Rain-bot sat on the edge of a stream, looking out. The microphones in her ears strained to listen to her surroundings, to no avail. Save for the flowing of the stream, the natural world had gone completely silent. She wondered if it had always been like that, or if the animals had gone silent because they feared her.
They feared her. Rain-bot still couldn’t believe it. Her thoughts drifted to her dad. A wash of what could be thought of as emotions flowed through her processors. Confusion, disbelief, anger, sorrow...She began to question if she was really meant for such a peaceful purpose as a gift for a friend. What if her dad had designed her with more nefarious intentions in mind? If she was meant to do something horrible to somepony...could she do it? Would she even have a choice in the matter? Was she really just a bundle of wire and metal plating?
A sound behind Rain-bot snapped her out of her reverie. She didn’t look back at it, though. She didn’t care. She just continued to admire the stream she was sitting beside. Her peripheral vision registered the pony she was made to look like. Rainbow Dash sat down next to her. She focused entirely on the stream in front of her, and there was silence.
Rain-bot couldn’t stand just sitting in it, though. She knew something had to be said, but what do you say in a situation like this? Rainbow was probably thinking the same thing. So, she decided to just say the first thing that entered her computations. “I’m sorry for Dad,” a sigh echoed from her speaker. “I... I don’t know how he convinced himself to do this. I never thought...”
“I know how you feel — it shocked us just as badly when we discovered what Ace did,” Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof on Rain-bot’s shoulder and prompting the bot to turn her photoreceptors towards the mare. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s pretty clear he needs to be stopped.”
Rain-bot shook her head. “You can’t do it on your own,” she said, gazing back out at the stream.
“Of course not,” Rainbow Dash said as she turned to face her mechanical counterpart. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”
“It’s not that simple,” Rain-bot said as she shrugged off Rainbow’s hoof and got to her hooves, beginning to pace in front of her. “My dad has an army at his beck and call. He’s enhanced the bots of his loyal guard with better A.I. and faster processors, motors, and optics.” She stopped, looking over at Rainbow. “Look out for the red ones. They’re the loyal guard.” Shaking her head, she began remembering other details. “If you wanna take him down, you need an army of your own. Not only that, but you need a strategist who can think like him.” A fiery determination entered Rain-bot’s voice. “That’s why I’ll help you. Something’s wrong with my dad. And I’ll do everything I can to find out what it is, and fix it.”
Rainbow smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.”
***
John and I entered the Everfree Forest boldly, determined to find these things that Ace had been keeping an eye on. But as we went further in, we became aware of just how eerily silent it was — not a single sound, other than that of our own steady breathing, could be heard.
Birds, bears, crickets, timberwolves, manticore… nothing was making a noise. John looked around, treading softly along the worn dirt path, before he turned to look at me.
“What the hell is going on out here?” he asked. “It’s too damn quiet — which for this place is really unnatural.”
I shrugged. “Maybe all the creatures who live here are aware of the fact I’m a Prince?” I replied. “It could be that they don’t even want to breathe in case I summon the Royal Guard.”
“Whatever you say, Geo,” John said, rolling his eyes before consulting his map. “Okay, the first macguffin should be around here somewhere. Keep your eyes open.”
We both looked around, checking for anything that might look out of place — which was hard, especially when I considered the fact that the forest itself felt as though it was out of place.
I checked everywhere within arms reach, but no matter how hard I looked I wasn’t having any luck. John, too, was having a hard time of it — if the branches smacking him in the face were anything to go by.
“Fucking bastard piece of shit forest!” he growled, snapping a few off a nearby tree. “Are you having any luck, Geo? Because I’m sure as hell not.”
I shook my head. “Nothing yet,” I replied. “But it has to be said that I have no idea what I’m looking f—” I was cut short as I tripped over something and landed painfully on the ground. “Ow.” I stood up, ignoring John who was stifling laughter, and looked at what had tripped me — a small piece of stone. I picked it up and took a closer look, my eyes widening as I noticed that it was emblazoned with runes.
