuesque warrior in front of me bashfully avoided my gaze. In silence, the both of us turned away from the window and headed back to the bed – just in time for a colossal explosion to bathe the room in a hot crimson bloom.

As the plume of flame receded into a steady blaze, Buckshot and I acted in unison.

Twelve seconds later, Buckshot and I were racing down the stairs of the Claymore hotly pursued by the rest of the Trotfell contingent.

Diving out of the lobby, we quickly made our way toward the blaze, weaving through the miniature labyrinth of corrugated iron and rotting wood in the process. As we rounded the second last corner, we were met by a crowd of ponies, all of whom were either armed, armoured or both.

Now, their presence would have been very reassuring...if they weren’t running away from the fire! As the group began to pass us, numerous panicked screams were aimed in our direction:

I stopped in my tracks and extended one of my forelegs, quickly catching one of the fleeing by his neck.

“Where the hell are you going!?” I screamed, “We need to get that fire out!”

“It's invincible! W-we threw grenades and it didn't even flinch!” came the response.

Of. Fucking. Course it was - Luna forbid, I avoid conflict and disaster for more than twelve hours!

“Right then,” I said whilst gritting my teeth in annoyance and retrieving the Screwdriver from my inner pocket, “Allons- ahem...let's go.”

Followed closely by Buckshot, Sage, Mo and the Trotfell guards, I galloped around the final corner, and immediately registered a massive heat bloom as the blazing remains of Zeanna's shack came into view.

While my companions set about fetching water to douse the flames, I simply stood and squinted – something was standing in the middle of the fire.

Narrowing my eyes further, I was able to make out a sack of some sort draped over its back...

My voice carried over the crackle of the fire, causing the zebra’s captor to suddenly take notice of our presence. It turned sharply to regard us and I looked upon its face as its features were silhouetted by the dancing flames. My gaze was met by gleaming chrome armour and a pair of shining blue eyes, glowing with a cool malevolence that made my stomach churn distressingly.

Worryingly, I couldn't make anything out of that stare, except that it was somehow more than just a machine. Before I could process what that 'more' could actually be, the Sentinel raised one of its forelegs, pointing it directly at me. In a moment of panic, during which the bottom once again fell out of stomach, I grabbed the two ponies nearest me and pulled them to the ground.

“GET DOWN!” I shouted, as a deadly volley of crimson light flew above out heads.

Luckily, Zeanna's shack had a sturdy foundation that had only just started burning, so there was enough of it left to provide decent cover from the blasts. Mo and Buckshot (the pair who had just so happened to be closeby when I ducked) screamed as the storm above us began to collide with the flesh of our companions.

Kerb Stomp was the first to be hit - being the largest after Buckshot he was a logical target. The blast struck him squarely in the chest, and his now airborne corpse glowed a brilliant orange as it fizzled from existence before our eyes. A millisecond later, the volley selected its next victims in Armour Pierce and two other Trotfell guards (whose names I hadn’t learnt). They fell to the ground in unison, dying, with blood, guts and severed limbs littering their locale.

The remainder of the group were similarly incapacitated by that single, arcing volley, falling like rain on the rough ground beneath us. Sage, Caring Heart and her nurse all dropped into unconsciousness with still-burning holes in their hides.

As Mo and Buckshot gawked in horror at the devastation around them, I kicked myself up from behind our burning cover and aimed the Screwdriver directly at the Sentinel. However at the very moment I depressed the button on the arcane tool's shiny casing, a third blue light appeared on the robot's face, and was accompanied by a grainy, electronic voice.

"TRANSLOCATION ARRAY CHARGED! ENGAGING TRANSMAT!” it announced without a hint of emotion.

Having been completely taken aback by its sudden speech, I had flinched. Unfortunately, that was all the time it needed. A hazy blue glow surrounded the automaton and it's captive as they disappeared from view.

I stood in abject surprise, an emotion that quickly transitioned into shock, as the smouldering remains of the confrontation lay dying around me.

It had fought us for less than a minute...and in that time it killed, maimed, kidnapped or terrified every equine in the settlement.

As the only able-bodied survivors of the Sentinel’s short but deadly assault, Buckshot, Mo and I were left with the unenviable task of tending to the dead and wounded.

Between us, we were able to save Armour Pierce’s life, though she lost a foreleg in the attack that we weren’t equipped to reattach. The two other ponies that had fallen alongside Armour weren’t so fortunate - they had simply lost too much blood, slipping smoothly into Death’s embrace before we could even reach them.

Sage, Caring Heart and the Trotfell nurse were stable, having only been grazed by the Sentinel’s awesome firepower. They would require a great deal of rest before fully recovering, and would probably suffer from serious scarring.

With the wounded bandaged and resting, I was introduced to a new custom of the Wasteland: burial. Apparently, it was customary to place the dead underneath a six foot layer of dirt and leave them there to decompose. If I’d had my scientist’s hat on at the time, I probably would have commented on the inefficiency and futility of the gesture – their organs could have been transplanted, their matter composted and their bodily fluids recycled so that others could benefit from their demise.

I resigned myself to bowing my head as Mo read aloud a prayer to the Goddesses wherein she asked them to watch over the immortal souls of the deceased. The suffering that robot had caused...it was beyond belief. One unit; one weapon; one volley. It was no wonder that the Sentinel had acquired such a deadly reputation.

Its motivation was a mystery though. Why would it suddenly waltz into Edinbuck, only to abduct one resident? It was pretty obvious that the fire was caused by the local security forces’ attempts to subdue the machine, and it was equally obvious that the Sentinel had been threatened enough by our arrival on the scene to start shooting.

Apart from those two facts, however, everything about the encounter was still a total mystery to us.

In all honesty though, I didn’t much care for speculation – and neither did Buckshot or Mo. As far as we were concerned, there were more important things to deal with.

Like revenge, for instance. Buckshot’s rage was...concerning, to say the least. It wasn’t that he was screaming or flailing or anything like that. It was the fact that he was still and silent for the majority of the time that scared me.

I already knew that we were still going ahead with our expedition, although its purpose had changed somewhat since we had set out from Trotfell the previous day. As far as Buckshot was concerned, we were going to avenge the deaths of his guards (or die trying). In Mo’s eyes, we were going to save Zeanna from whatever fate the Sentinel had in store for her.

I just wanted to stop it from harming another living soul. For some unknown reason, I had seemingly embraced my namesake, taking it upon myself to become Trottingham's resident ‘moral compass’ (even though I was named after a drafting tool rather than a navigational aid).

“So...when are we going?” I asked flatly as Buckshot and I sat morosely around a table in the Claymore.

“Ah'm ready right now.” he replied, an angry scowl plastered across his face.

“Me too,” answered Mo as she trotted into the pub, “Some of the Edinbuck guards have come back, so I've told them to take care of the wounded. They should be in good hooves till we get back.”

"Right then..." I said while exhaling shakily - my hopes of a brief respite having been dashed, “Onward.”

We left Edinbuck at dawn, hoping that the morning sun would provide a little colour to the otherwise bleak experiences of the previous evening.

Unfortunately, it only made us feel worse. That glorious yellow fireball was reduced to a pale whitish blob by the omnipresent cloud layer, causing the three of us to trot dejectedly onward, our heads hung low and our shoulders slouched.

Death was altogether too prevalent here. I wanted - nay, needed - desperately to improve this place. To lift it up out of the wastes and show it everything that it was missing. The urge to help grew steadily within my breast until Buckshot announced our arrival at out destination.

The Edinbuck StableTec facility spread out in front of us like a series of giant cinder blocks. It was a moderately sized building – similar in proportion to the Trotfell city chambers.

Looking at one and other in turn, Mo, Buckshot and I nodded silently, and began to make our way toward the main entrance. We found the front doors unlocked just as Sage had mentioned. Trotting gingerly inside, we were greeted by a large (and distinctly bland) lobby with a receptionist’s desk and a large version of the StableTec logo fastened to the far wall.

“Okay,” I said, “Let's start at the top of the building and work our way down.”

“Well, it stands to reason that the longer we're here, the more likely it is that we'll encounter the Sentinel. If we start at the top, we'll be that much closer to the exit when we do find it. That way, if it proves too much to handle, we can make a quick escape.” answered Mo.

“Ah well. Greats minds think alike.” Mo said as she confidently trotted away and began examining the atrium elevator controls.

“You know what else they say about thinking alike?” whispered Buckshot in my ear, “Fools seldom differ.”

We reached the top floor quickly enough, and agreed to split up so that we could search the rooms more effectively (we also agreed that under no circumstances should we separate by more than a couple of hundred yards).

“Oh! Hold on a minute, guys.” Mo said as we were turning to begin our search, “I've got these. I think we should wear them.”

She produced a trio of curious looking headsets, one of which she fastened to her brow. Upon flicking a small switch at the device's rear, a lamp on its side began to produce a surprisingly bright blue light.

“I call them headlamps.” she grinned, “The light they cast is modulated so that we can see by it, but also so that the electronic sensors robots and turrets use can't. I use them while I scavenge – they let me see them before they see me.”

"Ooh!" I said, impressed by her ingenuity, "That's pretty cool, Mo...but, well...didn't a robot almost kill you the last time you went scavenging?"

Mo passed me one of her contraptions and I pulled it on over my head. The device was remarkably well made for something composed of scavenged two hundred year old parts.

An affirmative nod from each of my companions answered, and we split off down separate corridors.

I noted the names on the doors as I trotted up and down the facility's passageways, cautiously edging my way around corners in case an angry robot was waiting there to eviscerate me.

The place was huge! It was going to take ages to search, even though we had tripled our efficiency by splitting up. Maybe we should have gotten help from Trotfell? A full combat team certainly would have made looking for the damned thing easi-

I did a double take as an urgent signal from my eyes reached my brain. One of the name plaques bore a singularly familiar name:

Head of Research and Development

I gulped as the plaque stared me down. Taking a deep, bracing breath, I pushed through the heavy door and into the room beyond. The desk of Gem Shine, Applebloom's secretary, sat silently in the corner, the terminal atop it having died long ago. I turned slowly to my right.

Yanking the door open, my eyes widened in horror as a mop viciously attacked my head. I screamed from the surprise and threw my assailant to the ground. I quickly realised, however, that the ancient piece of janitorial equipment was probably just as scared of me as I was of it, so I resorted to panting steadily in a vain attempt to calm my still panicked heart.

