My programming or my training did not prepare me for this. I understand completely what I must do to protect the people of my city, but when confronted with these...ponies, I am not sure how my directives work. But I do know that they live like people and feel like people, so I shall carry out my duties to them as if they were my people. And that is to serve their trust. Uphold the law.
Protect the innocent.
Robocop will be the older version and most of the story will be him from the first movie with some of the other two added in. Robocop will still be more machine than man when the story begins, so he won't talk that much or have too much inner monologue, but from there...we'll see.
Greenish magic bathed over the face of Princess Celestia as she worked her magic with an expert’s precision, carefully slipping a mystical stone forearm into the socket of a stone shoulder. Sweat dripped down her brow, not just from how taxing the work was, but also from the heat of the chamber she was working within. High stone wall rose into the sky until they joined together at the top to form a ceiling, while greenish magic coursed through the walls like veins in a body.
'Finally, after working so hard for so long it's nearly completed,' Celestia thought to herself as she lifted the stone arm off of the ground and floated it over to where three other stone limbs were attached to a stone body that was almost the same size as her. She drove the limb into the last socket that was empty before stepping back with a sigh, wiping her brow as she looked over her work. 'It took far longer to create just one of the golems, but it will be worth it.'
"Sister?" Celestia turned her head to see her younger sister Princess Luna walking into the dome through a green door that reappeared behind her once she had entered, Luan giving the door a look before she walked over to her sister. "Sister, you are awake during my time for the fourth night in a row. I am starting to worry for your health."
"There is no need to worry about me Luna, I am simply working," Celestia replied with a calm smile, but Luna's eyes were glued to the stone abomination that rested on the floor in front of her. The stone creature had the face of a lion and from the way its jaw was angled Luna deduced that it was capable of opening and closing its jaw. The stone limbs were twice as thick as any of hers and the creature’s center was more like a suit of armor than it was a torso.
"Yes, your little...project," Luna muttered as she backed away from the creature, not liking the way the lifeless eyes seemed to follow her around the room. "I still fail to grasp your reasoning for having to construct such a creature." Celestia's eyes softened as she walked to the edge of the room, a green circle appearing in the wall that allowed her to look out upon the city of Canterlot, with the rest of Equestria visible in the distance.
"It is to help keep our ponies safe," she said softly, Luna joining her side as they both gazed out across the land bathed in the moonlight. She bumped her sister's shoulder when she said no more and motioned for her to continue speaking. "For so long we have been safe here in Canterlot, but with all of the new threats that are arising...I do not know if I can completely trust the royal guard to keep the ponies safe anymore."
"They have done well for the past thousand years that I have been gone. I mean, the city still stands even with you as sole ruler," Luna teased, but when Celestia turned past her Luna could tell she was not in the mood for games.
"But they were helpless when Discord returned, they could do nothing when Chrysalis attacked and Tirek made us all look like fools," Celestia bitterly said as she thought back to the pain and destruction caused on each of those occasions. Then her eyes grew strong as she looked down at the stone guardian below her. "That is why I created this, so that we will have something that will be able to combat any foe, without the need to risk pony lives in the processes, be them civilian or royal guard. This way we can all be safe."
"This wouldn't have anything to do with Sombra's return, would it?" Luna asked her sister. From the way Celestia tensed up upon hearing the dark king’s name, Luna got her answer without Celestia speaking. "Sister, I understand why his re-return would have you so rattled, but we have Twilight and her friends, who possess even greater power than the Elements of Harmony. We have no reason to fear from him."
"That is what we said before he killed the king of the crystal empire and made it vanish for a thousand years" Celestia said back with venom in her voice, venom against the dark king. "We cannot afford to underestimate him again. We lost far too much the last time we did so. That is why I built these stone sentinels. So that we can fight whatever he throws at us."
Luna looked down at the stone beast for a moment before she sighed and looked up at Celestia. "Alright sister, I trust your judgment. If you truly believe that these stone guardians will be able to help us defend against Sombra, I will believe you. However, I want you to alert Twilight and her friends as well as send some more guards to Ponyville. Sombra will most likely go after them first."
"Do not worry sister, I have already ordered for some guards to be stationed in Ponyville," Celestia said before placing a hoof on her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Especially that one stallion that Twilight seems to like so much. When she returns from her visit to Manehatten he'll be waiting for her."
"You truly are a mean one sister," Luna teased as she and Celestia exited the stone dome together. "However did you manage to run this nation without my voice of reason beside you?"
"Well it was quieter," Celestia teased back, the two sisters laughing to them as they walked off into the night.
_____ [====]
Red and blue lights flashed in the darkness of the night while the sound of the wailing sirens alerted all within the vicinity of the wailing that there was going to be trouble. Twenty police cars lined a single street in Detroit, all of them in front of the same laboratory. Nearly thirty of Detroit's finest stood with weapons draw behind their cars, all of the firearms aimed at the building where multiple spotlights shown upon.
"Alright Darren, let the hostages go and you and all of your buddies come out and this won't have to get messy," an officer said into a megaphone, hoping to resolve this peacefully before any more hostages could be killed. He and the other officers ducked as a bullet ricocheted off of one of the officers cars.
"Fuck you man, none of the hostages get to go free until we get our chopper with the money in it!" a man at the window yelled as he grabbed a screaming woman and pulled her into view for all of the officers to see, pointing the shotgun at the back of her head. "And if we see any cops try to get into the building I swear I'll blow all of their fucking brains out!"
"Alright, just calm down. The chopper is on the way and you'll have your money," the officer said as he turned to one of the SWAT members behind him. "Dammit man, how soon until the big gun gets here?"
"Don't worry; they said he was only a few minutes out."
Unknown to the officers in the front of the building or the criminals within, a solitary police car was pulling into the alley behind the laboratory, where no eyes could see it park. The door to the cop car opened slowly, allowing a metal foot to slam into the pavement. The other foot followed and the driver rose to his full height outside of the car. His six feet of body was covered in the state of the art armor that shown with a silver light even in the darkness of the alleyway, while the sensors within his helmet that covered the upper half of his face allowed him to march through the dark alley way to where a back door was. One of his Kevlar covered hands reached out and grabbed the door handle, before tearing the entire door off of its hinges.
'Hostage situation. Prime directive: rescue hostages and apprehend criminals.' The words appeared before his very eyes as a green grid locked on to a target that thought he was safe resting behind a metal door. Robocop grabbed hold of the door handle and tore it open, watching as the criminal spun around to face him with a look of horror before a right hook knocked the criminal senseless.
Robocop walked over his body and continued his march down the hallway, heading to where he could hear a woman screaming for her life, followed by the angry yells of a desperate man. Robocop turned the corner to find a man with a gun to a young lady's head while more hostages lay on the ground in fear. As he lowered his head for a closer examination it revealed that one of them was dead. Robocop lifted his head and began to march forward, gaining the crooks attention as he turned around to face Robocop, fear filling up his eyes when he saw the officer.
"No...NO! NOT YOU!" he screamed as he unloaded the shotgun into Robocop's chest. But the criminals face fell just like the bullets that bounced off Robocop's chest at each failed shot and he didn't stop firing until he pointed the gun back at the lady's head, causing her to start screaming again.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.' The words appeared in front of Robocop's eyes as the green grid lined up the perfect shot for him. All that was left was to carry out the action.
"Stay back! I'll kill her!"
"No. You won't." Faster than the criminal could react Robocop reached down and drew his firearm. The criminal had just enough time to realize what was going on before three bullets punched their way through his skull, splattering the window behind him with both blood and bullets. The hostages screamed as the glass shattered, but the criminal crumpled to the ground without another sound. After a moment the hostages all looked up at the silver defender, who spun his gun a few times and holstered it before he looked at their grateful faces.
"There are officers outside who will lead you to safety. I recommend that you head in their direction." He turned and marched out of the room, heading to the main laboratory. 'Police reports indicate there are three more criminals and one more hostage. Move en-route to their position.' Robocop marched down the hallway towards the main room, finding two massive doors that lead to the main laboratory. Without a moment's hesitation he gripped the twin doors and slowly began to push them apart, the two tons worth of doors weight meaning little to his robotic might. He threw the two doors to the side and walked into the room, where he was immediately met with a hailstorm of bullets.
"There he is! Kill the Muthafucker!" one of the crooks yelled as he unleashed an Uzi into Robocop's chest. Robocop began to scan the room as he ignored the bullets, locking on to the three criminals. One of them was on a catwalk above him while another one had taken cover behind some scientific equipment. The third was in the center of the room next to the hostage as well as a strange circular device that rested in the floor.
With the criminals identified, Robocop drew his firearm and began to march forward. Bullet's bounced off of his helmet which immediately drew his gaze to the criminal on the catwalk. His arm turned towards the man and with a simple squeeze of the trigger caused blood to erupt from the man as bullets tore through him.
As his body fell to the ground Robocop turned and opened fire on the one of the other criminals, who barely managed to duck beneath his cover again as the bullets obliterated the vials above him. Robocop began his march towards the criminal, walking right up to his cover and throwing it across the room.
"Hold on man! I surrender!" the criminal yelled as he dropped his gun and held his hands up, fear in his eyes as he gazed up at the emotionless face of the officer.
'Directive: Uphold the law.' Robocop brought back his left hand into a fist before driving it across the man’s face, dropping him to the ground as his jaw shattered. The rise of his chest told him that he was still alive, allowing Robocop to turn his attention to the last criminal, who was standing close to the circular device and staring in terror at the robotic man.
"W-what are you?!" he screamed as he fired a pistol at Robocop, who walked through the bullet's as he headed towards the last criminal. The desperate man reached down and grabbed the hostage, wrapping an arm around his neck as he backed away from Robocop, backing into the control panel for the machine. Upon doing so, a greenish vortex appeared in the center of the metal circle in the ground.
"Stay back! Or I'll drop him!" he screamed as he dangled the hostage over the ledge, the man beginning to be for his life as Robocop came to a stop. He stayed perfectly still as the criminal began to move, but unknown to the criminal his targeting was already finding a way from him to rescue the hostage. In an instant Robocop drew his firearm and shot the criminal in one of his arms, causing the man to scream as he fell to the ground. The hostage lost his balance and began to fall, barely managing to grab hold of ledge. The criminal got back up and began to run, Robocop preparing to follow him.
'Directive: Uphold the law.' Robocop had just taken a step towards the criminal when he heard the hostage cry out behind him,
"Help me! Please!"
'Directive: Protect the innocent.' Robocop turned to rescue the man in danger when he heard the sound of items crashing into the ground, causing him to turn to see the criminal had knocked over some supplies.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
"Help me!"
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
Robocop looked back from the criminal to the man hanging on for his life, trying to think of a way to fulfill both directives. Then his arm shot out and he grabbed hold of the man's arm, pulling him out of the hole and away from the vortex. Faster than the man could register Robocop turned and shot the fleeing criminal in the back, fulfilling both directives as the man dropped. The man stood shakily in place, but he looked up at the officer with a smile.
"Y-you saved me."
"Yes. I protect the innocent."
"To bad it don't mean shit!" Robocop turned to see the criminal reach inside of his jacket to pull out a frag grenade, which he then pulled the pin to and brought his arm back to throw it. Robocop took aim and shot the man's arm with one bullet and his head with the other two, but the grenade still took to the air as it arced towards Robocop and the hostage. In an instant Robocop pushed the man out of the way before the grenade caught the officer in the chest, blasting him off of his feet and into the vortex that was beneath him.
His sensors and scanners went haywire as what felt like his very existence was being torn apart, causing him to cry out. What looked to be multiple versions of the Earth flashed by his eyes as he continued to spin within the vortex, forcing him to close his eyes as the images became too much for them to bear. All he could do was grit his teeth as the pain continued and as he continued to spin.
'Systems coming back online.' Robocop's metal frame strained slightly as his vision came back online, informing him that he was face down in an alleyway. He placed a hand on the ground and slowly pushed himself up, activating a systems scan as he got back to a vertical base. He turned his head to see his firearm lying beside him before he grasped it with his hand, the plates in his leg moving to the side so he could holster it.
"Scan shows minimal damage to systems and frame," he muttered to himself before he slowly scanned around him, piecing together where he was. He knew that he wasn't in the same alleyway behind the laboratory. Could he have been flung from the laboratory when he fell into the vortex?
Robocop began to march forward as he headed out of the alleyway, needing to get back to the station for any repairs and so he could go back into the fray. He marched out of the alley and into the dark streets, turning his head upwards slightly to see that the moon was high above him. He had been out longer than his on board clock had indicated. Yet the most interesting sight to meet his visor was how different the buildings looked than what his memory banks recalled. He did not remember Detroit having such small buildings...nor did his banks recall all the images of ponies plastered everywhere.
The streets were almost deserted as he marched through them on the sidewalk, no sign of any humans or any animals. That perplexed Robocop, as even in the dead of winter there would still be homeless on the streets as well as drug dealers. The emptiness of the streets placed him on his guard and he turned his head from side to side as he walked, making sure to scan every alleyway and dark corner in case of possible attack or crime activity.
A street sigh finally appeared after a few minutes of walking, yet when he turned his scanners towards it he found that it confused him even greater than before. 'Trotting Cross. There are no records of a street with that name within all of Detroit.' That left Robocop with two reasons as for why Trotting Cross did not appear in his banks. Either his systems were damaged and that was not the actual street name...or he was no longer in Detroit. He had just begun to wonder what this meant for him when the faintest of sounds reached his ears.
"...help..."
Robocop immediately swung his head towards the sound of the cry and began to march down the street towards the voice, knowing the sound of a cry for help during a crime in progress. The city he found himself in may not be Detroit, but he enforced the law no matter where he was. It was his duty.
He had rounded a corner next to a movie theater when he finally laid eyes on the victim and the suspect...and that was when he froze. Unless his sensors were more damaged than he believed, it seemed that the victim crying out for help was a...small, reddish horse. She (he assumed from the voice) was pinned up against a wall next to the theater while another grey horse with a horn on its head laughed at her while licking his lips.
"What's the matter baby, I'm really not that bad of a guy," he chuckled in a sick way while trying to cover her mouth to stop her cries. "How about I take you back to my place and show you? Hell, I'll show you right here."
Robocop stood frozen, unsure of his course of action. He knew that there was a crime in progress, yet he did not know the directive for dealing with...talking animals. Did the same laws apply to animals? The same punishments? He turned his head to scan around and he saw a few more ponies whose eyes were glued on the scene, none of them noticing him as they watched what was going on. Then the she pony screamed for help again and Robocop turned his head back to the scene, a single sentence appearing before him.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
Those words alone decided for him and he began to march forward. He did not know what laws applied to these creatures and he didn't know if they even had laws, but there was a crime and a victim needed help. That was all he needed to know. The pony with the horn was still laughing at the she pony when he heard a sound behind him, the sound of heavy steps on an asphalt road. And as he turned around, his eyes grew wide with fear.
"Halt. You are under arrest for assault," Robocop said to the pony as he walked under a lit lamp, all of the ponies that had been watching the scene now looking at him with absolute horror. "Let her go or there will be trouble."
"W-what the Faust are you?!" he screamed as he grabbed the she pony by the throat and hid behind her, looking at Robocop in fear. "S-stay back! Or else!" Robocop said nothing, but he knew that the pony would not surrender now. With speed that made the ponies gasp he reached down and drew his firearm, pointing it right between the pony's eyes. The pony looked at the strange device with fear, but he still refused to let the red pony go.
"Your move, creep," Robocop said to him. The pony roared in fear as his horn began to glow, confusing Robocop for a moment as he looked at the glowing horn. Then a bolt of energy flew from the horn and struck Robocop in the face, forcing him to take a step back as the blow spun his head to the side. But then to the horror of the criminal he slowly turned his undamaged face back towards the pony, taking a step forward once again.
"Wrong move." The sound of his gun going off shattered the silence of the night as the bullets tore through the pony with precision, none of his blood landing on the hostage as the criminal fell to the ground dead. The she pony looked down at her attacker’s corpse before she looked up at Robocop, who walked over to her and looked down, scanning for injury.
"There are no physical injuries on you. I would recommend that you head to the nearest police station and report this crime if you are able," Robocop said to her with his metallic voice. The pony screamed again and sprinted away from him as fast as she could, Robocop half turning to watch her race away before looking to all the ponies staring at him. "Thank you for your cooperation." He looked down at the corpse of the perpetrator for a moment before he spun his gun and holstered it, turning from all of the gawking ponies and walking back into the night.
Despite not having any schematics of the city, Robocop was able to learn tricks that allowed him to navigate the city better than before. Any place with a large amount of light was generally safe, whereas the darker parts of the city were where the crime was happening. Despite wanting to figure out where he was and how he could return back to his city, his directives came first. Criminals had to be stopped.
That line of thinking is what drove him to what on the outside looked to be an abandoned warehouse, but his scanners were picking up life inside as well as trace amounts of a substance that was similar to narcotics. He would not tolerate drug dealers. He marched to the twin chained doors that barred his entrance into the warehouse and grabbed the chains with his hands, applying just a bit of pressure before the chains snapped into pieces.
Grabbing hold of both door handles he pushed the massive steel doors back, unfortunately creating a loud metallic screech that he didn't doubt would alert the perpetrators to his presence. Upon moving the doors from his path, his scanners showed him what was in the large warehouse. It was definitely a drug den filled with ponies that fit the description of what drug dealers looked like, filled with conveyer belts and vials filled with a strange bluish substance. He would have engaged them all on the spot, but his scanners also showed that the actually ponies making whatever was in the vials seemed to be held there against their will. The bruises on their face and the fear in their eyes told him that.
"The hell is that?!" one of the ponies yelled as Robocop walked into the room, allowing his targeting to lock onto all ponies that were a threat. His leg opened up so that he could draw his pistol when he was ready, but first he would give them a chance.
"Surrender immediately and release the hostages or you will be met with lethal force," he instructed to the ponies, hoping to intimidate them into surrendering. But to his surprise and disappointment the ponies began laughing and one of the ponies with a black coat and an eye patch walked up to him with a smirk.
"So this is the princess’s newest attempt to protect their ponies and stop criminals like me?" he said with a laugh as he banged his hoof against Robocop, raising his eyebrows when he didn't budge. "Yeah, you look impressive, but we've dealt with worse. Alright boys, get-" Robocop kicked the pony in the side and sent him sailing across the room, where he crashed onto one of the conveyer belts and didn't move.
"I will not ask again," Robocop said as he reached down and drew his pistol again, looking through his visor to all of his targets. "Surrender."
The ponies all roared as they began to fire energy from their horns at Robocop, his armor protecting him from the blasts as if they were simple bullets. While the criminals desperately tried to take him down, their attacks allowed Robocop to confirm which were criminals and which were there against their will. Robocop took aim at a unicorn nearest to the slaves and blew his brains out of the back of his head, making sure that the firefight would not turn into a hostage situation.
Another three round burst tore through a pony wearing a black knit cap and sent him sprawling to the floor below, where one of the larger ponies thought his best course of actions was to tackle the Robocop. He slammed his massive frame into Robocop's chest, but to his horror the officer didn’t even budge from the attack and he simply looked down at the pony, whose fear filled eyes reflected in the black visor.
"Assaulting an officer of the law. Now you're in real trouble." Robocop grabbed his through with his left hand and lifted the pony into the air with no effort, holding him there for a moment before hurling him across the room and through the back wall, stopping the assault of energy as all of the criminals watched what had happened with dropped jaws. "The same awaits the rest of you."
A pony shot an energy burst from above on the catwalk, prompting Robocop to punch the support beam holding out the walkway. The loss of the support beam sent the criminal crashing to the ground. Robocop began to advance towards the center of the room where the hostages were, using his body as a shield as he placed himself between them and the criminals.
"Exit through the entrance in an orderly fashion," he instructed to them as he shot two more criminals dead. "Then head to the nearest police station and inform them of what has occurred." The ponies did so without a moment’s hesitation, Robocop laying down suppressing fire so that they could escape. Another three ponies fell to a burst of gunfire, ending the firefight. The last criminal was a unicorn had backed up against the wall where he bruiser buddy had been thrown through, fear gripping his heart as Robocop's shadow fell over him as the metal man walked towards him.
"W-wait man! I give! I give!" he screamed as Robocop pointed his gun right between the pony’s eyes.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
"Then you have the right to remain silent," Robocop began to order as he holstered his gun and walked towards the pony, not noticing that the unicorn's horn was glowing. "You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say can and will be-" The unicorn roared as he unleashed a full beam of energy into Robocop's chest, the energy splitting on his armored chest plate and shooting off to the sides, blowing out two of the supports that held up the buildings and setting the area on fire. The pony looked up at Robocop with absolute horror as the officer remained standing despite such a blast, the only difference was that he now looked angry.
"What are you?" the pony whispered in horror.
"That will be used against you." Robocop grabbed the pony by the face and hurled him into a wall, where he slumped to the ground without another word. Robocop grabbed him by his mane and pulled him to the entrance of the warehouse, ignoring the flames as he scanned the other ponies, finding none of the other criminals alive.
"Wait here creep," Robocop said to the unconscious pony as he dumped him on the side of the street, expecting the fire department to show up soon. He then looked down at his armor and began to scan it, certain that he had never been hit by that kind of energy before. 'Records show no recordings of the energy that was used against me. Chances are that it is either a new weapon or these creatures are far more dangerous than originally believed. Will be quicker to disable them next time.'
'Objective: Locate law enforcement and find superior officer or official.' Robocop took off into the streets again, reaching the buildings across the street when he saw ponies carrying firefighting equipment show up, some of them looking down at the unconscious criminal with confusion. Now that he knew the fire would be dealt with, he was free to locate a police station at his leisure. As he walked he looked up at all of the large buildings, surprised of how much they matched the images of New York that was stored in his database. Then he turned his head to the left and saw a poster for something called a Nightmare Night party, mentioning something about a costume contest.
'What do you think dad? You always did call me a little devil.'
Robocop froze in place as the words flashed through his mind, recognizing the voice of his...son. Then a few images flashed through his mind of the time his son had dressed up like a devil for fun one Halloween. But as quickly as the memories appeared they were gone again, leaving the officer with a pained feeling in his heart.
'My son...how long...since I've seen him?' Murphy thought to himself as he lifted his hand to his face, looking at it with shame and horror. 'Does...he even know what happened to me? Would he even want to see me in this state?' His thoughts were cut off as a blast of energy caught him in the back and staggered him for a moment, though the moment he regained his balance he turned to face his attackers.
"Halt monster!" They were ponies again, but this time they were all wearing matching armor and symbols and they stood in an orderly fashion. Robocop's scanners told him that they did not match the civilians of this world nor did they seem like criminals. So that only left one alternative.
"By the order of the princess, you are under arrest."
Robocop scanned the armored ponies before him with both caution and interest. They were armed with only spears, weapons that wouldn't even scratch his armor, although a few of them had horns, and that meant the energy. His scanners also revealed that their armor wasn't only outdated, but that he wouldn't need his firearm to dispose of them. But that was only if he needed to dispose of them.
"Stand down and surrender or there will be consequences!" one of the guards with a red plume ordered, pointing his spear at Robocop's chest.
"On what charge?"
The ponies seemed stunned, not only by the fact that Robocop could speak, but also by the words that he chose to speak. They shook their heads and took up a battle stance again, not answering his question.
"On what charge are you arresting me? What crimes am I accused of?"
The guards looked at each other again, before the red plumed one stepped forward and answered,
"On what charge? You're a monster!" the guard yelled.
"So, you are trying to arrest me based on my appearance, not on the knowledge or suspicion that I have committed a crime?" Robocop asked them with a slightly angry tone. "That is racial profiling. You are only arresting me based on my appearance. That is against the law."
"And you think anypony will care what you think? We're the guards here and WE enforce the law, anyway we see fit. And I think we'll get nice bonuses for catching a creature such as yourself," the guard with the red plume smirked at Robocop, before letting out a whinny as he charged the robotic officer. Robocop allowed the guard to slam into his armored frame, causing the guard to break his leg against the unyielding metal. As he fell to the ground in pain, Robocop reached down and picked him up by another leg.
'Directive: Uphold the law,' appeared on Robocop's visor.
"Then you are a corrupt officer," Robocop said to the guard with the red plume. "And as an officer of the law, it is my duty to turn you in and see that you answer for your corruption. You are coming with me..." Robocop had just turned to leave when a blast of energy caught him in the leg, halting his movement temporarily. To his surprise, the pony within his clutches was surrounded by the same energy and was lifted back over to his comrades, all of whom glared at the officer as they prepared to attack.
Robocop turned his gaze to all twelve of them, now classifying them as criminals who needed to be brought down. "If you continue this action, you will all be accused of aiding a felon. Stand down now or there will be trouble."
The guards looked at each other a moment, and then responded by roaring and charging him. The biggest one covered the ground between them in seconds and drove his spear into Robocop's gut. To the shock of the pony, the spear splintered against the officer's abdomen, giving Robocop the chance to drive his fist into the pony's face and send him sprawling.
"This is your last warning," Robocop said to the ponies, but his words fell on deaf ears as the guards all rushed him at once. Despite having strength far greater than any man, Robocop still struggled to keep the sheer volume of armored horses from overwhelming him. He drove one of his feet into the chest of one guard and shattered his sternum, but another guard tackled his leg and forced it down. Robocop then grabbed one pony by the face and slammed him into the ground before using his body to knock another guard off of him.
"Hold it down! Don't let it escape!" one of the guards shouted.
Robocop had no intention of being held down, however, and with a surge of strength from his metal form, he hurled all of the guards off of him, which allowed him to stand back up straight as he moved his fingers.
"My turn."
A guard with wings attacked Robocop from the air, but Robocop's targeting computer allowed him to not only avoid the attack, but to also punch the Pegasus right out of the sky and out of the fight. The guards hadn't learned their lesson yet and a number of them charged him all at once. Robocop took the first down with a 'clothesline' that flipped the pony completely, while a knee to the face broke and bloodied another one. The last one jumped onto Robocop's back and tried to choke him out, but all that did was give Robocop ample time to reach back and grab hold of the pony.
"Failure to uphold the law. Failure to do your sworn duty. Assaulting an innocent. Assaulting an officer of the law," Robocop began as he flipped the pony off of his back and drove him into the concrete beneath his feet. The remaining five guards all glared at his emotionless face, none of them knowing that their moves and words were being watched and recorded for use against them in court. "I would recommend that you all surrender, or this will get ugly."
"Alright team, contain and destroy!" one of them yelled, the other four nodding as they surrounded Robocop on all sides. Robocop noticed that all of them were unicorns and that their horns were glowing, meaning they would use their energy again. He reached down to draw his firearm as they used that energy to create a shield around Robocop, sealing him within a dome of multicolored light with the ponies.
'Energy in field does not match any known energy in databanks.' Robocop did not like the sound of that. He knew that alone or in bursts, the energy could not harm him, but if they all attacked together he would run the risk of being made inoperable. He needed to figure a way out of his predicament.
He whipped out his firearm and aimed it at one of the unicorn's horns, firing a three-round burst at the horn. The bullets tore through the horn, causing the pony to scream as the energy dispersed from him while his horn fell to the ground. Seeing that without his horn he could no longer use magic, Robocop turned and shot the horns off two more guards, causing their sections of the barrier to fall as well.
The last guard was smarter than the others and he changed the barrier so that it covered him instead of Robocop. When Robocop fired upon him, he found to his shock that his bullets that could punch through armor simply cracked the barrier of light. Not daunting Robocop at all, he began to march towards the two remaining guards, taking aim with his firearm.
"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say can and will be used against you." The guard with the horn let out a yell as he fired a beam of energy into Robocop's chest, but just like before, the attack barely slowed him down, not even leaving a scratch on his armor. Robocop slammed his pistol butt into the horned pony's skull, dropping him to the ground before pointing his gun at the remaining pony's face. "Thank you for cooperating."
"ENOUGH!"
Robocop turned as he heard a female roar that shook even his frame, looking into the sky to find the source of the voice. He saw a purple pony with both wings and a horn land across the street from him, rage in her eyes as she glared at the robotic officer. But the moment she laid eyes on him, the rage vanished for a moment and was replaced by curiosity. Then she looked at the broken and beaten guards and her face turned back into one of rage. "I have no idea who you are, but unless you want a serious flank-kicking, you will get away from them right now!"
Robocop prepared to deal with the new threat when the guard he was arresting ran past him. "Oh Princess Twilight, thank goodness you're here! We were just patrolling the streets when this...thing attacked us! We tried our best to stop it but it cut through us like nothing!"
"Is that so?" the one called Twilight snarled as she turned back to look at Robocop, who stood still as he processed what he had just learned. "So care to tell me, creature, why you attacked these guards?"
"You are designated as Princess Twilight, correct?" Robocop asked her, getting a small look of confusion from the horse. "You are the elected official and authority for this city?"
"More like the whole nation. Why?" Upon hearing her answer, Robocop began to profile her in his databanks as a commanding officer and his superior in this land. She was someone in authority to whom he answered.
"He is bearing false testimony. I was attacked by this guard and his compatriots for simply being different than them," Robocop explained as he spun his gun and holstered it, Twilight looking at him with uncertainty in her eyes. "Because racial profiling is against the law, I sought to bring these officers in. They resisted and attacked me, so I met their force with force. I was preparing to arrest them when you intervened. If you will excuse me, I will continue."
"Hold on, buddy, I don't where you get off saying these kinds of things, but you can't just go around arresting my guards," Twilight said with a dry chuckle that was met with silence from Robocop. "I mean, unless Celestia or Luna appointed you, you really don't have any jurisdiction, if you are a guard."
Her reasoning was true enough, but that did not stop Robocop's directives. "I uphold the law no matter where I am. It is my duty to the public to protect them and my duty to the criminals to arrest them. That is my mission." Twilight looked at the robotic man with more confusion and interest in her eyes, than the rage she had previously held.
"Just what are you?" she eventually asked him.
"I am an officer of the law created by Omnicorp to combat the criminal element in Detroit," he explained as he stood up straight. "Designation: Robocop." Twilight looked at him for a long moment before looking behind her to the guard who was hiding behind her, sighing after a moment before looking back at Robocop.
"I'm sorry, Mr...Robocop, but I'm not sure that I can trust the word of a stranger over one of my own guards," she said to him with a shake of her head. "But if you can come with me, I'm sure that we can get all of this--"
"He's telling the truth, Princess Twilight."
Twilight, Robocop, and the remaining guard all turned to see a red pony walk out of the shadows, Robocop recognized her as the assault victim from earlier. She bowed to Twilight before looking up at Robocop. "I'm sorry that I ran away screaming from you earlier. I never thanked you...for saving me."
"You were distraught after an attempted assault. I do not fault you," Robocop replied calmly.
"Princess, I was being assaulted earlier in an alleyway, but then out of what seemed like nowhere Robocop appeared and...took care of the assailant," the red pony began explaining. "At first, I was terrified of him and ran off, but when I had calmed down, I realized that I hadn't thanked him for saving me. I found him again as he walked into a warehouse where drug dealers were rumored to hang out. From the commotion inside and the fire that was caused, I assume that he dealt with them as well."
"Firefighters responded to the scene and arrested the surviving drug dealers as well," Robocop informed Twilight, who put a hoof to her head as she took it all in, not liking the fact that Robocop said 'surviving members'.
"I was about to thank him when he ran into the guards," the pony said with a glare at the guard, who hid behind Twilight again. "They attacked him without any thought for who he was. He...beat them something fierce, actually. I've never seen a pony take so many spells before, but they bounced right off of him like they were nothing." Twilight's face had fallen as she tried to figure out what to do, sighing as she rubbed her head with her hooves.
"Miss...thank you for telling me this," Twilight said as she looked back at the guard, not needing to question him as the guilt was clearly written on his face. "I'll send another patrol to pick up your buddies and our witness here for questioning, but right now..." she began as she turned back to Robocop. ”You and I need to have a long talk, one I really don't want to have right now. Do you mind coming with me?"
"You are a princess, the designated official of this land. I answer to you," Robocop responded formally, getting Twilight to groan at his response. Twilight then had to cover her eyes as the sun rose over the horizon, reflecting off Robocop's silver armor and into her eyes. Once she could see again, Twilight's eyes widened as she fully took in the human for the first time.
"Incredible," she whispered as she walked over to him, looking over his figure with keen and intrigued eyes. "I've...never seen armor like this before. How do you move without it restricting your flexibility? How does it deflect spells so well--if what the witness said was true? Are all humans from your world like this?"
Robocop found it odd that she already knew about humans, but what gained his attention even further was that she called the energy 'spells'. He did not believe it to be possible, but since his scanners could not recognize the type of energy that had been used against him, magic was not an unreasonable conclusion.
"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners?" Twilight said with a nervous giggle as she held out a hoof. "I am Princess Twilight. Let me be the first to welcome you to Equestria, Robocop." Robocop shook her hoof with his hand, but her words confirmed his suspicions. He was no longer in his world; he was in another world entirely. He did not know if there was any way for him to return to his home, to return to protect the streets of Detroit like he was programmed to do. If he...could return to his family again.
'But this new land does not changes my directives,' he thought to himself as Twilight instructed him to follow her. She grabbed the guard with her magic and levitated him along. 'I am an officer of the law, and I protect those under that law and arrest those who break those laws...be they humans or ponies.'
Twilight had gotten used to ponies staring at her whenever she took public transportation, but generally while those rides where filled with admires and friendly folk, this time most of the ponies stayed as far away from her and her guest as they could. Robocop did not seem to mind though, although Twilight had started to realize that he his expression never changed no matter what happened around him so he might.
