A bad egg in Equestria
Chapter 4:
"Aaaaaaaaah!" The scream of a pony echoed as she became another tool for the mad doctor.
Finishing up on the latest batch of captured ponies brought in from the recent battle in Ponyville, the lights around Dr. Robotnik's insidious conversion device shut off. Only one ray of light remained, shining on the newest robot to join the evil genius's minion army.
Huh? Where am I? Why is everything so dark...What's happening? Why can't I move?
After several hours, the lights in the room flicked back on. The egg shaped figure of the machine's creator walked in; he moved around the room, observing the spoils of his latest victory. All of his newly created mechanical soldiers powered as they sensed his presence.
"Now look at all these fine looking models, I just love it what you can get when you used the right materials."
Who's talking? Hello I can here you but I can't open my eyes. Please help me, I can move.
As the doctor walks down the line examine the new recruits he reached the last one. "Well look here, we have another one of you. I must say you creature have yet ceased to astound me." He turns to a cage located on the far side of the room. "It seems that among you there are those who posses hidden traits. Traits that manifest when put through my lovely conversion machine." The doctor then returns to his newest model. "Which result in beauties such as this. It's like finding a rare trading card in a pack."
Uh..Thank you for the compliment but if I could get your help with my body I wou-
"You and those things are monsters!" cried out a pony from the group inside a cage.
I'm not a monster I'm a… What am I? Please someone help me I don't remember anything.
"There no need for such words. Why pretty soon you'll all be just like them." The doctor said to the group of weeping ponies. He then focused back to his lasted creation. "If you're lucky you might become something as special as this…Huh? What wrong with this thing, it's not moving."
That's what I've been trying to tell you.
The doctor fiddled around with the deactivated robot until, "Ah-ha, there we go."
It sprang to life. It was a humanoid looking robot, with long thin appendages, except its legs bent back at the knees. Its head was not separate from its body, instead was a small section at the top of its upside down egg shaped body, that was distinctive only by the change in color. Cast in a silver, with gold colored plates around parts of its arms and legs, the only other color black, was located where its head was, and yellow that flickered from its eyes. It carried a lance in it right hand and wore a solid grey cape on its back. It rose up to face its creator; taller than its master, and awaited orders.
Oh thank you thank you, I can finally see! Wait a minute why can I only see from one eye. Why is my body moving on its own?
"Good to see I didn't need to scrap you from the start. Now just look at you, silver and gold complete with a lance and a cape, now to figure out what to do with you."
A small round robot, a collection of metal plates propelled by rockets with a glass visor and speaker for a face, hovered into the room, "Doctor, reporting on the-" the waving white gloves of the robot's master cut it off.
"Can't you see I'm a little bit busy," Robotnik said, as he pondered what to do with his latest pony converted masterpiece. "Hmm…now what to do with my new knight?"
"Excuse me master."
"What!" the mad man snapped.
The little robot messenger cringed from his masters outburst. "T-the drake is all set to deploy."
An Idea sprang into the demented doctor's head. "That's it! I know just the thing. What's a knight without a trusted steed." he points to the metal knight, "You first mission shall be to head over to the enemy castle. Once there, you shall retrieve the princess and bring her to me, just like a real knight." He chuckled at the thought. "Now head downstairs, your steed waits to carry you off to battle." Finished giving the robo-knight its orders the doctor makes his way out of the room. "Don't mess this mission up, I'm preoccupied with one of our important guest, so I'm counting on you to complete this task."
"Aye-aye sir, I will comply."
That wasn't my voice! What's going on, what am I? Someone anypony please help me!..."anypony"?
Outside the tower, preparations were complete. Groups of stout orange machine men ran about as the silver knight now sat atop his mount. It was a giant metal dragon; razor sharp claws, a jagged set of teeth lined its mouth. Dangerously sharp spines went down its long neck, all the way down to the three sharp edges at the end of its tail. A set of steel plated wings, and a turbine engine located in its belly the give it extra momentum. The purple and green coated mechanical monster roared furiously as it began to take off. The knight spoke not one word; he simply looked off towards the location of his goal, focused solely on pleasing his masters. As the two ripped through the red clouded skies above the conquered lands, they saw one of their brothers in arms. Far in the distance, a light blue steel incased pony was flying about. A streak of blue light formed behind it with each flap of the metal pony's metallic wings propelled her to incredible speeds. The knight and dragon continued onward, they had a task to accomplish.