Casting my eyes around the walls, I was reassured to find no sign of the TARDIS. Honestly though, I don't know what I had expected, but something told me that I would have been dissatisfied regardless of what I'd found inside.

Turning to the internal door, I trotted cautiously over to it, my little blue headlamp showing up the rich grain of the barrier's heavy wooden texture. I pushed through into Applebloom's office and, once again to my horror, immediately recognised every single detail of the room.

Dejectedly wandering over to the terminal keyboard, I marvelled at the sophistication of Applebloom's setup - it was by far the nicest workspace I'd ever come across, read about, or even dreamed of. With reverence, I flicked the computer's power switch and grinned geekily as the smooth whir of an internal cooling fan breathed gently from its vents. A familiar text interface appeared:

ROBRONCO INDUSTRIES UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM
COPYRIGHT ROBRONCO INDUSTRIES
- SERVER 7 -

========================================================================

Welcome, Miss Applebloom
Last login: 1763960 hours ago
You have no new network relay messages
You have no new voicemail messages

Network error 697 – No response from server
Warning: simulation maneframe is offline; analysis functions are available on local hardware only.

1) Appointments/Schedule
2) Word processor
3) Spreadsheet
4) Computer aided design
5) Material properties database
6) Finite element structural analysis
7) Computational fluid dynamics analysis
8) Programmer’s interface
9) Relay messaging
10) Library computer access and retrieval system (keyword search)

Accessing the search dialogue, I keyed in some general terms, and was rewarded with a fat file pertaining to Stable 52. Within its virtual covers was more data than I could have possibly asked for! I started reading the subdirectory names, feeling my inner nerd getting more and more excited as I progressed.

“Jackpot!” I said aloud, “Let’s see now: ‘Blueprints’, ‘Geological survey data’, ‘Reactor specs’, ‘Pipework layouts’, ‘Material requisitions’, ‘Work orders’- Ah-ha! ‘Project summary’! Come to Compass!”

I triumphantly tapped out the command to open the file and began skimming for details of how to re-enter my home and at the same time circumvent the murderer’s control of the Stable maneframe.

"Oh, system from days of old, lead me to your access code...” I hummed, as I crossed my rear legs and started nibbling on my left forehoof.

As the end of the file rolled onto the monitor, I noticed that it was incomplete. Squinting at the miniscule green text, I reeled as I realised that it was in fact corrupted. According to this data, Stable 52 wasn’t even finished. I checked and re-checked, but always reached the same dead end. After a certain date (approximately four months into construction), it appeared that all of the subsequent information regarding Stable 52 had vanished from the StableTec servers.

I started to worry about my chances of finding the details of the maneframe, but was relieved to discover that the Stable’s computer system had been ordered, manufactured and delivered before the cutoff date for the data loss. With a deep sigh of relief, I pulled my PipBuck to my face in order to download the administrator passwords and override protocols spelled out in the maneframe’s digital instruction manual (a copy of which was suspiciously absent from Stable 52).

>>PIPBUCK OS V 1.0.0
>>COPYRIGHT ROBRONCO INDUSTRIES
>>AUTO-CONFIGURING FOR FIRST BOOT...

Blinked the little screen. I sighed in frustration and reached for the notepad in my barding pocket, grumbling expletives as I took my pencil in my mouth and began to write. How long was it going to take to restart!?

As I finished my espionage, a tiny thought flitted through my conscious mind; a simple question with potentially awful repercussions: did Applebloom keep a journal? If she did, there'd surely be an entry about the day she met an alien. Hell, if I was her, I'd have written a whole book on it!

I braced myself as I nervously browsed the unit's expansive local hard drive. Although I found no reference to a personal journal, I was able to locate a personnel database of some description. I searched for the players in my most recent vision (in order of how much proving their existence would scare the living shit out of me).

The first result was for Applebloom - the monitor told me nothing I didn't already know: she came from a family of farmers, was recognised as an engineering genius, invented a massive proportion of Equestria’s major technologies and landed a position as the head of research and development at StableTec.

Next was Ditzy. To my horror, the search dialogue’s auto-complete function suggested the name 'Ditzy Doo' as a likely match to my query, and promptly displayed a picture of a familiar squint-eyed face. Her file had been encrypted, and required something called ‘Oakflare clearance’ to fully access, but the fact that it existed at all was enough.

That meant that part of my dream was true. If it all turned out to be a recollection of some past series of events rather than a story conjured by my subconscious, then my deepest fears would be confirmed.

I continued my snooping, and found myself gasping in shock when the information of a Dr. Maestro, also of the R&D department, popped up onto the screen. His file was similarly encrypted, and curiously enough, also bore the note:

OAKFLARE CLEARANCE REQUIRED

I had a go at the password, but was rumbled by the terminal's amazing security software. Apparently, at some point just before the Last Day, Applebloom had developed a patch to stop inquisitive buggers like me from restarting a terminal in maintenance mode and rummaging about inside the keystroke log for the unit's password.

I almost hyperventilated when an entry appeared (‘Oakflare’ encrypted, of course). That was four out of five! The chances of my visions not being memories were shrinking fast!

Pushing it out of my mind for the time being, I focussed on my next task. It was time to search for...Him...

The keys clunked under my shaking hooves, and I was overcome with dread as the word was spelled in green light before me. I could feel a cold, deathly grip on me spine as I typed the final 'r', and fought to retain control of my bowels as I tentatively tapped the return key.

The world around me stopped and my heartbeat became a panicked thrum as the search results materialised before my eyes:

Shaking with trepidation, and with sweat pouring down my face, I pressed the Y key.

>> Loading file ‘OAK/014'
>> OAKFLARE ARCHIVE FILE NO. 014
Subject designation: THE DOCTOR

That meant I really was in possession of his memories. That he really had been superimposed onto my mind somehow. That I...

A creak in the corridor outside shattered my despondent trance, and my head snapped reflexively towards the far wall.

I forced myself up off of the floor and tip-hoofed through to the outer door. Gently nudging past it, I was relieved to see the bright blue cone of one of Mo's headlamps. Judging from its height above the floor, it belonged to Buckshot. I called out to him:

“Oh, Buckshot, it’s you. Listen, I've found some stuff on the Stable. The data was a bit patchy, but I think I got what...I'm...Buckshot?”

He hadn't even acknowledged my presence as I spoke to him. Had I done something wrong? Maybe not 'spooning' was a taboo out here. I tried again:

“Buckshot? Are you okay? Listen, I'm sorry if I've insulted you or- Ohhh holy SHIT!”

As I spoke, Buckshot's head had rotated towards me, revealing not one, but two gleaming points of blue light.

Turning faster than most dwarf stars, I whipped around and sprinted away from it, but was haunted by the pneumatic hiss of its limbs as it gave chase.

Twisting around another corner, I found myself approaching a T-shaped junction, and a frantically bobbing blue light at it's end told me that at least one of my companions had heard me (either that, or the Sentinel had translocated itself straight into my path and managed to lose an eye at the same time). Fortunately for me, Buckshot's gruff Coltland tone resonated throughout the hallway as he confirmed his identity and began shouting at me:

In the thick, unyielding confusion that resulted from that brief exchange, Buckshot and I collided painfully into one and other, heads first. Fighting through the new pulsing pain in my forehead, I stood up and pulled my friend to his hooves.

“Buckshot, I found the Sentinel! It's right behind me - we have to find Mo and regroup!” I blurted, as the pneumatic hissing came steadily closer.

“Whit!? Compass, the Sentinel's chasing me! Although, I agree wi' ye on the regrouping idea.” Buckshot responded.

As we conversed, it seemed as if the hissing was closing in from all directions. But I knew that that wasn't possible!

“Wait,” I said, “if the Sentinel's chasing me...and you...then that means-“

“THERE'S MORE THAN ONE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” Mo screamed as she swooped down the corridor towards us, hotly pursued by a quartet of shining blue eyes.

Skidding to a halt beside Buckshot and me, the pegasus whipped her head back and forth, quickly gauging the hopelessness of our situation as the other two Sentinels came into view at the far ends of the adjoining corridors.

We were now completely surrounded, and judging from our previous encounter, hopelessly outgunned. Panic gave way to acceptance in a surprisingly short space of time, and we nodded solemnly to one and other in turn as Buckshot, Mo and I gritted our teeth and drew our weapons.

"Wait - you two know eachother!?" Applebloom gawked, "Maestro, whut the hay's goin on here!?"

"Just a little reunion, Applebloom - we were schoolmates, weren't we Doctor? I might even go as far as to say we were friends...once."

"Alien?" The Master said as he raised an eyebrow and curled the corner of his mouth - he did always love showing off.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Ditzy chimed, noticing my utter lack of motion or speech, "Who is this guy?"

"Yes, Doctor, why don't you introduce me to the fillies?" interjected the Master.

"So he's...he's a Time Lord then...?" Ditzy asked, almost in awe of the smarmy buck standing in front of us.

"I see you're still picking the sharp ones, Doc," he said sarcastically, "I suppose it makes up for eye thing."

A look of indignation shot across Ditzy'a brow as she visually scolded at the Master. Summarily ignoring her, he continued to address me:

"A 'while'!? Nevermind a 'while'! I...I saw you die!" I blurted, "Your TARDIS was devoured by the Nightmare Foal at the battle of the Medusa Cascade!"

"Almost devoured." he smirked, "Funny story actually. You remember that old mare's tale? The one that said the Nightmare Foal once ate a black hole and laid waste to the Andromeda galaxy because of the ensuing indigestion? Well, it turns out that it's all true! I used energy from it to open a small subspace vacuole and make my escape before the gravity well could grab hold of me. Simple really."

"But...TARDISes are configured to draw power from the Eye of Harmony. How did you manage to access a completely foreign singularity so quickly!?" I asked, enthralled by his tale.

"I was able to channel energy from the plasmic reactions in its stomach into the time rotor before it had time to digest me. Flung me clear across the continuum. And, as fate would have it, I ended up in the middle of another bloody war. Albeit a significantly tamer one." he responded nonchalantly.

