//------------------------------//
// Ricochet 
// Story: My Little Cyborg 
// by Ignimbrite 
//------------------------------//

"Is that why you have a target for a cutie mark?" 

He looked down at the strange mark. 

So that's what they're called.  

"Apparently."

Twilight was standing at the end of a small clearing.  Shadowpiercer stood on the opposite end next to a straw dummy.

Between them lay an assortment of stones.





Naturally Twilight had gathered as many notes as possible on the voice synthesizer, AI generator system, and other assorted processes used in that prank.  

That said, hearing him use the radio to mimic some of her closest friends, while fascinating in theory, was slightly disturbing in practice.  After all, he had just told her that he was not a changeling.

Spike had, on the other hand, had a ball giving him suggestions.

"Oh, uh... hello.  I'm here to make the night last forever.  If you don't mind that is..."

When she had finally gotten them back on course for the project, Shadowpiercer took them back to the tree so he could demonstrate the pathfinder.  

On the way back was another interview regarding how the physics simulator and virtual model worked.  He was quite thankful that she didn't ask about his mass.

The next tests were for his targeting system. 

The target tracker was similar to the pathfinder, except that it tracked everything outside Shadowpiercer's body.  While it was far more useful than the pathfinder, it cost more in battery usage.

Twilight's test of the targeting system started out simply enough, using her telekinesis to chuck rocks in his direction while he knocked them away to defend a dummy.  When she realized that, given enough training, almost anypony could do that, she decided to make things harder.  

Next thing Shadowpiercer knew, there were 18 projectiles in the air with 23 more being wound up.  He didn't have enough time to block all of them, but he could at least slim down the field.  

He started kicking rocks of his own into the air, using the targeting algorithm to calculate exactly when and how to kick  them.  Each of his rocks skipped off an incoming projectile, knocking it off course.  What remained, he blocked with his hooves as before. 

Just before Twilight could launch another volley, he skipped a stone off her front left hoof, startling her and throwing off her aim.

"So, is that part of what you were supposed to do?"

"Well... somewhat.  It does come in handy from time to time.  I think the target tracking was more of a test to see how well they could implement it.  Perks of being an early prototype, I guess." 

"So, that's everything?"

"Everything I can show off at least.  Most of what I can potentially demonstrate is pretty dependent on my equipment, and I lost most of that when I got here."  

Shadowpiercer shut down his computer, somewhat relieved that the tests were ending before it was completely drained.  He was going to need to get a charger built soon.

"Well thanks for showing me how you work then," she said, "of course I still have questions about where you came from."

Of course she did...





It was early enough to actually find a place to stay this time.  He found a small place with decent fees, enough for his job to easily cover them.  It wasn't much, but for him, it would be plenty.  He went back into town to pick up some supplies. 

He had just finished his errands run when he saw a familiar figure flying a patrol along the edge of the Everfree.  He smiled, glad that his apartment was in the opposite direction. 

He made it back without any incidents and went to bed.  He was certain it would be good to sleep in a bed again that night, but he couldn't get comfortable.  He felt like he was sinking, as if he would wake up and have to crawl out of a hole.  Besides that, the air was beginning to seem stagnant and stale.  

Ugh... this wouldn't work at all.





Rainbow Dash was tired of patrolling the Everfree.  The plan was simple: watch him enter the forest, follow him to his hiding spot, and find out what he was really up to.  She briefly considered that he might have snuck past her, but she doubted it.  She could see everything from up there.  Now that it was dark, it was beginning to seem unlikely that she would find him.

She was trying to figure out what went wrong as she was flying back.  That was when she noticed something odd down below.  

She looked closer.

It was him.





Shadowpiercer heard a loud crash behind him and looked up to see Rainbow Dash glaring at him.

"What are you doing on somepony's roof?"

"Sleeping... well, I was at least.  What are you doing on my roof?"

"Your roof?"

"Well, it's technically the landlord's, but I am the one paying rent on it."

"Wait.  You live here?"

"That's normally why someone rents a place."

Rainbow Dash looked at the structure under her hooves, then back at the reclining pony.

"You actually have a roof."

"Yes..."

"And you're sleeping on top of it?"

"You sleep on top of clouds.  What's the difference?" 

Rainbow shook her head in frustration.  "You're making even less sense than Pinkie Pie."

Shadowpiercer wasn't quite sure what to feel about being compared to that particular anomaly, but since Rainbow's frustration was becoming rather entertaining, he said the fifth thing that popped into his mind: 

"Thank you."

And with that, a particularly frustrated assassin hunter flew off into the night sky.