Techorse

by Spirals95

Part 8 (chapters 31-36)

Techorse

By Spirals95

Chapter 31

The helicopter lifted away again, this time to fly for the mountain pass. As the machine began its ascent into the sky, Techorse pushed some buttons on the GPS.

“What are you doing?” asked Fluttershy quietly.

“I’m looking for anything weird on the map. If anything strange shows up, chances are it’s the fortress where we’ll find Nightmare Moon.” He replied.

The GPS bleeped for a short while, and then spat out a brand new area map.

“I don’t remember seeing that large black dot in the corner.” said Twilight.

“Then that’s where we’ll go, right?” asked Applejack.

“Yes.”, said Techorse, “with any luck, this anomaly on the map will be where Wizard is hiding her.”

“I just hope we have enough fuel to get there.” said Rainbow Dash.

“We don’t”, answered Twilight, “we’ll have to land and walk the rest of the way.”

Rarity was busy looking for the red dress she had bought back in Cloudsdale. “Where is that little battle dress?” she asked as she rummaged through the compartments on the helicopter, spilling their contents everywhere.

“Take your time, Rarity.” Said Twilight, “I don’t think we’re going to run to the last drop of fuel, we’ll land before it gets dangerous.” Rarity sighed and took out a makeup kit from a compartment to fix her light blue eye shadow, which had started fading over the past few days. As she powdered her face in preparation, Twilight noted, “I don’t remember seeing you with that make-up kit. Where did you get that?”

Rarity explained, “Since your answer is always magic, so is mine.”

“This is going to be a long flight.” groaned Rainbow Dash.

After an hour Pinkie Pie asked, “Are we there yet? I’m sooo bored!”

Techorse answered cheerfully, “I’d say yes as a joke, but I’m afraid you’d jump from the helicopter, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie Pie began to sing, “I know! Let’s sing a song to pass time! 99 bundles of hay on the wall, 99 bundles of hay! You take one down and pass it around, 98 bundles of hay on the wall!”

“Oh brother.” said Rainbow Dash, covering her ears with her front hooves. The other ponies tried their best to ignore Pinkie Pie’s singing, and soon she stopped out of boredom with the repetitive song.

Fluttershy sat away from the others, staring at the metal walls of the helicopter from her cot.

She seemed very depressed to Applejack, so the orange pony walked up to her friend and asked,

“Something wrong, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy replied, “no.” with a tone of sadness that gave away the lie immediately.

“I’m sure something’s the matter.” said Applejack, “otherwise you wouldn’t be all blue like this.”

“I miss Angel and the other animals back home.”

Said Fluttershy, “I just hope they’re doing ok, but somehow it feels like they suffer without me.”

Applejack brushed Fluttershy’s wing gently and said, “I’m sure your little critters are fine. Angel’s a tough little bunny.”

Fluttershy replied, “That’s for sure. Thanks for the comfort Applejack.”

Applejack nodded and said, “You’re welcome. Everything’s gonna be ok, promise.” Back up at the front of the helicopter, Twilight and Techorse were looking at the control panel with all its flashing lights and touch screen controls.

Twilight said to Techorse, “I really like looking at all these high-tech controls.”

“So do I”, said Techorse, “but you already know how much I love technology”.

“Very true” Said Twilight with a giggle, “that saddle’s really something.”

After a slight pause, she continued, ”To you, this stuff is easily understood. But I don’t really understand how any of this technology works at all. It uses such mysterious and advanced science that it’s almost like… magic.”

Techorse looked into Twilight’s eyes and said, “It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? It’s neat how great technology and magic can do similar things, like they’re meant to complement each other.”

“Yeah” she said softly, “complement each other.”

Pinkie Pie started making kissing noises behind them, and Techorse yelled at her with frustration, “Pinkie Pie, go away!” She snickered and walked out of the cockpit.

Shortly thereafter, a warning buzzer came from the control panel, alerting Techorse to the imminent exhaustion of the helicopter’s fuel supplies.

“Ok, we’re setting down!” said Techorse, “hang on back there!”

Techorse put the machine in a dive, heading for the softest patch of ground he could find. Unfortunately, he severely misjudged the downward pitch, sending the occupants in the back flying towards the front and creating a neat pony pile at the door. Twilight Sparkle flew out of the chair she was laying on and smacked on the windshield.

“Tech!” she said in a very annoyed voice as she peeled herself from the glass, “Knock it off!”

“It’s not me that’s doing it!” he complained, “something’s taken control of the helicopter!”

“Abandon ship!” cried Pinkie Pie. She unlatched the side door of the helicopter, grabbed a parachute, and jumped out. Rainbow Dash flew outside after Pinkie Pie in order to leave an extra parachute for her friends. The others quickly grabbed a parachute if they couldn’t fly and jumped out of the disabled helicopter. Pulling the cords, the chutes deployed on Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight. Soon, they were gently floating down in the air, and looked back at the helicopter. The body of the craft was glowing a weird blackish color as the machine fell down rapidly. The helicopter smashed into a nearby forest, and a loud blast followed by a fireball erupted amongst the trees.

“What happened?” asked Techorse.

Twilight answered, “I think we were spotted and Nightmare used her magic to crash the helicopter. From now on, we have to be extremely careful about what we use. Anything could be taken over by her magic.”

Techorse said, “If I had known that, we could have all used our minds to resist the magic. Shoot.”

“At least we made it out ok”, said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, we were too close to becomin’ barbeque right then. That was scary.” commented Applejack as she looked at Fluttershy.

“I agree” said Rarity, “and these parachutes chafe. At least I was able to salvage my dress and stuff it inside this device.”

They landed safely about two miles from the new castle Wizard had constructed. It was a very dark and foreboding looking place from where they were standing, but it was still night after all, and castles tend to look more threatening at night.

Twilight looked at the fortress and said with sarcasm, “Sure looks friendly.”

Rarity added, “Wizard had to have built that ugly thing. Techorse’s castle in Ponyville is much better kept.”

Techorse enjoyed hearing a compliment from her and said, “Thanks Rarity. I tried not to design my castle to be too evil looking, and PAL and I try to keep the place clean and free of spiders for when guests visit.”

“Indeed you do” she replied, “It’s a very lovely place.”

“Focus you two. We’re trying to save Luna, remember?” said Rainbow Dash as she hovered over the group.

“Oh there ya are, Rainbow. We were wonderin’ where you were.” said Applejack.

“Don’t worry about me so much, I can handle danger like this. Unlike you guys that crash didn’t scare me one bit.” bragged Rainbow.

Techorse wanted to find out if that was true, so he put a look of worry on his face and said, “Ok, remain calm, but you’re seriously wounded Rainbow.”

“What?!” she said with worry.

“It looks pretty bad.” said Applejack solemnly, playing along. Rainbow Dash swirled around in the air, looking for the supposed open wound on her back.

“I can’t see it!” she wailed, “I’m gonna bleed out! I’m feeling light-headed, Help me!”

Techorse laughed and ended the joke, “You’re fine, I was kidding. It looks like you were scared of the crash after all!”

“Not funny Tech!” shouted Rainbow Dash. Twilight gave Techorse a stern look in agreement.

“Sorry Twilight, I just got sick of Rainbow’s bragging.” He said as an excuse for his mean joke.

Twilight lightened up and said to him, “That wasn’t very nice, but you’re right. Stop bragging Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow crossed her front legs in disgust and followed the group as they made their way past the forests to reach the mountain pass.

“Sure is scary out here, in the dark.” said Fluttershy, trying not to shiver in fear.

“I know.” said Twilight, “it’s really creepy walking by these woods without much light. Who knows what’s in them.”

“I hear there are ghosts living in these woods.” commented Rarity.

Techorse said to her with disbelief, “Come on, Rarity, nobody believes in ghosts anymore.”

“I believe in ghosts.” said Fluttershy softly.

“Nothing’s going to hurt us.” assured Techorse with a grin.