"But that's...that's brilliant!" I gawked, smiling like an idiot, "By Rassipony, it's good to see you again. After the war, I worried that I was the only-"

"Ah, yes, and how is our beloved Lord President?" the Master asked, interrupting me, "I take it that the Council interpreted my cunning escape as a well disguised act of desertion, and now that we've sent the Darlocks packing, you're here to clap me in irons and drag me back to Gallopfrey for a good spanking? Well, you can tell them from me that I was about to win that blasted war for them if they hadn't done it themselves! I am not going down for trying to help-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Stop..." I said, waving my hooves in the Master's face, "You...you do know what happened...right?"

My fellow Time Lord took took a moment to stare intently into my eyes, focussing his formidable intellect on analysing my words for signs of deception.

"The Darlocks...they found the Eye of Harmony. Our last stand, it...it was a massacre. The only way to stop them was to extend the temporal lock around the War and stop the passage of time altogether."

His eyes wandered feverishly as he processed my words, and a rare look of uncertainty marred his learned brow.

"A-all...of them...?" he squeeked, a helpless tone creeping into his voice, "Gone...?"

"I'm afraid so." I responded consolingly, closing the distance between us, "They saved the Universe, Master..."

He suddenly tensed, his brow contorting as a seemingly urgent thought occurred to him.

"Yes..." he said slowly, turning his head to face me, "They did, didn't they? Tell me, Doctor, where were you when this happened?"

"I was at the final battle..." I said, while trying desperately to push memories of our last struggle out of my mind, "I saw everything..."

"So...you were present at the point of our 'ultimate sacrifice'?" he asked eloquently, squinting at me.

"I was." I answered solemnly, "I'm so sorry, Master. I wish this meeting was under better circum-"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" he suddenly shouted, taking me off guard, and frightening Applebloom and Ditzy.

"You heard me, Doctor! Why. Are. You. Here!?" he screamed, "Our entire race falls in an act of sacrifice and you just happen to be the only survivor!? Don't insult my intelligence! You were always a coward! Always! You'd rather die than fight on the front line!"

"N-no!" I shouted back, "I-I fought! I was there! There wasn't anything anypony could've-"

"It was you, wasn't it!?" came the Master's furious tone as he approached me intimidatingly, "Rassipony was already half mad with power when the war broke out - he would never have sanctioned that kind of action! I'll bet that if I went to the Eye of Harmony right now, I'd find the temporal signature of your TARDIS!"

"Master, the fate of the whole Universe was at stake! What else could we have done!?" I shouted.

By now, he had effectively backed me into the wall of Applebloom's officewith his fury - I could feel myself beginning to sweat from the heat flowing from his eyes.

"WE!?" he screamed, "There was no 'we', Doctor! You forget how well I know you! I can predict exactly what you did!"

A pregnant silence descended over the room as the Master's stare kept me pinned up against the office wall.

I looked up slowly, afraid to make eye contact with my former friend, lest he force me to recant even more past sins.

The silence was suddenly broken by a sparse, throaty chuckle. To my immense surprise, as the Master's face moved into my field of view, I found that it was adorned by a jovial grin.

"Never thought I'd see the day..." he whispered, "It may have taken close to a millennium, Doctor, but I've finally been vindicated."

"For over nine centuries, I have been persecuted and villainised." he explained, "Every single time I tried to help, assist or otherwise solve a problem, I was decried as 'evil' and 'monstrous'. Then you would invariably waltz into the fray in your stolen TARDIS, do pretty much the exact same thing I was attempting, and end up being heralded as a freaking hero!"

He chuckled some more as Ditzy, Applebloom and I simply stared at him in disbelief.

"But this time..." he whispered, "This time, the roles are finally reversed! Now I can be the hero, and you the 'Destroyer of Worlds', the 'Eater of Souls'!"

"What are you talking about!?" I cried indignantly, "Neither our methods nor our goals are anything alike!"

"Untrue," he responded nonchalantly, "What you achieve through words, I achieve through force. And the fact of the matter is that we're both after the same results. The only reason that you're the 'good' one is because your 'methods', as you refer to them, are infinitely more cowardly and dishonest than mine. Mind you, it doesn't help that the vast majority of the life forms in this Universe are dumber than a mute in a vacuum - they never see you for what you truly are."

"And what...is that?" I asked as anger began to well and bubble inside me. His words, despite being nonsensical, warped and just downright wrong, were starting to affect me.

The Master sidled up to me, a menacing smirk on his face, and breathed into my ear:

"Enough!" I shouted, "You've had your fun Master! Now tell me what you're doing here!"

A light, somewhat familiar beeping suddenly began to emanate from places unknown, and the Master reached into a magical pocket behind one of his forelegs (apparently Twilight Sparkle wasn't the only pony to have mastered that particular incantation). From the dimensionally transcendental pouch, he produced a leather fetlock cuff that I immediately recognised as an old style vortex manipualtor.

"Wow, this thing took ages to charge didn't it?" he mused, "I thought that conversation would never end!"

"Until next time, my friend!" he said sarcastically.
"Master! Wait!" I shouted, "What are going to do!?"

"That's easy." he said as a blue glow began to consume him, "I'm going to rebuild our species - I'm going to be the hero!"

A bright flash filled the room with light as he disappeared from view. The three of us that remained stayed silent for several seconds afterword, awestruck by the events we had just beheld. Ditzy was the first to speak:

I tried to reply; to give her some sort of answer, but I had no words to explain myself:

I turned to regard her slowly, and nodded solemnly as the kindness of her words became clear. Ditzy seemed to recognise my need to not discuss it further, and smiled at me in silent understanding.

The warmth I felt in that one, short moment obliterated every negative feeling that the Master had fueled within me, and I remembered that, even for time travellers, the past...is the past. With a single, invigorating breath, I blew away my mental cobwebs and smiled confidently, brightening in the process.

"Right, then!" I said, "We've got a rogue Time Lord to find! Applebloom, what was 'Maestro' working on?"

"He was tryin' t'build a time machine." she replied, "Said it'd win us the war in a jiffy."

"Really?" I said incredulously, "His plan was that simple? Build a TARDIS and get back into the Time War? That doesn't sound like one of his at all..."

"What about the stuff he was talking about before you two started, uh, reminiscing?" asked Ditzy, "Maybe there's a clue in there."

"Ah! Yes! Good thinking Ditzy!" I said, "Let's see now...what was he saying again?"

"Yeah, that was weird - one TARDIS wouldn't have done a thing to turn the tide of the Time War..." I muttered thoughtfully, "Applebloom, I need to see the Master's workspace. Show me your secret lab."

"M-Ma whut!?" Applebloom stuttered, as her eyes moved nervously back and forth, "W-what are ya, uh, talkin' about!?"

"Come on, Applebloom." I responded, "You and I both know that this is no office building."

The pale yellow mare scoffed and shook her head in disbelief as she moved to the intercom on the desk.

A moment later, the outer doors of Applebloom's office swung open, admitting a completely different version of Gem Shine than that which Ditzy and I had previously met. She wore a jet black berret, a high power automatic rifle and a look of determined military discipline as she strode confidently up to us.

She saluted to Applebloom, who turned around and began to approach one of the many bookcase lining her office. Peeking back out into the adjoining room, I caught sight of a perfect holographic representation of the secretary pony lazily flicking through an issue of Cosmomare (no doubt she was programmed to respond dismissively to any query put to her).

I turned around just in time to see Applebloom stand in front of her largest bookcase and take a deep breath.

"Charlie - Mike - Charlie - Three - Bravo - Foxtrot - Foxtrot!" she shouted suddenly at the top of hr voice.

As the ensuing ringing in my ears subsided, I noticed that the entire bookcase (as well as the massive slab of wall behind it) had slid out of sight, revealing a sturdy looking compact elevator.

"Coooool!" whistled Ditzy as she leaned in to speak to me, "Why can't we have a secret passage like that?"

"Secret passage!?" I gawked, "I show you the majesty of the Universe, take you on a ride in a super advanced spaceship that travels through time and give you adventures alongside a real life alien...and you're more impressed by a secret sodding lift!?"

"I think somepony has secret elevator envy." she beamed as she, Applebloom and Gem Shine trotted into the carriage.

The 'clandestine vertical transit module' as Ditzy chose to name it, descended quickly into the Earth's crust, but so deep was our destination that we were still faced with a journey of several minutes.

With only the gentle hum of the carriage's spark motors, we were each treated to a moment of near silent personal reflection. While I pondered the Master's next move, Ditzy was clearly focussed on something else:

"Some religious issue concernin' Princess Luna." she said, "They...they destroyed a unicorn school cos of it, and then everythin' else just sorta cascaded from that..."

"Ah envy you, ya know? Bein' able to jus'...bypass all this; dip in and out o' history at will."

"Trust me," replied Ditzy sadly as she glanced in my direction, "it's not all it's cracked up to be..."

The lift slid smoothly to a halt as we reached our destination, and the opening door invited us to disembark.

We emerged in a large arched corridor, the ceiling of which was covered in a rainbow of wires and pipes.

"Yeah, but...what are you researching and developing?" I responded, "This is some setup for a private company..."

"Oakflare ain't associated with StableTec." said Applebloom, "It's a clandestin' organisation dedicated to understanding and protecting Equestria against advanced arcane technologies."

"It's the nature o' what we down here - Oakflare deals exclusively with extraterrestrial arcane science. The Ministries set us up in secret near the start of the war, after we got word that the zebras were goin' after meteorite fragments fer some reason."

"Oh." I said quietly, "Uh...how often do you check your broom cupboards for alien technology?"

We continued to trot through the arched expanses of the facility in silence until we arrived at our destination - a large round room.

"This is pretty impressive..." I remarked as my eyes examined the features of the bootleg TARDIS interior. Every detail of the type 40 architecture had been faithfully duplicated - right down to the brass name plaque fastened to the console.

"So since the Master's run off without his TARDIS," asked Ditzy as she scrutinised the workmanship, "doesn't that mean that he's no longer a threat?"

"If there's one thing I've learnt about the Master, Ditzy," I said, "it's that he cannot be overestimated. As long as he's alive, he's dangerous."

I wandered around the makeshift console, taking in every detail of its design. With every pace, my brow became more and more furrowed - surely there was some other dimension to the Master's plan.

"This doesn't feel right..." I muttered, "Applebloom, are you sure that this is the only thing that Maestro was working on? He didn't have any other projects or inventions did he?"

"Police barns." replied Applebloom, "They're these little blue houses that soldiers and guards can use t'call in backup or detain suspects. They built thousands of 'em all over Equestria - netted Dr. Maestro a hefty amount o' favour with Princess Luna on account of how safe everypony feels now."

