Ch.1: ‘Welcome to Equestria’
Repairs were being made to parts of the castle that had been struck by the fireball; it was obvious to everypony, however, that it would take some time before everything was completely restored. The damages to the magnificent structure were significant, much more than they expected. Princess Celestia oversaw the effort, watching as the various construction ponies continued their work, removing any debris they deemed hazardous.
Her mind drifted to whatever terrifying creature had arrived in the kingdom. She thought about how much havoc they would create now that they were here, how much destruction. Nevertheless, she tried her best to ignore it; pushed the unwanted thought to the back of her mind. She needed to stay strong for her little ponies.
“How goes the construction, sister?” Luna, Princess of the Night, approached Celestia.
“Well,” replied the Sun Princess. Though she tried to seem nonchalant, it was all too obvious in her eyes that she was worried.
Luna followed her sister down the halls of the castle, ponies bowing their heads as their leaders passed by, eventually reaching Celestia’s room. After closing the door and ensuring there would be no eavesdroppers, Celestia spoke to Luna, “Ponies say they saw two fireballs appear from the sky.”
Luna deadpanned. “Two?” There was a ting of shock in her voice.
Celestia nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. I’m landed somewhere in the Everfree Forest. The other—the one that caused all of this—crash-landed in Ponyville.”
“So, we have two aliens to worry about.” Luna was growing evermore frustrated at the current situation they were facing, seeing as Equestria was just invaded by forces unknown. If it was anything like the Changling Invasion that occurred just a few months ago, another like it would throw the entire kingdom into a state of lawlessness.
“I’ve already sent the Royal Guard to investigate,” said Celestia, staring out the window. “They should be report back to us in—”
“Princess!” A single pegasus Royal Guard barged into the room. “Shining Armour and his squad have found one of the aliens!”
Celestia’s heart skipped a beat at this news. “Where are they?”
“There’re in Sweet Apple Acres,” replied the Guard;” just outside a town called Ponyville. The alien’s taken a foal hostage!”
This news came as a shock to both Princesses. Celestia eyed the Royal Guard to see if he was telling the truth, though the expression he bared told her that he was serious. It took her entire being to keep her anger suppressed as she asked, “Who does he have with him?”
Never in Applebloom’s life would she see herself in this sort of situation: foalnapped by a very dangerous alien who was being pursued through her family’s orchard. She had closed her eyes multiple times, hoping to wake up in her bed and say it was all just a dream, but each time she opened them, she would find herself in the alien’s arm as he ran from the Royal Guards. It became apparent that she must was in danger.
The orchard was structured like a maze to Parker. Without the aid of his HUD map, navigation through the area would prove to be a difficult feat for him. He looked over his shoulder to see a group of ponies giving chase. All except seven had armour—either shining gold or dark violet—and they were all led by a single unicorn stallion donned in brilliant violet armour.
Turning his attention back to the front, Parker saw he was quickly running towards a tree and came to an abrupt stop. He turned around to see the ponies surround him, some armed with spears and crossbows which were levitated at their sides. Unholstering his plasma pistol, he backed away until his back was firmly pressed against the tree.
>>Scanning… Multiple hostiles identified… Total hostile count: 29… Defensive protocols permissible…
I'll keep that in mind, thanks.
“That’s enough running, alien!” the unicorn stallion proclaimed.
Parker chuckled. “Why? Running out of steam already?” He could see some of the guards were physically exhausted. “And just who the hell are you supposed to be anyway?”
“If you must know, my name is Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard,” he said with pride; “and by order of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you’re under arrest.”
Two earth ponies, an orange mare donning a Stetson hat and red stallion with a work harness, stepped out from the crowd. “Applejack! Big Macintosh!” Apple Bloom called out with delight.
Parker glanced down at the cream-yellow filly in regret. Brother and sister? She has a family? Great, now I feel guilty. That’s the last thing I need at a time like this.
“Listen up, alien!” Applejack declared with fury in her voice. She looked ready to charge at him, as did Big Macintosh, and they would have if it wasn’t for the weapon currently in Parker’s hand. “You’re gonna let m’ah sister go, right now!”
“You’re surrounded,” said Shining. “Just drop your weapons and surrender peacefully.”