Just then, a creature jumped out of the woods and gave a mighty roar. The thing looked like a phantom of some kind, being white and having a hideous mouth filled with sharp teeth. The ponies screamed in terror at the creatures’ sudden appearance. After the initial rush of fear, Techorse looked at the “ghost” and saw it had blue eyes.

“Wait a minute.” He said, “I think we’ve been pranked.”

Pinkie Pie took the modified parachute off her head and laughed. “You should have seen the look on your faces! It was all like this.” Pinkie Pie made a silly face of terror and then went back to laughing at her practical joke.

“Ok, you scared us good Pinkie Pie.” laughed Applejack, putting her hat back on her head after losing it in the jump.

Techorse complained, “You’re just lucky I didn’t have my laser cannons out. That could have been nasty.”

Twilight said impatiently, “Ok, that’s enough jokes for now. We have to focus and get to that castle.”

“She’s right” agreed Techorse, “no more pranks from any of you.”

Twilight looked at him and added, “That includes you, mister ’Rainbow’s mortally wounded’.”

“Huh?” asked Pinkie Pie with a tilt of her head, “did I miss another joke?”

“I’ll tell you later.” whispered Techorse to Pinkie with a wink and a smile.

They continued their walk towards the castle. Although they didn’t encounter any more difficulties in getting to the massive fortress, many of them were still afraid of what might be inside the dreaded building. At last they reached the massive oak and steel door of the castle. Twilight craned her neck up and looked at the sheer height of the structure. It had to be at least 200 feet up to the battlements, and the spires of the castle extended at least another 50 feet over that. Like Techorse’s castle, it lacked a moat, but the door was simply too heavy to move or smash through, so a moat was unnecessary.

“Here we are.” said Twilight, “Castle Nightmare.”

“Interesting choice of name, Twilight.” said Techorse.

Fluttershy walked up to the massive wood door and knocked on it gently with her front hoof.

“Nobody home.” She said, “Oh well.”

Fluttershy turned and started to walk away, but Rainbow Dash grabbed her tail to prevent her from leaving.

“There’s gotta be another way in.” said Applejack, “maybe a secret password er somethin’.”

“Open sesame!” shouted Pinkie Pie. Nothing happened.

Techorse mulled over the problem and said, “Wizard built this castle, and he hates passwords. I’m pretty sure he would install some sort of a switch on top of the castle in the main spire to open the front door.”

“Yeah, but how are we going to get up there?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“I’ll fly up and pull the lever.” volunteered Rainbow Dash.

“It looks incredibly unsafe.” commented Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I got this.” Rainbow said as she took off vertically.

Rainbow Dash flew up high past the battlements of the castle. She then noticed out of the corner of her eye that the castle’s catapults were beginning to track her. Back on the ground, the other watched in shock as fireballs from the catapults were being flung in all directions.

“Rainbow Dash!” cried out Twilight. Techorse deployed his turbofans, ready to go to aid, but Fluttershy put a hoof gently on his saddle.

“No. Rainbow’s ok.” She said softly.

Techorse nodded and stashed the fans back in the saddle. Rainbow was doing various air stunts, trying to avoid the catapults’ fire. Luckily, the enchanted devices were not very good shots. Their projectiles were large, but slow and easy to avoid. She even managed to trick one catapult into destroying another with its fireball. By flying fancy and flapping her wings quickly, Rainbow Dash was able to make it past the defenses and flew right through the open window of the central spire. Inside was a simple round stone room, with the plain lever Techorse described sitting right in the middle, just begging to be pulled. Rainbow Dash walked over to the large wooden lever and grabbed it with both hooves. However, it was stuck and too heavy to budge. But Rainbow would not give up easily, so she tried using her wings to provide a little more force on the lever. Eventually, the stick gave, and it moved into the right position. Unfortunately, Rainbow had been exerting so much effort in pulling the lever that she was flung by it clicking into place. She was tossed screaming high above the castle again and had to right herself in midair to prevent a terrible fall. The Pegasus pony braced herself and landed hard next to her friends.

“Rainbow, are you ok?” asked Twilight, “Please answer me!”

Rainbow stood up, shook herself off of dust, and responded, “I’m ok, just a bit shaken up.”

The massive door was beginning to move upwards, revealing the inside of the castle. The ponies looked in terror at the interior of the fortress, most likely due to the sheer number of traps inside. There were narrow catwalks across pits filled with metal spikes, pillars that descended from the ceiling rhythmically, circular saw blades, and even a pool of strange liquid with nothing but a rope over it.

Techorse observed the traps and said with surprise, “With the number of deathtraps in there, you’d think this place was designed to keep out Italian plumbers, much less ponies!”

Twilight said, “Alright, we’re going to have to make a plan to take out all those traps. I can probably hold off those smashing pillars with my magic, but the other traps will be a little more difficult to outsmart.”

Rainbow Dash offered to help, “I can catch any of us if we fall off the catwalk trying to cross that pit.” Pinkie Pie noticed something about the castle’s design and started leaping about to gain attention.

“Guys, guys listen!” she said as she bounced around the team.

“There’s a large ruby pillar near that pit of liquid.” said Rarity, “I could probably tip over the giant gemstone.”

Pinkie Pie continued to try and alert her friends, “Hey! Listen up, I found something you might want to see!”

“Not now Pinkie, we’re making a plan.” said Twilight. Pinkie Pie stormed off, upset that not one of her friends would listen to her.

Chapter 32

Back in Canterlot, Captain Arbiter watched with delight as Jools and Jops built his guillotine in the courtyard of the castle.

“When Techorse returns without Luna, he has about 1 minute to live. Just long enough for me to declare him guilty, and bring this down on him.” He said to his stallions with a dark chuckle.

Jools and Jops spoke nothing in return, they were mad at their commanding officer for his cruel intentions. But they knew they would be killed if they disobeyed his orders, and Celestia could not save them if the commander tried to dispose of them himself. Jools notched the rope of the device of death into place, leaving the blade hanging at the top.

“It’s ready.” He said.

“Good,” replied Arbiter, “and do make sure you pick a good bucket for his head.”

“Paper or plastic?” asked Jops.

“Plastic,” said Arbiter, “we don’t want anything soaking through, do we?”

Jools and Jops turned to go retrieve the bucket for Techorse’s head. But they had half a mind to betray their officer to the princess. After all, in their minds, she was their leader and not Arbiter. But they were still afraid of him, as he was brave enough to not wear the armor they did, instead donning just his cape and a red-plumed helmet. Jools and Jops went back inside the castle to look for a plastic bucket, hoping to find a way to stop assisting their leader’s evil plan.

Along the way, they passed the princess’s throne room, and decided to check up on her. They pried open the door carefully and marched in.

“Oh hello Jools, Jops.” She said with a cheerful expression, “Is it your shift to watch me like a hawk?”

Jops said plainly, “We have only your safety in mind your majesty.” Jools and Jops stood at attention in front of Celestia, looked and gave each other a single nod. They knew that if they were “busy” guarding the princess, they couldn’t be dragged any further into Arbiter’s plot. So they stood at attention unflinching, like the Buckingham palace troops. They were really good at it too. Jops remembered the time Rainbow Dash had spent a minute teasing him about his “talent” in this area. He eventually lost his concentration later, but had learned a valuable lesson: it’s ok to have fun at work, even if your job is to protect royalty.

“One day” he thought to himself, “I’m going to prove I’m not just some unfeeling jerk. Arbiter insists we act that way, and makes us stand motionless like this to protect the princess, but I bet it just makes him feel like he has more power over us.”

Celestia longed to venture outside her castle walls and talk to the citizens, but of course, Arbiter and her guards would not let her. After a half an hour of sitting around, she began to notice Jools and Jops falling asleep at her sides. Celestia started to cast a spell to speed along their slumber. Jops fell over first, followed shortly by Jools. The princess picked herself up and opened the door on her throne room. She ventured down the hall, trying to avoid her guards as best as possible. Of course, it is very hard for a large white princess with flowing multicolor hair to avoid detection, and she was soon halted by one of the royal guards, who spread his wings in defiance.

