Techorse

by Spirals95

Part 5 (chapters 18-21)

The sun had risen over Appleloosa and heated the outdoors to an unbearable 91 degrees Fahrenheit. It was hot, but the urge to save their town was hotter, and the citizens began stockpiling pies, rocks, and any other things they could find to defend their home against Gunslinger. For you see, losing their sheriff had made the townspeople less than happy. Despite their fear, they would not board that train now, the anger in their hearts had motivated them to take a stand. The colts and mares of Appleloosa would fight until the bitter end against those robots, even if it meant the destruction of their home. As the team went to the train station, Twilight took notice of the citizen’s activities.

“They’re gathering weapons.” said Twilight, “The ponies are going to try their luck against the robots.”

“Better than boarding that train.” replied Rarity, “It’s probably cramped in there.”

Pinkie Pie couldn’t resist justifying her binge last night and said, “I told you we were going to need those pies! You should have brought some.”

A brown colt with a silver mane approached Pinkie Pie and said, “Ah! It’s you again! Listen ma’m, we need your help. When the robots arrive, please start singing as loudly as possible. We want them to fall right into our traps.”

Twilight Sparkle nudged the colt out of the way and said, “Very funny, but she’s not here to start another war, mister. Keep moving.”

Rainbow Dash grew increasingly curious at the sheer number of traps and throwing objects the townsponies had built up to do battle with the robots. Most every building had a bag of bricks ready to use to put some dents in robot armor. Others had built up tank traps out of wood and concrete to stop the tracked robots whenever possible. A few had copied Applejack’s log trap design and hid them inside the alleys between the buildings. The entire town was well-prepared, but there was still fear in the faces of all the ponies. They knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, even if they won the upcoming battle. Braeburn led the 7 around to the train station, where they looked at the clock.

“It’s 10:57.” he said, “3 minutes before this place changes forever.”

Fluttershy tried to comfort Braeburn, “Everything will be ok.” She said, “Trust me.” Braeburn went over to an apple barrel, and then placed 6 apples in his holsters. He looked like a man at the Alamo, with the sad expression indicating lack of hope.

He then said, “Look, it’s been a good time, but with the sheriff gone, everypony wants me to lead ‘em. Goodbye.” Applejack hugged her cousin.

“Take care, Braeburn”, she said, “Come back in one piece.” Braeburn broke away from Applejack, then nodded and galloped away to go lead his ponies.

3 minutes can seem like an eternity when all heck is supposed to break loose after them. In fact, it was causing great impatience amongst the friends, especially Rainbow Dash.

“Where is that human?” she demanded.

Techorse said to her, “Just wait a minute. When he gets here, you’ll get your chance to attack.” Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air and used her wings to hover.

Twilight said, “Look girls, this is probably the most dangerous battle we’re going to face. If any of us get captured, it will be up to the rest of us to finish our mission.”

Techorse extended his laser cannons and said to Twilight, “But none of us will get captured. I’m going to make sure of that.”

Rarity announced, “That’s a good thing. I’m in a terrible condition to be captured, all sweaty from this heat.”

Techorse shook his head and continued looking down the track. On the well-lit horizon, a cloud of dust was flanking a dark metal cube shaped object.

“That’s him!” shouted Pinkie Pie, “I gotta go tell somepony!” Pinkie Pie disappeared in a blur.

“So much for her helping us”, said Twilight with a big sigh.

Rainbow Dash volunteered, “I’ll go after her.”

“No!” said Techorse, “She’s going to give the citizens warning. Because Gunslinger’s a little early, that’s too important to give up. Without this knowledge, the citizens won’t see it coming.”

Pinkie Pie was already hopping through the streets, warning, and shouted, “He’s here! They’re coming! Break out the comfort food!” The citizens dove for their makeshift traps and weapons. They assembled in a line with their pies, apples, and stones, and began marching forward to meet the robots in combat.

Gunslinger’s train pulled up to the station, along with his forty robots. The human stepped off the front of the steam train and was met with the six ponies staring right at him.

“Gunslinger,” said Techorse like a comic book hero, “are you ready to give up, or are we going to have to make you?”

Gunslinger looked at the ponies and said, “Hey, if it ain’t Techman the pony.”

Techorse gave him a dirty look and said, “My name’s not Techman. It’s now Techorse. You have a problem with that?”

Gunslinger flicked the rim of his hat, “Not a bit. It’s just funny how you’ve been reduced to one of them.”

Fluttershy said, “That’s what the last human said, before he quit.” Gunslinger took out a revolver and pushed the barrel in Fluttershy’s face. She ran away screaming, disappearing around the corner of one of the buildings nearby.

Gunslinger replaced the gun in his holster and said, “What do you ponies want anyway?”

Rainbow Dash flew and pushed her nose into Gunslinger’s face, “We’re here to stop you from getting what you want! Not a single pony in this town is getting on your train!”

Gunslinger pushed her back with both arms and shouted, “You pretty ponies think you can stop me from loadin’ up my train? I think you won’t, cause there’s only one thing pretty ponies are good for.”

He then jumped up in the air, did a flip, and landed on Rarity’s back, nearly knocking her down with his weight. The human then smacked her bottom hard and yelled, “Giddyup!”

Twilight said ominously to him, “Big mistake.” Rarity’s left eye twitched, and then she flew into a rage.

“IT. IS. ON!!!” she screamed, and with a large buck kicked Gunslinger off into the dirt. Rarity turned on the man and pounced on him.

“How dare you treat me like some little tart!” she yelled as she beat on the human with her front hooves. Gunslinger pushed the enraged pony off of him, and then jumped back onto his train.

“You ponies are crazy!” he yelled, rubbing a sore spot on his face left from the many impacts he had just suffered. Pointing to his robots, he told them, “Regardless of your little attacks, I’ll be takin’ this town anyway.” Just then, a group of 50 ponies approached him. Leading them was Braeburn.

“Wait!” called Braeburn, “We’ve decided to try a settlement. We 50 ponies will go with you if you don’t attack the town.”

“No Braeburn!” cried Applejack, “Don’t do it!”

Braeburn said to Applejack, “Our town can’t handle this attack. We’ve seen the robots. There’s no other way, I’m sorry.”

Gunslinger considered the proposal calmly. The man stroked his mustache once, and then nodded his head.

“Ok, I’ll take that deal. I’ll save on robots that way.”

He opened the doors on the train cars, and filed the 50 citizens in, while the 6 ponies watched in horror as by this time, Fluttershy had returned. The second the last pony was in the train, Gunslinger locked the doors and then ordered his 40 robots to attack the town via his communications device in the steam train.

Applejack shouted at Gunslinger, “We had a deal! Look here, mister, I’m gonna lay you out if you so much as hurt 1 Appleloosian.”

Gunslinger said in a mockingly cute tone, “Aw look, the little cowgirl pony wants to stop me. It’s so adorable, I might just puke.”

Twilight shouted, “The townsponies willingly boarded your train! But you’re still ordering your robots to hunt the others out. What is wrong with you?”

Gunslinger said plainly, “I lied to ‘em. Even if they all showed up, I would have sent the robots out to pick up the rest of ‘em. Deception is just how I get things done ‘round here.” The man straightened his leather vest with one hand while working with his train's controls with the other. “Now that I have half of ‘em, the other half won’t be able to stop those robots.” He then laughed evilly and started up his train’s engine.

“Take care.” he said, “I’ll be back for the rest of ya later.”

Techorse opened fire with his laser cannons, missing Gunslinger and marking the steam train with laser burns. The train was slowly pulling away, but it had to turn around on the track ahead before it could make its way back to the factory.

“Let’s board the train”, said Rainbow Dash, “make our way to that engine, and beat the crud out of him!”

Twilight said, “That’s a bad idea! What if we fall off?”

As the train passed, in the front most car before the steam engine, three voices called out, “Help us!”

Applejack said with a confused tone, “Apple Bloom? That sounds like Apple Bloom!” She ran alongside the train, and watched in horror as her little sister and her two friends poked their heads out the windows of the train car.

“Applejack! You’re here!” said Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo called out, “Please save us!” Sweetie Belle simply nodded and looked down. Gunslinger looked in his rear view mirror and noticed Applejack trying to follow. He took out a revolver and fired a blast backward. Applejack dodged it, but the train was gaining enough speed that she fell behind. She fell back to her friends.

