A flash of magic light faded, leaving a white robotic unicorn and a purple robotic alicorn standing in a field. “Oh my!” Rarity gasped as she took notice of a nearby house. The house in question used to be a two-story home. Only about half of the first floor remained standing, and even then what remained was badly scorched.
With the strikingly familiar terrain around them, Neither robo-pony needed their built-in map to know they were standing at the north edge of Ponyville, but twilight checked hers anyway. Another gasp from Rarity drew Twilight’s attention to another familiar sight, or familiar enough to identify anyway, the ruins of a crystal tree and palace, Twilight’s castle. Something had blown out a fair chunk of the tree’s trunk, and as a result the building part of the upper castle had been smashed to pieces when it had fallen to the ground.
In fact all of Ponyville lay in ruins, save for the large, ominous metal tower that now stood where the town hall use to be. “I’m guessing that tower is the unicorn prison,” Twilight Sparkle said.
Turning to Rarity, who still seemed to be in shock, Twilight added, “But first things first, and I believe that we’re headed north first.”
Turning their backs to the ruined town to the south, they spotted a small tower poking up out of the hills, more or less where their maps indicated the launch facility they had been told about was. However, from what they could see, this tower was little more then a framework of metal supporting a set of tracks going up the side rather then a tower meant to be inhabited like the one in Ponyville proper.
With a slow nod Rarity said, “Yes, pristine rolling hills is certainly a nicer choice of scenery.”
Within a few minutes the two found themselves crouched in a bush, looking over the rest of the launch facility. It turned out the tower they had seen before was actually a ramp, built in a roller-coaster-like style and in a shape the reminded Twilight of an exponential growth chart.
The few guards that could be seen patrolling the perimeter were robots of the wolf-like design they’d faced before. “I would have expected more, given how important they made this place sound,” Rarity said.
“True, but I got the impression that some of the forces AJ, Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy are dealing with are normally stationed here too,” Twilight commented.
“That makes since. Well then, shall we?” Rarity said, standing up, with the soft hum of a charging beam cannon coming from one of her front hoofs.
Twilight gave a nod. “We shall.”
The two robo-wolves standing guard didn’t even get a chance to react before exploding in blasts of blue and purple energy. Despite the destruction of the guards at the front gate, Rarity and Twilight barely even got past the gate before alarms started sounding.
As the two, ran across the cement yard of the launch base, a heavy thump echoed, stopping them in their tracks.
“What was that?” Rarity asked in a low tone, as another thump sounded out.
“Something big and heavy,” Twilight answered flatly, directing her gaze toward the hanger at the start of the launch track, where the sounds were coming from.
A mechanical hum echoed across the yard as the hanger doors opened. While their current angle didn’t allow them to see much inside the hanger, they didn’t have to wait long before the heavy thumps returned and a giant mechanical wolf came running out of the building.
The monstrosity of a mechanical wolf came to a halt before to the robo-ponies, allowing them to get a good look at the foe five times larger then themselves. Red light glowed around the rim of the mega-wolf’s eyes, its claws scared the cement and a menacing snarl revealed the beam cannon lens the size of a pony in its mouth.
In little more then a whisper, Rarity said, “I’m sorry I asked.”
The wolf lunged, somepony shouted, “Scatter!” Two robot ponies darted in opposite directions, as a large paw smashed down where they had been a second ago.
Having missed with its claws, the wolf opened its mouth and took a shot at Rarity. A soft Blue glow formed around Rarity’s horn and a slab of cement at her hooves, tearing the cement up and tossing it into the way of the incoming blast.
All of which left Twilight free to turn and fire a spray of shots with her beam cannon. Most of Twilight’s attacks impacted the wolf with no apparent effect, but one shot managed to hit the beam cannon in the wolf’s open maw and drew the electric surges that signaled shield damage. “Aim for the mouth!” Twilight yelled, to share her discovery.
Being less than appreciative at having the weak point in its armor pointed out, the wolf presented its cannon to Twilight and took a shot. While a quick ‘eep!’ escaped her lips Twilight vanished in a flash of teleportation magic, reappearing a few feet to the side. Despite dodging the attack Twilight frowned, taking note that teleporting had drained 10% of her weapons system’s energy, she silently vowed not to waste any more energy like that if she could avoid it. Taking to using Rarity’s method of running, jumping and ducking to dodge attacks Twilight re-engaged her foe.
When Twilight Sparkle finally managed to slip up and take a hit, she found the wolf’s blaster really wasn’t any stronger then her own when it was fully charged. Unsurprisingly, being outnumbered two to one, the wolf soon started ceding ground to the two pony-bots blasting away at it. With one final blast of purple energy from Twilight’s hoof blaster, the cannon in the wolf’s mouth exploded and was followed shortly by a chain of explosions throughout the robotic wolf’s body.
