Chapter 13 - A Slave to Time (Part 4)
Chapter 12 – A Slave to Time (Part 4)
-I'm sorry!
-You will be...
A long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria...
"There," I said simply, and mostly to myself, as the final crystal circuit in the 'fake' TARDIS clicked neatly into place. As I stood up, assisted by one of my forelegs resting on the console, I noted that the thrum of activity in the Oakflare facility had continued around me while I worked. The air was tainted with panic and fear despite the composed, professional visage that was being put forward. Redheart had maintained her proximity to both me and the console, and had apparently taken to nervously nibbling her hoof in the few minutes it had taken me to finish my repairs.
"Are you alright?" I asked, lightly touching her on the shoulder. Her head whipped around to face me, a startled and haunted look clouding her gaze.
"I—! You—! We—!" she stammered, panting, as her tongue tripped over multiple pronouns in rapid succession.
"Redheart," I said slowly, as I looked deep into her eyes. "Calm down. I'm going to get us out of here, okay?"
Redheart nodded, gulping as she forced a series of deep, calming breaths out through her mouth and nostrils.
"O-oh Celestia, Compass," she said, her eyes now more centred, but still markedly teary. "Is this really it!? Is this the end of the war that everypony's afraid of!?"
"That doesn't matter," I replied evenly, turning to the console. "I've got this thing working now, so it'll be a short hop out of here, and then a simple continuum scan to locate my fr—"
"W-wait!" Redheart suddenly shouted, as she yanked angrily at my barding. "You're leaving in the middle of all this!? But what about these ponies!? Without you they'll—!"
"Die," I concluded bluntly, clenching my eyes shut as she pulled me further and further towards her gaze. "Yes, I know. But there's nothing I can do about that, Redheart."
"But you're a Luna-damned time traveller!" she suddenly screamed, spittle flying from her mouth as everypony in the room turned to face the source of the commotion. "You have a duty to use that power for the preservation of life!"
I was half tempted to reply with the phrase 'Says fucking who!?', but thought better of it. Instead, I fixed Redheart with a glare, and lowered my voice so as to avoid being overheard.
"Redheart," I said, "these ponies are already dead. All of this is part of a fixed point in time, or... or something like that. Deep down, I know I can't save them. It's a tragedy, yes, but there are other ponies in other times and in other places that I can save, and I need to get to them as soon as possible!"
Turning back to the console, I brought the controls to life with an instinctive flick of my horn, only to have Redheart's voice slice through my soul.
"So..." she said quietly, but somehow louder than any sound in the room or thought in my head. "You're going to run away..."
"Wh-what!?" I replied immediately, angry and indignant as I snapped round to face her. "Haven't you been listening to a word I've said!? I literally can't affect this part of the timeline! It shapes everything that's to come, and you just expect me to wave my horn and make it all better!?"
"I expect you to at least try!" Redheart said, an impassioned tone flowing freely into her words. "You're the most amazing buck I've ever met! And if you can't fix this, then... what's the point in having any hope at all...?"
"Oh, Redheart, please don't do this," I pleaded, grimacing. "I can't fix any of what's going on here. I'm not... I mean it's just that... Look, I just can't, okay!? I just can't! I'm not strong enough to lead, I'm not brave enough to fight, and I'm not smart enough to figure this shit-heap of a timeline out!"
"You don't need to be those things to try!" she responded. "Please, Compass! We need you!"
Redheart's last sentence struck me in the chest like a bullet. I swallowed nervously, my mouth hanging open to take in breath after heavy breath as I looked around the laboratory. Despite my attempts at keeping our conversation private, the majority of the lab's staff had come to a standstill nearby and were listening in, despite the impending threat of a fiery, green doom.
"Is... is all that true...?" my assistant from before said, stepping forward from the crowd. "Is this really... 'it'...?"
"Wh-what's going on here!?" said a unicorn. "How can you know this!?"
"And did you just mention time travel!?" gawked a nearby pegasus.
"What about my family!?" shouted an earth pony in a lab coat. "Do you know about them!? Will they survive!?"
"My parents live in Fillydelphia!" came another shout. "Can you save them?"
"My son goes to school in Canterlot!" another voice said. "Save him too!"
The shouts and wails of the scared, doomed ponies around me only intensified as time went on, becoming ever louder and more frequent. Pleas were issued for every member of every family, every friend, distant relative, and pet. I recoiled, too appalled to respond as the crowd swarmed around me, forcing me to back into the TARDIS console as I began to hyperventilate. They were begging, I realised in horror, not for just their own lives as I had expected, but for the lives of their every relation and acquaintance. In this, what they suspected was their final hour, these ponies had resorted to primal forms of fear and honour; begging a force that they barely understood to bestow salvation upon those that they loved most dearly.
Just as I was sure I would be consumed by the oncoming storm of lab workers, a silver bolt of sound blasted through the stramash, forcing all eyes to turn towards the lab's main archway.
"What the hell's going on here!?" screamed Corporal Serious-face, as she re-entered the room. "Why aren't you all at your shelter stations!?"
"This stallion's a time traveller!" shouted my assistant.
"And he says he can save us all from the bombs!" added a critically uninformed unicorn.
The corporal squinted in disbelief as, one after another, the ponies present recounted the argument that Redheart and I had just had, conveniently missing out everything I had said about not being able to help. The military officer turned to me after a time, fixing me with a stare that was, for some reason, eerily familiar.
"You're not from the MoM, are you...?" she asked simply.
"No..." I said, my voice quiet and shaking.
"And this thing isn't for the defence of Equestria, is it?" she continued, gesturing to the TARDIS behind me.
I shook my head, gulping loudly as the crowd continued to consume me with their eyes. The military mare closed in on me slowly, staring even more deeply into my eyes as she spoke.
"This is the end... isn't it...?" she said, so softly that nopony else could have heard.
I whimpered, and nodded again, bowing my head so as to avoid her gaze any further. A few seconds passed as I clenched my eyes shut and hoped upon hope that I would just wake up back in Stable 52, where I could consign this whole nightmarish scenario to a cruel trick of the mind.
Sadly though, instead of sweat-soaked bedsheets against my hide, I felt a gentle pressure against my shoulder: a hoof had been placed there. I looked up, and was met once again by a forest of wide, pleading eyes. I followed the hoof to a foreleg, and then to a pony - the corporal - who was still the closest to me. She leant forward even further than before, and maintained her unblinking connection for every second of her motion. She opened her mouth to speak, and I felt my insides clench with anticipation as she did so.
"Can... can you save us...?" she whispered.
The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I reeled backwards, pressing the console's edge painfully into my flank. The eyes drew closer. Begging and pleading for all the lives in all the world. They wanted me to save them. They needed me to save them. But I couldn't. Or could I? No, surely not. But then, I'd never thought about it. Although, why try when you know you'll fail?
One and Three's voices rolled around my brain, too quickly to distinguish. Should I stay and try to defy time; try to restore Equestria and stop the war? Or should I leave; run away to save some ponies in a blighted future Wasteland.
In the end, it all came down to a look. I turned to Redheart, and my mind was made up.
In her gaze, I once again saw her fear and anxiety, bare and open for all to see. It was in the eyes of every pony there in that room, plain as day. I realised in that moment that they weren't dead; not yet. They were totally alive, and vital; not warmongers or monsters, just ponies, doing what they felt they needed to do to survive. I pitied them more than ever in that moment, and felt my appalled sensibilities being steadily replaced by a steely, shining resolve. My brow furrowed, and my teeth clenched as my mind changed its direction. I moved forward off of the console, and exhaled loudly as my resolve solidified.
"Yes..." I said to the corporal finally, biting the air with sudden determination.
"Alright everypony, listen up!" I shouted to those assembled around me. "This is it! The bombs are coming and there's not a damn thing we can do about it! But that doesn't mean you - I mean, we - all have to die today! I need all the earth ponies and pegasi in a group beside the console, with the unicorns in a ring around them!"
The laboratory staff and military personnel clustered around me as I had instructed, their eyes wide and staring as I flipped open my horn in front of them for the first time. I closed my eyes and focussed my breathing, finding my centre in record time.
"What are you going to do?" the corporal asked as she approached me cautiously.
"This time machine's not ready to transport all of us," I said without breaking my focus. "Right now it can carry two ponies through time and space. Tops."
"But what good is that!?" the corporal hissed, her voice shaking. "Don't you have any working technology or magic from the future!? Something we can use!?"
"Way ahead of you," I said, as arcane symbols and ancient, alien phrases swarmed through my mind. "It just so happens that I do have a spell we can use. It creates a magical forcefield for a short time that's impenetrable even to massive bursts of energy. If I tinker with the incantation a little, and get some extra juice to keep it going, then we should be able to survive this."
I turned to the crowd at large as the spell's blue glow began to seep gently out of my horn, its mystic tendrils straining at their confinement.
"Alright!" I shouted. "The building should protect us from the first blast, but I know for a fact that this place doesn't have adequate radiation shielding! Unicorns, I need you to focus your magic on my horn. I'll direct it into the spell until the blast wave and initial fallout have passed. Now this is going to be a lot of magical exertion, and we're going to be at it for hours at the very least, so I need everypony to do their absolute best here, okay!? It's literally do or die!"
"W-wait!" the corporal suddenly exclaimed, grabbing my barding as she spoke. "You're doing it now!? What about the rest of the facility!? O-our families, our friends!? Are you telling me that you're only going to save us!?"
I exhaled through gritted teeth, and turned carefully to address her, lest the spell lose cohesion. Before I could speak though, the floor under our hooves rumbled menacingly, as if in direct response to her question. The lights flickered and dusty streams began to rain down from the ceiling as the first balefire explosions rocked the world from miles away. Knowing full well that Edinbuck would not be far behind the initial targets, I redoubled my efforts to complete the casting of the forcefield, taking only a tiny moment in which to reply to the corporal's question.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about the ponies outside," I grunted, as quickly and apologetically as I could. "And as for the ones still in here with us, they've got until I can establish the field! After that, they're on their own!"