“What happened?” asked Rarity.

“He has Apple Bloom and her friends!” said Applejack with an expression of rage on her face, “now he’s done it!” Applejack got a running start, and then jumped onto the top of the caboose of the train.

Techorse extended his turbofans and said, “We’ve got to keep up. If we beat Gunslinger, I can stop the train with my robot arms.” The others jumped onto the caboose and watched as Techorse started flying up towards the lead car. The train was a good 20 cars long, but Applejack was fast, skillfully jumping between cars and moving up.

One robot standing on the roof of a building took notice of Applejack and jumped down onto the train. At this time the train had almost entirely left the town, and was making its way back to the factory through the desert. The robot raised its cannon and took a shot. The particle beam narrowly missed Applejack and went over the top of her, filling her ears with a quick zapping noise. She noticed a water tower designed to resupply the passing trains looming overhead. Applejack ducked to doge the spout and looked back. Seconds later, the robot hit the spout and was destroyed, shattered into dozens of components by the impact. Applejack, still enraged over the capture of her sister, continued the run to the head of the train. There Gunslinger was sitting in the command chair of his steam engine, and was determined to make it back to the factory. He picked up the red crystal Wizard gave him, and touched the control panel of the train with it. The crystal glowed an intense red, and the train doubled its speed within seconds. The human noticed in his mirror that Applejack was catching up to his engine. Gunslinger drew his revolvers and climbed up a ladder at the back of his command cabin. He stood on the roof and saw Applejack coming closer. Using his revolvers, the human fired teleporter blasts at the orange pony. But Applejack dodged each and every shot he fired with great skill. Finally, she stopped one car away from the human.

“Stop this train now!” she demanded, “or you’re gonna get it!”

Gunslinger said to her, “Look m’am, you’re the one who’s gonna get hurt. See these revolvers? I modified them myself to fire those teleport beams, and just for irony, they’re Colt-45’s.”

Applejack answered, “I don’t care what you call ‘em. You’re gonna pay for ponynapping my little sister.”

Gunslinger threw his hat away so he could see his target better, “I’m afraid you’re about to follow in her steps miss.” The human opened fire again, but even at this range, he simply could not get a hit in. He panicked as Applejack got closer and closer and he blasted away, desperate to hit her. But she eventually reached him. Applejack jumped up into the air, clearing the last gap between the cars, and landed directly in front of Gunslinger. As he tried to lower his revolvers to shoot, she quickly turned around, braced her front legs, and gave him her trademark buck to the chest. The impact sent Gunslinger flying over the side of the train, but the blow to his lungs meant he could not scream as he hit the desert ground from a train going at 80 miles per hour. The human tumbled away in the dirt. Techorse arrived, having caught up, and jumped into the steam engine’s control room. Using his robot arms, he moved some controls, and the train came to a stop within the minute. Applejack and Techorse stepped off the train and went back to find Gunslinger. They found him being stood over by their friends. The man was extremely injured by the impact from falling off the train, and he could not move or speak. Already the landing had shattered his red crystal. Twilight Sparkle searched his pockets, and found the blue potion she saw Hunter use earlier. She unscrewed the cap with her magic and then poured the liquid onto the human. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the same as Hunter.

Applejack reared up and cheered, “Yeeha! Another human goes down!” After this, the train was unlocked, and the ponies on it filed out. Braeburn stepped off, and ran over to give Applejack another hug.

“You did it Applejack!” he said.

Pinkie Pie had also arrived on the scene, and said happily, “We did it too, the robots are history! I distracted them with a song, and the others smashed them to bits!” The team laughed, finding it funny Pinkie Pie managed to save the day with her songs. The Cutie Mark Crusaders approached the team with their faces downcast and their ears drooping.

“We’re sorry we got into this mess, Applejack.” said Apple Bloom.

Applejack replied softly, “I’m not happy you came here on your own and risked yourselves. But I am happy you’re ok now.”

Rainbow Dash was less happy, “I don’t know what you were thinking coming out here on your own.”

Scootaloo said to her, “We heard about these humans causing all these problems and thought maybe we could earn our cutie marks if we beat one, just like you Rainbow Dash. We’ve been following you this whole time.”

Rarity hugged her little sister Sweetie Belle and said, “You shouldn’t have come out here. Don’t ever leave home again like that.”

“Yes Rarity”, she answered sadly.

Techorse approached the group, “The train’s stopped and unlocked and we’re all free. Now what happened to the town?”

Pinkie Pie answered him, “Taken care of!”

“And Gunslinger?” asked Techorse.

“I sent him back.” said Twilight. The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ eyes grew big looking at the green stallion and his mechanical saddle.

“Who are you?” asked Scootaloo with awe.

“I’m Techorse.” he replied to the youngster, giving her a little smile.

“Wow! You look like a war hero!” said Apple Bloom.

Sweetie Belle looked at his flank and asked, “How did you get your cutie mark?”

Twilight interrupted, “He really doesn’t have time to answer that right now. You girls are going home on the next train out of here.”

“Aw!”, they responded, but agreed to go home anyway. They were done with their adventures for now.

It was still early in the day, and the team had prepared to leave Appleloosa for the grassy plains, hoping to eventually reach Canterlot that way. Braeburn waved goodbye to the team as they pulled away on the remains of Gunslinger’s train. The train picked up speed and began running down the tracks towards the plains. Aboard the command cabin, Twilight Sparkle and Techorse were discussing what to do next.

Techorse said to her while watching the controls, “Well, we managed to save Appleloosa thanks to Applejack. Now we have 4 humans left to deal with.”

Twilight told him, “We’re doing great so far. If we keep following these tracks, we’ll make it to Canterlot in about a day. You can meet princess Celestia in pony there.”

He replied, “That would be great. I can’t wait to see your capital city.”

After a bit of quiet, Twilight asked, “Tech, what do you think we’re going to do about Wizard in the end?”

Techorse replied, “What do you mean?”

She said, “Do you really think he’s going to give up if we beat all his men?”

Techorse sighed, “If Wizard doesn’t give up then we’ll have to face him too. Not sure what we can do against him, but we’ll have to try.”

“Look, we have you, the seventh element. We can beat Wizard, I’m sure.”

“Are you still bringing up that seventh element? I told you, I’m probably not it!”

“Well, just imagine, what if you are?”

“We’ll ask the princess when we get to Canterlot if I am. I’m sure she’ll be able to tell. But until then, please drop it. I’m not really that important considering I was a human.”

“You are to me and the rest of us.”

Techorse looked forward as the desert terrain changed to grassy plains and gently rolling hills. He brought the train to a stop about 200 yards from a strange building. The large concrete building featured many fancy windows, multiple decorations of various kinds, and a large wooden patio at the front. Behind it though was an ugly gray, boxy building. The beautiful building was built on a foundation of some odd purple glass-like material.

As the team got out of the train, Pinkie Pie said, “Wowie! That place is huge! I don’t remember such a cool building being here before!”

Rarity added, “Me neither. I must wonder what the designer was thinking though, putting such an ugly gray box next to his fabulous palace.”

Twilight unrolled a map and gave a confused look at it, “This place isn’t on the map at all… weird.”

Rainbow Dash said, “I don't care, that place looks so cool! I want to go inside.”

Fluttershy pointed out a billboard, “Look, that sign over there says there’s free grain and fresh fruit for ponies inside the building.”

Techorse tried to come up with an explanation for the awe-inspiring place, “I think a pony must have built a hotel by the river here. I mean, really, just look at the view of the hills, mountains, and the river. You could make a lot of money renting out a room with this view of nature.”

Applejack added, “It could be a lodge of some kind considerin’ the woods behind it.”

“I say we go inside!” shouted Rainbow Dash, already moving towards the buildings.

“Now hold on a minute, let's go over the facts!” said Twilight. Rainbow Dash grudgingly stopped flying for the fancy palace.

Twilight warned her team, “It looks brand new. It’s not on the map, and it’s offering free grain and fruit to ponies. Doesn’t that seem odd at all?”

Rainbow Dash said to Twilight, “Don’t you trust anything? What, you think one of the humans put this here and it’s some kind of a deathtrap?”

Techorse said, “I’d see where you’d go with that argument, Twilight. But this building doesn’t look like human architecture at all.”

