//------------------------------// // Element of Cruelty // Story: Fluttershy's home for Reforming Monsters // by JeckParadox //------------------------------// Sar noticed it first, after all, he noticed almost everything. His sensors were beyond the senses of any living thing. But he didn't need his super-advanced sensors to notice this. It arrived on the air, and then things just started happening. It affected the weather first. Commander Fluttershy was at Applejack's farm, and left Sar in charge of the cabin. The clouds began to turn pink, and almost all at once, began sprinkling chocolate rain. His brain tried to comprehend why this was happening for a solid twelve seconds before deciding to stop in self-preservation. His eyestalk turned as he noticed the animals begin to notice the candy in the sky for themselves. The birds were making the motions of taking off, but a screech from Sar got the attention of every animal in the home. "Attention vermin! I am going out to investigate the strange occurrences. Angel is in charge. If any of you leave and begin to gorge on the magically-created calories, Commander Fluttershy will be disappointed with you, and I will be angry with you. Stay and behave, or face my eternal wrath. That is all, resume your mindless motion." The animals rolled their eyes and sighed, but they took the command seriously. Over the months that Sar had been staying with them they had begun to respect the death machine. Sar flew off toward Applejack's farm, scanning for Fluttershy. He located her trying to convince some squirrels to stop gorging on the gigantic apples. The cornfield was somehow drying, combusting and salting itself instantly, the clouds were a sticky-sweet candy, and it was somehow producing limitless amounts of chocolate milk. Sar was familiar with the pony magics, but this was ridiculous. "Please stop, those aren't for you... oh dear... please don't ruin your appetites would you-" "Commander Fluttershy!" Sar shouted, flashing his lights and thrumming his levitators, scaring off the squirrels. "Oh, hello Sar, thank you, they just weren't listening to me..." "Thaht's not all they're doing!" Applejack warned as the rabbits' legs suddenly extended and became hoofed. "Don't worry everypony! I've learned a new spell that can fix everything!" Twilight said proudly, eyeing a blue book for a second before lighting her horn. A huge wave of pink energy covered everything. Sar shielded himself and watched Fluttershy just in case the spell was harmful. The wave passed with no effect. "My failsafe spell... failed... what do we do now?!" Sar paced, nervous, Commander Fluttershy and her pony friends had gone to the capital to investigate the strange magic, but about an hour later the landscape had began shifting, colors changing, gravity acting strangely. His sensors were beginning to overload just trying to understand what was occurring. Just another half hour later, and nursing a sensor-overload headache, when Fluttershy came back home. "Commander Fluttershy!" Sar greeted. "What news do you have about the chao-" "Stuff it robot." She said snarklily, marching inside and shoving Angel to the side. Sar blinked, staring at his Commander. "Commander, what happened to your light refraction?" "It got lost, just like those loser friends of mine." She said smugly, reclining into her couch. Using the pillow for Angel she would always treat so preciously as a hoof-rest. Sar's sensor overload headache got worse. Less physical laws were being broken. But Fluttershy acting like this was... unprecedented... "Commander... what happened?" "What happened? What happened? Simple. I just realized how lenient I am with everypony, and I'm fed up with it." She said simply. "No more miss nice me, from now on I do whatever I want, when i want it." Sar shook in place for a second. "....Commander?" "What is it? Spit it out, you should have more nerve than this, I'm disappointed in you." Sar shuddered at the words, a sudden pain that coursed through his very genes, bypassing his headache. Fluttershy was disappointed in him. "Commander, you're acting strangely in accordance with your past behaviour, your coat has changed color, and I am curious about what occurred while you were in Canterlot. I would like answers and explanations." "I gave you all the explanation you need." Fluttershy said, waving him off. "Now go get me something to drink, I'm parched." Sar nearly flew into the kitchen, and with the speed needed to pilot a ship mid-lightspeed, filled a glass of water and brought it back to her without spilling a drop. Fluttershy looked at it for a second before picking it up and dumping it on Sar. She placed the glass over his eyestalk and tapped it a few times, making the