"You seem to get quite the reactions," Twilight nervously chuckled, trying to break the ice with the officer.
"It is an expected response to one such as myself," Robocop emotionlessly said, causing Twilight to sigh slightly as he turned to face some of the terrified faces, scanning them for future reference if needed. "I assume this is their first time meeting a being such as myself?"
"You'd be right there, although I've met some humans myself...but none of them looked like you," Twilight muttered as she began to observe him again. Her eyes eventually made their way up to his helmet, where she seemed to be trying to peer into his visor. "You know you can take your helmet off right? I'd like to see your face, if you don't mind."
"I cannot remove my head protection without the aid of certain tools," Robocop robotically replied, Twilight frowning as she looked at his arms and legs.
"Is that the same for the rest of your armor?"
"Correct."
Twilight huffed as she tilted her head, having no idea what to say to the human. She looked out the window to see black thunderclouds resting over the landscape, giving her an idea. "Oh, looks like we're going to have a storm soon. Do you like thunderstorms?"
"They have nothing to do with my directives."
"Jeez, you're a bigger stick in the mud than me," Twilight muttered under her breath.
"Food or drinks?" a waitress asked as she pulled a cart by the two of them, smiling at Princess Twilight before giving Robocop a long look.
"A sandwich and some water for me, thanks," Twilight said as she pulled out some bits before looking over at Robocop. "You want anything?"
"I am not hungry. Thank you." Twilight shrugged as she paid the pony, levitating the sandwich and the drink in front of her as the waitress walked off with the cart. All the while Twilight ate Robocop's scanners were glued to her horn and the energy coming from it, slightly frowning as he watched how Twilight manipulated the sandwich and drink almost as if she was levitating them. "I believe that back in the city you called that energy...a spell? Were you implying that you were using magic?" he asked her once she had finished eating.
"Yeah, it's magic...oh, right, humans generally don't have magic," Twilight reminded herself as she placed her cup to the side and wiped her face with a napkin, although Robocop noticed that she had splotches of food on her face still. "Yes, it is magic. All unicorns can use magic." Unbeknownst to Twilight, Robocop was opening a new data entry for equestrian magic within his hard drive.
"Please explain to me how magic can or will be used," Robocop asked, Twilight giving him a look. "If I am to be facing off against criminals wielding...magic, then knowing how it works would be beneficial in apprehending them."
"Um, you're not going to be apprehending anypony," Twilight said with a chuckle, but it died out when Robocop's face didn't change. "Look, you might have been a guard...officer back on your world, but here you're more of a..."
"Experiment. Something to be watched." Twilight was almost certain that she had heard a hint of rage in his monotone voice for a moment, but since it hardly sounded any different she couldn't be sure. Since she didn't understand his full abilities though, she decided to play it safe.
"Fine, if you really want to know, a unicorn's magic comes from their horns," she explained as she looked up at her horn. Robocop remembered how one of the criminal’s energy...magic barrier fell when he shot the horn on its head, confirming her story. "With magic, unicorns can do a number of things, be it levitation, magic bursts, transfiguration and many other things."
"So unicorns are essentially unstoppable?" Robocop asked, about to raise unicorn's position on the threat level when Twilight shook her head.
"Not really, a unicorn's magic is tied to their skill and inner power," Twilight explained as she created a magical chart in front of Robocop, giving him a visual aid. "The more a unicorn practices, the more skilled they become and the greater magic they can use. But another factor that really decides a unicorn’s power is their cutie mark. That's-"
"The mark that is on your flank," Robocop cut her off, Twilight looking at him in surprise before nodding.
"Er, correct. A cutie mark is tied to a pony’s destiny, telling them who or what they're going to be," Twilight explained as she moved a bit to the side so Robocop could get a better look at the mark. "Take mine for example. Mine is the mark of magic, meaning that my destiny is to be skilled with magic. Because of this, I can use magic that no other unicorn can use. Not to mention that I'm also an alicorn and that gives me a huge magic boost."
"There are others like yourself?"
"Yup, three others. Princess Celestia, my teacher, Princess Luna, her sister and Princess Cadence, my sister in law," Twilight explained, creating magical images of them that Robocop recorded in his memory banks. "And they're all on my level of power, magically at least."
Robocop nodded as he closed the file on magic. "Thank you for this information. I am certain that it will be beneficial the next time I subdue and arrest a unicorn. Next I would like information on pegasi."
"You have trouble listening, don't you?" Twilight asked with a thin smile. "You're not an officer here. I can't have you go around arresting ponies without you being...approved by the princesses. If they do so, knock yourself out. But until then, you're just my guest. Nothing more." The long silence that followed her words made Twilight slightly nervous, as she feared that she might have offended him.
"What you are asking of me is to go against my directives, my code," Robocop eventually said to her in a much quieter tone that she had heard from him yet. "Therefor I must clarify what you are asking of me. Are you asking me to abandon the innocent when they need me, to let criminals to go free and to allow the public to suffer?"
"W-well, when you put it that way..." Twilight muttered as she placed her hooves to her head. 'That's not really the way I wanted him to take that. I just don't want the public being upset with the princesses if we do allow Robocop to continue to enforce the...his law. Actually, I wonder what he considers the law in his world.' "That's actually something I wanted to ask you, are you sure you're law is the same as ours? What do you consider to be...justice?"
"Are you asking for my directives?" Robocop asked, bringing his directives on screen when she nodded. "Directives: Serve the public trust. Uphold the law. Protect the innocent."
Twilight had to take a moment to process what he had said, but more importantly the way he had said it. 'His directives are actually...kinda like the ones we instruct the guards to carry out. But the way he said it...doesn't sound right. He almost says his directives the way our computers talk. It's...odd.' "Look, I'm grateful for what you did in Manehatten, but..." A loud whistle snapped her out of her thoughts and she stuck her head out the window to see the train pulling into the Ponyville Station.
"We're going to have to finish this conversation later, because we're here!" Twilight yelled out the window with a laugh as she brought her head back inside. She grabbed her luggage from under her seat as the train came to a stop at the station, smiling as she heard what sounded like a friend of hers waiting for her. "Come on Robocop; let me introduce you to my friends."
She skipped down the train towards the exit, Robocop slowly following her out of the train. Waiting outside of the train on the station stood three ponies with three fillies and a dragon, all of whom were waiting for their friend to exit off the train. Some were better at waiting than others.
"Where is she?!" Pinkie screamed to the sky as she hopped in place. Applejack and Rarity giggled at Pinkie's antics while Spike pretended he didn't know her.
"Ah calm down Pinkie, ah'm sure Twi will be out any moment," Applejack said with a chuckle.
"I hope it's soon, because I need to practice my spells again!" Sweetie exclaimed with a smile.
"Yeah, she's been gone nearly a week. We need to start practicing if we hope to get our cutie marks soon," Scootaloo said while balancing on her scooter.
"Patience dear sister. Can you at least try to act like a lady?" Rarity asked Sweetie Belle, who was watching butterflies overhead. Pinkie let out a shriek as Twilight stepped off of the train and was immediately tackled by the pink pony, who proceeded to squeeze the life out of Twilight.
"Welcome back Twilight! I've already planned you a welcome back party!" Pinkie exclaimed as Twilight fought for breath, having to use her magic to allow herself to breath.
"It's good to see you again, my friends," Twilight wheezed once she pried Pinkie off of her with her magic. The CMC and Spike tackle hugged her as well, all of them laughing at having her back. Rarity stepped forward to ask Twilight a question when her voice was stopped by a heavy, metallic footstep. She looked past Twilight to the train door and her eyes shrunk. The other ponies followed her gaze to see Robocop step off of the train and scan all of them.
"A monster!" Rarity shrieked, but before she could continue screaming Twilight clamped her mouth shut with magic.
"Whoa there everypony, hold on a moment!" Twilight said as she placed herself between her friends and Robocop, not wanting a fight to break out. "It's okay, he's with me."
"Twi, what have ya brought home with ya this time?" AJ asked with a shake of her head before she began to look over the robotic officer.
"This, Applejack, is Robocop. Robocop, these are my friends-"
"Applejack. Pinkie. Unknown," Robocop said as he looked over them, stopping when he reached the fillies. Twilight opened her mouth to explain who the others were when Pinkie ran up to Robocop and pressed her face against his visor.
"Hi there new friend!" she squealed happily. "Welcome to Ponyville!"
"Please back away or you will be met with force," Robocop warned her, getting a look of concern from all of the ponies except for Pinkie, who giggled as she backed up.
"You talk funny," she said with a laugh. "That's right, you're new here! I've got to go throw you a party too! Twilight, I promise that I’ll throw you your welcome back party some other time, but right now our new friend needs a welcome to Ponyville party! BYE!"
In Robocop's sensors, the pink pony was there and then she was gone, causing him to look around in confusion for her which got a chuckle out of Twilight. "Trust me Robocop; you're better off not looking. But as I was saying, this is Rarity, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and my little assistant Spike," Twilight introduced them, each of them waving or bowing as their name was mentioned. "Come on, let's head back to my...sigh, my castle and continue our talk. Come on Spike."
Twilight picked up Spike and walked off towards the castle on the horizon, Robocop following after her with the rest of the group behind him. Twilight spoke to him as he walked, but Robocop's attention was completely focused on the ponies in the small town, recording their movements and actions as they saw the metal man for the first time. He observed a lot of horror, a lot of fear. That didn't bother him. If they were afraid, they may be less likely to commit crimes. He also saw interest and intrigue. That was also to be expected.
"So what ya exactly?" Robocop diverted his attention from the town to the small, yellow pony in front of him. She had a red bow, but what gained Robocop's full attention was her eyes, eyes filled not with fear, but with wonder.
"I am designation Robocop, officer of the law," he responded formally, yet the curiosity in her eyes only grew.
"Wait, so you're a guard?" Robocop turned his head to see Sweetie Belle beside him now, giving him a questioning glance in contrast to Applebloom's curious one. "Well, I guess you are armored enough to be one, but can you use magic or fly?"
"I am incapable of "magic" nor can I fly on my own accord. I do not need them to fight crime."
"That is so cool!" Assuming the last speaker was Scootaloo, Robocop looked down to confirm his thought. "I mean your job must be awesome! Fighting crime, locking up the bad guys. Man, in comparison to that high octane life what do you do for time off?"
"I do not take "time off". I am on duty twenty four seven." Scootaloo's eyes grew wider at the remark, but before she could speak AJ cut in with a chuckle.
"It's no wonder Twi took ya in so quickly. She has a certain affinity fer guards." Robocop turned to face Twilight when his scanners detected her temperature increasing, but she cleared her throat and turned to face them all with a regal, and slightly red, face.
"Alright everypony, we're here," she said as she raised both her wings, pointing them up at the building behind her. Robocop followed her wings, looking up at a massive castle that towered over the rest of the town. His sensors couldn't determine what it was made of nor how such an unbalanced castle could stand, but despite that it impressed him a bit.
"Welcome to the palace of friendship. Now let's go inside."
The crystals embedded in the wall played hell with Robocop's scanners as they tried to categorize what material they were, but Robocop's current attention was on the ponies besides him, each of whom was asking him a different question.
"Why haven't ya taken off yer helmet yet? Ah want to see yer face?" Applebloom asked him.
"I cannot without proper tools."
"Can't you move any faster? Come on slowpoke!" Scootaloo said from behind as she tried to give him a push, yet her efforts proved fruitless against the metal frame of his body. "Geez, how many criminals get away from you if all you do is walk?"
"None."
"Isn't this all...scary for you?" Sweetie Belle finished from the side. "I mean, you're in a new land with creatures that I assume you've never seen before, yet you act like this is normal for you."
"I am not programmed to be surprised or afraid. I uphold the law for all sentient beings, even if they are...ponies." Twilight frowned and looked up at him out of the corner of her eye.
"There you go with that word again. Programmed. And earlier you mentioned directives. Robocop, you are a human, you do know that right? From the way you talk and act it's almost as if you consider yourself to be a total machine." Robocop opened his mouth to reply, but his speech functions were temporarily made inoperable by the sight that greeted his visor when Twilight opened the next set of doors.
Six chairs made of a majestic white material sat in a circle around a white star in a golden floor, with a smaller throne next to the one with Twilight's mark engraved in it. More of the strange crystals surrounded the windows, but to Robocop's interest he found the windows to be crafted with emeralds instead of glass. This place would have cost a fortune...and would be a place of criminal desire.
"Yeah, I get that a lot when I bring ponies here," Twilight said with a shake of her head as she welcomed the officer into the throne room. She sat on the throne with her mark while the other ponies did the same, the small fillies taking up a single throne by themselves, one with a rainbow lightning bolt. "Please have a seat; there is much I wish to speak with you about."
Robocop sat down on the throne with the butterflies and a loud crack could be hear as he did so, startling the ponies as the seat of the chair now had a massive crack in it from his weight. Twilight and the others took a moment to register this before she cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Ooookay then, we only got a little chance to talk on the train, but there were still a few more questions I wanted to ask you," Twilight began as she flipped open a notebook, glancing at the questions. "How did you get here? You said that you were incapable of magic and that is the only way I know how to travel between worlds."
"I am not certain myself," Robocop responded as his recordings appeared before his eyes, showing him the moment he fell into the green and blackish vortex that he assumed had brought him here. "I fell into a vortex while performing my duties, so that is the most likely cause for my arrival here."
"Hmm, that does seem interesting," she mused as she wrote down his answer. Out of the corner of his eyes Robocop was aware of the fillies poking his arm with their hooves, but he did respond as they were causing no trouble. "How about the armor you wear? It seems a lot nicer than what we have for our guards and from the little I saw of you in action it seemed to stop our spells."
"Titanium laminated with Kevlar," he responded. "My armor is designed to stop whatever form of weaponry that is thrown at me. So far nothing has gotten through to finish me."
"So why are ya still wearing it?" Applejack asked him from her throne. "We're not gonna hurt ya, so there's no need to wear it around us." He turned his head as his scanners began to make a record of her, causing AJ's face to fall slightly as he stayed silent for a moment.
"This is more than armor to me," he replied after a moment, turning his attention back to Twilight. "This suit is what allows me to carry out my duty and follow my directives. It is not something that I can or would take off."
"So it's like your helmet?" Spike chimed in, getting a nod in response. Twilight pondered over her next question for a minute before her eyes glanced at his legs, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"Scootaloo did bring up a good point, you are really slow," she muttered as Robocop looked down at his own legs. "Yet you said that you've never let a criminal escape you despite moving along as if you have all the time in the world. Please tell me how you have done so with your speed."
"My legs are armored as heavily as my chest so that I cannot easily be incapacitated by a stray shot or explosion," Robocop replied. Robocop then stood up as the paneling in his right leg moved to the side, causing the ponies to gasp as he reached down and pulled out a long, black item. He spun it once before clicking something on the side of it, then showing it to the princess. "This is why no criminal escapes me."
"Whoa!" Scootaloo said with amazement as she looked up at it, before a confused look came across her face. "Wait, what is it?"
"Beretta 93r, also known as the auto-9. In this houses a three round burst of 50. Caliber ammunition, the strongest of its kind," Robocop answered as he held it to the side of him, Twilight looking at it with interest.
"That's very interesting, but that doesn't answer my question completely," Twilight said. "What does it do?" Robocop thought about his answer for a long moment before he looked at the firearm and then to Twilight again.
"It enforces the law." The fillies next to him and the young dragon wowed at the firearm while Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, let me be more direct. Can you show me what it does?" Robocop consider saying no for a moment, as he only had a limited number of shots in his gun for an infinite number of criminals. But Twilight was his superior and he had to obey her orders, unless they conflicted with his directives. So with precision aiming he pointed the gun at a crystal hanging from the ceiling, preparing to fire when a noise filled the room.
DING-DONG!
"Huh, I wonder who that could be." Twilight asked before she looked up at Robocop. "We'll finish with show and tell later; right now I need to see to whoever's at the door." Twilight and the others hopped off their thrones and headed to the door, Robocop following behind them slowly as he holstered his gun again.
"Yes, can I-?" Twilight asked as she opened the door before her face turned bright red. Rarity and AJ walked to the side of her to see what the matter was, but the moment they saw who was at the door they both looked at each other with sly smiles before poking Twilight in the gut.
"Hello, Princess Twilight," a pony in a guard's uniform said to the princess with a low bow, Twilight's eyes never leaving him once as he performed the motion. He rose up with a smile at the other ponies before his eyes went wide as he looked past Twilight. "Look out!" he yelled as he tossed Twilight to the side before charging at the metal man behind her. Robocop caught the brash Pegasus with his fist and slammed him to the ground, where the pony coughed as Robocop placed a foot on him.
"I hope you realize what you've done by attacking an officer of the law?" Robocop asked him as he brought his fist back, but with a shriek Twilight placed herself between the fist and the pony.
"STOP! Get off of him this instant!" she screamed at Robocop, who looked at her for a moment before he removed his foot from the perpetrators chest. The pony began to wheeze as Twilight helped him back to his hooves, glare at Robocop the entire time. "Do you have ANY idea what you just did? You could have hurt him."
"He assaulted an officer of the law. He is lucky that nothing is broken."
"For the last time, you are not a law official here," she growled before turning to the pony, brushing her mane out of her face as she smiled at the guard with an embarrassed smile. "Hey Flash. Sorry about...all of that.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," Flash muttered as he looked up at Robocop with narrowed eyes as he rubbed his jaw. "Is this some sort of experiment of yours or is this a common creature around these parts?"
"Actually, we were just figuring out what he was when you rang," she nervously laughed before looking past him to see a number of guards outside, all of whom had smiles on their faces, apparently from the beat down that Flash had just received. "Wait, why are you here? And why are there so many guards?"
"That what I wanted to tell you," Flash said with a serious tone as pulled out an envelope to hoof to her. "This is from Princess Celestia. She wanted to mail it to you, but she currently does not trust the mail systems or magical means of mailing this. Everything you need to know is inside." Twilight skimmed through the letter until she got to the center of it, where both of her eyes went wide with shock.
"Sombra's back?!" she half screamed, causing a number of ponies that had been listening outside to begin screaming. "Oh that's not good. And neither is this! How can he be back?!"
"As the letter says, Celestia doesn't know for certain herself, but she wanted to inform you as quickly as she could. Unfortunately with Sombra on the run, she wasn't confident of this letter reaching you except by giving it to me. Sombra would most likely tamper with the other systems," Flash said before nodding to the guards behind him, who gave him a sneer before they all started to walk away. "Sigh...the guards were stationed here by Celestia herself to keep you and your friends safe, as you are all the most likely candidates for Sombra to attack."
"That seems brash, even for Sombra," AJ said from besides Twilight. "If he is back, then he'll know that we now possess magic even greater than that of the Elements. He'd just be walking into another flank whooping!"
"Yes darling, but remember that we all need to be together for the magic to be at its strongest. If he wished, he would pick us off one by one weaken our strength considerably and with Dash out of town..." Rarity said before she walked over to one of the hunkier guards and battered her eyes at him. "However, I have little issue being protected by our finest."
"Yes...it sound like it's for the best for now," Twilight agreed as she looked down at the three fillies around her hooves. "Alright, I will contact my friends and tell them what is going on. Girls, I want you to listen to me closely. I don't want you going anywhere in Ponyville without either me or the guards with you. Sombra might try to get to us through our families. Flash, I know that you were most likely sent here to protect me, but I want you to stay with these three. They're far more vulnerable than me."
For a moment Flash's face fell before he stood up straight and saluted. "Very well Princess Twilight, if those are your orders."
"I will patrol the streets and make recording of areas this...Sombra might appear," Robocop began as he tried to walk past Twilight, but she constructed a barrier that prevented him from going any further.
"Oh no you don't! You are staying here," Twilight ordered as she gave him a regal glare. "Until I have a full assessment of you and your weaponry I do not want you leaving this castle unless with me or a guard. Am I clear?" Robocop gave her no answer, but he didn't move from where he stood. Twilight sighed and hoped that he would listen to her before she walked out of her castle, Applejack, Rarity and the fillies following them.
'I listen to my superior's orders,' Robocop silently thought as he watched them walk away, never knowing that his fist was clenching as he thought this.
/\__/\ \/ \/
"Urgh, their magical barriers have gotten far stronger than the last time I tried to take Canterlot," a dark shadow sneered underneath of a large tree, looking through the canopy of the forest to the city that rested on the side of a mountain, figuring that at any moment the streets would be swarmed with guards that would be looking for him. "Bah and here I was wondering what my two favorite princesses were up to in that secret factory of theirs. No matter, I shall learn soon enough."
The shadow slithered across the floor of the forest, making sure to stay out of any light that shown through the dark leaves that blocked out the sun. He did not like to take risks, especially since he was still far weaker than he was used to being. He took on his pony form in a particular dark part of the forest, allowing his black mane to fall across his shoulders as he pulled a map out of the darkness, narrowing his eyes at his location.
"I see. I am by...Ponyville? Say, isn't that what the new Princess Twilight and he infernal friends call home?" he asked himself with a chuckle as he reached back into the darkness and pulled out a book on the new Elements of Harmony, flipping through the pages to learn about each of them. "Oh yes, it seems that would be so. I should pay them all a visit. But as fun as it would be to slit their throats right now, in my current state it seems that I am no match for them. What to do?"
His answer came in the form of a snarling beast that leapt out of the trees, roaring at him as he spun around to face it, a smile spreading across his face as it snarled at him. "You'll do. While my magic may be too weak to influence ponies," he began as he shot a beam of darkness from his fractured horn, blasting the manticore in the eyes. "A mindless beast such as yourself is easy prey. Now then, what should I use you for?"
He turned his attention once again to the book, smiling as it rested upon the families of the mane six. "Well, I am never one who passes up the chance for a bargaining chip or three. Beast, I have something...or should I say, someponies for you to foalnap. Soon."
The chirping of the birds overhead would normally be enough to sooth any troubled pony's soul, but unfortunately for Flash Sentry he and three other guards had been given the task of watching over the CMC, fillies who were rarely, if ever, quiet. The three of them were yelling as loud as their lungs would allow as they talked about their day and all of the crusading they would do once they got to the treehouse.
"Maybe we should try parasailing again?" Sweetie Belle suggested with a shrug. "I mean, we never really got to do it last time since my sister found out where we were, but I'm sure if we try it again..."
"Don't even think about it. Applejack said she'd ground me till ah was granny's age if ah ever gave her a heart attack like that again," Applebloom responded with a shudder, never having seen her sister that terrifying before.
"Besides, parasailing's no fun anyway," Scootaloo said as she lazily drifted along besides her friends on her scooter. She then looked back at the blue maned guard escorting them to the treehouse. "How about you, mister protector of Twilight? What do you do for fun when you're not all guard duty and stuff?"
Flash thought about his answer for a moment before he shrugged at Scootaloo. "I really haven't had time for fun in a long time, but I think I used to play the guitar back in high school. Other than that though, most of my time is taken up by my work. Someponies got to protect the innocent of this land."
"And you're doing just a great job," one of the other guards snickered from behind Flash, the others joining in on the laugh when the Pegasus never heard them.
"So you work all the time too? Ugh, no wonder Twilight likes you." Scootaloo and the other giggled at how red Flash's face became, but he regained control of himself a moment later while smirking at the young Pegasus. The group continued to talk and joke until they got to the very edge of the town, where a large field was the only obstacle left between them.
"Are the four of ya still gonna stick around while we're crusading?" Applebloom asked Flash, who nodded. "Alright, but ya'll can't join in. Ya'll got yer cutie marks already, so ya'll can't come in." Flash laughed at that before a snarl caused him and the other ponies to instantly perk up, all eyes glancing around for the sound.
"Behind us!" one of the guards yelled as he leapt back from a massive claw that would have taken his head off had he not dodged it. All of the ponies gasped in unison as they saw the monstrous manticore that lumbered towards them, eyes a pure yellow and dark smoke coming from its mouth.
"What are one of these things doing so far out of the forest?" one of the guards asked before firing a bolt of magic into the creatures chest, only to find to his horror that the smoke absorbed the spell, rendering it useless. "And since when can they do that?!"
The beast sniffed the air a few times before its yellow eyes narrowed in on the three fillies that were hiding behind Flash Sentry. It then split the air with a roar before it lunged towards the three, claws outstretched as it prepared to tear through the pony before it. Flash managed to tackle the three out of the way as the creature's claws found only dirt, causing it to snarl as it rose back up.
"It's targeting the fillies! Don't let it near them!" he yelled to the other guards as he drew a short sword that rested at his side, snarling up at the monster before him. A guard attacked it from behind, leaping onto its back and driving a blade into its shoulder. The creature roared before reaching back and grabbing the guard, hurling him into the side of one of the few buildings that stood in the area.
"We have to hit it all at once! It's too powerful for us to take alone!" Flash instructed as he rolled out of the way of a swipe, driving his sword into the creatures paw. The manticore yanked its paw back in pain, taking the guards weapon with it. It snarled as it bit down on the hilt of the blade and yanked it from its paw, spitting it away as it turned back to face Flash with fire in its eyes. "I need back up over here!"
The guards all looked at each other as the manticore let loose another roar, fear in their eyes as they all silently agreed on the same thing. They all then turned at once and sprinted back into the town, running as fast as their hooves could carry them.
"Where are you all going?!" Flash yelled at them before a swipe from the paw knocked him across the grass, where he landed in a heap with a groan. The CMC stood frozen in place as the creature turned its yellow eyes towards them, slowly turning its body towards them as well before it began to slowly march toward them, its eyes telling them what would happen if they moved. It towered over the three of them as it reached down to pick them up before it roared as it felt a sharp pain in its back.
"Girls, RUN!" Flash yelled as he drove the blade into the creature’s side again, ramming into it with all of his might to push it away from the fillies. The manticore spun quickly and swatted him back down to the ground, placing a paw on his chest as it began to crush the life out of him. The CMC could only watch in horror as Flash fought for breath, desperately punching the creatures arm as he tried to escape.
'I can't win!' he thought with fear in his heart. 'I need to get away. B-but I can't just leave the fillies. But I don't want to die!'
"You are weak," the manticore said in a wicked voice with a smile. "Die." Flash cried out weakly as the beast pushed its paw down, but then a sound reached their ears. It sounded like footsteps, footsteps that sounded like metal hitting the dirt. The manticore lifted its head to see something that made it blink twice in confusion. A massive bi-pedal creature covered completely in armor was walking towards them, the ground shaking beneath his footsteps. It came to a stop ten feet away from the manticore, surveying the whole situation before it spoke.
"Alright creature, if you can understand me then this is your first and only warning. Step away from the ponies and place your claws over your head," Robocop instructed. The manticore narrowed its eyes before it let go of Flash, slowly turning its body to face the robotic officer. Then it unleashed a roar towards the man that shook the ground, but the roar was ripped apart by a sound so loud it caused the CMC to scream. The manticore howled as blood began to pour from its wings, where three small holes had appeared.
"That was your only warning shot," Robocop said to the creature, now pointing the auto 9 towards its head. "I will not hesitate to put you down. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The manticore narrowed its eyes, carefully observing the weapon the unknown creature held within its hands. Then it opened its mouth wide and a blast of darkness shot from within, striking Robocop in the arm and knocking his gun to the side. The manticore then leapt into the air, claws outstretched as it prepared to rip him apart.
"Easy way it is then." The ground splintered as twin ram bolts shot out of the soles of Robocop's feet, anchoring him in place as he caught the massive manticore...and never even budged as the huge beast slammed into him. Both the manticore and the ponies looked at him in disbelief as he pushed back against the creature that was larger than him without giving any ground. "Apparently you are not an intelligent creature. If you were, then you would have surrendered."
Robocop brought his fist back and drove it under the beast's jaw, snapping its head back and sending it staggering. With it stunned, he retracted the ram bolts back into his feet and marched up to the creature, driving his metal fist into its face again when it turned to look at him and blooding its face.
"Since you do not appear to be sentient, I do not need to read you your rights," Robocop explained as he walked towards the creature again, which was picking itself out of the dirt while trying to comprehend what had just hit it. Robocop grabbed hold of its shoulder and spun it around to face him, grabbing it by the throat with his other hand and pulling it to its feet. "But you are under arrest and shale be restrained. If you wish to continue this futile resistance, then do so now."
Faster than any of the ponies eyes could register the manticore's tail shout out from behind it and drove it's stinger into the exposed face of Robocop, the creature smiling as the ponies gasped in horror. But then to all of their surprises again Robocop never flinched from the impact and when the manticore withdrew its tail it found its stinger snapped in half, with the face it made getting a smile out of the officer.
"Sorry to inform you, but that is not skin for you to damage and there is no blood for your poison to course through," Robocop said before driving a knee into the creatures gut and dropping it to the ground. "You have nothing that can harm me." To prove his point even further the manticore spun and slashed with its claws, which failed to even scratch his armor. "And you do not learn." Another right hook sent the creature to the ground again, where it remained motionless. Robocop scanned it for a moment before he turned and walked over to the fillies and the wounded guard, all three of them looking at Robocop in disbelief as he walked over to them.
"Are you alright officer?" Robocop asked Flash.
"Um yeah, but I wouldn't be if you hadn't shown up," Flash weakly admitted with a grunt as Robocop offered him a hand, helping him back up to his hooves. "Not that I'm anything but grateful, but I thought Twilight ordered you to stay in the castle-"
"Unless I am with her or a guard. Those were her exact words," Robocop answered as he looked down at Flash. "And I am with a guard." Flash tilted his head at his answer as Robocop turned to the three fillies, who were still looking up at him with disbelief. "Are the three of you safe?"
"Uh, yeah. We're fine. Thanks Robocop," AB responded in a dumbfounded tone while Scootaloo managed to find her voice.
"How the heck did you do that?" she asked him as she gazed at the robotic officer with amazement. "You just beat no no no PUNCHED out a manticore!"
"Was that supposed to be difficult?" Robocop asked her in a monotone voice, getting a laugh out of the fillies. He prepared to escort them back to their homes when his sensors went off a second too late. A blast of darkness caught him in the back unaware, causing him to stumble. He regained his balance and spun around to see the manticore lung through the air at him, tackling him to the ground and causing the both of them to roll across the ground.
"You are a strange one," the manticore snarled at him, actually surprising the officer. "I have never seen such a beast as you. It makes me sad that I must kill you here."
"You are the strange one, if you believe this display is enough to prove that you can kill me," Robocop responded as he placed both his feet into the manticore's gut. He pushed off with all of his robotic might and hurled the creature back, where it landed on its feet and charged at him again as he rose back to vertical. The manticore swung at Robocop again and the officer brought his arm up to defend himself, hearing a metallic clang as the claws bounced off his arm.
"My turn." Robocop drove his right hand into the creatures gut, doubling it over. He then brought back his left arm to follow up the attack, but almost immediately he realized that something was wrong with his arm. He turned his head to look at his arm and his suspicions were confirmed as he saw sparks falling from his elbow. 'The motors must have been damaged by the attack just now. Punk got a lucky shot.'
Almost immediately the manticore picked up that something was wrong and it dove in for the kill, fastening its jaw around the elbow of Robocop's left arm. It then swung its head like a dog with a chew toy, Robocop have the bad misfortune of being that chew toy. The manticore took him off his feet and slammed him into the ground, where it pinned him with one of its paws before it pulled back with its neck, trying to tear Robocop's arm straight off.
"We need to help him!" Scootaloo cried out as the four ponies watched the battle continue, with Robocop struggling to push the manticore off of him again. Flash looked at the situation with bitter eyes, knowing that he was far too beaten up to help. Then his eyes rested upon a small black item that rested on the road next to the two battling. He raced over to the item, picking it up with his hooves as he looked at it with confusion.
'I don't know why he carried this, but it must be important.' He turned to see that Robocop had managed to fight back to his feet, but the manticore refused to let go of his elbow no matter how hard the officer beat upon the beasts face. "Robocop, catch!" Flash yelled as he tossed the gun to the officer. Robocop's sensors took note of the arc of the gun and how fast it was traveling, allowing him to catch it with ease.
"You want something to chew on?" Robocop asked as he spun the gun one before pointing it right between the manticore's eyes. "Chew on these."
The air was shattered by the sound of three shots tearing through the air, but that sound was quickly followed up the sound of the ponies screaming as the bullet's punched through the manticore's skull. Blood shot out of the back of the beasts head and plastered the wall behind it with blood and brains, while the corpse fell to the ground without another sound.
"Hmm, must not have liked the flavor." Robocop shook the beast off of his arms, which then fell limp at his side. He looked down at it with a frown as he saw the extent of the damage, knowing that he would need to repair it soon.
"W...what was that?" Robocop turned his head to see the three fillies looking towards him with fear in their eyes, but their eyes weren't focused on him. It was on his gun. "What did that thing just do?"
"It did as I told you," Robocop said as he spun the gun before holstering it. "It enforced the law."
Despite the door to the castle being reinforced, Robocop still kicked it open with relative ease before walking inside with the CMC behind him and Flash tucked under his good arm. He turned his head to look back at the small fillies, whose eyes were still wide after the shock of seeing what his weapon had done to the manticore.
Robocop knelt down in the center of the room and gently placed Flash on the floor before him, switching over to scanners to determine the damage. "My scans indicate that you only have minor fractures along one of your ribs, the rest is just bruising," Robocop informed him as he stood back up, Flash giving him a weak smile. "You are lucky."