“Princess, what are you doing out of your room?” he asked.

“This is my castle, can't I explore it if I want to?” asked Celestia rhetorically.

“Captain Arbiter knows it is far too dangerous for you to leave your room.” said the guard, “please go back.”

Celestia used a quick spell to make this guard fall asleep too.

“Captain Arbiter is acting very strange. I think he’s up to something.” She thought as she continued walking down the hallway. It was then a glimmer of light caught her eye from outside a window. Looking out the window, she spotted where the light was coming from. It was the moonlight reflecting off the blade of the guillotine. The princess felt anger rising from within her, a key law of hers was being broken. However, she still wanted to act rationally, so she decided not to simply crash through the window to confront Arbiter. Celestia started galloping down the hallway, pushing aside any of the guards who tried to stop her.

Eventually she reached the courtyard of the castle and found Arbiter inspecting his killing machine.

“ARBITER!” she shouted, “what are you doing?” Arbiter’s heart raced as he heard the princess’s voice, he had been caught.

“Princess!” he said nervously while turning to face her, “what are you doing out of your room?”

Princess Celestia replied, “I decided to not let you coop me up in there anymore.” Motioning towards the guillotine, she continued, ”Now I know why you kept me locked up.”

Arbiter explained the presence of the device, “I’m just making sure my little bet with Techorse is kept honest!”

He then lied, “I know your anger about losing your sister would be satisfied if he paid for his failure.”

“Liar!” shouted Celestia, “I love my subjects too much. Techorse would have been pardoned by me for his failure. But you want him gone because he was a human!”

Arbiter grew bitter and admitted, “Oh, so what if that’s true? Why do you want a human, the very enemy, working for you anyway?”

“Techorse is a good pony!” said Celestia, “he has proved himself good. You, on the other hand, have proven how evil and cruel of a Captain you are!”

Arbiter replied, “That’s because that idiot is not really a pony! Even if he wins, he deserves death for being a human, after what they did to our towns.” Arbiter’s good eye widened as he realized his verbal mistake too late to take it back.

“You were going to kill him anyways!” she screamed, “how could you?”

“Celestia, this is quite unlike you!” said Arbiter, hoping to save his hide through reason.

“You broke my most sacred law: no capital punishment and no devices for it, and you expect me to act normally?” she replied. The storm overhead had definitely added to the aura of the princess’s anger.

Arbiter backed up slowly from the princess. He was trying to maintain his toughness but could not remain strong out of mortal terror.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t banish you to the moon, Arbiter.” said Celestia, giving no false threat.

Arbiter wailed, “Because you love your subjects too much, and you don’t have the elements on you at the moment!”

Princess Celestia looked down on Arbiter, her mighty Captain had become a spineless worm out of fear. The courtyard walls blocked his escape, anything the princess did would be unavoidable. Celestia’s horn started glowing a brilliant white. Arbiter was certain he’d be nothing but a smoldering burn mark on the courtyard walls, so he shut his eye and started shivering. Celestia thought about destroying him for his hate crime, but reconsidered. After all, she was always afraid of making another critical mistake, as she did 1000 years ago. Being separate from Luna had taught her that each life is precious, and removing it is a terrible thing to do unless necessary for survival. Celestia turned her head and fired the beam at a different target. Instantly, the guillotine was struck and was consumed with a loud explosion, leaving nothing in its place but some burned timber.

Arbiter opened his eyes and looked where the guillotine had once stood. Seeing the pile of wood on fire gave him a look at what he nearly became.

“You’re fired.” said Celestia, “leave immediately, and do not return to Canterlot again.” Arbiter took off his helmet and dashed it to the ground. He then flew upwards a bit, and landed on top of the courtyard walls.

“I will have my revenge for this humiliation” he vowed, “Techorse shall die!”

After a crash of thunder from the storm, Arbiter spread his wings and flew away laughing. Jools and Jops had finally woken up and rushed into the courtyard to catch a glimpse of their old leader flying off. Celestia relaxed and turned to her stallions.

“About Arbiter” she said to them, “I fired him. I’m afraid you don’t have a leader anymore.”

“We have you your majesty.” said Jops.

Jools nodded and said, “You make a better leader than Arbiter any day. To tell you the truth, while you always loved us, he always treated us like cannon fodder.” Celestia spread her wings and wrapped them around her guards to shield them from the rain.

“Come on boys, it’s wet out here. Let’s go inside to get something warm to drink. After this, we all need a little break.” They went back into the castle to get out of the storm.

Chapter 33

Applejack was getting bored with the excessive planning, which had taken around 30 minute now. She knew if she just ran in there and dodged all the devices, she’d be inside Nightmare Moon’s throne room within a minute.

“Alright, time’s up ponies. Let’s do this!” She screamed. “Yeeha!” was her cry as she ran into the castle.

“She just ran in there.” said Fluttershy with disbelief.

“All right, everyone go!” shouted Twilight, not sure if the team was really ready or not. The friends rushed inside to catch up with Applejack. She had already darted successfully across the catwalk, and was busy trying to time her move through the pillars. Techorse flew over the pit with his turbofans, desperate to catch up and stop Applejack’s near suicidal rush of the traps. The others were moving a little too quickly over the catwalk. Rarity tripped, and fell over the edge towards the spikes, screaming in terror. Rainbow Dash made her dive down, and swooped up Rarity just before the metal tips impaled her.

“Thanks, that was close.” She said.

Rainbow Dash just carried her over to the other side of the pit and dropped her on solid ground without saying a word. Meanwhile, Applejack was just about to run through the pillars, and made her dash. Twilight concentrated and slowed the pillars down, as Applejack’s timing was not perfect, and she was nearly crushed by one of the multi-ton stone columns. After Applejack had made it through, Twilight strained to keep the pillars still while the others made it past. To help, Techorse stayed behind and concentrated with his thoughts on the pillars, hoping his brainwaves would take some of the load off of Twilight. Her body relaxed a bit, telling him that his help was working. After the others were through, Techorse and Twilight timed their moves carefully, and got through the smashing pillars with no problem.

Meanwhile, Applejack was again busy timing her move through the saw blades. They swung back and forth, and the circular saws were moving so quickly it was nearly impossible to count the teeth on them.

“How are we supposed to get through those?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I don’t really want to become pony coleslaw right now.”

Applejack looked at her and answered, “What’s the matter, ‘fraid of a couple saws?” Applejack ran right through the blades in a zig-zag pattern.

She looked back at Rainbow’s awed expression and said, “See, nothin’ to worry about.” Applejack then felt something was wrong, and noticed the saws had managed to cut the ties on her hair, making it all hang down. Applejack frowned and took a pack of ties out from underneath her hat to correct the situation.

Twilight looked directly at the saw blades and asked, “Great, Applejack’s through, but there’s no way we’re going to time this right. We’ve either got to run through the blades randomly and risk it, or try to find a weak spot.” The blades suddenly started exploding as Techorse opened fire at them with his laser cannons. With accurate shots, he dismounted each of the blades from their poles which swung them back and forth. Soon, all that was left was a bunch of swinging metal sticks and a pile of saws on the ground.

“Good thinking Techorse.” said Twilight.

“Actually, you said look for a weakness, and I noticed they were attached to the ceiling by something destructible.” He replied.

“Pardon my bluntness, but please, let’s keep going!” urged Rarity, “we can discuss who’s plan it actually was later!” Rarity moved past the pile of trap parts, careful not to accidentally get dripping saw blade fuel on her skin.

The 7 ponies met at the edge of the pool of liquid and started to discuss how they were to cross it.

“It looks like plain water.” said Fluttershy. In saying this, she moved her hoof, causing a loose stone to break off and fall into the liquid. The team watched in awe as the stone melted away to nothing in the clear fluid.

“Nope, definitely acid.” said Twilight.

Techorse commented, “This is way too strong to be just hydrochloric acid. Don’t even touch it.”