'They're out of time,' I caught myself thinking shamefully, my failings as a time traveller laid bare in stark tones of irony.
Corporal Serious took my sombre news with remarkable grace, once again dawning her façade of unflappable professionalism as the ponies around her began to grimace and sob for those they knew they were about to lose. With an affirmative nod, the military mare wheeled around on the spot, grabbing one of her unicorn lieutenants by his barding in the process.
"Get me on the PA!" she shouted into his ear. "Now!"
"Y-yes ma'am!" the unicorn stammered, almost too shocked to reply. His horn began to exude a gentle green glow as the corporal took hold of it, grasping it in her hooves as if it were a microphone.
"Attention all personal!" her voice boomed over the facility's public address system. "A first strike event is in progress! This is not a drill! Everypony is to report to a special fortification in the lab on sub-level eight! On the double!"
Meanwhile, the unicorns of the group, spurred on by the building's new-found seismic instability, had by this point mustered all of their magical strength to the tips of their horns, ready to beam it straight into the spell at the tip of mine. As we achieved a magical saturation, a solid column of displaced military officers, soldiers, scientists and engineers began to hurriedly file into the lab, arranging themselves according to the orders of Corporal Serious.
Every face I looked upon bore an expression of absolute panic - even that of the benevolent Brigardier Bridge. There were tears aplenty, and a number of tight, fearful embraces as well. I glanced from side to side as the final few Fausts of magical energy in my horn were committed to the forcefield spell. These ponies were all suddenly relying on me, I realised. Their lives, their futures, and those of everypony that would follow them, were now balanced squarely on top of my shoulders.
And d'you know what?
I liked it.
In fact, I more than liked it. Strange as it may sound, I actually felt as if everything was going wonderfully; that the cataclysm occurring all around us was just going to blow harmlessly overhead. And not just because I was there, but because I had decided that it was going to be that way. It was my calling to save their lives, I thought to myself as my chest suddenly flushed with confidence and pride, the shame I'd felt only moments previously having vanished completely. Even more than that, my new feelings told me, it was my right to change the course of history. For I was a master of causality! A god of space!
And a lord of time!
The horde around me clustered together as I held the spell on the precipice of release. With a final check left and right for stragglers, I made my final adjustment to the incantation's outer radius.
"Okay!" I shouted above everypony around me. "Here we go! Give me all you've got on three! One! Two! Thr—!"
In a blinding flash, what must have been fifty beams of pure magical energy blasted straight into my horn, flooding every atom of my being with ethereal power. My eyes burned with a brilliant white light, and my horn felt as if it was about to blast off of my head like a megaspell missile. A beam of blue fire erupted from it a moment later, as I screamed at the top of my lungs from the sensation of it all. The beam reached the ceiling in under a second, and proceeded to diverge neatly into a huge translucent umbrella, which then swooped down towards the ground, arcing sharply inwards to separate the group's hooves from the floor.
As the field finished forming around us, the spell itself settled into the continuous arcane loop that I had improvised only minutes earlier. I found with a giddy, almost euphoric delight that, not only was the shield completely stable, but that I was also able to regulate it fully with only a tiny amount of concentration. I turned, grinning like a triumphant gladiator towards Redheart.
"I..." I panted. "I did it...! I did it! I... I saved them all!"
The shield sparkled and reverberated gently as its occupants stared up in amazement at the miniature wall of magic I'd erected; a solid 'Fuck you!' to death and a personal victory for me over time and causality. I allowed myself to revel in the delight of actually saving lives again for a moment, ready to be washed over by the exhilaration of defeating equinity's best attempts at destroying itself. Smiling widely at my victory, I closed my eyes, let out a sigh...
And waited for the world to end.
<<<<< O >>>>>
Meanwhile, somewhere else in time and space
The console room shuddered as the TARDIS shifted out of the time vortex and landed upon solid ground. I braced myself before turning away from the controls, afraid of moving from where I had stood for an unpassing eternity. Lost in thought, the journey had seemed to have taken hours, when it had in fact only been a matter of minutes. My forehead was beginning to shine with sweat, and my insides growled uncertainly; knotting themselves in anticipation of what was to come.
I turned around slowly to start my descent down the stairs to the console room's lower level, and my still-unconscious companion, Ditzy Doo. She gradually came into view as I rounded the time rotor's central column, her soft, grey hide blending gently into the Gallopfreyan coral to which she was tied. I stood to watch her for a moment, suspended for a few seconds in a shining instance of peace. Her chest was rising and falling with each breath she took, and I found a smile automatically spreading across my face as I recalled our many adventures together, and all of the great challenges that we had faced while in one another's company.
Together, we had fought dozens of foes, brought peace to hundreds of worlds, and saved millions of lives. We had even travelled to parallel dimensions, for goodness' sake! In doing so, we'd met our evil counterparts (which was weird), seen Twilight Sparkle magically turn into an alicorn (which was weirder), and even visited a realm where magic was called science and bipedal primates had developed sentience rather than equines (oh, don't even get me started on that one!).
But now, after all that wonder and excitement, I was starting to feel the waning warmth of a setting sun, as if our time together was drawing inexorably to a close.
With a deep, shuddering sigh, I pulled the ropes off of her torso, and pulled her sleeping form over my shoulder. The TARDIS doors swung open as I approached them, and I stepped out into the world beyond.
It was a beautiful afternoon in Ponyville's central park. The sky was the most gorgeous shade of blue imaginable (even, I dare say, more so than that of the TARDIS herself), the sun was shining contentedly from the far horizon, and there wasn't a cloud for miles.
I lowered Ditzy down onto the ground and lay beside her for a time, breathing in the scent of the grass, and listening to a nearby group of foals playing. The day was near ending, but there still remained some light by which to enjoy oneself. In the distance, I saw a sextet of ponies I knew well having a picnic with their pets, and I allowed myself a moment of fantasy, in which the fate of the world wasn't hanging in the balance, and where Ditzy and I lived a happy, simple life as the town's mailmare and clock repairpony.
We would wake up at the same time, I imagined, since Ditzy would have to do her early morning rounds. I would make her breakfast, and we would watch the sunrise together before I'd send her on her way. Then I'd head back to bed for a while, waking up a few hours later with the warmth of the mid-morning sun beating down on the sheets. I'd roll over, straight into the sweetly scented patch left by Ditzy's mane on her pillow. I'd revel in her scent, and bask in the warmth of my thoughts for her before rising from the bed. Then I'd work - repairing clocks all morning for the citizens of Ponyville, finishing up to make lunch just in time for Ditzy to arrive back from her rounds. Then we'd go relax for a while; maybe even have a nap. Yes, a warm embrace in beams of afternoon sunlight. After that, it would be back to work for both of us for a few hours, to be followed by gentle caresses when Ditzy returned from her afternoon deliveries. Then dinner (maybe we'd go out - What about that new bistro on Mane Street? I'd ask). We would dine. We would laugh. We would have all the time in the world. And then, just as the sun was setting for the day, we'd go for a trot around the park, and she'd fall asleep next to me on the grass, and I'd just sit there beside her, smiling at the beauty before me. And it would be perfect.
"Oh, Mr. Clockwork!" came a sudden, dream-shattering voice. "How are you today?"
I returned to reality in a fashion not unlike that of somepony who'd just been saved from drowning. Gasping slightly from fright, I looked up towards the source of the interruption, my eyes thick with tears from a world that I wished could have been. Standing before me, the sun flowing through the outermost strands of her striped mane, was Twilight Sparkle.
"Oh! Uh... Twilight..." I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I'm, uh... fine, thanks. Lovely, um... afternoon, isn't it?"
"It certainly is..." she replied, as her smile flattened slightly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks," I lied, as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Just a little hay fever - the pollen count's been pretty high today."
"Yeah... I suppose it has..." Twilight replied uncertainly. She knew full well that I was lying, and I could sense the warm, worried edges of concerned thoughts as she stood there silently.
Twilight Sparkle was a good pony - as a matter of fact, she was one of the best I'd ever met during the course of my travels. Her heart was a couple of sizes too big for her chest (as were those of her friends, which is quite a compliment, coming from a stallion with two of them), and her ability to simultaneously be both learned and inquisitive qualified her as one of the smartest creatures I'd ever had the pleasure of encountering.
"Twilight...?" I said as evenly as I could manage, my eyes drifting dreamily over the park in front of me as subtext and subterfuge melted away into my despair.
"Yes?" she replied quietly.
"How do you say goodbye to somepony you... to somepony that's important to you...?"
"I, uh..." the lavender mare said, tilting her head slightly. "I'll be honest, Mr. Clockwork, that's not exactly the direction I thought this conversation was going to take."
Twilight eyed Ditzy for a moment, before continuing to speak, her voice reduced to a concerned whisper (ostensibly to avoid waking my straw-maned companion).
"I didn't know that you felt that way about Ditzy," she said. "Are you two...?"
I felt my lips part as Twilight trailed off, an answer to her question hanging somewhere between my brain and my mouth. I looked up towards her, my 'hay fever' once again wetting my tear ducts.
"We might have been..." I breathed. "In another time. Another place... You see, there's something I have to do, Twilight. And I... I'm scared that I won't be coming back from it..."
"Oh, it can't be all that bad," Twilight said, smiling sweetly. "I'm sure whatever it is you have to do will turn out fine!"
I scoffed at her naivety, chuckling softly as the smile dropped completely off of her face.
"It's not that easy, Twilight," I replied, as I turned and looked her straight in the eye, the intensity of my stare surprising her into taking a single step backwards. "It feels different this time. More... final..."
Rising gently, I sighed and looked towards the setting sun.
"I suppose all I can do," I whispered, just loud enough to be heard, "is hope that I'm wrong..."
Without another word, I turned and began my trot back to the TARDIS, reasoning that not saying goodbye to Ditzy was the best way to guarantee that we would see one another again. This was just another jaunt into the vortex, I told myself. I'd be back before she even knew I was gone. In fact, I'd be back before she even woke up!