It was no wonder the chameleon circuit had gotten stuck on the police barn profile! The Master had saturated this time period with thousands of empty TARDIS shells, just waiting for a connection to the Eye of Harmony.

My eyes widened with shock and a deep pit opened in my stomach as the Master's plan began to assemble in my mind.

I turned on the spot and sprinted back toward the lift, grabbing Ditzy and Applebloom in the process.

"We have to find the Master now! We may already be too late!" I shouted as the buzz of the Sonic Screwdriver energised the motors, shooting us toward the surface at breakneck speed.

"Miss Apple!" shouted Gem Shine, "What about the Sentinel project!? They'll be by to evaluate it in the morning!"

"Stall 'em!" Applebloom shouted as the riotous clatter of doors being forced open responded from the room below, "Ah'll be back soon!"

According to my most recent research, waking up with a splitting headache was currently very much in vogue in the Wasteland.

I began to stir as the most fashionable agony surged across my brow and swirled around the back of my eyes. Groggily taking in the room around me, I was relieved to find that Buckshot and Mo were both alive and sleeping soundly just as I had been mere moments earlier. They were both strapped to some manner of surgical tables and we're inclined at an angle to the floor. Thick metallic strips stretched across their limbs and torsos, holding them tightly to the dulled surfaces beneath them.

I attempted to rise to my hooves in order to free them, only to realise that I too was restrained; strapped down spread eagled to a table all my own.

Buckshot was still out for the count, but Mo began to stir from the sudden stimulus of my voice, and squinted uncomfortably as the painful effects our incapacitation took effect.

“Compass...?” Mo asked blearily, “Wh...where are w- Wait a minute! You’re tied up! I'm tied up! Compass, what's going on!?”

“I don't know.” I responded, “It looks like the Sentinels used some sort of stun beam rather than just killing us on the spot.”

“But why? I thought we were done for! What could they possibly need with us!?” Mo said as she strained at her bonds, grunting through gritted teeth.

I glanced briefly about the expansive room we were being held in as Mo fought her captivity. Given the height of the ceiling and the lack of windows, I concluded that we were in a basement level of the StableTec facility. The equipment around us seemed awfully advanced for an admin facility though. Something told me that this was no ordinary office building...

I continued my perusal of our surroundings, quickly arriving at a sight that made my blood run cold.

"I don’t know for sure what they want with us Mo...but I am fairly sure it'll involve those.” I gulped.

Turning slowly, Mo followed my line of sight, and gasped in horror as her gaze was met by a table adorned with a number of sharp and intimidating implements. I should point out though that it wasn’t the presence of their blades, spikes and serrations that scared us...it was the fact that every single one of them was caked with dried blood.

“Well first, we get out of these restraints. Then we find our way out of here while avoiding the Sentinels.”

Mo suddenly looked more annoyed than scared, and shot me a look of aggravated contempt as she opened her mouth to speak:

“This must be some strange new usage of the word 'plan' that I hadn't previously been aware of.”

"Well, what did you think I was going to say!? I've only been awake for a few minutes, and you're expecting me to have a fully formed escape plan in mind just like that!?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake! Of all the times to launch into that! As I was about to launch into a furious retort, Buckshot began to stir:

He writhed sleepily, quickly discovering his bound state. However, rather than being surprised or scared like Mo and me, he kept his eyes closed and smiled, gently flexing his restrained limbs.

“Uh...know what...?” I responded, while looking to Mo for guidance. All she seemed able to provide was a blushing look of shock.

“That Ah like this sorta stuff...?” he said as he softly pushed his hips up off of the table, his breath shivering with what I can only describe as excitement.

"Buckshot, this is not an S&M fantasy! We're in real trouble here, so wake the fuck up!”

“Whit the fuck are you doin' here!? Compass, whit's goin'- Hold on...how come you two are tied up as well? I mean...if this is what you guys like, I willnae judge ye - I've just never been one fae threesomes-“

“This isn't an orgy you idiot!” Mo shouted, “We've been captured by a group of mad, super powerful combat robots and are about to be skinned, gutted and minced as part of their insidious plans to take over the world!”

I gave Mo a withering look - somepony had definitely been reading too much science fiction. Looking back and forth around the room, Buckshot slowly processed the specifics of our predicament, and finally arrived at a solemn conclusion:

“Luna give me strength!” Mo muttered, “Is fucking the only thing you think about!?”

Buckshot seemed to have been caught off guard by Mo's question - his response was stuttered; his tone, one of discomfort:

“I-uh...um...aye! Ye know how us, uh...bucks...eh...are. Heh heh...sex on the brain! Sex with mares, mind! Definitely just sex with ma-“

“Buckshot, you'd be better hiding behind a napkin. Being gay's nothing to be ashamed-“

“Who said Ah wis gay!?" Buckshot shouted defensively, "Ah'm no gay! Honestly, Ah'm not! It's disgusting, it's immoral, it's-“

“Obvious.” I interrupted, “She's right, Buckshot. I still don’t understand what you find so objectionable about telling the truth, but I do know that you shouldn't be afraid of admitting who you are.”

“Hey,” Mo said softly, “you do realise that most ponies would judge you more for hiding your real self than for embracing the truth, right?“

"It's...it's just so...difficult.” Buckshot finally whispered, “Ah'm meant t'be...Ah'm meant tae be the strongest, the most dependable, the bravest. It's expected of me...and Ah'm...Ah've always been terrified of whit would happen if...if...”

I looked to Buckshot, and in a moment knew the answer. I nodded slowly, a happy smile curling across my face. Mo shared my expression, and turned a ray of kindness toward Buckshot.

“So, from now on, there'll be no more hiding it, okay?” she said, lowering her voice to a mock whisper as she continued:

"And if you're well enough behaved, Compass might just tie you up later.” she said with a wink.

A wonderfully warm feeling spread throughout my chest, and despite our desperate situation, I actually felt a wave of the sweetest happiness gently wash over my soul.

Alas. For that moment, like so many other good things in the Wasteland, was not to last.

The three of us turned in unison as a pneumatic hissing began to reverberate around the room. Glancing anxiously from wall to wall, our eyes were soon met by the metallic form of a Sentinel. It trotted mechanically to a position in front of our tables and stopped, standing completely still for a moment before suddenly producing a series of sounds:

"YOU WILL BE UPGRADED!” it said, using a poorly calibrated synthetic voice to convey its message.

"We’ll be what!? What the hell do you mean by ‘upgraded’!?” Mo shouted as I started studying the Sentinel’s chassis for weaknesses.

The robot turned its articulated head toward the pale blue pegasus and responded. As it spoke, I found myself wondering, of all things, what the multitude of pipes running up its neck were for...

“YOU WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE CYBER LEGION. YOU WILL BECOME ONE WITH US. WE WILL TAKE YOUR PAIN AND YOUR SUFFERING AND REPLACE THEM WITH ORDER AND PURPOSE.”

“And how dae ye plan on accomplishin’ that, ya big metal bastard!?” Buckshot spat.

The Sentinel turned once again, and began to address this second ‘query’. Come to think of it, those pipes looked awfully familiar. Where had I seen them before...?

“W-what does that mean!? What are you!?” Mo said, fear steadily creeping into her voice.

Ah! The medical bay back in Stable 52! That’s where I’d seen that kind of pipe before. They were made of surgical plastic for use in the Pod’s life support...functions...

My eyes widened in horror as the robot, no – creature, before us opened the front panel of its head unit, bearing the contents of its cranium for us to observe. Behind the metal was the juicy, preserved brain of an equine, suspended in a pale bluish-grey fluid.

And I wept. Not for myself, mind, or even for my companions...but for the horrific lives that I knew these equines had been forced to lead.

I forced myself to look toward the Cyberpony in front of us, and embarked upon what was possibly the most daring example of bullshitting ever attempted.

“That...sounds great!” I stammered as I pushed back tears, “When can you begin?”

Buckshot and Mo just stared at me. Their facial expressions were a potent mix of confusion, betrayal and shock. Let’s call it ‘conbeshock’. Yeah – ‘conbeshock’. I’m sure that’ll catch on!

The Cyberpony swivelled its body around and approached me, closing to an uncomfortably short distance.

Suspecting that they would be equipped with a myriad of different sensors, I decided not to lie outright lest they see through my ploy.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I said, “I am frightened. And it’s exactly that sort of sensation that I want to be rid of. I want you to end my pain and suffering. I want you to give me a purpose in life. If being ‘like you’ is really as good as it sounds, then do what you have to do!”

It regarded me for a moment with its grey, meshed eyes – the blue lights behind them were obviously only used in low light environments.

"THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED RESPONSE.” the Cyberpony bleeped while cocking its head, “YOUR ADDITION TO THE CYBER LEGION WILL GRANT YOU THESE AND MORE. FEAR NOT.”

“Well...actually, I think I can help you out a bit.” I proffered, “Your design's far from perfect after all.”

"Well, for starters, you seem to cause a lot of intimidation when you go somewhere. And this leads to armed conflict. It would be better to avoid this...unless of course you like being shot at.”

“WE ARE AWARE OF THE EFFECT YOU HAVE DESCRIBED. AS YOU HAVE CONCLUDED, IT IS DETRIMENTAL TO OUR CAUSE.”

“Your...cause?” I asked, praying silently for an innocuous response, “What is it, if I may ask?”

“WE SEEK TO UPGRADE ALL WHO RESIDE IN EQUESTRIA. THE NEED TO DEFEND OURSELVES OFTEN LIMITS THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS AVAILABLE FOR THIS PURPOSE.”

Damn. Why did Mo have to be right about every freaking thing!? Staring wide-eyed at the Cyberpony, I realised that I'd never heard anypony describe the act of killing so callously. Biting my tongue, I continued with my plan:

“Indeed. Wouldn't it be more productive if you could eliminate that response - make yourselves appear less threatening and more...attractive to prospective 'upgradees'? For instance...the conversion process must cause a lot of skin irritation, what with all the gouging and such. You could offer your new, uh, recruits an analgesic cream or something. You know - something to put them at ease about the whole process."

After a brief pause for what I assumed was thought, the Cyberpony set its head upright and responded:

"THIS IS LOGICAL. THE INFORMATION YOU POSSESS WILL BE EXTRACTED DURING CYBER CONVERSION."