“Whoa,” John said breathlessly. “What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “But I think this is what we’ve been looking for. I don’t know what it is - perhaps all the time I’ve spent with Twilight has given me a sixth sense - but I can’t help but feel that there is some sort of power emanating from this.”
John nodded. “I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “Come on, let’s find the other seven of these things and get out of here.”
I voiced my agreement with this idea, and the two of us set off deeper into the forest.
***
A metal being entered Dr. Robo’s bridge. If it weren’t for the robotic joints, you’d think it was a big guy in spiked plate mail. The face - if it could be called that - looked like the front of a knight’s helmet, and had beady red eyes to boot. The bot approached Dr. Robo, who was sitting at his command console. “Father,” it spoke. “I must bring up a concern. There’s a contradiction between your actions, and my processes.”
To Dr. Robo, that meant ‘You did something I disagree with.’ He sighed. “What’s wrong, Dark-bot?”
“You designed myself, as well as every other unit in your military for the sole purpose of protecting Equestria,” The tone of Dark-bot was pretty even. “And yet, you’re going out of your way to try and conquer the very beings you’ve sworn to protect. Why?”
Dr. Robo looked up from his work for a moment, before looking back down. “Sometimes, protecting others also means protecting them from themselves. The ponies of Equestria are suspicious of my kind. They don’t trust anything that isn’t a pony. Mistrust leads to violence. I’m going to prevent that.”
“By performing violent acts against them? Father, that makes no sense.” Dark-bot shook his head. “This seems overly cruel, and doesn’t sit well with me.” He placed a mechanical hand up to his chest. “Wasn’t it you who once said, ‘trust that thing in your chest, because it’ll never steer you wrong?’” Dr. Robo stopped what he was doing, and stared at Dark-bot grimly. “This thing in my chest may not be a heart, but it hasn’t ‘steered me wrong’ before. I don’t believe that you think you’re doing the right thing.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Dark-bot!” Robo said, in a harsh tone. “You weren’t designed to have emotions, or think on metaphors! You were designed to mechanically weaponize magic, and become one of my Elite Loyal Guard! If you have a problem with your current station, I’ll clean your memory banks, and give you a new one! Now go! This discussion is over!”
Dark-bot said nothing. He merely turned, and left. A faint mutter escaped his speaker, one that only he heard. “You’re not my father.”
***
John and I found the second piece of stone shortly after the first, lying forgotten in a birds nest. The nest was completely devoid of anything else, so I went to reach for it — only for John to suddenly grab my arm.
“Wait...” he said. “Do you feel that?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I feel you touching me.”
John tutted and let go of me. “Not that, you jackass,” he snapped. “I meant... something else.”
“Something else like what?” I rolled my eyes. “Come on, man, you’ve got to be more specific than that.”
John looked around warily. “It could be that my inner spy is acting up,” he said. “I’m used to watching others, as you no doubt know, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re the ones who are being watched right now.”
“Shit, really?” I asked, also looking around. “But who could be watching us? All the animals appear to have fucked off.”
“I dunno,” John shrugged. “Maybe I am being paranoid. You can take the man out of MI6, but you can’t take MI6 out of the man.” He sighed. “I won’t be forgetting any of what they taught me in a hurry, that’s for sure.”
I nodded and picked up the stone, putting it safely in my pocket. We consulted the map and then set off in the direction of piece number three — John tripping over, and then kicking, several tree roots along the way. Needless to say, he spent most of the journey hopping.
The third piece was sticking out of a hole in the ground, a piece of shed skin nearby suggesting a snake had been living in it at one point. John pointed at the skin and laughed. “Just as well Twilight isn’t here,” he said. “She would be freaking out so much right now, you’d probably have to give her a paper bag.”
“If I even had one,” I chuckled. “Anyway, John, you can get this piece — I got the last two, so it’s only fair.”
John grumbled something under his breath and got on his knees. He put a hand on the stone and pulled, and it promptly got stuck. I left him to wrestle with it, as well as occasionally shout curses at it, and looked around — only to spot movement out the corner of my eye.