I could feel Twilight's eyes scanning me as I continued across the grass, and I could practically hear the multitude of questions she must have had for me, but I continued regardless. My mind was set on the task ahead, and I had committed to stopping the Master, whatever his plan for Equestria may have been.
As I stepped into the TARDIS console room, fresh tears beading at the corners of my eyes, I paused, wondering anew if I should have woken Ditzy to say goodbye. Would it have been better if she had known of my intention to leave her in her own time? Would she have appreciated that I didn't want to risk her safety with such a dangerous adversary? Would she recognise just how much I cared for her?
I dismissed those and a dozen other questions immediately, quickly convincing myself that I'd done the right thing, and put the matter out of my head. After all, a whole planet was at stake! I gritted my teeth, and whinnied in determination as I yanked the time rotor control towards me.
As the TARDIS phased away, the sun finally set over Ponyville Park, and a single, straw-maned mare awoke weeping.
<<<<< O >>>>>
Meanwhile, in the Equestrian Wasteland...
The stairs seemed to go on forever.
It was probably my imagination, but I could have sworn that the floor was getting warmer the further down I travelled. At one point, I even caught myself worrying about how close I was to the planet's mantle!
Naturally however, there was no bubbling pit of magma waiting to swallow me up at the base of the stairwell. Only another corridor. As its wall mounted lights flickered into life upon my arrival, I realised that this particular corridor was markedly different from every other passageway in the levels above. It was pristine; as clean and untarnished as the day it was finished. I continued my slow trot toward the real Stone Tower's lair, my muscles taught in case of an ambush.
'Right,' I said to myself. 'I'm ready for you, Tower. I'm like a coiled viper, ready to strike!'
'And exactly what good is that going to do you if Tower decides he wants to rush you?' asked One. 'You do remember his robot's threat, right?'
'Yeah,' added Three. 'You have to comply, Compass. Otherwise... well, I don't think I have to spell it out for you...'
'I know, I know,' I replied. 'It makes me feel less screwed, though.'
'Ah,' One said. 'Then, in that case, feel free to carry on.'
'Cheers,' I said, rolling my eyes at myself. 'Good to know you two have my back...'
My internal dialogue didn't resume after that, as I was finally closing in on the end of the corridor. In the distance, I was able to make out a normal looking StableTec pressure door, which, much like the corridor preceding it, was as clean and shiny as the day it left the factory.
I approached it carefully, my breaths short and uncomfortable as I began to compulsively gulp every few seconds. With a shiver of anticipation, I gritted my teeth, and extended my foreleg, gently tapping against the door's unblemished surface. Six seconds passed without so much as an echo from my surroundings, and I felt my inhalations shorten even more as my hearts thrummed nervously inside my chest. Then, just as the seventh second was about to pass, the door nonchalantly hissed open, retreating languidly into the ceiling.
'Smug, shiny bastard...' I caught myself thinking, as I continued my nervous, careful trot toward my fate.
The room that I ended up in turned out (somewhat surprisingly) to be a large and spacious laboratory, with a high, domed ceiling, and a multi-level, open-plan layout. I couldn't see anypony waiting to attack, or otherwise greet me, so I resolved to have a look around before whatever horrible plan Stone Tower had in store for me was revealed.
Like the rest of this secret sublevel, Tower's lab was absolutely immaculate, and also seemed to be equipped with every single piece of scientific equipment known to equine kind (as well as a few distinctly otherworldly devices which I couldn't immediately recognise). Chief among these was a huge protrusion from the far wall that looked as if it was designed to spilt in half. I found it difficult to make sense of the various dials, controls and readouts on its surface, although I did experience an unpleasant feeling of deja vu as my eyes scanned the myriad of peculiar diagrams and data.
'Where are you when I need you, Two...?' I said to myself, as my stomach churned uneasily.
I continued to browse the laboratory's contents for several more minutes before the distinctive whir of the equipment surrounding me suddenly changed in tone, as if a new machine had been added to the arrangement. Intent on investigating this new sound, I turned around from the device I had been looking at (a mint condition General Atomics R97 radar scanning rig with original chromium plating!), and promptly received what I can honestly say was the biggest fright of my life.
Where there had been naught but thin air a few moments earlier, there was suddenly a large, floating robot, complete with a set of spindly, articulated limbs.
It was a fucking spider bot. Naturally...
"ARGH!" I screamed, toppling backwards for the second time that night as my eyes slammed shut of their own accord. I found myself unconsciously assuming the foetal position on the floor, the shock at the robot's sudden appearance having demolished my ability to put up a fight, and began to spontaneously shiver and weep. At any second I was certain that I would feel an icy, toxic death, or be cut to ribbons by a flurry of computer controlled blades.
I maintained my pathetic position on the floor of the lab for over two minutes before I finally opened my eyes again, my forward hooves clamped tightly over my ears the whole time. I realised that, in deference to what was going on in my imagination, the robot hadn't even approached me, let alone attacked. I chanced an experimental glance up at the device and, sure enough, found that it was just floating there. Watching me.
It was more or less at this point that I noticed it's uniqueness (and I use that word to the fullest extent possible). You see, upon closer inspection, it became abundantly clear to me that this automaton was anything but a spider bot. In fact, with the notable exception of its silhouette (which was 'spider-ish' enough to incapacitate me with fear), it was entirely different from any other robot that I'd ever seen.
The least outlandish of these differences included the number of limbs it had (four, I counted, chiding myself mentally for making such a simple error), and the shape of its body (which was roughly spherical). Now, had it been only for those minor variations, I would probably still have been a quivering mess on the floor. However, there were several far more 'special' differences that, rather than scaring me, simply left me dumbfounded.
There were two of these, and I'll recount them in order of increasing weirdness. The first was that the upper section of the device's spherical body was not metal, as was common for standard spider bots, but was in fact translucent.
And pink.
And filled with fluid.
With a brain in the middle.
(And no, that was not shoddy typing on my part. I swear to Celestia there was a brain in that thing!)
The second, and indeed, most noticeable, of the spider-brain-bot-thing's weird features, were its eyes. Bear in mind that ordinary spider bots were equipped with a trio of equilaterally spaced photometric diodes, which, on account of their being made of a highly refined form of magic crystal, gave off a sickly, nightmare-inducing yellow glow. This one, on the other hoof, simply had a trio of forward facing telecasters (a flatter, infinitely rarer version of the standard terminal monitor tube), that for some inexplicable reason were displaying the three primary portions of a simulated face! The upper two telecasters bore a pair of static, unblinking eyes, while the lower one featured a pair of stationary lips.
I rose to my hooves slowly, making sure to maintain eye contact with the machine as my frown depended further and further into my brow. I reached my full height, bringing myself 'face-to-face' as it were with the strange device.
There were no words for what I was feeling at that moment. My initial burst of fear had been overtaken by both relief and confusion at almost exactly the same time, and with such rapidity that I'd ended up in some sort of dead zone between panic and wonderment. I couldn't even bring myself to form coherent thoughts, as the vast and airy space of my conscious mind was taken up in its entirety by a large, gleaming 'WHAT!?'. In the end, all I could manage was a slack jaw and a slight head tilt.
This gesture though, small as it was, seemed to be plenty for the brain-bot-thing, which angled its face-monitors in time with the muscles of my neck. Once we had both arrived at the desired slant, all that was left to do was blink. And blink I did. Repeatedly, and without mercy, my eyelids swept back and forth across the soft surface of my eyeballs. To my surprise (and almost in perfect unison with me) so did the flat, projected eyelids on the screens.
That was the final straw for my mind, it seemed. Somewhere deep in my brain, a tiny, oft-forgotten array of synapses suddenly found itself overloaded with weirdness, and, with a staunch, resigned 'Nope!', dutifully discharged itself, resetting my powers of comprehension in the process. In a flash, I found myself able to think again, and resolved to immediately send a carefully calculated, infinitely complex, and deviously subtle signal out towards the robot.
"H-hello...?" I croaked.
See? Genius.
"HI!" the robot responded without pause, so loud that I felt dizzy. "HOW ARE YOU!?"
"Ah! Bloody hell!" I shouted, as my forward hooves shot up to protect my ears. "Too loud! Too loud!"
"SORRY!" the robot replied in an earth-shakingly low, yet still equally loud tone. "HOW'S THIS!?"
"Worse!" I screamed, my head pounding and my bones aching from the sonic assault. "Lower you amplitude, not your frequency!"
"Ah!" the sonic-brain-bot-blaster responded, in what thankfully was a far more reserved voice. "Of course! You'll have to forgive me, dear boy - speech isn't something I use often... or at all really, now I come to think of it. How's that now, then? An improvement, I trust?"
It was indeed an improvement - pitched in a pleasant, low register that evoked feelings of warmth and trust in my mind, and broadcast at a comfortable, yet audible volume. With the robot's voice no longer acting as an anti-personnel weapon, I found that it was infinitely easier to analyse it (especially since I was no longer afraid of my brain melting). In doing so, I noticed its tinniness - a sure sign of digital speech synthesis - and the strange eccentricity of its accent (which was an outlandish and immensely over-the-top upper class twang).
"Yes," I said, exhaling. "That's much better, thanks."
"Excellent!" the robot cried, as its monitors tilted up as if to regard the crown of my head. "Yes, excellent! Now that we can communicate, we can get down to some real business!"
"Uh..." I droned, uncomfortable. "What... sort of business...? And while I'm asking questions, what are you, anyway? I've never seen a robot like you. I thought I was coming down here to meet Stone Tower. You know, the non-robot one."
The robot's eye-monitors returned to my eye level, regarding me with what I think was an even gaze.
"You are indeed here to meet Stone Tower, my boy," the robot said. "And you just have."
I opened my mouth to answer before I had thought of what I was going to say, and found my eyes being drawn up towards the top of the robot's chassis. To the brain. I shivered, a cold spike driving itself down through my spine and into my gut as images of Edinbuck blasted into my mind, like water onto lava.
Gem Shine...
I banished the metal ghosts with a violent twitch of my head, and looked back up at the rob—, I mean, cyborg, with a renewed sense of fear.