Applejack stopped leaning over the pool and said with relief, “Phew, I was about to jump in and swim across.” Rarity was busing trying to manipulate the ruby pillar across the pit with her magic. The gigantic gemstone broke from the walls and landed in the pool with a large splash. Twilight screamed as a wave of acid came up out of the pool and tried to splash all over her, but she managed to get out of the way in time. Where she was standing, a hole was eaten out of the stone floor by the acid.

“Rarity, you almost killed me!” she shouted.

“Just move!” replied Rarity as she ran across the dissolving chunk of gemstone. The others leapt onto the stone and made it over to the other side without much trouble, but Applejack had to jump at the last second as the red gem slipped beneath the acid and was completely destroyed. Looking back over the pit, Fluttershy had failed to jump and was still standing on the other side.

“Just hover across.” said Rainbow Dash, “you can do it, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and gently flapped her wings to move herself over the acid pit. The very last centimeter of the tip of her light pink tail dragged in it and disappeared. However, she managed to cross the pit without any irreparable harm to herself.

“Good job, Fluttershy.” cheered Applejack.

“I made it.” She said with a small hint of surprise.

“Yes, but your tail’s a little burnt. No worry though, it will grow back darling.” commented Rarity.

Rainbow Dash cheered, “Alright, we cleared all the traps with no pain! Are we awesome or not?”

Fluttershy looked around for a bit and said sadly, “Uh-oh, not completely without pain. We’re missing Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight looked for her and said with horror, “Oh no! She must have fallen… into one of the traps!”

Fluttershy burst into tears at the thought of what might have happened to Pinkie Pie.

“Rainbow Dash” ordered Techorse as he looked at her, “check the traps in reverse order. Look until you find her.”

“Or what’s left of her!” moaned Twilight with grief.

“Guys, I’m over here!” said Pinkie Pie.

“Not now Pinkie Pie.” Shouted Applejack, “We’re busy lookin for…”

The friends were dumbstruck by yet another miraculous survival by the pink pony.

“Was that some kind of a joke Pinkie Pie? We thought we lost you!” said Twilight quite upset as she stared at her friend.

“No, I’ve been standing here the whole time watching you all get through those traps!” she replied.

Techorse asked, “But how did you beat us here? Applejack ran in first!”

Pinkie Pie replied with frustration, “Well, if you had listened to me back there I would have told you I found a secret back door on the castle that lets you skip all the traps, but you wouldn’t listen to me!” Applejack’s expression faded into stupidity.

“Y’mean” she said, “we could have skipped all that?”

“Yes mare!” said Pinkie Pie, “But as usual you thought I was just being random again and had nothing useful to say.”

“We’re sorry Pinkie Pie. We should have listened to you.” said Techorse, attempting to get on the pony’s good side.

“That’s ok.” replied Pinkie Pie, “I didn’t have to get by any traps, so we can call it even!”

In front of them stood a wooden and carpeted spiral staircase with only the occasional torch for lighting. “I suppose the only way is up through there.” said Applejack.

“This is it.” Said Twilight, “Everypony needs to get ready for this. The second we get up this staircase, we may be attacked by Nightmare Moon.”

Techorse asked, “Should I just get out the elements for you girls then and stay behind? I don’t see how I’m going to be of any assistance at this point.”

“Now hold on, Techorse my dear.” said Rarity as she glanced at him, “just because you don’t have an element yet doesn’t mean you are useless. You can still help us out.”

Rainbow Dash agreed, “Rarity’s right, you really ought to come with us.”

Twilight added, “If anything, you’ll get to see how they work. Come on, Techorse, we really want you to go with us.”

“Ok, I’ll come with you.” he said, cheering up a bit. The ponies ran up the spiral staircase to find the possessed princess and save her. Once they reached the top of the spiral staircase, they entered a very large room. This chamber featured dozens of large glass windows on the sides, each allowing the inner hallway to be bathed in moonlight. In the middle of the large room, attached to the walls, were two statues of Nightmare Moon, one of which was crushing what appeared to be princess Celestia under her hooves. Taking a look at the carved image of Celestia being crushed, Twilight added, “Judging by these statues, I think Wizard’s pretty sure we’re going to lose.”

They continued walking down the hall, having the moonlight and only a few torches on the walls to give them light. They reached a large steel door painted a dark blue color, with small white crescent moons drawn all over it.

“She’s behind this door, I know it.” said Fluttershy.

Applejack asked. “Do we kick it down and charge in? Or try to sneak in for a surprise attack?” Pinkie Pie simply pushed through the door with her head, swinging the metal doors open inward.

“We’re wasting time!” she said.

“Pinkie’s got a point. We don’t have much time.” said Twilight, “let’s get in there and end this once and for all!”

The ponies ran into the final room. The last chamber was well decorated, featuring a very large canopy bed on the far side. Everything in the room featured a dark blue or black theme, very calm, yet dreary at the same time. On the wall to the right was a grand bookcase, although it was empty at the moment. To the left of the bed, a large ornate mirror was flanked by many fancy paintings. Only a few torches on the walls provided a faint amount of light in the room.

“Where did she go?” asked Rainbow, “wasn’t she supposed to be here?” Techorse warned, “Stay alert, this could be a trap of some kind.”

Suddenly, a voice boomed, “Welcome, Celestia’s friends, to the inner sanctum of my castle!” The large mirror on the wall split in half, and came down with a mighty crash, startling the group and causing Fluttershy to jump.

The hole in the wall behind the mirror appeared to be some sort of secret passage. Out of it stepped Nightmare Moon, ready to attack the team.

“You’re very foolish to come against me again. Now that I am invincible, nothing can stop me, not even Celestia’s precious elements.” She said to them.

Twilight replied with confidence, “We beat you once, Nightmare, and we’ll do it again!”

Applejack whispered to Techorse, “You know, while she’s distracted, you could use your laser guns.”

Techorse replied, “Normally I would, but we want Luna back in one piece, remember?”

Applejack nodded, remembering who Nightmare Moon actually was. The black alicorn turned away from the group and said, “You will not stop me, young ones. This time, I shall make the night shall last forever!” she then fled down the secret passageway.

“After her!” said Twilight, “we have to corner her to use the elements.” The team ran behind Twilight, pursuing the villainess through her castle. Running through hallways and passages, they eventually lost Nightmare Moon in the maze of hallways, until they came across a staircase that gave access to the castle’s roof.

“Why would she flee to the roof? There’s nowhere to go from there.” Wondered Rarity aloud.

Rainbow Dash answered, “She could go up! She's going to fly away!”

“We have to stop her then, everypony up the stairs!” said Techorse.

The stairs took no more than a few seconds to climb, and soon the team found themselves on the roof of the castle. They were at the very back of the castle, near the ledge facing the mountain pass itself. Behind them was the large spire that Rainbow Dash found the lever in, and in front of them was the battlements, then a 200 foot drop.

Nightmare Moon laughed to draw the attention of the party to herself. She was standing on a large platform built up just two feet above the top floor of the castle. At each corner of the square platform was a pole with a strange crystal orb at the top of it.

“This is the night the representatives of the elements fight their last battle!” said Nightmare.

Techorse shouted back at her, “We’ll see about that! Take the elements, ladies!”

Techorse opened the top of the battle saddle, and then shot the six crystals one at a time to each of his friends. As they touched them, they began to glow different colors, and began changing into the appropriate element artifacts. For each pony, they received a beautiful gold necklace with a logo of their cutie mark in the center. But as for Twilight, her crystal changed into a stunning gold tiara that featured her cutie mark as gemstones on the top.

Twilight then said loudly as the artifacts began to glow around them, “It’s over Nightmare Moon. You have no place to run, and we’ve got the elements! Techorse, do the honors and count us off!”

Techorse shouted back to them, “Of course!”

He then looked at Nightmare and shouted, “Fluttershy: kindness! Rarity: generosity! Applejack: honesty!” As he counted, his friend’s artifacts shined brightly in the dark, preparing to make the strike. “Rainbow Dash: loyalty! Pinkie Pie: laughter! And Twilight Sparkle: magic!”