"Luck may have had a part to do with it. Or it could have been the guy in impenetrable armor that saved our lives," Flash weakly replied as he rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes, wincing ever once in a while. Robocop looked down at his own damaged limb with a frown before walking over to a table that rested against the wall, grabbing it with his good arm and dragging it over in front of one of the thrones. He was bringing up his records on how to repair himself when he noticed the CMC still staring at him.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"Um...thank you, fer saving us," Applebloom said softly, Robocop nodding at her before turning his attention back to his arm. "If ya don't mind me asking, how did ya know we were in trouble?"
"My scanners picked up an unknown energy near the edge of the town, an energy that was registered as destructive and dangerous. I went out to make sure that no one would be harmed by this energy," Robocop informed them as he realized that he needed power tools if he was to repair the damage done.
"But didn't Twilight order you to stay in the castle-"
"Unless I was with her or a guard," Robocop finished for the filly as he motioned to the sleeping Flash with his good arm. "If there was an unknown energy source, I assumed that there would be at least one guard there."
"Yeah, but there should have been more," Sweetie Belle grumbled as she looked down at her hooves, gaining Robocop's attention once again. "The other guards ran off though when the manticore was too much for them. Poor Flash over there was the only one fighting against that beast until you showed up."
"The other guards abandoned you?" Robocop asked the fillies with what almost sounded like surprise, and then he clenched his fist as he glared at the table in front of him. "I assure you that they will not get away with that."
The moment he finished saying that the sounds of hooves could be heard on the crystals and the fillies turned around to see two figures tackle AB and Sweetie Belle. "Oh thank heavens yer alright," Applejack said with relief in her voice as she gave her sister a death hug, AB fighting with all her might to remain breathing.
"If anything had happened to you, I...I don't know what I would have done," Rarity sobbed as she gave Sweetie a much nicer hug. Twilight entered the room behind the two and hugged Scootaloo, though when Robocop looked past her he saw the guards from that had apparently abandoned the fillies standing around the door. Twilight then turned her attention to the fallen Flash and she raced over to him, looking over his wounds with horror in her eyes.
"Oh Flash..." she whispered as she gently placed a hoof on his face, waking the guard up. Flash looked at Twilight with a small smile before he pushed himself to his hooves.
"Don't worry princess, doctor roboto over there said that it's a minor fraction at most, nothing too serious," Flash said with a chuckle before he looked past her to the guards hanging around the door. "And now, only after all the fighting's over, do the lot of you bother to show your sorry faces."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Rarity asked Flash as the CMC glared at the guards as well. "They told us that you sent them to get us."
"Trust me, I told them no such thing," Flash snarled, causing the guards to back away from him. "I assume they told you about the manticore that attacked us on the edge of town? They did? Did they tell you that when the creature used dark magic against us that they turned tail and ran, leaving me and the fillies alone against the beast?"
All eyes turned towards the guards, who hid their faces beneath their helmets in response. Twilight didn't want to believe it, but from the looks on the faces of the fillies and Flash she had to assume the worst.
"So...anything you want to say to me in front of the Element of Honesty?" Twilight asked the lot of them, none of them answering her as both her and Applejack's eyes pierced through them. "Alright, did you abandon three, little fillies to a manticore and a single guard when they needed your help? I want an answer." The guards never responded, but one of the guiltier looking ones nodded sadly.
"Very well. You are all dismissed," Twilight snarled with narrowed eyes, spreading her wings when they tried to argue with her. "Don't. You have shown your true colors and I cannot trust you with any pony’s safety. Return to Canterlot and inform Celestia of what happened. And I’ll know if you don't tell her."
The guards left with their heads hung low, leaving Twilight to turn her attention to the other problem in the room. "You disobeyed my orders," she said to Robocop, who looked like he was trying to take his arm off. He turned his head towards her as she spoke to him before standing up, his arm hanging limp at his side.
"You instructed me to not leave this castle unless I was with your or a guard," Robocop repeated. "I was with Flash Sentry, a designated guard. Therefore, I did not disobey you. Now if you excuse me, I must attend to something." He sat back down and continued working on his arm, the actions not escaping Twilight's notice,
"What happened to him?" she whispered to Scootaloo next to her.
"The manticore we fought tried everything it could to hurt him, but almost all of the attacks didn't even make a dent," she replied. "I guess one attack messed up his arm though, since he's barely moved his left one since he..." Twilight didn't know why Scootaloo stopped there, but she knew that Robocop was injured and needed aid.
"Okay Robocop, let's take you to the hospital," she sighed as she walked over to him. "Do you want to remove your armor now or wait until we get to the hospital?"
"Negative. All I require is a drill and some more wire," he requested, his tone telling Twilight that he wasn't leaving.
"Alright. Rarity, there should be some power tools downstairs, but if not look around please." Rarity nodded and headed into the lower chambers of the castle. Twilight was then free to turn her attention back to the others in the room. "Alright Flash, when we head to the hospital we'll get you checked on as well, but before that do you mind telling me what happened?"
"I'll make it quick, talking makes it worse," Flash grunted. "We escorted the fillies to the edge of the city and there was a manticore that used dark magic, so I assume Sombra sent it. It went right for the fillies, me and the other guards tried to fight it, but when it seemed hopeless they fled. I was getting beaten pretty bad and that's when Robocop over there showed up. The manticore started fighting with him and...nothing it used worked on him. it's claws didn't scratch his armor, it's tail couldn't penetrate his skin...he just laid into it. It bit into his arm and wounded him slightly, but then he..." Twilight raised an eyebrow when Flash didn't finish his sentence, but Robocop picked up for him.
"I removed it's brain from its skull. Forcefully," Robocop said from the throne, having given up on his arm until he got his tools. "The manticore received three .50 caliber rounds through the brain. It did not get up. You will ask for an example, but as I wish to conserve my ammo I will not demonstrate for you now."
"Well, thanks for saving me the trouble of asking," Twilight muttered, although she was on guard against the human again. She had received the autopsy of the ponies (the reason they had been out) that had been brought down by Robocop and almost all of them had either fatal puncture wounds or were missing their brains and the back of their skulls. 'He must have a weapon that can kill anypony with ease. Thank Celestia that he's on the laws side. Actually...now that I think about it...'
"I found them!" Rarity exclaimed as she emerged from the lower chambers, holding a power drill, some crystals and a box of wires. "I also found some nifty crystals that I'm going to borrow from you Twilight. They would look much better on a dress than they would simply lying around the castle." Rarity dropped the box on the table in front of Robocop before she pranced over to her sister, showing her the crystals as Robocop picked up the drill.
"So, finally gonna take off some of yer armor huh?" Applejack asked with a smile as Robocop spun the drill once.
"Something along those lines." Then, to the surprise of the ponies, Robocop placed the drill in a screw near his shoulder and began to drill, removing a screw that Twilight realized was far larger than it should have been. After placing that screw on the table, he then placed the drill under his arm in a similar spot and removed another screw.
"Um, are those screws supposed to go that deep?" Applejack asked, all of the ponies watching with interest. After removing the second screw, Robocop then placed both the screw and the drill on the table before he reached over with his right hand and...completely removed his arm from his body. Rarity let out a scream before she passed out on the ground while all the other ponies looked on with absolute disbelief. Robocop took his arm and placed it on the table before him, picking up the drill again to remove some armor near the elbow.
"Y...you just...removed your arm," Twilight managed to squeak out.
"Excellent observation. All of my limbs are designed to be removable for repairs or replacement," Robocop explained as he removed some wires from his arm, replacing them with the new ones next to him. "It seems I am fortunate. One of the motors was knocked loose and a few wires cut, but other than that the damage is minimal." He replaced the armor on the arm before picking it up again, holding it back where it was supposed to go before looking over at Twilight. "Would you mind holding this in place?"
"Okay," Twilight squeaked as she held the arm in place with her magic as Robocop began to replace the screws in his arm. "So...you have a metal arm. Your arm is mechanical."
"Incorrect. Ninety nine percent of my body is either metal or mechanical, including both arms and legs," Robocop replied, gaining him looks of horror from the ponies that were watching. "The lower half of my face that you are observing now is not actual flesh. It is a facsimile created to give the citizens the impression that I am human when I clearly am...not."
"So...what are you then?" Sweetie weakly asked.
"The proper term for one like me is cyborg. But I am Robocop, upholder of the law," Robocop replied as he stood up, bending his elbow and flexing his hand with a nod. "Arm capability at ninety seven percent. Acceptable percentage." None of the ponies knew what to say in response to what Robocop had just said. Then Flash spoke up.
"How did this...happen to you?" Against his will, images began to flash through Robocop's mind. the day him and his partner attempted to arrest a criminal gang at an abandoned steel mill. When he went in alone to arrest the criminals and bring them to justice. When he was ripped apart by the gang members and their fire power. When the leader...shot him in the head. Robocop then looked down at his metal hand again, clenching it tightly as the vague notion of rage whispered in his mind.
"I was murdered," Robocop whispered so softly that none of them could hear him before he turned his gaze to Twilight. "What is it you wish to ask me?" Twilight looked stunned at his question, but after shaking her head she looked up at the robotic officer with regal eyes.
"Robocop, I've heard about what you have done for my ponies in the...day and a half you've been here. At first I didn't trust you, but after seeing how ready you are to risk your life for others...and how my own guard seem to have none of the courage or morals they once had, not you Flash, I realize that you are on our side now, the side of the law. And since I seem to be down a few guards now that I've fired them, I need somepony...someone who can replace them."
"If you are going to instate me as an officer, please do it officially," Robocop replied.
"Very well then. Robocop, by the authority of my title as princess, I make you a guard...officer of Equestria. Your duty is to uphold the law, enforce peace and protect those who cannot protect themselves. Can you follow these orders?" Robocop slightly smiled at how she chose her words, knowing that she had picked them based on his own directives. This would make his new job here in Equestria that much easier.
"I will follow the directives that you have instructed me with," Robocop replied as he stood up straight, the CMC and the other ponies (except for Rarity) smiling up at him. "I shall serve the public trust. I will uphold the law." And then he turned his gaze towards the three fillies for a brief moment. "And I will protect the innocent."
The dew was still on the grass and leaves as Robocop marched through the practically empty streets of Ponyville, knowing that even the most beautiful of days could still hold the ugliness of crime. With no desire to sleep and not caring much for the "food" that sustained him, Robocop had decided to patrol his new beat and memorize areas and locals. Though he was not alone in his patrol, as Flash Sentry (who had also been up at the crack of dawn) had tagged along with the officer.
"Man, even the most hardcore guards are rarely up this early in the morning," Flash yawned as he sleepily walked alongside Robocop, finding that the officer rarely ever slowed down...and that he never sped up. "Do you ever sleep?" Robocop did not answer right away, as he was focused on taking in his surroundings and adding them to his databanks, but when he did have no new information he turned his head to Sentry.
"I do shut down for maintenance, but other than that no, I do not need sleep." Flash frowned at that statement, still amazed that the human (as Twilight had called him) was more of a machine that he was living being, despite looking somewhat like one. "Now it is my turn to inquire. Why did you follow me when the others remained asleep and safe?"
"W-well...to see how operated," Flash admitted as Robocop scanned a large statue of a horse that had been made to honor the horse, but the engraving indicated to him that whoever the statue had been modeled after had constructed the tribute. "I mean come on, you're not only a...human from another world, but you're a guard as well. Why would I not follow you?"
"You do realize that we will most likely run into scum and in your state you would be in danger?" Flash scoffed at his statement.
"And you need to realize that you're in Ponyville. Swarm of parasprites? Sure. Attack by four headed monsters? Here that's Tuesday. But the one thing you rarely see in this small town is crime," Flash said with a smile as he looked around at all of the buildings, Robocop following his gaze all the while questioning why most of them had bats or spiders or other odd items on them.
"Why are the buildings decorated in such a manner?" Robocop asked Flash, snapping him out of his thoughts. "If it is such a peaceful place, then why adorn the houses with such odd items?"
"Nightmare night's coming up. What? Don’t know what that is? Come on, have you never heard of nightmare night?" Flash asked him with a smirk, but when Robocop gave him the same emotionless face as an answer, he figured he didn't. "Nightmare night is a one time a year event where ponies go out into the streets dressed in scary outfits and go from door to door gathering candy from ponies. Mostly only fillies gather the candy, but most everypony dresses up. It's to celebrate...I guess...Nightmare Moon. Or Luna, now that she's back."
"From your description it sounds similar to a holiday humans take part in, called Hallowe-" Robocop's words died as images began to flash through his mind of a woman chasing around a boy, a boy who was dressed like a devil and laughing as his mother chased him around. Murphy saw the boy and the mother both turn to face him before the memory ended, staggering the officer who had to lean against a building to keep from falling over.
"Whoa, you okay?" Flash asked him as Robocop righted himself, shaking his head slightly as he tried to recover from the images and the surge of...emotion that had washed through him upon their surfacing. He tightened his fists and forced himself to move forward again, keeping the memories locked away.
"I am fine, just a small hiccup in my system," Robocop responded as he turned back to where he had been walking to see a pink pony standing before him. "May I help you citizen?"
"Okay, I've been working for a day straight and only now do I realize that I have no idea what you like," Pinkie rapidly said as Robocop contemplated where she had appeared from. "I mean, if I'm going to make a party for you I have to theme it in a way so that you will enjoy it. Soooo, what do you like?"
"Justice," Robocop responded, getting a giggle out of Pinkie.
"I know that, but what else? Do you like bowling? How about dancing? Do you like dancing? Come on, what does somepony like you do for fun?"
"I am programmed to uphold the law and protect the innocent," Robocop dryly responded, Pinkie raising an eyebrow at his answer. "I am not programmed to have...fun." The statement paused Robocop, but only for a moment. He walked by Pinkie, who was still giving him a look, as Flash followed him.
"So where you heading now?"
"Princess Twilight recommended visiting the citizen known as Fluttershy. Her cottage is my next destination. Please clarify your statement earlier about Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon," Robocop asked.
"Sigh...it's a long story, but I’ll make it quick for you. Princess Celestia and Luna ruled Equestria together over a thousand years ago until Luna became jealous of the fact that more ponies seemed to love Celestia than her. Her jealousy then turned her into a monster named Nightmare Moon and she tried to overthrow Celestia. Celestia defeated her and banished her to the moon for a thousand years, whereas she has only recently returned."
"Intriguing story, yet why allow Nightmare Moon back if she tried to overthrow the kingdom once before?"
"Well she's Luna now, no longer Nightmare Moon. She's fine." Robocop did not see the reasoning in how simply changing ones name meant that they were no longer the same person, but then he realized that that was a question he had asked himself before.
"At least she is under the watchful eye of Princess Celestia and the royal guard," Robocop said, but Flash responded in a way he wasn't expecting when the sentry snorted with a look of disdain. "That was not a reaction I was expecting from one who is in the guard. Explain."
"It's...the Royal Guard is a joke, don't let any other pony tell you differently," Flash muttered with a shake of his head. "You saw most of our guard’s true colors the other day when we were abandoned in battle. Most guards nowadays are lazy, arrogant and cowards. Shining Armor, Twilight's brother, is one of the good one and I like to think of myself as a good one as well, but other than that, there aren't that many."
"You remained to uphold the law and defend the innocent when the other guards had fled. That makes you a good cop in my books."
"Thanks...it goes on from there though. The royal guard doesn't really do anything anymore. Hell, we rely on Twilight and her friends most of the time whenever something goes wrong. No don't get me wrong I looooo...-respect Princess Twilight, but what she does is what we should be doing. Yet all we guards do is stand around and look important, not that we actually are. Heh, you must have had it easier in your world, with how advanced you seemed to be."
"You are mistaken. Most of the cops in my city were either bought out, threatened or went on strike when they did not like when Omnicorp bought them, leaving the city defenseless against looters, murders, rapists and thieves," Robocop responded before his mouth thinned. "But they were right. Some of the higher ups at Omnicorp could not be trusted. I found that out the hard way."
Flash was still trying to wrap his mind around what Robocop had just said. "So why didn't you go on strike with them if you realized Omnicorp, whatever that is, was evil? Didn't want to leave the streets unprotected?"
"...I am programmed to uphold the law. Therefore, I cannot quit, retire or strike as it goes against my programming," Robocop responded. "I enforce the law twenty four seven without rest or break. It is what I do." Flash looked at Robocop with disbelief at his response.
"So...when can you finally stop enforcing the law? I mean, you have to quit sometime?"
"I will cease to be an officer of the law when some lucky punk manages to kill me," Robocop deadpanned to the horror of Flash Sentry. "And that is the most positive outlook on how I will meet my end."
"Man...That’s terrible. But they can't do that to you, right? I mean, you have to have some rights?" Flash asked.
"I am clinically dead. The dead do not have rights."
"But what about your family? Surely they would speak up or something?" Flash said to him, before Robocop turned to give him a cold look.
"I have no family." Flash asked a couple of more questions, but Robocop remained silent for the rest of the walk, only looking up again once the two of them had reached Fluttershy's cottage. Robocop walked up to the door and knocked on it three times, stepping back as a yellow Pegasus opened the door.
"Yes, may I...?" she began before her eyes went wide as she took in what was standing before her. Her blue eyes slowly looked up from the legs to the torso and finally to the helmeted head of the human, growing larger with each passing moment.
"Hello miss, I am Robocop," Robocop introduced, offering his hand to Fluttershy. Flash (who only knew of Fluttershy mostly from Twilight) expected her to scream and run away. But to his surprise Fluttershy gently stuck out her hoof and shook the officer’s hand before smiling up at him.
"Hello. I am Fluttershy. Twilight sent me a letter telling me all about you," Fluttershy said meekly before brushing her mane out of her eyes, Flash noticing that she looked at Robocop with a hint of interest in her eyes. "Would you please come inside? I would like to talk with you a little before I go on that trip with Pinkie in a few days."
"Wait, on a trip? Are you sure the two of you should be leaving town with Sombra around?" Flash asked her. "It won't be safe."
"Don't worry, Discord will be with us and he promised that he'll keep us safe," Fluttershy said with a smile before hanging her head. "Of course, if it wasn't a family matter we wouldn't go at all, not with Sombra around. But back to matters at hoof, please come inside."
"I am sorry ma'am, but I must continue my patrol of the town," Robocop replied as he turned on his scanner, having realized that in a land with limited technology the state of the art systems within him would not be as effective. He would have to patrol the old fashioned way. "If I am not there when the citizens need me, then I have failed in all regards. Please excuse me."
"Alright, I’ll come with you," Fluttershy said with a smile as she stepped out of her doorway. "Alright everyone, I’ll be back a little later. Angel, you're in charge. But don't let me hear about how you've gone mad with power again or you'll sleep outside. Shall we get going?"
"I am sorry miss, but I cannot allow a citizen to follow me into potentially dangerous zones," Robocop said. Fluttershy looked up at him for a moment before she walked over to Flash and smiled at him.
"Fine. I'll go with him then. Now shall we all be going?"
Flash could have sworn that Robocop almost smiled at Fluttershy's response, but any hint of emotion was gone in an instant when he turned and walked off back towards the town. Flash and Fluttershy conversed about how things were going and about their activities and for hours the walked around with Shy showing them the sights, but all the while Flash was certain that Robocop was listening to them yet he never once spoke up.
"Have you visited the school yet?" Fluttershy eventually asked him, drawing the officer back into their conversation. "Twilight told me how you rescued Applebloom, Sweetie and Scootaloo and I was wondering if you would like to see their school?"
"I am on patrol. I cannot allow myself to be distracted."
"Oh please? I'm sure that they would love to see you. School should just be getting out, so you won't have to worry about interrupting them," Fluttershy insisted as she batted her eyes at him, but it was to no avail. "Fine, but isn't the schoolyard an area that you would have to patrol anyway? Why not just head their now and check it out, since you haven't seen it before?"
Those words seemed to work on Robocop as he allowed Fluttershy to lead him in the direction of the schoolyard, but with his slow speed Flash and Fluttershy would themselves walking ahead of him most of the time, especially when he stopped to completely take in a new area.
"So, why do you keep looking at Robocop like that?" Fluttershy asked Flash while the two of them waited for Robocop to catch up with them, the school house within visible over the hill.
"What eyes? What are you talking about?" Flash asked her in response, moving away from her eyes, which seemed to be more observant than he remembered.
"You look at him like you don't know what to make of him, yet I see hints of admiration in your eyes," Fluttershy observed as Flash turned away from her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Flash grumbled as Robocop finally joined them again, Fluttershy shrugging her shoulders before the three of them walked over to the school. But Robocop knew that there would be trouble before the students were within his sight from the sounds of the screams, not the screams of someone in danger, but the screams and yells that people gave off when they were watching two people fight.
"Oh dear," Fluttershy gasped as the other two saw what Robocop had known from his experience. There were a circle of foals that created a ring around more foals, three others to be precise. Those three fillies were brawling in the mud outside of the school house, one of whom he recognized, the other two he did not. From the bow and the color of her coat Robocop identified one of the fillies as Applebloom, who was currently beating both a silver and a pink filly into the dirt with little effort. "We really should break them up, they shouldn't be-"
Robocop stepped forward and walked right through the foals that surrounded the three combatants, turning the yells and jeers into screams of horror as he walked past the foals. The three fillies all stopped fighting the moment that he came to a stop in front of them, but to make sure it stayed that way he said to them,
Nearly all of the foals went dead quiet at his words and the three that were fighting in the mud broke up almost immediately, the two that had been getting wailed on looking at Robocop with horror while Applebloom looked up at him with a smile. Fluttershy went to the side of the two dirty and bruised fillies, trying to help them with their small injuries.
"Alright, who started this and why?" Robocop asked the fillies, not surprised when the only one with the courage to speak to him was Applebloom.
"Ah was talking with mah friends when these two started insulting us fer no reason," Applebloom said with a glare at the two that she had been beating. "They called us blank flanks and how we would never get our cutie marks, so ah said that ah'd rather be a blank flank then have to rely on mah rich parent’s fer everything. Then they attacked me and with Cheerilee talking with the other foals parents ah had to show them what working on a farm does fer building strength."
"Is that so?" Robocop asked as he turned to the two, Applebloom giving them a smirk as he looked down at them. "And what is your side of the story?"
"I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you," the pink one snarled at Robocop with a tone that wasn't of fear, but of disgust and superiority.
"You will if you do not wish to get in trouble," Robocop responded, hoping that that would be enough to get her to talk but all it gained him was another sneer and a look of loathing.
"Trouble? My dad practically owns this town! I don't get into trouble, I get a scolding or a talking to, but that's it. So what if I fight with a couple of blanks flanks, it doesn't mean anything," the pink one snarled at him with a smirk on her face as she stood up and walked right up to the robotic officer and kicked him in the shin. "So I don't care who or what you are, monster, but I'd back off if I were you before my dad-YELP!"
The pink pony yelped as Robocop bent over and moved his visor very close to her face, watching as her confidence melted away into fear as she had to look into her reflection for the longest five seconds of her life.
"I do not care who your father is and I care even less about what he does," Robocop responded coldly. "If you do the crime, you pay the time. You may be a minor right now, but if you keep up this hot streak of yours when you are older then I will personally bring you in myself, with or without daddy's approval."
He rose back to his full height after saying this and the pony ran behind her silverish friend all the while cowering, but in the silence Robocop looked around to see that his words just hadn't had an effect on her alone. All of the fillies and even Fluttershy were looking at him with both fear and worry in their eyes. Robocop's sensors even picked up that some of them were muttering the word "monster" under their breaths.
"Stay out of trouble." And with that last bit of advice to the ponies he turned and marched off, Flash and the fillies he knew following him while Fluttershy remained behind to tend to the terrified fillies.
"They are not going to be happy with you after that," Flash muttered to Robocop, who opted for silence instead of an answer as the group walked back towards the town.
"That was...okay, that was scary, but I don't mind you putting Tiara in her place like that," Scootaloo said from besides Robocop as she shook her head. "Can't believe that you said that to Diamond Tiara even after she threatened you with her father though. She's not lying; he pretty much runs most of Ponyville. Don't let her talk fool you though, he doesn't let her get away with everything."
"I uphold the law and punish criminals, no matter their social standing. I don't care if he is president of the world, if he were to try and obstruct justice I would bring him down like any other criminal," Robocop defiantly replied. "The law applies to everyone, no matter their position or status."
"Well, regardless of what Tiara says or what she tries to do, nothing can ruin tonight for us," Sweetie Belle said with a huge smile on her face as she pumped a hoof into the air, the other fillies cheering in response to her words as their pumped their hooves into the air as well.
"What's tonight?" Flash asked Sweetie, whose smile grew even larger at his question.
"Tonight is the first night that we get to go out on nightmare's night all by ourselves! No Rarity, no Applejack; just the three of us going out and having fun by ourselves!" Sweetie Belle happily exclaimed, excitement shining in her eyes as she thought forward to the night with anticipation. "We're finally growing up!"
"And maybe we'll get our cutie marks for being such good grownups," Applebloom added, gaining even more cheers from her friends. "But first to Twilight's! She promised us to help out with the costumes."
The group walked to the massive palace, Flash opening the doors for the others as the fillies raced inside, Robocop following after them a few moments later. The fillies rushed into the main chamber with huge smiles on their faces, but their faces fell when they saw Rarity, Applejack and Twilight in a tight circle, discussing with each other in quiet voices. The three of them stopped talking when they saw the fillies, giving each other hesitant looks as they walked over to the girls.
"What are you three doing here?" Applebloom asked them, Applejack looking at the ceiling to avoid looking at her sisters eyes.
"Sweetie, girls, please don't hate us for what we're about to tell you, but...you can't go out tonight," Rarity said softly, getting three blank stares in response to her words.
"What?" Sweetie eventually asked, the other two still trying to process what they had just been told. "But you promised us that we could go out by ourselves tonight. You said that we were old and mature enough to handle ourselves! Don't tell me you're going back on that promise!"
"Actually, your sister meant that you’re not going out at all," Twilight weakly added, causing the fillies jaws to drop to the floor.
"This won't end well," Flash muttered from next to Robocop, who was waiting to report his actions to the princess.
"WHAT?!" Scootaloo exploded, making the ponies jump. "Do you know how much we've been looking forward to tonight?! How much we've planned? Tonight was the night that we'd get our cutie marks; you can't just say that-"
"It's for your own safety!" Applejack shouted back, silencing the filly and creating an awkward silence as she regained control of her composure. "Look, barely a day ago you and yer friends were targeted by a manticore being controlled by dark magic. Twilight assumes that Sombra was the one in control and that he was attacking you to get to us. And if it hadn't been fer Robocop, you might all be...what we're saying is its too dangerous fer you to be out at all."
"Then why don't you just come with us?" Scootaloo asked, but Twilight shook her head.
"We've got to patrol the entire town tonight to make sure that Sombra doesn't try anything, but we don't want to take any chances with the three of you. You'll be safe here with my magic shield around the castle."
"But...this was supposed to be the night we got to be mature," Applebloom said with a fallen face. "Tonight we were supposed to have fun."
Unbeknownst to the rest of the ponies, Robocop had been watching the entire conversation with interest, unable to side with the fillies due to Twilight's reasoning being too strong. But when Applebloom mentioned the word fun along with Twilight saying the word patrolling, an image flashed through his mind again with far more clarity than he remembered.
"Come on dad; don't tell me you're going as a cop. It's Halloween, dress as something else. You get to be a cop all year round, try something else tonight." The voice of Murphy's son rang in his ears and before his eyes he saw his boy in the devil costume racing around the house, excitement on his face as he waited for his father to respond.
"Sorry kid, but I'm not going to be able to go trick or treating with you tonight," Murphy's voice said as his hand reached out and patted the child on the shoulder, sadness filling up Robocop's heart as he saw his son's face fall. "I'm going out on patrol to keep you guys safe, so you'll have to have fun without me, alright?"
"But...we were supposed to go together," his son sadly muttered as he looked away from Murphy. "We were supposed to have fun tonight."
"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll go together next year."
"Yeah you say that. You're no fun anymore."
The vision ended as Robocop staggered once again, placing his hand on the wall to steady himself once again. Despite the memory vanishing quickly, Robocop raised both of his hands to look at them, slowly clenching his fists with realization. 'I...never took him. That was our last Halloween together.' Then he slowly looked over at the fillies who were still arguing with their sisters.
"Then you should escort them tonight." All eyes turned to Robocop, who had regained control of himself as he shoves his feelings of rage and sorrow deep down inside. "If you are worried about their safety then you should be with them as they enjoy themselves tonight."
"We need to look around the town to make sure that Sombra doesn't try anything while the festivities are going on," Twilight explained to him, but Robocop wasn't having any of it.
"Then you definitely should be with them. If you split your forces there is a greater chance that he will be able to assault one party while the other is away. If you are all together then he would have to attack all of us at once in order to harm one of us. It is the safer solution." Twilight opened her mouth to argue before she closed it again, thinking over his words while the three fillies all looked at Robocop with gratitude in their eyes for his efforts.
"You may be right there, it would be easier to keep them safe," Twilight considered before looking at Robocop. "But if we do it your way, I want you to personally escort the three while we're out trick or treating. I want to know that their safe if me and the girls have to head off and with Flash being injured..."
"I understand." Twilight nodded to him before she, AJ, Rarity and Flash all left the main room in the castle. The moment they were gone the CMC surrounded Robocop's feet and thanked him in rapid succession before they all started to discuss costume designs.
"I think that we should go as the three monsters," Sweetie said with a smile. "A vampire, a werepony and Frankenstein. There the perfect trio, just like us."
"I don't know, we went as those a few years ago," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "I really don't feel like putting that wolf suit on again, it kinda itched even after I took it off. Besides, I've got the coolest devil costume that I want to show you guys. Come on!" she said as the three raced towards the basement.
"One moment." Robocop's words stopped the three in their tracks and they turned to face Robocop, who looked like he was...nervous. "With it being a festival tonight similar to one that I have back on my world, I believe that I am going to need a costume if I am to properly escort you. However...that is not an area I excel in. Would you mind...aiding me?" The three only looked at each other for a moment before massive smiles broke out on their faces and they all nodded at him.
"Oh yeah, don't you worry. You've done a ton for us already, so we'll help you here," Scootaloo said as she and the other three began to circle him. "But if we're going to show you around in costume, then it needs to be the scariest costume in the town. Girls, any ideas?" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both looked at each other before they both smiled at the same time.
Since having fun was not in his databanks, Robocop wasn't certain if wrapping one’s self in toilet paper was fun, but he did know that he had arrested college students who had thrown flaming versions of the material he was now wearing onto houses.
"Okay, I think that we've got it perfectly," Sweetie Belle, dressed as a taco, said as she finished wrapping the last bit of toilet paper around Robocop's head, the paper covering his entire face except for his visor. "Go ahead and stand up now and let's see how it looks."
Robocop did as instructed, gaining an approving nod from both Applebloom, who was a skeleton, and Scootaloo, whose outfit caused images of Murphy's son to flash through his mind every time he looked at her.
"I like it. He looks like the mummy from the movies that I wasn't allowed to see," Scootaloo said with a devilish grin as she picked up a mirror and handed it to Robocop. "But what's important is what you think." He took the mirror from her and looked at himself, able to see his head and the upper half of his body within the reflection. The wrapping was well applied and he did look like the creature from the movie, but his eyes fastened onto his jaw, the only part of him that resembled anything human.
"I look...like a monster," he eventually said.
"Perfect! Then let's get going then!" Sweetie said happily as she grabbed her bag, the other two fillies doing the same. "Rarity and the others said they'd be waiting for us in the square, so let's a go! Time to scare ourselves some ponies!"
Sweetie, Applebloom and Scootaloo laughed aloud as they dashed through the crowds of ponies, drinking in the festivities of the night with huge smiles on their faces. In a moment they were at a stall with candied apples before in a burst of speed they ran to where a unicorn was making images made of smoke dance in the moonlit sky.
"I haven't seen them this happy in a while. Looks like you were right Robocop," Twilight said as she and the fillies sisters followed after the three girls, Robocop following just behind them at his slow pace. His head turned left and right as he took in the night through his wrappings, eyes on alert for any sign of criminal activity. Halloween was a time for punks and fools to be out breaking the law and he assumed that Nightmare Night would be no different.
"Flash and Fluttershy won't be joining us. Flash is still too hurt and Fluttershy doesn't like tonight," Twilight informed the others. "Rainbow is still off in Clousdale with her injured father, poor guy, and Pinkie hasn't left her house in a while. When I went to visit her it was like she was trying to figure something out."
"To bad that Flash couldn't come out, I'd hate to miss a night like this," Ice Queen Rarity said with a smile as she gazed at the spectacle before her. "All of the decorations, the lights, the creativity...tonight truly is a marvelous night."
"The only reason ya like it so much is because ya designed half of the town’s decorations yerself," Samurai Applejack pointed out to Rarity with a smirk, Rarity turning her nose up in response. "They are impressive though and really give the town that creepy feeling. Guess ya didn't have to change yer usual style too much, did ya?" AJ teased.
"AH! I will have you know that none of my apparel has ever been considered creepy or found terrifying!" Rarity exclaimed with indignation, Applejack stifling a laugh at the enraged look that Rarity wore.
"Really? Cause ah've seen a few of yer lacy dresses that gave me nightmares fer weeks." Robocop watched as Applejack ran off laughing with Rarity chasing the orange pony with murder in her eyes, Robocop about to break them up when Twilight informed him that was normal behavior.
"Besides, you have to watch the fillies with me," Twilight said with a smile. "Speaking of which." Her horned glowed as she concentrated and a moment later Robocop watched the three fillies get dragged into view, all of them with upset faces as Twilight released them from her magic. "How are you girls enjoying yourselves?"