"You mean that you..." I began, losing pace halfway through my sentence to a nervous gulp. "You... transplanted your brain... into a machine...!?"
"Why, of course!" Tower answered cheerfully. "How else would I have lived this long?"
"Just how old are you?" I replied, my brow furrowing as I continued to edge backwards.
"Oh, now let's see," he said, as his monitors tilted skyward in thought. "Must be approaching two hundred and fifty years by now. Good grief, just think of it! A quarter of a millennium! I should throw a party!"
I stopped my slow retreat as my fear of the creature before me began to ebb. The situation could not have been more surreal. What had begun as a dangerous intrigue with slavery and kidnapping had promptly turned into a distinctly Doctor-esque encounter, and all in the space of half an hour. I had too many questions, and there was too much at stake to delay, so I opted to ignore the rampantly curious (not to mention fearful) sections of my mind, and instead allowed the more goal-oriented parts priority access to my vocal chords.
"Ahem," I coughed gently, eager to avoid insult (especially given all the lives that were depending on me). "You wanted me down here for something important, Mr. Tower. And your robot made certain promises to me in exchange for my cooperation. So, if it's all right with you, I'd like to get on with it."
"Ah! Yes, indeed! To business!" Tower squeaked gleefully. "How very productive of you! Yes, yes, of course! We can't keep science waiting now, can we? Right this way, my boy."
Tower floated over to the radar rig, and gestured towards it with one of his appendages. Still entirely nonplussed, I followed silently, and was quickly placed in the centre of the device.
"Let's just get you plugged in..." he said, as an array of sensors folded up out of the platform, confining me in a web-like cylinder of arcane electronics. The tube then contracted, depositing a fine mesh of interconnected crystals onto my hide.
"There!" Tower said, as the shiny network finished forming around me. "Now just take a few steps around the lab while I gather my data."
Obediently, I stepped down off the platform and began my trot around the room. The tiny crystals around me started to glow, and I felt a slight pressure at the base of my horn as the device did its work. At first, all of the crystals were blue (cerulean to be more precise), but after a moment, I noticed a green light making its way up my body, engulfing the gems as it went. The minuscule sensors made my nerves tingle as if they had just recovered from being numbed, and I found that I could easily sense how far the scan had progressed simply by tracking the pins and needles dancing over my extremities.
"So," Tower began, as I completed my first lap of the room, "Tell me about yourself. That's a suit of StableTec barding isn't it?"
"Uh... yes," I said back, still more confused with his manner than I was willing to admit. "Yes it is."
"I used to work for them, you know," Stone Tower replied, as his chassis slowly rotated to follow me. "I made prosthetics."
"Huh...?" I said, stopping to stare at him. "You mean battle prosthetics, right? Not like the benign sort—?"
"Keep moving, please," Tower said politely, interrupting me. "I need continued motion for my scans to yield the most accurate data."
"Oh. Sorry," I replied, as I returned to steady motion. There was silence for another few seconds, after which I continued the conversation that Tower had so unexpectedly struck up.
"So..." I said. "You were talking about... what you did before the war."
"Hm?" Tower answered absentmindedly. "Oh, yes, so I was. Uh, now where was I?"
"Prosthetics," I said.
"Oh, yes!" Tower replied. "I used to make prosthetics for disabled ponies. I was actually quite good at it; I even managed to land myself a tenured research position at the University of Canterlot."
"Really?" I said, trying not to sound too surprised. "So, you developed artificial limbs? Like... for amputees? Not for combat or anything?"
"Oh my, yes," Tower chuckled. "I had a knack for understanding the mechanics and behaviour of the equine body, and I wanted to apply that skill so that I could improve the lives of others. That's actually how I got my cutie mark... back when I had a body to accommodate it, of course."
"Yeah, I was going to ask - how did you end up in a jar?" I said, shortly before realising how insensitive a question that could be.
"Oh. Uh... sorry," I managed to mumble a moment later.
"Heh... It's quite alright," Tower replied softly, his monitors rotating into something I interpreted as a warm smile. "I've been a floating brain for longer than I was a pony. As I'm sure you're aware, balefire radiation doesn't agree very well with flesh, and there was quite a lot of it back when the bombs first went off."
I nodded morosely as a twinge of sympathy made its way down my throat and into my chest. The last thing I had expected to find down here was a valid sob-story, but as luck would have it, I seemed to have found quite the sorrowful tale. I really wanted to hate Stone Tower for all that he'd done, but when it came down to it, I couldn't help but imagine the pony that he used to be. Where now stood (or rather, floated) an unwieldy, slave-driving cyborg, there was once a living, breathing soul. One who I could easily picture bringing smiles to the faces of the misshapen and malformed; a creature that lived solely to invent for the good of others.
And how could I hate that?
It quickly became clear to me that my situation was far more complex than I had originally thought. Stone Tower obviously wasn't the moustache twirling villain that everypony else had been made him out to be. Just like the Maneframe, who killed and confined for what she saw as the 'greater good'. Just like Gem Shine, who could do nothing but maim and mutilate on the Controller's behalf.
He had his motives, his story. And once again, I saw the line between right and wrong; the border separating good and evil, go from a stark, monochrome divide to a blurry, vague greyness. My righteous resolve quickly lost the thrust that my hearts had empowered it with only moments earlier, and I found myself adrift on waves of indecision - like I was being washed in it. With no prevailing thoughts to guide me, I took a shallow breath, and opened my mouth to let my emotions do the talking.
"So why'd you do it?" I heard myself say calmly.
"Pardon me?" Tower answered, his monitors rolling into a cyborg frown. "Why did I do what?"
I stopped trotting and turned to face him, every semblance of understanding or mirth lost from my expressions. Apparently, angry Compass had won the toss up for use of my vocal chords, and I found myself furiously clenching my teeth as my hooves rooted themselves to the floor, splaying outwards aggressively. The green glow had by now reached my knees, and no doubt served to malevolently accent my facial features as I stared Tower down.
"The slaves, Tower!" I suddenly shouted, startling myself a little in the process. "I'm talking about the tens of thousands of ponies that you're holding against their will up there!"
"The what!?" Tower replied, an unmistakable tone of surprise surging through his cry. "What in heaven's name are you talking about!?"
"The... slaves...?" I repeated, a little deflated, as I cocked my head in renewed confusion. "Up... up there..."
"Now listen here, young colt," the cyborg replied sternly. "I have never been involved with such abhorrent affairs! And I will take a very dim view of it if I find out that you have!"
"B-but..." I stammered, my mind losing the will to continue in the face of such stark contradiction. "I've seen them! They're up there right now! Thousand and thousands of indentured labourers, soldiers and sex workers, being bought and sold like bottles of fucking cola!"
"Nonsense!" Tower boomed, as he closed the distance between us. "Why would I have spent the last two hundred years planning elaborate medical experiments on myself if I was that cruel!? Answer me that one!"
"Experiments...?" I said, as I dialled my aggression back a little. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Tower said haughtily, "that I have spent the last two centuries trying to develop enhancements for our race! Improvements that would enable foals, stallions and mares to go out into the blight above and thrive instead of struggling to subsist on a day-to-day basis. I've been endeavouring to perfect my modifications to the pony body for years, and now that I'm within a hair's breadth of fixing the entire world's problems, you waltz in here and accuse me of being some sort of despot! How dare you! You—! You—!"
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down!" I said loudly, my hooves held up in submission as Tower closed in on me. "You may not be aware of it, but there are cells in the upper levels of this stable, and they are being used to keep thousands captive against their wills!"
"But that's... That's not possible..." Tower stammered, his monitors flickering with trepidation as he evidently began to believe me. "I- I didn't know! I couldn't have known! I rely on my robot self to keep me inform—! Hold on! He's... he's never mentioned a word of this to me!"
Tower's monitors swivelled menacingly towards me, drawing back towards his chassis as if I were poisoned.
"Y-you're lying! You must be!" he hissed, as his monitors suddenly grouped together in what I surmised was an intense, raging frown, and he began to bear down on me, his articulated arms moving forward to form a deadly array of powered tools and sharpened implements.
"My robot would have said something by now!" he said, in a loud and uneven tone, as he continued to draw closer. "He would have told me!"
"W-wait!" I shouted in a panic, as I fell backwards onto the floor. "Your robot's running the whole thing! He's the leader of the slavers for all of Trottingham! He even supplies other slavers!"
"No!" Tower screamed desperately, as his wall of serrated death continued to advance. "My creations will benefit all equine kind! I will not be held responsible for society's new evils!"
"Please!" I begged, as my back was forced up against the lab wall. "Nopony's blaming you! You have to believe me, we just want your help!"
"And why should I help you!?" Tower shouted, his rage turning the glow of his monitors crimson.
"Because you're our last chance for freedom!" I screamed, just as a whirring saw blade was brought to within an inch of my throat.
Quite suddenly, Tower ceased his advance, coming to a complete stop as if to re-evaluate his position. His monitors slowly returned to their normal hues and positions as his vast array of tools retracted back into their respective enclosures.
"I..." he said after a moment of silence. "I'm sorry..."
"It's... It's alright..." I panted carefully, whispering in case I triggered an angry relapse. I spoke tentatively, clutching my throat in relief. "Are you... going to be okay, Mr. Tower...?"
"I can't log in to his operating system..." the cyborg said, an unmistakable twang of heartbreak worming its way into his voice. "I tried to do it remotely, while I was... threatening you. And I couldn't gain access."
A shiver made its way out of the speaker grill on Tower's main chassis as his monitors drooped low.
"My... my robot has seemingly erected an encryption layer between his networking protocols and his kernel," he said despondently, as he turned away to face the far wall. "He shouldn't have been able to do that. For all I know... you're telling the truth."
I righted myself slowly, being careful to avoid sudden movements, and began to approach Tower from behind as he floated away.
"All these years..." he whispered throatily, as a digital filter turned his words into sobs. "I've worked night and day to integrate equine and machine. I even survived that catastrophe in Edinbuck. And now I hear that one of my own creations; one of the devices I made to help others is flouting every single principle that I hold most dear..."