The two arrived at the location of their target. The knight scanned the area, but could not find the princess. He signaled his dragon mount to descend. The dragon dive-bombed down, landing in the middle of the castle courtyard.
"D-dragon!" a unicorn knight yelled out.
Panicked ponies in the courtyard quickly fled. Unicorn knight moved in to attack the intruder. The dragon swiped its tail and claws, knocking numerous ponies against the castle walls. The mechanical knight jump off his steed and made his way to the castle, while his partner handled the defenses outside. Before the mechanical knight made it inside he was cut off, not by more knight but 4 colorful ponies.
I think I've seen those four somewhere before…
The ponies were surprised at seeing the knight, but they did not back away. The knight lifted his lance and prepared to spear them, but the pink one quickly pulled out a small cannon and opened fire. The blast sent the solid steel knight flying back to the court yard center.
Ow! That really hurt.
"Nice shot there Pinkie," the pony in the cowboy hat complimented.
The knight rose back up and aimed its lance over to the ponies. The lance opened up and fire 4 missiles at the ponies. The light orange mare fire projectiles of her own, she used her tail to fling intercepting apples at the incoming explosives. The fruits managed to hit 3 of the four, the explosions blew out the stained glass windows on the castle walls nearby. Thankfully for the equines the fourth missile was stopped in midair. A strange aura surrounded the last projectile and turned it back towards the knight. The blast launched the robot even further back.
"We did it!" shouted the pink pony.
"Not yet, we still have a dragon to deal with" Twilight Sparkle noted.
The dragon having dispatched the last of the unicorn knights, saw his companion having trouble, and charged in to join the fight.
The girls all gasped as they saw the metallic dragon approach. "Spike!" They horrifyingly yelled, realizing who the monster was and what had become of him.
The dragon didn't pause it kept charging and swiped it claws at them. Applejack and Pinkie Pie managed to dodge the sharp claws, while Fluttershy lifted Twilight away before they could be hit. The two earth ponies jump simultaneously onto the dragon. Their hooves connected with the beast's head denting its metal face. The beast continued to swing its claws and tail, but the girls kept avoiding it. Changing its tactics, the turbine in the metal dragon's belly started up. It suction was strong enough to pull the light yellow pegasus down to the ground. Once its turbines stopped, the dragon opened its mouth and fire began to spew forth. Thankfully the steel clad dragon's movements were slow, so the girls managed to run and avoid their mechanized friend's burning breath.
Meanwhile back on the other side of the courtyard. The silver robot knight had recovered and was making its way back to the fight. Sparks jumped off the robots frame as the explosion did more damage than it had thought.
Why am I doing this? This all feels wrong; I have to find a way to stop this…but how?
The robot picked up is lance walked across the courtyard, pegasus knight appeared to block its way. The flying pony knights' charge and tackle tactics were no use. The computerized knight simply swiped them away with its lance. The robot started rotating its weapon around it like a propeller as it walked; the knights were could not even approach it at this point. More and more pegasus fell until there were none left standing. As it got closer to the scene, something got the machines attention. The cries of a young pony drew the knight towards it.
Who is crying? Where are you going?
The silver robot removed the upside down cart the crying pony was hiding under. There, two unicorns; one a grey filly with short blond hair and a bubble wand cutie mark, the other, an older pink mare with purple hair and a lighter purple stripe with three cut diamonds as her cutie mark. The two were clinging to each other frightened by the approaching metal knight. The robot stepped close and lifted its lance up preparing to thrust.
You can't! This isn't part of your mission, why are you doing this?
The emotionless knight plunged his lance down towards the two unicorns. The eldest held the foal tightly, cringing as the sharp tip approached them.
"Mommy!"
Don't you hurt my muffins!
The knight suddenly stopped. It had deactivated just a second before it would have impaled the two ponies. Realizing they were still alive, the two unicorns crept back from the motionless robot. The unicorns hugged each other, happy to be alive.
