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Ordering products2,603 words
Red moss2,865 words
"Not for ponies"1,954 words
Powder keg (revized)2,296 words
Peg and iron2,053 words
(R)Evolution2,562 words
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You say what?1,519 words
Wading through seafoam1,710 words

(R)Evolution

Surprisingly, the monopoly still wasn't finished despite a day and a half of driving on the road. Louis felt himself getting exhausted, but new that it was only in his head, so he pushed on. This 'battle' was a matter of life and death. For Licorice, however, the respite came in the form of a city rising up from the horizon, its skyscrapers showing themselves off as shiny, silver stop signs.

"Finally! We're almost there."

"We are?!" Redmint shouted in surprise.

"Yes! Look."

Everyone quickly scampered towards the front of the vehicle to look through the large window. Starburst just gradually slid off the bed and calmly followed everyone. At first glance, there seemed to be no real problems with the city, unlike the one the group came from. But, oh, were they ever so wrong. Once they got near the entrance of the city, they witnessed several neuroponies seemed to be fleeing out of the city in a panic, most likely due to what happened to them and their refusal to accept it. Many of them were 'simulating' crying, but without tear ducts or a substitute, nothing appeared. Licorice had to swerve to avoid running over some of them, cursing while he did so. Some people seemed to be chasing after them as if to try and bring them back.

"What's going on?" Louis wondered.

"I guess they're like you. Only, they haven't let others help them out in this situation. They're panicking," Licorice said.

With caution, the little black neuropony began to drive around everyone and across the streets, where he was suddenly stopped by a police barricade and asked to stop on the side of the street, near what looked like some apartments. A knocking on the window led to it lowering and a conversation to begin.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stay on the side of the road until...a neuropony? What's wrong with your face?"

"It would be too long to explain. To make it simple, we're looking for the manager of this city's Roborganics shop."

"Oh. Him...He suddenly disappeared after this incident started."

"How do you know?" Raspberry asked.

"Because that shop was the first place we went to to check for. Obviously. If anyone can know where they are, it's the ones working for that company. Now step out of the vehicle. You won't be going anywhere with this problem. We'll keep your vehicle here. No need to worry. As for what to do now...You figure it out."

Licorice just shrugged and told the others to leave the mobile home. As much as he hated the idea, he didn't have much choice. They would have to reach the store by foot...er, hoof. Several people were watching the scenario unfold as they watched family and friends chase after the panicking neuroponies . Seeing the five neuroponies just standing there and watching everyone with surprised faces, save for an always joyful Raspberry, caused many to fear them. Why weren't these ones panicking as well? What was wrong with them? They were clearly also trapped in these machines, and they even had the growths!

"What's wrong with you five?!" a woman yelled.

"What?" Raspberry wondered.

"You're just standing there all happy like! Don't you have any idea what sort of situation you're in?! Why is this so much 'fun' to you?!"

"But...but I didn't..."

Raspberry clutched what she could of her chest and began to topple over. Redmint caught her, and Licorice looked back at his friend with worry, then turned to face and glare at this obnoxious wench:

"How DARE you?!"

"What?"

"You think that we did this by choice? Whereas many of your kind cannot accept change, we accepted it and have accustomed ourselves to our new bodies."

"Ahem."

"Save for our friend there who we are currently trying to restore to his original body. We help this one because it's our choice. The fact that those others cannot cope with this and ran off in a panic suggests that none of you were even ready for such great constructs bestowed upon the human race. Learn to live with it and respect those who have learned to respect their new selves and accept choices that oppose your ideals."

The woman's eyes widened as she seemed to be taken aback by the remark, but quickly leaned forward and gave one of the most frightening smiles Louis had ever seen. She crouched and whispered in Licorice's ear about something, but the pegasi couldn't hear. The woman quickly left after she was done talking, leaving Licorice to turn towards his friends while still looking in her direction with concern.