My head twisted to one side of its own accord. I had drawn level with Tower's floating body, hoping vainly that I might be able to offer some sort of comfort, when he had caught the attention of one of my most recent (and unpleasant) memories.
"D-did you say... Edinbuck...!?" I whimpered, hoping against hope that I had misheard.
"Yes, I..." Tower sobbed slowly, as his eyes monitors flickered with static. "I was brought in to consult on a secret project during the war - special, full body prostheses. But... but..."
His whimpers finally descended into full blown simulated weeping as he lowered himself onto the ground, his monitors tilting into a mournful expression. I, on the other hoof, was standing ramrod-straight, my eyes wide and fearful at the implications of what Tower had just said. Restraining my panicked hearts as much as I could, I took a deep breath, and addressed Tower in as even a voice as I could manage.
"Wh... what exactly," I began slowly, gulping as I spoke, "is your work focussed on, Tower...?"
"P-pardon...?" he said between sobs. "What does that have to do with anything? Weren't you listening!? I can't command my robot anymore! Do you have any idea what that means!? How dangerous he could be if he's rejected my control!?"
"Yes, I do," I whispered, forcing my voice to maintain a level tone. "But I need you to tell me about your work, and I need you to tell me right now. Okay?"
"I... I don't understand..." Tower stammered.
"Stone," I said gently, laying down on the ground next the metallic body. "Tell me that your research isn't anything to do with the Cyberpony project."
"The—! B-but how...?" He stammered, as his monitor's twisted in disbelief. "How could you know about—?"
"Tell me," I whispered with a shiver, my eyes pleading. "Please. I've seen what became of the ponies in Edinbuck, and I can't let that happen again."
"You... you saw...!" Tower replied slowly, a haunted breath snaking its way from his grill. "No... No! They can't still be alive! Those poor bastards! Oh Celestia damn it, no!"
At that, Stone Tower's monitors swivelled down towards the floor, just as a deep howl of despair escaped his speaker grill. His articulated limbs shivered as he wept, and I found myself squeezing my eyes shut as I fought to repel the melancholy onslaught that was approaching.
"It's... it's alright Tower," I cooed unconvincingly. "They're... at peace now."
"R-really...?" he blubbered, turning to face me. "A-all of them...?"
"Yes," I said, swallowing as sour lies words filling my mouth. "All of them..."
Tower's monitors regarded me unmovingly for a moment, before turning to stare at the far wall.
"I always wondered what happened after I..." he whispered throatily. "After I ran away..."
Tower continued to stare into the distance, the hum of his machines acting as his only audible companion as I maintained a reverent silence. His outburst had allayed my fears for the time being - nopony so saddened by the cyborgs at Edinbuck could be experimenting with the same technology. (At least, that's what I hoped.)
I looked down at my hooves morosely, and noted that the green glow of the sensor crystals had by now reached the top of my legs. After a long, reflective silence, Tower turned to face me with his monitors again, and with a digital shiver, continued to speak.
"I left them, you know..." he said, in a small, quiet voice. "When the bombs fell we were all so scared, I... I just ran. The facility was jointly funded and managed by StableTec and the military, you see. So we had advanced warning of the attack. Only about twenty minutes, mind - nothing... nothing that could have made a difference. We worked on the Cyberpony prototypes for months, and all indications were that the suits would perform beyond even our most optimistic expectations. The problem, as it turned out, was that we hadn't expected the right things..."
Tower's chassis slowly rose off of the floor as his story gained momentum, and he began to sedately float around the room as he continued to speak.
"You see," he said, "we designed the prototypes to compete with another powered armour initiative called 'Project Steelpony', but I could tell that the military wasn't convinced by our efforts. The project was continued though, with private funding from StableTec, to act as a more... permanent form of combat enhancement. Our suits were meant to replace damaged limbs and augment the remaining ones, making a soldier as effective as possible but still allowing them the freedom to be a pony if and when hostilities ever ceased. Apparently though, machines that automatically fit artificial limbs went 'too far' according to some. Given what I'd seen of Project Steelpony, all the brass wanted were better killing machines. They didn't care about the ponies who actually had to wear the damn things."
"But..." I caught myself saying before my sense of tact could intercept my tongue. "The ponies I... met... in Edinbuck weren't—"
"That was the part we didn't expect," Tower continued. "The suits were incredibly advanced, not just in their design, but also in their operation. We used technology produced by some secret group deep in the bowels of the Oakflare facility to build up both the armour and their respective fitting machines. We designed the system so that all you'd have to do was lay in a machine, and it would heal your injuries, fit a prosthesis, armour the rest of you and send you on your way."
"I think I see where you're going..." I said, grimacing.
"Yes..." Stone Tower said quietly. "When the bombs fell and the facility's radiation shielding failed, the first thing that everypony did was turn to our creations. We stood in our machines, expecting rad-hardened exoskeletons and breathing equipment. What happened instead was... was..."
"The 'better' solution?" I proffered morosely. Tower's monitors tilted forward in a nod.
"The machines calculated that we couldn't survive outside," he said. "Even with protective gear, owing to the lack of viable foodstuffs or clean water in a post-balefire wasteland. So they did exactly what they were programmed to do: they fixed us. All at once the machines started to tear the skin off of my friends and colleagues, cracking their skulls with sub-micron precision to get at their brains. In a flash, the fabricators whipped these new bodies up for us, every one of them shiny, perfect and uniform. And then they just plopped the brains into them. Like pickled eggs into jars. A few of us stayed back to ferry others into the machines. We had to watch as the... 'components' were assembled. I remember there was this one military mare whom I was courting at the time. Actually... I was building up the courage to ask her to marry me... I tore my vocal chords screaming her name as the machines dismantled her skull. It was her eyes that caught my attention when we first met - she had the most beautiful lilac irises. And I got to watch them roll back into her head as the machines removed her brain and spinal column."
I swallowed a mouthful of bile as Tower spoke, unable to banish visions of his past from manifesting in my mind. He continued after only a short pause. I knew that he had to keep going; that he had to tell somepony, anypony his story.
"I was the first to run after it all kicked off," he said dryly, still listlessly roaming the room. "There was a group of lab staff and soldiers that tried to hide inside a big magical forcefield, but... Well, anyway, the others tried to shut down the machines, but something had obviously gone wrong. Some of the fabricators started building this giant sort of... altar for something or other, and all the new cyborgs that they produced started screaming in this Goddess-awful monotone about 'upgrading' all of equinity. Even the ponies who stayed to make sure there weren't any stragglers ended up being sliced open by the machines eventually; pushed under the blades by the chrome-plated remains of the friends and coworkers they were trying to save."
I heard so much of myself in his words; the haunting, sorrowful tones of regret accenting his tale with the dark motes of nightmares. I felt my eyes moistening as he turned to face me, his monitors distorted beyond recognition with static.
"I sprinted for my life, too shocked to spread my wings," he said, swallowing simulated tears. "And I got out of the lobby just in time for a megaspell to hit Edinbuck's city centre. Have you ever seen a balefire bomb go off, Compass? It's beautiful. Absolutely stunning. A picture of a million terrified screams mixed in with the majestic dance of quantum physics, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. I kept running of course - even as the cloud mushroomed into the sky. I mean, what else could a coward like me do? I ran and I ran and I ran, for hours on end, until I found a ruined ministry hub to shelter in. I ate some of the emergency supplies I found there, but I couldn't keep anything down. I started to vomit blood, and my bowels emptied themselves over my hind legs as I stumbled around. I was exhausted, I stank, I could feel my insides burning even though my hide felt like melting ice. All I wanted to do was curl up and die, and then... would you believe, I was saved? I collapsed in a basement level, right next to huge, half-opened crate. I thought I was imagining it at first, but after a few minutes of forcing my eyes to adjust, I saw the Oakflare seal! I'd stumbled, dying, half-dazed and covered in my own shit, into an Oakflare storage facility. Edinbuck was littered with them before the war, but the StableTec hub and the ministry building I found were the only ones that survived the bombardment intact. And I still had my ID badge, which meant that none of the arcane defences would touch me."
"So what... what was in the crate...?" I whispered, as my eyes continued to leak.
"One of my prototypes," said Tower. "It was the first Cyberpony rig we had built back at the R&D facility. I knew I was dying, and I was too much of a coward to face the Reaper. So, I climbed into the thing, turned it on, and told it to integrate my brain into its control system."
"You what...!?" I replied in disbelief, my hearts suddenly pounding again. "Then you're... you're a...!"
"No," Tower said firmly, a determined ferocity burning into his voice. "No. I. Am. Not. I would never allow another one of those... those things to be created again, even to save my own life. No, I wasn't a victim of the machine. I became the machine - the ultimate expression of my destiny as a healer, and I vowed that I would make ponies lives better for the rest of my days. Over the weeks and months that followed, I removed every trace of the old control system, the one that we had trusted with our lives over at the R&D facility, and I replaced it with components I scavenged from the surrounding storage crates. Eventually, I modified my new body so that it became mobile, with my brain sealed in a pod of suspension fluid at the top, a repulsion talisman for motion control, and all the tools of a state of the art manufacturing robot tucked away into my chassis. After that, it was a simple matter of building my robot self to act as a scout and information gatherer. I wrote a heuristic learning algorithm for him so that I could teach him what it was to be a pony, as opposed to simply imbuing him with line after line of meaningless, fallible code, and in return, he taught me about what had become of Equestria. This body, you see, isn't exactly rugged. I can do almost anything with a laboratory around me, but a single crack in my brain pod, or sheared bolt, or piece of gravel in my hover talisman, and I'd be fresh out of luck."
"I take it that's the reason that you want to scan my horn then?" I said, relieved. "You want to integrate advanced technology without having to rely on your research from the Cyberpony project, right?"
"Exactly," Tower answered with a nod of his monitors. "Your horn is the most perfect example of a biotechnological neural interface that I've ever seen. Why, if I could unlock its secrets, I could build the best prostheses in history! Think of it! I could extend the life expectancy of a pony by decades! Centuries even! A perfect synergy between equine and machine! Totally passive, completely non-invasive protective implants. And they would even allow for uninstallation, just in case."