I took a few tentative steps forward and peered into the trees. I saw a flash of black — as well as a white metallic face. I fell onto my arse and backed away in fear as a horrifying ringing sound filled my ears and my vision began to fade. I heard John shout triumphantly as he pulled the piece free, so I quickly scrambled to my feet and grabbed his shoulder. “Slender-bot!” I screeched.
John leapt up in panic, almost dropping the stone, and looked around furtively. “Where?!” he gasped. “Oh, man, I fucking knew something was watching us!”
I pointed at where I had seen the bot — but it was gone. “It was right there,” I muttered. “I swear to Discord himself, mate, that it was right fucking there!”
“I believe you, Geo,” John replied, before shaking his head and groaning. “This is getting too creepy, so let’s find the rest of these things and get out of here.”
***
The creature from before eyed the ruins that were being guarded by several dozen bots of various classifications. The creature’s objective, it concluded, had to be in the ruins. It hefted its rocket launcher, a Panzerschreck made from modern materials, and aimed at one of Robo’s flyer units. “Sorou…” it muttered, before letting fly a rocket.
The rocket collided, sending the flying machine careening to the ground. An alarm at the base blared, springing the creature into action. As bots rushed over to the source of the rocket, they found the creature, leaping high in the air. With an earth-shaking thud, the creature lands, throwing many bots off balance, and causing them to fall. Quicker than they could perceive, the creature throws one of its humongous fists, and smashes through the bots.
The creature’s ability to extend its body over a short distance caught the bots off guard. The various mechanized soldiers attempted to compensate by adapting their tactics, and flanking the creature, but to no avail. The various beams and blasts from the space-age weapons of Dr. Robo’s forces were easily ignored, as the creature loaded another rocket into its Panzershreck. Taking aim and launching its payload at one group of bots, it spun around, and lunged at the other group.
Landing on top of a Doc-bot, and flattening it, the monstrosity quickly swept through the metal soldiers, ripping them to pieces. It took a moment to reload, as more Robo-flyers came to reinforce the ground forces. The creature turned to see the flyers’ various cannons targeting it, and leaped up in the air, just as a rain of particle and plasma energy blasted the area it was standing a moment ago.
The creature landed on one of the flyers, smashing its fist into the cockpit of the machine. It then pulled a Doc-bot out of the pilot’s seat, tossing it to the ground, before firing its Panzershreck at the thrusters of another machine. As the flying machine plummeted to the ground, the creature used its great strength to hurl the pilotless flyer towards a third machine. The collision caused both flyers to fall to the ground and explode in a great ball of fire.
The creature landed, heedless of the machines funneling out of the ruins making up Dr. Robo’s secret base. Moving with purpose, the creature uttered the name of its sole objective, letting nothing distract it from its goal.
“Sorou…”
***
Trudging through the forest was beginning to become a chore, as the thick branches and shrubs sought to impede our progress, but John and I persevered nonetheless. We had four pieces in our possession and were approaching the fifth when I saw something out the corner of my eye. I stopped in my tracks and looked into the trees, cocking my head slightly. “What the fuck was that?!” I asked aloud.
“What the fuck was what?” John replied. “Relax, man, it’s just your brain playing tricks on you.”
“Hello?” I called out. “Is someone out there?”
“Quit it, dude,” John snapped. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
“But…” I sighed and shook my head. “I swear I saw someone.”
Pushing whatever thoughts I had to the back of my mind, the two of us resumed walking. We soon found the fifth piece of runed stone under a tree — but then John suddenly veered off to my left, his attention caught by something else. Cursing, I followed him to a nearby tree and tried to follow his gaze. It didn’t take me long to notice the sign attached to the trunk, which had several scratch marks in it.
“‘Can you see it?’” John murmured, reading what the sign said.
“See what?” I wondered, looking around. “I can’t see my hand in front of my fucking face in this stupid forest.”
“I’m just telling you what the sign says,” John groaned. “Though who could have left it?”
We both looked away from the sign for a second, our eyes scanning the trees around us, but to no avail. We turned back towards the sign — our breath catching in our throats when we realised that the sign now read 'I’m here.'
“OH SHIT!” we shouted together.
“It didn’t say that a second ago!” I whimpered.