"We were enjoying ourselves fine until ya dragged us back here and mussed up our costumes," Applebloom grumbled as she shook the dust from her mane and outfit, tilting her head at Twilight's costume. "Can ya please explain to us again what the heck yer wearing? It looks weird."
"Weird?! I'm dressed, no no, PAYING respects to Coral Crystal, the very first unicorn to discover that magic could be used for teleporting!" Twilight exclaimed as she looked through her massive spectacles at the three fillies, who looked anything but impressed. "She was a revolutionary in terms of magic and learning," Twilight continued as she looked up at the stars. "She also is credited with creating the multiverse theory, the theory that-"
Robocop turned away from the princess who was talking to the stars to follow the three fillies who had taken off, his directive to keep them safe pulling him away from Twilight's history lesson, which he did not find that interesting to begin with. He caught up with them at a barrel with apples in it, able to pick up the last of their conversation as he approached.
"...and don't you ever question mah knowledge of apples again," Applebloom finished, Sweetie Belle sitting down with a look on her face that told Robocop she was thinking over something heavy. "Now then, how about ah show you how to truly bob fer apples?" She placed bother her front of her forehooves on the edge of the barrel as she brought her head back, jaw open wide as she prepared to bite down.
"Hold it." She stopped mid bob at Robocop's voice, all three fillies turning to look at him as he walked over to the barrel, sticking his hand into the water (despite the protests from the pony running the attraction) and pulled out an apple, holding it before his scanners for a moment. "It is clean. You may commence dunking your head in cold water without fear," he instructed as he dropped the apple back inside.
"Uh, thanks, but ah don't think that an apple is dangerous in any way," Applebloom said with a smile.
"I was scanning for the chance that it had razor blades stashed inside or that it might be poisoned," Robocop informed her, the three fillies looking at each other with confusion before turning back to Robocop.
"Why would it be poisoned?" Scootaloo asked as she hopped off her side of the barrel and walked over besides Robocop. "It's just bobbing for apples, nothing worth poisoning over. And who would put razor blades in apples? That would make them impossible to eat."
"In Detroit alone last year I lost three young children to candy poisoning while over twenty more were taken to a hospital for cuts and bleeding in their mouths," Robocop replied, causing the threes faces to turn green as they looked away from the apples floating in the barrel. The pony in charge of the event told him off for his words and he and the CMC left her alone. "I do not take chances this time of year."
"Jeez, what kind of city did you live in?" Sweetie Belle asked with a shake of her head, holding a hoof to her queasy stomach.
"A place where crime never slept. And neither did I," Robocop replied as he marched on. "We must find Princess Twilight and your sisters. You are all too exposed out here." The three fillies all shared the same look before racing around to his front, forcing him to come to a stop as he looked down at them. "Why are you obstructing me?"
"You asked us to show you how to have fun, right?" Scootaloo asked him, waiting for him to nod before she continued. "Then here's your first lesson. You need to learn to relax. Not everything or pony here is trying to kill you. Sombra yes, but the rest of the ponies here are good ponies and they enjoy tonight as much as we do. So just chill, lay back and have a good time."
"Having a good time is not part of my directives," Robocop emotionlessly replied, causing Sweetie to sigh in exasperation as she stood ahead of Scootaloo.
"Okay, time for your second lesson: learn to smile," Sweetie said to him, showing off a massive smile. "See, just like this. You're always so serious, so you need to smile when you relax. Trust me, it feels great. Give it a try."
Robocop looked at them for a moment before forcing his lips to move, pulling up the edges of them to form a smile, something he had not done since he had stopped Dick Jones in OCP's headquarters. He held it for a moment as the fillies looked up at him with surprised faces.
"Well whaddya know, you don't look as intimidating when you smile," Sweetie said with a smile of her own.
"Probably why he doesn't do it often the, since he wants to be intimidating instead of friendly," Scootaloo added as Robocop returned to his regular look.
"Well it's a start. Next we should try to teach you how to laugh," Applebloom joked before she looked off towards a stage in the distance with wide eyes. "Come on girls, it's time fer them to pick who has the scariest costume tonight!" she yelled as she and Sweetie rushed off towards the stage.
"Already? But we've barely had any time to gather candy!" Scootaloo complained as she raced after them. Robocop marched after them at his top speed, joining them in the large crowd next to their sisters a few moments later.
"About time you found us, we were all worried about you," Twilight said as she pulled the three into a hug, Rarity and Applejack doing the same as Mayor Mare walked onto the stage dressed as a queen as well. Rarity grumbling about how all her best ideas were stolen as Mayor Mare began to speak into a megaphone.
"Greetings ghouls and monsters! Now is the time that you have all been waiting for! The time we crown the scariest pony tonight!" The crowd cheered around Robocop, as did the CMC next to him, as five ponies in different attire walked up onto the stage. "Who will win tonight? Well that is up to our judges, who are all experts of the scare." The three horses sitting on the side of the stage nodded as the crowd cheered for them. "Now then, let us bring out our first contestant." A pony dressed as a vampire stepped forward first, looking menacing with his cape and slicked back mane.
"Oooh, looks like this vampire hopes to take first. Not too bad a costume, but the final vote goes to the judges," Mayor Mare said as the pony stepped back, allowing some sort of swamp creature to step forward. After it stepped up a sludge abomination that to Robocop looked like a crack at pollution, but his eyes stayed on the judges as the last two came forward, noticing that they were looking at him the entire time the contest was going on.
"Alright, there are our five contestants. Judges, do you have a winner picked or would you like more time?" Mayor mare asked the judges, who muttered to each other before one of the elder ones stood up and took the megaphone.
"Actually, we have been scanning the crowd during this entire show and we have decided that there is another that we wish to judge," the judge said as he pointed to Robocop. "If you wouldn't mind, please step up onto the stage." Robocop hesitated for a moment, but when he looked to the ponies next to him he saw them motioning for him to go up. He marched up to the stage then onto it, getting the crowd to awe at him as he took center stage. The judges then began to circle him like sharks, nodding their heads approvingly as they looked over his costume.
"We have a winner!" they said as they tried to raise one of his arms over his head, but it never budged. "Notice how at first you believe his costume to be a mummy's, but if you look beneath you will see robotic parts. The true costume is that of a cyborg trying to hide it's true self beneath the guise of another, but it cannot truly conceal the monster it is! Kudos to you sir, you have the most complex and well thought out costume that I have seen!"
Mayor mare hoofed a trophy to Robocop, who slowly grabbed it as he looked out across the applauding crowd, including Twilight and the others. He then turned his head slightly to look back at the other participants, who were sulking at having been beaten by someone who had not even entered.
'It is not fair to them, but I can understand the judges reasoning to elect me the winner,' Robocop silently thought as the crowd continued to applaud. 'Because they are simply in costume. I am the only real monster here.'
H/\H H\/H
Twilight finished tucking in the three little fillies in one of spare rooms with a smile, pulling the covers over the three of them to keep the warm. She kissed each of them on the forehead before closing the door to the room, tiptoeing away so she didn't wake them. With a sigh she then headed outside, walking by the trophy that Robocop had won that rested on the table in the center of the main room.
"Shouldn't you be getting to sleep?" she asked Robocop, who was standing by the door about to head out.
"I need to go on patrol," he replied as he opened the door to the castle, where the light from the full moon shown down on his armor. "If Sombra is going to make his move, it will be when the town sleeps. Besides, I do not wish to rest." He chanced a glance at his battery to find that it was still above fifty percent. He wondered for a moment why it had yet to exhaust before Twilight yawned and headed back inside.
"If you say so, but I have a bed set up for you if you change your mind." Robocop walked off into the night with the moon reflecting off of his armor, creating a light for him even though he did not need it as his vision worked in the dark. He looked around at the town that had been so lively only a few hours ago, now as silent as a grave as everypony slept. And it was his job to make sure that all of them could sleep peacefully. He did not pay attention to where he walked as he simply scanned for any criminal activity, but he did pause when he came to a stop before a statue of a terrifying mare that had pointed teeth and menacing eyes.
"That was me. Before Twilight and her friends snapped me out of my rage." Robocop turned his head to see a midnight blue alicorn around the same size as him walk up beside him, looking up at the statue with grief and sorrow in her eyes. "Back when I was Nightmare Moon. Once a year, on this day named after my failure, I come here to remind myself of how far I had fallen."
"Princess Luna," Robocop identified, Luna nodding as she turned her gaze from the statue to him. Her eyes quickly looked up and down his robotic form with interest in her eyes.
"So you are the one that Twilight told me about. You are Robocop." Robocop nodded in response as Luna turned her head back to the statue. "Twilight sent me a letter about you. How you stopped a few crimes despite being teleported from your home and how you are...trapped within that suit. I am sorry."
"You have no need to apologize. You are not the reason for my current form," Robocop metallically answered.
"Yes, but that does not mean that I do not know how you feel," Luna gently said. "I too nearly lost everything that made me me, when I allowed my jealousy to take control of me. I was a monster in that state, nothing like I used to be. So I understand what it feels like to be stripped of everything, to be in a body that is not your own. But there is something that separates you from me." Robocop could barely hear her words at that point her voice had fallen so low. "You still fight for others despite being a machine now. I became a monster." Luna stopped talking there, so Robocop turned to go back on patrol. He had only taken a few steps though before he turned back to look at her.
"There is another difference between us." Luna turned to look at Robocop, who for a moment she could swear had pain on his face. "You had the option to change, to become who you used to be. This is who I have to be." And with those words he turned and walked away, leaving her to watch him leave with sad eyes.
With hooves crossed and brow furrowed Sombra rewatched the battle between his mind controlled manticore and the metal man that had appeared out of nowhere to rescue the fillies. The orb before he replayed the events and he recorded each bow each movement, everything the metal man did in his mind for future reference.
'Such power. Add that to his incredible armor and its little wonder that my manticore lost,' Sombra mused as he rewatched the part of the battle where he tried to use the manticore's poison to subdue his foe, but again he watched as the stinger failed despite it clearly striking flesh. 'Could his skin be armored as well? No, if that was the case what would be the need for armor? There's something that I'm missing here, something vital.'
The match continued in the orb, yet Sombra could not deduce what made this human so special compared to the ones he had read about. Then he narrowed his eyes as he bit into the man’s arm, which should have done little to his armor yet as he remembered the man seemed unable to use his arm after such a blow even though it didn't draw blood.
'But this is what truly interests me,' Sombra thought as he watched the manticore bite down on the man’s arms once again, then the man drew the black item and pointed it at the manticore's head, ending the battle with a one liner and a loud crack before the orb went black. 'What manner of weapon was that, that could kill a manticore filled with my dark energy so easily?'
He stood up from the rickety old table that he sat at and swiftly glided across the floor to his table in the corner of the room, where a number of strange items were lined up upon the table. He tinkered with a few mechanical parts and tampered them with his dark magic, yet after an hour of trying he found that he could not even come close to the results of the man he had fought.
"It does not make sense. If he is a human in armor, then for him to move so swiftly would mean that the armor would not weigh much, yet the manticore's strongest blow never even scratched the surface of his armor," Sombra argued with himself as he looked down at the small robotic arm. "But if he was all machine then he would have to be controlled from somewhere, yet he seemed to act independently. What is his secret?"
Sombra tinkered with his own materials and magic for a while longer, but each failure informed him that he was lacking far too much data to understand how his foe operated. Deciding that he needed air Sombra escaped his lair with the bowels of the Everfree Forest and slithered to the surface, where he rested in the shadows beneath the trees as he contemplated his next move.
"It is clear that I need more data if I am to even hope to understand this "Robocop's" full abilities," Sombra mused as he played around with his magic. "But how to gather more data? To do so I would need another..." He ceased speaking when he felt the ground vibrate beneath his hooves. The dark king turned his head to see a Lumber wolf marching towards him, snarling menacingly as its eyes rested on its next meal, whereas Sombra found the solution to his problem.
"Yes, you will do nicely," Sombra cackled as he let forth his magic, the dark tendrils snaking themselves up the legs of the monstrous beat and piercing it's skull, forcing his will upon it's brainless form. It took only a moment for his puppet to be under his strings, the dark king taking just a few seconds to observe his work before he ordered, "To Ponyville with you." The monster lumbered away while Sombra returned to his orb, make sure to write down everything that happened.
DPD
Robocop tried to distract himself by rereading the reports he had written in his databanks about the manticore and the information that Twilight had given him about Sombra, but the music that assaulted his auditory sensors was far too annoying and loud to block out, snapping him back to reality.
He was sitting in the corner of a large building that the CMC had informed him was called Sugarcube Corners, where the pink pony classified as Pinkie worked and apparently threw parties. She had cornered him around noon and had informed him that she had thrown a party for him. Robocop had tried to politely decline, yet somehow she had managed to trick both him and his sensors into getting him to come to the Corner, where every pony in the town had been waiting for him. And now he found himself sitting in a corner as other ponies partied around him.
"Yeah, a pinkie party can be overwhelming at first, can't it?" Robocop turned his attention away from what looked like dancing to see Flash Sentry walking over to him, offering him a cup which his sensors revealed contained fruit punch.
"No thank you, I do not need to drink," Robocop responded as he turned his eyes away, Flash shrugging as he downed both cups of punch as he leaned against the wall. "I still have not grasped why Pinkie felt so inclined to throw me this party. I do not require it, yet her expression seemed to indicate that she would assault me if I said no. Does she have a mental imbalance?"
"Nah, Pinkie just really likes to throw parties for all of her friends," Flash said as the words brought back fond memories of the first Pinkie party he had been to. "Trust me, the sooner you let her throw you the party the better off you'll be. I avoided one of her parties once and to get back at me she nearly gave me a heart attack by cramming all of the crystal empire into my living room."
"I was not aware that Pinkie and I were...friends."
"Everyponies Pinkie's friend, they just don't know it yet," Flash chuckled to himself before his attention was grabbed by Twilight walking over to them. "Hey Princess, seems like Pinkie really knocked this one out of the park. I don't think that I've ever seen our friend here look so happy before."
"I did not know that we were friends."
"Are you sure he looks happier?" Twilight asked as she got a closer look at Robocop's face. "He looks exactly the same as he always does."
"Trust me, he's smiling on the inside," Flash said in reply. Robocop opened his mouth to answer when suddenly all of his scanners and alerts went off at once, informing him that more of the dark energy he had encountered against the manticore. He immediately figured that Sombra was there or behind the energy. He shot to his feet, causing the two ponies next to him to nearly jump out of their coats, and he began to march to the door. Ponies parted as he walked by, all except for one who zipped in-between him and the door.
"Where ya going?" Pinkie asked him with a smile.
"Official police business. Please step aside," Robocop instructed as he tried to move around her, yet the pink blur zipped between him and the door once again.
"Oh no you don't, you're just trying to use that as an excuse to leave my party," Pinkie accused him as she rooted herself into the ground. "I'm not letting you leave until this party is finished."
"You are obstructing an officer of the law," Robocop said in a much darker tone as his scanners continued to blare in his helmet. "Remove yourself immediately or there will be consequences."
"Ha, nice try but I'm not going to let you go so easily," Pinkie said with a smirk. "We're finishing this party and as a friend I would recommend that you-" Robocop had enough of her talking and tried to push by her, getting the pink pony to yell at him in surprise. He had just reached the door when he felt her grab his arm. With his desire to reach where Sombra might be he attempted to shake her off, but forgot about his strength momentarily and sent Pinkie flying across the room, where she slid to a stop on the floor.
"What are you doing?!" Twilight yelled at him as she rushed to Pinkie's side, glaring at Robocop as the party came to a stop. "She wasn't trying to hurt you! How could you do that to your friend?"
"She tried to obstruct justice and interfere with police work," Robocop said in a dark tone that caused all of the ponies near him to back away. "And anyone who tries to obstruct justice is close to a criminal in my books. And to correct your statement Twilight, she and I are not friends." He marched off after he said this, heading towards the direction of the energy. With nearly all of the ponies in town at Pinkie's party the last thing Robocop was expecting to hear was the sounds of screaming, but upon hearing three very familiar screams did he pick up the pace as best he could, speed walking through the town.
"What is that?" he asked himself as he saw the cause of the cries of distress before he laid eyes on the sources, looking up at a massive wolf that was covered in bark and branches. The creature towered over the buildings and also over three fillies that he knew well, but what confirmed his scanners was the dark energy that was coming from his eyes. "Sombra. Still after the fillies."
Surprisingly the wolf seemed to hear Robocop and it turned its head towards the officer, a smile breaking out on its face when it saw the silver armored man. Sweetie, Bloom and Scoots all started to cry out for him, but the wolf roared once and they all went silent.
"A Lumberwolf?" Twilight asked as she landed next to Robocop, Flash joining them a moment later as he ran up from behind. Twilight then looked into the monsters eyes and she saw a dark energy that she knew all too well. "Sombra. So he's the reason this monster is attacking the fillies."
As if to confirm her words the Lumberwolf let loose a roar before it charged at the three, Flash running for his life before the mass of tree slammed into a barrier created by Twilight, which barely held the wolf back. Robocop reached down and drew his firearm, yet he didn't fire as his scanners couldn't determine a weak point for him to hit. The wolf shattered Twilight's barrier by slamming his face into the shield, tossing Twilight back.
"Didn't learn your lesson last time Sombra?" Robocop asked as his rambolts drove themselves into the ground, bracing himself as the Lumberwolf took a swing at him with its paw. The paw did nothing against Robocop's armor, but the swipe was still enough to knock Robocop's rambolts out of the ground and to send him skidding backwards. "Apparently you did not, as you have turned yourself into an even weaker creature."
"Do not bother trying to intimidate me, man of metal, this time I brought a creature with no vital organs for you to exploit," the deep, dark voice of an evil being came through the Lumberwolf's mouth. "This creature cannot be killed by whatever weapon you wield. Today is your and all of the ponies end."
"Not today Sombra!" Twilight yelled as she flew back into the battle, firing off bolts of spells that slammed against the bark of the Lumberwolf, but she growled in frustration when the dark energy sustaining the monster absorbed her spells as well, causing Sombra to laugh with glee.
"Oh be gone Twilight, you are no longer a challenge for me," Sombra wolf laughed as blasts of darkest erupted from the maw of the beast, striking Twilight down from the skies. Robocop rose back up to his feet as the wolf turned its attention back to him, but more importantly Robocop saw that the wolf was finally far enough away from the fillies.
Directive: Protect the innocent.
"Flash. I will distract the creature while you circle around and grab the fillies," Robocop instructed to the guard next to him. Flash nervously nodded as he looked up at the mass of bark and death that let out a howl before lunging towards Robocop. Robocop responded by whipping out the auto 9 and taking aim at the beasts eyes, firing two shots with pinpoint accuracy that blew out the light of the creatures eyes. The Lumberwolf howled as it was blinded, but Robocop's scanner informed him that the dark energy was repairing it's eyesight.
"Not a bad trick metal man, but it will take more than that to...wait a moment, where did that guard go?" the wolf asked before it swung it's head around to see Flash trying to help the fear filled fillies away from the battlefield. "Now then, we can't just have our audience up and leave, can we?" The Lumberwolf let out a roar as it hurled itself at the four, who screamed as they threw themselves at the ground as the creature came down on them.
"I will be adding animal cruelty to your charges for this Sombra," Robocop said as the auto 9 tore apart the air again as three, 50. caliber shots tore through the Lumberwolf's back leg, causing it to collapse to the ground right in front of the ponies. The four sprinted over to Robocop as quickly as they could, relieved smiles on their faces as they reached him.
"You saved us, again," Scootaloo said with admiration in her eyes as she looked up at the robotic officer.
"We can't even crusade anymore without being attacked by something," Sweetie grumbled. "But thanks for the save."
"Yes Robocop, good job on adding ten extra seconds to their lives!" the wolf roared as it drew it's head back, sucking in the air around it as darkness began to form in its jaws. With only a second to react, Robocop threw the four ponies together before he braced himself in the ground with his back to the wolf.
"DIE!" The wolf unleashed a hellish fury of darkness upon the officer and the ponies, who thought for certain that they were dead. But as the torrent of darkness enveloped them, they realized that the brunt of the blast was not striking them, but instead the flames tore at Robocop. But despite the dark magic that battered him with unholy power, his defended the ponies as he used his own body as a shield.
And as Flash looked up at Robocop he saw no fear in the officers face, only the desire to protect the ponies before him, despite using his own body as a shield. The torrent of darkness ended a few seconds later, allowing Sombra to see to his shock that despite the armor now being blackened, Robocop still stood unmoved.
"My turn." Robocop reached down to his left leg as the paneling drew back, revealing three circular objects that was almost as big as his hand. Robocop turned the charge to seven and hurled the device at the wolf, where the disk stuck to it right in between the eyes. "I'm sending you out with a bang." He turned to use his body as a shield again, detonating the device as he did so. A massive explosion shook the area as the Lumberwolf was blown apart into firewood, the bits and pieces of it bouncing off of Robocop's armor as he shielded the ponies. Only when debris stop raining from the sky did he turned around to look at the charred remains of the massive wolf.
The four ponies gawked in awe at the sight as Robocop spun his gun and holstered it, turning away to go aid Princess Twilight. But not before he said,
The train clattered against the tracks as it pulled itself up towards the shining city on a hill. Held within its cars were seven ponies, three mares, three fillies and one guard. Sitting next to them and being the center of attention from all on the train was Robocop, who sat silently as the ponies talked besides him.
"Come on Twilight, can't you tell us anything else?" Rarity asked, but Twilight smiled as she made a motion like she was zipping up her lips.
"Sorry Rarity, but the princesses asked me to not say anything else about the surprise," Twilight chuckled, Rarity giving her pleading eyes while the fillies talked about what the surprise might be.
"Ah bet we've got a new princess," Applebloom speculated, Twilight holding her hooves over her mouth to stifle her laughter at the thought. "Who knows, maybe she'll make Robocop an alicorn fer all the good work he's done fer us." All of the ponies began to laugh at the idea of Robocop as an alicorn and how ridicules he would look with wings and a horn.
"Well it's pointless speculation until we get there or Twilight finally caves in," Applejack said with a quick glance at Twi, who looked away with a smile. "So instead ah'll go along the route of thanking ya again Robocop. If it hadn't been fer ya..."
"Your sister and her friends are safe, that is all that matters," he metallically replied, but the fillies caught the quick flash of a smile when he looked at them. "You do not need to constantly thank me."
"Then how about we talk about whatever it was that you used to destroy that Lumberwolf," Twilight asked as she turned to face him, taking on a more serious face. "You didn't tell us that you had those discs that could wipe out such a massive creature with ease."
"You did not ask if I carried any other form of weaponry upon me," he replied.
"Ugh you're so literal. Okay, what are those discs and what can they do?" Twilight asked properly. Robocop responded by letting his left leg open up to reveal two more similar looking discs. He wrapped his fingers around one of them and pulled it out, showing it to the ponies while keeping it out of their reach.
"Tactical ordnance. An explosive with ten levels to it that at level one can punch through a wall. This is what I use for when I need something more destructive and powerful than the auto 9," he explained as he held the item in front of them, noticing the ponies backing away from it with nervous eyes. "To destroy the Lumberwolf I used level seven. It seemed to suffice." All backed away except for Scootaloo.
"Cool! So if level seven could do that to a Lumberwolf then what would level ten do?" she asked as she tried to pluck it from his hand but Robocop was fast enough to close his fingers over it and pull it back.
"Unknown. I have never had a need to use level ten," he said robotically, Scootaloo sighing at his answer before a small smile crept across Robocop's face. "Though if I had to wager a guess, I assume that it would explode and nothing would be left." The smile the Scootaloo gave in response told Robocop to never let her near any of his weaponry.
"Now approaching Canterlot!" the conductor yelled down the train, taking the ponies attention away from his weapons and to gathering their bags and preparing to exit the train. Robocop stood up, ignoring that the train was still moving, and walked towards the exit, where he stood by the door as the train started to slow down.
"Um, mister?" Robocop turned and looked down to see a small foal standing next to him, looking up at him with nervous eyes that had hints of admiration in them. "Y-you're the pony who stopped the Lumberwolf, right?"
"Correct. I subdued it." After speaking it took the foal a few moments before he would speak again.
"T-thanks for doing that. I have a fear of Timberwolves ever since they killed my dog, so when I saw that monster I thought they were coming for me," he fearfully said before smiling up at Robocop. "Thanks for stopping it." The foal ran off before Robocop could respond, so he elected to watch him run off as the others walked up beside him.
"Well whaddya know? They don't seem to be afraid of you anymore," Flash said as he elbowed Robocop in the leg, immediately regretting his decision as Robocop looked around the train at the other fearful or hesitant stares he got.
"Not all of them at least." The conductor informed the ponies that the train had come to a standstill and that they were allowed to exit, his instructions being followed by the doors opening and allowing the passengers to leave. Robocop stepped off of the train to find himself awaited on the platform by ten guards and two princesses, one of whom he recognized.
"P-princesses!" Flash stammered before throwing himself on his face.
"Princess Luna," Robocop said without any of Flash's theatrics, simply nodding at her before turning to the tall, white coated one with the beautiful mane. "Princess Celestia."
"Hello Robocop, it is nice to finally meet the one that Twilight has told me so much about," Celestia smiled back at the robotic officer. The other six ponies finally exited the train, all of them smiling when they saw the two princesses. The CMC and their sisters bowed while Twilight ran right up to Celestia and gave her a huge hug, Celestia returning the gesture with a smile. "It has been too long my young apprentice. How was the ride up?"
"Fine. Couple of bumps," Twilight replied as she smiled at Luna before looking around with concern. "Why isn't Spike here? Is he alright?"
"Spike awaits you in the castle, which I would like to head to now if you all don't mind," Luna said as she stepped up beside her sister, a serious look on her face. "Faster would be better, I do not like to be out here long with Sombra still on the loose."
"Alright princess, but I don't know how fast we can move, not with this slow poke with us," Sweetie said as she poked Robocop's leg, having learned from Flash's suffering not to hit him hard.
"That will be fine, we shall simply teleport all of you," Celestia said with a smile as her horn began to glow, Robocop reaching down for his gun before the light enveloped them all. When Robocop's sensors could see again he was in a new room that looked unfamiliar to anywhere he had just been. But that thought was cast aside as he drew his firearm and pointed it at Celestia, who looked shocked at his actions.
"This is your only warning. Attempt to modify or assault me with magic again and I shall bring you down," he threatened. Celestia and the other ponies looked at him stunned for a moment before Celestia let out a sad sigh and shook her head.
"That is the programming talking, isn't it?" she asked him, Robocop slightly lowering the pistol at her response. "Yes, Twilight told me that you are almost completely machine. Your actions now were not because you wanted to harm me, but because your programming acted in defense of itself. Am I right?"
Robocop gave her no words in response; all he did was lower his gun before holstering it. And while none of the other ponies noticed, Flash caught that he did not spin his gun this time. With the tension gone for the moment Celestia motioned for the others to follow her into what Robocop now identified as a castle. The fillies bombarded the princesses with questions as they walked, some of which the princesses answered while others they gave Twilight a look, but Robocop walked silently the entire time, something that Flash noticed.
"What's with you?" he whispered to Robocop as he fell back to join him. "You haven't been acting like yourself since you got teleported. Why'd that bug you so much, you've been hit with magic before?"
"I believed that she was trying to reprogram me and I acted in self-defense," Robocop retorted with a hint of anger in his voice. "I will not allow myself to be reprogrammed again." He picked up his pace after saying this and walked away from Flash, joining the others who were surprised to see that he caught up.
The first stop for the group came when Twilight met up with a small, purple lizard creature that Robocop eventually added to his databanks as a dragon, one that wasn't threatening in the least, before Celestia and Luna led them to a new area.
"Princesses, if you don't mind me asking, where are we going?" Twilight asked as they headed to a dark part of the castle, one that didn't look familiar to her in the least. "I thought that we'd be discussing this in the throne room?" The sisters said nothing as they continued to walk, eventually taking a back door out of the castle and into a courtyard, where all the ponies gasped as they looked upon the monstrous dome that rested before them. It was an eerie green color and gave off a low humming sound, putting the ponies on edge.
"W-what is that? I read in your letters about a new building but that looks-"
"Come, we will explain inside," Luna quickly said as she looked around. The ponies and Robocop followed the princesses inside, which looked even weirder than the outside. Weird stone items lay strewn across the area and green energy floated around in the air, but what drew nearly all eyes was the pool bubbling in the center of the room. "Welcome, my little ponies, to the chamber."
"What's the chamber?" Rarity asked as she tried to keep her hooves as far away from anything green as possible.
"This is where we have been for the past few weeks, ever since Sombra's return," Celestia said with confidence in her voice as she looked at the ponies and machine. "Flash Sentry, Twilight sent me a letter detailing what happened in Ponyville and I have also spoken with the guards who failed to do their duty. But now I want your opinion. What do you think of the royal guard?" All eyes turned to Flash, who thought for less than a second before he answered.
"We're a joke. Most of us can barely protect ourselves, let alone others," he grumbled. The other looked at him sympathetically while Celestia and Luna both nodded their heads in agreement.
"Yes, in this time of constant peace the guards are soft and undisciplined, something that I allowed to happen," Celestia bitterly added. "In time I will return them to their former glory, but with Sombra striking here and now my sister and I decided that we needed something to protect the citizens in while we shape up the guard. This is what we have come up with."
Celestia stomped her hooves on the ground and the surface of the pool began to bubble. The ponies backed away as the water broke and a massive stone being began to rise from the murky depths of the pool. A stone paw slammed into the edge of the water and dragged the rest of its body up, the ponies looking on with horrified eyes as the rest of the being emerged. It looked like a stone lion in face and body, but it was nearly as large as the princesses and instead of limbs green energy connected the stone parts of its body together.
"Behold, the Sentinels," Celestia proudly said as the beast of stone lumbered up to her, stopping in front of her as it awaited instruction. "Creature made of reinforced stones and powered by the pure magic that you see in that pool. These stone beings are entirely obedient to any princess, so that means they will listen to you Twilight. They are also designed to absorb magic cast at them and to be stronger than any Pegasus or earth pony. No criminal will be able to stop them and not even Sombra can twist them to his wicked ways. This is the only one online at the moment, but there are at least a hundred more waiting to be assembled."
"They...are truly fascinating beings, but surly this isn't necessary," Twilight stammered out as the lion turned its head towards her, awaiting her orders.
"It is only a temporary solution, until the guard are restored," Celestia added, Flash somberly nodding his head in agreement. "They are also programmed to not harm innocent unless attacked and can move for days without need to recharge. In a way they are almost like you Robocop."
Robocop made no response, for all he simply did was glare at the stone being before him. The Sentinel turned to face him and for one long, tense moment they continued to glare at each other. Then the Sentinel turned away to observe the other ponies, including the fillies that hid behind the mares.
"I'm sorry if it scares you girls...how about a demonstration to show you that you don't have to be afraid of it?" Luna asked before looking at Celestia, who nodded in response.
"Robocop, would you please draw your weapon and point it at the Sentinel?" Celestia asked. Robocop slowly looked at her for a long moment before in a flash he had drawn his weapon and pointed it at the Sentinels head. The moment he did so the green energy flowing into it turned red and it let loose a roar as it turned to face Robocop.
'Put down your weapon and surrender! You have until the count of ten or else I will bring you down!' the Sentinel roared in a dangerous tone, not quelling any of the fillies fears. Robocop continued to glare at the robot with gun drawn, protocol emerging in his visor as the words reminded him of something, something he didn't like.
"I'd do as it says," Luna joked.
BANGBANGBANG!
The ponies screamed as three bullets flew from the end of Robocop's gun and shattered the Sentinel's stone head, causing the red energy to dissipate as the whole being collapsed to the ground without moving. Celestia looked from her destroyed creation to Robocop, who glared long and hard at the stone before spinning his gun and holstering it.
"Why did you do that?!" she roared with rage.
"It threatened an officer of the law." With that Robocop turned and headed towards the exit, all eyes on him as he walked away. Robocop stopped when he got to the exit and looked down to his right, his scanners telling him that something had just moved. He turned back around and gave one last scan of the room, but he picked up no anomalies. Without any reason for him to be there anymore, he turned and left.
DPD
'So that's what you tried so desperately to hide from me, eh Celestia?' a dark shadow thought to itself as it slipped out from under the dome and just out of Robocop's detection. The shadow slithered its way towards a dark and mostly abandoned part of the city, where it took form as the dark king. 'But you are a fool if you believe that those stone sentinels of yours will be enough to defeat me. And you are an utter idiot for believing that I cannot bend them to my will. But I shall wait my foe, until you have done all the hard work for me. Once you have gathered my army, then I shall subject them to Sombra!' he thought as he took his saddle bag off his back and placed it upon the floor.
Sombra then pulled out his orb and placed it to the side before taking out a long list, smirking to himself as he looked at the items on it. 'Alright, let's check the list. Get Dash to stay in Clousdale for weeks taking care of her father who "accidentally" broke his back? Check. Get Pinkie, Fluttershy and DISCORD to go visit Pinkie's mother after that "unfortunate" rock slide? Triple check. Capture the sisters of Applejack and Rarity to use as bargaining chips?...Work in progress. Well, seems that the protectors of Equestria are off doing their own thing for a while,' Sombra began as he put the list to the side and picked up the orb, gazing into it to see Robocop marching down the street. 'Which leaves me all the time in the world to deal with you.'