Techorse then pointed a robotic finger at Nightmare and shouted, “Alright ladies, we’re ready! Open fire!” Techorse took curiosity at Nightmare Moon’s lack of fear.

The energy beam began to accumulate between the six friends. With Techorse in front of them, he could not see it initially, so he turned around to watch the action. Each of the artifacts emitted a different color energy beam, which then twisted together above them in a large rainbow-colored ray. The beam then descended in a pure rush of energy. To Twilight Sparkle’s curiosity, the beam did not go directly for Nightmare Moon, but instead moved towards Techorse, as if attracted by a magnet. Techorse ducked, and the rainbow beam zipped over his head and made straight for the villainess. The beam didn’t make it Nightmare Moon, however. It impacted on some mysterious barrier projected by four glass orbs on poles that were at each corner of her platform. As the ray hit the barrier, the orbs detached from the poles and began to rotate counterclockwise around Nightmare Moon. The beam terminated, and the friends were awestruck at how their banishing attack failed.

“I don’t understand!” screamed Twilight, “how come it didn’t work?”

Nightmare Moon laughed and said, “Wizard provided me with magical shields to prevent that silly attack. Now, I am invincible!”

Techorse said to his friends, “Don’t worry, girls! I know Wizard’s magic shields require some kind of a generator. If we find it and destroy it, the beam will work!”

“Yeah, but what could the generator possibly be?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I don’t see anything!”

Fluttershy took notice of the glowing orbs surrounding the platform and said, “Girls, the orbs! They might be the generators.”

“Good thinkin’ Fluttershy” said Applejack. “Let’s break those things.”

Techorse ran for the platform and yelled back, “Stay there and get ready to try the beam again, I’ll handle the shields!”

Nightmare Moon laughed and began shooting blasts of pitch black magic energy at the heroes. Dodging each blast, Techorse drew his laser cannons and began fire at the orbs. His lasers pierced one of the glass structures, and it shattered in flash of white light.

Nightmare Moon didn’t actually know the orbs were providing her shield, and said to Techorse, “You missed! Besides, those crossbows of light are useless against me.”

“Not aiming for you M’am!” replied Techorse, putting on his best smile. Techorse destroyed the second spinning orb with another series of pulses, but nearly got a blast of energy in the head for his efforts.

“Keep it up Techorse! You’re wearing her down!” cheered on Twilight. Techorse switched to his turbofans and landed on the third glass orb.

“Try and shoot me, Nightmare!” he said, “or are you all talk and no action?” This angered Nightmare Moon, and she fired an energy blast straight at Techorse. He jumped off the floating glass orb, and the magical energy destroyed it. The dark sorceress continued to blast away at the friends, leaving them scattered around. Techorse knew that in order to win, he had to destroy that last orb. But now that he had smashed three of them, Nightmare Moon had figured out why and was starting to try and protect the last one. Techorse drew his laser cannons and took careful aim. He started firing one shot at a time, desperate not to attract Nightmare Moon’s attention and risk being vaporized. His shots missed the moving orb and knocked right into her head, breaking the armor on her helmet. Nightmare Moon looked directly at Techorse, shook the remains of her head armor off, and fired away with a beam of energy. Techorse narrowly managed to avoid the deadly shot, and while tumbling in the air, took a last shot at the final orb. The pair of laser bolts flew true, and pierced the orb dead center. It shattered into thousands of fragments, and the shield around Nightmare Moon faded.

“Now girls!” cried out Techorse, “Do it!”

The girls formed up and shot another blast of rainbow-colored energy from their artifacts.

“No!” shouted Nightmare Moon, “this cannot happen again!”

Techorse resisted the temptation to throw in a cheesy one-liner of some kind. The beam arced towards him again and he had to duck to prevent it from touching him. Then, the energy smacked right into Nightmare Moon. Screaming, she was flung backwards over the ledge of the castle, and fell into the darkness below.

“Oh crud!” shouted Rainbow Dash. The energy stopped emitting from the artifacts, and they reverted into their crystal forms. As they fell to the ground, the friends ran over to look over the edge of the castle. It was too dark to see down, and they all simply assumed that she had fallen to her death.

Techorse peered down and said, “Maybe I should just jump rather than face Arbiter.”

“Wait!” said Twilight, “I see something down there.”

Looking where she was pointing, they spotted Princess Luna hanging on to a second ledge that was only about 50 feet down from the top of the castle. During her transformation back into Luna, she had managed to grab on to this second ledge and saved herself from falling the rest of the way to her doom.

“Princess Luna!” called out Twilight, “fly back up here!”

“I'm afraid I cannot, my wings are broken!” she replied, “and I’m in a lot of pain.”

Techorse flew down on his turbofans and balanced himself gently on the edge. Switching to his robot arms, he carefully pulled Luna up onto the ledge with him.

“Rainbow, Fluttershy” he called up, “Come help me get the princess down to the ground safely.”

Chapter 34

The friends had managed to make it out of the castle alive, and they were escorting Princess Luna back to the castle. She was downcast and miserable about the whole experience she had been through.

“I’m so sorry.” She said with great remorse.

“Hey, this time it’s not your fault.” said Rainbow, trying to be helpful.

“That’s right.” confirmed Pinkie Pie, “It was that nasty mean old Wizard who did this to you.”

Techorse was messing with the Princess’s wings, trying to decide whether or not to attempt field medicine on them.

“You wouldn’t happen to know any healing spells, do you Twilight?” asked Techorse.

“Maybe for a cut or bruise, but her wings are completely broken.” replied Twilight, “my magic isn’t that strong in terms of healing.”

Applejack said, “Techorse, you can make a splint out of two sticks and somethin’ to tie it with.”

Rarity came up with an idea, “You can take some bows from the pocket of my dress in your saddle. I won’t need them.”

Techorse nodded and collected the necessary components to splint Luna’s wings. After finishing the procedure, the wings were straightened out and set for healing.

“I’m sure we can get you better medical attention when we get back to Canterlot.” said Twilight.

Luna said softly, “I thank you so much for your kind efforts. I’m really just delighted that this whole mess is finished.”

Fluttershy asked, “Now that we've won, when will the sun rise? It’s still dark.”

Luna said, “It will rise after a complete night cycle.”

Techorse agreed, “That’s right. The planet’s rotation stopped during that crisis at midnight. Now that it’s over, we still have about 6 hours to go before sunrise. All the clocks on the planet will have to be reset, and everybody’s going to be lagging.”

Luna looked down as they continued to walk for Canterlot. “Aw cheer up your majesty.” said Applejack, “You gotta stop beatin’ yourself up for this.”

Techorse said with determination, “I promise Luna that Wizard will pay for what he did to you. He still has it coming for ruining my life all those years ago.”

Luna tried to smile as she looked up at the green male pony walking alongside her. “The real sadness in this is that I did feel and experience every moment of it.” She said.

Twilight said, “We know you’ve been through a lot. The best thing to do is get you back to your castle to rest.”

Luna said with a little more worry, “You do not understand. I was told by the Wizard he would be launching a planet-wide attack with his metal monsters. When we get back, I must tell sister about this so we can prepare for the war.”

“The whole planet!?” asked Twilight in shock.

Rainbow Dash protested, “He can’t possibly have any robots left after we smashed them all in Cloudsdale!”

Pinkie Pie said, “It’s that big old factory that’s making more. We really should start thinking about shutting it down! ”

Techorse nodded his head and said calmly, “Right, once we get Luna back, we turn around and head back past the castle here for the mountain pass.”

They were suddenly stopped by the approach of a chariot being pulled by Jools and Jops. The white and gold chariot contained Princess Celestia, who stepped out of her chariot and approached her sister. Once more, the others bowed while Techorse gave a salute and stood at attention.

“At ease, Techorse.” laughed the princess as she stepped out of the chariot. Celestia became melancholy as she approached her sister and hugged her tightly.

“I thought I had lost you for good.” said Celestia with tears in her eyes.

Luna also burst into tears and said, “I’m so sorry. Forgive me again.”