“What the fuck, man?!” John snarled. “This is some freaky shit right here — let’s just grab those stones and get out of here!”
I nodded and we both turned around in order to return to our original path — only to find ourselves looking at Slender-bot. Our vision faded and the ringing noise returned as the bot continued to stare at us.
Needless to say, John and I both screamed like Ned Flanders on helium and ran as fast as our legs could carry us. We didn’t look back, the adrenaline surging us onwards, and a few minutes later we both hid behind a tree and peeked out.
“All right,” I panted, my legs heavy and aching from the running. “I think we lost him.”
“Thank fuck for that,” John replied, the smug bastard not showing any signs of being tired. He looked around for a moment before he scratched his head in confusion. “Wait a minute, was it this dark when we entered the forest?”
“I don’t remember it being anywhere near this time of day,” I shrugged. “We need to hurry, since Slender-bot is still out there somewhere. Let’s keep going.”
John nodded and consulted his map briefly before running off. I tried to catch up to him, but I was still sore from earlier. “John, wait up!” I shouted, only for my plea to fall on deaf ears. “Damn it all to Tartarus.” I snarled. “If you ditch me here, you prick, then you’re going to the dungeons when I get out!”
Instead of a snarky comeback, I was stunned when this statement was instead met with an eerie silence.
“John?” I shouted. “This isn’t funny anymore, you bastard! Where the fuck are you?!”
“Geo?” John shouted. “I’m over here. What’s keeping you?”
I managed to deduce that he was just ahead of me, so I kept walking. “Where exactly are you?” I called out, sweeping my torch over the area.
“Over here,” John replied. “I can see you.”
“Really?” I asked, confused. “Because I can’t see you!”
“I’m over here,” John sighed. “Just a bit to your right.”
I followed John’s voice, which eventually led me to a large tree. Sighing contentedly, I walked around the back of it — only to find Slender-bot waiting for me.
“HOLY FUCKNUGGETS!” I shouted, turning tail and running for the second time that night. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! I’m not going down that easy!”
I soon realised that nobody else was around to hear me, and so I shut up — and then ran for my life.
***
The elements waited for Rainbow, worried about her insistence on finding her doppelganger on her own. Having no idea how Rain-bot would react, and relying on mere speculation, Twilight began second guessing herself, despite reassurances from Spike. Fluttershy was content with paying attention to Angel, pushing her concern out of her mind. Applejack and Rarity were on guard, paying attention to their surroundings, and Pinkie Pie was pacing back and forth.
Suddenly, they heard a rustle of leaves. Getting on guard, they all faced the bush, expecting anything to pop out. They were, however, relieved to find Rainbow Dash come out. “Rainbow!” Twilight quickly moved to give her a hug, which Rainbow returned, despite herself. “Did you find her?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, she’s right here.” Stepping to the side, the metallic version of Rainbow Dash came right behind her, sheepishly looking down at the ground. All the ponies stared awkwardly at her, and a silence filled the air.
“Uh, hey,” Rain-bot greeted.
It was Twilight who responded. “Hey, Rain-bot.”
Things were awkward for a few more seconds, as ponies tried to decide what to say. Rain-bot broke the silence with a sigh, as Twilight began to say something. Rain-bot held up a hoof. “I know what you’re about to say, and I’ve already agreed to help.” All the other ponies smiled at the news. “I want dad to start behaving like himself again, and I’m gonna do all I can.”
Twilight gave an appreciative nod. “Thank you, Rain-bot. I can only imagine how hard it must be on you.”
What equated to a smile formed on the robo-pony’s face. “I’ll pull through. So what now?”
“We need to see if Geo and John have dug up anything,” Twilight declared. “We need more clues as to Ace’s whereabouts.”
Rainbow looked over at the wreckage of Dr. Robo’s lab, off in the distance. “I guess it’s back to the lab, then.” The group began heading back, one more than when they started.
***
As expected, nothing had changed. The lab still lay in ruins, but Twilight thought to herself that there should be something there that wasn’t. She scanned over the chemistry table...no, there were still broken beakers and such. Going over the various control panels? No, nothing missing there. What could be wrong?
