Everypony heard the collapse. The announcement came soon afterwards.
"We need to get everypony moved into the center of the castle. Please remain calm and follow our directions."
Shadowpiercer could hear the sound of fighting outside already. He recognized those footsteps. The mechanical army had returned.
Several guards ran past with crossbows while the ones assigned to Shadowpiercer began unchaining him to take him away to the next room. Most of the civilians had already been evacuated.
Before they could finish, the machines came in, firing their weapons before even entering the room. Everyone took cover behind the pillars, and those with crossbows began firing back.
Free from the pillar, Shadowpiercer couldn't remain out of the fight. It was time to utilize the purpose for which he was designed. Like it or not, he was programmed with subroutines for combat; even his mark confirmed it.
He scanned the memory files of everyone in the room as quickly as he could, sending a quick command to his processor.
{IDENTIFY AS TYPE: ALLY
He made sure to add the guards to that list, then turned to the mechanical soldiers.
{IDENTIFY AS TYPE: ENEMY
There were too many of them to take out the way he had in Ponyville. He had to break a promise.
Sorry, Twilight.
{ACTIVATE SUBROUTINE: AUTOPILOT
{DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE? Y/N
{Y
{PASSWORD:
{*****************
{PASSWORD ACCEPTED
{SETMODE: COMBAT
{INITIATE? Y/N
{Y
His vision was soon filled with symbols and graphs. They blocked his view so that he shouldn't have been able to fight at all.
He didn't fight. He rode along as his body moved of its own accord. All he could do was keep his mental finger on the override command, just in case his processor began targeting the wrong things.
"We can't just do nothing."
This time, Twilight was the one getting agitated by lack of involvement.
"Surely thy intentions are true, but we must take care. Their forces have already overcome Tia's shields, and the strain hath left her unconscious. We must remain as a last line to guard the ponies of the city."
"Uuugh. You're right."
As she turned away, she heard crashing and shouting guards from the other side of the door. She had to at least know what was going on. She looked around the room. There weren't to many hidden places, and sneaking off into a hallway would only invite suspicion... unless...
She began making her way towards the restroom.
As soon as Twilight was alone, she lit up her horn. In a flash, she was on the opposite side of the large doors that separated the citizens of the city from the battle.
The scene before her could best be described as chaos. The guards, having evidently run out of crossbow bolts, were using swords and shields. Many of them were holding the swords backwards by the blades, using the heavy pommels as war hammers. The machines countered with their guns, splintering shields and leaving scorch marks everywhere.
In the midst of the machines was a gray pony.
He was different from before. He seemed less like a pony and more like an animal. There was almost no regard for personal safety, and there was no regard at all for damage to his surroundings. His movements were unnatural, somehow random and calculated at the same time.
Then she saw his eyes. They were lifeless, devoid of feeling. They may not have gone glassy, as if he had died, but they still appeared empty, as if the soul behind them had left.
You'll know it when you see it.
She looked into his eyes again.
The warning signs.
He was one of the machines now.
Shadowpiercer watched himself pull wires and break joints on the machines. The process was certainly more efficient than chucking rocks like last time, but the burn marks on his skin were slowing him down. Besides that, he had no protocols for removing pain.
Another bolt forcibly removed his cutie mark, along with a good chunk of the flesh underneath. He collapsed.
Right in the crosshairs... Of course...
How to describe the control process? It certainly wasn't an out-of-body experience, as he was still seeing through his own eyes. If anything, it was more like a dream, the kind where one does things without any input from their own mind, as if the mind and body were two separate entities. He hated those dreams. Unlike the dreams, he had an off switch, so he could wake up as soon as he needed to.
Oh, how much he wanted to hit that switch now.
Purple bolts hit the machines beside him. Looking over, he saw that Twilight had once again joined the fray. Then he noticed something on the ground.
Yes!
He targeted the severed machine arm.
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 4
{IDENTIFY AS TYPE: WEAPON
{END OVERRIDE
His processor crawled forward and picked up the wrist, still holding a gun. He then braced the weapon on the floor and began yanking the wrist back and forth. Red plasma joined the purple magic.
It was less precise, as he had no means of looking through the sights, but it helped, and his predictive algorithm provided at least some targeting. Soon most of the machines were on the ground.
Shadowpiercer looked around. Several guards were injured, and those who were uninjured were already treating them. He was about to exit combat mode, when he heard a clanking behind him.
A machine rose from the floor, damaged, but still functioning. Before it could do anything a crimson bolt blew its weapon arm off. Three more bolts followed, the first severing it's other arm, the second blowing a hole through its chest, and the last blowing its head off.
Shadowpiercer turned around to see the guard who had been keeping him chained to a pillar. The guard held a gun in his telekinesis, with the shaft of a broken arrow through the trigger guard. The guard then turned towards Shadowpiercer.
"You may have helped, but until the trial ends, you're still a prisoner. If you don't mind making this a bit easier for the rest of us..." He used the weapon to gesture to the pillar.
"O...okay... but there's.... there's something I need to do... first."
This is not good. Please stop pointing that weapon at me!
{WEAPON IDENTIFIED
{TARGET IDENTITY CHANGE: HOSTILE
{IDENTIFY AS TYPE: ENEMY
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 1
{IDENTIFY AS TYPE: ALLY
{OVERRIDE REJECTED
Twilight watched as the twitching pony threateningly dragged himself towards the guard, then backed down and slinked towards the column, only to turn back towards the guard again. He repeated this process several times, his eyes shifting constantly between alive and dead.
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 1
{DISABLE COMBAT MODE
{OVERRIDE REJECTED
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 1
{KILL AUTOPILOT
{OVERRIDE REJECTED
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 1
{KILL ALL TASKS
{OVERRIDE REJECTED
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 1
{SYSTEM SHUTDOWN
{OVERRIDE REJECTED
Please don't make me do this.
{OVERRIDE LEVEL 3
{LOAD SUBROUTINE: FORK_BOMB
{COMMAND ACCEPTED
{INITIATE? Y/N
WHY??????
{Y
Shadowpiercer could already feel his circuits overheating. Then came the headaches. They were a kind that few could feel, the kind caused by a malfunctioning piece of equipment sending random signals directly into his brain.
{WARNING: MEMORY 100%
{WARNING PROCESSOR 100%
His vision turned red, then green, then orange; constantly shifting randomly through the spectrum as meaningless words piled up on his display and strange sounds filled his ears. Finally, the colors stopped on a single hue, and all was silent.
YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM HAS ENCOUNTERED A FATAL ERROR AND NEEDS TO RESTART.
PLEASE REMAIN PATIENT WHILE WE DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF YOUR PROBLEM...
He twitched a few times, clenched his teeth, and fainted.