A brief silence followed in the ensuing standoff. Parke tightened his grip around his plasma pistol in case any of the ponies tried to attack preemptively. He glanced at the Royal Guards, and then to Applejack and Big Macintosh, before turning his gaze to Apple Bloom. The filly was returning a stare with forlorn in her eyes.
After much thinking, and planning, Parker responded, “It looks like I have my back against the wall. Literally. I guess you win.”
“That was easy,” said Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. “Almost too easy.”
The guards slowly approached Parker, a pair of cuff and chains magically levitating in front of them, when Parker suddenly said, “I’ll go with you, but only if you can catch me.” In that statement, he ran behind the tree and gave it a push. Almost effortlessly, he uprooted the tree from the ground; it fell down towards the ponies, who moved to avoid being crushed.
In the momentary chaos, Parker took his chance to escape. Twirling her lasso, Applejack tossed it around the human’s waist and pulled. It failed to budge him, and instead, she was pulled across the grass. She slammed her rear against the ground in effort to slow him down, but to no avail.
“I’m gonna need some help here, Big Mac!” she called over to her brother. Big Mac threw his own lasso around Parker. It ended in the same result, with him being dragged across the ground, too. Parker pumped more adrenaline into his system as he sprinted, and eventually, the ropes freed themselves from the farm ponies’ mouths.
After running a distance, the I-950 hid in the underbrush, covering Applebloom’s mouth to keep her from making a sound. He looked through the leaves with his scan vision to see a small group of Royal Guards arrive on the scene and begin searching the area.
“Where is he?” asked one of them.
“He’s around here somewhere. Split up and find him.” Their orders given, the Royal Guard ponies dispersed. Parker sighed in relief as they left the area. Now he could think of a plan of action without interruptions. He tried to keep his grip on Applebloom as the filly struggled to escape. He did have a hard time keeping her still, seeing as he had to keep his grip light to keep from crushing the young foal to a bloody pulp.
“Will you keep still already?” She broke free and tried to run, calling to anypony that could hear her voice, before Parker grabbed her again. “That’s enough out of you,” he said, covering her mouth; right before he withdrew his hand in pain after she bit him. Oh, she’s gonna pay for that later. Right now, I just gotta keep her from escaping.
>>Recommended action: Undetermined… Seek reinforcements…
Great, the one time you don’t know what to do. This is so fucking perfect!
Apple Bloom glared up at her captor, a deep glare in her eyes. “If you hurt me, m’ah brother an’ sister’ll—” She was silenced when Parker covered her mouth again, positioning his hand to avoid being bit a second time.
“Alright, kid, listen. If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I would’ve done that by now instead of taking you with me? As far as I’m concerned, you’re my only ticket out of here without being imprisoned—or possibly experimented on.”
Apple Bloom shook her head out of his hand. “Even if you do get away, you’ll still have the Royal Guard search’n for you all over Equestria.”
Equestria… Well at least I know where the hell I am. “And how does that affect me? I’ve spent the last three years being chased throughout my home by a certain entity that wants my head. If I’m able to survive that long in a hostile environment, I’m sure I can avoid a few armoured ponies with spears.”
After checking if the coast was clear, Parker continued further into the orchard.
Day had eventually turned to night by the time the I-950 had found a spot where he and Apple Bloom were able to hideout. Having tied the filly up with the ropes Applejack and Big Macintosh tried to subdue him with, he set her down without the fear of her trying to run away. He started to make a fire from some of the branches on the trees and plucked some for him and the pony to eat.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but we’ll rest here before heading out again. Hopefully we’ll find a way out without being spotted.” He set some of the apples in front of Apple Bloom. He caught a glimpse of her and noticed a tear falling from her eye. Was she crying? “No, please don’t be sad. I’m still getting used to normal human emotions, and so far this guilt thing seems to be my least favourite.”
Applebloom just continued to stare down at the grass, forlorn. “You foalnapped me, and you’re keep’n me away from m’ah friends and family. What’s not to be sad about?”
“You… could be dead?” replied Parker, unsure of what to say. His words earned a glare from the disgruntled pony. Okay, bad choice of words. Let me try something else. He walked over to the filly and kneeled down in front of her. He was never good with delivering words of comfort, but he figured now was as good a time as any to learn.
