The morning sun shown down upon the quiet town of Ponyville early the following morning, casting the town in a warm light that comforted all who looked upon the rays of sun. All except for Flash and Twilight, both of whom were currently being blinded by the sun reflecting off of Robocop's armor as they walked towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"I apologize for reflecting, but it is a feature of my armor that I cannot control," Robocop apologized to the pair who were holding their hooves over their eyes to try and keep the light out.
"No problem, just...can you turn that way a little?" Flash asked, Robocop nodding as he tilted his body in a way that deflected some of the light, allowing the two to lower their hooves. Twilight rubbed her eyes before reaching into her saddle bag to pull out a long list.
"Alright, according to how you described the "food" that you eat, I've found that it closely resembles both applesauce and baby food. And since I figure that you don't want baby food, we'll be taking you to Sweet Apple Acres to see if they can help your...sensitive stomach," Twilight said with a small smile. "Although seeing somepony as tough as you eating baby food would like pretty funny."
"Technically I have no stomach. My body simply processes the nutrients from the food and disperses it to the human areas I have left for absorption," Robocop explained without thinking, getting Twilight to shake her head at the explanation.
"Being a cyborg's tough, isn't it?"
"Well, no longer having to use the restroom is a nice upgrade." Both Twilight's and Flash's jaws dropped as he said this, Robocop turning to look at them since sudden silence was not was he was expecting. "Did I say something offensive or surprising?"
"Was that...an attempt at a joke?" Flash asked with a coy smile, only to be met with the emotionless face that Robocop always wore.
"I was stating a fact. I do not know that both of you would be interpreted as a joke," he sensibly replied, but both Twilight and Flash gave him coy smiles that made Robocop take a step away from them both. Twilight and Flash both let out small laughs before Twilight turned back to her list and a frown crossed the mirth off of her face.
"You'll both want to hear this one. Late last night, after we returned to Ponyville, the princesses were ambushed by Sombra and attacked. They managed to fend him off, but he escaped without them able to capture him," Twilight read as Flash and Robocop shared a worried look. "Well, at least so far the plan is working, although I hope they capture him soon. Still got the key, Murphy?" Robocop nodded as his left leg opened up to reveal the silver encased key, which they all looked at for a moment before the covering sealed up again.
"The sooner we bring in Sombra, the sooner he answers for what he has done," Robocop growled with hints of rage in his tone, the two ponies next to him nodding in agreement. While the group walked Twilight gave Robocop a rundown of how trials and sentencing worked in Equestria in case he was needed for Sombra's trial, so by the time the group reached the farm both Flash and Robocop had long since stopped listening, with Robocop just opting to record her words for later.
"...and that is the proper way to sentence a pony who...oh, are we here already?" Twilight asked with mild surprise when she lifted her head to see the sigh for the Acres. "Well I can save the rest for later. Time to meet the all of the Apples, Murphy." Robocop nodded as the three walked across the dusty ground towards the house that rested besides the farm. The door to the house swung open and a small, brown dog burst out of the house, yipping her head off as she raced towards the group. Twilight knelt down to greet the pup, but the dog skidded to a halt twenty feet away from the group and began to growl at Robocop.
"No, it's okay Winona, he's a friend," Twilight said as she tried to calm the dog down, but she continued to growl at the officer while in a protective stance. Unafraid of the dog, Robocop walked right up to it and knelt down, sticking out one of his hands for it to sniff. Winona sniffed his hand once before back off, resuming her growl at the officer. "I'm sorry about this Murphy, she's generally so friendly."
"She believes me to be a threat and is protecting her family. I cannot fault her," he said coldly as he walked past the dog, who nipped at his leg only to find out he was not something to chew on. As Twilight helped Winona with her teeth Robocop walked up to the door of the house and knocked on the door, hearing the sounds of hooves walking towards the entrance. The door swung open and Robocop found himself looking down at a large red stallion who looked back up at him with a bored look.
"You Murphy?" he asked in a very bland tone.
"Correct." The stallion moved to the side and allowed Robocop to enter, the officer taking care not to bang his head on the door frame as he entered. The stallion said nothing else as he led Robocop inside, offering him a seat in the living room. Robocop sat down and found himself looking across at an old mare who was a light green with a white mane.
"Well howdy there, Mr. Murphy," she said with a thick accent as she smiled at him, Robocop nodding his head in reply. "Don't bother asking how ah know yer name, mah granddaughter told me all about ya. Said that you're the one who saved her life a number of times over the past week. No need to answer that one either, it be impossible to get her description of ya confused fer another. Let me just say thank ya for taking such good care of my family."
"I would like to return the gratitude. Your family and their friends have been very kind and patient with me in the short time I have been here," Robocop responded, getting the old mare to wave her hoof at him while chuckling.
"Ah there's no need to thank us. Apples always try their best to be kind to strangers, especially those who have aided them in times of need. Ah'm Granny Smith by the way, but ya can call me granny if ya want to," she said with a happy smile as she hopped off her chair and held out a shaky hoof to him. Robocop took the hoof and gently shook it, the old mare smiling before craning her head to the side. "Mah granddaughter and her school friends are outside. Ah bet they'd want to see you."
Robocop thanked her and left the house out through the back exit, spotting AJ playing with her little sister and the other fillies in the back. They stopped tackling each other when they spotted him and waved him over, Applejack reaching into a bag that rested next to them when he got near and pulled out a container of applesauce.