"No it won't!" I shouted, "Converting us would destroy it! You see, the knowledge itself is derived from emotional experience. Purging our emotions, as I'm almost certain you will, would completely eliminate our ability to help you."

"Of course we do." I replied, "And it's in your best interest to keep us all 'cyber-free' for the time being - you can average the data from all three of us, improve its accuracy, and get better results."

At that, it turned toward a nearby control, wirelessly relaying the instruction to open my restraints. I clambered down off of the table, making sure to make eye contact with Buckshot and Mo, whose trust in me was no doubt beginning to wear thin.

"Alrighty then,” I said, “I'll need to see your schematics, the source code for your operating system and all the notes related to your design.”

“Oakie dokie, then - I'll wait...although while you're at it, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

"How is it that you lot came to be in the first place? The general consensus among the ponies about these parts is that you're the remnants of an ancient robotic security system, but that's clearly not the case, given your biological components.”

“WE ARE PRODUCTS OF THE SENTINEL PROJECT - A RESEARCH PROGRAM INITIATED BY STABLETEC PRIOR TO THE NUCLEAR BOMBARDMENT.”

“TO CREATE THE PERFECT SOLDIER. THE SENTINEL PROJECT WAS RUN IN COMPETITION WITH ANOTHER RESEARCH EFFORT CODENAMED PROJECT STEELPONY.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, as I absorbed its words, “So I take it that Steelpony was scrapped and Sentinel was adopted then?”

“Ah...uh, okay...” I said, nervously approaching the nearby terminal. A sizable amount of text and diagrams had been transferred to its local memory and was now slowly scrolling up the monitor. My hopes of hidden override codes and mechanical weaknesses were almost immediately dashed - their bodies were thickly armoured and characteristically over-engineered; their code efficient and equally impenetrable.

Moving morosely on to the design notes, I tried to suppress the panic that was developing in my breast. How could we possibly hope to defeat them if they didn't have a weakness!? More to the point, how in the name of Celestia were we going to escape!?

I was so wrapped up in worrying that I didn't immediately notice what was happening with the design notes:

It was almost as if the Sentinel project had been reverse engineered from...something else.

“Hey, you, uh...sorry about this, but in all the commotion I never learned your name.”

A short, sharp buzz emanated from the Cyberpony’s glowing mouth as its sentence was suddenly cut short. I took an optimistic mental note as the cybernetic organism reasserted itself and resumed the conversation:

“Don't you have a number or an IP address or something like that? It would help matters if I had something to call you.”

“THIS CHASSIS' PRODUCTION NUMBER IS A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER. YOU MAY UTILISE THAT.”

"Crumpet it is then! So, Crumpet, why don't you continue your story. You were saying something about surviving.”

"THE INVASIVE NATURE OF CYBER CONVERSION WAS NOT FAVOURED BY THOSE IN POWER. THAT WAS WHY STEELPONY WAS ADOPTED INSTEAD.”

"THE BOMBARDMENT SEVERELY DAMAGED THE PLANETARY BIOSPHERE. AT THAT POINT, THE RESEARCH TEAM DEVELOPING US WAS TRAPPED IN THIS BUILDING. WE SAVED THEM.”

“That sounds uncharacteristically nice of you.” I commented, “How did you manage that?”

"Crumpet, can you explain something to me about these design notes? They seem to indicate that your original designs were, well...stolen from somewhere else...

"THIS IS CORRECT. OUR ORIGINAL DESIGN WAS DERIVED FROM THAT OF THE CYBER CONTROLLER."

"Any chance I could sneak a peek at his Controller-ness? I have a niggling suspicion that he might be the root of your problems..."

Crumpet turned to leave the room, but stopped short, swivelling his (or her - I wasn't sure which to use) head back toward me.

"You...what?" I said incredulously, taken slightly aback by the monstrous creature's sudden sliver of equinity. In response, I spoke quietly, unsure of what to do next:

Something told me this encounter was going to get very complicated very quickly.

We passed through another series of heavy metal archways, surrounded by bundles of wires and thick pipes. This underground section of the building was impressive in scale - it had to have been at least as big as the structure on the surface. A new chamber spread out before us as Crumpet's hissing body moved to one side, allowing me to better explore the room's interior. Attached to the far wall, I was able to make out...something. It consisted of a huge mess of wires and a...a...

"That's a head...." I said dumbly while squinting at the shape, just to double check that my eyes weren't deceiving me.

"Uh-huh..." I muttered while regarding the strange sight before me. It didn't look operational.

Hell, it didn't even look real! The alloy was the wrong colour, there was no cooling system that I could see and the shape, although recognisable as an equinoid head, was simply outlandish - there were two large pipes connecting its ears to a node of some sort situated near the crown of its head, the purpose of which I was unable to divine.

In every sense of the word, it looked absolutely ridiculous! Every sense...but one, that is...

I turned back to Crumpet, and was about to utter the first syllable of a question when every muscle in my body clenched in fright.

“SPEAK, EQUINE!” a booming synthetic voice demanded, in a tone at least five full octaves deeper than Crumpet's and a thousand times more menacing.

I turned back toward the prop head. Surely that thing wasn't real. Surely it hadn’t just spoken to me. All doubt was flushed from my mind as its mouth illuminated and it spoke for a second time:

And then I remembered, the unique combination of sound and sight throwing my mind into overdrive. It wasn’t one of my memories, you understand, and it wasn’t anything as specific as a recollection of a single event or encounter either. Rather, it was another rapid series of images that played at light speed before my mind’s eye. They were snapshots; samples of this...this ’race’s’ history.

In a matter of milliseconds, I learned all I needed to know about them. They were destroyers and assimilators. They converted whole words; whole species to exacting standards of uniformity. And then they moved on to the next place or people, starting the whole process over again. Suddenly, the design, the voice, even the Controller's word choice was immediately familiar, my knowledge of them detailed and vast. I was also acutely aware of the gargantuan amount of danger its presence represented.

Realising that I would now actually have to answer the Controller, I began to nervously murmur a response to its question:

“I...uh...I...” I stammered, unable to shake my newfound fear of the Cyberponies and the fate they represented for all of Equestria.

“CONTROLLER, THIS EQUINE IS DESIGNATED COMPASS. HE POSSESSES KNOWLEDGE OF A METHOD FOR INCREASING CONVERSION EFFICIENCY WHICH CANNOT BE ASSIMILATED BY OUR NORMAL MEANS.”

The head remained stationary as the Controller responded. It addressed me directly once again:

“Well...ahem,” I choked, trying desperately to assert myself instead of having an anxiety attack, “I just thought that you could...you know...be a bit more...friendly...”

“Well,” I thought to myself, “I’ve said it now, so I’ll just have to run with it...”

“I just thought that...what with the way you lot go about ‘converting’ everything that moves, you get a lot of wastage. I-I mean...ponies are afraid of you...and i-it causes armed conflicts which decrease your potential, uh...gains.”

I avoided looking directly at the Controller for fear that I would turn to stone. A long silence permeated the room as I involuntarily swallowed a number of times and started playing with my front hooves.

"AFFIRMATIVE. IT IS ALSO IRRELEVENT – WE WILL SOON HAVE NO NEED FOR ‘BEING FRIENDLY’.”

Crumpet obediently moved forwards, corralling me out of the chamber at hoof-point. On the way back to the first chamber, my brain started running hot as my panicked mind tried desperately to formulate an escape plan.

“Crumpet, what did the Controller mean when he said you’d have ‘no need’ of being friendly? Surely improving efficiency would be a logical goal for a race of cyborgs.”

Crumpet dutifully responded without shortening his pace or lowering his lethally equipped hoof:

"WE HAVE OBTAINED A NEW LONG RANGE COMMAND PROCESSOR. IT ALLOWS THE CONTROLLER TO DEPLOY US BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF THIS FACILITY.”

“But what about the Cyberpony that attacked Edinbuck? It was outside of the facility, and it coped just fine.”

"THAT UNIT WAS PRE-PROGRAMMED TO OPERATE WITHOUT THE CONTROLLER’S SIGNAL. IT IS ONLY POSSIBLE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME.”

Suddenly, a great many things made sense. The ‘Sentinels’ were trapped here! They were poised to enslave the ponies of the Wasteland, and all that stood between them and total domination was a minor technical issue (which they had apparently just remedied)!

"I see." I said, trying to keep my cool as we returned to the chamber occupied by Buckshot and Mo, “Crumpet? Can I make one final request before you convert me?”

"That device on the table, the one shaped like a unicorn horn. Can I use it to modulate my brainwaves? I think I can still improve your conversion process, even if my first idea was redundant.”

There was a brief pause as the probability of my cooperation was measured and evaluated in Crumpet’s cybernetically augmented brain, after which s/he said simply:

I trotted calmly over to the table holding our effects and picked up the Screwdriver with my hooves. Flipping the mode ring round, I turned to Crumpet.

“YES, COMPASS. ARE YOU READY TO BE CONVERTED?” came the almost innocent response.

"I’m sorry.” I whispered as the Screwdriver’s ‘dismantle’ function ripped the bolts from the Cyberpony’s chassis. Its individual components dropped to the ground as I quickly accessed the console and released Buckshot and Mo.

“You took yer friggin’ time!” Buckshot shouted as he retrieved his shotgun from the table, and began passing Mo her saddlebags.

“Well, Ah never doubted ye.” Buckshot smiled, “Whit’s the plan? How do we get oot o’ here?”

“We can’t go just yet. We need to destroy this ‘command processor’ contraption they have. It’s the only thing between the Wasteland and them.”

“I mean that unless we destroy their processor, the Cyberponies will have the range necessary to convert all of Equestria!”

"There’s no way Ah’m letting them dae any mare damage than they’ve awready caused!” Buckshot announced as he cocked his shotgun, “Let’s do this!”

Nodding, we moved to the doorway of the chamber. Buckshot took point, and began slinking around the corner to check for sentries. Mo covered him with her rifle from above.

Just as I was about to set hoof outside the room, I heard a digital groan emanate from the pile of debris behind me:

I turned slowly, terrified not of what the disassembled cyborg could do to me, but rather of what I had done to it. I had no idea that it was still alive. Was it in pain? Had I just done something horrible and not realised it? My worst fears were confirmed as a newly formed puddle of the fluid from Crumpet’s brain jar began to rapidly spread out from the dismembered head unit lying on the floor.