"That's... quite the optimistic vision," I remarked carefully. "What makes you think that you'll have any better luck this time around?"
"Because this time," Tower said excitedly. "I'll test it all on myself! Just like I've been planning for all these decades. I've found that restricting my list of test subjects to just myself has increased the care with which I perform my work by several orders of magnitude. My body's indefinite lifespan helps as well - no deadlines anymore, you see."
"Well..." I replied thoughtfully, once I had taken a moment to roll his words through my brain a couple of times. "That actually sounds like a pretty robust methodology. In fact, I think... I think I agree with what you're doing - everything you've mentioned sounds great."
"You really think so?" Tower asked, as his vocal waveform phased high into the most gleeful frequency bands.
"Honestly, yes," I replied, once again trying to not sound too surprised. "I think you're doing the world one hell of a service down here. I mean, your work is of amazing quality and sophistication, you've got a huge amount of experience in how not to go about what it is you're trying to do, and you even seem to be going out of your way to make sure that nopony's being harmed by your research."
"I'm so glad you're seeing things my way, Compass," Tower said, as the light from his monitors yellowed in hue, becoming several shades warmer and more inviting. "I was afraid that I'd be regarded as a monster for my part in the Cyberpony project, but you've just managed to validate two hundred years worth of guilt and toil. I promise not to disappoint you."
"That's fantastic to hear, Tower," I replied, smiling. "We just need to sort out the slaver situation upstairs, and we'll be golden."
"Yes. Yes, of course," Tower said, his voice quickly returning to its previous sombre tone. "The scan will be finished in a few minutes. Once it's done, I'll teach you how to shut down my robot, and we'll see what we can do about liberating that poor lot up there."
"There is one last thing though," I said. "There's a buck that I came here to find. Your robot seemed to have one hell of an interest in him - so much so that he paid mercenaries to kidnap—"
"Oh!" Tower said suddenly, interrupting me. "That'll be that 'Sage' character that he sent down here. Yes, I was wondering about that."
"He's here!?" I replied, shocked. "As in, in this lab!?"
"Oh, yes," Tower said. "Hang on..."
At that, the simulated facial features displayed on Tower's monitors flickered away to reveal a live feed from a security camera somewhere else in the lab. My eyes were drawn to Sage immediately - he was being held spread-eagled in an elaborate frame of restraints and medical equipment. His eyes were closed, and I feared the worst for a time, before I noticed a series of monitors displaying a regular heart beat and stable neural activity patterns. My breath shortened and I began to instinctively frown just as Tower's facials features returned.
"What the hell are you doing to him!?" I said, practically shouting. "You said that you weren't testing anything on anypony but yourself!"
"I'm not!" Tower replied defensively. "I swear! It was my robot, you see. Remember when I said that I rely on him for information on the outside world? Well, about two weeks ago, he told me that he had apprehended the most dangerous creature in Equestria, and that he would be perfect for my research. He's the one that sedated and restrained him, not me! I've just kept him like that so I can scan him."
"But why is he still like that then!?" I asked angrily, my nostrils flaring. "What threat could Sage possibly pose to you!? And what could possibly be so interesting that you had to scan him for a whole bloody fortnight!?"
"Well... nothing, as it turns out," Tower said, shrugging his monitors.
"Eh?" I replied, cocking my head in confusion.
"He's still trussed up like that under sedation because I have no idea what to do with him," Tower explained. "The only thing that my scans have been able to tell me are that he's an earth pony, he's male, and he's nearing the sixty year mark. And that's all. It's just that every time I informed my robot of my results, he told me that he was sure I'd missed something and that I should look harder."
"Wait a second," I said, as realisation dawned on me. "He just keeps saying that you should keep Sage down here?"
"Well, yes," Tower replied. "He insists that there's something extraordinary about this buck that I should look into for my research."
"Of course he does," I said. "It's so bloody obvious, it's staring us right in the face!"
"What is?" Tower asked.
"Your robot's motives," I replied. "He wants Sage locked up so he can expand his slaver operation. Think about it - who else has come down those stairs in the past two hundred years? That mechanical bastard has stuffed Sage down here with you to keep him out of the way! And he knows that you trust him implicitly, so as long as you think there's a reason to keep Sage locked up, your robot won't have to worry about him."
"But why go to all that trouble?" Tower said. "If what you say is true, then he has a veritable prison complex up there. Surely he'd be more secure with all his other captives."
"He can't risk it," I said, smirking thoughtfully. "Sage is arguably Trottingham's most charismatic leader. He's brave and loyal almost to a fault, he's more resourceful than an angry artificial intelligence, and he can rally anyone behind him, pony or otherwise. That's what your robot's afraid of: his ability to lead. If he put him in with the rest of his captives, he'd have a full blown revolt within a week."
"Ah," Tower said, nodding his monitors. "Why that's downright fiendish! I certainly didn't teach him that!"
"I wouldn't worry about it," I said comfortingly, placing a single hoof on Tower's chassis. "The Wasteland can bring out the best in any creature's heart. Unfortunately though, it can also reveal darkness that most of us can scarcely imagine."
"I should have never allowed him to interact with those other ponies," Tower said, sighing.
"Other ponies?" I asked, suspicious. "What other ponies?"
"The ponies that used to live in this stable," Tower replied. "About fifteen years after I created my robot, Stable 50's closed cycle life support system failed. Some sort of power struggle apparently - they managed to destroy the facility's ability to sustain a population, so they were forced to surface again. My robot befriended the refugees almost immediately, and brought them back to the ruins of the ministry building so that they could scavenge for parts and hence maintain their now-open-to-the-toxic-wastes stable. When they starting carrying the equipment and supplies back to the facility, I hid myself in one of the crates, and my robot did the rest, reserving a portion of the lower structure for my work."
"And nopony noticed you just floating off down into the sub-levels...?" I said quizzically. "You don't have a cloaking device or something, do you?"
"No, nothing like that," Tower chuckled, a distinct warmth making its way back into his voice.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just introduce yourself to them?" I asked. "I mean, how bad could they have been? They had just lost their home and you were giving them what sounds like a good few metric tonnes of supplies to get them back on their hooves. Didn't you consider that they might have been pretty grateful to you?"
"I... I couldn't bring myself to face them," Tower replied sheepishly. "They were so... different to what I remembered. So optimistic. The world around them was dead and barren, but they still laughed and joked and sang to one another. They didn't have much in the way of weapons or armour - just radiation suits. And the look of relief on their faces when my robot showed them all the spares in the warehouse was... Oh, Luna, it was just wonderful. I didn't want to spoil them by reintroducing them to a remnant of the war. As far as I was concerned, they were well on their way to getting over it; to starting their recovery back to civilisation. So I hid. And I promised myself that they would never know me, but that they would forever know my work."
'By the Goddess that's noble...' One said, awed and metaphorically tearful.
'Tell me about it,' replied Three. 'I feel so sorry for the guy - all he wanted to do was help, and it's backfired ten trillion times over!'
'You know what they say,' I thought into the conversation. 'The road to Tartarus is paved with good intentions.'
"I suppose when it really came down to it, though," Tower continued slowly. "They weren't as 'over it' as I had thought..."
His monitors once again turned slowly towards the floor, and I felt my hearts breaking for this poor old brain who only wanted to help. We stood in silence for several moments before I decided that enough had been said. It was time to act.
"Right then," I said, taking in a short, subject changing breath. "Let's get something done about that robot of yours, shall we? First, I need you to shut down Sage's sedative feed and release him from his restraints. Then we'll get a plan sorted and see about freeing everyone in the cells up above."
"Sounds good!" Tower said excitedly, as he latched onto my sudden initiative without a moment's hesitation. He went silent for a moment as his monitors flickered.
"Done," he said. "Your friend has been released, and he'll be conscious again in a matter of minutes. Now what was that you were saying about— ACK!"
Without warning, Stone Tower suddenly dropped to the floor, his monitors splayed untidily and speckled with static.
"Tower!?" I said loudly, recoiling slightly. "What is it!? What's wrong!?"
"Two..." he hissed incoherently, as his projected facial features began to vary wildly in their arrangement and appearance. "Y-you have... two...!"
"Two?" I replied quizzically, moving quickly to be by his side once again. "Tower, I don't understand. What do you mean by—?"
And then it dawned on me. I stopped talking mid sentence as I slowly tilted my head downwards, resting my eyes on the suit of sensors that even now was still scanning my innards. The green glow was still there, lighting the way of the suit's many crystalline eyes, and it had by now reached my torso, drawing level with my chest.
And my hearts.
"T-Tower...?" I whispered, gulping nervously. "What's happening...?"
"I... I don't— ARGH! —know!" he stuttered breathlessly, as the face displayed on his monitors warped and fizzled into nightmarish shapes and colours. "It's the sensors; the data... They say that you have— HNNGG! That you have... two hearts!"
'Oh, Goddess,' One said, his mental voice quivering with realisation. 'Compass, he's reacting to us; to the fact that we're a Time Lord now!'
'It can't be - how could he have known!?' Three asked, chiming in in a panic. 'Nopony should be able to recognise our body! Even if he knew about the Doctor from the radio series, he would still think he was fictional! There's no reason to make the connection between us and him!'
'Unless...' One replied with a shiver.
'Oh, no!' Three whispered. 'Don't, One! Don't you bloody say it!'
'Unless he didn't remove all of the Cyberpony technology!'
My lungs filled themselves of their own accord with a deep breath, one borne of shock and trepidation, before any words left my mouth.
"I do have two hearts," I replied solemnly, as I found myself unconsciously backing away from him. "And it sounds like you're having a reaction to that fact..."
"Wh... Where are you going!?" Tower shouted, his tone desperate and fearful. "Compass! D-don't go! I... I'm scared. I don't know what's happening to me! Please stay!"
"Tower..." I began slowly. "You said that you removed all of your Cyberpony components before you came here. Are you... are you sure that you got them all?"