She somewhat agreed, “That’s true. It does look like a hotel from one of our cities. I’m just not so sure about that weird grayish one behind it.”

Pinkie Pie jumped up and down and said, “I want to go see it! I want to go see it!”

She then took off in the direction of the building at blinding speed.

“Here we go again”, groaned Rainbow Dash as she played pursuit. The others followed them to the door of the very decorative building. As they got to the door, Pinkie Pie started knocking eagerly with her front hoof.

“Is this about the snacks inside?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“No way! I just want to explore this neat-o building! There’s bound to be fun things to do in there!”

replied Pinkie Pie. Once the others arrived, the double door on the building slowly began to open.

Instantly the ponies were awed by the fancy decorations inside. There was a beautiful crystal chandelier on the ceiling, paintings hanging on the walls, vases on greek styled columns. A red carpet led through the room and up a grand staircase in the middle.

“What is this place?” asked Twilight Sparkle in awe of the decor.

Techorse replied, “No clue. Sure is fancy though, isn’t it?”

Rarity said happily, “I wouldn’t mind spending the night here. This place looks fabulous. Oh with so many decorations I feel right at home.”

Twilight told her, “I had a feeling you’d like this place, Rarity.”

“It’s so lovely here, with the view of nature.” sighed Fluttershy happily as she gazed out a nearby window.

Pinkie Pie was still running around, trying not to break anything, but enjoy herself anyways. As they continued to walk deeper into the strange building, they came across a red velvet-covered double door with circular windows.

“Should we go in here?” asked Fluttershy, pointing at the door.

Twilight cautioned, “I don’t think we should. It could be for employees only, and besides, we have no idea who owns this hotel.”

“C’mon scaredy hooves”, said Rainbow Dash, “what’s the worst that could happen?”

Rainbow Dash opened the door and entered a room full of cooking equipment. “See, nothing to worry about. It’s just a kitchen.” However, she stopped and started shaking.

The others walked in, and Applejack asked, “What’s wrong Rainbow?” They then looked at what Rainbow Dash was staring at. A gigantic human, both in height and girth, was busy chopping a carrot on a cutting board. Once he had finished cutting the vegetable, he scooted the slices over into a pot of soup he was cooking on a stove.

“Human!” shouted Twilight, “get ready!”

They all got into a battle stance, ready to take on the human. The fat man took off his chef hat and looked up at the ponies.

“Oh hi!” he said happily, “welcome to my restaurant and hotel! I guess you’re here for the grain and fruit. Right this way please.”

Twilight looked at the confused faces of her friends and asked the fat man, “So wait, aren’t you going to try to capture us?”

The chef shook his head and answered, “I didn’t come on this trip to your planet to sell you as pets. I thought that was a bad idea. Instead, I wanted to start a fancy restaurant out here in the beautiful scenery of your home planet. People will pay a lot to come eat and stay here and view the scenery.”

Techorse said to him, “Ah, I remember you. You’re Chef Roy.”

“Yep”, said the human, “good to see you Techman. Sorry about you becoming a pony and all, but I can’t control Wizard. In fact, I really don’t want to risk him not bringing my customers here if I say anything.”

“I’m just glad you’re not out capturing ponies like the others.” Techorse said.

“Yeah!” added Pinkie Pie, “since you’re this friendly, maybe you can stay!”

Chef Roy looked down at the tile floor of the kitchen and replied, “I’d really like to. I’m not a nasty guy like the others.”

Twilight instructed, “Well, if you want to stay, you’ll need to turn over that red crystal hanging around your neck. Those are giving Wizard power and send robots here from the factory.”

Chef Roy help up the crystal in one of his large hands and said, “Sorry can’t do that. I need this crystal to bring patrons from Earth. But I promise I won’t do anything bad with it. I haven’t brought any robots, as you can see.”

Rainbow Dash asked, “If you’re on our side, why are you luring ponies in with fruit and grain?”

Chef Roy put a hand behind his head and answered sheepishly, “Well, it’s sort of so the guests can, um, see the natives. I thought they might like seeing colorful ponies while they eat, that’s all.”

Fluttershy remembered what she had seen out the window and asked, “How come there’s so much nature, and yet so few animals around?”

“You ponies sure ask a lot of very good questions. Say, are you guys hungry at all?” said the chef as he put his hands at his sides.

“Starving!” answered Pinkie Pie, eager for a treat.

The chef put his hat back on and said happily, “Follow me deeper into the hotel. I can whip you up some really good cuisine.”

Rarity smacked her lips in hunger and said, “That sounds wonderful.”

Twilight mistrusted the man still, “I don’t know.”

Techorse said to her, “C'mon Twilight. Chef Roy’s proven himself to be a good human like I was. Let’s let him make us something.”

Twilight turned to chef and told him, “Well, alright. We’ll have something to eat.”

“Excellent!” declared Chef Roy, “It’s time to test my pet food.”

“Pet food?” asked Fluttershy.

Chef Roy said sadly, “Well, Wizard said I had to contribute something to his invasion. So I’m creating a line of pet food for the captured ponies. I’m not too proud of it, but I had to do it. It’s really great stuff though.”

Fluttershy replied softly, “I’m sure the food is delicious. I’ll definitely try some.”

Chef Roy perked back up and replied, “Great! Follow me please.” Chef led the ponies to a room outside of the kitchen, just a small one with a large table in the middle covered in a beautiful yellow tablecloth. The table was set with fine china and expensive looking silverware, as well as crystal clear glasses of water.

Chef Roy said to all of them, “Wait right here ponies. It will take me a while to prepare the food.” Chef Roy left the room into a second kitchen behind another door with a round window at the top.

“Isn’t this swell?” asked Pinkie Pie, “we’re going to get free food!”

“Yeah” said Twilight uneasily, “Techorse, are you sure this guy’s good?”

Techorse looked at her and replied, “He didn’t try to blast us with a teleporter gun. He’s got to be at least a little bit good.”

Applejack sat next to Twilight and said, “Just relax. A good meal should help you feel a little better.”

Rainbow Dash was already getting impatient to try the alleged “pet food”. She walked over to the other set of doors Chef Roy went behind and looked in. She could see the human working with 7 plates of food. Rainbow Dash watched him make and prepare each dish by hand, using very little cooking equipment. However, she watched in curiosity as the chef took out a small bottle of red liquid, and added some to each plate of food. Rainbow Dash returned to her seat and looked around a bit, pretending she hadn’t saw that.

“Should I tell them what I saw?” she thought, “or will they simply say: 'oh you’re just being mean Rainbow Dash.'” She decided to say something though in panic, “I saw the chef just pour red liquid into our food! He’s trying to poison us! I say we take him down the second he comes out here!”

Techorse understood her worries and asked, “Rainbow Dash, where did this liquid come from?”

“It came from a green glass bottle with a cork in the top and a weird label. It’s poison!”

Techorse laughed and said, “No Rainbow, its wine. Chef’s adding a wine sauce to make the food taste better!”

Rainbow Dash relaxed and apologized, “Oh. Sorry.”

Twilight asked rhetorically, “Rainbow, you don’t trust the chef at all, do you?”

“Well neither do you!” said Rainbow Dash accusingly, “you wouldn’t follow us at first!”

Fluttershy asked quietly, “Please stop arguing.”

Twilight said to Techorse, “This human’s ok, right? Tell Rainbow Dash she’s worrying over nothing.”

He held up his hooves in a calming pose and said, “Just relax, and let the one good person we’ve seen so far fix us lunch.”

Pinkie Pie broke the conversation, “I can’t wait to taste that food! It smells so good from here.”

Rarity agreed, “I know. It is a delicious smelling meal.” Chef Roy soon came out with the seven different dishes and placed them in front of the ponies.

“Enjoy!” he said, “These dishes will be the front of my product line. I’m sure you’ll love them.” Pinkie Pie immediately started chewing down the fried carrots and potato chunks in front of her.

“Don’t be a pig, Pinkie” teased Rarity as she took small bites from her plate. Techorse shrugged and took out his robot arms to get silverware from the table.

Twilight said to him, “I wondered what those things were for. They’re human silverware.”

“Yeah”, he said, “they’re made for hands, but I bet you could try using magic to pick them up.” Twilight tried the suggestion, but still found it a little difficult to eat with the fork.

