Rise of The Robopony
Chapter 4: Preperations
Malcom was now leading Trixie through the halls of his ship with two of his drones behind her, he was now wearing a black leather cape that nearly draped to the floor. Trixie was no longer wearing her hat and cape as she followed behind the human with great fear. She was now his prisoner and had no idea why he took her. She was afraid to speak, but her curiosity got the better of her.
“Excuse me, but, what exactly do you want with me?”
Malcom didn’t turn around as he answered her. “You are going to be my study pet. I just want to learn what I can about magic. The only reason you’re here is because you were the first unicorn my drones found. My name is Malcom, but you will call me sir. As long as you do what I say and when I say it, no harm will come to you.”
Trixie was still curious about something. “And, how long am I going to be here?”
Malcom stopped in his tracks. He turned to face her and kneeled down to her eye level. “You will be here as long as it takes, if you have any more questions, I suggest you keep them to yourself as I am not a patient man.” He turned back around and continued to lead Trixie through the halls.
Back in Equestria, in Ponyville, Steele Mane was able to use his science to make himself a metal house next to Twilight’s. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all standing in front of the building with Steele Mane looking at them. Applejack asked Steele Mane about the building. “So, what’s with this here place you set up fer yerself Steele Mane?”
Steele Mane looked to her as he answered. “This building will be my workshop, I have an idea that will benefit us all. But I will need your help to pull it off, as long as you will be willing to fight, I can provide you with the necessary tools.”
The girls all looked at each other before they gave their response. Twilight answered first. “You can count on me Steele Mane, just tell us what you need.”
Pinkie jumped forward. “Yeah, just say the word and we’ll get you what you need.”
Steele Mane smiled at them, knowing full well he could count on them for anything. “I need gemstones, at least six sets of tweleve.”
Rarity got curious at this. “Whatever do you need so many gemstones for?”
“I will be able to easily manipulate and alter their structure for what I have in store.”
Rainbow Dash then came forward with a question. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
Steele Mane just smiled at her as he responded. “That is a surprise.”
Then Pinkie got excited at the mention of a surprise. “A surprise? OH BOY, I love surprises, can’t you give us a hint as to what it is? PLEASE?”
“Sorry Pinkie, but you will just have to wait, now shall we go gem hunting?”
Rarity spoke up again. “Actually darling, it just so happens that I know a spell that lets me locate gems easily, with me, you will have the stones you need in no time.”
Steele Mane was pleased with this. “You are capable of locating gems? Impressive.”
Rarity gave a little blush at Steele’s comment. “Oh, it’s nothing really. Now then, shall we.”
While the group went off gem hunting for whatever Steele Mane had, back on the ship, Malcom had Trixie in a large whit round room while he was looking at her from a viewing window with a robot sitting at a console next to him. “All right unicorn, this is the first test I will give you.”
Trixie glared at the human through the window. “My name is Trixie, I may be your prisoner, but that doesn’t mean you can be disrespectful.”
Malcom gave an evil smile as he reached into his pocket with his robotic arm and pulled out the remote to Trixie’s collar. “I don’t care if your name is mud, I will call you whatever I want, or do you need a reminder of what that collar on your neck can do.”
Trixie gulped as she remembered what happened the last time Malcom pushed the button on that remote. “No, I don’t, I’ll be quiet.”
“Good, now this first test is to see how well you can defend yourself with your magic. D-23, begin the test, all you need to do, unicorn is put up a force field around you and hold it for as long as you can.” The droid then pushed a series of buttons on the console, a whole series of panels opened up along the walls of the room Trixie was in and lasers emerged from them. “Once your field fails, the lasers will stop,……maybe.”
Trixie gulped in fear again at his statement. She simply readied herself and put up the strongest magic field she could.
A few hours later in Ponyville, the group had successfully found all the gems Steele Mane needed for whatever he had planned. “Thank you for your help every pony. Now that I have what I need, I can begin my work and make you the surprise I promised, however, it will take some time for me to complete them.”
Fluttershy began to wonder about that statement. “How long will it take Steele?”
“If I work continuously, it will take me about three days to complete the task, this is a delicate process after all.”
The girls got worried at this, Twilight came forward to address Steele Mane about this. “But, what if Malcom attacks, what are we supposed to do then?”
Rainbow agreed. “Yeah, and besides, three days of nonstop working, that’s no fun, how are we supposed to hang out if your too busy working nonstop?”
Steele Mane gave them a comforting smile as he spoke. “It’s all right girls, I know Malcom and he is most likely getting ready for something big himself as well. We will be ready for him, I promise.”
Applejack spoke up then. “Well, all right Steele, we trust ya, but three days nonstop, are ya sure you can do it?”
“I may have emotions like you, but I am still a robot, I do not require sleep like you. I will be fine. In the meantime, you all should just enjoy yourselves until I am done.” Steele Mane then used his horn to drag the wagon of gems with him into his new workshop to begin his project. The girls were still worried for their friend, but what he was working on must be important, so they left him to it.