"Yes!" Tower responded loudly, as one of his monitors managed to hoist itself up to look at me. "I checked every circuit. Every connection. Every line of code. I was at— ACK! I was at it for years dammit!"
"Think, Tower," I continued, still making sure to keep my distance. "Was there anything else you used in your construction? Anything that wasn't a stock part? Maybe even... something from another Oakflare project?"
"Something!?" Tower scoffed, as his pain began to make its way into every one of his words. "Weren't you listening!? Everything I used was from other Oakflare projects! There wasn't a single off-the-shelf part in that warehouse!"
"Oh my Goddess..." I said, as the bottom dropped out of my stomach.
"Why does it— AHHH! Why does it matter!?" he screamed. "Help me! Please! I've lost control of my pain receptors! It's like I'm dying again!"
"Tower," I replied, as evenly as I could "Oakflare wasn't just an R&D organisation. It also specialised in the acquisition and reverse engineering of extraterrestrial artefacts! Practically everything they did was either inspired by or directly derived from alien technology!"
By now, Tower's simulated face was unrecognisable, and the noises coming from his grill were becoming less and less pony-like as time went on. His mouth and eyes were steadily giving way to three featureless spots of bright light; two white in the upper monitors, and one blue, where his mouth used to be.
"H-hang on, Tower!" I managed to say, while still backing away. "I'll go get Sage, and then we can all work together to fix you, okay?"
"D-don't go!" he shouted, "Please! ACK! I need your help!"
"I'll be back soon!" I replied over my shoulder. "I promise!"
I galloped down the lab's only other corridor faster than I thought I was capable of. For some reason - one that I wasn't willing to explore at the time - I was more afraid of Tower's transformation than of anything I'd ever seen in all my life. I had little time to ruminate on it though, as the corridor was far shorter than others in the subterranean level and I was soon bearing down upon another door. With a swift buck, the panel beeped and cheerfully admitted me to the room beyond.
It was light inside, and sterile. The smell of antiseptic and anaesthetic mixed with hints of industrial lubricant, metal shavings and ozone wafted into my nostrils, providing me with two sides of the cyborg scent triangle. All that was missing was the blood. I spotted Sage almost immediately. True to Tower's word, he had been deposited (gently, I hoped) onto the floor below the restraint, and the medical apparatus previously attached to him had been removed, being left to dangle dripping with blood and saliva from the ceiling nearby.
I rushed over to him, noticing with unmatched relief that his chest was gently rising and falling, as if he were in the middle of a good night's rest. With perhaps a little too much forward momentum, I lowered myself to the floor, nudging him in the process.
"Sage?" I said, in a redundantly loud whisper. "Wake up! It's Compass!"
Sage stirred at the sound of my voice, grimacing as his senses (and the pain of having been suspended from the ceiling for days on end) came back to him.
"C... Compass...?" he breathed, as his eyes slowly adjusted to the room's harsh, white lights. "Wh... where...? Who...? What the—!?"
His eyes quickly focussed on a spot just above the crown of my head, and I saw the old buck's enormous intellect try in vain to wrap itself around the myriad changes that had manifested since the last time we had spoken.
"You... have a horn...!?" he said, still somewhat dazed. He sleepily reached up to try and touch it, only to stop halfway, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. When next he looked at me, a feeling of safety that I hadn't felt in days filled my chest with warmth and courage. Sage's keen, insightful gaze had returned, and I saw it catalogue everything in the room - myself included - in a matter of seconds. With slow, confident movements, he rose to his hooves, testing his balance and the responsiveness of his limbs. Standing tall once more, I felt him dwarfing me as I waited for his next question (or indeed, command), despite my being several inches taller. To my surprise though, he leaned forward and extended one of his forelegs, drawing me into a tight hug.
"I knew I could rely on you!" he chuckled warmly. "You magnificent anomaly of a buck! You came back for me! Thank you, Compass! Oh, Goddess, thank you!"
"Well, I did owe you..." I said, blushing. "Aren't you... a little more surprised by the fact I've got a horn...?"
"Oh, not at all! It's exactly what I'd have done!" Sage said jovially, as he disengaged himself from me. "Very clever disguise - the mercenaries would be looking for an earth pony, not a unicorn. Yes, very clever indeed!"
"Yeah..." I droned, biting my lip. "It's not a disguise, but that's not important now. I can explain later, but right now, we need to get going!"
Sage pursed his lips and adopted a frown, refocussing his eyes on my newest appendage.
"What do you mean it's not a disguise...?" he said, almost in wonderment, his eyes widened at the sight of the surrounding scar tissue. "But it's... it's metal...! What did you—?"
Just then, the room was flooded with darkness as the lights flickered out. I felt a rush of air as Sage dropped low to the ground, assuming a defensive posture in classic Wasteland style (I'd have to pick that habit up at some point). A bloom of panic began to flare in my gut as I willed an illumination into the tip of my horn.
'Tower...' I whispered internally, as the light illuminated Sage's face.
"Good goddess!" he exclaimed, as he rose from his stance. "You can cast spells with it!? Compass, I'm going to need to an update here - what in the wide, wide world of Equestria is going on!?"
"O-okay, but quickly!" I stammered while inhaling sharply. "We're in the Emporium, that converted stable that Stone Tower uses as his fortress, except it's not his fortress as much as it's his robot's - you see, Tower's over two hundred years old, and was around for the Last Day, and he was involved with a group of cyborgs called Cyberponies - the creatures that you knew of as the Sentinels, by the way - and rather than be turned into one, he ran away and built himself a new body out of components from crashed alien spaceships and the like. Now something weird's happening to him in the next room, but I need him to live if we're going to liberate all the slaves up above, because only he can deactivate his robot, which wasn't always evil, he says, and also so he can use his medical knowledge to help all the ponies out in the wider Wasteland."
Sage stood in silence as I paused for breath, and blinked twice, his face a picture of neutrality.
"I see..." he said evenly after a few seconds. "And... the horn...?"
"I fell on my Screwdriver," I responded curtly. "Oh, and Time Lords are real, my stable's actually the TARDIS, and one of my best friends is now part of its core operating system."
Sage just stared at me, his face motionless and thoughtful in the scant light.
"Sounds like one hell of a week," he finally said, raising an eyebrow as he finished processing my tale.
"Oh, you have no idea..." I replied, sighing.
"Well, whatever's going on, I'd wager that we'd be better not sticking around," Sage said, cracking a smile as he turned to face the room's exit. "Let's get going. We should go see what the matter is with this 'alien-cyborg-Tower' you were speaking about. Lead on!"
I nodded, and galloped ahead gladly, happy that somepony else was finally taking charge of my awful plan. We travelled single file, my horn illuminating the corridor as we went, and came to the man lab chamber after less than a minute. The large domed room had also been plunged into darkness, it seemed. The equipment lining the walls was silent now, and all of the indicators had been extinguished. I noted that the harness of sensors fastened to my body had died a similar death, the green and blue glowing crystals having faded to an obsidian black. Shrugging the form fitting net to the floor, I felt a hoof on my back, and had to swallow the urge to scream in fright. Turning to face my would-be attacker, I found Sage standing next to me, making a series of gestures with his hooves.
Now, I had never studied sign language, nor did I have any knowledge of military hoof signals, but Sage managed to convey, in less than three seconds, that there was something concerning directly in front of us, and that I should start paying attention to it immediately.
I slowly turned my head to face the spot he was indicating. My horn lit the scene, and I let out a despondent breath as I realised what I was looking at. There, laying dark and lifeless on the floor, was Stone Tower's cybernetic body. It's monitors were blank, its manipulators idle, and it brain case... empty?
I did a double take as I took in the sight of the inactive machine. The transparent bubble that made up the suit's brain case was now separate from the rest of the assembly, the translucent suspension fluid inside having pooled on the lab floor as a result. I trotted cautiously over to it to, and felt a tingle of dread work its way up my spine as I confirmed that Tower's brain was indeed missing.
"Compass," Sage whispered. "What are we looking at?"
"This was Tower's - the real Tower's - cyborg body," I replied, swallowing nervously. "His brain was in this jar less than ten minutes ago..."
As the words left my mouth, I noticed a trail of the life-supporting slime glinting in the light of my magic. It led away from the puddle under Tower's body, and across the lab floor. Following it in unison, Sage and I realised quickly that it led to the lab wall; specifically, to the strange protrusion I had noticed earlier.
The one that looked as if it were capable of opening.
The one that looked as it were big enough for a pony to stand in.
The one from which a faint whir was now emanating.
I turned to Sage, ready to suggest that we turn tail and run, when the lights on the surface of the protrusion suddenly blinked to life. We both stared at it in surprise and shock as a voice boomed out of nowhere.
"Compass..." said Stone Tower.
"Um..." I replied, as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. "H-hi again, Tower... How, uh... how are doing...?"
"Wonderfully," he said, his voice much slower and deeper than before. "I really should thank you, Compass - I'd never have had the will to do this without your intervention."
"Do what?" I asked, as I glanced nervously towards Sage.
"Use my refined fabricator, of course," he said. "The chamber you're looking at is the culmination of all my work; all my suffering. It's designed not to repair ponies, but to improve them!"
"T-tower?" I responded. "Please tell me you're just getting a replacement body built..."
"Not just a replacement!" he replied, the enthusiasm in his voice tinted with a sharp, intimidating edge. "An improvement! I was always going to test this on myself, but I could never work up the courage! If it worked, it would build the body I always wanted; one made just for me, derived from my deepest desires and basest needs. If not... then I would have been killed. And one of the last vestiges of the old world would rot and decay down here, sealed away for all time. It was quite a nice thought, leaving my destiny up to the fates like that."
"O-okay..." I said, as I nodded for Sage to begin edging his way towards the lab exit. "Tower, I-I'm a little concerned about how you're uh... behaving. Your old body just started failing when you picked up my second heart, and now your voice is all... gravelly. You're kinda creeping me out, mate..."
"Yes, that was something wasn't it?" Tower replied, as his voice induced another shiver. "It seems that in the course of building this body all those years ago, I neglected to specify a polarity bias in the neural interface. The result was a constant baseline feedback from the various components I used, which has apparently affected what remains of my nervous system."
