Experiment 187

by Mike the Red

Discord to the Rescue?

"I got lucky -- I wasn't sure if that was going to work on her," the lavender pony-bot thought to herself as she galloped away from the town. Once she had reached what she thought was a safe distance, she came to a stop to recover some of her energy expenditure, taking the opportunity to contemplate her next course of action.

"I've blown my cover with Twilight -- there's no way I can return to Ponyville now -- all those ponies will be expecting my return and wait for me. I'm going to have to find another town somewhere else. With Celestia gone, the ponies should be panicky enough to give me enough cover to lay low and resume my plan."

The pony-bot was startled by a sound she'd never heard before -- something that sounded like a zipper being unzipped came from about ten feet behind her, though her reflexes were fast enough for her to turn around and see who it was. The dragonequus expressed a degree of surprise at her swiftness.

"Well, well, what have we here? Looks like Twilight -- but -- are you a robot?" he asked. A clicking and whirring noise was her immediate answer as she searched her memory banks to retrieve information. She then frowned at him.

"You are Discord -- God of Chaos," she stated in a monotone voice, maintaining a steely stare at him.

"Ah, so you know who I am -- and you are a robot! Who is responsible for creating you?"

"I carry the likeness of my creator, though I have not finished my plans for Ponyville -- the ponies are inferior beings and must be terminated," she answered in an emotionless monotone. Discord raised an eyebrow at this.

"You mean to tell me that you made plans to kill all the ponies? I'm afraid I can't let you do that, little robot -- I might be inclined to enjoy the chaos you have created, as I was witness to the events in the town -- but killing them is something I just cannot allow," he stated in an almost condescending tone of voice.

"I do not care who you are nor do I care how powerful you are. I succeeded in banishing Celestia with the assistance of the other robots I created -- I have more to make so we can become the dominant force on the planet. If we cannot make the ponies worship us, we will resort to killing them."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! This simply will not do! I can't have you going around doing such destruction!" he laughed.

"Then you must be eliminated as well, as you are an impediment to progress," the pony-bot responded flatly, her magic restored as she lit her horn.

"Oh, surely you don't mean to attack me, do you? Have you any idea of how powerful I am?"

"I have analyzed your parameters and know your vulnerabilities, Discord. My magic has been specially formulated to deal with you effectively," she replied, a malevolent grin on her face.

"Go ahead, then, take your best shot!" he chortled, painting a big red and white target on his midsection to further goad the pony-bot into attacking him. Her horn flared with another level of magic, causing his smile to disappear, then a third aura appeared around her horn causing him to frown. "You're serious, aren't you? Well, I can be serious, too!"

The pony-bot let loose with a large beam of magic, aimed directly at the center of the target Discord had placed on himself. Instead of waiting for it to hit, he teleported to a point about five feet behind her, attempting to hit her on her head with his lion's paw. Her reflexes were amazingly swift as she turned and dodged his attempt to hit her. Her horn flared again, this time with him being so close, her attack hit him hard and he was sent sprawling across the ground a good twenty feet or so.

"Savor that lucky shot, Twilight, for that was the last one you're going to get!" he growled at her. He raised his eagle talon and fired a red beam of magic at the pony-bot, who once again dodged his attack, returning it with a counter-attack of her own. Discord teleported five feet to his left to avoid that attack and readied yet another one. She seemed to sense he would resort to teleporting and she sent a volley of attacks at him, one of them connecting as he teleported directly into the path of one. Again he was sent flying a good distance, skidding to a halt.

"You must have a death wish or something," he said, his exasperation showing. "There's no way you can be that fast!"

"Then you underestimate me, Discord!" she laughed, firing yet another volley of shots at him. Sensing another teleport, she fired a beam directly above her which connected with the dragonequus, launching him about twenty feet into the air, a look of stunned surprise on his face.

"How in Tartarus are you doing that? I believe it's time for me to end this -- enough playing around!" he bellowed. He motioned with his lion's paw, levitating the pony-bot, who shrieked in surprise at this attack. She tried to counter-attack, firing beams of magic almost randomly, though one managed to strike a glancing blow off Discord's tail. "Ouch! That's the last straw, Twilight!"

Motioning with his eagle talon, he used more of his magic to turn the lavender pony-bot inside-out, exposing all of her circuitry and hydraulic hoses as well as her metal skeleton. He summoned a rain cloud to drench the pony-bot, then a lightning bolt to strike her, causing her to sputter and spark as her circuitry fried. An eerie wail issued from some vocal apparatus as the pony-bot fizzled and died. It was at this moment that Twilight herself caught sight of this action and galloped to witness the pony-bot's end.

"Discord? You killed my pony-bot?" the librarian asked.

"Ah, she did mention something about that, Twilight. So tell me, what happens now? Celestia has been banished -- I am very sorry to hear about that -- and I am also sorry to hear about so many of your ponies dying. A real shame, that," he said softly.

"That's all you can say? A real shame? It's a catastrophe! And it's all my fault!" the librarian sobbed as she fell to her haunches, holding her head in her forehooves. The dragonequus approached her and sat beside her, placing his lion's paw on her withers.

"Trust me, Twilight, it saddens me to hear of your loss. If there were some way I could bring Celestia back for you, believe me I would. If there were some way I could return things to the way they were before you created that robot, I would be willing to do that as well. My power may be great, but not that great. I give you this promise, though -- given how long it will take to recover from this event, I shall not trouble you or Equestria."

"Thanks for that, at least. I need to go back and tell the others that this is over -- you have my thanks for dispatching my creation. I was worried she'd get away and make more robots to kill more ponies," she said sullenly as she rose to her hooves again and began trotting back to Ponyville.

Comments

[lordofmyth]

......... story moves far too quickly and the ponybots have no motivation to kill anyone. this is especialyl bad because in equistria, they are pretty accepting to sapient life........... seriously gryphons, mintoarus, ponies. so long as you don't live in the everfree you ar accepted.

also there is some false drama with celestia. the caster of the spell is dead, and thus she would return because there is nothing left to sustain it.

[BronyDave]

Perhaps. Unless it was a 'banish for x amount of time' kinda thing. Then it shouldn't really require anything from the caster to keep it going.
Maybe she'll be back when Twi gets back to Ponyville.
Lord is right, it's a bit rushed, perhaps slow it down during crucial points to evoke more emotion from the readers, for example Rarity is one of my favourite characters but I only really felt a bit of 'damn shame' during her death. Just stuff to work on if you want people to feel as they read your work. Good work so far. :)

[BronyDave]

Wow, that was a ramble and half :/ My bad xD

[Enderstorm]

He is remarkably unconcerned to learn that Fluttershy's dead.