//------------------------------// // Frequency // Story: My Little Cyborg // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// This is not good. Okay, what's worked before? "I'm a traveler." "Not good enough." Of course not. "I'm from Canterlot." "I'm from Canterlot. Could you handle a quiz about the place, or do you want to tell the truth?" Might as well tell the truth. "Okay... The truth is... I don't know how I got here." "Don't give me that." "No, I'm serious. I know where I'm from, but not how I got here. I just... appeared here with no idea how or why. I remember what my life was like before coming here... well... mostly anyway, but I don't know why I'm here." "And you didn't say that the first time because..." "Someone would have asked what the place I came from is like, which would have been really hard to describe without looking like I'm some sort of invader or a threat or something." If looks could kill, Shadowpiercer would probably have been riddled with rifle fire, strangled, and electrocuted at this point. The only question was the order in which these would have occurred. Judging by Twilight's eyes, electrocution seemed like a safe bet. "We already thought that because of the way you were acting. Pinkie thought you were a spy, Rainbow thinks you're an assassin, I thought you were a changeling, and you don't even want to know what Fluttershy thinks." She paused a moment. "You're not a changeling, are you?" After a look of confusion from Shadowpiercer, she continued, "so what makes you think the truth is even more suspicious than that?" He looked around nervously before asking, "can anyone else hear?" "I soundproofed the room. After all, if you are a changeling or something, there's no point in the whole town panicking. Why?" It was at this point that he noticed a variety of objects, most of which appeared decently heavy, levitating behind Twilight, all enveloped in the same glow as her horn. He did not want to find out what would happen if she decided he was a threat. "Those things you described... well, some of them anyway..." he seemed to be searching the walls and ceiling for the right words, "are exactly what I was designed to be." A cast iron skillet dropped to the ground with a clang, along with a half-dozen other assorted items. While the look on Twilight's face said everything necessary, she said it out loud anyway: "WHAT?!?!?" She hastily picked the dropped items back up. "Look, I escaped before they could do any field testing but, yes, I was designed to be a spy." "How do I know for sure this is real?" He sighed. To be honest there wasn't much he could do to prove anything... Unless... "Do you have a radio?" Twilight couldn't see how it would help, but she figured she might as well see where this went. She turned the radio on right as a weird song describing outlandish events as if they were entirely normal came on. She had to get that thing fixed. Shadowpiercer put a hoof on the station knob and turned it until there was nothing but static. He squinted at the channel setting and then closed his eyes as if trying to concentrate on a spell. Wait, why would an earth pony be trying to use a spell? A couple beeps played on the radio, and he looked up, apparently satisfied with whatever he'd done. "Okay, it's ready," he said, "say something, anything you want." "Like what?" "Like what?" Twilight turned to the radio, her eyes much wider than before. Was that my voice? As if to answer, the radio played the question again. "Like what?" Twilight stepped closer to the radio, looking back and forth between it and the stranger. "Th-... that was me." The radio repeated her exactly. "Th-... that was me." The self-proclaimed spy closed his eyes again for a moment, then opened them and turned off the radio. "What was that?" "A recording. I... I recorded what you just said... and then played it back over the radio. It was the only sure proof I could think of." Twilight thought a moment. On the one hoof, this pony has just confessed to being a spy. On the other, he also just displayed a bizarre ability that no earth pony should have had. She couldn't let her curiosity get the best of her... again..., but they were trying to keep an eye on him. "Okay, let's make a deal. I'm guessing you don't want anypony to know you're a spy, right?" As he nodded in agreement, she continued, "so, in exchange for that, you show me exactly how what you can do and how." "As in, like a test subject?" "Well," she looked away, "I wouldn't put it quite like that, but..." No! No, no, no, no, no!!!!! It was going to be just like growing up all over again. He was sure of it. He couldn't let anyone put him through that again. No, calm down. The locals here aren't like that. Besides, the alternative wasn't much better anyway. Evidently, he had already made himself suspicious enough just trying to... not be suspicious. Some of the locals apparently suspected he was some monster of the forest while others were already guessing uncomfortably close to the truth already. Telling them they were right would not be particularly helpful. Thus, he said the one word he knew he'd regret. "Deal."