“Listen, you have no idea how lucky you have it; not about the kid… er, foalnapping. I mean, look at what you got: a family that’s worried for you, nice friends, and a home that doesn’t look like it’s been touched by conflict its whole existence. Believe me, you cannot get this stuff where I’m from, not since Skynet started the war.”
Applebloom’s glare began to soften. “You keep mention’n this stuff. What do you mean by it?”
“I can’t say I wanna tell you. Just saying some words. Judging by your age, I don’t think you’d be able to completely understand.” He moved the apples closer towards the earth pony filly. “Suggest eat up and get some rest while you still can. We’re moving out first thing in the morning.”
With that, Parker went over and sat by one of the trees. Nothing else was said between the two of them, leaving Applebloom to take bites out of the apples in front of her right before drifting to sleep. Parker glanced at her before looking back up towards the sky. The moon was out in the open, and for the first time in his life, it wasn’t obscured by smoke and debris.
If that’s the moon, he thought, I’m eager to see what the sun looks like.
The night passed; Applejack and Big Macintosh eventually met up with the girls, as well as two Royal Guards. The orange mare looked exhausted, having been up half the night helping with the search, looking high and low for the alien and her younger sister. “You girls find ‘em yet?” she asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. Not even a trace.”
“I’ve flown for miles over this orchard and haven’t found any sign of them,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry, AJ,” said Twilight, “but I’m beginning to doubt they’re still even in the orchard.”
Applejack was growing frantic over the ill-fated search. “No! They gotta be! Ah jus’ know it. We have ta keep look’n. Ya’ll go an’ check over near the east; me and Big Mac’ll go west. Hopefully we’ll find someth’n that’ll lead us to ‘em.”
With a nod, they went their separate ways. Behind a nearby tree, however, Parker peered from behind the bark to see them galloping away from the area. “Alright, they’re gone. We can keep going.” He removed a hand from over Apple Bloom’s mouth.
“Ya don’t have ta keep do’n that all the time,” the filly protested. Obviously, she was growing annoyed over the seemingly routine occurrence.
“You got a big mouth,” Parker replied, “so yes I do. Look, I told you I’d let you go if you showed me a way out of here. You do know where you’re going, right?”
“This is m’ah family’s farm, so yes. Jus’ keep go’n straight an’ you’ll reach m’ah house. You’ll drop me off there, right?”
“…If there are no ponies around. I rather avoid another incident like the one we’re in now.”
Apple Bloom looked at him. “Then why’d ya do it?”
“I destroyed part of your city, and your castle! Not exactly something anyone would be happy to let happen to them. I’m just glad I didn’t kill anyone; then this situation would have been worse.” Parker followed Applebloom’s direction through the orchard, careful not to run into any Royal Guard.
He soon came across two of them—a Celestial guard and the other a Lunar Guard—searching the area for any sign that could lead them to his location. Covering Applebloom’s mouth again, much to her annoyance, he waited for them to leave.
“Found anything yet?” asked the Celestial Guard.
The Lunar Guard, who had been looking through a bush, shook his head. “No, and I don’t think we ever will. They might not even be here anymore.”
“This is pretty big; probably stretches for miles. I doubt he found a way out overnight.”
“He has a whole bunch of devices with him to help him out. He can probably call a UFO to pick him up!”
The Celestial Guard laughed. “You read way too many comic books. They’re starting to mess with your head.”
Nice to know they’re talking about me, Parker thought. Maybe I can find another route that can take me behind them. He stepped carefully through the underbrush to avoid the two ponies blocking his path. Suddenly, a crack echoed. He looked down to see that he had stepped on a twig. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”
He and Apple Bloom looked to see the two Royal Guards staring at them, looks of utter disblief etched across their faces. An uneasy feeling lingered, both sides waiting for the other to make the first move, when the Lunar Guard suddenly yelled out: “We found him! Everypony, he’s here! He’s—”
Parker delivered a hard punch at the guard’s as he passed by. The strike had caused the pony’s helmet to fly off, a huge dent being put in the side. “Ah, shit! Really hope that didn’t kill him!”
The chase renewed itself with Parker on the run once again. Following Apple Bloom’s directions, he made his way through the trees before eventually approaching an opening. He could see a farm house in the distance. That must have been her home. This was perfect; his ticket to freedom. Once he was out of the orchard, he would negotiate for amnesty in return for giving them the filly.