Back up on the ship, Trixie was in the middle of another test from Malcom, she was exhausted. “How much longer do I have to do this?” Trixie was tasked with lifting a large metal ball almost as big as she was with her telekinesis.
“As long as I say you do, now stop whining and keep lifting!” Malcom was getting annoyed with her complaining about his tests. He was about ready to fill her body with another jolt of electricity. “Do you know why I work with robots instead of others like myself? Because robots don’t talk back! They do what they are programmed to do, and the robots under my control are programmed to do what I say. They don’t talk back, they don’t second guess, and they certainly don’t complain, now, KEEP LIFTING!”
Trixie turned back to the ball and continued with the test.
Three days went by with nothing major going on, the girls had gathered around Steele Manes workshop, hoping he would come out soon, they were a little sad they were unable to hang out with him. Twilight finally stepped forward and knocked on the metallic door. “Steele Mane, are you done yet, it’s been three days and we would like to at least see you.”
The door finally opened and Steele Mane poked his head out. “Hello girls, you are just in time, I just put the finishing touches on my surprise for you. Wait here a moment.” Steele Mane then went back inside. A moment later, he came back out, levitating six metal looking necklaces with a circle around a button at the center.
Pinkie got excited at the site of her surprise. “OH BOY!” She then ran over, grabbed one of the necklaces and placed it around her neck.
Steele Mane tried to stop her. “Pinkie, wait, I need to explain-“ Before he could finish his sentence, Pinkie had pushed the button on her necklace and her body became enveloped in metal. It went down her back and covered every inch of her down to her hooves, except for her mane, tail, and head. The metal came up and stopped at just around where her head connected to her neck and came up to her ears on the side of her head where two round discs formed and a visor appeared in front of her eyes, it was a clear white. Where Pinkie’s joints were, there was a dark pink coloring around it, as well as at the base of her hooves.
The girls all looked on in wonder at what Pinkie was wearing and Rainbow Dash was more impressed. “NO WAY, that is so cool. Steele Mane, what is that?”
Before he could explain, Pinkie called out again. “Hey girls, check this out!” Suddenly, a pair of metallic wings emerged from her sides and produced pink light feathers, much like Steele Mane’s wings. Then Pinkie started to zip around the air as she cried out in joy and excitement. The girls all watched in confusion and wonder.
By this time, Steele Mane looked like he was about to short out again, the necklaces he brought out had fallen to the ground. “But….how did she……she couldn’t have……illogical….illogical.” He did it again, Pinkie caused him to go into another thought loop again.
Pinkie just floated down next to him without touching the ground, raised her hoof, and, *CLANG*. All while still smiling. Steele Mane came back to his senses. The girls just looked in confusion at the scene. Finally, Pinkie landed in front of Steele Mane so the others could get a good look at what Pinkie had on. Twilight was the first to comment on it.
“Steele Mane, this looks incredible, what is it?”
Steele Mane was still in a little shock. “Pinkie, how did you know that one was for you, and how to work it?”
Pinkie just looked at him with a smile, she opened her mouth to answer but then paused and looked like she was thinking . “Lucky guess?” Is all she said. Steele Mane’s jaw literally fell off at Pinkie’s statement and hit the ground.
The girls looked to him in shock that his jaw actually fell off at what Pinkie said. Pinkie just stood there with a smile while still wearing her new armor. Finally, Steele Mane’s self-repair system kicked in and his jaw flew back up and reattached itself to his head. Steele Mane was finally ready to explain what it was Pinkie was wearing.
“Well,….anyway, what Pinkie is wearing is a new combat suit I made for each of you. As you have seen, they have flight capabilities. They also have a built in shielding system, meaning that while you are wearing them, there will be a shield around you at all times to deflect unfriendly fire like lasers and such. Each one has its own unique weapons.”
Rainbow dash couldn’t contain her excitement any more. “This…is so…..AWSOME! Which one is mine!”
Steele Mane then levitated the necklaces off the ground and moved each of them in front of the others, the girls took the necklace in front of them and placed them on their necks and did the same thing Pinkie did. Twilights suit had purple rings around her joints and at her hooves. Applejack’s had orange, Rainbow Dash’s had light blue, Fluttershy’s was yellow, and Rarity’s was violet.
Steele Mane began to explain more about the suit. “The suits are thought activated, once you know what they are capable of, you just need to think of what you want to do and the suit will respond. Twilight, your suit is equipped with an EMP blaster.”
Twilight had never heard of this. “What’s an EMP blaster?”
“EMP stands for electro-magnetic pulse, basically, it fires a pulse of concentrated electrical wave that effectively shuts down anything electronic that gets hit by it, just be careful not to hit me with it.” Steele Mane chuckled nervously at his statement. “Try and bring it out.”