Rainbow Dash sniffed at the plate of food before taking a couple of bites. It certainly didn’t taste like poison. She only ate half of it though, and when Chef Roy wasn’t looking, she dumped the rest of the food in a garbage can.

“Done”, she said. Chef Roy picked up her plate and took it back to the kitchen.

After the others were finished, Rarity picked up a napkin somehow and cleaned herself off. “That really was marvelous.” she said, “I’m sure the chef will do well as a restaurant owner here in Equestria.”

“Uh huh!” agreed Pinkie Pie, chewing the last bite of her meal.

Twilight smiled and said, “Well it certainly is good. This guy can stay with his crystal if he wants too. But I guess that’s really your call Techorse. You know more about these crystals than I do.”

Techorse said, “Chef’s pretty nice. He can keep the crystal.”

As they talked, Fluttershy began to feel a weird pain in her body. She put a hoof over her middle and said, “My stomach hurts. I think I ate too fast.”

Noticing the same effect on her abdomen, Applejack said, “Y’know, I ain’t feeling too good either.”

Techorse got up out of his chair, and immediately fell down on the floor.

“What? I can’t move my legs! Why?” he panicked as he tried to get himself up with his robot arms.

Twilight Sparkle also was hit with the effect and said, “What’s going on? I can’t move either!” She fell out of her chair too on her side. The entire room went into a panic as the ponies collapsed on the floor, completely paralyzed. Chef Roy entered the room with a new look on his face, what we might call a “troll face”.

“Having some problems moving?” he asked in a way as if to tease them.

Rainbow Dash, who couldn’t even move her wings, asked angrily, “What did you do to us?”

Chef replied, “I put some paralyzing potion in that wine sauce. You’re all going to be immobile for a while.” Chef Roy then went around with a cart and loaded the limp friends onto it.

“Use your magic, fix us!” begged Fluttershy desperately.

“I can’t”, replied Twilight, “this stuff disabled my magic, too.”

Chef Roy laughed and said to them, “You ponies have no chance now against me.” Chef Roy pushed the cart past the double doors into this gigantic second kitchen filled with very large cooking equipment, including several conveyer belts leading to huge ovens. Chef then turned the heads of the ponies to face him and said, “So, maybe it’s time I explain a little? It’s very simple really. I didn’t come here to just open a restaurant for humans. I came here to serve food made from the animals that live around here.” Chef then looked in their eyes and said ominously, “Including you ponies.”

“You’re a sick man, Roy!” said Techorse, “Nobody with half a brain or heart will want to eat another animal with a soul.”

“On the contrary”, said Chef, “I have learned your pony muscles all contain lots of sugar and fats that make it taste far better than horse meat on Earth. People will be flocking in droves to eat some. I have yet to actually make a dish from a pony, but I figured I would start with the ones Wizard wanted gone first.”

Rainbow Dash grumbled, “Great. Apparently, we taste good.”

Chef patted her on the head and replied, “Of course you do.” The man picked up Techorse and chained him to the wall of the kitchen.

“I’m trying to decide.” he said to him, “If eating you would be considered cannibalism. So, I’m going to spare you Techman, but you’ll have to watch me prepare your friends. Terribly sorry.”

Twilight shouted at chef, “You traitor, claiming to be on our side and then doing this to us!”

Chef Roy turned around, picked up a frying pan and said to her, “Maybe I’ll make sweetbreads out of your smart brain there.”

Twilight looked away from the man in fear.

He then put down the pan and said, “Now let me finish talking. That building behind this one is a gigantic meat freezer. I have 50, maybe 100 ponies frozen in there for later use. The cold puts them in a sleep, but once they wake up, they’re meat anyways, so what does it matter?”

Techorse said, “Once I get out of these chains, we’re freeing those ponies and destroying this place.”

“With what?” asked the human, “the meat freezer and this building are protected by ultraglass, a material that can only be destroyed with sonic energy. It looks like you guys don’t have any sonic cannons on you, so there’s no way you’re destroying my place of business.” Chef walked around the room and turned on all the various cooking devices in the kitchen. “I’m really going to enjoy eating you ponies.” he said, “and this research on your muscles proves I’m going to make a fortune off this restaurant once I perfect my dishes.” He then took out a large metal baking pan, set it down on a conveyer belt, and started placing thickly sliced vegetables inside it. Once he was done arranging the produce, Chef Roy picked up Fluttershy and laid her down in the pan, moving her legs into a sitting position. He then lowered her head into the pan and said to her, “I’m going to bake you with a special honey mustard sauce I figured would go well with your soft flesh. You see, your shy behavior makes you tender.”

Applejack shouted, “Stop with the talk, cannibal, you’re making me sick.” Chef ignored her and took out a bottle of sauce, which he poured all over Fluttershy. She started crying and sobbing about what was happening to her as the thick fluid ran over her head and down her back.

“Poor Fluttershy”, said Rarity. Chef Roy walked over and picked up Rarity, then placed her on a tray.

Chef said, “Based on your vain appearance and good style of health, your meat is of top quality. An oil and spice rub should do.”

“Don’t you dare touch me!” snapped Rarity as she was placed on a flat sheet. The human moved a roller dipped in spices and oil over her, ignoring her threats.

Roy went over to the cart again and picked up Applejack next. “You’re a working girl according to Wizard’s information on you. Not the tenderest for fine eating, but you’ll make a nice ground portion for burgers.”

Chef removed her hat and put her on a platform suspended above a gigantic meat grinder.

Techorse continued his threats to stall for time, “Roy, when I get my saddle back I’m going to put so many holes in you from my lasers, you won’t be able to drink water without it all spilling out.” The man ignored him and picked up Twilight Sparkle, then wrapped her up in a weird looking dough.

“Figured a pastry wrap might go well with purple meat.”, he said as if he didn’t really care. Twilight just looked around sadly without saying anything as she was sealed inside the flaky pastry.

Techorse was really getting desperate to distract Chef Roy, “Stop this Roy, we are not food! Go find some other animals to eat.” Still being ignored, the human picked up Pinkie Pie and sat her down on the counter.

“What are you going to do to me?” she asked with a sad face. Chef reached up and pulled a flexible clear plastic tube from the ceiling, which he shoved into Pinkie Pie’s mouth.

“I’m going to try making a desert. I’ll stuff you with cookie dough and then bake you into a pie.” Roy threw a switch on the ceiling, and chocolate chip cookie dough came pouring through the tube. Pinkie tried to scream, but the cookie dough was stuffing her up too quickly.

“This is so gross.” said Rainbow Dash, looking at the fate of her friends.

“Finally”, said Chef Roy, “I’d like to try making some ‘fast food’ with you.” He picked up Rainbow Dash, rolled her in flour, and then threw her limp body into a basket above hot oil. Then, turning around, he turned off the feeding machine and threw a plump Pinkie Pie into a bowl filled with batter. Roy turned on the mixing machine, and Pinkie Pie started spinning in a circle as the machine twirled her around in the cream white batter.

Techorse said out loud, “We’re doomed. This is all my fault for trusting you, Chef Roy. I thought you of all people would be nice, but you betrayed us!”

Chef got up in Techorse’s face and said angrily, “Listen Techman, you think I became a great chef with his own show with good behavior? I had to betray a lot of people to make it where I am now. I have no problems betraying your new race to make a lot of money in my restaurant. But before I make money, I have to try the food first to make sure it’s good.” Chef Roy walked over to the wall and slammed his fist on a large button. “This will take care of all of you. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to try my creations.” He then laughed and walked out. The various machines began their cruel work.

Pinkie Pie’s mixer was slowly pouring out into a pie crust, the platform Applejack was on was slowing tilting downwards, Rarity and Fluttershy’s pans were being pushed towards the gigantic ovens, Twilight Sparkle’s pastry was moving towards a smaller oven, and poor Rainbow Dash was being lowered towards the oil bath.

Rarity started shedding tears and asked, “Is this how it’s going to end? To be roasted alive for some human’s dinner? I can’t watch.” She shut her eyes and waited for her demise.

Applejack looked down at the whirring blades of the grinder below and said, “Hey Rarity, I’ll trade with you.”

Techorse shouted, “I won’t let this happen. I’m going to break these chains and then beat Roy’s skull in with them!”

