Rushing through the halls was much easier this time, since most of the guards were in the throne room. The lack of opposition meant that E-30 could dwell even deeper on his hopeless situation. His means of escape from this world were taken, and his worst enemy joined forces with his new enemies. Although his body was completely functional, he knew wouldn't have been able to take them out anyway. He could practically feel the decreased structural integrity of his body due to the mixing of various metals, a thoughtless mistake.
'So now, I have to run away. Run away back to my hideout with my tail between my legs, with no real progress gained.' He almost laughed at the situation, despite the heaviness he felt in his soul. But then, something caught his eye.
At that moment, he stopped in his tracks, and looked at the double doors he had almost passed by. The doors were held closed by a large, intricate lock embedded into the wood. While there was no sign that could tell him what was behind the door, it looked too important to pass up. 'For all I know, the teleporter could be in there...'
E-30 looked both ways down the hallway. Seeing the coast was clear, he ran his hand across the lock. He felt a trace of energy emanating from the lock, an energy he couldn't identify. "It must be that magic stuff the unicorn ones were using" he deduced.
He carefully tried scratching the metal, trying to damage it, but no marks were left on the lock. The same happened with the door itself. Each time, a faint shimmer formed where he scratched, proving it was some sort of protection barrier. "Damn." He stood back, staring at the lock. He had no knowledge of how magic worked, since there were no matches to other known energies. He could only make guesses based on his current knowledge.
"Maybe I can try to overload it." Not keen on getting fried somehow, E-30 let his tiny mechanized helpers do the job. They crawled onto the lock as a swarm, and began releasing electrical currents into the surface. Electricity began arcing across the doors, but the barrier began shining brighter in response. When the bots ended their attack, the doors were still unharmed. The barrier seemed to be actively pushing back against the attempted intrusion. 'So I need to do more damage than it's capable of instantly repairing.'
Automatically following his unspoken orders, the bots came together at a small area on the lock, and proceeded to release an electrical current once more. This time, they all concentrated it into a single tiny point on the barrier. After a few moments, there was a tiny plume of smoke, coming from the barrier that now had a equally tiny hole. The hole fought to be regenerated, but the bots kept the hole from closing. A few of the bots used this opportunity to melt a hole into the unprotected lock, entering it in a line. The rest of them stopped, letting the barrier fill in again. From the outside, E-30 saw the lock getting hotter, gaining an orange glow. The barrier began shaking and deteriorating as the lock was melted from the inside.
*Poof*
Finally, the barrier broke, disappearing in a shimmer of sparkles. Reaching out, he pushed on the double doors, spreading the split lock apart with melted metal stretching between the two sides. He peeked into the dark room, and saw shelves filled with boxes and other unknown items. Creeping over, he picked one of them up and held it in the light shining from the hall. It was horse armor, like the ones the guards were wearing, except it was sleeker and greyish blue, with a slit pupil design on the chest. He analyzed the metal, and found no Earth matches.
"This metal... it's strong... it's just what I need!"
Down the hall, a thundering sound began to get louder. The sound of a dozens of armored hooves grew as it got closer to his location. E-30 scrambled around the room, making sure he didn't miss anything. He noticed some of the boxes had the same armor with helmets in it, and had words on the front. "The style is really weird, but I think it's English!" He stared at the words, finally deciphering the bizarre font to say "The Night Crucible".
"A manufacturer. I can go to the source for the metal." He looked below the logo to see more difficult lettering, which seemed to be an address. "9th Ave. Manehatten"
He had no more time to search, since the squadron was almost there. He could now barely hear their voices over their pounding hooves.
"The lock is broken!"
"They're in the Night Guard storage room!"
Seeing no other way out, E-30 grabbed one of the helmets to keep for sample matching, and bolted out the doors. The group noticed him, and immediately switched their focus to him. "It's the creature! Don't let it get away!"
Despite having two less legs than them, he was able to keep a good distance between him and the guards. There was really only one escape route he knew, so he made his way there, hoping they didn't remember his path from last time.
................................................................................................................................
The trio of cyborgs were being guided to a room, where they would stay temporarily while their alliance with the one called "Princess Celestia" was ironed out. The Doctor looked around while he walked, gaining insight on the level of technology that was used by the "ponies". 'They're around the end of pre-industrial times, but they certainly make up for it with their "magic". I'll need a few of them so I can investigate the extent of this power..'
Finally reaching their room, they were let in, before the guards suddenly turned and ran. Noting the odd behavior, Dr. Jovan waited for them to come back. They hadn't but shortly after, something else happened. Someone streaked across the hall in a blur, almost knocking over a maid and quickly running out of sight. But Jovan knew who it was. "So you really are here...E-30."
His two cybernetic guards moved forward to give chase, but he quickly stopped them. A sinister look filled his eye as he watched the maid shakily get to her hooves. 'He's a dangerous criminal...'
................................................................................................................................
The distance between him and the guards was increasing. They were definitely beginning to lose steam, so he was able to gain enough distance to be out of sight. Looking through a window as it passed, he recognized the landscape. His waterfall escape. Looking back, he just barely avoided colliding with a horse maid, who still fell to the ground in shock. Time slowed as he looked at who was farther away. Dr. Jovan stood there looking at him, still flanked by his guards.
Time resumed as he sped up, taking more evasive turns as he hoped the hadn't joined in on the chase. Taking a risky look backwards, he didn't see them in pursuit. 'Let's hope it stays that way.'
With the desire to escape the chase, E-30 leapt through the next window, tumbling through the air before landing on the ground. Barely losing pace, he continued toward the roaring waterfall, before leaping to known safety.
................................................................................................................................
Unknown to him, the guards had ceased their chase. A more important matter had taken their attention.
"Why?"
"That monster..."
They desperately attended to the maid bleeding on the floor, red wings limp. With medics on their way, they tried to keep her alive, but it was no use. Nearby, Dr. Jovan watched in apathy at the tense situation. Stepping forward, he spoke to the distressed ponies. "The criminal. He killed her. Murdered her in your walls. And you let him get away." At this, their eyes widened. A few stomped their hooves. Anger was beginning to flare amongst the ranks, and Jovan watched with hidden mirth. 'E-30... just wait until Celestia hears about what you've done...' he thought as he looked back at his guards, one with a tiny smear of red on his knuckles.