Twilight concentrated on the weapons and a pair of small cylinders emerged from her shoulders, they moved and rotated around a bit before stopping to face in the same direction Twilight was facing. She then noticed a circle with four lines appear on her visor that seemed to move with the guns. “Steele, what’s that circle in front of me?”
Steele Mane began to explain more. “The visor in front of your eyes is your targeting system, wherever the circle is pointing, your guns will hit it.”
Rainbow’s suit had covered her wings as well, the tips of her feathers were a light blue color matching the other coloring she had, same with Fluttershy’s suit. Rainbow just had to know what her suit could do. “What about my suit? What kind of cool weapon do I get?”
“Your suit is equipped with a thunder cannon, it fires a blast of electricity, it’s like a gun that shoots lightning, very powerful.”
“SWEET!” She then thought about the gun, a large cylindrical object emerged from her back and it came around to her shoulder, it was wide and round with a sharp cone on the front. It had two rods on the top of it at angels. Rainbow Dash just let out a huge fan girl squeal at her new weapon and suit.
Steele Mane then turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie your suit-“ *BOOOOM* Steele Mane stared at Pinkie as she had her weapon out and already used it to blow up a small nearby tree.
“Neat, I got a bazooka!” She also had a large cylindrical metal weapon that emerged from her back and came around to her shoulder, it had a hole in the front for its projectile.
The girls and Steele Mane stared at her in shock. Pinkie just looked back at them as her weapon disappeared back into her suit. “What?” She said with a smile.
Steele Mane was starting to have second thoughts about giving Pinkie such a dangerous weapon. He just shrugged it off and went over to Applejack to tell her about her weapon. “Applejack, your suit comes with a pair of electro whips, they are long metal tentacles that has electricity surge through them. You can easily shock an enemy with them.”
“Well I’ll be. Let’s give a test.” Applejack then produced two long metal tentacles from her back, she was able to figure out how to make them move with just her thoughts, she even made two lassos with them as she twirled them above her. “Yeeehaw!” She was having fun with hers.
Next came Rarity. “So what does my suit do dear?”
“Your suit has a pair of energy star launchers, they are energy based sharp projectiles that can easily slice through metal, or explode if they actually stick to a target.”
Rarity brought out her weapons, they were long rectangular and almost flat. “Well, they do look rather sleek. Thank you Steele Mane.” Steele just smiled at her.
Finally, it was Fluttershy to learn of her suit. “Um, Steele, I don’t know if I can do this, I don’t like to fight.”
The girls all had their weapons put away and made their way over to Fluttershy to see if they could make her feel better. Applejack was the first to say something. “Now sugar cube, none of us likes ta fight either, but this is fer the sake of our home, if’n you really don’t want to fight, I’ll understand.”
Rarity agreed. “Quite right dear, as much as I hate violence, since it is rather unlady like, it is something that must be done, but if you do feel so strongly about it, we’ll understand.”
Fluttershy then closed her eyes and shook her head, she looked back up at her frieds. “Your right, I don’t like it, but that meanie needs to learn that it’s not ok to hurt others, I’ll help if I can. So what does my suit have.”
Steele Mane smiled at her. “Your suit is equipped with a sniper laser gun. This way, all you have to do is pick off targets from a distance. Your gun will allow you to see great distances so you can shoot at enemies from a safe distance, you won’t have to worry about being in the thick of it, think of it as a support role. Is that ok with you?”
Fluttershy smiled at Steele Mane. “Thank you Steele, that sounds just fine.”
Steele mane then remembered something else he forgot to mention. "Two more things about your suits, they have a built in communications system so we can stay in touch should we get separated or need to split up. Finally, your suit has a space flight function, if we are going to stop malcom, we are going to need to attack him at his ship. Your suits can form a complete helmet and cover your mane and tail so you can fly in space.”
Rainbow’s eyes lit up at this. “NO WAY, we’ll actually be able to fly off the planet, that is so cool!”
Twilight came forward with a question. “So when do we make our move?”
“We don’t, we have to wait for Malcom to make his, if we leave now, we could leave the country unprotected, I just know he is planning some kind of invasion. We will just have to wait for it so we can crush every one of his droids.”
Back up on the ship, Malcom was ready to give his orders. “D-173, are all preparations ready for the invasion?”
A robot on his left responded. “Affirmative, all attack and construction drones are ready.”
“Excelent, open the com system.”
“Yes sir.”
Malcom spoke through the speaker system on his ship to address all his robots. “ATTENTION ALL ATTACK FORCE, REMEMBER, I WANT THOSE PONIES ALIVE, THEY WILL MAKE EXCELLENT SLAVES. I WANT EVERY CITY IN THAT COUNTRY UNDER MY CONTROL, NOW GET DOWN THERE AND GET ME MY GEMS!” The invasion has begun. Let’s just hope our heroes will make it through this.