Was I any better than them now? After all, I’d just mutilated a living creature for my own purposes.

“coMPaSS...” whined the haunting computerised voice, “Y-Y-YOU ASkeD M-my N-N-N-n-nAme.”

My mouth fell open in anguish as I realised the monstrous sight I was about to bear witness to – what in Tartarus’ name had I done!?

I instinctively pulled out the Screwdriver and flipped the mode ring round. It was a reflex, so I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing...I just knew it was merciful.

“Hello...Gem Shine.” I whimpered as moisture began to collect in my tear ducts. I gently pressed the arcane device into her cybernetic eye socket and depressed the button. An airy buzz flowed into my ears as the Screwdriver suppressed what remained of her neural energies. For once, I can safely say that I was thankful for the Doctor’s influence.

The last syllable slipped into a smooth whine as Applebloom’s former secretary faded from existence.

I had no idea what she was able to recollect as she died for a second time, but I knew that, at long last, Gem Shine would be at peace.

I caught up with Mo and Buckshot a few minutes later in the corridor outside. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I tried to hide the effects that my encounter with Gem Shine had had on me (fortunately, my companions were too occupied to take notice).

Through a combination of whispers and hoof gestures, Buckshot informed Mo and me that it was clear to proceed forwards, and that we were to duck into a room a few hundred yards down the corridor to plan our next move.

I went first, slipping stealthily into the chamber. Still reeling from the horrific sight I had just witnessed, I leant against a large structure with a dusty tarpaulin draped over it for support. Masking my shocked quivering as nervous jitters, I waved off Mo as she approached, instead motioning silently for her to follow Buckshot back into the corridor.

I waited behind for a few moments in order to gather my breath and compose myself some more. After a couple of dozen shivers had finished their trail down my spine, I pushed on the tarpaulin in an attempt to rise and return to the corridor.

The tarpaulin, however, had other ideas. I fell to the floor as the assembly it had been covering clattered down beside me, barely missing my neck. Pulling myself up quickly, I checked nervously to see if any Cyberponies had heard the commotion, only to realise that I was once again alone save for Mo and Buckshot, who had promptly retreated back past the room’s threshold when they heard my clumsiness manifest itself.

A double scowl was directed at me as they cautiously tried to edge back into the corridor. At this point, I didn’t much care – I was too interested in what I’d knocked over.

Picking it up in my hooves, I realised that the device was in fact a large rifle, approximately one metre in length (it looked like a heavily modified version of the long range model used by the Razor mercenaries). Strangely enough, though, it had a formidable array of what looked like electromagnets fastened to the barrel.

Rotating the curious weapon in my hooves, I found a small rotary dial that indicated the device's charge level (it was currently full) and a large label tied to the mouth grip. The tiny, cramped text bore a message from who I assumed was one of the weapon’s designers:

Oakflare R&D item no: 1471
Type: Weapon (railgun – experimental)
Project codename: “Prometheus”

Notes:
Named this version after an ancient Zebran god – thought it would be poetic, but Gem said it was just stupid. Meh - what does she know?

Have utilised advances in annular electromagnetic confinement crystal technology. Muzzle velocity has increased in this model to over 4000m/s. As a result, the rifle can now accelerate a normal 9mm round to a velocity of Mach 12 under ideal conditions.

Improvements to the recoil control and capacitor recharge systems mean that this model may be carried and fired by a single soldier.

Manual charging is still an issue – the passive spark dynamo has thus far been the only way to power the rifle without resorting to a massive spark battery pack (look into this for next development model)

Costs are also still prohibitive – this prototype alone cost over 3’000’000 bits; almost six times as much as the original prototype.

Project status:
Development in progress; no combat deployment

Developer:Feather Flight
Weapons division, Oakflare R&D

My attention was diverted suddenly by Mo who, in deference to her previously stealthy demeanour, had simply sauntered into the room, followed a few seconds later by Buckshot.

“There's nopony around, Compass - maybe they're all getting their bolts tightened or something.” she said.

“Somehow, I don't think we'd be that lucky, Mo.” I replied, slinging 'Prometheus' onto my back, “They must be working on something.”

“Well, we’re no splittin' up again!” Buckshot said indignantly, “Almost got us killed last time!”

“Agreed.” I replied, “Let's find the Controller – hopefully he’ll be lightly guarded.”

We trotted cautiously back into the corridor, checking every room we passed as we continued on to the Controller's chamber.

Halfway down the passageway, we became aware of a barely audible electric hum. I wasn't surprised that I hadn't noticed it before - the sound was faint enough to be obscured by even the quietest of pneumatic limbs.

Moving towards it, we found an archway much like the others, except this one had a railing followed by a sharp drop beyond its threshold. A staircase set into the wall allowed one to descend to the floor below, where there was another archway that led to places unknown.

In the centre of this cavernous room hung a massive piece of machinery, easily four stories in height.

"How do you know that? For all we know it could be for making lemonade!” said Mo.

"Well...just look at it!” I replied, “It's big, it’s shiny, it's surrounded by Cyberponies! What else could it be!?”

“...what?” he exclaimed after a moment, “Ah'm just sayin' it bears more than a passin' resemblance to a giant refrigerator.”

Looking back briefly at the device, I did indeed notice a large series of ducts indicative of a large scale liquid cooling system.

"Seriously, though, I didn't know you had any technical smarts! You've just gone up another rung on my ladder-“

“Compass! Stop flirting and look down there!” Mo interrupted with a hiss, “Is that what I think it is!?”

She gestured to a small oblong structure that sat directly underneath the massive electronic chandelier in front of us. I squinted, and was able to make out a striped, four limbed figure suspended in a bath of glowing viscous gel.

"So, this must be their conversion machine then?” whispered Buckshot, “I say we put it out of commission!”

I nodded in agreement, but was acutely aware of the multitude of Cyberponies present nearby. We'd have to create a diversion of some sort to keep them occupied.

“Good. Make as much noise as you can - we need to get as many of them away from that machine as possible.”

“You'll get to have fun with your shotgun later. For now, all we need is a little commotion as a diversion, okay?”

"No - the Cyberponies are too strong and too dangerous to risk that. The one advantage we have over them is speed, so we should easily be able to outrun them if things start to go south.”

Buckshot nodded and, rising gently, slinked away into the corridor to go and start his tour of mayhem, leaving Mo and me to wait on the first explosion.I turned to Mo:

"Okay, when Buckshot starts his diversion, they should all run to see what's going on, leaving maybe one or two behind to protect the conversion device. At that point, we can fly down and-“

“I beg your pardon!? “ I replied incredulously, “Did you just call me fat!?”

“Oh, come on! You know full well that I won't be able to support a buck as big as you!”

“Fine...” I grumbled, “I'll walk, you fly. Take the Screwdriver and deal with the Cyberponies. I'll get Zeanna out of that bath of goo.”

“What about that rifle you found? It looks like it could do some serious damage.”

“I don't know if it works or not.” I replied, “Besides, I'd rather disable the Cyberponies than murder them. I think the new setting I’ve found on the Screwdriver can incapacitate them provided you don’t expose them to it for too long.”

"You do realise that they wouldn't hesitate, right? If they can’t mutilate you, they kill you. Simple as that.”

“Only because they have no choice, Mo. The ponies they once were are still in there somewhere. I just want to give them a fighting chance of recovering some of their equinity someday.”

It sounded stupid, and I knew it. But, to my surprise, when I looked up at Mo, I found her smiling knowingly at me.

“Nevermind.” she replied, “It's nothing. All we need now is for Buckshot to make his move...”

Only a matter of seconds later, a riotous trio of explosions shook the complex in rapid succession, and the assembled Cyberponies in the pit below us hissed and clunked through the low level exit, leaving only two units behind to operate the huge machine in the centre.

As the last migrating cyborg moved out of earshot, Mo swooped into action, arcing gracefully downward over the pit, the Screwdriver held tightly in her mouth. I made my way clumsily down the stairs as the airy buzz of the dampener mode forced one of the Cyberponies into a deep digital slumber. I reached Zeanna as Mo skilfully drew the fire of the second Cyberpony, who had raised its lethal hoof after its companion had been subdued.

Plunging my forelegs into the glowing gloop surrounding the unconscious zebra, I encircled her torso and began pulling her up.

I quickly realised though that she wouldn't be going anywhere fast. A thick metal cable had been implanted into the back of her head at the base of her skull, effectively anchoring her to the bath.

A sudden end to the crackling blasts of energy followed by a sharp clatter signalled the incapacitation of the second cyborg.

"Mo!” I shouted, “Help me get Zeanna out of this thing - they've already started converting-“

Zeanna's eyes shot open at the sound of my voice and she immediately shot up and grabbed my head with her forward hooves.

"You are the compass that does not point north the child of the stars come to deliver us from evil end of line new command-“ she said, almost too quickly to make out. Her eyes looked so dead, yet so alive; unblinking and stationary - absolutely focussed on the profoundness of her words.

Mo rushed to my aid and tried with all her might to pry the zebra's limbs apart, but it was no use. Zeanna continued to mutter her strange poem while staring through my soul.

“-light the glorious light the light that binds all it entwined you with he for all time entwined that time with its relative dimension in space end of line new command-“ she continued, squeezing my head like a vice.

“Hold on Compass!” Mo shouted as she plunged the Screwdriver into the back of Zeanna's head. The light buzz of the tool muffled Zeanna's quiet tones as she gasped and fell back into the vat.

Similarly, I fell onto my rump, disoriented and aching, rubbing the fresh red patches where Zeanna had broken the skin of my head with her iron grip.

Mo nodded and turned, but before she could approach the side of the bath though, a withered, distant moan drifted towards us.

“Zeanna!” I said, “Thank Celestia you're okay! We're going to get you out of here, alright? Mo, find me something to loosen this cable, there must be a wrench or something-“

"Com...pass...” Zeanna repeated as she feebly raised a hoof to stroke my mane. I flinched momentarily, but quickly leaned closer to the partially mutilated zebra.

“Not...for that...for...you. So...much...pain...so much...on your shoulders.”

“I'm not that bad,” I remarked, “Listen, Zeanna, we're going to find a way to get you out of here but we also need to ensure that the Cyberponies can’t continue with their plans. Have you ever heard anything about their new 'command processor'? We have to destroy it, or they could threaten all of Equestria!”