eyestalk flinch. "I want a smoothie, idiot. Now go back and do it right, and don't you dare drop that glass. You're already so worthless, if you dropped it you'd dip into negative points." Sar shuddered, almost brought to screaming by the comment. "Yes Commander!" He said enthusiastically. He had to be useful, he had to be useful, he had to be useful!! Sar went back to the kitchen incredibly quickly. "What flavor do you desire Commander?!" "Hush. You're hurting my ears, I mean sheesh, you're one of the worst servants I've ever seen! And please, you've lived with me long enough. You should know what kind of flavor I want, Angel would know... but I guess a stupid Dalek can't even compare with a stupid rabbit, huh?" Sar stared at her for a full second, visibly twitching. "...of course, Commander! My eternal apologies!" He turned back into the kitchen. Discorded Fluttershy smirked. She was going to make that Dalek cry before the day was through, she decided. "Useless!" She hissed, tossing the glass on the growing pile on top of Sar's eyestalk, which was now twitching, making minute differences to balance the tower of glasses. "Get it right this time, are you so incompetent you can't make your master the right smoothie?!" "Please, please tell me what you want!" Sar pleaded. "I didn't hear a 'Commander' in there you worthless sheep!" "Apologies Commander! Apologies Commander! My eternal apologies Commander!" "You're overdoing it. Now get me the right smoothie! My throat's getting parched. Or don't you care? You don't give a ponyfeather about my well-being do you? You don't respect me in the slightest." "Commander, I'm sorry! I am devoted to you! I'll die at your command! I will declare war on the universe at your slighest whim Commander! I respect you more than anything else in the universe! I hold an incredible metaphorical amount of respect for you Commander!!" Sar pleaded, shaking, but keeping his armor still so as not to upset the pile. "Are you saying I'm wrong?" She asked slyly. "nononononono!" Sar crooned. "Nononono! You are not wrong! I need to respect you more Commander! Commander is always right!! I'll declare war on the multiverse for you!!" Fluttershy thought for a moment before smirking. "Would you go to war with your fellow Daleks?" She asked. Sar stopped. Everything stopped. His body inside his armor began shivering. His loyalty to the Dalek race and his loyalty to his Commander had always been one and the same. How could he choose between them? "Well Sar?! Hmph. I guess an oath of loyalty doesn't mean as much to you Daleks as it does to a pony." Sar stopped shivering. His eye, his real eye, closed. And he took a deep breath of his recycled air. "....Commander... please, please don't say that." "Oh? You can't choose between me and your dead friends who hated you, what does that say about your loyalty to me?" "Commander... please stop...y-y-you are... not wrong, never wrong... misinformed?" He quivered for a moment. "..y-yes... you are misinformed from my own incompetence! Commander Fluttershy, a Dalek's loyalty is complete. I am completely loyal to you and the Dalek race. Both! Equally! Please stop questioning it! You have misunderstood though my own error!" Fluttershy rolled off the couch, and fluttered up to Sar's eyestalk. She whipped her hoof across it, sending the glasses to the floor. "I don't misunderstand Sar. I understand completely. I'm always right, so when I say that, I must mean it. And I still press it. You have given me your explanation, but I still stand by that you're less loyal than a pony, because you won't pick your Commander over your race. Understood Dalek? Understood? I understand." Sar shivered, he attempted to activate his self destruct, but it wouldn't work. It had been deactivated. By his previous Commander. As punishment. For his inferiority. For his disloyalty. He had questioned Dalek Jeck. And so he was stranded without laser, without temporal shift, without self destruct. He had failed before. He was failing now. He just stopped. His breathing was irregular. He felt like screaming, but it wouldn't come out. Fluttershy smirked. "For a killing machine you sure are sensitive. Are you crying Sar?" "I-I-I-I... don't know..." "Lift up your lid. You already failed at balancing the glasses, so you have no reason not to." He was in the negatives, he thought hopelessly. Did Fluttershy keep a point system? Did every glass count as another point? Did each glass count exponentially? He shuddered as his shell opened, revealing his weak, fleshy, mutated body to Fluttershy. "How ugly." she said with a wide, evil grin. "Are you crying Sar?" "I... don't know..." He croaked with his natural, high, throaty voice. "Can Daleks even make tears?" "...y-yes..." he