The silver beams of the moon reflected off of Robocop's armor as he walked down the deserted streets of Canterlot, once again patrolling the area for any signs of crime. Flash Sentry walked besides him step for step, peeking into the darkness as best he could without the advanced technology that aided Robocop.
"I don't know what those humans back on your world put into that helmet, but if it can help you to see into those dark alleyways then I want one," Flash grumbled as he held a small light up to check an alleyway that Robocop had already determined was clear. Flash let out a grumble when he saw that it was empty and when he turned to see that Robocop had moved on he sighed as he ran to catch up with him. "You already knew it was empty, didn't you?"
"Correct."
"Then why bother letting me check? You know you could have just yelled over that it was empty and it would have saved me some effort," Flash asked.
"It is a good habit to double check, even if you are nearly certain that you were right the first time," Robocop answered professionally. "That is why I did not inform you."
"Thanks...for making me look like a tool," Flash grumbled under his breath so Robocop's receptors wouldn't pick up on his words. The two continued their walk through the city until they both came to a lip that revealed a sight of nearly all of Equestria off on the horizon, allowing the two to see for miles, and for Robocop a bit further. "It's amazing, isn't it?"
Robocop said nothing in reply as his sensors picked up the small amount of light that he could see across the land, informing him of where a town or city might be located. Then Robocop turned his gaze skyward to see the largest amount of stars that he had seen in his life without the city lights diluting them.
"I...never got the chance to thank you, for stopping the Lumberwolf," Flash softly said, Robocop turning his gaze from the stars to the pony next to him. "Without you there, we would have not only lost the fillies, but Twilight and I both might have been killed. You saved us again."
"It was a team effort officer. You rescued the fillies while I distracted the perp," Robocop reminded him, but all his words did was cause Flash to smirk in reply.
"Yeah, I saved them. Because you held off the creature, because you opened up the opening for me to get in...And my "rescue" wouldn't have mattered if you hadn't stopped the monster yourself," Flash bitterly admitted, hating himself for being so useless. "In the few days you've been here you've done more good than the royal guard in the last year. That shows you how much we matter."
"Every little bit helps officer. That is why we are a group and not a single unit." Flash nodded at his words, but his mood didn't improve at them. Then Flash remembered what had happened earlier in the day and he looked up at the robotic officer, a question on his mind.
"So...what happened there?" he asked Robocop, who didn't respond at first. "With the Sentinel. I mean, if you had lowered the gun it wouldn't have done anything, but instead you kinda...shot it's head clean off. What was that about?"
Recordings of past battles appeared before Robocop's eyes at the guard’s words, images of him battling giant machines that spoke in an eerily similar tone that the Sentinel had. Then he saw the images of the ED 209 firing upon him despite no evidence again him and Robocop being forced to bring it down.
"I didn't like it." Flash shut up at those words and decided to drop the questions there...until his common sense failed him and he had another question for the Robocop.
"Serve the public trust. Uphold the law. Protect the innocent. Those are your objectives right?"
"Incorrect. Those are my directives."
"There's a difference?" Robocop lowered his head as the directives appeared on the screen before him, reminding him of his duty.
"Correct. My directives dictate my actions and how I approach a situation. I follow them to the T. I have little choice," Robocop explained before he turned his head and looked up into the sky. "Good evening, Princess Twilight. How may I assist you?" Flash spun around and looked up to see Princess Twilight descending towards them.
"Good evening officer. Flash," Twilight said as she bowed slightly to Robocop before winking at Flash with a smile on her face. "I hate to bother the two of you, but I need to borrow Flash for something important. You wouldn't mind, would you officer?" Robocop considered it for a moment before Flash rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Actually Princess Twilight, I'm kinda on patrol right now, but I'm sure soon that I can-"
"There are two of us here officer, we can split the tasks," Robocop cut in before Flash could finish. "I can patrol the streets of the city alone. You can escort Princess Twilight to her destination." Flash flashed Robocop a grateful smile as Twilight wrapped a wing around him, the two walking off as Robocop stood by himself overlooking the land.
"Did you find out why he shot at Celestia's creation?" Twilight whispered to Flash once the two of them out of earshot.
"All he said was that he didn't like it, but I have the feeling that there's more to it than that," Flash muttered as he looked back at Robocop, who had placed his hands on the railing as he stared at the stars. "I'm not sure what to make of him. He said that ninety nine percent of his body was mechanical right? So...what's left of him? His heart? His brain? I just can't tell. He has his moments when I think there's a person underneath there, but the rest of the time...he's just as he described himself. A machine."
"I don't want to judge him; he's helped out a lot since he got here. Plus, I can't image what it would be like to be turned into a machine," Twilight said with a small shudder as she pressed herself closer to Flash. "Maybe we should ask him? He does kinda answer to me."
"I don't know. It seems like there's a terrible story behind that helmet."
Robocop marched along the streets alone, scanning as he had done before speaking with Flash. Yet most of his activities were done on autopilot, as he was lost deep within his memories, a place he rarely visited anymore. Images of him and his wife walking down the beach or when he spent time at a football game with his son, memories of his old life. With a shake of his head Murphy turned his thoughts away from his past and focused more on his patrol.
"Serve the public trust. Uphold the law. Protect the innocent," he reminded himself as he continued to march. He was a servant of the people, someone who they needed to keep them safe. That was his life now and he had accepted it. Just as he had finished thinking that he heard a faint cry for help, followed a moment later by a pony rushing out from around a building with a purse grasped between his teeth. The pony was far too busy checking behind him in case of pursuit that he never noticed Robocop until he ran face first into the officer’s metallic arm.
"You have the right to remain silent," Robocop instructed to the pony that was passed out on the ground, who gave him no reply. "Hmm, haven't seem someone exercise that right in a while." He then looked up at the sounds of running hooves to see a female pony followed by another that could have been related to her.
"Oh thank you so much!" she exclaimed as she rushed to Robocop, who bent down and lifted up the purse from the ground before offering it to her. "Thank you. I don't care so much about the bits but the medicine for my foal is in there. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stopped him!"
"It is alright ma'am, this is what I do," Robocop said, thinking about how this was his life. A life of helping people. It was not that bad. "I uphold the law." While the two ponies continued to thank Robocop, a shadow in the distance watched the spectacle with amused eyes and turning wheels. With a laugh that never escaped its lips it fled into the darkness to plan once again.
DPD
"Well sister, was he everything you thought he would be?" Luna pried as Celestia rested in a chair with her head up against the wall, thinking long and hard about what had happened during the meeting between Robocop and the Sentinel.
"He was pretty much as Twilight described him. Metallic and rigid, but with a strong moral code," Celestia mused to herself as she removed her head from the wall and looked at the small amount of the green magic on her desk. "Though his weapon is truly what interests me. Able to destroy a Sentinel with one shot...it's incredible how far humans have come since I was last there."
"Well you said it yourself, they prefer technology while we prefer magic," Luna reminded Celestia as she walked up beside her sister, looking down at the green energy. "Care to remind me why you’re using that kind of magic instead of our own?"
"Because this magic is easy to summon and it stays far longer than any of our spells. Yes it might not be as powerful as our magic, but it gets the job done," Celestia explained once again. "And no, I do not think it is a bad idea. Sombra will not want it because it is so inferior, yet the stone bodies will be able to overpower him. Besides, it is only temporary and I don't feel like using my own magic on a project that will last a year at most."
"You always do this sister when a problem arises. You think that we need some sort of magical ace in the hole to deal with the problem, then it all crashed down and we rely on Twilight and her friends," Luna joked as she prodded her sister’s shoulder, Celestia rolling her eyes as Luna laughed. "Like the time you thought it would be a good idea to use Discord to stop Tirek."
"Okay, I get the point. I do trust that Twilight and the others will defeat Sombra, but until the guard is ready to protect the ponies properly again as they did before, then I want a backup. This is my backup," Celestia sighed as she rested her hooves against her head. "Besides, if Robocop has taught me anything in the short time that he's been here it's that mechanical law enforcement can work. That machines can be just as good defenders as ponies."
"Yes, but he is only ninety nine percent a machine," Luna reminded her sister. "And I believe that that one percent of humanity plays a larger role than we believe."
"If you say so sister, but right now my biggest concern until Sombra is brought down is safety and that is why I stay up so late into your rule to finish these," Celestia yawned as he started working again.
"I'll bring you some coffee then or else you'll pass out on the desk again. Then I get some funny pictures to post around town," Luna said with a laugh as she left Celestia to her work, heading out to grab her a drink.
"Yes, these will hopefully keep the ponies safe," Celestia whispered as she looked over her designs again, making sure that there was no flaw that Sombra could exploit in them. "So will Twilight and the others. And hopefully Robocop, you will too."
\\\\>
Down the dark streets illuminated only by the light of the posts that were placed to show the way did a single pony walk, a smile on her face a she held her purse tight within her grasps while keeping an eye out in case of another mugger. But her good spirits couldn't be dampened by the thought of being mugged, for she was one of the few ponies in Canterlot that had met the only law enforcement officer that Twilight had appointed.
"I do need to get home though. My little Raindrop will be missing me," she muttered to herself as she turned a corner...and came face to face with a dark pony whose mere presence sent shivers down her spin and froze her with fright. He had a mane as black as the night and his horn upon his head was tipped with red, leaving no room for doubt who the pony was before her...and that she should be afraid.
"Hi there. I take it that I don't need to introduce myself?" Sombra asked with a smile, chuckling to himself when the pony couldn't answer him as fear overtook her completely. "That's fine, I don't need you to talk, just listen. I'm currently trying to destroy the princesses and take over all of Equestria for myself, yet I've run into two problems that I just can't seem to find a solution for. One is how to be rid of Twilight and her annoying group of friends and the other is that shiny new officer that is patrolling the streets."
Sombra vanished in a flash of smoke and appeared besides the pony, wrapping a hoof around her shoulder as he continued to talk. "I mean, my dark magic doesn't work against him and his firepower is far superior to anything that I can throw at him, so you see my dilemma. However, I know that he has to have a weakness and I believe that I'm onto something, yet I need something. I need a pony to help me fight him."
"A-are you kidding me? I would never work with you!" the mare yelled as she went to push him away, yet her hooves struck smoke as Sombra vanished and appeared behind her with a laugh.
"That's fine, because I don't need you to willingly fight with me," Sombra chuckled before his laugh became darker and far more menacing as he glared at her with his green eyes flashing. "As a matter of fact, this whole experiment centers around you being an innocent caught in the crossfire. Now what do you say?" Sombra laughed as his tendrils of dark magic began to seep into the mare, who couldn't even scream as Sombra forced her under his will, a single tear escaping her before Sombra's influence consumed her.
A beautiful day met Twilight and her friends as they walked around the royal gardens with large smiles on all of their faces, Rarity and Applejack talking to Flash while the CMC made faces at all of the statues that lined the garden. Twilight sat on a bench near the edge of the garden with Robocop standing beside her, a frown on his face as she talked.
"It wouldn't be anything too serious, I just want to see what you look like without your armor on," Twilight said as casually as she could, but from the cold glare that Robocop was giving her she could tell that he wasn't keen on her idea. "I mean, we could check to see if you're damaged or replace any of your damaged armor. After all you've been through I'm sure that you-"
"Thank you for the concern Princess Twilight, but my internal sensors would inform me if any part of me was damaged or not functioning properly," Robocop coldly said as he cut her off.
"I'm sorry if I'm pushing so much, it's just that we have nothing like you in Equestria," Twilight murmured as she took a close look at Robocop's helmet with scientific curiosity. "I just really want to know how the humans managed to make something...sorry, somepony like you! You're incredible!"
"Incredible is not the word I would use," Robocop muttered, Twilight tilting her head at his words with curious eyes.
"You're a technological marvel, something that we could never replicate, at least not without years of researching somepony like you," Twilight explained, but Robocop was barely listening to her at that point. He instead watched the fillies as they looked up at statues, laughed amongst themselves and behaved like children. He then slightly turned his head so that Flash and the other mares were within his field of vision, allowing him to watch them talk normally with each other. He couldn't remember the last time he had a normal conversation with another human.
"Um...you ARE somepony right?" Twilight asked him, regaining Robocop's attention. "I mean, there is a heart and soul inside of that suit, right?"
"I do not know anymore," Robocop responded weakly. Twilight opened her mouth to ask another question when an explosion could be heard and all eyes turned towards the city below, where smoke could be seen rising into the air along with cries of panic. "Crime in progress. Officer en route." Robocop stood up and began to march towards the exit of the gardens, but Twilight cast a spell that created purple spheres around all of the ponies and Robocop and picked them up into the air with her.
"Stay here and stay safe!" Twilight called out to the fillies below her as the five flew towards the source of distress. From above the ponies and officer could see a massive crater in the center of the road that was the cause of the smoke, but they could also see a pony sitting next to the crater as if they were waiting for something. Twilight descended before the mare and released the spheres, allowing the group to assess the situation.
"Halt. You are under arrest for the suspicion of..." Robocop began until his visor informed him of who the pony was that sat near the crater. According to his records she was the very same pony who he had retrieved a purse for the previous night, but now she had deep green eyes unlike her blue ones that he had on record. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, it's about time you showed up," she said in a voice that did not match what Robocop had in his databanks, causing him to narrow his eyes as his systems went to work identifying the current voice being used. "I mean, the only way to get your attention is to unleash a giant monster or blow something up. You remember me, don't you?"
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
"Suspect identified as Sombra, who is wanted for arrest," Robocop confirmed as he reached down and pulled out his firearm, pointing it right between the mares green eyes. "I remember you. You are under arrest. Stand down and come quietly or there will be trouble." Sombra chuckled at his words and he began to saunter forward in the mare's body.
"That wasn't quite what I meant when I asked if you recognized me. I meant the mare who's body I'm using." Robocop narrowed his eyes at Sombra's words, not sure what he was planning. "What, you don't remember her? This little host of mine is the very same mare that you helped out last night. Now I know what you must be thinking, why would she be helping me? Well I’ll tell you what. I'll answer that question if you answer one of mine. Serve the public trust, uphold the law and protect the innocent. Those are your directives, right?"
"Correct," Robocop growled through gritted teeth as he kept the gun aimed at the center of the pony’s skull, getting Sombra to chuckle.
"Good. Alright then, my turn to answer your question. She isn't working for me. She's under my will, my command: forced to do my bidding despite her not wanting to. Wanna see?" Sombra asked with a chuckle before the green vanished from her eyes and they were replaced with the blue that Robocop remembered her having. Her horrified eyes locked onto Robocop and her fear bubbled to the surface.
"Please, help me!" she screamed before tendrils of darkness covered her face again, turning her eyes green as Sombra's evil smile returned, much to the absolute horror of the ponies there.
"You...you monster," Twilight whispered, Sombra bowing at her words with a smile.
"So as you can see, officer, she doesn't willing want to help me, but I control her now. You can say she's an innocent in all of this," Sombra said with a loud laugh. "So there you go, that's what's going on."
"Release the hostage Sombra and I will go easy on you," Robocop ordered, but Sombra simply smirked in reply as he began to walk forward, tendrils of darkness forming behind him as he did so.
"No officer, I think I'm going to resist," Sombra said with the mare's mouth as the tendrils shot forward and drove themselves into Robocop's armor, knocking him back a bit. Robocop growled in reply as recovered and took aim between the center of the mare's eyes.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
Robocop found himself unable to pull the trigger, unable to defend himself as the tendrils continued to pound away against his armor. The assault only ceased when Twilight created a sphere of magic around Robocop to block the tendrils attacks.
"Come on Robocop, you've got to pull yourself together," Flash said to Robocop as he let the officer lean against him for support. "If you don't stop him, Sombra will probably kill the mare!"
"Oh he wishes he could stop me Flash, but he can't," Sombra chuckled as he came to a stop twenty feet in front of Robocop, who glared at the mare Sombra controlled with rage. "Protect the innocent. Serve the public trust. They're both part of his directives. At first I wondered if it was just a code he lived by...or a code that was programmed into his brain. Seems it was the latter."
"What in tarnation are ya going on about?!" Applejack snarled as she went to charge Sombra, but a tendril knocked her back before she could take two steps.
"The body of this mare has done nothing wrong. She is an innocent bystander," Sombra explained as Rarity helped AJ back to her hooves. "And since two of his directives translate to protect the innocent, he can't lift a finger to hurt her since she's not the one in control. He can't touch me." The ponies all looked at Robocop with confused eyes, wondering what he was going to do.
"So we work with it. Come on Robocop, we're not going to hurt her, we're just going to subdue her so we can get Sombra out of her," Flash tried to explain to Robocop, who was still frozen in place. "We'll still be protecting her, just from herself!"
"You're wasting your breath and my time Flash. If he had an option around the directives don't you believe he would have tried it by now?" Sombra laughed as Robocop said nothing in response. "Now I understand perfectly. Your directives are hardwired into your brain, like a machine. And that's what you are, aren't you? A machine that can't go against its programming." Sombra's victory laugh was cut off by a blast of magic that went by his head.
"Robocop might not be able to fight you, but we're still more than capable!" Twilight roared as she took to the skies, firing stunning spells at the mare as she did her best not to hurt her body. But because she was trying not to hurt her, her spells were not nearly as powerful and made the easy for Sombra to destroy.
"I wasn't planning on killing you or your friends today Twilight, but I won't pass up the chance when it is presented before me!" Sombra roared as he took to the skies after her, becoming a tendril of dark magic that slammed into a barrier of Twilight's before driving the both of them into the street. Twilight blasted Sombra off with a pulse of magic, but as Sombra cried out in pain Twilight realized what she had done.
"Be careful Twilight, or you might kill this here hostage," Sombra chuckled as he rose back to his hooves. "Now then, hold still while I gut you!" Twilight's friends rushed into the battle to aid her, leaving Robocop to watch from the sidelines and unable to do anything.
'He is trying to kill them. That is a crime!' he realized within his mind. And as soon as he thought those words the answer he was looking for appeared before his eyes.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
Robocop took aim with his gun at Sombra again and prepared to pull the trigger, but right before he could do so more words appeared on the screen beneath the directive.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
Robocop felt his arm being lowered from Sombra against his wishes, the directive to protect the innocent clashing with his directive to bring down Sombra and uphold the law. Sombra didn't miss what Robocop was doing, but his lack of concentration gave Twilight the edge she needed to send a blast of magic through his shield and into Sombra's chest, sending him sprawling into the streets below.
"Give it up Sombra; you can't beat me as an alicorn!" Twilight called down to Sombra, who was struggling to his hooves while also struggling to find a way around his current predicament. But then his eyes flashed to the side to see some bystanders that had been drawn in by the fighting, giving him his option. He spiraled into dark smoke and slithered over to the ponies, appearing behind one of them and grabbing them by the throat. The pony began to call for help while Sombra created a small barrier around them, laughing all the while.
"Sorry Twilight, but there's still one last game I want to play!" Sombra yelled to the ponies as a dark blade formed in his hooves, placing itself right at the captive’s throat. Twilight fired a spell at the barrier, but instead of breaking the barrier absorbed the spell. "That won't work princess, as this barrier will absorb any magic it comes into contact with. The only way to get to me is to shatter the barrier with a physical strike, but if I see any of you try to come near me I'll cut this one’s throat."
"Then what do you want us to do? You know you can't escape!" Flash yelled, getting Sombra to laugh even louder.
"I want to see what happens next! Come on officer, I'm clearly endangering another pony’s life here! Go ahead and uphold the law! We both know that if you fire that weapon I’ll never be able to react to the attack in time and you'll stop me," Sombra informed Robocop before his sinister grin returned. "But then you'd be hurting an innocent and you can't do that. But then you won't be upholding the law! So choose tin man, choose if you are able to!"
Robocop took perfect aim at Sombra, who wasn't even bothering to move his head into a more protected area. But as he prepared to fire the trigger, again the words that held him back before flashed up on the screen.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
Robocop's arm began to lower before the other directive followed.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
"What's the matter? Can't pick on your own? Then let me help! If you don' choose in the next thirty seconds then both of them will die!" Sombra roared as he pressed the blade against the hostage’s throat, causing her to cry out for help as a bit of blood began to slide down her throat.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
Robocop struggled to keep his aim upon Sombra as he tried to figure out a way to fulfill both directives. If he shot Sombra to uphold the law, then he would be killing an innocent. But if he didn't kill Sombra, then he wouldn't be protecting an innocent or upholding the law.
"Twenty seconds left!" Sombra laughed as he held the blade closer.
'Directive: Uphold the law.
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
Robocop desperately wracked his brain to think of a way to stop Sombra without having to hurt the innocent mare that he was controlling, but no answer presented itself. Static began to form in Robocop's eyes from the dilemma and the gun in his hand began to shake.
"Robocop, do something!" Flash yelled at him from the side.
"Ten seconds!"
Robocop's vision was nearly all static as he tried to find a compromise, his systems beginning to freeze up at the failure to complete either of the directives. His auditory sensor went down as the program designed to shut him down if he disobeyed a directive starting to attack all of his systems, forcing him to crash.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
"Five, four..."
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
"Three, two..."
'Directive: Uphold the law!'
'Directive: Serve the public trust!'
'Directive: Protect the innocent!'
"One!"
"Robocop!"
BANGBANGBANG!
The ponies screamed as the gunshots tore through the barrier and embedded themselves in the skull of the pony that Sombra had controlled, dropping her to the ground without another sound. The pony that had been captured fled to the princess, fearfully sobbing as Twilight did her best to comfort her. Flash looked to Robocop, who stood silently with fists clenched tight.
"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself. You made an impossible choice," Flash said in hopes to comfort him, but Robocop said nothing in reply to the guard. "You alright?" Flash asked again. When Robocop failed to respond, Flash poked him in the leg...and caused Robocop to crash face first into the ground.
"Robocop! What's wrong?!" Flash desperately called out to him as the others rushed to his side, but the officer said nothing in reply. Robocop did not respond to any of their questions, nor did any kind of force get a response out of him. And while the ponies tried to figure out what had happened, the tendrils of smoke that slipped away knew full well what this meant.
"Electric shock. Magical repairs! I've tried everything that I know yet nothing wakes him up!" Twilight panicked as she surrounded Robocop's metallic head in her magic, trying to wake him up gently. Magic was not the answer to the problem as Twilight quickly found out, making her sigh in frustration as she looked up at the unmoving officer.
After his collapse in the streets, Twilight and the others brought him into the medical wing of the castle in hopes to help him heal, where he rested for days. Celestia had the sad task of informing the husband of the mare that had been shot what had happened and had informed the group that both he and his foal would be looked after by Celestia, so that Twilight could focus on Robocop. Yet all of their efforts proved fruitless and Robocop remained motionless, worrying all of the ponies that knew him well. Flash, AJ, Rarity and the CMC all sat around his legs as Twilight tried to fix him, but with each failed attempt their worry grew.
"And don't get me started on how long it took me to get his hands to open again after that. We're lucky that his gun doesn't fire continuously when he holds the trigger down cause he was not letting go," she said to her friends. "But what I don't understand is how it went off. If he can't fight his directives, he shouldn't have been able to pull the trigger."
"Well whatever the reason it saved a mare's life. So...is he offline permanently?" Flash asked.
"I don't know. There is nothing wrong with his body or his mind, my spells have told me that he's fully operational...at least as far as a machine goes," Twilight grumbled as she looked at the data she had written down on his systems and operations. "So if he's perfectly fine, why isn't he waking up? His systems did crash, but I managed to reboot them! So why doesn't he move?"
"Maybe it runs deeper than system damage or repairs?" Flash suggested, turning all heads towards him. "He was torn between his directives and because of that he killed the body of an innocent pony while Sombra still escaped. I know that if I were placed in that situation and killed an innocent, I'd retreat to where I feel safe."
"Are you saying that he's retreated into his mind?" Rarity asked, Flash nodding as Twilight thought about his words. "I mean, I have heard stories of ponies that do that under extremely stressful situations, but wouldn't Twilight's magic be able to reach him even in his mind?"
"If he was a regular pony or human, yes, my magic could, but he's mostly mechanical," Twilight mused as she looked into his visor. "That might be the key there. I've been trying to reach his conscious like I would a normal pony, but maybe I have to go far deeper, into his subconscious to find Robocop, but I'm not that good at this...alright everypony stand back. I'm going to try to go into his subconscious to see if I can pull him back out."
"Hold on!" Twilight looked down to see the CMC on their hooves, looking up at her with worry and determination in their eyes. "If what ya told us about Robocop is true, then he's in a lot of pain right now. So he'll need as many of his friends there to help him. We're coming with ya."
"And don't try to stop us," Scootaloo added before Twilight could speak. "He's saved us twice now, so we need to return the favor." Twilight looked down at the three of them with surprise in her eyes before she looked up at her friends, who were also looking at her with determination in their eyes as they smiled at her.
"Alright, but I want all of you to stay close. I don't know where we'll end up once we go in." They nodded as they all drew in close to Twilight, who closed her eyes as she prepared the magic that would take them into Robocop's mind. A flash of light erupted from her horn, blinding the ponies around her. When they all opened their eyes again, they found to their surprise that they were standing on metal paneling with pipes and wires lining the walls around them. Eerily the room was devoid of anything organic or natural, with every small detail of it being metal or mechanical
"This must be how he envisions his brain," Twilight muttered as the group looked around the strangely empty room. AJ spotted the first sign of thought when she spotted the three directives Robocop followed, the directives looking like they were burned into his mind. "So if those are his directives, then where's..."
And then she and the others spotted the robotic officer, who was simply staring straight ahead at a large screen that rested against the wall, images flashing through it so quickly that none of the ponies were able to discern what the images were.
"Robocop?" Flash asked as he walked up to the officer, who made no sound in reply. "Hey man, are you doing alright? Your systems are working but for some reason you don't wake up. What's the matter?" Robocop did not reply nor did he move, giving the ponies no answer and confusing them further.
"Come on, we're here to take you back home," Sweetie said as she gently placed a hoof against his leg. The moment she did so the images stopped moving at such blazing speeds and slowed down enough so that the ponies could see what was happening on the screen. On the screen rested the image of a human woman and child chasing each other around for fun, the child being dressed like a devil and laughing.
"Is that his family?" Applebloom whispered. Then to the shock of the ponies they saw a human hand extend from the bottom of the screen and pull the two into a huge, laughing with them as the hand let go and pulled up a camera to take a picture of them.
"This is Robocop," Flash whispered in shock. "Before he became...Robocop." Flash gently placed his hand on Robocop leg in hopes to comfort him, but when he did so the images flashed again and showed Robocop's point of view of him walking into an abandoned steel mill, with a cruder version of the weapon he carried clutched tightly in his two human hands. The ponies could barely make out what looked like a helmet that came just into his field of vision, telling them he was in danger. Robocop then spotted two people standing around and he quickly walked towards them with his gun drawn.
"Freeze. Don't move," Robocop instructed them. The two looked at each other for a moment before one of them went for a long weapon, but Robocop shot him dead before turning to the other one, who was reaching for a similar weapon. "Yeah, go ahead and do it. Dead or alive, you're coming with me. Lewis! Lewis, I have a situation here girl!"
"Get up, c'mon. Hands on your head, spread your legs. Lewis, where are you?!" he called out as he turned his head, only to turn back to see more people entering the room.
"Why don't you let us take it from here Emil?" one of the other humans asked. Out of the corner of the eyes they were watching through the saw the man that Robocop was arresting yank the gun from Robocop's hand before backing off and picking up his own gun.
"Your ass is mine," the one called Emil said.
"No. Not yet it ain't," a man with glasses said as he entered the room, taking the helmet off of Robocop and placing it on Emil. "you a good cop, hot shot? You gotta be some kind of "great" cop, coming in here all by yourself." The sound of boots hitting something could be heard and Robocop dropped to his knees, his eyes watching the men with the guns the entire time. "Where's your partner?" the man said from behind as he hit Robocop in the back, knocking him onto all fours. "Where's your partner?"
"Hey guys, she was upstairs, she was sweeeeet, mm, mmm, mmmn! I took her out," another man said as he entered the room while laughing.
"Twilight, I'm scared," Scootaloo whispered to Twilight, none of them able to take their eyes off of the images before them.
"It's going to be okay Scootaloo. He's Robocop," Twilight whispered, not believing her own words.
"I bet that really pisses you off," the man in the glasses said with a smirk as he slightly touched Robocop's face, his smile vanishing. "You probably don't think I'm a very nice guy, do ya?"
"Buddy, I think you're slime," Robocop said back with as much courage and determination as he could muster, getting the criminals around him to laugh. The man with the glasses pushed Robocop over and placed his foot on his right arm.
"See, I got this problem. Cops don't like me," he began as he pointed his gun right at Robocop's face, all of the ponies backing up a bit as they looked down the barrel of the gun. "So I don't like cops. Nanananana," he began as he waved the gun around before pointing right at Robocop's right hand...and blowing it clean off. The ponies hearts dropped as they watched Robocop look at his missing right hand in shock, barely hearing the criminal say,
"Well give the man a hand!" Robocop held the bleeding stump that used to be his hand, his attention so drawn to it that he never heard the criminal say, "He's all yours." With horrified expressions the ponies watched as Robocop fought back to his feet while one of the criminal said. "Hey turn around! Hey pretty boy? Hey over here!"
The gun fired off again and Robocop's right arm was blown off his body, causing the fillies to scream with horror at the sight. Robocop let out a cry of pain as he closed his eyes, turning everything dark. But the ponies could still hear his scream, until it was defended by the sounds of all of the criminal’s weapons going off at once. For seconds that felt like hours the sounds of gunfire continued, until it suddenly stopped and was followed by,
"I'm out of ammo." Robocop let out one last cry as another criminal said, "Hey Clarence, he's still alive." Robocop moaned weakly, his eyes still tightly shut in pain.
"Does it hurt? Does it hurt?" they heard a criminal taunt in the darkness, followed by laughter. Twilight wanted to throw up at this point, far beyond horrified at what she was seeing. The other ponies were equally horrified and the CMC weren't even facing the screen anymore. Robocop opened his eyes one last time to see the man in glasses pointing a gun at him.
"Okay, funs over." Then another bang could be heard and everything went dark. The ponies stood silently, none of them able to comprehend what had just happened. The only noise in the room came from Sweetie Belle, who was sobbing into her sister’s side. Then, to the surprise of all the ponies, static began to appear on the screen again, continuing for a few more seconds until they were looking up a ceiling, but now with lines crossing the screen. A lady walked over and tilted his vision and after a few more seconds a man came over and began to work off to the side of the screen before everything went dark again.
"But...they killed him," Scootaloo whispered. His vision came on a for a few more seconds again before blacking out, but when it came back on again a number of people were standing around him.
"He's on."
"What's the story?"
"We were able to save the left arm."
"What a man asked as he walked into the field of vision. “I thought we agreed on total body prosthesis. Now loose the arm, okay?" The man then looked down and snapped his fingers in front of Robocop's eyes. "Can he understand what I'm saying?"
"Doesn't matter, we're going to blank his memory anyway."
"Well I think we should lose the arm, the man said as another came very close to Robocop's eyes. “What do you think Johnson?"
"He signed the release forms when he joined the force and he's legally dead...we can do pretty much what we want to him." At those words Flash's heart stopped, remembering what Robocop had said to him about the dead not having rights.
"Lose the arm."
"Shut him down, prep him for surgery." The images continued to flash after blacking out again, this time showing the ponies when they gave him the mechanical arm before it switched to a time when the entire office was celebrating new years.
"This isn't right," Applejack whispered during the celebration. "He's sitting their barely even alive and they're treating him like...a thing."
The images flashed once again and this time it showed the entire staff cheering for him as he stood up, walking by all of them as they introduced him and cheered for him. Then the images began to move faster, but the ponies could see that all of them were of Robocop taking down criminal after criminal, including one of the men who had killed him despite the man blowing up a gas station on him.
Then the next image came as a shock to the ponies, since it was so far removed from the other ones that they had seen. It was Robocop walking towards an office with a video playing of to the side of his vision, a video of a beaten man telling Robocop who he worked for.
"That's the same guy that killed him," Flash whispered to Twilight, who could only dumbly nod her head in response. The doors to the room opened and Robocop walked inside to see a person sitting behind a large desk.
"Come in officer," the man said to Robocop as he walked inside. "You know I usually don't see anyone without an appointment but in your case I’ll make an exception."
"You are under arrest," Robocop replied as the words "Arrest mode" appeared on the lower part of his vision.
"Oh? On what charge?"
"Aiding and abiding a known felon," Robocop dictated as more words appeared on his screen, but to the ponies surprise the man didn't look scared.
"Oh. Looks like I'm in trouble," the man said as he stood up and held out his hands. "You'd better take me in."
"I will." Robocop took two steps forward before the words product violation appeared on his screen. His screen went dead for a moment and the words directive four began to flash on the screen when it came back on.
"What's the matter officer?" the man taunted as Robocop struggled to remain standing, eventually falling to his knees. "I'll tell you what's the matter. It's a little insurance policy called directive four. My little contribution to your psychological profile. Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown." Robocop was struggling to move at all at this point and the ponies began to fear that he would die again.
"What did you think? That you were an ordinary police officer? You're our product," the man said from off screen. "And we can't very well have our products turn against us, can we?" In a final act of desperation Robocop drew his gun. "Ah, still a little bit of fight left in you," the man said before Robocop dropped his gun to the ground.
"Maybe you'd like to meet a friend of mine?" the man asked as he pushed a button, causing a giant mech far larger than Robocop to walk out into the room. "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake." The mech began to march towards Robocop, who could barely get himself back to his feet. But before the memory could continue Sweetie Belle raced from her sister’s side and tackled Robocop.