"Here ya go, Murphy. Twi sent a letter ahead and told me what ya needed," she said as Robocop took the container and slowly opened it, looking at the mush inside for a moment before ingesting it. His internal scanners told him that the food was being processed, but with a small sigh he realized that it would not be enough to sustain him. He would need the baby food.
"Thank you for the sustenance," he said with a nod of his hand. "How do you wish for me to pay for the service?"
"Ah shucks, ya don't need to pay. You've helped us out more than enough," AJ said as she rubbed her nose with her hoof, Robocop not sure how to respond to such an act of kindness.
"I suppose we are even then."
"Ya saved mah sisters life. We're nowhere close to even," AJ said with a smile as Flash and Twilight joined them in the back. Applejack walked over to them and they began to talk, while Robocop was left to tend to the three fillies.
"How are ya feeling?" Applebloom asked him as he reached down and removed the key from his left leg, staring into the green energy silently.
"I still do not believe that I should be the one to hold onto this," he voiced his concerns as he let the three fillies hold onto the key for a moment. "Sombra has proven that he can defeat me before and I have yet to think of a solution to his strategy of taking control of an innocent and fighting me with them that doesn't end in shut down."
"Why don't you just forget about the directives and tackle him to the ground?" Sweetie Belle suggested, the other two fillies nodding in agreement. "I mean, it would stop Sombra and allow you to keep an innocent safe. Wouldn't that work?"
"Unfortunately my directives are programmed so there is very little room for variations to what they dictate," Robocop explained as he slipped the green key back into his leg. "Under the directive of serve the public trust, I am not allowed to lay my hands on an innocent or harm them in any way unless they have willfully engaged me. As the ponies under Sombra's command are not acting on their own accord, I cannot touch or harm them."
"Then why does not touching them cause ya to shut down? Ya didn't disobey yer orders," Applebloom added.
"That would be another directive: uphold the law. I am programmed to stop any crime I know of and arrest any felon, which Sombra is. If I refuse to arrest a felon or allow crime to happen without me interfering, then my system believes me to be corrupted and it shuts me down for repairs," Robocop said with no emotion as he stared at the ground. "Sombra has figured out how to force my directives against myself and render me useless. And there is nothing I can do to stop him." The fillies all shared a sad look with each other before Scootaloo shook her head and punched him in the leg, cursing herself a moment later as she hopped around in pain.
"Why did you do that?"
"To snap you out of your funk," she spat as she seethed in pain while holding her hoof. "Dangit what did they make you out of? Here you are saying how useless you are and how you can't fight Sombra, but you weren't thinking that when you took on that manticore or the Lumberwolf!"
"That was a different situation," Robocop reminded her bitterly, Scootaloo letting out an exasperated sigh in frustration.
"Who cares what the situation was! From what Twilight told me you didn't stop trying to fight him and you sure as heck didn't run away like those guards!" she yelled at him, completely burning with passion now. "You keep telling us how it's your directives that define you, but we saw in your memories what truly drives you is your belief in justice!...A belief that I share. Just like Flash I admire you, way more than I admire the guard. They brag about how they're doing good when they're not. You just go out there and do it."
"I understand what you are saying, but you are talking to me as if I have a choice," Robocop replied with some heat. "I am mostly machine now. I abide by what I am programmed to do."
"So if somepony were to go into your head and program you to kill all of us, would you?" Scootaloo asked defiantly, narrowing her eyes when Robocop didn't answer. "Because I don't believe you would. I know you would say no. It's as Flash said. You might be ninety nine percent machine, but that one percent of you that's human wouldn't let you. Because that one percent is the Murphy that believes in justice."
"That one percent did not aid me in the battle with Sombra," Robocop reminded her, getting Scootaloo to wave her arms around like she was erasing something.
"Maybe you didn't want it badly enough or something, I don't know. What I do know is that Murphy always believed in justice, so much so that he gave his life for that belief. And that you believe in justice, and that you almost gave your life for it multiple times," she practically screamed before taking in a few quick breaths and calming herself. "The directives might tell you what to do, but I believe that you have a choice. Either you'll choose to let the directives win or you'll choose to do what is right. And for you, I think that's simple. Protect the innocent. That's all from me, either of you want to say something?" Both fillies shook their heads and backed away a bit, Scootaloo shrugging as she looked back up at Robocop again.
"You're directive tell you what to do. But this," she began as she motioned for him to kneel down, placing her hoof on the center of his chest when he had done so. "Will tell you what is right." Robocop felt her words hit home and he very slowly rested his hand over her hoof, giving her a small smile in return for the kindness and belief she was showing in him.
"Aw, what a touching scene. Makes me want to hurl." All four of them let out a gasp as they spun to see Big Mac standing at the edge of the door. But immediately Robocop placed himself between the fillies and the pony, his scanners immediately picking up on who was actually in the red stallion’s body. "But time for body rejections can wait, since I'm here on business. You have something that I want."
"No...not mah brother."
"Stand down and release the pony that you have captive at once or I will use force," Robocop ordered, but his fears became reality when the directives began to pop up on his screen again, conflicting with each other. But with courage in his voice he drew his gun and pointed it at Big Mac's head. "If you want this key, you'll have to go through me to get it."
"Robocop...Murphy. I wouldn't have it any other way."