A muffled Twilight said, “You would, but we’re all immobile. There’s nothing we can do, Techorse.” Rainbow Dash began to feel a bit better, though. She noticed she could move her body somewhat.

“Hey! I can move again!” she yelled in joy. Rainbow Dash jumped out of the frying basket just as it sank beneath the oil. Working quickly, she rescued Applejack from her platform just before it dumped her into the device. Rainbow Dash then moved the pans out of the way, turned off the mixer Pinkie Pie was in, and ripped a hole through the pastry to rescue Twilight.

After shaking the flour off her body, she flew up to Techorse, still chained to the wall helplessly.

“How did you escape?” he asked.

“I only ate half the food, so I was only half-poisoned.”, she guessed.

“Rainbow Dash”, Techorse said, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Roy.”

“Its fine.” she said, “now how do I get you out of these chains?”

“Get my saddle close enough to me, and I can break these chains.” replied Techorse. Rainbow Dash picked up the battle saddle and held it next to Techorse. Techorse used his mind to activate the laser cannons and they spun around. The guns discharged and cut the chains with 1 shot. Without the metal holding him back, he fell to the ground.

“Ouch!” he said as he hit the tile. After about 5 minutes, the ponies had recovered full use of their limbs.

“Much better.” said Rarity as she washed the oil off of her in a large sink.

Twilight Sparkle reminded her friends, “I’m glad we’re safe now, but we still have to go after that human and stop him from cooking up any other ponies.”

“Even if we beat him though, you heard what he said. This place is protected by indestructible glass of some kind! We’re never gonna open that freezer.” said Applejack.

Techorse corrected, “Actually Applejack, Roy said it could only be destroyed by sonic energy. A powerful blast of sound or something breaking the sound barrier should do it. Back on Earth some weapons can use sonic energy as a projectile. I don’t have any of those though.”

Fluttershy was cleaning herself off and remarked, “Even if we can't get rid of this building, I want to stop the human anyway. Even if he can't eat us, he won’t give up eating innocent animals altogether.”

“What are we waiting for?” said Rainbow Dash, “let’s take it to him!”

Pinkie Pie turned a bit green and said, “Wait a minute. I’ll be right back.” Pinkie Pie disappeared through the kitchen doors, and shortly thereafter a disgusting splattering sound was heard as she emptied her stomach contents onto the floor. Pinkie Pie returned to the kitchen with her stomach size back to normal. Her friends gave her a disgusted look. “What?” she said, “If you had 25 pounds of cookie dough in your tummy, you’d be sick too!” They slowly turned and started heading out of the kitchen to go face Chef Roy.

Meanwhile, the human was talking with Wizard using a communications disk at the entrance of the meat freezer building. Wizard’s hologram said in shock, “So, you managed to trap them in your kitchen, and you plan on eating them?”

“Want some?” asked Roy.

“No thanks”, replied Wizard with disgust. He recollected his thought and spoke again, “As long as they don’t make it, great. But make sure Techman stays alive. I want to deal with him personally.”

Chef Roy nodded and said, “After I’m through with the others, I’ll throw Techman in the freezer here. You can come get him at any time.” It was then Chef Roy noticed the ponies on the roof of his hotel, staring down at him. “Anyways, I got them cooking right now. I got to go, bye!” Roy shut off the hologram and angrily ran over to the side of his hotel. He threw open a large metal box at the side of the wall and smiled darkly at the contents.

Techorse looked around and said, “He just disappeared into the side of the building probably to get back up here.”

Twilight replied, “Ok, we’ll wait for him. Once he gets up here, it’ll be seven to one. We need to work quickly to take him down before he tries to poison us again.”

Rainbow Dash raged, “Trying to turn me into fried pony’s gonna cost him his teeth!”

Rarity added, “Save some bones for me to break, dear! An oil rub, hmpff, how indignant!”

Fluttershy urged her friends, “I know we’re all upset over what nearly happened. But we should listen to Twilight and Techorse. That red crystal and blue potion is all we’re after. Let’s try to remain good ponies, ok girls?”

Applejack ruined Fluttershy’s call to peace by saying, “He tried to grind me up alive, and you’re asking for us to go easy? No way!”

Pinkie Pie added, “I’ve never hated cookie dough so much in my life! Normally I love it, but that was taking it too far!”

Twilight said, “Girls, Fluttershy is right here. We need to calm down, or we’ll lose our cool and do something we’re going to regret. Let’s settle a bit and just wait for the human.”

Techorse drew his laser cannons. This was going to be an awful fight. But he knew if they failed, some of the ponies would suffer the fate of being served as food instead of being a pet. This was really a dire situation.

Twilight said to him, “Are you going to use those? Did you mean what you said about putting all those holes in Chef?”

He shook his head and replied, “No, that was just the near-death situation talking. But it’s likely he’ll be back with a weapon of some kind, and I think I can knock it out with my guns. Try using your magic to throw his aim off, he knows far less about it then I do.” Twilight looked back at the others, who all looked angry enough to vaporize the human with just their sight.

Just then, two panels on the roof opened up, and Chef Roy emerged with a large frying pan.

“That’s his weapon?” asked Twilight, “Techorse, you made it sound like he actually had something really dangerous.” Chef Roy’s crystal around his neck started glowing brightly. The frying pan then formed a fireball in the center of it.

“Well” said Chef Roy, “it seems you ponies managed to escape my fancy cookware. But that’s ok.” He then brought the frying pan over his head, “I like my meat charred!”

He swung the pan like a tennis racket, and the fireball left the pan, causing the team to scatter. Applejack rolled to dodge the flames, and ran up to get a hit in on Chef Roy. The Chef threw a trio of knives from his coat, and one of them went through Applejack’s tail and pinned her down.

“So close”, he said sarcastically.

Techorse shouted, “opening fire!” to warn his friends, and began blasting away with his laser cannons. Chef Roy gasped in surprise as one of the bolts impacted his shoulder, but started using his frying pan to deflect a majority of the laser bolts. “Oh come on!” said Techorse, “why is that frying pan capable of blocking my beams?”

Roy threw another fireball at Techorse, but the colt jumped over the projectile and continued blasting away. Eventually, with the pan so badly bent up from the beams, he threw the pan itself at Techorse, which nearly smacked him in the face. Techorse fired a few more shots before retracting the lasers and stepping away. Twilight Sparkle saw this as an opportunity to strike, and picked up a stone that had fallen on the roof. Ready to make it count, she used her magic to hurl the projectile at the fat man. The human took the rock to the side, and it pushed him off balance.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy then ran up and knocked the human in the legs, sending him backwards towards the edge of the roof. But Chef Roy reoriented himself before falling and ran up to grab his badly damage frying pan. The crystal glowed again, and he used the pan’s flames to draw lines of fire between all the friends, separating them.

“Now you’re toast,” he said, “out of the frying pan, and into the FIRE!” As the flames roared around her, Rainbow Dash looked at the indestructible glass the restaurant and freezer was built on.

“Hey Techorse!” she shouted as an idea formed in her brain, “Did you say sonic energy could destroy this place?”

“Yes!” he yelled back, “But I have no way of causing any!”

“I can! Get out of here, this place is coming down!” Rainbow Dash took off vertically and started climbing as fast as possible.

“Oh no you don’t!” shouted Chef Roy, looking up. He took out a small controller and pressed a button on it. 4 doors on the roof of the restaurant opened up to reveal missile launchers. They fired their payload vertically at Rainbow Dash, attempting to shoot down the Pegasus with explosions. The pony was not easy to hit though, and the missiles mostly didn’t even come close. Rainbow Dash dodged to the left as one of the projectiles flew by her. The missile wrapped back around and attempted a head on collision. With a barrel roll, Rainbow Dash wrapped the missile in a rainbow-colored streak. The missile lost guidance and eventually exploded harmlessly. Rainbow Dash looked back as she picked up flying speed and continued to go as high as she could.

“I need to go high enough or I’ll smack the ground before I get up enough speed”, she thought as she continued to fly up.

On the ground below, Twilight Sparkle asked, “Techorse, what did you tell Rainbow Dash?”

Dodging another flame pulse from Chef Roy, Techorse responded, “She told me she could use sonic energy to bring this place down. Don’t see how though!”