"NO! I WON'T WATCH YOU DIE AGAIN! WAKE UP, ROBOCOP! WAKE UP!" The images turned to static as the whole room began to spin, tearing the ponies from Robocop's mind. With a groan Twilight and the others opened their eyes, finding themselves standing back in the room where they had entered Robocop's mind. The only difference was that Robocop was now standing up and looking down at their petrified faces.
"Robocop status: Online. What is the matter?" The words had barely left his mouth before his legs were tackled by three little fillies, who tightly wrapped their hooves around his legs and sobbed loudly. He looked up from them to the other ponies, all of who had looks of sorrow and terror on their faces. "What happened while I was offline? What happened with Sombra and the hostage?"
"You...Don't remember?" Twilight weakly got out, still trying to avoid throwing up.
"All systems failed before I could resolve the situation," Robocop explained. "I shall ask again: What happened with Sombra and the hostage?"
"Sombra...got away."
"And the hostage?"
"We...took care of her. Don't worry," Twilight weakly said, casting a glance at AJ who said nothing.
"Thank you for starting me up again. May I ask how you managed to do so?"
"No...problem. Robocop...we went inside your memories." Robocop said nothing at her words, opting for silence as he waited for her to divulge more information. "I repaired your systems as best I could and got you running again, but...but you still wouldn't turn back on. So with little other choice we went inside your mind to see if we could find the problem. But while we were in there we saw..." She couldn't finish her words and choked back her sobs, Robocop noticing that the other ponies were avoiding his gaze when he looked at them.
"We watched you die." Robocop turned his attention to Flash Sentry, the only pony that seemed able to speak at that point. "We saw it all, back before you were...Robocop. We watched you try to arrest those criminals, only to be...brutally murdered. And how the people that saved your life treated you like a product and...dear Faust I am so sorry. I had no idea what had happened to you."
"I would recommend all of you sit down and calm yourselves. You have been witnesses to a tragic murder," Robocop instructed in his robotic voice, the ponies obeying without another thought. Robocop then turned his attention to the three fillies still gripping his legs, gently patting them on the back until they were ready to let go of him. When he was able to look into their faces he scanned them to check the state they were in and he was not happy with the results. All three of them were in a state of shock, with Sweetie Belle looking to be on the edge of a mental breakdown.
"Rarity. Come comfort your sister. She needs it," Robocop instructed again, Rarity duly nodding as she walked over to Sweetie and pulled her into a gentle hug, comforting her as AJ and Twilight walked over to do the same for the other two. Robocop then sat down on the chair he had been offline in, looking down at the eyes of the ponies. "I would assume that you all have many questions for me after seeing my past. I will answer them to the best of my ability."
"Where do we even start?" Twilight whispered after a moment of silence as she looked at Robocop's exposed face before turning her gaze to his body and limbs. "You truly are nearly all machine aren't you? We saw in your memories how they threw away your arm even though they could save it."
"Correct. I am ninety nine percent robotic. Only my heart, lungs, some of my digestive system and brain remain," Robocop replied as he reached up to the part of his "face" that still looked human. "Fillies, please avert your eyes for a moment." Once the fillies had done so, Robocop pulled back a bit of the face, showing the ponies his robotic skull underneath of the facsimile. "The rest of me is robotic," he finished as he put his face back. The ponies took a moment to process what he had shown them before Applejack spoke up.
"In one of the memories we saw what looked like...yer family," she began, Robocop slightly tightening his fists at the thought of them again. "What happened to them after you...died."
"After being informed of my death, they moved away to start over again," Robocop emotionlessly replied, AJ lowing her face with a small "oh" at his answer. "It is for the best that they did. If the connecting had ever been found between me and them, the criminals of my city would not rest until they had killed them to get to me."
"How could they treat you like that?" All eyes turned to Rarity, Robocop slightly surprised that she was speaking with such wrath and disgust in her voice. "When they were turning you into what you are now, how could they say all those things about you? That they could do whatever they wanted with you? That you were nothing more than a product! They can't do that to you!"
"They could. I was legally dead at that point and when the release form had been signed they owned the rights to my body," Robocop clarified for her, the rage in Rarity's eyes growing even larger at his reply.
"That doesn't make it right!"
"The dead do not have rights, Miss Rarity. And I am classified as deceased." For the first time the ponies could hear the faint underline of emotion in Robocop's voice, with the emotion being disgust at his own words. "Therefore, I have no rights." Robocop lowered his gaze to the floor so he did not have to look into the eyes of the ponies, not wanting to see the sorrow or pity that they felt for him. Silence overtook them all for a few minutes, with the fillies still slightly sobbing.
"There's...one last thing that I have to know," Flash whispered, Robocop lifting his head again to look at the guard. "What happened in the memory of the tower when you went to arrest that guy? He said something about a directive 4 and that disobeying it would result in shutdown. Why didn't you just take him in before he had the chance to say that?" Robocop lowered his head once again, his memory banks flashing back to that night and then to the innocent ponies that he had failed to protect.
"It was not his words that caused me to shutdown, it was the directive that was built into me," Robocop began to explain, knowing that he was about to reveal his greatest weakness. "I am programmed with four directives, three of which I have already informed you of. The fourth is that I cannot arrest a senior member of OCP or it results in my shut down. That is what happens if I try to fight against one of my directives, I am forced to shut down until the OCP has figured out what the error was and has repaired it."
"But I thought those were just your code?" Scootaloo asked, her voice still shaky as she wiped tears from her eyes. "That your three directives were your moral code."
"No, they are a part of me. It is not that I choose to follow them, it is that I have to follow them precisely or else I crash, much like you saw in the memory," Robocop said with a hint of bitterness in his voice as he lowered his head again. "That is how Sombra managed to crash my systems, by activating all three of my directives at the same time. No matter which one I picked, I would be shut down for failure to obey the other two. Because of that, he got away."
"How could the humans do this to you?" Twilight asked. "If it was possible to trick the system wouldn't they have given you a solution around it?"
"I was a product to most of them Twilight, little else," Robocop reminded her. "As long as I brought in results and the public were behind me, they cared little for what went on inside of my mind."
"Then fight it." Robocop turned his focus back to Flash Sentry, who was standing on his hooves and glaring at Robocop with a look of fire burning in his eyes. "Fight against the programming! Don't let it control you!"
"I cannot," Robocop softly responded as he lowered his head again, images of the mind controlled pony flashing across his mind. "They are a part of my very brain and have total control over my systems to stop me from disobeying them. I have no choice but to follow them. I am a machine."
"Wrong." Robocop looked up at Flash with surprise, his scanners telling him that Flash was extremely agitated. "You're so wrong! You do have a choice, you just don't believe you do! You are only ninety nine percent of a machine, not one hundred percent! that means that one percent of you is left to fight, just like you fought against directive four when you confronted that man! I saw it, I saw how despite your systems crashing you still tried to bring him to justice!"
"You are incorrect Flash Sentry, that was another case of my directives clashing with each other," Robocop stated in reply, but all that did was infuriate Flash further. "I am more machine than man. I am not ever sure if I am alive." Flash then took in a deep breath and looked at the floor for a moment before lifting his head to look at Robocop.
"Do you know why I became a guard?" he asked Robocop, who had no reply. "Yeah because I wanted to help others, but it was also so I would matter, so that I could say that I had done some good with my life. So that I could meet mares and be able to say I worked with the princesses. I was selfish when I first started, thinking it was all about me helping others. And all of the guards around me seemed to think the same way," he admitted bitterly at his own desires.
"But then I met you, the ultimate law enforcement officer. I thought you were the coolest guy in existence, how you always stopped the criminals, how you easily dispatched of your foes. But then I saw something that no other guard I met had. You threw yourself at every foe no matter how dangerous, protected those who needed it no matter the harm to yourself and never once compromised your beliefs no matter what was happening."
"I...I look up to you. When I look at you I see the kind of protector I want to be, to be that selfless and caring of others," Flash said through gritted teeth as his rage returned. "And don't tell me that everything you did was because of your directives, because it wasn't! You took on a criminal gang by yourself without any special protection! You stopped a countless number of crimes to save lives! And even with directive four trying to shut you down your desire to bring that man to justice fought against the directive's shutdown, because I don't remember you shutting down in that memory!"
"You might be ninety nine percent programming, following whatever directions the humans that made you wanted to, but there is that one percent of humanity left within you and that is the part of you that defines you Robocop! You are more than just a machine!" Robocop lowered his head again, silently shaking it for Flash who still didn't understood how he worked. But then Flash's words started to take hold, the words telling him how he was not all machine. That the man who had died still lived within the robotic shell somewhere.
"Is there any way we can undo this?" Robocop turned his eyes to Sweetie, who was looking at the older ponies with hope in her eyes. "Do we have any magic that can turn him back to a regular human? He shouldn't have to live like this if he doesn't want to. He's our friend, we need to help him!"
'They call me friend despite knowing what I am...and they have the utmost trust in me,' he silently thought as Twilight told Sweetie that there was nothing they could do to return him to his human form. 'How long has it been since I have been surrounded by others who completely trusted me...who treated me more than machine?' He then turned his gaze to the three fillies, who were now all trying to think of a way to help him. Those who had never thought of him of anything less than a hero.
"Murphy," Robocop said in a whisper, turning all eyes to look towards him. "My name was...is Murphy." His scanners registered their eyes softening as he said this and the three fillies all walked up to him, smiles on their faces despite him able to see trace hints of tears as well.
"Then we need to introduce ourselves again," Applebloom said as she held out a hoof to him. "Mah name's Applebloom. Nice to meet you Mr. Murphy and thank ya fer all you've done fer us."
"Scootaloo. And I think your even more awesome than I did before," Scootaloo said with a small laugh as she held out her hoof as well. Sweetie didn't say anything, but her eyes flashed with kindness and caring that Robocop had rarely seen shown for him. He shook all three of their hooves before looking up at the other four, each of whom smiled at him as they walked over and gave him a group hug.
"I...only have one question left," Twilight said weakly as she broke away from the hug. "You died...that much we know for certain. And while I'm amazed that the humans managed to save most of your body, how did Murphy survive? You confirmed that you did die."
"Because Twilight, he knew that the men that killed him were still out there and were still hurting others," Flash said with no question in his voice as he looked up at Robocop. "And Murphy knew that he couldn't die until he had brought them to justice. Just like you say Murphy: Serve the public trust, uphold the law, and protect the innocent. Those are the words you live by, not the words that you're forced to obey."
Robocop knew he was trying to help, but Robocop still couldn't help but think back to what had happened with Sombra and how he had possessed an innocent to crash his systems. and what Robocop feared was what were to happen if he had to face Sombra again under similar circumstances, afraid that he might crash again and more innocent lives would be lost. His train of thought was derailed when he heard the sounds of hoof steps and stood up straight as the doors to the room opened.
"Greeting, princesses," he said as the twin sisters entered. "How may I help you?"
"Hello there Robocop, it is nice to see that you are back online," Celestia said with a polite nod to the officer as she and her sister walked into the room. A quick scan of all the faces of their ponies told them that something serious had happened and the sisters began to look around the room with horns glowing.
"What is the matter? Did Sombra appear here too?" Luna growled as she fired lunar magic at any shadow that dared to move in front of her.
"No princess, it was just...wait, here as well? What do you mean by that?" Twilight inquired. The princesses shared a worried glance before the sheathed their magic and sat down next to Twilight.
"While you were in here taking care of Robocop, my sister and I discovered that Sombra tried to break into the chamber," Celestia began with narrowed eyes. "I do not know how he managed to sneak inside, but it is clear that once again he knows of our plans. The good news about this break in is that we found out the Sentinels work, as the not only managed to repel Sombra, but according to the bit of blood we found they also injure him."
"And there's bad news from this?"
"The bad news is that Sombra found out they worked," Luna continued with a shake of her head. "And now that he knows that he will not rest until he has either destroyed or taken control of them."
"But I thought you said that he couldn't take control of them?" Applejack pointed out. "Something about their magic being too strong or unable to be controlled."
"You would be correct Applejack, but there are ways around the magic shielding that prevents Sombra from placing them under his command," Luna began as she reached behind her mane and pulled out a small, green sphere surrounded in a silver casing. "This is the key to the sentinels. It is what we use to program them so that they follow the order of any princesses or figure that we deem worthy of commanding them. If he were to get hold of this..."
"He would be able to place himself within the sentinels as a princess or authority figure," Celestia finished for her sister when Luna hesitated. "And knowing just how crafty he is he would probably find a way to erase all other designated authority figures that are already within the systems."
"Is that the only key?" Flash Sentry asked, Celestia nodding in response as she took it from her sister and held it before her own eyes. "Then it should be fine, right? With the two most powerful alicorns holding onto it then Sombra shouldn't be able to get his hooves on it."
"Yes, but there we find our problem," Celestia muttered as she hoofed the key over for Twilight to look at. "We may be stronger magically than Sombra, but as much as I hate to admit it he is far craftier than us. If we hold onto the key than it is only a matter of time until he manages to steal it from us. He knows we have it and will stop at nothing to take it from us."
"So that is why we will not be the ones who hold onto it," Luna said as Twilight showed the CMC the key. "We will instead be giving it to Twilight and the Elements of Equestria to hold onto until he has been brought down. He will think it with us and while he is fruitlessly trying to steal the key from us my sister and I shall trap and defeat him."
"We feel that the key would be safe with the six of you, since you have new harmony powers and with Robocop patrolling Ponyville we believe there is little chance he can take it from you," Celestia said with a kind smile at the robotic officer, but her look of kindness was met with one of self-loathing and failure.
"If he employs the same strategy that he used against me in the streets of Canterlot, then I will not be able to help," Robocop said with pain in his voice as he tightly clenched his fists. "My directives prevent me from harming an innocent, yet if I do not uphold the law I will shut down again. I do not believe this course of action wise, but if you wish for me to defend the key and the ponies...I shall do so to the best of my ability. But I will warn you that this plan will most likely go wrong."
"Well, let's hope Murphy's law cuts us some slack," Luna joked before seeing her words caused the ponies faces to fall. "What did I say?"
"That is all we ask of you," Celestia said as she levitated the key back from AJ and Rarity and turned its protection over to Twilight. "Protect this as you would your friends. If Sombra were to get his hooves on it then he would wage war with the very machines I created to protect the ponies."
"I wish I could say I'd keep it safe princess, but I won't be able to do so," Twilight said with a sigh as she waved Applejack and Rarity over. "If Sombra can get past you two, then odds are he can get past me. I think we should destroy it and let Sombra know that we did."
"That sounds...interesting, but I will need you to elaborate," Celestia asked.
"If you two don't have it, then Sombra will assume that you gave it to one of us. Therefore, he'll come after our families with more force than he did before," Twilight muttered as she placed a hoof under her chin. "Spike went to see Shining and Cadence so he should be fine, but as for these three..." Twilight began as she looked at the CMC.
"We cannot destroy it. We have no idea what the Sentinels will do without the key to control them," Luna informed the group.
"Also, Princess Luna...I’ll need to talk to privately a little later," Twilight said as she levitated the key back to the princesses before casting a look at the fillies with concern. "I feel that it would be best if none of us hold onto it and we should destroy it, but if you wish for somepony to hold it I shall do so first. Since I am an alicorn, I can fight Sombra with magic if needed."
"I still do not like the idea of making who holds onto the key a target," Rarity grumbled as she gave it an unimpressed glance, not liking the color of the key. "Because we'll have to find a way to tell the others about this and if that scoundrel Sombra is listening in on us..."
"How about we let Robocop hold onto it?" Scootaloo suggested, turning all eyes towards her. "He has those cool spots on his legs that let him store things, so he would have a safe place on him at all times. We've seen that Sombra's magic can't get through his armor, so we won't have to worry about Sombra worming his way in there." Twilight lowered her head in thought at Scootaloo's idea while Celestia and Luna both nodded with approving smiles.
"I think that is a wonderful idea, Scootaloo," Celestia agreed before looking at Robocop. "What do you think officer? Would you be willing to take on the key?"
Robocop looked down at his open hand with his thoughts blazing through his head. Vivid was the memory of him being helpless to stop Sombra from harming that innocent pony while at the same time threatening the innocent pony that he posed. 'If he were to figure it out and attack me in a similar way, would I once again be powerless to stop him? If I cannot function in a situation I am programed for, can I be trusted to act if needed?'
"Please Murphy?" Sweetie Belle asked, Robocop looking down at her to find the filly giving him puppy dog eyes while the sounds of Luna slamming her face into her hoof could be heard. "I know you feel really bad about what happened, but you're still the best at protecting us! If anypony should be trusted with the key to protect us, it should be you. We saw in your memories that you never let evil have its way, so please don't give up because Sombra beat you once."
"Yeah, he cheated to win after all!" Scootaloo agreed with fire in her voice as she joined by her friend. "You would've kicked his flank otherwise. You've still beaten everything else he's thrown at you."
"Seems that we're all agreed then," Flash said as he joined the fillies and ruffled both their manes before giving the officer a look with determination and belief in it. "Out of all of us here, you're the only one that Sombra hasn't been able to overpower. We'll take care of him taking over ponies; all we need you to do is protect the key."
Once again Robocop avoided looking directly at the ponies, but after a moment of silence he looked up at the princesses and agreed. "If you believe me the best person to do the job, then I will comply."
"Alright then, now that we have a plan let us hope that Sombra falls for it," Celestia said with a smile as she and her sister turned to exit the room that the group was in, the other ponies and robot following them out as well. "You should all get back then, as the sooner we get the key away from Canterlot and Sombra the better."
"Robocop...Murphy?" Twilight said, Robocop turning to look down at her. "We'll...talk more about what happened to you when this whole thing with Sombra is over, okay?"
Robocop nodded in response before he stopped at the exit to the room and turned back to look inside. His scanners were still restoring themselves to one hundred percent, but for a moment he felt a sensation similar to his skin crawling. Then the others called out for him and he turned to follow them, leaving the room empty except for the shadows.
'And once again you almost find me,' one of the shadowy residents thought with a smile as he remained hidden within the darkness. 'I should give Luna credit, she did almost hit this little bit of me. I'm surprised at how easily they speak about things like this in public, for they should know that I have eyes everywhere.' The shadow then slithered under the wall and through the streets of the city, eventually coming to a stop at an abandoned building where the true king of darkness rested. The shadow slithered into him and he inhaled, smiling as what the shadow learned appeared in his mind.
"Very interesting. That makes it all the easier to win this war," Sombra thought he tasked a part of his mind with figuring out the best way to steal the key from Twilight and her friends, while his current attention was drawn back to his biggest concern. 'But I am not yet ready to destroy the princesses and tear down their kingdom. First I need to deal with the robotic pain in my side.' Sombra stood up as he thought this and walked over to a window, looking up at the setting sun with a look.
"If I do not at least attempt to take the "key" from the princesses, then they shall know something is amiss and inform Twilight and her band of fools. A halfhearted attempt will convince them to think that I do not know of their plans," he planned while continuing to think about Robocop. "But what to do with Robocop? They are right in saying that I cannot steal the key from him with force and crashing him again will make it even harder to pry out of his body." Then a far more sinister part of his mind thought of a solution and Sombra chuckled to himself as it shared its dark ideas with him.
"Now that is a plan fitting of me. Soon I shall make an attempt for the key, but first," he muttered to himself as he turned back into his dark wisp and took to the streets once again, heading for the "secret" laboratory that Celestia had. "I need to figure out how that brain of Robocop's works. Because destroying such marvelous creations would be such a waste."
DPD
Darkness had just began to slowly grip the land when the train back to Ponyville finally came to a stop, allowing the princess and her friends to head back to their homes.
"I guess then I'll wish all of you goodnight then," Rarity said as she lifted the snoozing Sweetie Belle onto her back while stifling a yawn herself. "Let me know if there is any update on the battle with Sombra. I do wish to look my best when we beat him back into the disgusting darkness he crawled out from."
"Seems Rarity's really invested in this battle," Flash observed as Rarity walked away with her head held high.
"We all know how much of a threat Sombra is. He did enslave the entire Crystal empire after all," Twilight reminded the group as she gently lifting the drowsy Scootaloo onto her back, the filly letting out a yawn before snoring slightly. She and Flash began to head back to the castle and Robocop began to follow, but was stopped when Applebloom walked in front of him.
"Hey Robocop...Murphy? Can ah ask ya something?" she said with some hesitation, both Robocop and Applejack looking down at her with a confused look.
"Of course you can Applebloom. What is concerning you?"
"W-when we were in yer memories, we saw that you had a family of yer own and ya told us what happened to them and...ah'm so sorry fer ya," Applebloom began as she had to repress some of the images that she had seen before continuing. "And after seeing what happened in yer head...ah know ah'm gonna need mah family to help me through it. But since ya don't have yer own family to help ya through what happened...would ya like to use mine?" Robocop didn't know how to respond to her words, but Applejack wiped a tear from her eye before pulling her sister into a bear hug.
"Aw sis, that is just the sweetest thing. Ah'm in complete agreement, Murphy. You've helped us out so much that ah'm sure granny wouldn't mind giving ya a little Apple affection," Applejack agreed as well, Robocop not sure what to say while his scanners told him that Applebloom was desperate for air. AJ let go of her sister before death became a concern and gently elbowed Robocop's leg. "So if ya feel like coming down to the farm at any point just let us know and we'll prepare the best meal that you have ever had!"
"Thank you for the offer," Robocop said before walking away from the station, needing time to think. At the mention of food Robocop realized that he had not ingested any of the sludge that sustained his body and knew that he must have been running on fumes. He had to talk to Twilight about that. But then he turned his attention to what Applebloom had offered, her words causing him to be...unsure.
'Anyone who has gotten close to me in the past has been victims of crimes simply because they are close to me,' Robocop remembered as he thought of his own family and his partner, both of whom had been hurt due to him. 'I do not wish to bring pain to that family as well. But...a tour of their farm surely wouldn't hurt.' At least, he hoped so.
The morning sun shown down upon the quiet town of Ponyville early the following morning, casting the town in a warm light that comforted all who looked upon the rays of sun. All except for Flash and Twilight, both of whom were currently being blinded by the sun reflecting off of Robocop's armor as they walked towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"I apologize for reflecting, but it is a feature of my armor that I cannot control," Robocop apologized to the pair who were holding their hooves over their eyes to try and keep the light out.
"No problem, just...can you turn that way a little?" Flash asked, Robocop nodding as he tilted his body in a way that deflected some of the light, allowing the two to lower their hooves. Twilight rubbed her eyes before reaching into her saddle bag to pull out a long list.
"Alright, according to how you described the "food" that you eat, I've found that it closely resembles both applesauce and baby food. And since I figure that you don't want baby food, we'll be taking you to Sweet Apple Acres to see if they can help your...sensitive stomach," Twilight said with a small smile. "Although seeing somepony as tough as you eating baby food would like pretty funny."
"Technically I have no stomach. My body simply processes the nutrients from the food and disperses it to the human areas I have left for absorption," Robocop explained without thinking, getting Twilight to shake her head at the explanation.
"Being a cyborg's tough, isn't it?"
"Well, no longer having to use the restroom is a nice upgrade." Both Twilight's and Flash's jaws dropped as he said this, Robocop turning to look at them since sudden silence was not was he was expecting. "Did I say something offensive or surprising?"
"Was that...an attempt at a joke?" Flash asked with a coy smile, only to be met with the emotionless face that Robocop always wore.
"I was stating a fact. I do not know that both of you would be interpreted as a joke," he sensibly replied, but both Twilight and Flash gave him coy smiles that made Robocop take a step away from them both. Twilight and Flash both let out small laughs before Twilight turned back to her list and a frown crossed the mirth off of her face.
"You'll both want to hear this one. Late last night, after we returned to Ponyville, the princesses were ambushed by Sombra and attacked. They managed to fend him off, but he escaped without them able to capture him," Twilight read as Flash and Robocop shared a worried look. "Well, at least so far the plan is working, although I hope they capture him soon. Still got the key, Murphy?" Robocop nodded as his left leg opened up to reveal the silver encased key, which they all looked at for a moment before the covering sealed up again.
"The sooner we bring in Sombra, the sooner he answers for what he has done," Robocop growled with hints of rage in his tone, the two ponies next to him nodding in agreement. While the group walked Twilight gave Robocop a rundown of how trials and sentencing worked in Equestria in case he was needed for Sombra's trial, so by the time the group reached the farm both Flash and Robocop had long since stopped listening, with Robocop just opting to record her words for later.
"...and that is the proper way to sentence a pony who...oh, are we here already?" Twilight asked with mild surprise when she lifted her head to see the sigh for the Acres. "Well I can save the rest for later. Time to meet the all of the Apples, Murphy." Robocop nodded as the three walked across the dusty ground towards the house that rested besides the farm. The door to the house swung open and a small, brown dog burst out of the house, yipping her head off as she raced towards the group. Twilight knelt down to greet the pup, but the dog skidded to a halt twenty feet away from the group and began to growl at Robocop.
"No, it's okay Winona, he's a friend," Twilight said as she tried to calm the dog down, but she continued to growl at the officer while in a protective stance. Unafraid of the dog, Robocop walked right up to it and knelt down, sticking out one of his hands for it to sniff. Winona sniffed his hand once before back off, resuming her growl at the officer. "I'm sorry about this Murphy, she's generally so friendly."
"She believes me to be a threat and is protecting her family. I cannot fault her," he said coldly as he walked past the dog, who nipped at his leg only to find out he was not something to chew on. As Twilight helped Winona with her teeth Robocop walked up to the door of the house and knocked on the door, hearing the sounds of hooves walking towards the entrance. The door swung open and Robocop found himself looking down at a large red stallion who looked back up at him with a bored look.
"You Murphy?" he asked in a very bland tone.
"Correct." The stallion moved to the side and allowed Robocop to enter, the officer taking care not to bang his head on the door frame as he entered. The stallion said nothing else as he led Robocop inside, offering him a seat in the living room. Robocop sat down and found himself looking across at an old mare who was a light green with a white mane.
"Well howdy there, Mr. Murphy," she said with a thick accent as she smiled at him, Robocop nodding his head in reply. "Don't bother asking how ah know yer name, mah granddaughter told me all about ya. Said that you're the one who saved her life a number of times over the past week. No need to answer that one either, it be impossible to get her description of ya confused fer another. Let me just say thank ya for taking such good care of my family."
"I would like to return the gratitude. Your family and their friends have been very kind and patient with me in the short time I have been here," Robocop responded, getting the old mare to wave her hoof at him while chuckling.
"Ah there's no need to thank us. Apples always try their best to be kind to strangers, especially those who have aided them in times of need. Ah'm Granny Smith by the way, but ya can call me granny if ya want to," she said with a happy smile as she hopped off her chair and held out a shaky hoof to him. Robocop took the hoof and gently shook it, the old mare smiling before craning her head to the side. "Mah granddaughter and her school friends are outside. Ah bet they'd want to see you."
Robocop thanked her and left the house out through the back exit, spotting AJ playing with her little sister and the other fillies in the back. They stopped tackling each other when they spotted him and waved him over, Applejack reaching into a bag that rested next to them when he got near and pulled out a container of applesauce.
"Here ya go, Murphy. Twi sent a letter ahead and told me what ya needed," she said as Robocop took the container and slowly opened it, looking at the mush inside for a moment before ingesting it. His internal scanners told him that the food was being processed, but with a small sigh he realized that it would not be enough to sustain him. He would need the baby food.
"Thank you for the sustenance," he said with a nod of his hand. "How do you wish for me to pay for the service?"
"Ah shucks, ya don't need to pay. You've helped us out more than enough," AJ said as she rubbed her nose with her hoof, Robocop not sure how to respond to such an act of kindness.
"I suppose we are even then."
"Ya saved mah sisters life. We're nowhere close to even," AJ said with a smile as Flash and Twilight joined them in the back. Applejack walked over to them and they began to talk, while Robocop was left to tend to the three fillies.
"How are ya feeling?" Applebloom asked him as he reached down and removed the key from his left leg, staring into the green energy silently.
"I still do not believe that I should be the one to hold onto this," he voiced his concerns as he let the three fillies hold onto the key for a moment. "Sombra has proven that he can defeat me before and I have yet to think of a solution to his strategy of taking control of an innocent and fighting me with them that doesn't end in shut down."
"Why don't you just forget about the directives and tackle him to the ground?" Sweetie Belle suggested, the other two fillies nodding in agreement. "I mean, it would stop Sombra and allow you to keep an innocent safe. Wouldn't that work?"
"Unfortunately my directives are programmed so there is very little room for variations to what they dictate," Robocop explained as he slipped the green key back into his leg. "Under the directive of serve the public trust, I am not allowed to lay my hands on an innocent or harm them in any way unless they have willfully engaged me. As the ponies under Sombra's command are not acting on their own accord, I cannot touch or harm them."
"Then why does not touching them cause ya to shut down? Ya didn't disobey yer orders," Applebloom added.
"That would be another directive: uphold the law. I am programmed to stop any crime I know of and arrest any felon, which Sombra is. If I refuse to arrest a felon or allow crime to happen without me interfering, then my system believes me to be corrupted and it shuts me down for repairs," Robocop said with no emotion as he stared at the ground. "Sombra has figured out how to force my directives against myself and render me useless. And there is nothing I can do to stop him." The fillies all shared a sad look with each other before Scootaloo shook her head and punched him in the leg, cursing herself a moment later as she hopped around in pain.
"Why did you do that?"
"To snap you out of your funk," she spat as she seethed in pain while holding her hoof. "Dangit what did they make you out of? Here you are saying how useless you are and how you can't fight Sombra, but you weren't thinking that when you took on that manticore or the Lumberwolf!"
"That was a different situation," Robocop reminded her bitterly, Scootaloo letting out an exasperated sigh in frustration.
"Who cares what the situation was! From what Twilight told me you didn't stop trying to fight him and you sure as heck didn't run away like those guards!" she yelled at him, completely burning with passion now. "You keep telling us how it's your directives that define you, but we saw in your memories what truly drives you is your belief in justice!...A belief that I share. Just like Flash I admire you, way more than I admire the guard. They brag about how they're doing good when they're not. You just go out there and do it."
"I understand what you are saying, but you are talking to me as if I have a choice," Robocop replied with some heat. "I am mostly machine now. I abide by what I am programmed to do."
"So if somepony were to go into your head and program you to kill all of us, would you?" Scootaloo asked defiantly, narrowing her eyes when Robocop didn't answer. "Because I don't believe you would. I know you would say no. It's as Flash said. You might be ninety nine percent machine, but that one percent of you that's human wouldn't let you. Because that one percent is the Murphy that believes in justice."
"That one percent did not aid me in the battle with Sombra," Robocop reminded her, getting Scootaloo to wave her arms around like she was erasing something.
"Maybe you didn't want it badly enough or something, I don't know. What I do know is that Murphy always believed in justice, so much so that he gave his life for that belief. And that you believe in justice, and that you almost gave your life for it multiple times," she practically screamed before taking in a few quick breaths and calming herself. "The directives might tell you what to do, but I believe that you have a choice. Either you'll choose to let the directives win or you'll choose to do what is right. And for you, I think that's simple. Protect the innocent. That's all from me, either of you want to say something?" Both fillies shook their heads and backed away a bit, Scootaloo shrugging as she looked back up at Robocop again.
"You're directive tell you what to do. But this," she began as she motioned for him to kneel down, placing her hoof on the center of his chest when he had done so. "Will tell you what is right." Robocop felt her words hit home and he very slowly rested his hand over her hoof, giving her a small smile in return for the kindness and belief she was showing in him.
"Aw, what a touching scene. Makes me want to hurl." All four of them let out a gasp as they spun to see Big Mac standing at the edge of the door. But immediately Robocop placed himself between the fillies and the pony, his scanners immediately picking up on who was actually in the red stallion’s body. "But time for body rejections can wait, since I'm here on business. You have something that I want."
"No...not mah brother."
"Stand down and release the pony that you have captive at once or I will use force," Robocop ordered, but his fears became reality when the directives began to pop up on his screen again, conflicting with each other. But with courage in his voice he drew his gun and pointed it at Big Mac's head. "If you want this key, you'll have to go through me to get it."
"Robocop...Murphy. I wouldn't have it any other way."
The gun began to shake slightly as Robocop fought against the very directives that had defined most of his robotic life, once again trying to figure out a way around hurting the pony and bringing down Sombra at the same time. Sombra smirked with Big Mac's mouth as he began to advance towards the group, Robocop standing his ground as best he could while static began to form over his eyes.
"While I know I said that I'd have to go through you to get the key, we both know that that isn't going to happen," Sombra chuckled with victory, knowing that this battle was already his. "I can tell just by looking at you, you're struggling just to stand much less point that weapon at my face. Just give me the key Robo and I promise that I'll make your demise quick."
"I don't make deals with criminals," he replied as he felt his left knee go, but through sheer willpower he managed to keep himself from falling over.
'Directive: Uphold the law.'
'Directive: Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Serve the public trust.'
'Not now!' he roared into the recesses of his mind, trying to find solace from the bombardment of directives while Sombra let out a laugh at the struggling officer.
"Really, we both know that this is a futile resistance," Sombra chuckled as dark magic filled Big Mac's eyes and he began to advance towards Robocop with a sinister smile on his face. "You can't so much as touch me, let alone harm me enough to stop me from getting to that key. Or maybe you can shoot at me again like you did in Canterlot and kill another innocent pony. Better make your choice, because there won't be much of you left when I'm done with you."
