Flash sifted through the rubble along with Princess Twilight behind him and the CMC off to the side, the five of them the only ponies in any condition to try and found out how the battle had ended. 'And with Celestia and Luna both rushed to emergency care, most of the ponies are looking to Twilight to lead them now. But we all know what we need to do. We need to find Murphy.'
"Do ya think he survived?" Applebloom asked as she and her friends worked to more a large rock, saddened to find only the remains of a Sentinel beneath the rubble. "That explosion was massive, so much so that all of us could see it from across the city. Do ya think that...?”
"He survived it. He survived everything else," Scootaloo said with no uncertainty in her voice as she pressed her body against the side of a rock, straining to push it to the side and managing to do so with some effort. When she was able to see what was under the rock she gave it a long, hard glare before spitting onto the bones of a certain pony. "You deserved far worse. Yo, found what remains of Sombra over here if any pony cares!"
"Hold on a moment Scootaloo, that might tell us where Murphy is!" Twilight yelled as she hobbled over to the fillies, who gave her a look that told her to explain herself. "Think about it, if everything was about to go the heck and Sombra might escape, where would Murphy be?"
"He'd have a death grip on Sombra to make sure that he didn't get away," Scootaloo said as the three fillies helped Twilight begin to move rocks, Flash racing over to help when he saw what they were doing. Their efforts proved fruitful as the found the internal metal skeleton of a robotic arm next to Sombra's skeletal leg, with a blade extending from its wrist into Sombra's leg. "Murphy never gave him the chance to escape. I don't blame him. Come on, we're close!"
The five of them clawed at the rocks and stones that surrounded the area next to Sombra's remains, eventually uncovering the one that they had been looking for. But as their eyes filled with sorrow as they looked upon him, they realized that their hope in him surviving may have been misplaced.
The body before them was definitely Robocop, but the chest plate was horribly mangled and shredded, some of the wounds so deep that the ponies could see clean through the chest. The arm that was still attached to Sombra was hanging onto the body by a few lose wires and screws, all of which had been burned by magical energy. His other limbs were missing and his lower torso was no longer attached, but the area that all of them were drawn to was his head, where his jaw hung off to the side at an awkward angle. And then there was his skull, which had a long crack in the dome and allowed the ponies to see bits of Murphy's brain within.
"Is...Is he...?" Sweetie Belle whispered as Twilight gently lifted him with her magic and scanned him for any signs of life, turning to look at Sweetie Belle with a shake of her head.
"I don't know. He could be for all I know, but since he was mostly mechanical, there's the smallest of chances that he...might have survived," Twilight said with no confidence as she looked at the mangled state that his body was in. The ponies hung their heads for a moment before Flash walked over to Twilight and looked down at Robocop's body, narrowing his eyes for a moment before looking at her.
"I think he's still alive. I don't know why, but I just have a feeling," he said with the faintest strands of hope in his voice. "He can't show it in this state but he has to still be alive. Twilight...if there is any chance that you might be able to rebuild him, to get him operational again..." Twilight turned to look into his eyes, looking away at the expectations within them. But as she looked down she looked into the eyes of the three fillies, all of them begging her to help.
"I don't know if I can," she eventually said with a shake of her head as she looked down at the mangled metal. "I don't know if I can reproduce the results that created him in the first place. I'm smart, but putting a dying man into a robots body might be beyond me! And if I do, there's no guarantee that he'll be the same!" She looked down at the ground and began to sob slightly. Flash gave her a look of concern before he gently placed his hoof on her chin and lifted her eyes to look at his again.
"Can't you at least try? For him? Because while the chances are slim that you can do it...if you don't try, then they're zero. I think Murphy would want you to shoot for the impossible instead of never leaving the starting line," Flash said with a weak smile. "Because if there's one thing I know it's that there's nothing that is impossible, not even coming back from the dead."
Twilight turned her head to look at the fillies, who were all nodding at her with belief in the princess in their eyes. Twilight raised her hoof and gently placed it on Flash's for comfort before looking down at Robocop, remembering what he had done for them.
"Alright. I’ll do my best Murphy. I promise you that."
