My Little Cyborg

by Ignimbrite

Into the Unknown

It was a bit later than he'd wished, but the cyborg now officially known as Shadowpiercer had finally gotten checked out and was able to explore the town.

Of course, considering his reaction to the first reflective surface he had seen, it had taken quite a bit of effort to convince the staff that he did not require mental treatment. Even then, at least two of the staff had followed him almost all the way out the door with a straitjacket hidden behind their backs.

Naturally, he made a point of checking his surroundings very carefully after that.

The town was a quaint place, somewhat resembling the rural communities on his people's homeworld. Unlike his native homeworld, the charming atmosphere appeared to be genuine rather than a facade, although he would have to explore a bit to find out for sure.

There was still the matter of becoming accustomed to walking in a quadrupedal stance. While the balancing part was easy, getting all his legs to work in sync was proving to be something of a challenge.

Ok. Front left leg, rear right leg, front right...

He tripped and fell again.

After several more minutes of blowing dirt out of his nostrils and feeling his face for potential bruises, he gave up and ran a motion capture algorithm on a couple passers-by. It wasn't perfect, but it at least got him up to speed enough that he wasn't constantly tripping over his own hooves.

Convinced that he could finally walk without assistance, he finally started exploring the town. The air there was quite refreshing, and walking around provided an opportunity to observe the townsfolk.

He mostly observed them from alleys, generally staying on the sidelines.

These stupid habits are just gonna make me look even more out of place.

He cautiously moved further out into the open and went back to observing the community, but he invariably found himself back in the shadows every few minutes. Forcing himself into the open was getting annoying.

It's an uncharted world. No one's trying to capture you or anything like that. So get a grip and stop acting like you're wanted for treason or something.

He shook his head. These internal dialogues were getting ridiculous.

The internal dialogues were at least good for keeping from worrying too much about getting home. Worrying would get him nowhere. If he wanted to make it, he would have to analyze the situation rationally.

First off, there was the question of what happened to his clothing and equipment. Presumably, he must have dropped them when he appeared, but finding out where he appeared would be a challenge. He doubted that the equipment would have just disappeared. After all, his internal circuitry was still intact. A quick systems check showed that everything inside still worked, although his antenna was useless at the moment. Evidently the rest of his equipment was either out of power or out of range.

Except for learning to walk, he had shut down his internal computer shortly after that systems check. Without any of his equipment and with no existing data on his surroundings, the data processor would be more of a hindrance than a help. Besides, there was no point in wasting the battery, especially since there was no apparent way to charge it. Thus, for all intents and purposes, he was a completely normal person... er... pony, as the locals called themselves.

He'd have to get used to that if he wanted to maintain any kind of cover.

There were other quirks to which he would have to adapt as well. For one thing, their society appeared to treat clothing as optional. While they did not appear to require it, the concept still made him uncomfortable.

Also, the town had three predominant races, although he was unsure whether or not others existed outside it. To the best he could tell, he was what they called an earth pony, as he lacked the distinguishing features of the other races.

The most pressing matter was the technology. Their society appeared quite low on that scale, although they clearly did well enough without it, and they had some isolated pieces that were surprisingly advanced.

For him though, the general level only meant traveling home, or even contacting home, would be difficult.

His files did contain some information about the Shadowpiercer project, but without a charger, he would run out of power long before he could finish sorting through it all. They at least confirmed that the project had sent him here, apparently as a result of some lab accident. All he had to do was figure out how to make it send him back.

His thoughts were promptly interrupted by a rapidly moving pink blur that came out of nowhere.

"Are you new here? I know everyone in town, but I've never seen you before. You must be new! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

She then pulled a wagon out of nowhere and promptly defied several laws of physics. When she was done with that, she returned to the wide-eyed pony who was now inexplicably covered in cake batter.

"Let me guess your name. I'm really good at it. Let's see, is it Light Side? Inclement Weather? Daryl?" She suddenly stopped as one of her legs began shaking uncontrollably. "Sorry, somepony's stuck in a tree again. Bye!"

With that, she disappeared, leaving a cloud of dust shaped roughly like her head.

What just happened?

He considered setting up some notes for analysis but shook his head. He needed to keep his priorities straight: basic necessities first, mysterious anomalies later. He needed a place to stay and some parts for building a charger, and for that, he needed a job. Best to start checking around if anyone needed work.

He picked up a discarded newspaper and started looking through the want ads. It was time to start step one of the journey home.

Comments

[Oreng Pingvin]

are his "cyber" hidden? just in the hospital he said that see this cyber hooves, but neither the locals nor the medical staff paid attention to him

[Ignimbrite]

Yes, they are hidden. The reason comes up later in the story (in a part I haven't finished yet), but he's designed to look completely ordinary from the outside.

[tsaukpaetra]

An incursion project gone awry? Curious.
Missed opportunity interrogating the hospital staff on how he arrived in their care. Surely somepony else brought him in?