Sweetie, Applebloom and Scootaloo laughed aloud as they dashed through the crowds of ponies, drinking in the festivities of the night with huge smiles on their faces. In a moment they were at a stall with candied apples before in a burst of speed they ran to where a unicorn was making images made of smoke dance in the moonlit sky.
"I haven't seen them this happy in a while. Looks like you were right Robocop," Twilight said as she and the fillies sisters followed after the three girls, Robocop following just behind them at his slow pace. His head turned left and right as he took in the night through his wrappings, eyes on alert for any sign of criminal activity. Halloween was a time for punks and fools to be out breaking the law and he assumed that Nightmare Night would be no different.
"Flash and Fluttershy won't be joining us. Flash is still too hurt and Fluttershy doesn't like tonight," Twilight informed the others. "Rainbow is still off in Clousdale with her injured father, poor guy, and Pinkie hasn't left her house in a while. When I went to visit her it was like she was trying to figure something out."
"To bad that Flash couldn't come out, I'd hate to miss a night like this," Ice Queen Rarity said with a smile as she gazed at the spectacle before her. "All of the decorations, the lights, the creativity...tonight truly is a marvelous night."
"The only reason ya like it so much is because ya designed half of the town’s decorations yerself," Samurai Applejack pointed out to Rarity with a smirk, Rarity turning her nose up in response. "They are impressive though and really give the town that creepy feeling. Guess ya didn't have to change yer usual style too much, did ya?" AJ teased.
"AH! I will have you know that none of my apparel has ever been considered creepy or found terrifying!" Rarity exclaimed with indignation, Applejack stifling a laugh at the enraged look that Rarity wore.
"Really? Cause ah've seen a few of yer lacy dresses that gave me nightmares fer weeks." Robocop watched as Applejack ran off laughing with Rarity chasing the orange pony with murder in her eyes, Robocop about to break them up when Twilight informed him that was normal behavior.
"Besides, you have to watch the fillies with me," Twilight said with a smile. "Speaking of which." Her horned glowed as she concentrated and a moment later Robocop watched the three fillies get dragged into view, all of them with upset faces as Twilight released them from her magic. "How are you girls enjoying yourselves?"
"We were enjoying ourselves fine until ya dragged us back here and mussed up our costumes," Applebloom grumbled as she shook the dust from her mane and outfit, tilting her head at Twilight's costume. "Can ya please explain to us again what the heck yer wearing? It looks weird."
"Weird?! I'm dressed, no no, PAYING respects to Coral Crystal, the very first unicorn to discover that magic could be used for teleporting!" Twilight exclaimed as she looked through her massive spectacles at the three fillies, who looked anything but impressed. "She was a revolutionary in terms of magic and learning," Twilight continued as she looked up at the stars. "She also is credited with creating the multiverse theory, the theory that-"
Robocop turned away from the princess who was talking to the stars to follow the three fillies who had taken off, his directive to keep them safe pulling him away from Twilight's history lesson, which he did not find that interesting to begin with. He caught up with them at a barrel with apples in it, able to pick up the last of their conversation as he approached.
"...and don't you ever question mah knowledge of apples again," Applebloom finished, Sweetie Belle sitting down with a look on her face that told Robocop she was thinking over something heavy. "Now then, how about ah show you how to truly bob fer apples?" She placed bother her front of her forehooves on the edge of the barrel as she brought her head back, jaw open wide as she prepared to bite down.
"Hold it." She stopped mid bob at Robocop's voice, all three fillies turning to look at him as he walked over to the barrel, sticking his hand into the water (despite the protests from the pony running the attraction) and pulled out an apple, holding it before his scanners for a moment. "It is clean. You may commence dunking your head in cold water without fear," he instructed as he dropped the apple back inside.
"Uh, thanks, but ah don't think that an apple is dangerous in any way," Applebloom said with a smile.
"I was scanning for the chance that it had razor blades stashed inside or that it might be poisoned," Robocop informed her, the three fillies looking at each other with confusion before turning back to Robocop.