"What!?” I said in surprise, “How can you be part of their computer!? You're an equine!”

“When I...looked...into your memories...they...they looked back. The experience...almost...overwhelmed me. I had to...ugh...focus all of my strength on...keeping us...separate. When I did, the Cyberponies...they...were able to detect my psychic powers. They...recognised that I...could be useful to them; that I could...allow them to...spread...”

If I hadn't allowed Zeanna to look into my mind, none of this would have happened! The Cyberponies would still be contained, Armour Pierce would still have all four of her limbs, the Trotfell guards would still all be alive and I wouldn't be talking to a partially mutilated zebra lying in a bath of gunge!

“I...it was...” I stammered, unsure of how to deal with the crushing burden of guilt that had materialised on my shoulders.

Suddenly, an almighty bloom of my old friend forced its way out of my gut and into my mouth, turning a whisper into a furore:

“...no...NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!? GODDESSES DAMN YOU DOCTOR! DAMN YOU AND YOUR FUCKING MEMORIES TO TARTARUS! YOU DID THIS! YOU KILLED ALL THESE-”

"Compass!” Mo whispered angrily as she grabbed my neck, “You'll bring them straight back here! You need to calm down!”

I forced my teeth together and clenched every muscle in my body as I forced the rage back down into the depths it had come from. Deep, grunting breaths gave way to calm respiration and I silently thanked Mo for her intervention.

“Hush...” said Zeanna as she softly stroked my face with her hoof, “Hush now, Compass...you cannot...blame yourself...for this."

"It is...good that we have found them." she continued, her voice noticeably bolder than before, "Good that we have...uncovered...their plans! Without this...chain of...events, the...Cyberponies would have...continued to convert...innocents. One day...they would have...found a way to...leave this place. One day...they would have...ruled Equestria.”

“Right,” I said stoically as my resolve was strengthened, “Zeanna, how do we get you out of there?”

"You cannot,” she replied as her voice became noticeably stronger, “I know their technology, Compass, and it was not designed to be temporary. I am to reside in this chamber, artificially preserved, for the rest of time.”

“There must be some way-“ I began to say, but Zeanna quickly interrupted me:

“You cannot save me, Compass.” she rasped, “I did not say I was part of the command processor. I told you: I am the command processor. The machine above me used to allow them to communicate, but only within the confines of this building. With me as its prisoner, that range can be extended to cover all of Equestria..."

I ran through the implications of her words in my mind, coming to the same nightmarish conclusion every time.

A mighty dip in my stomach signalled the confirmation of my fear. I couldn't kill her! She was a living, breathing, sentient, innocent, wonderful creature! An unpleasant flash in my mind reminded me of the griffon that Buckshot had destroyed with his shotgun the previous day. I didn't want to face the horror of another life ending before my eyes again!

"You must not shy away from this Compass. I have come to know them as much as I have come to know their technology. Their lust for power is insatiable; their hearts totally devoid of feeling! They will not stop until all of...Equestria...is..ugh....theirs!”

Her breathing had all of a sudden become short, as if she was fighting something. I realised with a jolt that we had been conversing now for several minutes, and I had no idea how long the Screwdriver's new setting was effective for. I glanced anxiously at the sleeping sentries around us, and was momentarily relieved to see that they (currently) showed no signs of stirring.

“Compass!” Mo suddenly shouted.I whipped my head back around towards Zeanna to find that she had slumped back into the bath, convulsing violently as she strained to retain lucidity. I grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shout as loudly as I could:

“ZEANNA!” I roared, “FIGHT IT ZEANNA! COME ON! DON’T LET THEM TAKE YOU!”

In the blink of an eye, Zeanna's voice was silenced and she reverted to her original serene state. In doing so, she closed her eyes and returned to her previous position in the bath with distinctly mechanical motions.It took me a moment to respond, but somehow I knew that we wouldn't be conversing again.

“Zeanna!?” I said, “Zeanna! Wake up! Please! I need you! I need to know about-“

Without warning, she shot up from the goo once again and grabbed my head in an even deadlier vice grip than before. My eyes were forced open as she stared straight into my mind - every nerve in my body raged as pain coursed through my limbs and my throat ached as I screamed at the very top of my lungs.

I heard Mo shout in surprise, and the hiss and clank of mechanical bodies as the two sentries started coming to.

“We have to go!” she shouted, “Compass! We have to run!” “ZE...ANN...A!” I cried as the pain became too much to bear, “PLEASE! STO-”

Suddenly, a single gunshot rang out, and Zeanna fell away into the now rapidly reddening liquid beneath her, a large hole marring her striped chest. I slumped to the ground, my body and mind aching as one.

In unison, the two Cyberponies (who had just risen from their induced slumbers) burst into horrific digitised screams. They clutched their heads seemingly in madness and began flailing like they were on fire. The inequine screech pierced straight through my ears as I watched them, and my heart broke as I realised what was happening.

Without Zeanna – their control node – they were forced to exist on their own, without the commands of the Controller, the comfort of one and other’s thoughts or the rigid order that made their horrible lives so easy to bear.

They were being forced to see what they had become. Alone. They were viewing the horrors and sins of their new lives through their own eyes for the first time, without the group rationale or constant control to soften the severity of their crimes.

In unison, the two Cyberpony’s eyes suddenly burst into azure flames, their brains burning with the raging plume of emotions that had been unleashed. They finally fell to the floor after convulsing continuously for over a minute.
An eerie and deeply unsettling silence blanketed the room, and I turned slowly to Mo. She was still holding her rifle, but had been as appalled as I at the death of the nearby cyborgs. Pushing myself upright, I gently placed my hoof on her shoulder, feeling the still tense muscles underneath contract as she jumped at my touch.

“Oh, Compass...that was...I mean it...it was...” she said as her self control wavered.

I extended my forelegs around her neck and drew her into a hug, stroking her mane as she wept briefly into my shoulder.

I didn’t have an answer, and I doubted that I ever would. My immediate desire was to ignore Mo; to let her questions slip away with her tears and hopefully never resurface. But I knew I couldn’t – somepony was bound to ask these things at some point.

Her crying echoed deeply throughout the cavernous room, and I found myself steadily dreading every additional second that we stayed there.

"Compass?” Mo asked as we reached the halfway point, “When Zeanna...when she grabbed you...did she...say anything?”

“No,” I replied, “She was back under their control, Mo. She meant me harm; nothing else.”

I tried to look her in the eye, but was unable to establish visual contact with her. I spoke anyway:

"Mo, you take point. Just in case there are still any automated defences online.”

I nodded as Mo ventured out into the corridor beyond, but before passing over the threshold myself, took a moment to look back at the crimson bath that was to become poor Zeanna’s final resting place.

I remembered with a dark foreboding what she had really said to me a few moments earlier, shivering with every syllable:

“All this has happened before, and it will happen again. You are the beginning, and yet you are also the end – point North only if you feel it right, Compass. Goodbye...”

Fortunately, we were able to locate Buckshot without much trouble - he had managed to stay behind inside the building without being seen or shot (despite my telling him otherwise). Still, I was very glad to see him.

"Seems you two were successful!” he said triumphantly, “Wan minute those cyber things were hot on mah flank, the next they were throwin' themselves around the floor! Good job guys...but, uh...where's that zebra friend o’ yours got tae?”

I looked to Mo, but she didn't return my gaze. Instead, she lowered her head and stared sadly at the floor. I turned back to Buckshot and morosely shook my head. He nodded sombrely in response. Breaking the momentary silence, Buckshot trotted slowly away, beckoning for us to follow.

“Aye,” he responded, “We're a couple o' hundred metres undergroun'. The main stairwell's over here. I'll tell ye somethin though, this place is a deathtrap! There's a giant pit o' Taint at the end of that corridor. Almost fell intae it at one point!”

“Taint's this radioactive stuff leftover from the war.” Buckshot responded, “Naepony knows where it came fae, but we do know tae avoid it - I've seen some pretty horrid deaths at the hooves o' taint exposure.”

"COM...PASS!” came a sudden, distant roar. The three of us stopped in our tracks as a cacophony of hissing and clanking reverberated through the hallways.

“COM...PASS!” another raging digital scream called out, making me shiver with anxiety and fear.

"Whit. The fuck. Is that!?” Buckshot whispered anxiously, “I thought you got rid of all those cyber things!”

“We did!” I responded, “The only one that could possibly be left is the Controller, and he's just a head connected to a pile of circuitry!”

“Unless he's got a body like the others and you just didn’t see it.” Mo added as the hissing and clanking became louder.

“You realise that because ye've said that, it's gonnae come true, right?” Buckshot said witheringly.

“Guys, we can't lose our heads!” I shouted, “Buckshot, get us out of here - with any luck we'll still be faster than whatever is chasing us!”

We began to run towards the stairwell that Buckshot had pointed out a few moments earlier, but it soon became abundantly clear that our luck was nowhere near good enough to be relied upon in this situation.

As we approached the stairs, the source of the haunting sounds was revealed to us. We watched in silent horror as a writhing mass of wires and metal limbs lumbered up out of the lower levels. It looked like every Cyberpony in the facility had been pulled to the same spot and smashed into one and other. As it slowly moved into the light of the corridor, I felt the pit of my stomach drop along with my jaw as I recognised the 'assembly's' only unique component.

The Controller's new body lowered itself into an unmistakably hostile stance and the carapace like structure that made up its back separated, revealing several dozen severed Cyberpony forelegs.

“YOU HAVE INTERFERED WITH OUR PLANS! YOU WILL BE DELETED!” it screamed as the energy weapons charged with a whine.

I quickly pulled out the Screwdriver and fired the 'Dismantle' setting at full power, but the monstrosity before us remained intact.

With no time for a second attempt, I resolved to remain whole and un-barbecued: in deference to never once completing a circuit of the Stable's running track, I sprinted back down the corridor, grabbing Mo and Buckshot as I passed them.

“FUCKING RUN!” I screamed as a flurry of deadly red light crackled after us.

I waited until we had put a few hundred yards between us and it before replying:

"That's the Controller I was telling you about!” I said, “It must have salvaged the parts for its new body from all the other deactivated units.”

Looking down at the little arcane device, I examined the glowing array of crystals built into the removable handle. A myriad of tiny shimmering symbols had resolved themselves into the word 'DEADLOCK'.