"I-in what way...?" I stuttered, as Sage gently began to pull me towards to the door.
"I believe I can sum it up with a single thought," Tower said, his words now spaced uniformly, his voice deep beyond terrifying. "Like I said, I should thank you for forcing me to use my creation. I should be grateful for your having informed me of my robot's antics. I should be inspired by your willingness to help me, despite all that I've done... But I cannot feel these things for you... Because I hate you... Time Lord. I hate you more than anything in this universe, or any other."
At that, Sage's grip became a good three times firmer, and he began dragging me towards the door as fast as he could. I heard him rip the panel off of the wall in order to bypass the door's locking mechanism as the whir inside the protrusion changed in pitch, and with a hiss, the two halves began to separate. A cloud of smoke and steam filled the lab as my own terror and confusion screamed into my mind.
'It knows us!' screamed Three. 'It knows the Doctor! We need to get out of here!'
'Stay calm, Compass!' shouted One. 'Nothing ever came of panicking! Just relax, turn around and—'
'RUN!' said Two suddenly. 'FOR GODDESSES' SAKE, RUN!'
'Sweet Celestia, it's him!' said Three.
'Where the hell have you been!?' said One.
'NEVERMIND WHERE I'VE BEEN!' Two screeched, it's tone terrified beyond all reason. 'You fools don't understand what Stone Tower's become! He's a... a—!'
Two didn't have time to finish his warning, as the electronically projected voice of Stone Tower returned only moments later, now more horrible than the sound of death itself.
"I. Will. Kill you..." he said, in tones of darkness and evil and hatred of all things.
"I. Will. Destroy you..." he continued, his voice rising in pitch, tearing through me like a rusty saw blade as lights pulsed through the cloud in time with each syllable. A singular blue glow began to move toward me, extending from the mist on a slender, metal stalk.
"I. Will. Exterminate you..." it screamed, as tears of terror began to stream from my eyes.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Footnote: LEVEL UP!
New perk added: A Mile On Their Hooves
Instead of judging others, you have made an attempt to understand and relate to them. You gain +1 to PER as a result.
New perk added: Big Brained
Cold, hard logic has gotten you far, but it takes a big heart to moderate a big mind. This realisation has granted you +1 to both your INT and CHA stats.
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4703756
My read later list is woefully bloated, so I know those feels 
And many thanks for the kind words 
I'll endeavor to keep it interesting 
I appreciate your taking the time to read it in that case
4754225
Until you're up to date, that is. Then it starts again 
And so your wait ends
AAAnd I just fell more in love with your story mate... I hear the characters in my mind's ear.
I can hear the Dalek... awesome, but terrifying in and of itself as he is not a pure dalek, I got tinglies\
Davros....
I keep doing the voice I wanna make the dalek voice on my audio software now...
When it's the same character speaking, you need not include a break between sentences, It's perfectly alright to have one after the other, and it's only really necessary when a new person speaks. Doing what I highlighted, makes it slightly confusing as it makes it look like a third party has entered into the conversation.
EDIT: More to the point, it's separating the dialogue and scene descriptions of the same character that leads to confusion on some level.
STONE TOWER BUILT HIMSELF A FUCKING DALEK SUIT OUT OF ALIEN COMPONENTS OH SWEET FUCK O.O
4792926
ahahahha, you made comments before finishing reading! You gonna miss out...IT was something that blew my mind for a moment too, dalekium must have been hard to come by...
4792940
I made that comment after finished reading.
Also, author, while your grammar etc is spot-on, you could stand to restructure your paragraphs and sentences.
4792926 JESUS FUCK /: ERROR :\ EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!
Awesome! Glad to see you're still going!
A curious thought. How many waves does Compass have to make before he starts getting noticed by DJ Pon3? He's clearly not local like Littlepip so I imagine news wouldn't travel as fast. Plus this is probably before the broadcast relay or w/e was repaired so the radio signal probably isn't reaching that far.
As soon as he mentioned having removed all the Cyberpony tech.... but something else from Oakflare.... I just knew....
And you played it just beautifully... I saw parallels with Professer Yana!
and the wait continues...
I DEMAND MORE
That is, if you don't mind
4792700
I've been waiting on writing up that big reveal for ages!
Cheers man
4792926
And he's only going to get more into the role as time goes on!
Oh yes he did
Also, thanks for the advice
I'm sure DannyJ gave me similar notes at some point - I was just too thick to take them on board 
4810015
Although I'm not racing anyone...
Slow but sure! Best way to win a race
Actually, forget that analogy
My headcanon regarding the main FoE story basically involved a fairly large geographic distance between Trottingham and the part of Equestria the original is set in, so even if Compass and co. did make some waves, the main cast of FoE would never pick up on them. Also, one of my favourite parts about the Fallout games is the feeling loneliness that you get while you're playing. I always quite liked the idea that every Fallout player was their own lone wanderer or courier; that they could make their own way in their own world, so to have interactions between two main characters would kind of sour that particular soup.
4796999
That's pretty much exactly the reaction I wanted
4813051
I really pleased you enjoyed Tower's descent into Dalekness 
Thanks muchly
4997644 4945799
Do you guys have any idea how gratifying it is to have comments like this!? As in, you're actually anticipating subsequent chapters!?
Thank you so much! I'm redoubling my efforts to finish chapter 14 now! (I've had lots of paperwork to do recently, and I published my first academic paper, so I went all Twilight-perfectionist-crazy on it
)
5004075 Yay!
5004075
I think I finally figured out why the TARDIS is the Compas' stable. By this stage we know the Doctor's side of the story is the events leading up to the bombs being dropped. Compass somehow used the TARDIS to travel into the past, where he tried warning ponies about the impending disaster. He KNEW that what would be his Stable wouldn't be completed on time, so Compass reconfigured the TARDIS' interior to reflect the purpose and interior etc of the stable.
That's my theory, however inconsistent it is but that's the best I could come up with.
Anyway, regarding the restructuring of your paragraphs as I pointed out and that you seemed to take heed of, if you want some help in regards to them just flick me a PM if you want to take me up on the offer. I'd be more than happy to help out!
On another note, I really am thoroughly intrigued as to what Stone Tower will do with Dalek technology. At this stage I'm wondering if the emotional inhibitor and memory repressor built into the Dalek suit will make him become a fully-fledged Dalek too. Will he get the weapons to work too
5004075 EXTERMINATEEEEE *shoots laser at you*
With my last breath... *cough* ...I curse... 5007633
5015280 //: error fixed :\\ . . .*sees you* oh no i killed him!
5017498
*walks through door*
"What the hell happened to my clone!?"
5039174
Compass can be a colossal idiot at times
Hope you're enjoying the fic
5044568 . . .//:error?:\\
Okay. You are an ass.
You get to reveal daleks and cyberponies in the same story. What's next? The master walks up and goes "Abloohoodyhoo!" to poor Compass and nearly gives him a double heart attack? What is written so far would be an action packed half season of new Who but still! Give us a breather!
Oh come on! It just stopped there!!!
5201273
Don't worry! Next chapter's on it's way! I promise!
5209772 Yay
5004075
Ah ok! Good! A strong independent story of its own. I like that! Though without spoiling anything from the main FOE, we all know one thing LittlePip does that no one in Equestria is gonna be able to miss. ;-)
Hang about. "Oakflare" As in "Oak", a kind of wood, which is used for torches, and "flare", as in fire? And they capture and use alien tech? Blimey, they really are Torchwood aren't they? Especially with this new info about Darlock and Cyberpony tech in there.
5432797
Hope you're enjoying it! 
Yeah, that's exactly what I based Oakflare on
5654701
(I'm genuinely impressed you actually went away and worked that out 
)
Hehe cheers
This is a great story, I like how Compass get so easily frustrated when thins don't go well for him. The mystery of the story is interesting, as it opens a lot of speculation of what the hell is happening any way. I like the fact that the story accuse in three different period in time. I like the different references to Doc and how they are interacted in the story, especially the Stable 52 arc, which I fond it creepy and unsettling, just the way I like it. Most of the characters are well defined, but the some I find a little bit under use.
I rely like this story, and i am hoping for more chapters of this in the future.
I'm Jonesing for the next chapter
5658963
Really glad you're enjoying it 
Thanks
5732307
Trust me man, I'm jonesing to write it (well, finish it). I've been so bloody busy IRL, it's been hard to find time to write AND be in the right mood to come up with decent dialogue/arc continuations. I'm on it though, so no worries 
That's really nice of you to say - it means a lot that people are still interested
Blargleargleargle BAH! I wanted to read through the whole thing... But it's incomplete... And ends on a cliff hanger. Can't wait! (Hops into tardis to find other chapters in the future)
5889932
That's an old Doctor Who quote
5892269
I suck at working to any sort of schedule. Rest assured that the next chapter is like 90% done 
Really glad you're enjoying it though 
I know, I know, I'm sorry!
5893366 I retract my objection. You clearly know what you are talking about. Can't wait for that next chapter!
One more month and it'll be a year since the last chapter. Lets not have that happen, shall we?
6041519
Oh God, I know!
The words are still trickling into the next chapter, albeit f**king slowly (why did I censor that?). Don't worry - I'm sure as hell not going to leave my fic on a cliffhanger 
Oh, and I don't have a reference sheet for any of the characters, no. I have a couple of vectors, some ponymaker images and part of Blender model of Compass, but that's about it (nice sketch btw 
)
Its been over a year! I'm dying to read the rest! Please give an estimated release date?
Apparently it also ended up unfollowing you here too, sorry about that, ive lost so many odd follows recently.
6123870 Umm...... You any closer to getting the next chapter up?
By know I'll have to re read it to remember
6477452
I wouldn't be surprised if you had to do some rereading - I've been awful with my writing of the past few months
Yep. It's now
6360951
Today!
6041519
Okay, so it ended up being more than a year. (Oh God, I suck.) But hey, at least it's up now!
So does that mean that first line was basically saying "seen Twilight Sparkle scientifically turn into an alicorn"?