“Well that wasn’t so bad,” Rarity said with a bit of a forced smile.
“I know, at first I thought that was going to be hard, but I guess size isn’t everything when it comes to robots, huh?”
“Indeed, darling. But what now?”
Sparing a quick glance to the two building that the launch facility was composed of, Twilight said, “You head to the hanger at the start of the launch track. I’ll take control of the control building over there. Once you’ve taken control of the ship in the hanger I’ll launch you.”
A touch of pity was in Rarity’s voice as she said, “And then we’re on our own to finish our tasks.”
“Is something wrong, Rarity?”
“No, though it dawns on me that you will be walking through the ruins of the town we used to call home, a task for which I do not envy you. Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Twilight gave a small, forced smile. “Yeah I hadn’t really thought about that until we saw what was left of Ponyville. But I’m sure I’ll manage. Towns can be rebuilt after all, so we just need to end this war so we can build it back even better then it was before.”
Despite her reassuring words, Twilight lingered a moment before giving a nod and the two headed out in different directions.
As Twilight approached the control building she spotted two gun-turrets, their distinctly stand-lone design marking them as recent additions to the facility. As the turrets opened fire on her, she released a charged blast from the beam cannon in her hoof at one and at the same time sent a blast of magic from her horn at the other. Forty-four shots left. She thought, as the two turrets exploded in a shower of sparks, shrapnel and purple light.
The two pony-sized wolf-bots inside the building didn’t fare any better than the turrets outside. As Twilight brushed the remnants of a metallic wolf’s leg off of the control panels she searched said panel diligently, mentally cataloging the labels by all of the buttons and dials.
Using her magic, Twilight quickly opened every drawer and filing cabinet she could find and proceeded to empty them of their contents until she managed to pull out a book. She quickly zipped the book over to where she could read it and smiled at the title ‘Operations Manual.’ After quickly searching the book’s table of contents, she flipped the pages to the part detailing the launch sequence.
Reading the book, her robotic eyes took in the information possibly even faster then she could have when she was a pony of flesh and blood, a feat she wouldn’t have thought possible until just now.
Regardless, Twilight turned her attention to the monitor showing the hanger and pushing a button near said monitor it changed to show the inside of the spaceship’s cockpit. Just then the door at the back of the cockpit opened and Rarity entered.
Seeing her friend’s face on a small screen, Rarity said, “Oh hello again. I take it that means you have taken control of the command building?”
“I have. And it looks like the spaceship is fairly automated. In fact, according to this, as long as you don’t hit the manual override and try to fly it yourself, all I have to do is start the launch from here and it will fly to the space station all by itself. Although considering what we plan to do to the space station you might need to use the manual controls to bring it back down,” Twilight responded.
“Noted, darling. I shall be sure to watch closely what it does on the way up then.”
“Alright, good luck.”
“And good luck to you in Ponyville,” Rarity said, as she buckled her self in and motioned her hoof to signal that she was ready.
“Thanks, starting launch sequence now!” Twilight said, practically beaming as she pushed the button to do just that.
Twilight looked out the window and watched in vivid fascination as the spaceship shot down the launch track at high speed. Halfway down the track the ship’s engines flared to life and it accelerated even more as it surged up the tower-like end of the track, finally leaving the track altogether rocketing up and out of the line of sight provided by the massive window in the command building.
Leaving the command building, the smile faded from Twilight’s face, the thought of having to pass through the ruins of the town that she called home during her best memories dragging it into a frown.
* * * * * * *
The passing of ten or so minutes saw Twilight galloping through the ruins of Ponyville, Shooting at more robo-wolves and ducking behind bits of rubble to dodge the return fire. Even without a heart capable of sending pain signals, she still felt the pain of the heart as she realized the rubble she was hiding behind used to be the counter of the asparagus stand.
A minute later and Twilight was leaping high and firing her blaster at a hardhat-bot the moment it’s gun peeked out from under the lip of its armored hat. As the mechanical guts of the hardhat robot fell nearby, the robot pony paused yet again, this time noticing the shattered remnants of a distinctly cupcake shaped room strewn across the street a good fifty yards from the foundation it had once been attached to.
A moment more and she stood in the doorway of what remained of Sugar Cube Corner, haunted by a memory of the six friends hugging each other in front of the now debris covered counter. Well five of them had been hugging anyway, as the sky-blue pegasus in the middle had been taken off guard by the sudden pony-pile centered on her.