His dreams were shattered when three unicorn guards appeared at the entrance, spears being levitated in front of them. Parker stopped, seeing his path blocked. Those spears could easily pierce his body since he wasn’t a machine. He looked behind to see the ponies closing in on him. They took one step forward, and Parker fired a shot from his plasma pistol.
“Nobody move! Understood?”
They found themselves at a standoff. Parker knew they couldn’t attack at close range without being hit by his weaponry, nor could they attack from a distance without the risk of hitting Apple Bloom. “I don’t want any trouble. Just give me a clean shot at the exit and we can all go home happy.”
“Fat chance, alien,” said Rainbow Dash. “After what you’ve caused, there’s no way we’re letting you get away.”
“Let’s not forget that I’m the one holding all the cards. You can’t attack me without putting this one…” He mentioned Apple Bloom, “in danger.” His inched himself towards the entrance, his sights constantly shifting between the ponies led by Shining Armour and the unicorn guards behind him.
>>Scanning… Multiple hostiles identified… Error… Hostile count down by one… Previous count: 29…
Upon seeing his HUD’s report, Parker did a quick head count of the ponies and saw that one of them was indeed missing. “What happened to the red pony?”
No one answered, except there being a smug look on Applejack’s face. Parker soon heard hooves pounding against the ground and turned to see Big Macintosh charging towards him at full-speed. The last thing he saw before being knocked unconscious was a pair of hooves driven towards his face.
Pain. That was all he could feel after constantly slipping in and out of consciousness. Much of the pain was centered on the side of his head after that red pony—Big Macintosh—kicked him. His CPU was probably damaged, though he didn’t feel any significant effects in his brain, aside from most of his senses being temporarily shot. It reminded him of the first time he ever experienced a hangover. He made a mental note never to drink alcohol again.
Faded voices could be heard, ringing in his head like alarm bells. He opened his eyes and saw that he was being dragged across a stone ground. At that moment, he realised he was being dragged across a town in broad daylight like a prize. He raised his head to see a large crowd of ponies—all of them unicorns—gathered en masse, clearing a way as he was taken to the royal castle.
“See that?” the voice from one of the guards echoed in Parker head. He was so disoriented that he absent-mindedly raised his head high enough to see a gaping hole that’d been put through the castle wall. “You caused it.”
That hole was the last thing the human saw before going unconscious again. After what seemed like hours he woke up, this time in what seemed like a cell. He staggered to his feet, and saw the front of his cell was lacking any bars to keep him separated from the outside, instead being replaced by a weird faded purple barrier.
He walked up to the barrier and placed his hand on it. The sensation was incredible… very indescribable. Balling his fist, he threw a hard punch at it, sending ripples across the barrier, but failing to actually break through.
“You can try to escape all you want, but it won’t do you any good.” The voice was eerily familiar. Shining Armour appeared, accompanied by a trio of Royal Guards.
Parker raised his eyebrow. “Wanna bet?”
“We saw what you were capable of back in Sweet Apple Acres,” the unicorn said, “so we took precautions. Your cell’s been charmed with five layers of magic. Not even a Manticore is strong enough break is able to break through.”
So they have Manticores in this world. Why am I not surprised? “There’s one problem with your theory, pal: I’m not a Manticore.”
“Nevertheless, you’re coming with us to be interrogated.”
“And what if I say no?”
At that moment, spears and crossbows levitated into view, all aimed at Parker. The I-950 saw he had nowhere to go, and ended up glaring at the ponies. After placing magical restraints on his wrist, Shining and his guards led him out of the dungeon.
>>Reboot complete… Status: Online…
Deep within the depths of the Everfree Forest laid the T-X; its sapphire-blue sensors lit up as the machine activated. It surveyed the surrounding area. The map on its Heads-Up Display was unable to determine a proper location. But despite this, its mission hadn’t changed: locate and terminate the treacherous I-950s that dared defect from Skynet.
It looked onto the CPU signal of the nearest target.
>>Target located… I-950 codename: Parker… Approximately 1750 kilometers northeast…
The polymimetic alloy underneath its armour speeded out and engulfed the machine, and within seconds, gave it the appearance of a female Resistance fighter. Its new disguise accepted, the T-X set out with its mission of termination now its number one priority.