"Why would it be poisoned?" Scootaloo asked as she hopped off her side of the barrel and walked over besides Robocop. "It's just bobbing for apples, nothing worth poisoning over. And who would put razor blades in apples? That would make them impossible to eat."
"In Detroit alone last year I lost three young children to candy poisoning while over twenty more were taken to a hospital for cuts and bleeding in their mouths," Robocop replied, causing the threes faces to turn green as they looked away from the apples floating in the barrel. The pony in charge of the event told him off for his words and he and the CMC left her alone. "I do not take chances this time of year."
"Jeez, what kind of city did you live in?" Sweetie Belle asked with a shake of her head, holding a hoof to her queasy stomach.
"A place where crime never slept. And neither did I," Robocop replied as he marched on. "We must find Princess Twilight and your sisters. You are all too exposed out here." The three fillies all shared the same look before racing around to his front, forcing him to come to a stop as he looked down at them. "Why are you obstructing me?"
"You asked us to show you how to have fun, right?" Scootaloo asked him, waiting for him to nod before she continued. "Then here's your first lesson. You need to learn to relax. Not everything or pony here is trying to kill you. Sombra yes, but the rest of the ponies here are good ponies and they enjoy tonight as much as we do. So just chill, lay back and have a good time."
"Having a good time is not part of my directives," Robocop emotionlessly replied, causing Sweetie to sigh in exasperation as she stood ahead of Scootaloo.
"Okay, time for your second lesson: learn to smile," Sweetie said to him, showing off a massive smile. "See, just like this. You're always so serious, so you need to smile when you relax. Trust me, it feels great. Give it a try."
Robocop looked at them for a moment before forcing his lips to move, pulling up the edges of them to form a smile, something he had not done since he had stopped Dick Jones in OCP's headquarters. He held it for a moment as the fillies looked up at him with surprised faces.
"Well whaddya know, you don't look as intimidating when you smile," Sweetie said with a smile of her own.
"Probably why he doesn't do it often the, since he wants to be intimidating instead of friendly," Scootaloo added as Robocop returned to his regular look.
"Well it's a start. Next we should try to teach you how to laugh," Applebloom joked before she looked off towards a stage in the distance with wide eyes. "Come on girls, it's time fer them to pick who has the scariest costume tonight!" she yelled as she and Sweetie rushed off towards the stage.
"Already? But we've barely had any time to gather candy!" Scootaloo complained as she raced after them. Robocop marched after them at his top speed, joining them in the large crowd next to their sisters a few moments later.
"About time you found us, we were all worried about you," Twilight said as she pulled the three into a hug, Rarity and Applejack doing the same as Mayor Mare walked onto the stage dressed as a queen as well. Rarity grumbling about how all her best ideas were stolen as Mayor Mare began to speak into a megaphone.
"Greetings ghouls and monsters! Now is the time that you have all been waiting for! The time we crown the scariest pony tonight!" The crowd cheered around Robocop, as did the CMC next to him, as five ponies in different attire walked up onto the stage. "Who will win tonight? Well that is up to our judges, who are all experts of the scare." The three horses sitting on the side of the stage nodded as the crowd cheered for them. "Now then, let us bring out our first contestant." A pony dressed as a vampire stepped forward first, looking menacing with his cape and slicked back mane.
"Oooh, looks like this vampire hopes to take first. Not too bad a costume, but the final vote goes to the judges," Mayor Mare said as the pony stepped back, allowing some sort of swamp creature to step forward. After it stepped up a sludge abomination that to Robocop looked like a crack at pollution, but his eyes stayed on the judges as the last two came forward, noticing that they were looking at him the entire time the contest was going on.
"Alright, there are our five contestants. Judges, do you have a winner picked or would you like more time?" Mayor mare asked the judges, who muttered to each other before one of the elder ones stood up and took the megaphone.