Techorse said with military tone, “Pardon the interruption M’am, but I do not find any fault in Luna. This was all Wizard’s doing, and we’re trying to comfort your sister into believing so.”

“See?” said Celestia, “the war hero even knows you’re not to blame. Now please, come back with me. Your wings look dreadful.”

Twilight explained, “She broke them in a fall after Nightmare Moon was hit with the element’s magic.”

“Where are the elements?” asked Celestia.

Techorse said, “Right here in the battle saddle, your majesty. Twilight thinks it’s best if I protect them from now on.”

Twilight asked, “Do you need them back now?”

Celestia said, “I think you might still need them. They may prove useful against Wizard.”

Pinkie Pie said happily, “I can’t wait to see the Captain’s face when Luna returns! He’s gonna be all like; DUH, how did the human win?”

Celestia became a little more serious and said, “The Captain has been… relieved from duties. I caught him setting up a guillotine in case you failed, Techorse. I made it perfectly clear many years ago that all capital punishment and their devices were banned, and he out of hatred for humans chose to disobey. He will no longer be a threat to you.” Fluttershy swallowed hard thinking about what might have happened to him.

The princess smiled, looked at Fluttershy, and said, “I fired him, sweetie. He’s still alive.” Fluttershy relaxed a bit as she was glad that mercy had been shown.

Techorse looked at the ground and said with gloom, “I didn’t mean for Arbiter to get fired over this. If I didn’t succeed, I meant what I said.”

Celestia comforted Techorse by replying, “It wasn’t really his decision to start with. I would never let you suffer for failure; I appreciated you trying your best, despite not originally being a pony. But Arbiter hated you because you weren’t one, and I had to stop him.”

Techorse said, “I understand.”

“So what now?” asked Rainbow Dash as she hovered in the air, “do we finally get a shot at that factory? I can’t wait to see it!”

Luna remembered the message she was going to tell her sister and said, “Sister, I almost forgot. During this terrible event, Wizard told me he hath planned on launching an attack on every city on the planet tomorrow afternoon! His metal monsters shall overtake every last inch of Equestria unless something is done!”

Celestia nodded and said, “My scribes will write around the clock to make sure each town gets ample warning of the attack.”

Twilight added, “Make sure Spike gets one.”

Celestia smiled and said, “Especially Spike. He might be happy he gets a shot at being a hero too.”

Twilight gave a smirk, “I’m sure he will be.”

Princess Celestia turned to her guards and said, “Go back by yourselves and get more transportation. We’ll rest for a couple of hours back at the castle, and then after dawn breaks, we’ll return you here to set out for the factory.” Jools and Jops nodded and took off to get help. For the rest of the time while they waited, the friends discussed their plan for attacking the factory and saving Equestria.

Wizard looked out from the space station window and watched as the planet below began its slow rotation again. He knew that with the defeat of Nightmare Moon, he was running out of time to conquer the planet with military action.

“Blast.” He said as he watched the curse lift. Wizard scratched his monk-like haircut and turned to the hologram disk.

“Bossman, where are you?” he asked with rage.

Bossman’s figure appeared, his hair messy and his face greasy.

“Sorry, Wizard. I was fixing one of the robot production machines. We’re at 50% over maximum capacity now! I have nearly 2 million robot units, and about 30 thousand of them are fliers.”

Wizard calmed down a bit and commended his employee, “Good work Bossman. We will have enough units to begin our attacks against every city on the planet. Begin sending out armies now, but keep up production, sending the new ones out as re-enforcements.”

Bossman replied, “Yes sir. On a different topic, pardon this, but I’ve noticed the moon has begun moving again. What happened?”

Wizard said, “The ponies must have gotten rid of Nightmare Moon. No matter, she was merely a stalling action to buy you more time to produce more robots. I was… unable to defeat Celestia, so I went for second prize and cost them half a day.”

“Good job, sir! The extra production time is much appreciated!” said Bossman with glee.

Wizard picked up a model of the castle he had built and said, “Well Bossman, you’re about to get even more. When I smash this model, it will cause the castle I built to collapse, blocking the mountain pass and forcing the ponies to find another way through to your factory. If that doesn’t work, Espion is in the area. I’m sure the ponies will find him, quite sharp.” Bossman and Wizard laughed together as he dropped the castle model on the floor. The minute the figurine smashed to pieces on the metal floor of the space station, the castle collapsed back on Equestria. But because the friends had already departed to stay at Canterlot, they didn’t know this yet. Nonetheless, tomorrow would bring the final strike against the humans.

Chapter 35

Techorse woke up in the bed the princesses had prepared for him. The ponies had stayed in the castle to sleep and reset their biological clocks due to the extended night. It was now the morning of the next day, the most critical day of their adventure yet. For on this day, every last city in Equestria would come under attack from the robots. It was a desperate last-ditch effort to enslave ponykind, and it was up to 7 little ponies from Ponyville to save everybody by shutting down the factory. For not only would that free the trapped ponies, it would remove the robot’s ability to teleport them into cages, bringing Wizard’s war machine to a grinding halt by removing their only true weapon. The male pony thought over this in his head while trying to get out of the bed and start the day. He slowly got up and walked over to a dresser and mirror. Looking in the mirror, he actually made an effort to study the body he had been in for just about a week. Now, it felt like he had always been in this four-legged form. He lifted his head up a bit to observe his slightly more angular jaw line, the only immediate feature which made it easy to tell male and female ponies apart; Twilight and company had rounder heads. Techorse looked at how his mane color matched his old hair color, how his eyes were still blue, and how his coat color matched the pleasant green color of the hoodie he was wearing the day Wizard struck him. He moved his tail so he could see it, it matched his old hair color as well, just a good light brown. Turning a bit, he took a good look at the cutie mark on his flank, the 3 squashed ‘V’ symbols in a yellow color. Techorse still wondered what he could be as the seventh element of harmony. It couldn’t be directly related to his cutie mark, or so he thought.

The male dropped his pondering for a moment to go over his team’s plan to go for the factory. Once everypony was awake, they would return to the trap-filled castle and walk around it to get through the mountain pass. Once through, they would have to sneak by the defensive robots surrounding the factory. Finding a way inside was a different matter, but he figured Rainbow Dash could scout the area and find a weak spot. The team would then get inside the factory and disable the teleporter beam control station, which would make the attacking machines powerless. Finally, they would free the prisoners, and defeat the human guarding them. Beyond that, there really was no plan. It was simply assumed that Wizard would surrender at this point and leave Equestria forever. His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knocking at his door. Walking over to it, listening to the clopping sounds his hooves made on the hardwood floor. Techorse opened the door to greet his guest. It was Applejack standing there.

“Good morning Applejack.” Said Techorse happily, “glad to see you’re up and ready to go.”

Applejack put a smile on her freckled face and said, “Today’s the day we free the towns. Then we can go back home and rescue yer robot.”

“From Big Macintosh?” laughed Techorse, “he didn’t seem to mind PAL at all. I’m sure they’re doing ok.”

Applejack said, “Yeah, he wouldn’t hurt a fly unless it was tryin’ to hurt one of us. Anyway, I just came ‘round to see if anypony else was awake.”

Techorse said, “It’s an exciting day. I’m surprised Pinkie Pie wasn’t up first though.”

Applejack nodded, “Funny thing is, she’s crazy as a ferret in a paper bag durin’ the day, but she crashes and sleeps right through the mornin’. It’s kinda funny if you ask me.”

“I’d imagine she would with that hyperactivity. She sure is a ray of sunshine though when you’re not feeling so good.” said Techorse with a nod.

Applejack turned to leave and said, “I think I’ll go check on her. See ya soon, Tech.”

“Bye Applejack.” He replied as he closed the door behind her.

“It's great to have friends to talk to.” thought Techorse as he went back to his room’s bathroom to freshen up. After taking a quick shower, he dried off and then walked over to his battle saddle. Pushing the top with his hoof, Techorse opened the device to check on the elements. The saddle’s lid opened up, and there were the six crystals, cushioned by Rarity’s red dress. Techorse thought about his supposed seventh element, but decided to drop the topic again before he got too consumed by it. There was a knock at the door again.