Robocop's face fell as Sombra's words pierced through his armor and for a brief moment he hung his head. But he forced himself to shun the revelation of what had happened to the pony away as he focused on the task at hand.
"Then how about I deal with you first!" Sombra let out a cry more of shock then pain as a blast of magic struck at his hooves and tossed the big, red stallion through the air, where he crashed into a hay bale face first. Robocop felt the static begin to clear as Twilight descended next to him, Flash and Applejack running up beside her with fire in their eyes. "Thank you for distracting him Robocop, I managed to get a few spells in place before attacking."
"What kind of spells?"
"A barrier spell so that he couldn't escape and a protection spell that will prevent him from trying what he pulled back in Canterlot," Twilight said with a smirk as he horn glowed with magical might while Sombra pulled himself out of the hay bale. "You hear that Sombra? You're not escaping us this time!"
"Oh dearie me, it seems that I have been outwitted by a princess," he said as he placed a hoof on his head and let out a defeated sigh. "If only I knew magic that hasn't been seen or heard of in nearly a thousand years...oh wait," he began as dark magic began to form all along Big Mac's body, "I do."
He cackled as dark tendrils of magic burst forth from his body and tore through the air towards the ponies, Twilight creating a shield for her and the ponies closest to her while Robocop shielded the CMC with his own body. Despite his inability to take action against Sombra, Sombra's magic still was unable to hurt his armored form. The tendrils of dark magic shattered against without leaving a scratch, Sombra snarling in frustration as the darkness returned to him.
"How did you know that Robocop had the key Sombra?" Twilight interrogated as she took to the skies and fired bursts of purple magic at Sombra-Mac, who slipped into the shadows to avoid the blasts of magic while his laughter filled the air.
"Do you fools think that a plan thought up by the two dumbest leaders in Equestria history would be able to fool the pony who overtook the crystal empire in less than a day?" Sombra asked from the darkness, retaliating with pillars of darkness that tried to impale Twilight out of the air. She dodged and weaved to avoid the pillars, her eyes locked on the ground in an attempt to locate Sombra.
"He is behind you!" Twilight spun in the air and shot a burst of magic behind her, catching Sombra as he emerged from the darkness and blasted Big Mac back, his coat sizzling a bit as he skidded to a stop in the dirt. Twilight looked down at Robocop as Big Mac vanished again and found that Robocop was still following the invisible movements. "My scanners can still locate him even if he is in the darkness. I may not be able to fight, but I can still aid you. Left!"
With a smirk Twilight turned and caught Sombra once again, blasting him out of the darkness and sending him sprawling across the ground. To both her and Robocop's shock, his form began to flicker and they saw both Big Mac and Sombra side by side for a brief instance.
"His control over Big Mac is weakening!" Sentry said with a smile as Sombra had to fight to regain control over his captive again. "Keep it up Twilight!" Twilight nodded before barraging the pony again, forcing Sombra to throw up a shield to defend himself instead of slipping into the shadows. Sombra's mind raced with possible ways that he could get himself out of the situation while still taking the key. Once again his brain pulled through and an evil smile crossed his face as he slipped into the shadows once again.
"Murphy, where is he?" Twilight asked as she stopped her bombardment, but Robocop threw up both of his hands as Sombra-Mac erupted from the darkness and tackled into him. The moment his hands touched the pony his systems started going haywire, with his directives all flashing across the screen at once.
"Now for the best part!" Sombra yelled as he slipped past Robocop and tackled Applebloom, appearing across the yard from the ponies with her grasped in her brother’s incredible strength, Sombra forcing Big Mac to wear an evil smile that would never normally cross his face as he tightened his grip. "And here we are again Robocop! Same situation with similar consequences! Not only am I giving you the same ultimatum, but this time if you pull the trigger you'll be kill a pony that you actually somewhat know. And again, if any of you interfere," he began as he created a sphere of darkness in his hoof. "They both die."
"No! We'll hand over the key, just let them go!" Applejack cried out in desperation, but all she got in return was a laugh from Sombra as he glared at AJ with her brother's eyes.
"I will have the key in time, but right now I want to see you all suffer," he chuckled as he held the sphere close to Applebloom's face, the poor filly terrified out of her mind. "You and your friends are responsible for blowing me up after all and I haven't forgotten how painful that was. I want you to experience the pain, a hundred fold. Don't bother trying to stop me, because if I or anypony else so much as touches this sphere it'll explode. But by all means, go ahead."
Once again the decision was placed onto Robocop's shoulders and he aimed his gun again right between the pony's eyes, yet as soon as he did this the directives began to wage war within his system, causing his gun to shake as Sombra laughed.
"That's right, you won't do anything without proper motivation," He chuckled as he lifted the sphere over Applebloom's head, the filly whimpering with fear as he placed the sphere next to her head. "Thirty, twenty nine, twenty eight..." Robocop could feel his systems beginning to crash again as he tried to force himself to make a choice, as he was the only one that could. Or so he thought.
Faster than any of the ponies knew possible, a flash of green ran over to Sombra-Mac and leapt through the air at him. The green pony grabbed hold of the arm that held the sphere, wrapping her own body around it before the villain could react. Applejack and Applebloom both let out a cry of fear as they realized who the pony was, but Sombra was more confused than anything.
"And just what are you doing, old lady?" he asked Granny Smith, who had a death grip on the hoof with the sphere in it. Granny looked up at him with such a fierce look of determination that even Sombra had concern on his face as she tightened her grip. Then he realized what she had just landed on and fear took his eyes.
"Ah'm protecting mah family." The sphere in his hoof exploded with dark magic, nearly all of which was channeled into the old mare that was using her body to shield her grandchildren. Yet Sombra, who was still holding onto the sphere, did not escape the blast unscathed. The blast from the magic collided with Big Mac's body, forcing the dark king from his host and tossing him off into the distance, right through the shield that Twilight had created.
But nopony was thinking about the shield or the defeated dark king. All of the rushed over to the old mare who was lying motionlessly on the ground, her body burned by the dark magic. Applebloom and Jack both rushed to their family, relieved to see that only Big Mac's hoof was burned, but horrified at how Granny Smith looked.
"She's badly hurt, but alive," Robocop said quickly as he did a scan of her body. "But she will not be for much longer unless she is given medical aid!" Twilight nodded and quickly started up a teleportation spell, all of the ponies so concerned about Granny Smith that none of them paid second mind to Sombra, who was pulling himself out of a crater his body had made.
"Welp...that backfired," he groaned with a smile on his face. "But that should be just enough motivation for Robocop to come find me. Let's make his job a little easier."
DPD
'Failure.' That was all Robocop could think to himself as he stared down at the floor from a chair outside of the room to intensive care, his scanners and auditory systems lowered so that he did not have to hear the crying that took place in the other room. He was alone in the hallway, for the ponies had gone to support their friends as they mourned. Mourned because Granny Smith had done what he was programmed to do...what he had failed to do. She had given her life to protect others.
A doctor had told them that Big Mac was going to make it and that the damage to his hoof would eventually heal, but that the emotional damage from the guilt he might feel would never go away. Robocop knew what he was feeling, as his own guilt for failing to even act was weighing heavily on his mind, so much so that he didn't hear the door open.
"Need to talk?" Robocop snapped out of his thoughts and slightly turned his head to look up at Flash Sentry, who looked strong despite the pain that he must be feeling. "Don't worry about me, in boot camp they teach you how to...cope with death. But I figured that after what happened, you would be feeling...bad."
"That is an understatement," Robocop said with bitter guilt as he looked down at his hands, hands that had been responsible for bringing down countless criminals and corrupted people with ease. But always within the guidelines set by the OCP. Even in this new land, he was still their product. "All of the time I have spent as Robocop, I always followed the directives, always believed that they would always keep me on the right path to being a good police officer, never needing to question them. But today...I needed to make my own choice and I was incapable of doing so. And another lost their life."
"Yeah...I guess that is what happened," Flash agreed, knowing that nothing he said would make Murphy feel better. "So why didn't you choose to simply...choose?"
"Because despite being in Equestria, as far away from my home as I can think of, I am still a puppet of the people who built me, always to dance and move as their strings demand me to," Robocop said with absolute hatred in his voice as he clenched his fists in rage, Flash turning slightly to see a single tear fall down his face. "But I am not held by strings, I am held by chains. Chains that I cannot break, chains that choke me whenever I try to move in a way the puppeteer doesn't like. Chains that keep me a slave to the desires of others."
"I can't imagine what that must feel like," Flash admitted as he looked at the floor. "To be unable to choose what you wish to do, to know that...if I made the wrong choice I would go to sleep against my will. I don't know how you deal with it." Flash then lifted his head and gently placed a wing on Robocop's shoulder. "But I want you to know that I don't think any less of you because of it. Even with the directives fighting against you and the struggles you go through, you are still the greatest defender of the law I have ever known."
"I am not a defender. I am a puppet and the directives are my chains," Robocop repeated before lifting his head quickly and turning to his left, drawing his firearm as he did so and taking on a look of rage. Flash looked to the side of him to see what had turned him angry, but when he saw what Robocop was looking at his own anger surface as well. It was a small strand of darkness that slithered in place on the floor, a stand of darkness that they knew well.
"What the hell do you want?" Flash snarled.
'Come with me, come with me. And then the pony you hate you will see,' the shadows whispered in a rhyme, giggling slightly as it began to move towards the exit. 'But come alone Robocop. Or all your efforts will be for naught. Sombra promises he is alone as well, he just wants you to visit for a spell.'
"This has to be a trap," Flash said as Robocop stood up and began to follow the strand, stopping for a moment when he heard Flash's words and he turned to look back at him.
"I know it is. But this might be my only chance to stop him without any of you being in danger," he said with determination in his voice as he turned and held his pistol vertical next to his head. "And it will be the best chance for me to carry out my directives. If I do not come back, tell the ponies what happened. But I must go. Because today, Sombra answers for his crimes."
Despite the howls of Timberwolves coming deep from within and the roars of monsters the likes of which the ponies had never seen, the most dangerous creature in the Everfree Forest was the robotic officer who marched through the trees on a warpath, following a strand of darkness that slid through the shadows. His pistol was grasped firmly by his right hand and if any creature dared to cross his path it would find itself in a world of hurt.
'This way officer, this way,' the shadow whispered to him as it snaked along the dark ground of the forest, but always visible to Robocop thanks to his scanners. He could feel eyes on him from all directions, but whether the creatures knew he wasn't edible or realized that he was dangerous meant little to him as justice had to be served.
The shadow led him to a small, wooden bridge that looked to be out of commission for years, with two old ropes barely holding it up. Below the bridge was a long fall into nothingness, the fog within the chasm preventing Robocop from seeing the bottom. Yet without a moment's hesitation he followed after the shadow as it snuck across the bridge, the creeks and groans of the rope not slowing him for an instant.
The moment his feet touched down on the other side of the chasm after crossing he heard the ropes snap and he turned just in time to see the bridge fall into the fog, giving him no way to return to the other side. Yet Robocop turned and continued to follow the shadow, not wanting to be on the other side of the bridge. He wanted to be where Sombra was, where he could wrap his hands around his throat.
He followed the into a large castle that was in just as bad shape as the bridge had been, with holes in the ceiling and destroyed tapestry all around. The shadow that had led him to the castle vanished into the darkness, leaving Robocop alone in enemy territory.
"Come out Sombra and we can avoid trouble," Robocop called into the darkness as he switched his scanner to thermal, looking for any sign of where Sombra might be hiding. His words didn't draw out the dark king, but they did draw out a loud chuckle that echoed across the long forgotten halls, preventing Robocop from identifying the origin of the laugh.
"Avoid trouble officer? If I wanted to avoid trouble I would kill you and the ponies in their sleep and simply be done with my revenge. No officer, trouble is exactly what I want," the voice of Sombra echoed throughout the hallways, Robocop looking around to find the source. While looking he emerged from his hallway and found himself in a desolate throne room, with many branching paths off to the side. A shadow sat on the throne and in an instant Robocop had his weapon aimed at the shadows head, but his scan stopped him from pulling the trigger when it identified the shadows as simply a shadow.
"You have multiple crimes that you need to answer for, the most recent being murder," Robocop snarled into the darkness as he turned his head, his words being met by more laughter from the shadows.
"Crimes? Crimes for what, officer? Trying to save Equestria? How is that a crime?" Robocop narrowed his eyes at the words, turning his head slightly so that he was looking down one of the side hallways. His sensors informed him that there was a forty percent chance the voice had come from in there, but he needed to keep Sombra talking to pinpoint the location.
"Saving Equestria by killing those in charge and using the innocent as shields? That is not how the definition of saving is recorded in my databanks," Robocop retorted as he began a slow march down the hallway, his eyes constantly looking from shadow to shadow in case of an attack.
"Then let me ask you this question officer, do you truly believe that the princesses are what's best for Equestria?" Sombra asked, but his voice sounded slightly louder from the direction Robocop was walking, increasing the percent of him being down the hallway Robocop was in.
"They are the leaders of the land. They do what is best."
"That is such a poor answer. Do you even know the princesses? They're guards are a royal joke, as I am sure you have been told by your best friend Flash. Whenever any real danger arises, such as yours truly, they send six citizens, and now a princess, to go deal with it instead of fighting the evil themselves. And just recently, Princess Celestia created untested and unstable monsters to protect her people because she was too lazy to train her royal guard to do their jobs. Now does that sound like what a sane ruler would do, my dear officer?"
"It is not my duty to question to ruling methods of those above me. My duty is to bring in criminals and protect those who they prey upon," Robocop responded with certainty in his voice as he pressed his back to the wall, reaching a corner that led into a large room where the voice seemed to be coming from. "The princesses have done nothing against the law and therefor are not my concern. You Sombra are my concern. You are my duty."
He spun around the corner with his pistol drawn as he said this, but the room before him was mostly empty, aside from some very large statues that lined the sides of it, all of them looking like the same bearded pony. Robocop narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet as he began to move forward again, Sombra's laugh echoing through the room once more.
"What an honest answer. With an answer like that I would believe you to be the best and most noble enforcement officer in Equestria. That is, if I didn't know that everything you do is based on a programming, what somebody else told you to say. The words about your duty? Programmed. Your little credo about upholding the law and protecting the innocent? Somebody else built you to say those words. Everything about you was created by someone else. The ponies see you as a living being, but only my eyes have allowed me to see the truth. You're a robot built to act like an officer, nothing more. If you were programmed to be a chef you wouldn't even tease the idea of law enforcement. If you were programmed to be a trash can you probably wouldn't think at all."
One of the statues moved as the words echoed across the room, sliding to the side to reveal a long, dark passage way that went straight down for a long distance, with Robocop's scanners not able to see the bottom. Robocop assumed that Sombra wanted him to go this way and without another thought Robocop began to descend into the darkness, his firearm pointed in front of him for any trouble. After ten minutes of walking, Robocop found that the stairs leveled out and revealed a large, wooden door at the bottom of the stairs. He grasped the handle and through the door back, walking forward into the room behind the doors.
"Everything about you, from your personality to what you say, is built in by somebody else. But you truly are marvelous, I will say that," Sombra said from the other side if the large room that Robocop entered, the blue fire from the torches on the wall flickering off of both his armor and the coat of the dark king, who turned around with a smile as Robocop walked towards him. "To think that they turned a living being into such an incredible weapon...it makes me wish to know more."
"Sombra. You are under arrest for assault, crimes against the state-"
"Oh save the speech officer and let's just get to why you're here," Sombra said with a laugh as he slipped into the darkness once again, Robocop ceasing his reading of the rights to look around the room for the dark king. "You want to bring me in because I've broken a few rules. I want the key that you house in your left leg and maybe a little more. And only one of us is going to get what they want."
"Are you refusing to come quietly?" Robocop asked into the darkness before spinning around and firing his pistol at a cloud of darkness, the darkness breaking apart to avoid the bullets before swarming around Robocop, scratching and tearing at him. "Very well then." Robocop rolled out of the darkness and fired into the shadows again, the cloud grunting as the magic that powered it was assaulted with the gunshots. Sombra's darkness took on a drill shape and drove itself into Robocop's chest, forcing him back as sparks flew from his armor.
"Does that answer your question?" Sombra laughed as he backed off, Robocop firing another shot before Sombra slipped back into the darkness. The damage assessment informed Robocop that some of his face had been torn off by the attack, meaning that his robotic skull would be showing through the damage. Aside from the face facsimile, the rest of his body remained undamaged by the attack. "And now we get to see that the only bit of you that looks human is actually fake as well. Did somebody else make that for you to?"
"This is a pointless battle for you," Robocop said as he moved out of the way of a spear like attack from the shadows, driving his hand into the darkness as it passed and grabbing hold of the pony within. Sombra snarled as Robocop pointed his gun at him before letting off a blinding flash of light, overloading Robocop's sensors and causing him to release his grip as he covered his eyes. "Your tricks may delay the inevitable, but if you are as smart as you claim to be then you know you cannot harm me."
"Yes Robocop, I know that full well. But that is why none of my attacks were designed to damage you. All I needed was a small crack, something that I could use to...see how you think." Robocop caught on to what Sombra was saying a second too late and he turned to see the shadows slip into his helmet, using the tears that were in his face to work their way through his skull and to his brain. Robocop howled as his systems began to fail, forcing him to his knees as he held his hands to his head.
"So this is what the mind of a machine looks like?" Robocop opened his eyes to find himself in a large room that looked mostly mechanical, except for a large screen that was showing images of his life before and after he had become Robocop. Sombra stood in front of this screen, a large, toothy grin on his face as he watched Robocop rise to his feet. "Thought it would be emptier, but I guess they did leave a few thoughts left for you to chew on."
Robocop reached down for his firearm, but to his shock he found that it was not within his holster. "Oh come now Robocop, surely you should know that simple machine cant' hope to fight me in a battle of...or should I say in, the mind?" Sombra chuckled before turning his attention to the screen. "Well well well, isn't this interesting. Is that...your family that I see there? So the people that made you didn't manage to completely erase who you were before making you into their puppet, did they?"
"I'm bringing you down!" Robocop promised as he began to march towards Sombra, but chains shot down from above and wrapped themselves around Robocop's arms and legs, causing him to hold them out like he was being controlled.
"That's what you called yourself back in the hospital right? A puppet? Yes, that fits you fairly well," Sombra muttered before turning his attention back to the screen, nodding as he watched the images flashed by him and told him Robocop's story. "Well now, isn't that a sad story. Honestly, if I didn't know that the human side of you was dead and gone I might feel just a little sad for you. But a machine has none of my sympathy."
"What you do to me in here doesn't matter Sombra. I will not stop until I have brought you to justice," Robocop said with defiance in his voice as Sombra turned and walked over to him, stomping his hoof to remove Robocop's helmet, which happened in an instance. Sombra looked into Robocop's eyes with a smirk, Robocop staring back at him without fear. "Do your worst to me. I will still come after you."
"My worst? Robocop, you have no idea what my worst will do to you," Sombra said with a grin so large that half of his face was a smile. Then Sombra slowly lifted his head to look up at the three directives that were burned into the walls of the mind, his horn glowing with power as he took aim. "But you won't care in the least when I'm done. After all, a puppet dances to the whims of the puppeteer." As he said this he unleashed a torrent of electricity into the first directive, blasting it apart into nothingness in a single shot. Robocop roared as his vision went blurry, his eyes staring into nothingness as he tried to recover.
"Yes, at first I wasn't sure how to do this, since you are a machine after all," Sombra began before taking aim at the second directive and blasting into oblivion as well, causing Robocop to collapse to his knees as static covered his eyes. "But then I found something very interesting about you. You were only ninety nine percent machine. One percent was left of the human, a one percent that was flesh and blood. A part of you that I could mold like clay. All of your mechanical directives go through a human brain...a part I can control. If you didn't have your human brain, I wouldn't be able to do this, but it seems that little bit of human will be your downfall. So Robocop, care to tell me what your directives are?"
"D-directive one: File not found. Directive two: file not found. Directive three: Protect the innocent," Robocop stammered out, his whole body shaking as Sombra laughed before turning his gaze back towards the final directive, taking aim with his horn one last time and unleashing his power upon the directive, erasing it from the databanks. Robocop's head went limp, leaving Sombra to place a hoof under his chin and lift it up so Robocop was looking into his eyes.
"That looked like it hurt. Sorry about that," he teased before turning his attention back towards the large screen, the screen that showed his entire life was Robocop in Detroit. "Now normally I would believe that destroying your directives would be enough, but I know you hero types. If you so much as have a strand of your old selves left then you can be a problem. So I need to get rid of your old self completely!"
He unleashed a wave of fire upon the screen, causing Murphy to scream as he felt his memories being burned from his memory. Murphy lifted his head to look upon his son's and wife's smiling faces on the screen one last time before the fire consumed them, burning away one of the last shreds of humanity that he had left to hold onto. Sombra looked down at the fallen Robocop with a smile before he turned and walked over to the last item in the room, a small picture of a man in a police uniform, with the name Alex Murphy written underneath of it.
"And now, you die." Sombra obliterated the picture with a blast of magic, Robocop barely letting out a small cry as he felt his own name, his identity vanish into the darkness that now consumed his mind. Sombra dropped the ashes to the ground before walking over to Robocop, who stared blankly up at Sombra.
"And now with all that out of the way, your mind is now kind of like a blank canvass. So, Robocop, care if I try my hoof at painting a new picture? Don't worry, you can keep your little Miranda rights thing. I can think of something fun for that. But I do feel bad about destroying your directives, since they are what defined you...say, how about I give you a new one? One that I like."
Tendrils of darkness began to wrap themselves around Robocop as Sombra said this, his laughter filling up the room as Robocop never even lifted a hand to defend himself from the darkness. Dark words appeared in place of where the old directives had shone and darkness took the place of where Robocop had placed all of his memories, completely consuming the officer in Sombra's will. But even as Sombra forced his will upon Robocop, a single tear streaked down Robocop's face, that single tear being Robocop's last act of his own will before Sombra's own will took hold.
Flash looked out the train window at the dark clouds rumbling overhead, his expression mirroring the other ponies he was with faces as well, as all of them had the same thought on their minds. Where was Murphy?
'It's been nearly a week since I saw him at the hospital, yet he hasn't checked in or returned to us or...nothing,' Flash growled in his mind as his thoughts were shifted back to how long him and the others had all searched from Murphy, from Applepalooza to the castle in the Everfree Forest, him and the others had looked to no avail. Robocop was simply gone. 'And I know for a fact that something terrible happened between him and Sombra. I know it. I only hope that he's still alive somewhere where he can save him...before we need saving again.'
"Celestia won't be happy to hear about this," Twilight said bitterly with a shake of her head as she brushed Scootaloo's mane, the fillies all sitting next to her with looks of worry. "Not only is Murphy a close friend of ours, but he was also hanging onto the key that powered the Sentinel's up in Canterlot. If Sombra has gotten his hooves of it..."
"Then it'll be war," Flash finished for her, all sets of eyes turning towards him as he adjusted his helmet. "That's why we need to guard the chamber with all we've got, so Sombra can't bend the Sentinel's to his will as well. Are Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie going to be joining us today? I'd feel better if they were here with us."
"They'll be here tomorrow, but they're still checking the other cities and towns in case Sombra has taken Robocop there," Twilight explained as she created a map with her magic to show their locations. "Dash is circling up north, since that's where Sombra used to hide out back before he was imprisoned. Fluttershy's animals told her that Murphy was seen entering the Everfree Forest a week ago and she's been scouring it with her animals. And Pinkie simply goes wherever she feels he might be."
"So what are we going to tell the princesses, that we have to guard the chamber for the rest of our lives?" Scootaloo asked with a smirk, but the look of worry never left her eyes. "How do we know that Sombra isn't already there and waiting for us?"
"I sent Celestia a letter about what we believed to have happened as soon as Flash told me about the shadow and Murphy heading out on his own," Twilight responded. "And that was nearly a week ago. If Sombra was both in control of this key and had access to the chamber, he wouldn't have waited this long to make his move. He prefers a quick victory."
"Ah hate that Sombra so much," Applebloom whispered under her breath, her tiny body shaking from the rage that she felt burning up her heart. "First mah granny and now Robocop? How much more is he gonna take from us before he's had enough?"
"If he has his way, much more," Applejack whispered to herself as she pulled her sister into a hug, the two staying close as they heard the conductor call out that they were arriving in Canterlot. Flash took notice as they got off the train that there were no guards at the station to greet them, but instead the princesses of the day and the night awaited their arrival.
"It is good to see you again my friends, but from your faces I can see that I do need to ask my question," Luna sighed as she shook her head. "I suppose at this point we might as well consider Robocop dead or at least M.I.A. Come, we need to head to the castle and then to the chamber."
"But we can't just give up!"
"He could still be out there!"
"Mah sister would never give up on her friends this easy!"
"I have to agree with my sister, we cannot keep using the defenders of harmony to keep searching for him while Sombra still runs free," Celestia agreed, her tone silencing all of the ponies who had argued with Luna. "I too am hurt by what we have assumed to have happened to Robocop, but you must remember that he was an officer of the law. He knew the risks of going in after Sombra alone, yet he did so to do his duty and keep us safe. If we allow Sombra to win then his possible death would have been in vain. Once we have Sombra, we can force him to tell us when or if he killed Robocop, but right now safety is our first concern."
The ponies were silenced as they listened to Celestia's words, knowing that she was right but still wishing to help Robocop if he was still alive. But as the group walked through the streets Flash took notice that none of the guards were at any of their positions, even the ones that were actually of any use.
"Yes Flash, we are aware of this," Luna said when he brought the question up. "With the lack of faith we have in the royal guard we have sent all guards back to boot camp, having them remember what their duty is and how they need to behave. Those guards that are true to the code and desire to protect others are at the chamber, keeping the town safe."
"But they will not need too much longer, because I will be activating the Sentinel's today," Celestia said. All eyes turned towards her and no pony could say anything, Celestia nodding her head in agreement with the silence. "I know that it might not seem the wisest move, but with Robocop gone we need to get the city protected. And even if they are susceptible to his influence now, at least with them active they will be able to alert us if they do see him. We need eyes right now and the Sentinels can do that much at least."
"But how are ya going to activate them princess? Ya don't have the key any longer," Applejack asked.
"The Sentinels are already programmed to listen to my sister and me. We kept the key away from Sombra because with it he could undo our work and make himself sole master of the beasts," Celestia answered with worry as she looked up at the sky thundering overhead. "Let us hurry."
"Shouldn't we just teleport there instead of walking? As much as I love the tour of Canterlot I believe that speed should be our first priority," Rarity asked, but Luna shook her head.
"We have made the castle as magic proof as we could, in hopes to keep Sombra out of it. While it might not stop his smoke form, it does prevent him from simply teleporting in to attack us in our sleep. Unfortunately, it also keeps our magic out as well," Luna answered as she pursed her lip.
"Princesses, if I may leave and go join the guard at the chamber, I would feel safer about this whole thing?" Flash asked the two princesses with a bow. The two stopped and shared a quick glance before shaking their heads.
"Actually Flash Sentry, we would rather have you at the barracks training the other guards. You have proven yourself to be a noble soul and we feel that you would do more good there." Flash hid the disappointment in his eyes, but respected the princess’s orders with a bow and turned towards the barracks, Luna looking back towards the sky.
"Come. We are almost there."
DPD
The massive green doors opened with a touch of his hoof, making the entrance into the chamber far easier than the past times he had entered it. A large smile spread on his face at how easy this had become, a smile that was illuminated in a green light that shone from around his neck. The dark king entered into the chamber already planning his victory speech that he would give to his new world, but as he entered the main chamber he found that there was still some trash that needed to be taken out.
"So, you are the final line of defense?" Sombra asked with a loud chuckle, turning all seven of the guard’s heads towards him. He saw fear flash in their eyes as they spotted him and he knew that this battle was over. A guard dash for parchment and quill, yet a bolt of dark magic erased both him and the parchment, leaving the other guards to look with horror at Sombra. "So, are the rest of you going to do something foolish as well? If you run for your lives now, I may just let you go."
To Sombra's moderate surprise the guards all shared one last look with each other, as if they were excepting their fate, before grabbing their weapons and placing their helmets onto their heads before advancing towards Sombra with courage burning in their eyes.
"Ah, so you're the dumbest of Celestia's guards. Well then, we can't have such idiots running around, can we?" Sombra cackled as he slipped into his shadowy form, turning himself into a spear that pierced through one of the guards chest plates and ran clean through him. The guard had barely began to fall when Sombra twirled his shadow body like a twister, whirling the blades of darkness at such speeds that two guards found themselves missing their heads.
"For the princesses!" one of them roared in defiance as he began to fire bolts of magic towards the cyclone of darkness, but it slithered out of the way of his shots and enveloped him in its darkness, crushing the life out of him within seconds. Another guard hurled her spear into Sombra's darkness, but all that did was cause laughter to echo throughout the room before the darkness shot out like a bullet into her head, dropping her without another word. Sombra returned to his natural form with a small chuckle before he began to advance towards the pool of green magic at the end of the room, lifting his key with his magic as he did so.
"Hold it!" Sombra turned his head with mild interest to see that he had missed a guard, who was cut and bruised from the cyclone but still drew breath. "You're not done yet, not as long as I still draw breath!"
"This fight is over. And you know why? Because you're standing in my way," Sombra said before turning his attention back to the pool. He imaged that the guard had a look of confusion on his face at that moment before a loud cracking sound could be heard, followed by a body falling to the floor. Sombra smirked as he took the key and placed it in the pool, cackling to himself as the green pool began to turn into a murky black, the magic seeping through the floor and into the stone Sentinels that lined the room.
"I am king Sombra, your new master," he said into the key as the black magic began to infect each and every one of the Sentinels. "You answer only to me now, not the princesses, not the ponies; only me. Now, arise!" Sombra's eyes show with delight as the stone beings eyes flashed a crimson red before they began to stir, black magic seeping through their limbs where green magic used to reside. Dozens of Sentinels awoke from their slumber and turned towards king Sombra, each of them looking up at him, awaiting his instructions.
"The only thing depressing about this moment is that I had a big speech thought up before I sent you off to kill all of the ponies, but since you're all just machines you probably won't understand a word of it...ah hell, I'll say it anyway," Sombra laughed before clearing his throat and casting his arms wide.
"Greetings my personal army, you should all consider yourself to be among the luckiest machines in the land! Because today is a day that shall never be forgotten in the new history of Equestria, run by yours truly. Today we shall all strike down the princess who believe themselves untouchable and cast fear into the ponies who never wished to know what darkness can lie in this land!" Sombra roared with pride as he began to laugh, having fun as well as building himself up. "And the best part is once I've won I can kill any of you and none of you will care, because you are all under my command."
"Now then, all of you have only three simple tasks you must follow today! The first is to obey my every command! You all seem to be doing great on that front, so I'm not that worried. The second is to kill and destroy everything in this city that represents the old ways, the Celestia way, the way that was created for the weak," Sombra said with spite in each of his words, before his smile retook its place upon his face. "And the third is to fight to the bitter death, no matter what happens. Now go then my rock ugly minions! Go and tear down the world of those who created you! Repay them for their kindness!"
All of the stone Sentinel's let out a roar of war before they all turned and began to move towards the exit, Sombra laughing manically as lightning flashed overhead and thunder shook the kingdom. He then used his magic to create a throne for himself out of the floor, sitting down in it as he reached into the darkness and pulled back a large orb, which he looked into with a smile as the first images of the Sentinel's moving into the streets began to broadcast.
Sombra then moved from the throne to the pool of green magic in the center of the room, dipping a hoof into it before shivering. Yet as he looked up at his horn, he saw the magical glow upon it grow even brighter. He made a mental note of what he had just discovered before sitting back in the throne with a smile as he took the orb again.
'Today is finally the day, the day in which I take all of Equestria for my own. Nothing can ruin this for me. I have all five aces, I have the army that was specifically designed to combat somepony as dangerous as me,' he thought to himself with eyes glued to the orb, watching with a smile as the Sentinel's began to strike down ponies in the street with no remorse. 'The princesses and their ponies will fight, that is to be expected. But they will fall, it is only a matter of time. And just in case they do manage to find a way to overcome the Sentinel's,' Sombra began as he lifted his eyes for a moment, smiling at what he saw. 'I have the hidden sixth ace up my sleeve.'
With that last thought Sombra leaned back in his chair, watching the slaughter as it began.
Luna roared with the fury of the night as she unleashed her lunar magic upon the Sentinel before her, the sheer force of her power driving it back from the ponies that it had been attacking. With another yell she wrapped the beast within her magic and hurled it across the square where it slammed into a wall, collapsing it to the ground for a moment.
"Now, flee while you have the chance!" Luna yelled to the ponies before snarling as the Sentinel rose back to its paws, letting out a hollow shriek before charging towards the princess of the night. Luna created a sphere of blue around her to halt the monsters attack, but it rammed into the shield with such force that Luna was pushed back anyway. She was bracing herself for another attack when a blast of solar magic struck the Sentinel in the back of the head, causing its eyes to go white before it collapsed to the ground and its magic oozed into the streets.
"I think that I may have made these things a little too hard to stop," Celestia panted as she offered a hoof to Luna, who grabbed hold of it and grunted as Celestia pulled her back up to her hooves. The two sisters stood side by side for a moment as they both took in all the destruction and chaos that was happening, each of them burning with guilt. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have made these monstrosities."