Pinkie Pie knew exactly what was going on and said with surprise, “She’s going to attempt a sonic rainboom! I know it!”

Techorse never heard of a sonic boom of that kind, but he asked, “She’s going to break the sound barrier? Without any sort of protection?!??! She’ll be crushed by the force of a thousand G’s!”

Pinkie Pie said to him as she jumped away from a flame, “I know it makes no sense, but she can do it!”

Twilight said to Techorse, “Pinkie Pie’s right. Rainbow Dash can and will break the barrier. The blast protects her from the force.”

He warned sadly, “That glass is too close to the ground to pull up in time. She’ll be smashed if she fails.”

Rainbow Dash stopped climbing and turned around to look downwards. The missile launchers were out of range and ammunition, so they were finally no longer a threat. The two buildings below were lined up perfectly so that she would have time to pull up after attacking the ultraglass pylons holding up the restaurant.

“Here it goes!” she said, then began the dive towards the ground. Faster and faster she flew down, approaching the speed of sound, using gravity to gain every tick of speed she could get. But air resistance and gravitational forces were starting to get to her body. Despite being lightweight, it really is hard to achieve sonic speeds without some sort of metal cone to help push away air resistance. A rainbow-colored bolt was descending from the sky as the ponies continued to battle the evil cook.

“Come on Rainbow Dash!” cheered Applejack, “you can do it!”

Fluttershy looked up at her friend’s flight path and thought, “If she misses this one, she won’t get another chance. She has to do it, she just has to!” Chef Roy interrupted the cheering with another burst of flames from the frying pan.

“Take this!” he shouted. Techorse returned fire with another couple of laser pulses, but the flames overheated his battle saddle and it shut down again. Techorse knew he couldn’t stop chef, so he simply put his trust in Rainbow Dash.

“I know she can do it!” said Techorse, “and when she does Roy, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t rolled her in flour!” Chef Roy silenced Techorse by smacking him with a burst of flame.

Rainbow Dash continued her dive, approaching the restaurant buildings quickly. As she approached the speed of sound, the air particles began stretching at her front hooves. Chef saw the incoming Pegasus and pressed another button on his controller. The restaurant sprouted two teleporter beam turrets, and they began firing blasts at Rainbow Dash.

“This is it”, she said, trying to stay on course despite the blasts.

Twilight turned to Applejack and said, “If we don’t take out those turrets, Rainbow Dash might not make it.” The ponies split up to quickly work against the guns. This put them out of Chef Roy’s range, and he got angry.

“Come back here you cowards!” he demanded. He deactivated the turrets, and they disappeared back into the restaurant.

Rainbow Dash noticed the lack of blasts and thought, “What’s that chef up to now? He’s stopped shooting at me.” She instinctively looked behind herself to see if anything was on her tail. Seeing nothing, Rainbow Dash looked forward again and tried to concentrate as her hooves came closer and closer to piercing the sound barrier. But the ground was only 1000 feet away

.

Chef Roy looked up at the approaching pony and laughed, “She’s going really fast, but I bet that little burst distracted her. I didn’t even need a direct hit to win.” Chef Roy then threw his frying pan in a boomerang-like arc, scoring a hit on the heads of all six ponies on the ground. They collapsed where they stood.

“Lucky shot” groaned Twilight as she lay on the ground. Roy then looked at the rainbow streak about to hit the ground as his frying pan returned to his hand.

“You lose.” he said with a very sinister tone, building up a large fireball in his pan.

Rainbow Dash was about to smash into the ground, but she gave it one last effort to break the sound barrier. Time nearly slowed for her as she desperately tried to force her hooves through. At 250 feet, it worked. She broke right through the barrier and immediately rode the shockwave upwards. The rainbow-colored sonic ring blasted horizontally and cut right through the ultraglass pylons holding up the restaurant, destroying the foundation and sending pieces of it flying in all directions. Right away, the building began collapsing under its own weight.

Chef Roy shouted in panic, “This is impossible!” The other ponies cheered on that their friend had succeeded, but Fluttershy seemed especially enthusiastic, and her voice was heard above the others. The roof began slanting downwards as the building fell. Rainbow Dash slowed down a bit and turned to attack Chef Roy on the top of the roof. The human got a look of intense fear as the Pegasus pony going extremely fast was flying straight towards him. Rainbow Dash pulled back her hoof, then closed the distance, and put it forward like a fist. Her hoof hit the crystal on Roy’s necklace, and it shattered instantly. Because she was going so fast, the next thing to shatter was the human’s sternum, and he was knocked high into the air by Rainbow Dash. Yelling, Chef Roy watched as the Pegasus pony stopped herself and he kept flying high up into the sky. The human fumbled for the potion, and quickly splashed it onto himself. Rainbow Dash brought her hoof down in a victory pose and cheered as Chef Roy disappeared in a flash of blue smoke against the clear sky.

Wizard watched the tactics table curiously. He could have sworn the 7 figures of ponies would be destroyed any second now. He had magically linked the ponies’ biometrics to the figures, and if they went, the figures went. Wizard watched as chef’s figure rapidly flew off the table and disintegrated in mid air.

Sighing, he said out loud, “The ponies have taken out Gunslinger and Chef within the same day. Good help is hard to find.” Wizard then called up Bossman on his hologram projector.

Bossman turned to face Wizard and said, “Ah Wizard, new orders I presume?”

Wizard said, “Indeed. Bossman, Chef Roy and Gunslinger have both been eliminated by these ponies. I can’t risk losing any more of my men. How’s the factory’s production capacity?”

Bossman smiled and said enthusiastically, “We’re not only at full, but over the top. We have flying machines ready in addition to regular robots.”

“Radio for Schadenfreude and tell him to make an assault on the largest floating city on the planet.” ordered Wizard, “Tell him to use his crystal so his ground robots can journey up there without falling through the cloud structure.”

“Yes sir, ramping up to full production and relaying orders to Schadenfreude.” said Bossman as he reached to turn off the projector. The image of Bossman disappeared. Wizard then went back to the large window, and he looked down again on the planet from space.

With hate in his eyes, Wizard said, “These ponies are fighting back too well. If they get any further, I won’t be able to afford holding back any more of my power.” He then looked at the planet’s moon and said, “And they’re going to regret that.”

Rainbow Dash touched down in the soft green grass, breathed a huge sigh of relief, and then looked backward at the destruction she caused. Her heart then sank as she realized she might have crushed her friends under all the rubble in the restaurant. However, she was happy to learn that Techorse had managed to get the team safely off the building in time. They ran for Rainbow Dash and met her with cheering and praise.

After the little celebration, Twilight shouted, “Wait! We need to open up that freezer building and rescue the ponies trapped inside!” They walked over to the ugly gray building and stood in front of the thick steel doors, locked shut by a simple padlock.

“Ok” said Twilight, “We just have to find the key and...”

PEW

Techorse’s lasers tore through the padlock and it fell on the ground.

“Oh look, I unlocked it!” said Techorse with a laugh as the cannons went back into his saddle.

“Colts”, grumbled Rarity as she pushed the door open. The ponies went inside, and started shivering as they walked through the dark hallway.

“It's cold in here”, said Fluttershy as she shivered.

Applejack looked at a sad pony frozen solid in ice and said, “Very cold. We need to hurry.”

Techorse comforted them, “Don’t worry, all we have to do is hit the defrost button at the end of this hallway.” Twilight provided some light with her horn to guide the way.

They found the control panel deep in the cold heart of the building. Techorse took out his robotic arms and pushed the defrost button. Heating elements down the halls turned on and began to thaw out the popsicle ponies. After about ten minutes, the 100 or so ponies in the freezer had woken up and stepped out into the light of the now peaceful valley. The seven friends guided their comrades out of the giant freezer building.

Twilight Sparkle then got up on a chunk of concrete from the fallen hotel and called out to the crowd, “Use the train over there to get back home.” The ponies went over to Gunslinger’s train to take it back to their homes.

Techorse said to Twilight, “I’m going to go teach one of them how to use the train engine. I’ll be right back.” He walked away from them to go find a pony capable of learning how to work the controls. Pinkie Pie was watching the ponies filed by to get on the train, when she was tapped on the back by a cold hoof.