He walked over and thought, “Maybe Applejack’s back with Pinkie Pie.”

Opening the door though, he was met by Rarity.

“Ah, hello Rarity, did you sleep well?” He asked of her.

Rarity said politely, “Yes thank you. Do you happen to have my dress on hand? I’d like to wash it before we set out.”

Techorse said, “As a matter of fact, I was just checking up on it and the elements. I’ll get it for you.” He walked away, and came back with the red article of clothing draped over his left shoulder.

“Here you go Rarity. Not a thread damaged.” He said proudly.

Rarity took the dress from him and said, “Thanks for handling it without using those robotic hands.”

Techorse said, “You’re welcome. I’m trying not to rely on them so much. By the way, I’m wondering how long you spend each morning to keep those purple-blue curls up?”

“Why do you ask?” she replied.

“I might invent something when we get back to speed up the process.” He said, “Might make for a nice project.”

Rarity answered, “That’s really nice of you, darling, but I prefer to do it without machinery. More natural, you know.”

“Yeah I’m sure” was Techorse’s reply, a little upset over the rejection.

“Thank you, but I must be off to wash this. I’m going to need it today.” said Rarity as she left.

“Alright, catch you later Rarity.” said Techorse as he shut the door. “Seems the others all want to talk to me this morning.” He spoke aloud.

A third knock came on the door, this time louder than the others. Techorse sighed in annoyance and turned around again to answer it.

Jops stood in the doorway and stated, “You’ve been summoned to breakfast by the princesses. It’s in your honor.”

Techorse said, “Let me throw on my saddle and I’ll follow you.” The pony went and clipped on his invention, then ran back to Jops. They walked out into the hallway of guest rooms and continued downstairs to go to the feasting hall.

“So, you must be Jools.” said Techorse.

“I’m Jops, Jools is my twin brother.” answered the guard.

“Sorry. You know, it seems you guards are a bit more talkative since Arbiter’s termination.” said Techorse.

“Yes we feel like we have more freedoms, but we’re trying not to get carried away.” said Jops.

Techorse and Jops entered the dining room where all his friends had gathered to celebrate last night’s victory over breakfast. Servants were busy serving the entire table whatever they asked for, and it gave Techorse a chance to learn more about his friends. It seemed that Twilight really had a craving for pancakes, as she was working through a large stack of them. Techorse took his seat next to her at the table.

“Good morning sleepy,” said Twilight teasingly, “you’re kinda late.”

He replied, “Sorry Twilight, I was helping some of the others this morning.”

Pinkie Pie, sitting across from them on the long table, broke up the conversation by saying, “Isn’t breakfast here great? We can get whatever we want!” She then devoured the half a dozen chocolate chip muffins sitting on her plate in about 10 seconds flat. Techorse chuckled at Pinkie’s eating habits and asked his waiter for some pancakes like Twilight Sparkle’s. Fluttershy sat next to Pinkie Pie and was chewing through what appeared to be hay coated in honey syrup.

“I never really thought about it.” Said Techorse as he looked at her plate, “but I guess we can eat hay like Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy asked with surprise, “You mean humans never ate hay?”

Techorse smiled and said, “No, I’m afraid not Fluttershy. But I’m all over that. Maybe I’ll try eating hay sometime.”

“It’s pretty bland until you put something on it.” said Twilight in disbelief that her friend would try hay. Then they laughed about the entire discussion. Princess Celestia finished her first cup of tea for the morning, and set the cup back down on its saucer. She then called the attention of the friends.

“Before we drop you off this morning, I’d like to congratulate you on your efforts so far.” said Celestia.

Luna, with her wings now in casts, added, “You hath saved me and many sectors of Equestria. You should be very proud of your accomplishments.”

Princess Celestia continued, “But most of all, I’d like to thank you, Techorse. You gave up being a human to help out us, a different race in need. I’m really proud of how you adjusted to life as a pony, and how you are assisting my student Twilight Sparkle in this task of defeating the other humans. Your stand against their war to capture my subjects has saved millions from being enslaved.”

Techorse interrupted, “Today, when we assault the factory your majesties, all the others shall be freed. The humans have made a mistake and they won’t be able to ship any ponies to Earth for two more weeks. You won’t even lose one pony if we pull this off.”

“Excellent news.” said Celestia.

Luna asked, “Techorse, what are your plans after the factory is shut down?”

Twilight answered for him, “Techorse and I are trying to decide what to do. It really depends on whether or not Wizard chooses to leave peacefully or not. If he doesn’t, we may have to hunt him down and stop him.”

Techorse said, “Twilight has the right idea. Wizard may or may not be a threat when this is all over, and we’ll decide what to do after we’ve had a shot at the factory.”

Princess Celestia said, “We have prepared a passenger car for you to take you back to the mountain pass. Good luck.” The friends got up and followed a guard to the courtyard where the vehicle was sitting. As they were leaving, Celestia pulled Techorse aside.

She said to him softly, “You know, with Arbiter out of the way, we have a spot open for Captain of the Guard. After what I heard about your leadership at Cloudsdale, I think you deserve it.”

Techorse looked at the princess and said, “Thanks for the offer, but with all due respect, I decline. I’d rather stay in Ponyville with my friends and continue my career in inventing.”

Princess Celestia nodded and said to him, “I understand. You really get along with those girls, especially Twilight.”

Techorse said, “Take care, your majesty. While we’re gone, Canterlot is going to come under attack.”

The princess said calmly, “Everything’s under control. Now go join up with your friends, they’re waiting for you so they can leave.”

Techorse turned around and galloped out of the room to enter the vehicle. He ran out into the courtyard of the castle and entered the wooden passenger car’s open door. 10 of the royal guards were going to pull the car, they were all Pegasus ponies, so the flight would take only a little while longer than by the helicopter. As Techorse jumped into the carriage, he shut the door and looked at his friends.

“What took you so long?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Job offer.” replied Techorse, “The princesses wanted me to take Arbiter’s place here at the castle.”

Twilight said, “That’s wonderful! We’re really happy that you finally get to be the military leader you’ve always wanted to be.”

Techorse shook his head and said to Twilight, “I turned their offer down.”

“Why?” asked Rarity in surprise.

Techorse explained, “I’d much rather stay in Ponyville with you girls, my friends. I’d be all lonely staying here.”

Pinkie Pie gave Techorse a bear hug and shouted, “Yay! Techie is staying!”

As the carriage took off, Techorse asked Twilight, “Hey, did Spike ever get the message about the upcoming attacks?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, he knows alright. You should have seen his reply to our letter. Lots of exclamation points, meaning he’s really excited he’s going to get a chance to fight.” She then grew a bit worried in tone, “I just hope he doesn’t get hurt.”

Techorse wondered aloud, “Yeah, If Wizard changed the programming so that the robots attack more than ponies, not one living thing here is safe.”

Applejack comforted them by saying, “I’m sure Spike can take care of himself, just as long as he doesn’t get too cocky.”

“He could be in trouble then.” said Rarity, knowing just how prideful he could get.

Chapter 36

Spike was trying to decide how to tell the citizens of Ponyville that another attack was coming. Because he was all alone at the library, it had been very quiet, giving him time to pace and think.

“I need to tell everypony in town about the attack so we can organize and kick some robot butt!” he said out loud, slamming his fist into his other open hand.

“If only I could get the message out quickly. I can’t fly, so that’s out, and screaming like crazy only worked that one time when I accidentally set fire to that mattress store.” Just then, Spike heard scratching at the window of the treehouse building. Spike walked upstairs and found an owl scratching at the glass.

He opened the window and said, “Owlicious? What are you doing here? I thought you were nocturnal.” The owl jumped through the window and made a who typical of owls.

Spike interpreted the spirit of the owl’s speech and said, “Can’t sleep with all the racket I’m making? Sorry. It’s just that Ponyville’s going to be under attack this afternoon and I’m stuck making the battle plan.”