*Crash*
A purple tail swung by them, knocking the lifeless metal knight away. The mechanical dragon had seen what befell his companion and was making a rush at the two unicorns. Behind the monster the four ponies who had been fighting it gave chase. Using its turbines to gain a little momentum, the dragon reached the two helpless ponies and prepared to unleash some fiery vengeance. Twilight Sparkle jumped over to the ponies and quickly tried to create a barrier to protect them but she wasn't fast enough. The fires headed straight for them, but something had blocked it.
Standing in front of the three unicorns was the silver knight, its lance opened up like an umbrella blocking the machine drake's flames. "Go, now! Take these two to safety, I will handle this."
Not fully aware of what just happened but thankful for the assistance, the lavender unicorn nodded. She called out to her friend. "Fluttershy!" The light yellow pegasus began to fly in.
Noticing what they were doing the dragon turned its head to aim towards the pegasus. That's when the knight charged and attacked the dragon. Taking the opportunity the pegasus flew in and carried the two unicorns to safety. The other three ponies watched as the silver knight face off against its former partner. The beast no longer recognizing the knight as one of its own, swiped its massive claws down on it. Using its lance the robot deflected the dragon's repeated claw and tail swipes. The creature move to chomp down on its enemy, picking the knight up with its massive jaw. Using its strength, the knight stopped the dragon from biting down, and fire rockets from its lance, down the mechanical drake's neck. The explosions damaged the dragon robot, causing it to no longer function from the neck up.
The knight hit the ground hard; the stress from holding the metal beast mouth open had caused the joints in its arms and legs to overheat. The beast, still moving, activated its turbine. The suction was overpowering; it ripped the knights flowing cape from its shoulders. The robot was too close and was being pulled in the.
It gave one look over to the unicorn that was just about to jump in to save it, and stuck its hand out. "Do not interfere." And with that it charged forward.
Rockets on the knights back powered up as it made its approach into the beasts spinning belly. The lance tore through the inside of the dragon, piecing through to the other side. The spinning blades of the turbine wrecked heavy damage on the knight's metal frame, but its kept rocketing through. Finally skewering the metal beast, the robot knight then jumped on the robots back. It body was heavily damaged, missing a leg and an arm, it launched one final attack. The lance plunged deep into the dragons back and the sounds of explosions quickly followed. The dragon was being destroyed from the inside as rocket after rocket went off. The metal beast was slain, and on its back was the now deactivated knight who bested it. The four ponies that remained around the two, realized what was about to happen and ran away from the blast zone as fast as they could. The explosion from the two machines rocked the castle grounds, The bodies of the knight and its former steed vanished in the giant ball of fire.
After things had settled, doctors and nurses quickly rushed into the courtyard to attend to injured. Doctors and nurse were working hard tending to the various wounded pegasus and unicorn knights
"Somepony get me a stretcher! These two are in bad shape!" yelled a pony doctor, standing over an injured baby dragon and a grey blonde haired pegasus pony, who lay in the middle of the courtyard.
Inside of the castle main hall, makeshift beds still scattered all over, standing by one of those beds, four ponies waited around for their dear friend. Recovering from his ordeal was a baby dragon named Spike. As he got a glimpse of his surrounding for the first time, he noticed four familiar sets of eyes looking directly at him. Each of the four girls had a smile on their face, happy to have one of their friends back.
The unicorn fought back her tears enough to utter her dear friend's name, "Spike…"
"We're glad to have you back partner," said earth pony wearing the cowboy hat.
The light yellow pegasus was shedding tears of joy upon seeing the dragon's smiling face again. Beside the teary eyed pony, a small party popper went off in the hooves of the pink earth pony who reminded them all that this was a moment to celebrate.
"Hey girls, what's going on? How come I'm in bed? Did I fall asleep of something?" The girls simply surrounded their dragon friend and gave him a group hug.
"Oh spike."
Across from the bed where the infant dragon was resting in, two unicorns were happy to have their own reunited family member.
"Mommy! Mommy! I knew you weren't gone, I just knew it," the little grey unicorn rejoiced as she hopped on the bed and wrapped her arms tightly around her mother's neck. The elder pink unicorn daughter simply placed her head over her mother's shoulder trying her best not to cry, but little snivels couldn't help but come out from her.
The walleyed pegasus hugged both of her daughters tightly, wrapping her wings around them. "It's okay my precious muffins. Mommy is here, we're still together. A happy family."
The three reunited mares shared tears of joy. A happy ending, something that everypony could certainly do more with in these dark times.