“HOO!” she shouted as the icy hoof chilled her warm skin. She turned around to see who had tapped her on the shoulder. She saw in front of her a gray Pegasus pony with a yellow mane. But the most interesting feature of the pony was her golden eyes, which were pointed in seemingly random directions.

“Oh hey Derpy Hooves!” said Pinkie Pie, “glad you’re ok and not an icicle anymore!”

Derpy replied, “Yeah, thanks for saving us Pinkie Pie. I remember you and your friends, but who was that green guy with the saddle?”

Pinkie Pie said, “That’s Techie! He just unlocked the freezer you were in!”

Derpy lifted into the air and said, “If you get a chance, thank him for rescuing me!”

“I will Derpy! Take care!”

Within an hour, the team watched as the sun began to set over the horizon.

Twilight looked around and said, “We’re going to have to set up camp. There are no cities we can reach by nightfall. Luckily, very few creatures live out here, so we should be safe for the night if we just pick a cave or something.”

“Oh great. More filth.” said Rarity.

“Forget being dirty, I’m just glad I didn’t become a literal Pinkie pie today. I’m happy to spend the night outdoors after that!” said Pinkie gratefully.

“Yeah, that was a close one.” Said Fluttershy, “I still don’t understand how humans could eat us or any other animals.”

Techorse answered, “Humans are the only creatures on Earth with minds like ours, Fluttershy.

Although some are vegetarians like us, many are not. Sometimes it seems like eating meat isn’t wrong, other times it is a cruel practice.”

Twilight said, “Lots of animals you love are carnivores and hunt fish or mice Fluttershy, like ferrets.”

Fluttershy frowned, “I know. It’s so sad though.”

Techorse continued, “We might never understand why some animals are carnivorous, but I’m sure it’s not inherently evil.”

Fluttershy smiled at him and said, “Ok.”

Rainbow Dash, wanting to change the topic, yawned, “I’m tired. Can we go to bed now?”

Twilight said to her, “You should be tired. After what you did today, you must be exhausted.”

Applejack said, “I just can’t believe you did it again Rainbow Dash. This was probably your best sonic rainboom so far.”

Techorse asked, “Wait, so Rainbow Dash is the only Pegasus to break the speed of sound, and she’s done it only so many times?”

Rarity put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder and said, “Quite right. She really is the fastest one alive.”

Techorse remembered something from the past and said, “You know, I’ve actually seen one before. Want to know how Wizard found your planet?”

Twilight believed she already knew what he was going to say, but said, “Sure, tell us.”

The colt cleared his throat and told them, “Wizard was taking me on that fateful trip through the galaxy. We stopped when we noticed a bright flash from your planet. We watched the sound barrier being broken, followed by a large rainbow ring expanding from the blast center. At that point, I decided that if your people were intelligent enough to figure out a way to go faster than sound, then you were worth saving. It changed me from a bitter person to one determined to stop Wizard’s schemes of conquering your planet.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes grew wide, and she asked, “When was this?”

He replied, “Well, Wizard’s been planning this invasion for as long as I can remember, so I’d probably say when I was a little kid, just a year or two after he took me from my home.”

Twilight Sparkle ran up to Techorse and gave him a huge hug. “Do you know what this means?” she said excitedly.

Techorse hugged her back and said, “Sorry, I really don’t.”

Twilight finished, “It means even you are connected to us as friends, even before you were even a pony!”

Techorse finished hugging Twilight, but said in confusion, “I’m not following.”

Rainbow Dash, getting jealous again, moved Twilight away and said, “The first time I pulled a sonic rainboom off, each of my friends saw it and it changed their lives forever! If you say you changed your mind about ‘aliens’ like us because you saw my rainboom, you’re also just like my friends here.”

Techorse sat down and said in awe, “That’s almost as if it was… planned.”

Twilight could not contain her joy any longer and said, “Oh this is perfect. I meet an alien from space, he becomes a pony, who not only represents the seventh element of harmony, but also is connected to us as a friend at the same time we were!” She then covered her mouth, realizing what she had let out.

Applejack half shut one eye and said slowly, “Did you say, uh, seventh element?”

Pinkie Pie’s jaw hit the ground, and Fluttershy had to close Pinkie's mouth for her.

Rarity asked, “Twilight, what did you read? Has something else gone to your head?”

Twilight frowned, looked downward, and admitted, “I didn’t tell you girls yet because I thought you wouldn’t believe me, but Techorse and I made a discovery when I went to his castle after returning from the forest.”

Rainbow Dash feared the worst and shouted, “What? You went back to his castle? What for?” Techorse said, “Remember, you wanted to tell me the story of your friendship? I picked Twilight though because she said she could explain it with a book.”

“And you wanted to snuggle him?” whispered Applejack to Rainbow Dash in order to tease her.

“Twilight, it might have been helpful to start with the rainboom story first.” said Techorse.

Twilight said with embarrassment, “I didn’t even think about it. I was too awed about what we found in the prophecy book.”

“What did you find?” asked Pinkie Pie.

Techorse answered, “I put the book under a scanner, which found out the original picture of the six elements of harmony was painted over another picture.”

“Then what happened?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight finished for Techorse, “When the computer scanned the picture underneath, it revealed the existence of a seventh element. It isn’t necessary to use the magic the elements hold, but it changes the effect of the original six to something that can destroy bad magic, rather than simply banishing it.”

“So it’s like the nozzles used on an icing bag, which changes the shape of the icing that comes out? This element changes what the other elements do?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“That’s what we think.” said Twilight.

Techorse said, “At first, I didn’t believe I was this representative. I thought that because I was a human first, there was no way I could be this guy. But after hearing how we all are connected, it really makes me wonder.”

Twilight said, “That’s why we’re heading for Canterlot. Once we get there, not only will we gear up to take out that factory, we’re also going to ask princess Celestia where we can find the seventh element’s artifact. We’re going to use it to beat Wizard.”

Applejack said, “This is great, it really is, but we’re going to be too tired to move if we don’t find a place to lie down fer the night.”

“Yes.” Said Twilight, “let’s just all try to get some rest and talk more about this later.” The team salvaged thick curtains from the restaurant’s wreckage and put up tents. They also managed to find mattresses and pillows from the hotel section of the building. After building the shelter, the team slept in their makeshift camp right outside of the building leveled by Rainbow Dash’s bold gamble.

The team woke up early to continue walking towards Canterlot. They went past rivers and beautiful groves of trees on their journey.

Rainbow Dash quickly got tired of walking and said, “Hey, I think if we go in this direction, we might make it to Canterlot faster!”

Twilight said, “No Rainbow Dash, no more shortcuts. We’ll get lost inside the trees and never come out.”

“I know it will work!” Rainbow insisted, “Just trust me.”

Techorse stood by Twilight and said, “I think its best we stick to the open areas rather than go in the trees, just for safety. We really don’t know what’s out there.”

“Whatever you say, Techie” said Rainbow Dash. It was starting to get tiring though, as the team walked in the direction of Canterlot for about 3 hours without making a lot of progress. Sure, there were no mountains to clear, but it was a long and boring path. During the hike, Techorse’s saddle began to make a strange beeping noise of some kind.

“Hold on!” he shouted, “I’m getting a message!” Techorse took out the communications disk with a robot arm, and then put the disk down in front of the group.

Twilight said, “It’s a message from princess Celestia, girls. Act as if she was actually here.” The disk glowed for a second, and then a perfect hologram of princess Celestia appeared above the disk. The pure white winged and horned leader looked directly at Twilight Sparkle and asked, “Hello? Can you hear this?” The ponies excluding Techorse bowed before their princess. Techorse raised his left robotic hand and gave the best salute possible for a quadruped.

“We read you loud and clear your majesty!” said Techorse, “awaiting orders.”

Princess Celestia laughed softly and said, “At ease, Techorse. It’s so nice to finally see you. Twilight Sparkle has told me so much about you.” Techorse lowered the metal hand, which retreated back into the saddle as the others stood up.

Twilight asked, “Is the disk is working ok? Any problems at all we can help with?”

Princess Celestia said quietly, “No, the disk works fine. Although it was kind of funny how we found it. Luna was walking around the castle when it appeared over her and knocked her on the head.”

Twilight lowered her ears, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry, she’s fine. Believe it or not, she actually laughed afterwords.”, said the princess.

Techorse asked, “Would you like more information about our struggle against Wizard, M’am?”