The owl rotated its head 180 degrees to look back at the many scrolls of parchment sitting in the corner.

“Would you please not do that with your head, it’s kinda freaky.” complained Spike. Owlicious ignored him and hopped over to the parchment. Being careful not to rip any of the paper with its claws, the owl tried to see how many strips of paper it could pick up in one clawful. Spike stole the owl’s plan by saying, “I know! I’ll write the warning on these strips of scroll, and you can drop them over Ponyville!” Owilicious rotated his head back to look at Spike and nodded. Spike gave him a look that indicated a lack of amusement at the owl’s continuous use of its head rotation.

After copying down the warning message, that all ponies should meet in the center of town to discuss the battle, Spike gathered the strips into a bundle and gave them to the owl. Owlicious took off out the window and began scattering the papers in the same way propaganda leaflets are distributed by bomber. Ponies across town read the papers and proceeded to gather in the center of town to decide what to do about the robots.

Spike looked out the window at the forming crowd and said, “Hey, it’s actually working! Sweet.” Spike went back upstairs and found a long and narrow red piece of cloth. He tied it around his head in a Rambo-style bandana and then ran out the front door of the library to motivate the crowd. The small dragon walked into the center of town and stood in the middle of the crowd of ponies.

“Hey everypony, listen up!”, he shouted. The ponies fell silent and stared at the tiny purple dragon, unsure if he was actually going to provide any decent help or not.

“Robots are coming, and unless you want to get zapped, we’ve gotta fight back!” said Spike.

“Hey!” shouted one of the ponies, “Aren’t you the guy constantly afraid of zombies or werewolves? Things that aren’t real?”

Spike said, “Well, yeah but this is different! I know and you know these robots are real, 6 of them trashed the town last time.”

“He’s got a point!” said somepony.

Spike continued shouting, “My best friend Twilight is off trying to destroy the robot’s factory. But we have to hold the robots off here until they blow it up. So let’s stockpile some ammo and get ready!”

One of the ponies asked, “Like what? What good could we possible do against things made of metal?”

“I can answer that, good sir.” came a voice from behind the crowd. Turning around, the ponies saw PAL and Big Macintosh standing on a pile of crates. PAL took a can of oil and took a large sip of it to lubricate his motors. He then crushed the can and threw it behind him.

“I am a robot.” said PAL, “yes, indeed not the same kind as those machines, but I believe I can be of help to you ponies by explaining the weaknesses of robots.”

“What weaknesses?” shouted a pony from the crowd.

PAL pointed at one of the ponies and said, “Good question sir. Robots use electricity to power their systems. As such, magnets will disrupt them. If you have any magnets, I suggest throwing them at the robots to confuse them. Other than that, throwing anything hard enough to dent metal will do well. Stones, sharp gems, maybe even inedible apples would be hard enough to work.”

Some of the crowd members took heed to the advice and began buying hardened apples from Big Macintosh that normally would just get thrown out. Big Macintosh winked at PAL, his business strategy had worked. PAL smiled back, in all honesty, the apples would do some damage if thrown at the robots, just not as much as the stones.

PAL waded through the crowd and found Spike, then asked, “You are the one who assembled the citizens, are you not?”

Spike replied, “Yeah. You’re Techorse’s machine, aren’t you?”

PAL replied, “That’s right. You must be Twilight’s apprentice Spike. Master told me about you, and how strong willed you are.”

Spike said with glee, “Really? He said I was strong?”

PAL nodded and said, “Strong-willed. It means you’re always willing to try your hardest to help your friends. Master thinks one day you’ll also be strong physically as well. In fact, he had instructed me to follow your orders in his absence.”

Spike rubbed his chin and said to PAL, “Well, I definitely could use help. Can you give us any weapons from the castle?”

The robot replied, “Unfortunately, master Techorse didn’t build many weapons of sorts besides his personal cannons. There are no extras I know of, except for one which I might be able to use. Either way, the castle will make a great meeting place for your followers, as it is exactly where the robots will strike first.”

Spike and PAL invited the crowd to go to the castle and set up their defenses against the robot army. The crowd followed them to the castle and began to make preparations. Catapults were built from parts PAL supplied from the castle’s raw materials supply. The mining probes retrieved heavy rocks and sharp gemstones to use as ammunition. If any gemstone was not sharp enough to pierce a metal coffee can, Spike happily ate it to build his strength up.

PAL watched the young dragon eat the gemstones and asked, “Tell me, what exactly does eating gemstones do for you?”

Spike answered with his mouth full, “Dragon scales are the toughest armor around. Just gotta eat a supply of gemstones to harden them, especially diamonds.”

“Then by all means, consume as many as possible without vomiting. Because you’re a dragon and not a pony, the robots will try to hurt you rather than zap you. You’ll need all the armor you can get.” said PAL.

Spike swallowed hard, he thought the robots were only going for teleportation, not trying to actively destroy him. PAL went back inside his master’s castle to go retrieve what he was to use against the enemy. He emerged with a large green metal tube and a huge belt slung around his middle like a sash. The belt carried barrel-shaped metal objects with a quadruple-finned guidance tail at the back. PAL raised the metal tube onto his shoulder, and held the trigger of the device in his left hand. He then wrapped his right hand around the top of the tube.

Spike was awed at the weapon and asked, “What is that?”

PAL replied, “Rocket Propelled Electromagnet. I stole the idea from my master’s database. He’s going to be mad at me.”

PAL loaded one of the rockets into the tube, aimed at the can, and pulled the trigger. The missile flew out of the tube and attached to the can, after which the piece of ammo drained its battery sending a massive electric shock through the can. Once the missile was out of power, it detached from the can and fell to the ground.

Spike said, “Alright PAL! That will fry them like an egg!”

PAL grinned, “Spike, when the robots attack, you will be the one frying them. If my theory is correct, your fire breath can heat up the robots and make them shut down.

Spike said excitedly, “Really? Awesome!” He then breathed his green flame at the tin can, and watched as it started to glow red and heat up.

“Keep that up on a robot, and it’s circuits will be overwhelmed in seconds!” said PAL.

Spike finished his fire and looked up at PAL, “This is awesome, the dragon and his robot sidekick are going to fight the forces of evil!”

PAL leaned over Spike and said with an annoyed tone, “Who are you calling a sidekick? I’m the one with the bazooka here.”

“I was just kidding. Sorry I called you that” said Spike with regret, “we’re still cool though, right?”

“Of course” said PAL, giving the dragon a fist bump.

PAL moved back upright, “Wait here, I have to give my algorithm-generated motivational speech.”

The robot walked over to where the ponies were making battle preparations and said, “Attention, ponies, if you please.” The ponies dropped their work and looked at the robot. “Thank you for your attention.” said PAL.

He then continued, “My ungulate friends, we all have our differences. Some of you have wings or horns, others don’t. I’m made of metal, and my friend Spike is a dragon. Truth is, we’re all very different and may be afraid of those differences. However, as a robot, I know that it is only logical that we remember one thing: we all come from Ponyville and are all residents of Equestria. It is time we take a stand as brothers and sisters to defeat the evil robots once and for all, so that good robots like me can rest easy knowing not every artificial intelligence in this world is bad. By standing today, you stand not just for Ponyville, but for the truth. We shall win our freedom from the machines!”

PAL was given thunderous hoof clops for applause from the citizens.

“Wow” he said to Spike, “I thought those lines were pretty cheesy myself, but it looks like they did the trick.”

Spike answered, “Yeah, pretty lame. But with the applause you’re getting, I wouldn’t worry.” PAL looked on at the ponies readying their weapons. He knew they would do fine against the coming army, even if he couldn’t give a speech worth his existence.

Comments

[Warrior Kitten]

Pinkie Pie began to sing, “I know! Let’s sing a song to pass time! 99 bundles of hay on the wall, 99 bundles of hay! You take one down and pass it around, 98 bundles of hay on the wall!”

I started singing too XD