“Wait, where’s Geo?” The thought came out of her mouth the same time it came in her head.
A look of concern washed over Applejack’s face. “John? Ya’ll can come out, now! Ah know ya like jokes, but now ain’t the time!” Her breathing began getting heavier, as Rain-bot began scanning the interior of the lab. A blue light washed over everything, before flickering off. “He’s not here!”
Applejack cursed under her breath. “Dag nabbit! Where’d them no-good hubbies run off to?”
Pinkie Pie looked over at the monitor on the wall, displaying a map of the Everfree Forest. “Uh, was this computer screen on when we left?”
As the other ponies gathered around, Fluttershy let out a small gasp. “Oh no…They didn’t head into the forest, did they?”
Fear took hold of Twilight for a second, before she becamed more determined. “We have to find them, now!” The group rushed out of the lab, attempting to locate their lost members.
***
My lungs were screaming for air and my legs were begging me for mercy, but I continued running. Slender-bot was still shadowing my every move, and I wasn’t too keen on letting him capture me. But I suddenly ran into something solid — John. We both backed away from each other in fear before pointing a finger at each other and speaking at the same time.
“ARE YOU GEO?!”
“ARE YOU JOHN?!”
“Of course I’m Geo,” I replied. “Who else would I be?”
“You could be Slender-bot,” John shot back. “He’s already tried fooling me into thinking he was you.”
“Oh yeah?” I replied. “Well for all I know, you could be Slender-bot. So prove to me that you’re not!”
“No way,” John replied. “You prove it!”
“All right, all right,” I said, waving my hands in front of me. “On the count of three, we each say something about the other that only they would know. Slender-bot only knows how to mimic our voices — he can’t access our memories.”
“Good plan,” John replied. “On three, then. One...”
“Two...”
“Three!”
Quick as a flash, we both spoke again.
“Flash Sentry is only part of your guard detail because you know how much it annoys the hell out of him!”
“You carved ‘John + Bacon’ into one of the trees at the farm!”
A moment of silence passed before we quickly hugged each other. “It really is you!” John said. “Thank fuck for that!”
I nodded profusely for a moment, then gasped. “Oh, shit,” I whispered. “Slender-bot is right there!”
“Fffffuck,” John replied. “What the hell do we do?!”
“Maybe...” I mused. “Maybe Slendy won't see us if we both turn our torches off!”
“Are you fucking crazy?” John hissed. “We won't be able to see anything if we do that!”
“Fuck you,” I snapped. “I’m going to try it!” I turned my torch off and tried to find my way around the area, only to walk face-first into a tree. “Ow, fuck!”
John laughed heartily. “See?” he teased. “I told you it was a bad idea, numbnuts!” I quickly turned my torch back on and shined it directly in his eyes, making him hiss and hold a hand out in front of his face. “Nice. Real mature, Geo.”
I didn’t have time to reply as something wrapped itself around both our necks, our vision quickly fading into blackness.
***
Twilight and the others spent hours trying to find Geo and John, hoping beyond hopes that they didn’t go into the Everfree Forest. Rain-bot had agreed to search outside of town, knowing that she wasn’t welcome in Ponyville yet. But as the sun set, worry took the forefront of the ponies’ minds. Rain-bot had snuck in to Ponyville, and was waiting in a bush near the entrance of Golden Oaks Library when the others arrived. Seeing it was her, the others gave her a comforting smile, before letting their worry take over.
“No luck then, huh?” Rain-bot asked.
Applejack shook her head. “Nuthin’. You?”
“No dice.” Rain-bot sighed.
A note on the door caught Twilight’s attention. “Hey, did the mail run?” She asked curiously, as she walked over to it.
Rain-bot looked over, and shrugged in an ‘I dunno’ fashion. “I didn’t detect anypony come up. But that note wasn’t there when I got here.”
Twilight used her magic to take the note off the door, and look at it. Seeing its contents, she gasped, and shook her head. “No...No!” The note fell in front of the group, and what they saw left them in shock. None moreso than Applejack.