The princess replied, “Well, with so many problems around the planet, it would be nice knowing how your adventures are going so far.”

Rainbow Dash eagerly said, “We’ve gotten three of the humans! Just three left to go!”

Techorse added, “With each human defeated, fewer robots are going to be ponynapping your subjects. I’m just relieved though that your city hasn’t come under attack.”

“Thankfully we haven’t been attacked.” said the princess, “My guards have gotten all into a fuss about the whole thing, and they advise against me leaving the castle. I’m sure they can handle things if the machines I’ve heard about get here, but I don’t want any of my ponies to get hurt.”

Twilight asked, “Princess Celestia, before you go, can you tell us about the seventh element of harmony?”

The princess fell silent, as If she had something to hide. However, after taking a pause, she eventually said, “It’s true, I did make a seventh one. I can tell you more when you get here to Canterlot. But for now, I think it’s important that Techorse tries to learn for himself what it is.”

Pinkie Pie asked with excitement, “But he does represent the seventh element?”

“Yes”, said the princess, “I’m almost certain he does. Hold on, my guards are trying to make me cut this short.” The princess’s figure turned for a moment as she received news from her guards, and then she turned back.

“I have dreadful news.” She said, “A human warship has been spotted outside of Cloudsdale.” Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open for a second.

“Oh no.” she whispered.

Applejack said, “That Wizard must have figured out a spell to make the clouds easy to move on. It’s the only way his robots could make it up there.”

Fluttershy whimpered, “Oh, not Cloudsdale.”

Twilight assured her friends, “We can stop them again. I’m sure of it. If we get there before the robots completely attack the town, we’ll be able to warn them.”

“Ok” said the princess, “You know what to do. I trust you to get the message to Cloudsdale so they can defend themselves.”

“Yes M’am” said Techorse. The princess’s figure disappeared, and the disk deactivated. Techorse walked up to the device and stashed it back in his battle saddle.

Twilight Sparkle said, “Alright team, we have to get to Cloudsdale fast. It looks like we’re taking Rainbow Dash’s shortcut.”

Rainbow Dash said, “All right! Finally you guys listen to me.”

As they started walking, Techorse asked, “So, I gather Cloudsdale’s a very important city? Does it have a large population to go after?”

Rainbow Dash answered, “It’s the capital city of the Pegasus ponies, and it’s me and Fluttershy’s home town. The human who attacks it is going to feel the hurt!”

Rarity said, “I hate to be rude and interrupt, but remember we can’t walk on clouds. I heard Applejack say that Wizard might change that though. Can you explain please?”

Techorse replied, “Certainly. To make it simple, robots are heavier than humans, and humans can’t walk on clouds. Since Cloudsdale's ground is completely made of moisture particles such as clouds, it would be impossible to launch any sort of large attack without first casting a spell on the city to make it more solid to walk on, especially if they want to use the ground robots we’ve encountered in almost every fight.”

Twilight said, “So when we get there, we won’t have to use any of my magic to walk on the clouds. The real problem is finding a way into the city. More than half of us can’t fly.”

“Just cast another spell.” said Pinkie Pie.

“Not that simple” replied Twilight, “and if it wears out halfway between there and the ground… mush.”

Techorse came up with a plan, “I have an idea. So far we haven’t even found one portal used to teleport the robots around. There has to be one bringing in the robots that have been spotted outside of Cloudsdale. If we find the portal, we can steal one of the transport helicopters used to move extra ground robots to the platform. I think only a few robots can get through the portal at a time, so we shouldn’t be overwhelmed with enemies.”

“Sounds very dangerous.” said Rarity.

Twilight looked at Rarity and said to her, “I don’t think there’s any other way, except to go back to Ponyville and get the hot air balloon. And if forces are mounting outside of Cloudsdale now, there’s not enough time to go back. We’ll have to go with Techorse’s plan.”

Pinkie Pie started running ahead and shouted, “If that’s true, then let’s get a move on, we’ve got ground to cover!” The team started moving again through the valleys to find the portal outside of Cloudsdale. Along the way, Techorse noticed a tiny patch of daisies and fell behind the group to pick some.

“Twilight would love a couple of flowers to put in her hair.” He thought. Using his robotic arms, he gathered up a small bouquet of the best flowers he could find. He then brought them back to Twilight Sparkle.

Techorse held out the bunch of flowers to the unicorn pony.

“Oh, are those for me?” she asked sweetly.

“Yeah, I hope you like them!” answered Techorse, smiling at her.

Techorse’s smile disappeared as he watched Twilight quickly eat the flowers.

“Thanks, I was hungry. You’re so sweet.” She said, licking the last petal from her chin.

Techorse replied slowly, “You're welcome Twilight.” He then thought to himself, “Forgot we were ponies again.”

Rainbow Dash took notice of Techorse’s kind act and glared at him. “Techorse should like me” she thought, “We’re the tough fighters of this team!”

Applejack asked her hovering friend, “Somethin’ wrong?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t want to be teased again, so she simply replied, “No Applejack, nothing’s wrong. I’m just a little upset about my home city.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll save Cloudsdale, ahm sure.” replied Applejack. Rainbow started feeling sad again though, first because she had feelings for Techorse she wasn’t getting in return, and because she knew many of her past friends would be captured in the battle ahead.

Eventually, they found the portal outside of Cloudsdale. Looking up, they could see the floating city, which was being slowly approached by a floating metal ship on helicopter blades Techorse pointed up at the craft using his hoof rather than his mechanical arms.

“See that weird thing trying to attach itself to the city?” he said, “That’s the human’s floating base the princess was talking about. He’s going to launch a direct attack from that soon.” After glancing at the platform, Twilight looked down at the portal. The large metal ring had a glowing fuchsia colored energy field inside of it. 4 robots came out of the portal and proceeded to board the helicopter stationed away from the device.

Twilight got her friends into a huddle and said, “Ok, here’s the plan. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash will provide a distraction. The rest of us will then destroy the robots with lasers, magic, and anything else we can muster. After that, we can simply board the helicopter and steer it up to Cloudsdale.”

“Hey” said Fluttershy as she looked up from the huddle, “where did Rainbow Dash go?” Rainbow Dash whistled for her friends. Turning around, they saw her hovering above a pile of smashed robot parts.

“I took care of them, now come on!” she said.

“So much for the plan.” Said Twilight, upset she had wasted any thought on it.

Techorse said, “Excellent job, Rainbow Dash! That’s what I call housekeeping!”

Rainbow Dash flew back to Techorse and said, “I really do get the job done, don’t I?”

“Yeah” said Techorse, not sure what she was getting at. Twilight looked suspiciously at Rainbow Dash, but didn’t say anything. The ponies boarded the helicopter and found a control room in the front.

“Alright Techorse, can you fly it?” asked Fluttershy as she closed the door to the cockpit behind her.

“No, not manually, but I can program it to take us to Cloudsdale.” said Techorse.

He took out the robotic hands from his saddle and began pushing buttons and typing on a nearby keyboard. The helicopter’s engines came to life, and the machine lifted up in the air, making its climb towards the city.

Rarity said with amazement, “I really don’t know what we would do without you, Techorse. You know so much about human machines.”

Techorse said, “Well Rarity, I was a human you know.”

She said, “Yes, but, it’s so hard to remember that sometimes.”

Pinkie Pie shouted, “Yeah! You act so much like a pony Techie, we can’t tell!”

Twilight told them, “We’ve been over this already. Techorse is definitely a pony now, not an evil human.”

Fluttershy added, “Don’t let the other humans keep making these jokes about you being a pony.”

Techorse nodded and said, “I know. I really enjoy life as a pony, even more than being a human. So you know what, when this is all over, I’m going to stay here. We’ll make Wizard leave, and I’ll stay a pony for good.”

Twilight smiled at him, “I’m glad you want to stay here.”

Techorse looked at her and said, “It’s the only place I have any friends.”

“and we love being your friends.” said Fluttershy as she shut her eyes. Techorse choked up a bit, trying hard not to bring tears to his eyes. For once, he was truly happy, having friends and living in a place where he felt accepted. He looked at the cloud-based city they were approaching, where he knew he would have to help his friends score victory against another human. But in his mind, he knew he and his friends could take on any challenge, so long as they had each other.