"Great!” shouted Mo, “And how do we beat that then huh!? The single ones were difficult enough, but this thing takes the biscuit!”

“I don't know! I don't know!” I replied, panic flooding into my voice as we rounded yet another corner, “There's no way we can get at it through all that armour! And those weapons! One hoof cannon took out the entire Trotfell contingent! Imagine what thirty-odd of them'll do! If only there was something we could use against it even the odds. Something big; something powerful; something-“

Suddenly, an idea uncoiled gracefully into my conscious mind and I turned immediately to Buckshot:

"Deadly,” he replied, smiling as my intentions became clear, “That Controller fucker willnae know whit hit 'im!”

“Perfect!” I exalted while transferring the Screwdriver to my mouth, “Where is it? I'll lead it over the top of it, seal the door, then make a run for the surface and meet you guys up there!”

“Its bloody awful, that's what's wrong wi' it!” he shouted, “That thing'll fuckin' cook ye, Compass!”

“Well I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas!” I replied, “If you've got a better plan in mind, I'd be happy to entertain it!”

Buckshot's eyes whipped back and forth between Mo and me for a few moments before he grunted in frustration and cocked his shotgun:

“Oh, fer fuck’s sake! Fine! But if ye die, I swear Ah'll kill ya!” he shouted as he and Mo diverted down a nearby corridor for safety. I deliberately slowed my pace as they made their getaway, baiting the mutant cyborg king as he closed in on my location.

The lumbering apparatus clunked it's way around the corner in front of me as I ducked down an adjoining corridor. The Controller moved towards me, screaming 16 bit expletives, but I was just too fast - I ducked and slunk my way around the labyrinthine network of corridors, eventually orienting both the cyborg and myself so that there was a straight run between us and the Taint pit.

"Hey! Laser lips! Your mother was a snow blower!” I shouted over my shoulder as I started my final run toward the pit. I had hoped that the Controller would follow me, and I was not to be disappointed.

I had apparently overlooked a critical factor in my estimation of the Cyberponies' speed. You see, every time I had seen one of them move, they had been surrounded by corners. Whether it was the shanty town at Edinbuck, or the corridors of the facility, I had never even considered that these creatures of metal could move quicker than when they were confronted with a ninety degree turn every few paces.

I don't know if it was the otherworldly configuration of his new body, or if all Cyberponies could do it by default, but the moment the Controller caught sight of me, it charged.

Quite suddenly, it was upon me, having closed the gap between us in an unbelievably short space of time. I screamed in agony as a bright bolt of red death seared the flesh from the back of my neck and another engulfed one of my rear legs in flame.

Tripping over, I landed roughly on a steel mesh floor, and realised that I had fallen straight onto the walkway overlooking the Taint tank. The liquid below was mesmerising: it actually looked evil! Bright rainbow hues were twisted and distorted into disgusting, toxic tones before my eyes, and I found myself feeling sullied for even glancing at the cursed substance.

The Controller was far closer than I expected, mere inches away from my snout as I stared in abject fear at his expressionless metal face.

Raising a mighty armour-clad hoof into the air, he brought a crushing blow to bear against my side, breaking several of my ribs in the process. I coughed a splatter of darkened blood onto the catwalk as he once again closed in on me.

"I WORKED FOR YEARS TO CREATE MY ARMY! AND YOU HAVE DESTROYED IT ALL! YOU HAVE DESTROYED THIS PLANET'S FUTURE!” came another furious scream as it viciously slapped me further along the walkway, "WE WERE TO BE THE SAVIORS OF THIS WASTELAND! WE WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED PAIN AND SUFFERING ENTIRELY!“

Another weighty blow. By now, I was heavily bruised and no doubt haemorrhaging internally. I found myself questioning how much longer I had to live.

“YOU WILL NOT STOP US, EQUINE! I WILL REASSEMBLE MY CYBER LEGION AND ALL OF EQUESTRIA WILL BE UPGRADED! THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CYBERPONIES WILL PREVAIL!”

“You...are superior...to nopony!” I gasped as the Controller raised his hoof for a final assault, “You...are...inferior!”

The cybernetic monster in front of me paused for a brief moment - if I didn't know better, I could have sworn I saw its metal face twitch with anger.

"You, ugh, heard me!” I shouted, “You're...meant to be...an upgraded version of...ponykind, but you're...ack! You're inferior to us! You can't even...control your...emotions.”

“IRRELEVANT!“ the Controller shouted, “EMOTIONS ARE PURGED DURING CYBER CONVERSION. THERE ARE NONE TO CONRTOL!”

“Then why...are you so angry?” I asked coyly, “All you...do...when you scoop out...an...equine's brain...is suppress who they are! Why do you think your, argh, legion...went insane!? Without your control, they realised what you'd...done to them! What...monsters they'd been...made into!”

"INCORRECT! INCORRECT! CYBERPONY NEURAL REGULATION WAS DISRUPTED! YOU DESTROYED THE LEGION! YOU! I SOUGHT TO FREE THEM! I SOUGHT TO GIVE THEM ORDER, PEACE AND HARMON-“

"You sought to rule them!” I roared as the rough, torturous pain in my chest flared, “The Cyber Legion...would have destroyed Equestria! You weren't saving us! You were... conquering us! We would rather die than- ARGH!”

The Controller suddenly pushed his gigantic hoof into the massive cauterised wound on my leg, aggravating the traumatised and bloody flesh beneath.

“I thought you, ARGH, wanted to upgrade it!? To 'save' us!? What, ACK, happened to that plan, eh!?” I said through gritted teeth, “You're nowhere near as perfect as you think you ar-“

“ENOUGH!” the Controller roared as he slammed his hoof into my limb, shattering the bone in the process.

"YOU. WILL. BE. DELETED!” he screamed, every word being accentuated by another heavy bash from his pneumatic hooves.

I tried to protect myself, raising my Pipbuck to try and parry its blows, but he was altogether too strong. With each titanic strike, I felt more and more of my bones break. My head began to pound as blood poured freely from my many wounds, but I continued to deflect the Controller's attacks.

“DELETE!” he shouted, all semblances of control having vanished from his stark synthetic voice.

“DELETE!” he screamed as he initiated another deadly inertial exchange between his limb and mine.

Suddenly, and without warning, the bombardment stopped. I forced open my eyes to find my now fully functional EFS dutifully informing me of my imminent death with iridescent green text. The Controller was seemingly frozen in time, standing perfectly still in mid swing of his hoof.

I registered a sizable increase in the heft of my foreleg, and quickly realised that I was in fact holding Prometheus, the rifle I had found only a short while earlier.

Welcome to the StableTec Assisted Targeting System (SATS) tutorial. For this interactive training session, the following pre-programmed actions will be carried out by the Pipbuck:

2 - The first item in your inventory that may be used as an offensive weapon will be equipped automatically.

4 - The SATS time dilation talisman will be activated, increasing your immediate decision making time by a factor of 10000.

Staring at the flashing cursor, I turned painfully to the terminally slowed Controller, poised and ready to end my life at the drop of a giant, deadly hoof.

Thinking into the interface, I selected the Controller as my target. The EFS responded by subdividing its body into its individual limbs and displayed a hit probability and overall integrity readout next to each. Noting the effect that my selections had on the new 'AP' bar in my field of view, I found that Prometheus could only be fired once before recharging SATS. Knowing that this would be my one and only chance, I selected the Controller's head as my target.

My muscles suddenly tensed of their own accord, and I felt an immense sharpness come over me as my hooves grasped Prometheus and squeezed the trigger.

A thousand hammers met a thousand anvils as a brilliant bolt of blue light flared from the weapon's muzzle. It impacted the Controller's head in exactly the expected spot, collapsing armour and spilling brain fluid as it went. The colossal machine creature fell backwards, having been physically propelled away from me by Prometheus' immense power. An inequine scream left its mouth speaker as it cluttered to the floor of the catwalk and ceased to move.

I took a moment to collect myself before attempting to move. Shaky, shuddering breaths punctuated with blood informed me of just how damaged my insides really were - I'd have to get help fast!

Placing the Screwdriver in my mouth and Prometheus on my back, I tentatively hopped up onto my one good leg and started edging my way along the guard rail back towards the silo's exit.

As I passed the Controller, a gentle hiss reverberated throughout the otherwise deathly silent interior of the silo.

"You're shitting me..." I whispered around the Screwdriver as I painfully turned around.

The Controller's head had rotated to face me, and the hiss had turned into a whine that was steadily increasing in pitch.

"COM...PASS!" it roared as the whine quickly transmuted into a screech, and the broken, leaking robotic body suddenly exploded in a maelstrom of fire and shrapnel.

A giddy warmth spread across my underbelly as I tried (and failed) to shield myself against the blast with my broken and bruised foreleg. Looking down at my chest, I was only slightly surprised to see a formidable chunk of razor sharp armour plating sticking out of my ribcage.

The now structurally compromised catwalk groaned and sagged beneath me as I began to laugh uncontrollably, my vision turning cloudy and golden. It was suddenly all so funny! A week ago, I was a happy Stable technician with nothing more than server errors and misbehaving algorithms to worry about. Fast forward a few days, and I've fallen in love, battled a monster, absorbed an alien consciousness and been stabbed terminally through the chest.

"Heh...what a ride..." I whispered as a brilliant golden glow began to envelop me. The light, by this point, was a familiar friend, and I wondered hazily what the dear old Doctor had in store for me next - the glow was, after all, something of a trademark for weird shit related to him.

Fire coursed through my veins and my head felt as if it would explode as the light flowed through my body. I screamed in simultaneous ecstasy and agony as the ethereal energy burst forth from my limbs, tearing asunder the fibres of my very being.

With the Screwdriver firmly gripped between my teeth, and the winds of time and space blasting from my body, I closed my eyes and dropped into the toxic abyss.

New Sonic setting: 53A – Dampener
Cancel out energy emissions by projecting an inverse waveform toward them. The dampener can subdue anything at the flick of a switch be it biology, technolgy or anomoly!

Perk added: I´m just making this up as I go along!
You are uniquely talented at bullshitting your way through confrontations. You gain +10 to your CHAR stat.

Fallout: Equestria - Just Like Clockwork

by Starlight_Tinker

Chapter 6 - The Sentinel