"Okay. So the initial plan remains. We'll...we'll still go to the neurobot store. It's several blocks away...so..."

"You okay?" Louis asked.

"Y...I think we might have stumbled on something bigger than us. I'm not sure. We'll just have to wait and see. Oh, and is Raspberry alright?"

"I think so."

The two turned around to see the bicolored mare slowly recover from her trauma. Louis started to wonder why she kept doing that when yelled at. It was only two times it happened so far, but it was still a strange coincidence. He preferred not to prod further into the issue unless it occurred a few more times. THEN, and only then, would it warrant a torch-cutting of that metal plate.

Some time had passed since the conversation, and the little group had just started to walk to the store, trying to avoid what social interaction they could. Police were everywhere, many of them blocking roads where crashes had occurred. One such crash saw itself under a bridge. A neuropony had been cut in half by a flipped truck, and a few other of the machines were crunched between several more vehicles, not to mention the wounded people. Everypony but Starburst averted their gaze in disgust. The small mare just stared at the scene with the same vacuous gaze as always. Redmint checked to see if she was following, then galloped to grab her and pull her back into the walk, making her stumble a bit due to the speed and violence with which the stallion pulled her.

"Really. Sometimes you worry me," Redmint told Starburst.

The mare did not react and continued to stare emptily into the void, occasionally stumbling do to the speeds. Some of the neuroponies seemed to be trying to readapt to their bodies, with a strange instance of a tiny colt unicorn galloping around the street. A middle-aged man was running after it, trying to catch the overly happy and excited little thing.

"Huh. The kid must find this awesome," Sour Raspberry noted.

"Get back here, grandpa! We don't what happened to you!" the man shouted.

"I don't care! I'm young again! I'm taking advantage of this extended life and I'm gonna play again just like I did when I was a kid!"

Louis just cleared his throat while the others looked away innocently and awkwardly.

"Well, I guess we know that these neuroponies can do more than just switch your body. It can take away years to your life-" Licorice started.

"Or add them," Redmint realized.

"That's a...frightening thought," Louis pseudo-gulped.

"Let's just keep going to the-Hey!"

"Sorry, mister!" a filly said as she and a couple of other foals ran away.

Looking in the opposite direction, it was clear that these were also elderly folk that became foals and were enjoying it, what with the crowd seemingly sighing or hiding away in embarrassment near the large apartments. Curiously, Raspberry peeked around the corner and noticed the Roborganics store...with a large crowd of people right in front of it. The woman was there as well.

"We finally found the store, but the meanie from earlier is there," she frowned.

Redmint chuckled. "First time I've ever seen you do anything but smile voluntarily."

Louis peeked around the corner to see what the store looked like. To his surprise, it was exactly like the one back home. It had the exact same 'corner store' appearance and glass exterior. The only difference here was that it was still intact and the group of people in front of it weren't rioting. They seemed to be waiting for something and were talking to each other to pass the time.

"Wow," Louis said as he moved away from the corner. "That's...something."

"Then let's go," Licorice insisted.

The neuroponies moved towards the group with reluctance, although they were greeted by open arms and a more-than-friendly crowd.

"I'm so glad you came," the woman from before said. "You can't imagine how...how graced we are by your presence here."

"Graced?" Louis whispered to Redmint.

The woman lift her arms into the air and praised:

"They are the first to accept the gift of evolution! Nature has been kind enough to show us the error of our ways and have used our own technology against us. Now we must heed their word to reach a new form of existence as we help the less fortunate ones. The age of humans is over. Now comes the new age of...of...Huh. We didn't find a name yet," the one said as she fell into deep thought.

"Age of ponies? That's what they are," a man proposed.

"Nah. Gotta find another. That sounds silly."

"But they're ponies!"

"Look! We aren't here to lead you. That's for you to do. We're here to ask the manager if he or she knows where the neurobot shipments come from. We're trying to find the place of origin of these machines."