Whether it was Bon Bon’s candy store or the cafe that Rarity use to treat her friends to lunch at, site after site made Twilight pause and linger for a moment as she remembered the places when they were still intact. Each pause seemed to allow any nearby enemy robots to converge on her, yet Twilight didn’t seem to mind. In fact, considering that she was planing on leaving this place with a bunch of former unicorn prisoners of unknown combat potential in tow, having a clear path ready seemed like a good idea.
The final pause was before the tower that now stood where the town hall had once been, though this new metallic tower stood not only on the ruins of the town hall but most of the surrounding plaza too. A chuckle escaped Twilight’s lips as she thought how Rarity would have complained about what an eye sore that the dull gray metal that dominated the tower’s color schema was.
A massive set of double doors seemed to be the only entrance to the tower. Approaching them, the alicorn robot was startled when they opened for her unchallenged. A short hallway, only about ten feet in length, led the way into the gargantuan main room. Said room consisted of a cylinder the outer wall of which was lined with jail-like cells. Twilight counted at least twenty balconies above her, each being another ring of prison cells.
Each cell contained one or two unicorns and all of the prisoners had machines attached to their bodies and those machines had cables that were hooked up to other machines on opposite sides of each cell. The arraignment severely restricting the freedom of movement of the prisoners, like an over engineered version of being chained to the wall or floor in the dungeons of old.
Another detail that caught Twilight’s eyes was the strange mechanical rings just outside and beside each cell, that looked like they might be some sort of remote extension of the machines the prisoners where attached to.
Most of the prisoners seemed to be in a depressed sate, too out of it even notice the new presence in the tower. However, one unicorn had her eyes firmly fixed on the new arrival. Once Twilight had noticed her, the unicorn’s eyes started rolling up into her head for a moment, only to snap back down to focus on Twilight again.
Raising a metallic eyebrow, Twilight approached the unicorn with the intriguing behavior only for the unicorn’s eyes to suddenly widen in fear.
It dawned on Twilight that she too was a robot, just as this unicorn’s captors, so she said, “It’s okay, I won’t hurt-”
“Look up!” the unicorn interrupted the instant she’d heard Twilight speak.
Heeding the suddenly shouted instructions Twilight looked up and saw a beam a red light descending toward her. The air through which the beam was traveling was bursting into flames, making it look as if the beam itself was aflame. Lacking the time to do anything else, Twilight vanished in a flash of magic. Reappearing a few feet to the side, where she saw the beam strike the floor and turn the cement there molten for a few seconds.
Quickly looking back up to the source of the beam, Twilight Sparkle found a purple and green, robot dragon about the side of a small house, looking down from a balcony near the top of the tower. With a sudden tremble and a voice barely above a whisper Twilight asked, “S-Spike?”
“Who?” The dragon growled back. “Oh! Was that the name of the dragon I was built to resemble? No, unlike you frauds, my thoughts are my own, not copies of some creature who’d come before.”
With a nod Twilight answered, “You look like a grown-up version of spike… well as much as I look like me anyway.”
With a truly appreciative smile the robo-dragon said, “That’s good to know, those dragon bones on the west side of town were never really good enough to answer that question for me.” With a grimmer tone he added, “I always suspected that I was built this way as an act of psychological warfare. After all what better why to brake a pony’s spirit that to have them look upon their jailer and see the image of their noble dragon guardian?”
“You-you killed Spike?”
“Well I didn’t. Though I suppose there isn’t much of a point in differentiation between individuals of a hostile army. That said, you might want to reserve your ire for the general. This war was his idea after all.”
“You seem awfully forthcoming with this information.”
“That’s because you are either going to change sides and serve the general, or I’m going to destroy you. Either way it’s not like this information is going back to the ponies’ home base.” As if to punctuate the dragon’s words, the doors to the outside world suddenly slammed close and the clang of a heavy locking mechanism was heard.
Taking that as her cue to fight, Twilight jumped into motion, charging her beam cannon and making herself into a moving target. Above the dragon opened it’s wings and leapt off of the balcony. Several thrusters allowed him to hover high above. Not that was very much room for him to maneuver in, let alone dodge any attacks from the pony-bot below.
Now that she wasn’t being surprised by the attacks, dodging the flaming beams coming from the strange beam cannon in the mecha-dragon’s mouth was doable. By contrast the dragon didn’t dodge Twilight’s attacks at all, nor did the constant crackle of his shields taking damage seem to bother him.
For all her efforts, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t perfect, and another blast of burning energy slammed into her shields. As she jumped out of the pool of molten ground the thought that she might run out of shield energy before her opponent, despite scoring twenty hits to the dragon’s every one, made a flash of concern appeared on her face.