DPD
The sun light beamed down as the sounds of trumpets rang throughout the castle grounds, hundreds of ponies standing at attention for the event. The three princesses stood proudly atop a large stage as a certain orange yellow Pegasus stood with his head held high beneath them, staring up at them with a look of pride on his face. All eyes were on him as the white alicorn with bandages around her chest stepped forward, smiling down at him before speaking.
"Ponies of Canterlot! As many of you now, a number of weeks ago our home came under attack by the dark king that we know as Sombra," she said aloud, the crowd booing at the mentioning of the name of the pony. "During his attack he managed to take control of the guardians that I created to keep you all safe. Their failure and the lives that they have claimed are on me. It was a mistake to trust a machine over the brave guards that risk their lives to protect us."
"And that is why today we are honoring one of the most noble of these guards, one of the ones who fought against Sombra and his forces despite all hope seeming lost!" Luna added as she stepped forward next to her sister, her voice ringing with pride and power. "This guard not only fought against the Sentinel's, he inspired the other members the other members of the royal guard to find their courage and to uphold the oath they had taken. But just as we honor this guard, we honor all the others who gave their lives in the pursuit of peace. May the rest well."
"Flash Sentry," Twilight began as she stepped forward next to the other princesses, using her wing to motion for Flash to join them upon the stage. "You have proven yourself to be truly courageous and willing to sacrifice all for the sake of others. Because of this nobleness of heart, you are hereby promoted to the Captain of the Canterlot guard. As my brother, the former captain, is now protecting the crystal empire, we feel it best that you take up the role he left behind. Congratulations, captain of the guard."
Flash bowed his head humbly as Twilight levitated to him the new helmet for him, the helmet that the captain of the guard wore. Flash removed his own helmet and slipped the new one on in its place, holding it upon his head with a look of pride as he looked out at the ponies who applauded for him and cheered loudly.
"I thank you all for this great honor. But the honor is not mine to hold alone. Many brave ponies gave their lives in defense of Canterlot...and another who gave his life to save us all," Flash said with tears trying to choke his voice, but he remained strong and lifted his head again. "To honor their memories, I will do what should have been done ages ago. I am going to rebuild the royal guard, making them better, faster and stronger than ever before. And I will do this by basing the new guard around the words that a brave man lived by..."
"Serve the public trust. Uphold the law. Protect the innocent," Flash finished with the burning passion of belief in his words. "These will be the words upon which the new royal guard is built around. And you all have my word that I will not let these words be said in vain. The new guard will be different than the ones of old! We shall be the ultimate enemy of crime and evil! We shall be officers of the law!" The crowd exploded into cheers and applause for Flash, but he barely heard any of it as he nodded and stepped down, looking off into the distance towards where Robocop had given everything for the sake of others.
'You have my word Murphy, I will honor everything you sacrificed for us,' Flash thought with confidence. 'That is my oath.'
DPD
The sun set over the horizon as the sounds of steel hitting steel filled the air, almost sounding like the sounds of birds singing to the captain of the guard that stood atop the castle wall as he watched his guards train with a ferocity and purpose that the old guard never had. The faint sound of wingbeats could be heard and he lifted his head to see the princess of friendship flutter down next to him, landing besides him as she too began to look over the guard.
"Silver armor huh?" she asked as she saw the armor glistening in the setting sun. "I like it. It reminds me of a certain officer that helped us when we needed it."
"Like I said at the ceremony two weeks ago, I promised to uphold his memory," Flash said with conviction as he nodded towards his guards. "The new guards are coming along nicely. They might not be as experienced as the ones of old, but after hearing what Murphy did for them they have a fire in them, a fire that the old guard did not have. I figured that a change of armor would help rid our thoughts of the old guard and only focus on the new."
"Speaking of our friend...I still don't know," Twilight said with a pained sigh as she rested her hooves on the edge of the castle wall and leaned her head onto them. "I'm just starting to learn how his systems worked and whatever the humans did to create him in years beyond anything I can replicate. It's still too early to know for certain." Flash smiled slightly as he wrapped a hoof around her should, not noticing Twilight face turn red.