Another woman cut through the crowd. She was wearing the Roborganics uniform. A deep but light blue cotton shirt with two white stripes going over the shoulders and down to the pants, imitating the holds of overalls. The pants themselves were blue-gray, perfectly complimenting this woman's very pale complexion and thin demeanor. It seemed as though she hadn't eaten for weeks; somehow. She still seemed to maintain her black hair well and kept them in a pony tail, but this was offset by the skeletal face she had.

"A pilgrimage to the place of origin! We were never graced with such knowledge, but the general knowledge of these blessing are known to come from the Baltimore Sea near Entrope."

"The port town?" Licorice wondered.

"Yes. If anything allows you to complete your pilgrimage and share your enlightenment with the rest of us, then it's there."

"Th...then you. We'll be leaving no--"

"Now hold on just a minute. I can understand you taking this sort of thing to heart, but I don't consider this a blessing. I want my old body back."

"Louis..." Licorice sighed.

"I'm not here to be 'praised' or be 'canonized' by some weird occult group. I don't want to be placed in the same group as you," Louis turned and lift his head in the air as though snuffing the people. "There. I said it."

"Louis, you idiot," Licorice facehoofed.

"What?"

The group of people were glaring at the pegasus and the rest with looks of disgust and betrayal. They were moving, but the atmosphere around them was becoming more and more sour.

"Then you are blasphemers who do not accept your gifts. We do not accept it for the greater cause as we must ensure all people evolve properly. If they do not accept, then it must be enforced upon them, for they do not know any better. You must be rehabilitated in the Sanctity Node. Grab them," the ex-manager ordered.

"What? Let go of me!" Louis cried.

The others started to fight back, Licorice kicking away many people and using his 'horn' to lift everyone away. Redmint, with his enlarged form, was slamming into the cultists like a bull. The humans weren't strong enough to stop him from galloping away and repeating the attacks. Raspberry was just hopping about, showing the bizarre flexibility of her neuropony as she began giving wedgies to everyone, even going so far as to pull the dreaded 'atomic wedgie' on a few. Starburst...didn't move. She seemed as vacuous as always, and her expression had the people hesitating to get closer to her. They didn't know what was wrong with this one. As for Louis, 'she' was being held in the arms of one of these people. The pegasus neuropony model did not have the strength to resist this kind of hold.

Several beatings and pummelings into the nearby cars later, the cultists were getting tired of this. A few entered the store and came back out with gigantic guns ending in a cone with what looked like a large needle poking out the end. Licorice was the first to be shot, a distinct 'pfoosh' sound followed by crackling electricity preceding to the sensation of pain he felt. The needle pierced his exterior shell and electrocuted him until it disabled his systems, causing the neuropony to fall down. They fired a few at Raspberry, but only managed to hit her by the twelfth try. Several people were on the ground and jolting about thanks to poor aiming skills. As for Redmint, a few of the bolts did not go deep enough into his armored hide to have any effect until a group of cultists managed to body slam him from atop a car, leaving place for a bolt to be fired at close range. He yelled in pain once it did, leaving Louis to only be able to watch in his confined position. Helpless to stop any of this.

"Don't worry," her captor said. "You'll all soon know the truth."

"Why are you doing this?" Louis cried out.

"For the betterment of humanity. We have been waiting for so long for the next evolution, and it has finally come! You should rejoice!"

"I don't want to rej--"

"COMMANDER IN DANGER! COMMANDER IN DANGER!" a robotic voice began to shout.

"Wh...What is that?" The captor asked.

"The creepy one is doing something weird. She just started to yell and she's...she's...Holy shi--"

The man couldn't finish his sentence until he was seen flying across the road above everyone.

Author's Note:

For those who want to know what happens next:
Woops! Were you expecting a spoiler? No spoilers for you. I have finally restocked on cliffhanger ammo. I'M FIRING IN ALL DIRECTIONS!

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