The pained cry of one of the prisoners drew Twilight’s attention to that particular cell, where she saw the unicorn’s horn glowing with a golden light. A quick glance back to the dragon and she spotted one of the rings from beside the prison cells was being worn on one of the dragon’s claws and it too glowed with the golden light of the imprisoned unicorn’s magic.
The dragon gave a sinister grin and laughed. “Come now, why the look? Surely you must have known that this is where we come to recharge our magic based systems before you came here. Why else would we keep these filthy fleshlings alive, if not for their usefulness to us?”
“I-I…” Twilight stuttered.
In her mental scramble to find a logical sounding answer to such a grave oversight she failed to notice that the dragon’s flight thrusters cut out until it was too late. As the dragon came crashing down, he hooked the robo-alicorn with his claws and flung her hard.
Smashing into the bars of a cell (and promptly discovering that they too were shielded,) Twilight collapsed to the floor of the third-floor balcony. Slowly crawling back to her hooves, she couldn’t help but notice the complaint from her systems that her shields were dangerously low. The sound of heavy wings flapping warned that the fight would soon resume.
And yet it was the weak voice behind Twilight that caught her attention. “Take the interface, link yourself to the magic draining machines…”
On instinct Twilight answered, “Why would I want to do-”
“Who do you think you are? I can not fathom the arrogance required to barge in here like you own the place and not account for the abundance of magic at my dispose! Surely now you see the foolishness of your attempt to fight me here, within the center of my power!” the dragon’s booming voice interrupted.
As the dragon’s head peaked up into view, he opened his maw and presented the glowing beam cannon within to his foe.
In an act of desperation Twilight leapt to the side, dodging the dragon’s shot, hooking the mechanical ring, yanking it off of its hanger and sliding it onto her front right leg as if it were an armband, all in one swift motion.
As the dragon continued to rise upward, towering over the robot alicorn he suddenly raised a curious eyebrow as he noticed the pink glow around the horn of the unicorn in the cell. A similar glow directed his attention to the stolen device now worn by his foe. “What the?” he added as a blue glow joined it, and then a green glow.
One by one, unicorn horns lit up like stars in the once dimly lit prison, and one by one, new colors of magic joined the glow surrounding Twilight until every color of unicorn magic was there. Not only did Twilight’s magic systems jump instantly back to 100% capacity, but an alert flashed in her mind’s eye that she was risking an overload for all of the magic flowing into her. Yet Twilight didn’t mind. Namely because she knew that magic didn’t have to be contained in the body, it could be contained in a spell.
A purple glow erupted from Twilight Sparkle’s horn and rapidly spread across her body. Several ribbons of light, of every color, began to orbit her as more and more magic flowed in. Between the soft glows coming from the prison cells and the radiantly shining light coming from Twilight, the tower was now bathed in light.
Twilight looked the dragon in the face and speaking in a raised yet formal voice she said, “I am Twilight Sparkle! Formerly the spirit of magic bound to the elements of harmony! Although I’m not sure if I am still considered a princess, it doesn’t matter. Whether I am their princess or merely their guardian, these are the ponies I serve! And for the crimes you have committed against them, I see only one just punishment, your destruction!”
With Twilight’s little speech complete, the robotic dragon couldn’t help but notice the sudden increase in light coming from below. Looking down he was allowed a fleeting glimpse at the ring of arcane light and magic runes that how covered the floor of the tower. In that same instant, the last of the runes lit up and a column of purple light with ribbons of light consisting of every color of unicorn magic woven through it consumed the central area of the tower, even tearing an inch or two from the balconies.
The pillar or light shimmered for a few seconds and then, as the glow of a thousand unicorn horns began flickering out, the pillar also faded. A few sparks of magic hung in the air where the dragon had been, but aside from that no trace of the dragon could be found.
As her systems accepted the absence of her foe, Twilight’s heads up display lit up with an abundance of calculations, in the center of which flashed the words ‘Compatible upgrade detected.’ When her systems had finished they drew her attention to her weapons system folder, where she found the schematic of the beam canon in her front right hoof had changed and was now labeled as a ‘plasma cannon’ instead of a beam cannon.
As if a final acknowledgement of Twilight Sparkles victory, the prison cells all opened and the machines binding the unicorns with them also sprung open. Although weary, the former prisoners began emerging from their cells, many taking a moment to admire the new open-air skylight that had replaced the roof of the tower.
Opening her wings Twilight flew into the middle of the tower. Rotating herself slowly as she hovered in full few of the unicorns she’d come to free she said, “Okay everypony, listen up! We have a long hike between here and friendly territory! And to put it frankly, there might be a war still going on between here and there! The first thing we need to do is get organized, so I can make a proper plan for getting you to safety!”