"Actually, we have been scanning the crowd during this entire show and we have decided that there is another that we wish to judge," the judge said as he pointed to Robocop. "If you wouldn't mind, please step up onto the stage." Robocop hesitated for a moment, but when he looked to the ponies next to him he saw them motioning for him to go up. He marched up to the stage then onto it, getting the crowd to awe at him as he took center stage. The judges then began to circle him like sharks, nodding their heads approvingly as they looked over his costume.
"We have a winner!" they said as they tried to raise one of his arms over his head, but it never budged. "Notice how at first you believe his costume to be a mummy's, but if you look beneath you will see robotic parts. The true costume is that of a cyborg trying to hide it's true self beneath the guise of another, but it cannot truly conceal the monster it is! Kudos to you sir, you have the most complex and well thought out costume that I have seen!"
Mayor mare hoofed a trophy to Robocop, who slowly grabbed it as he looked out across the applauding crowd, including Twilight and the others. He then turned his head slightly to look back at the other participants, who were sulking at having been beaten by someone who had not even entered.
'It is not fair to them, but I can understand the judges reasoning to elect me the winner,' Robocop silently thought as the crowd continued to applaud. 'Because they are simply in costume. I am the only real monster here.'
H/\H
H\/H
Twilight finished tucking in the three little fillies in one of spare rooms with a smile, pulling the covers over the three of them to keep the warm. She kissed each of them on the forehead before closing the door to the room, tiptoeing away so she didn't wake them. With a sigh she then headed outside, walking by the trophy that Robocop had won that rested on the table in the center of the main room.
"Shouldn't you be getting to sleep?" she asked Robocop, who was standing by the door about to head out.
"I need to go on patrol," he replied as he opened the door to the castle, where the light from the full moon shown down on his armor. "If Sombra is going to make his move, it will be when the town sleeps. Besides, I do not wish to rest." He chanced a glance at his battery to find that it was still above fifty percent. He wondered for a moment why it had yet to exhaust before Twilight yawned and headed back inside.
"If you say so, but I have a bed set up for you if you change your mind." Robocop walked off into the night with the moon reflecting off of his armor, creating a light for him even though he did not need it as his vision worked in the dark. He looked around at the town that had been so lively only a few hours ago, now as silent as a grave as everypony slept. And it was his job to make sure that all of them could sleep peacefully. He did not pay attention to where he walked as he simply scanned for any criminal activity, but he did pause when he came to a stop before a statue of a terrifying mare that had pointed teeth and menacing eyes.
"That was me. Before Twilight and her friends snapped me out of my rage." Robocop turned his head to see a midnight blue alicorn around the same size as him walk up beside him, looking up at the statue with grief and sorrow in her eyes. "Back when I was Nightmare Moon. Once a year, on this day named after my failure, I come here to remind myself of how far I had fallen."
"Princess Luna," Robocop identified, Luna nodding as she turned her gaze from the statue to him. Her eyes quickly looked up and down his robotic form with interest in her eyes.
"So you are the one that Twilight told me about. You are Robocop." Robocop nodded in response as Luna turned her head back to the statue. "Twilight sent me a letter about you. How you stopped a few crimes despite being teleported from your home and how you are...trapped within that suit. I am sorry."
"You have no need to apologize. You are not the reason for my current form," Robocop metallically answered.
"Yes, but that does not mean that I do not know how you feel," Luna gently said. "I too nearly lost everything that made me me, when I allowed my jealousy to take control of me. I was a monster in that state, nothing like I used to be. So I understand what it feels like to be stripped of everything, to be in a body that is not your own. But there is something that separates you from me." Robocop could barely hear her words at that point her voice had fallen so low. "You still fight for others despite being a machine now. I became a monster." Luna stopped talking there, so Robocop turned to go back on patrol. He had only taken a few steps though before he turned back to look at her.
"There is another difference between us." Luna turned to look at Robocop, who for a moment she could swear had pain on his face. "You had the option to change, to become who you used to be. This is who I have to be." And with those words he turned and walked away, leaving her to watch him leave with sad eyes.