My Little Cyborg

by Ignimbrite

Dreamcatcher

Shadowpiercer woke up in a dim stone room. He got up and looked around.

My head hurts.

Feeling the spot where it hurt, he noticed a rather large welt.

Oh... right.

For the moment, he was relieved that they did not use their swords.

Looking out the bars, he saw that he was the only resident in the cell block. Evidently, they either didn't encounter too many threats that would justify incarceration, or they didn't keep prisoners around too long. He was hoping quite desperately for the former.

After a few minutes, a guard came in, saw that he was awake, and left. A couple minutes after that, several guards came in and opened his cell. They escorted him to a room with a table in the center, to which they cuffed his forelegs.

Great. Another standard issue interrogation.

Shadowpiercer made note of his surroundings: bright lights, bolted furniture, air just warm and humid enough to make someone uncomfortable without their knowing exactly why they were uncomfortable, and of course, the one-way mirror in one wall.

Why do they even use those? It's obvious that someone's behind it.

He waved at the mirror.

That's right, I know you're there.

It was a while before someone came in. The one who did was an older fellow with hard eyes and an impassive gaze. The guy was evidently accustomed to dealing with the worst types around; it was visible in his face.

Definitely ex-military. Probably seen some stuff too.

"Let's start this off simple. What is your name."

"Shadowpiercer."

"Where are you from?"

"Ponyville, and before that, another planet... and before you ask, no, I'm not joking."

The officer scrutinized his face, as if trying to determine for himself whether or not Shadowpiercer was joking. Finally, he made his notes, apparently deciding it wasn't worth arguing, and continued.

"So, I suppose you know why you're here today?" His glare would have frozen someone's blood if they hadn't turned up the heat in the room already.

Stupid "sit and sweat" tactics.

"Well, my battery charger got mistaken for an explosive device, and then I got knocked out."

Whether the detective was expecting an answer like this or not, he gave no indication. Instead he explained his own answer for the question.

"The device you had was not mistaken for a bomb. It was a bomb, specifically a class B magical burst resonator. Now why would someone be carrying an anti-magic weapon near the princess and her protégé?"

Shadowpiercer paused a moment. This was new information, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Because, I needed to recharge my batteries, they happened to be nearby, and I had no idea that the charger could be used as a bomb."

Shadowpiercer figured that repeating that he had no idea it was a bomb wouldn't convince this guy, so he decided to ask a question of his own. "So, what exactly would have happened if it was one?"

The officer looked up from his notes. "Shouldn't you know?"

Shadowpiercer answered without any hesitation. "No."

The officer blinked. He had seen stubborn ones before, but this one was different. How could anypony have enough knowledge to make something that complex and not know that it was a bomb? Perhaps he just wanted confirmation that it would have worked. He decided to just tell him.

"An anti-magic bomb that size would have killed just about everypony within about 20 feet."

"WHAT?!?"

"Fortunately, it seems you forgot to wire in the trigger. Pretty sloppy, all things considered. I figured somepony with the cutie mark of an assassin would take better precautions than that. I'll give you some credit though. I've never seen one that compact before."

Shadowpiercer very deliberately decided to ignore the comment about his butt badge. He thought instead about this trigger he supposedly forgot. He wasn't sure how far he was allowed to go, but he had to ask.

"May I borrow a notepad for a second?"

The officer raised an eyebrow, but then he gestured towards the mirror. A younger officer came in with a second notepad and a pen. Shadowpiercer thanked them, then began drawing a diagram in it. He scratched it out a couple times and started over, but finally, he had a drawing that satisfied him. He scrutinized the diagram while mumbling to himself until finally, he slid the pad to the officer.

"This trigger wouldn't happen to be a short between these two components, would it?"

The officer looked over the drawing. He had sketched out a diagram of his bomb and was now asking how to complete it. Of course, from his tone, it seemed he already knew the answer.

"Yes, that's where it goes."

Shadowpiercer immediately pulled back the diagram and began writing out equations on it.

"So if that connects there, the feedback would cycle through here... this doesn't make much sense... no, wait... so that means the signal would........"

His eyes grew wide.

".....oh no...."

---

Shadowpiercer had finally gotten out, and it was a peaceful, sunny day in Ponyville. The air was clean, the birds were singing, his saddlebags were ticking...

Wait what?

He checked his saddlebags and pulled out his charger. At least, it had been his charger. Someone had shorted out the terminals between the tank circuit and the magic resonator loop. He broke the connection as quickly as he could and put it back. A few minutes later, he could hear it ticking again. He pulled it back out.

This time, it had a large display counting down. He bucked it as hard as he could into the forest and ran the other way.

What is happening?

As he got back to his apartment, he found another one right beside the front door. This one was next to a couple tanks of refined fuel, enough to take out a good chunk of the surrounding buildings. He separated the tanks and took the charger to the water fountain. If he could short out everything, it would never go off. He made it to the fountain, and was relieved upon throwing it in to see enough sparks and smoke to prove it would never work again.

As he turned around, he froze at the sight of the town hall. On its steps was another modified charger. This one was bolted down, and, like the last one, it also had two tanks. This time, however, they were labeled "DANGER CHLORINE". Sitting on either side of it were Twilight and Celestia, both tied up and gagged.

Before he could react to the bizarre image before him, something threw him into the wall behind them with enough force to leave an impact crater. It then threw him into the building across the street, then launched him through the statue on the fountain.

A bellowing voice reverberated from behind him.

"HOW DARE THOU TRY TO KILL MY SISTER!"

He looked behind him to see another winged unicorn descending, this one nearly black and with a face full of rage, as if her voice wasn't angry enough already.

"I'm not trying to kill anyone. These things keep appearing and I can't seem to get rid of them. Come on. We can at least get them untied."

With that he ran off towards them. Once he got there, he spun through the tools on his bracelet before finding the knife. He flicked it out.

What?!? That's not a knife!

What had flicked out of the slot was a heavy plasma rifle with an underslung neural stunner.

How something that large had fit in his tool bracelet was beyond him, but at the moment, he was more concerned with putting it back. Besides, Pinkie probably had something to do with it .

Instead of sliding back into the slot, the stunner fired, leveling a building across the street.

Ask four of them stared at the resulting damage for a full minute. It was at this point that Shadowpiercer snapped.

"Th... that doesn't even make any sense!"

The newcomer, however, adapted much more quickly to the absurdity of the situation.

"SO IF THOU ARE NOT TRYING TO KILL THEM, WHY DIDST THOU BRING A BOMB IN THEIR PRESENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

"IT WAS NOT A BOMB! Making it into a bomb would have rendered it useless as a battery charger, and what I needed at the time was a battery charger."

He broke the gun mount off of his bracelet and began muttering to himself, "...pink reality warper, semi-regular monster attacks, a bomb in every household appliance... does anything on this stupid planet make sense?"

By this point, he had finally found his knife and was trying to cut through some of the cords.

Suddenly, he realized something. "Wait you said this was your sister?"

"VERILY"

"Then why aren't you doing anything to save her?"

The black one lifted an eyebrow at his question. Before she could speak, however, the bomb went off with a horrendous noise.

---

Shadowpiercer woke up in his cell lying on the stone floor beside his bed. Relieved that nothing he had just witnessed was real, he rolled over and tried to return to sleep.

He did not succeed.

Author's Note:

Happy Independence Day!

Comments

[Haver]

More good

[tsaukpaetra]

Yay dream interrogation!