whispered. "Cry for me." Sar began wailing. The door burst open and Twilight and Applejack rushed in. "Fluttershy we're here to-" Twilight stopped as she took in the scene. A gleefully smiling Fluttershy standing over a wailing, exposed Sar. "...Fluttershy? What's going on?" "Oh? Well, Sar here realized how terrible he is at being a Dalek. So he started crying like a wimp." Applejack frowned. "Sorry bout' this Fluttershy." She whipped the rope at the gray Pegasus. "Sar, defend me!" Fluttershy screeched, and the Dalek was suddenly in the way of the lasso. "I-is this acceptable, Commander?" Sar whispered, trying to stop crying. "We'll see. Now then, these two aren't welcome here. Boot them out." "Yes Commander Fluttershy." The armor closed around him and he turned on the unicorn and the earth pony. "Whoah! Hold on ere', you can tell that there's something wrong with her, right?!" Applejack tried hopefully. "We're here to help Fluttershy, she's not well, Discord put a spell on her!" "Sar, she's still in my house." Fluttershy clarified. "...A spell?" "Yes! Can't you tell she's acting differently?!" Twilight motioned toward the angry gray mare. "Sar! Get them out of here.... I'll conquer Equestria with you, help prove you aren't useless." Sar stopped, looking toward Fluttershy. War?! She was offering him war, and a chance to prove himself! "Fluttershy stop! This isn't you! The real Fluttershy would never want something like that! The real Fluttershy wouldn't call him useless in the first place!" Twilight clarified. Sar looked at the two of them before roaring, his plunger-arm locking onto Twilight's face as he dragged her outside. He then turned back inside and grabbed Applejack's tail as she tried to run, tossing her outside as well. Then he turned back to Fluttershy. "Huh. I guess you aren't completely worthless. I might actually think you're more useful than dust for a few seconds-" She was stopped as Sar grabbed onto her hoof with the plunger and dragged her outside. "CURE HER." Sar screamed. "TRAITOR!" Fluttershy called. Sar gasped and stopped moving. But he shook himself and brought her closer to the other two ponies. "cure her!" Sar demanded. Twilight nodded and lit her horn, putting it to Fluttershy's forehead and causing the mare to growl, but soon her colors reappeared. And she began to cry. "SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR" She yelled, jumping out from under Twilight and hugging the machine. "I'm so sorry! You're the most powerful, bravest, most loyal Dalek in the universe, and that means a lot, understood!" "Understood!" Sar said, almost blubbering. Twilight smiled at the scene as Fluttershy flattered and apologized to the Dalek over and over, but eventually she let out a groan of impatience. "As touching as this is, the rest of our friends are all like this too! We need to cure them as well and-" "Sar, go after Rainbow Dash, we'll handle the others." Fluttershy commanded. "I trust you to capture her unharmed." "Yes Commander Fluttershy!" And then there was a crater in the ground as the Dalek zoomed off into the distance, becoming not much more than a dot in the sky. Twilight and Applejack gaped. Fluttershy wiped a few more tears out of her eyes. "You're a good Dalek Sar!" She called, before trotting toward town. "I must say, that was spectacular!" Discord said appreciatively from the background. "Ha! I should applaud myself for that, and to think, maybe forced Discordization is better? More potent?" He thought for a few seconds. "Meh, why should I care. Now then... what else can I do to a Dalek than what's happened so far-" "Ello!" "Huh?" "I'm the Doctor, the oncoming storm. I've decided to protect this planet, understood? The ponies here are good, and I will defend them. Believe me, you have made the wrong choice by-" Discord rolled his eyes and snapped his talons, and with a flash the Doctor was surrounded by the floating pictures of past companions. "OH MY GOD THE GUILT!" He screamed, running away. Discord chuckled as he flew off toward his throne to await his impending doom. All part of the plan after all. He couldn't touch the elements of Harmony, and Twilight had already proven that she could resist his Discordization, and that all her friends were able to be brought back, so it was only a matter of time before he was sent to stone again. Not that he cared, he would sleep another few hundred years and pop back up with nopony ready for him. And maybe that time he could swipe the Elements permanently. They were fun game pieces, but perhaps they could have other uses. Ah well. He summoned a pocketwatch that exploded the moment it opened. "Right on schedule." He said happily, turning toward the six friends and readying his speech.