"If anypony can do it it's you princess. All of us have faith in you, along with him," Flash comforted her as she hid her face in her arms. "Take as long as you need. He's Robocop. He'll last a long time." Twilight smiled slightly at his words as she gently lifted her head and leaned it against him, one of them looking down at the future of the guards while the other thought at the future of their friend, but both of them were thinking about the future.
DPD
Peace. That was all he cared about. There were no sounds of whirring parts as his body moved or the images of words played before his eyes in the emptiness. There was only peace. He knew not how long he had been in this emptiness, but he was content for the most part. He kept his eyes closed the entire time he was in there, not wanting the peace to end. But this day was different from the others. This time there were images and he decided to open his eyes to watch.
He knew not where they came from, probably the deepest recesses of his mind, but he enjoyed looking at them all the same. They were the images of a happy family, one that had just moved to a new city since the father had been assigned their by the force he worked for. They all smiled as they unpacked the boxes and moved into their new home and he was happy for them, happy that their life was so happy.
But as the images began to change to the man’s first week in his new position he shunned the memories away, having a feeling that they only ended badly and he wanted to remember the family as it used to be. Happy. But as the images faded back into his consciousness he heard another sound approaching him. The sound of metal feet.
"Are you ready to go back yet?" a metallic voice asked from behind him, but he knew not what it looked like as he never turned around to look. He had been asked this question once before and last time he had given no answer. But as he had thought before, this time was different. This time he felt like he should give an answer.
"There is nothing here for me in these images of the past," he responded with a small smile. "I will cherish them, but I shall leave them in the past. So yes, I am ready."
DPD
Sensors came online as the man felt himself waking up, looking through a very clean visor at a ceiling, which was lined with crystals and other assortments of gems. He could feel that he had a body, but he decided to explore the visor before him some more. The words in the visor told him that all systems were operating normally, yet his attention was quickly drawn away from the words and to his nose, which he did not remember being so long or so square.
Curious to see if there were any other changes, he slowly lifted his left arm to see if his limbs still looked the same. To his surprise, he found that he no longer had hands at the ends of his arms and instead the robotic limbs ended in what looked like hooves. Confused, he took a quick glance at his other arm, finding it to be similar. He slightly lifted his head to looked down at his body and legs. He found that his chest was smaller and looked far different than he remembered it and his legs were similar to his arms, except the joints weren't the same. But there was one similarity between what he remembered and all that had changed. He was almost all robotic...almost.
"Hey wait a second...did he just move?!" a voice that sounded familiar yet different said from outside his field of vision, followed by a gasp and the sounds of running hooves as he laid his head back against whatever he was laying on. A moment later his vision was filled with four different ponies, all of them looking familiar but also looking different.
"Murphy...? Are you awake?" Twilight asked him, her voice confirming his assumption that it was here. She hardly looked changed except that her mane was now shorter and she had it up in a short ponytail, but other than that she was the same. That could not be said for the other three. The three who used to be fillies now looked ten years older and had radically changed in that time. Scootaloo looked more rough and tumble with her mane having been cut short whereas Sweetie was her total opposite, with her mane having grown longer and she now looked more ladylike. And finally Applebloom looked far more muscular and grown to be the biggest of the three with her mane looking similar to her sisters. But once again there were two features that linked them all together despite the changes.
And that was the huge smiles on their faces and the tears in their eyes.
"Murphy, if you can hear me, move your head towards me," Twilight asked, letting out a cry of joy when his head turned to face her. "Oh thank Faust you're finally awake! I know that you must be wondering what happened to your body and that is that I don't know the human anatomy as well as a ponies and I had to rebuild you somehow and...Oh, I'm just so glad that you're alright!" the four of them began to cheer with happiness in their voice as he began to look around, getting familiar with his new form.
"Murphy?" Scootaloo asked, making him turn his head to face her. "It's really you right? You remember us and everything? You remember who you are?" Dead silence greeted the four and for a brief moment they believed that he had been reset. But then a large smile crossed his face as he said,
"Designation: Robocop. Name: Alex Murphy. Status: Free," he stated for them as the smiles returned to their faces, mirroring the one that he wore on his face as well.
"Hello...my friends."