"You were desperate and thought it for the best. If anything I should have been the one to talk you out of it," Luna said before spreading her wings to take off, her sister matching her movements. "But we can think about that later, because right now we need to focus on stopping these things and saving the ponies!" Celestia nodded and the two of them shot into the thundering clouds, raining down magic upon any of the Sentinels that entered their gaze.
Elsewhere on the battlefield Twilight and her friends fought side by side to protect three little fillies form the onslaught of the Sentinels; barely able to push them back even with their combined powers. Twilight screamed as she forced a purple crystal to rocket out of the ground and impale one of the Sentinel's, the creature letting out a weak moan before it ceased to move. Applejack had another one lassoed, but it was far too strong for her and hurled her around the streets like she was a sheet of paper. Rarity kept the three fillies close to her as she kept them behind her own glamorous barrier, knowing that it wouldn't hold if worse came to worse.
"Twi, could really use a hoof right about now!" Applejack yelled as the Sentinel fighting her snapped the rope around it's leg with little effort and lunging towards Applejack, who shielded herself with her hooves as she braced for pain. But even with her eyes tightly shut she was still aware of a purple flash that went off and she then heard the Sentinel roar. Opening her eyes she saw that the Sentinel was now missing the middle part of its body and lay lifeless in the streets.
"Don't worry, I've got you back," Twilight panted as she fluttered down next to her friends as Rarity walked out from behind her shield with the fillies, all of them looking at the three inoperable Sentinel's that lay in the streets. AJ turned her gaze to Twilight for a moment, shocked to see sweat running down her face and how she already seemed to be exhausted.
"What's the matter Twi, we've only just begun to fight these things," Applejack asked as Twilight wiped her forehead with the back of her hoof.
"These things take a lot of magic to stay down. No surprise there since princess Celestia built them to be unstoppable, but it makes fighting just one of them a pain," Twilight said between quick breaths as she and the other heard more screaming off in the distance. "And fighting these three already drained so much of my magic. I don't know how much longer I'm going to last."
"But we need to keep fighting," AJ said with a nod, speaking what all of them were thinking. Twilight and the others raced off to engage more of the Sentinel's that were attacking a crowd of ponies, Twilight flying in at full speed and ramming into one of them with a barrier around her, driving the both of them into the side of a building. AJ and Rarity double teamed another one, Rarity distracting it with gem stones and anything else she could fling at it while AJ leapt onto it's back and wrapped her rope around it's jaw.
"YEEHAW!" she yelled as the Sentinel began to buck with its stone limbs, trying to kick the pony off of it to no avail. In an attempt to rid itself of her it slammed itself into a wall, but AJ held on tight and refused to let go. That was until a third Sentinel broke off its attack on the crowd to tackle Applejack off of the other Sentinel's back, pinning her to the ground as it lifted a paw to crush her. Instead it was crushed to nothingness when two blast of lunar and solar magic turned it to dust, allowing AJ to rise back up to her hooves.
"There are far more of these than I thought that you had made," Luna said to her sister as the two of them landed next to their friends.
"It seems that Sombra has activated all of them, including the ones that I didn't believe ready for field deployment," Celestia responded as she fired a spell as hot as the sun through one of the Sentinel's, watching as it melted in front of her. "Those ones were not as...stable as the others, not as keen to listen to orders. However their armor wasn't as strong as the field ready ones, so they should be easier to deal with."
Luna opened her mouth to respond when all of the ponies turned as they heard a low roar, turning to see nearly a hundred Sentinel's walking towards them, all of their eyes glowing red as they advanced towards their prey. The ponies each took up their fighting stances, each hoping that they got out of this alive.
DPD
Flash's spear drove itself into the back of the Sentinel's neck, but just like all of his previous attempts to hurt the creature the spear failed him, simply shattering against its armor and turning its attention to him. "Oh this is so not good!" he yelled as he turned and sprinted down the barracks as fast as he could, leaping over fallen items and overturned obstacles in an attempt to get away. He could hear the Sentinel simply tearing through those same obstacles as it tried to rip into him, but he had the good sense to leap out a window and take to the skies, watching as the creature burst through the wall and fell into the streets.
"You've gotta be kidding me," he muttered in shock as the creature got back up from a four story plunge into the streets, shaking the dirt off of it before going back on the hunt. "I'm going to need way better weapons if I hope to take those things on. Maybe we've got something for this in the weapons room." He flew back into the barracks and sprinted through its halls, knowing which room he needed to get to.
'Just how many of these things are there?' he thought to himself as he hid beneath a table as a Sentinel walked by him, thanking the stars that they weren't that bright. When the coast was clear he sprinted towards the room once again, but to both his horror and surprise he found the two iron doors locked when he got there. "Who would lock the weapons room during such a time?" he growled as he tried to pull the doors open to no avail before resorting to force, which only gained him a bruised shoulder.
"Come on you piece of crap, OPEN!" he roared as he slammed his hind hooves into it, his expression changing from rage to shock when he saw the doors actually crack open. He was about to congratulate himself when a pair of hooves shot through the crack and wrapped around him, dragging him into the room. "Let me go you-!" he yelled as he broke himself free and preparing for a fight, only to find that he was in a room filled to the brim with other guards.
"Flash Sentry! Man, you should thank the stars you found this place or else you might have ended up dead," one of the guards said to him as he closed to door, locking it once again. "You're safe in here though, those creatures don't seem to know how to open doors besides smashing them down and nothing's getting through that door." Flash looked around at the near sixty guards with disbelief in his eyes before he shook his head in confusion.
"What are you all doing down here?" he asked them with an underlining tone of rage that none of the guards picked up on.
"We're hiding in here! This seems to be the safest place in the city right now," another guard answered him with a smile of relief, but the smile was swatted off of his face by the look of rage and loathing that Flash gave all of them.
"I meant why are you hiding down here while the city above is being attacked! Why aren't any of you out there fighting?!" he roared at them, turning his gaze to each and every one of them as he awaited an answer, which none of them gave.
"What could we do?" a guard eventually said from the back, the others moving out of the way so that Flash could see him. "What could we possibly do against those kind of monsters?! I saw one of them tank a spell from Princess Celestia and it got right back up! Do you think our spears and swords will be able to stop those things?! We all have a better chance of surviving if we wait down here for the fight to end." Flash stared at them for a solid minute before slowly shaking his head, his face covered with disbelief.
"I don't believe what I'm hearing. The royal guard is hiding when the city needs them most, when the PONIES need you most?!" Flash roared at them, watching as most of their gazes shot to the floor while some looked at him with defiance in their eyes. Flash shook his head again before pushing through them, grabbing the strongest weapons that he could find and slinging them onto his back before turning and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" one of the guards asked as he threw open the door, Flash turning back to look at him with determination.
"I'm going out there to fight," he said, the guards all sharing a look before speaking.
"That's suicide! Those creatures are way beyond anything that you can do to them. You'll die." Flash let those words sink in as he thought of the possibility of him dying and he knew that the odds were in the favor of him dying that surviving. But his resolve steeled when he thought back to a friend of his who had walked into the jaws of evil without any regards for his own life, only the thought of the lives of others.
"Maybe I will die. Maybe I won't be able to stop one of these Sentinel's before they kill me. But that is a risk I will take," he began as he turned back to look at them, more resolve in his one set of eyes than all the others in the room. "Because when I became a guard I swore my life to the ponies that I protected and if needed to give that life to defend them. I will admit that I have not always been the best guard that I could have been, but now I will be damned if I allow myself to hide away while others need me!"
"And I bet some of you feel the same," he said as he looked into their eyes. "I know that some of you wish you could help, but are just afraid. But now is the time that I ask you to stand with me, to stand by the words you swore to when you were given your position. To protect and serve." He turned and sprinted out of the room as he said this, leaving the guards standing there with the toughest decision of their life.
DPD
Sweat dripped into Twilight's eyes as she fought to keep her barrier from shattering under the pressure of the Sentinel assaulting it, gritting her teeth as cracks formed along the shield as two more Sentinels leapt in to add to the pressure. With a scream of rage she focused all of her power into her horn, sending out a blast of magic that pushed the two Sentinel's off of her, giving her a moment to breath yet the strain from the spell caused her to collapse to her knees.
"Twilight! Are you alright?" Celestia asked as she descended next to her student and blasted off the Sentinels that attacked her again.
"I...I'll be fine princess, I can still fight," Twilight said as she fought back to her hooves, her and her mentor looking around at all of the Sentinel's attacking all around them and how their friends and family were fighting for dear life. "I just wish I knew whether or not it would make a difference."
A cry for help grabbed both of their attentions, fear filling up Twilight's heart as she recognized the screams. She and Celestia turned to see a Sentinel leap onto the CMC across the courtyard, knocking them out from behind their cover. Both Twilight and Celestia fired spells at the beast, but two more took the blasts as they attacked the princesses, leaving the fillies to fend for themselves. With fear filled eyes they watched as the Sentinel raised a paw, preparing to finish its targets.
"Stop right there, criminal SCUM!" The Sentinel roared as a blade of pure magic drove itself into the base of its neck, causing black magic to ooze from the wound as the creature let out a howl before it fell over dead. The CMC's faces lit up when they saw who their savior was as he bulled the blade out of the creature’s neck. "I always wanted to say that."
"Flash!" all three of them yelled as they tackled him. "You saved us!"
"Of course. That's what the royal guard does," he said before turning his attention back towards the other Sentinel's, which were now all advancing towards the group that fought. Twilight and Celestia raced over to check on the fillies while Flash gripped the sword with his hoof, watching as the monsters advanced.
"Flash, I want you to take the fillies and run!" Twilight ordered as she and Celestia prepared their spells. "We'll hold them off!"
"No need princess," Flash said with a smile, Twilight turning to look at him like he was crazy before a bombardment of magic arrows embedded themselves into the Sentinel's, causing the machines to roar from the attack. The princesses turned their gaze to the sky to see nearly sixty of the royal guard standing on the rooftops above them, all of them dressed for war.
"I brought our army."
DPD
"Well, that can't be good," Sombra muttered to himself as he continued to view the battle that took place outside on his orb, watching as Twilight and her friends were saved by the arrival of flash Sentry and the royal guard, who were now working together to fight against the Sentinel's. "And by some miracle it seems that they actually might win," he muttered as the guards worked together to tear a Sentinel apart without any losses. But then a smile crossed his face as he shrugged it off.
"Well, it seems that now is the time to play my final ace," he said as he looked up from the orb to the figure that stood before him, a wicked smile growing on his face. "The guard and the ponies outside are all trying to stop me. You know what to do." The figure nodded before he turned to leave, his feet crushing the ground beneath them as he walked towards the exit, no emotion on his metal skull and firearm gripped tightly in his right hand.
"And just so I'm sure that you're not up to anything or having any memory problems, you know what your directive is?" Sombra asked, the figure nodding in response. "And remember, every pony out there stands against me. So what are you going to do to those who stand in my way?" he inquired as the figure reached the door, getting him to turn and look at Sombra one last time.
Cracks appeared along a Sentinel's armor as Twilight bombarded it from the front, forcing it to focus its attention on her while flash snuck around from behind it. With a yell he flew into the air and gained the momentum needed to drive the magical blade straight through the armored skull of the being, dropping it to the ground without another sound.
"Whew, these things are a lot easier to handle when you work as a group," Flash said with a smile as he placed his hoof on the creatures head and pulled the sword from the stone, hefting it onto his shoulder as Twilight caught her breath. "You need a minute or can you go another round?"
"I'll be fine," she panted in reply as she shook her head and forced herself back into the fight, both her and Flash taking to the skies to see where they were needed next. "I have to admit Flash, we'd be in real trouble if you hadn't shown up with the other members of the royal guard. They really bailed us out of some deep trouble."
"Yeah. And now we're actually able to take the fight to the Sentinel's instead of having to run from them," Flash agreed before calling out to Twilight about an attack, the two descending towards the pair of Sentinel's from the sky. With the element of surprise on their side Flash managed to kill one of them without it ever having the chance to launch a counter attack, but the moment its brethren fell the other Sentinel let out a roar of rage before charging the Pegasus. "Of course, it wouldn't mean much if the princesses weren't here to save us when we messed up," he added as Twilight slammed into the side of the Sentinel with a magical strike, hurling it into a wall.
"It's a good thing the magical swords that Celestia banned were being stored in the weaponry or else we'd have little to fight these things with," Flash continued as he flew over to the dazed Sentinel and finished it with a blade to the jaw. More cries of panic could be heard off in the distance and Flash sighed as he drew his blade from the creature’s maw. "How many of these things have we brought down and why does it always feel like there are more coming every minute?"
"Could Sombra be making more?" Twilight asked as the two flew over to aid the ponies, striking down the two Sentinels’ that had trapped a family in a matter of minutes. "Come on, let's find the others and try to figure out what we're going to do." A couple of minutes of searching did not reveal the location of Celestia or Luna, but it did allow Twilight and Flash to meet up with the others and help them fight against three more Sentinels’.
"Things finally seem to be going our way for once," Rarity said as she, AJ and the CMC ran over to Twilight and Flash, the royal guard finishing the Sentinel's. "The creatures have become much more manageable with the royal guard here."
"And thank heavens fer that, ah'm starting to get tired after kicking so much flank," AJ said with an exhausted smirk. Twilight looked at the weariness on her friends face before wiping more sweat off of her own brow.
"Alright, we should leave this area to the guard and go regroup with Celestia and Luna," Twilight ordered as she began to walk over to the guard, who were cleaning up what was left of the Sentinel's. She had only taken a few steps when a small disc landed with a tink next to the guards, all of whom looked at it with confusion.
"What the heck is that?" one of them asked as he picked it up. "It looks like a-" Twilight screamed as she was hurled back by a massive explosion, the same explosion incinerating the guards into ash. Twilight's friends raced to her side to help her up, all of them looking at the raging fire caused by the explosion.
"What the hell was that?" Flash asked as Twilight shook off the shock. "It looked the like the same disc that..."
Flash and all of the other ponies stopped talking as their eyes looked into the center of the blaze, where a lone figure could be seen walking towards them through the fire, a figure they all recognized. He had a metallic body that reflected the flames light off of his silver armor, with a gun held in his right hand that he kept held next to his head. But where all their eyes were drawn was to his face, or lack of a face, as where flesh had been before was now only the steel and metal that made up his armored skull. But despite the change, they all knew the figure that advanced towards them.
"Murphy?" Twilight asked in disbelief as a smile crossed her face, the same reaction appearing on the other ponies as well. "Murphy! You're alive! We thought that you had-" She stopped speaking as Robocop pointed his gun at her, her heart going cold at the sight. She then felt Flash slam into her side and tackle them both to the ground as three gunshots tore the air apart, Flash crying out in pain as one of the bullets tore through his leg. Twilight didn't waste a moment throwing up a barrier of magic around her and her friends just as another volley of gunfire went off, cracking her strongest shield in a few shots.
"Murphy! What are you doing?!" Sweetie Belle called out as Robocop advanced towards the group, firing another shot into the barrier to crack it even further.
"It's Sombra," Flash grunted in pain as Twilight helped him back up to his hooves. "Sombra must have done something to him!" Robocop pulled his fist back before driving it into the sphere of magic, the metal force of his blow shattering the shield with one blow, knocking the ponies off their hooves and to the ground. Twilight saw Robocop point the gun at Rarity's head and quickly fired a bolt of magic, knocking the gun out of his hand and sending it skidding across the ground. Robocop registered what had happened in an instant before he resumed the attack, grabbing Applejack by the throat and driving her into the ground.
"Let her go!" Twilight roared as another burst flew from her horn and knocked Robocop back, giving Rarity time to help Applejack to her hooves and drag her back. Robocop began to advance again, forcing Twilight to continue to bombard him with magic. But his armor was too strong for her spells to damage and with each shot she could feel herself weakening. She didn't stop firing until she felt his metal hand wrap itself around her throat, lifting her into the air.
"Murphy...why are you doing this?" she cried out in pain.
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
"I am following my directives," Robocop responded as he began to tighten his grip, only to release her as a metal blade slashed itself across his back. He slowly turned to see the other members of the royal guard, all of them looking up at Robocop with both fear and the will to fight in their eyes.
"Princess! Take the foals and run! We...we shall hold him off!" one of the guards cried out as he lunged at Robocop, only to take a metal fist to the face that shattered his jaw and put him in the ground. Twilight could only nod her head dumbly before picking up her friends with what little magic she could gather and move them away from the battle as the guards engaged Robocop. The first guard slammed his body into Robocop's chest in an attempt to slow him down, but all Robocop did to free himself as grabbed the guard by the throat and twist, putting an end to the resistance.
"All of you are standing within Sombra's way. You shall be terminated." He lifted his leg and drove it into a guard’s chest, crumpling his rib cage and crushing his organs with a single strike. A blade of magic slashed across his back, but all that did was five Robocop his next target. Robocop turned and punched the guard in the face, taking his jaw clean off and dropping him without another sound.
"Dammit all, you were one of us!" a guard yelled as he leapt onto Robocop's back wrapping his hooves around his throat and trying to choke him out in an attempt to slow him down. "You were a guard as well! Don't you remember who you are?!" Robocop reached back and grabbed the guard, slamming him into the ground before lifting his metal foot over the guards head.
"I am Robocop. And my directives are who I am," Robocop replied as he brought his foot down. The guard all swarmed him at once, the sheer number of their bodies preventing him from moving. But then a roar could be heard and three Sentinels’ leapt down next to the guards, using their paws to swat them off of Robocop and freeing him. With the sudden arrival of the Sentinel's the guards were forced to shift their focus from the machine to the beasts, giving Robocop ample time to walk over to where his firearm had been knocked away and retrieve it.
"You are all terminated," he muttered as he took aim at the guards head and pulled the trigger once for each head he lined up on, leaving the streets bathed in blood by the time he ran out of targets to aim at. Robocop slipped open his wrist and retrieved a new magazine of ammo and replaced his current one with it, looking towards the Sentinel's that awaited his orders. "Find any who have not joined Sombra and terminate them. Leave the princesses to me."
The Sentinel's ran off as Robocop began to advance towards the center of the city, where his scanners told him that was where the princesses were fighting. But just because he had orders to terminate the princesses didn't mean that the rest of the city was safe. All who had not bowed to Sombra already were against him and Robocop made sure that they did not escape as he fired into the crowd, making sure not to let any in his path live. His path of blood only came to an end when he spotted the three princesses fighting next to each other, fending off the Sentinel's that he had ordered into the streets.
With precision aim he fired three bullets towards Celestia, the shot going right into her while she was focusing on another foe. With a scream of pain she fell to the ground, her cry informing Robocop that her heart was not where he had assumed it was. Twilight threw up a barrier to protect her teacher while Luna let loose a scream that could shake the moon as she hurled herself at Robocop, the magic energy that she used to cover herself deflecting the bullets that he fired at her. Luna slammed into Robocop and drove the both of them through a building before she ascended with her shoulder still rammed into his stomach.
"How could you do this Robocop?!" she screamed at him as she rose until the entire city could be seen below them. "How could you turn your back on us and ally yourself with Sombra?! What happened to you?!"
"I obey my directives. That is all," Robocop said as he drove his fist into Luna's face, stunning her long enough for him to point his gun at her face. Luna turned her head to face to meet his and used her horn to knock his aim off, causing the shots to fly off into the distance. She then quickly spun herself so both her and Robocop were pointing straight down and with a roar she drove the both of them towards the ground.
"Then I shall save Twilight and the others the burden of digging you a grave!" she screamed before stopping, unleashing her magic into Robocop's chest that sent him crashing into the streets at even faster speeds. The crater he created upon striking the streets was quickly filled in with rubble, burying him completely. Luna looked at the grave with a shake of her head before descending down next to Twilight.
"Luna! Did you...?" Twilight asked, her face falling when Luna nodded sadly.
"I am sorry Twilight, but he left me little choice," Luna responded as she turned her attention back to the advancing swarms of Sentinel's. "Now then, let us-" Her words were cut off as the sound of three gunshots split the air, striking Luna in the back and causing her to fall to the ground without another word. Twilight slowly turned from where Luna lay bleeding to the recently made crater, watching with horror as the metal man pulled himself out of the hole, pushing the rubble off of him.
"Twilight Sparkle. Do you still oppose Sombra?" he asked her as he pointed his gun at her head, taking aim right between her eyes, eyes filled with fear. But then her eyes drew strength once again as she cast a purple magic around herself.
"I don't want to fight you Murphy. I want to help you. But if I have to...kill you...to stop Sombra, then...forgive me!" she roared as she fired a beam of pure magic into Robocop's chest, the blast pushing him back as the sheer wave of her magic overwhelmed him. But then with the strength of human engineering Robocop planted a foot in front of him, before planting the other ahead of it. Slowly he began pulling himself forward towards Twilight, who never ceased her magic for a moment. Despite the unrelenting power of the spell, Robocop managed to pull himself to where Twilight was standing.
"Then I shall terminate you," he said as his hand burst out of the magic and grabbed twilight by the horn, cutting off her magic as he lifted her into the air. He took aim with his gun and shot her pint blank, yet the bullets were stopped by the magical barrier that she had placed around herself. Robocop took a moment to plan before he dropped Twilight to the ground, driving his fist into her face. Despite the spell around her, the impact of his face hitting the shield was enough to rattle Twilight's head, causing her spell to fade. In her moment of weakness Robocop swatted her across the face with the butt of his pistol hurling her across the street and into the side of a building, where she passed out in pain.
"It ends here," he said as he took aim at the unconscious alicorn, knowing that he would not miss. For a brief second he felt what he thought was fire in his chest, but it was gone the moment he felt it. "You are-"
"MURPHY!" Robocop spun around and took aim at whoever had called out to him, expecting the Twilight's other friends or the guards that he had missed when terminating the city.
What he was not expecting were three little fillies.
The fillies were lined up perfectly with his weapon as Robocop looked down the sight towards the three fillies that stood before him, easily able to read the fear in their eyes as they shook slightly in place. But Robocop could also read a number of other emotions in their eyes as well besides the fear. There was sadness, horror and in the deepest depths of their eyes...hope.
"Stand aside you three. I do now wish to kill you, but if you oppose me then you oppose King Sombra and for that...you will be terminated," he said in a deadly voice, the blood on his armor telling them that his threat was indeed serious. But despite the overwhelming fear that the fillies felt at that moment, they refuse to budge, refuse to let him go without a fight.
"Murphy...it's us. Yer friends. Don't ya remember?" Applebloom asked him with tears in her eyes.
"I am designated Robocop. I do not know who this Murphy is. I ask one last time. Stand aside or I will terminate all three of you," Robocop said in a dark tone as he pointed the gun right between Scootaloo's eyes. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both looked towards Scootaloo with the desire to run written on their faces.
"Scootaloo, maybe we should go. He looks serious," Sweetie Belle asked in a petrified voice, but Scootaloo refused to budge once again.
"Murphy never gave up on us even against unbeatable odds, so I'm not giving up on him," Scootaloo said as she planted her hooves very deliberately in front of the robotic officer. "I don't know what Sombra did to you, but I know that you can fight it! You're not this...terminator that he wants you to be! You're a good guy, someone who arrests the bad guys and helps those who need it! Don't let his evil kill the last bit of humanity in you!"
"Your words mean nothing to me. If you continue to stand against me, then you shall die," Robocop replied emotionlessly, Scootaloo looking into his robotic face in hopes to see any sign that her friend was still alive. She then closed her eyes as a single tear streaked down her face, before she opened her eyes again and stared up at him.
"I am your friend Murphy and I won't let Sombra kill the good that you cherished so much. And if to stop you means that I have to stand against you then...do it. Kill me. Prove to me once and for all that Sombra killed one of the greatest heroes I knew," she said with absolute conviction, her friends looking at her in disbelief before shaking their heads and standing with her. "Prove to me that you're nothing more than a machine."
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
"So be it," Robocop replied as the directive flashed before his eyes, giving him the incentive to raise his gun and point it right at Scootaloo's head. There was fear in her eyes as he took aim, but there was also the faintest hints of hope as his finger squeezed the trigger.
'Protect the innocent.'
Robocop's finger stopped cold as the words echoed throughout his mind. Robocop himself froze as he tried to figure out what had just happened. The words had sounded like a directive, but there was still his single directive on the screen before his eyes. But he had without question heard a voice, a voice that he did not know yet sounded far too familiar. He took aim at Scootaloo again and went to pull the trigger, but again the words echoed in his mind. But this time when the words entered his mind he felt a small burning sensation in his chest, a sensation that increased when he tried to fire at the girls again.
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
Static began to appear on Robocop's screen as the shutdown system kicked in at his refusal to carry out his directives. Robocop took aim at the fillies once again, but Robocop and the fillies realized that his hand was shaking slightly as he took aim at them. This time he had only just thought of pulling the trigger when the words roared in his mind, far louder this time than they had before.
"W-what's going on?" Sweetie Belle asked her friends, Scootaloo's eyes going wide as she put two and two together.
"He's fighting it," she whispered as Robocop kept his gun aimed at their heads. "Murphy! You have to remember who you were before Sombra influenced you! Before you became Robocop! Remember the man who almost gave his life for justice! Don't let Sombra kill him! Break the chains!"
Robocop could barely register anything that was being said around him as the directives on the screen before him clashed with the words that seemed to come from the fire that was burning in his chest. His scanners informed him that at least ten of the Sentinels were approaching the fillies, who spun around with fear to face the advancing monsters that slowly marched towards them.
'Error. Error. Conflicting directives,' Robocop's screen said as the Sentinel's got closer and close to the group. Robocop could barely see through the static that covered his screen, struggling to remain standing as his systems began to shut down on him. His pistol shook in his hands as he fought to hold onto his control, but the shutdown program was winning the battle and as long as he fought against the directive he couldn't move.
The Sentinel's that advanced towards them let out a roar as they leapt into the air at the three fillies, who screamed as they huddled together in fear. And in that moment time slowed almost to a crawl for Robocop as he tried with all his might to figure out what to do. He knew that he had to obey his directives, but something within his chest plate burned with resistance every time he tried, screaming at him that he shouldn't.
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
'Protect the innocent.'
He wracked his brain as he tried to figure out a way to obey both directives, a way that he could both protect the fillies before him and terminate them at the same time. Yet as he looked down at the fillies, he felt words enter his mind from the burning sensation that seemed oddly familiar to him. When he looked at Sweetie the word innocent appeared before his eyes. When he looked at Applebloom the words uphold and law appeared. And when he looked at Scootaloo the full phrase serve their trust appeared before him.
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
'Protect the innocent.'
His body was nearly in full shut down and he could barely see through the static in his eyes, but he was still able to hear the cries, the cries of the fillies before him. Then the pain from the directives burned into his body and began to attack his brain, barely leaving him able to think clearly, with the last image of the fillies and the Sentinel's before him.
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way.'
'Protect the innocent.'
'Directive: Terminate all who stand in Sombra's way!'
'PROTECT THE INNOCENT!'
"BREAK FREE, MURPHY!"
BANGBANGBANG!
The fillies screams grew even louder as they heard the gunshots, but as they were expecting pain from being shot they instead heard the sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground in front of them. They cracked open their eyes to see the Sentinel's lying dead on the ground in front of their hooves with the black magic leaking out of their heads. The fillies eyes went wide before they turned and looked up at Robocop, who wasn't moving at all as sparks flew from his helmet.
"Murphy! Are you...alright?" Scootaloo asked as she poked him with her hoof. The moment she did so, Robocop began to fall on his face. But in a blur of motion his leg shot forward and prevented him from hitting the ground. With gritted teeth and a roar of rage Robocop pushed himself back to a standing position, standing up right before looking at all of the Sentinel's that now surrounded the group. But despite being horribly out number, no static crossed his eyes nor did the shutdown attack his systems. And they never would again.
"Designation: Robocop. Name: Alex Murphy. Status," he said to the fillies before him as he took aim with his gun at the Sentinels. "Free."
Robocop began to move forward as he said this, firing into the Sentinel's heads with pinpoint accuracy as he advanced. The other Sentinel's let out roars of rage as they lunged at him, but his hydraulic fueled limbs easily allowed him to catch the Sentinel's in the air and slam them into the ground, where he could easily fire more rounds into their skulls, leaving them obsolete. With the immediate threat out of the way Robocop turned around and knelt down, the fillies rushing over to him and all tackling him at once.
"You're back," they all said with smiles on their faces and tears streaming down their eyes, Robocop trying to smile in response before remembering that his face was missing, so he nodded instead. "You broke free of what Sombra did to you."
"Correct. I am here. And I will help." He stood up again as more of the Sentinel's began to approach, turning to face them with a fire burning in his robotic eyes. "Go and awaken Twilight. I shall deal with these." The Sentinel's screamed as they rushed at him, but the first fell under a hail of gunfire that shattered it's head into pieces. The second to a robopunch to the face that planted back into the earth that it was created from. He then looked up at all of the other Sentinel's as words came back to him, words that came from the heart.
"Under what I can recall of my oath I am instructed to inform all of you that you have the right to remain silent," he began as he punched another in the jaw, taking off the lower half of its jaw and ensuring that it remained silent. "You have the right to an attorney!" He spun and fired as the words left his mouth and dropped three more of them to the ground. Another lunged onto his chest and pushed him into the streets, slashing at him with its paw. But just like so many before it, the Sentinel discovered that Robocop could not be harmed so easily. "Anything you say can and will be used against you!" he continued as he reached into the creatures jaw and tore the it’s head clean in half.
"If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand the rights that I have just read to you?" Robocop drove his gun into one of the Sentinel's mouths and pulled the trigger, the bullets punching through its skull and flying into the face of another Sentinel behind it, killing it as well. Only when the last one had fallen did he look around at all of the creatures and finish what he was saying. "With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak with me...good."
He turned and walked back over to where the CMC had just helped Twilight back to her hooves, the princess looking worse for wear. Fear appeared in her eyes as she saw Robocop approach and she threw herself between the fillies and him, but when he came to a stop and nodded his head at her did her eyes widen with recognition.
"Murphy!" she yelled as she raced over and threw her arms around him, Robocop gently patting him on the back before she let go of him. "You're back...you're actually back."
"For the most part...yes, I am back," he replied before turning and looking up at the sky, where a yellow and orange Pegasus could be seen flying towards the group.
"Don't bother explaining anything to me, I saw it all from above," Flash said with a tired smirk as he walked over to Robo and punched him lightly in the leg. "It's good to have you back man. Maybe with you on our side again we can finally fight back against all of those Sentinel's."
"That will...not work." All eyes turned towards the source of the voice, which happened to be the fallen princess of the night. Twilight and the other ponies raced over to her and tried to help her up, but she cried out in pain when they attempted to move her. "You're plan...will not work. Sombra...is continuing to create new Sentinel's with each passing moment. I do not know how he is doing so, but my magic is telling me that he has almost rebuilt his army."
"Then how do we stop him?" Sweetie asked.
"My sister...built in an emergency fail safe into the chamber just in case it ever fell into the wrong hooves," Luna wheezed through gritted teeth, having lost too much blood to even lift her head. "If you...destroy the chamber...then the Sentinel's will all die...and it will end their menace. The pool...is their source...destroy it...and their magic will die. It is...the only way." Robocop nodded once as he stood up and turned to where the chamber was, beginning to march their before the ponies called out.
"Murphy! You can't fight him by yourself," Twilight said as she weakly staggered forward. "He beat you once before, he might be able to do it again! Let us help you." Robocop took in their condition and how tired all of them were, making his decision that much easier.
"No. Luna and Celestia will die if you do not stop the loss of blood now," Robocop informed them before turning back to where Sombra was. "Also, I made a promise that I would make Sombra answer for his crimes. I will keep my promise."
"Are you sure? I can come with you, offer some support-"
"I will not allow any more innocent to die by his hoof...and I must avenge those who died by my hand," he said with full on fury, the ponies shocked at him showing his full emotions. "This is not only the reason I was created...but it was the reason that I nearly died at the hands of a group of criminals. Because justice must be done."
"Are ya gonna kill him?" Robocop turned to look down at Applebloom, who had both an unending wrath and the deepest of sorrow in her eyes. Robocop knew how much she had suffered, what she had lost and he knew she would probably like nothing more than for him to kill him. But he knew the oath that was ingrained within his heart. Robocop gently patted her mane, standing up and walking towards the chamber with one last thing to say.
There were no Sentinel's guarding the entrance to the massive chamber and any that had been in the area had been struck down by Robocop while he had marched towards the center of the evil acts being perpetrated in his streets. He held his gun next to his head as he marched into the chamber, wagering that Sombra would still believe him to be under control and obeying like a puppet. But there were no strings on this puppet anymore.
Robocop entered the main chamber where Sombra sat in his throne, Robocop seeing that the dark kings back was to him and he gazed intently into the orb that rested before him. Robocop took aim with his pistol and fired, but a barrier of darkness surrounded the dark king and deflected the bullets. Sombra then turned to face Robocop, a look of pure rage upon the dark king’s face as he glared at the puppet.
"Do you honestly think I wasn't watching your every action, watching every time as you betrayed me for the ponies?!" he asked with a roar before channeling his dark magic into the orb and hurling it at Robocop, the officer's reflexes allowing him to catch the sphere with ease. Yet the moment it touched his hand that dark sphere exploded into darkness, knocking Robocop back. "But what you've done shouldn't have been POSSIBLE! I took every precaution, stripped you of everything that should have made you the man you are! I erased your memories of the force, your life before this one. Your DAMNED FAMILY! My plan was one hundred percent foolproof!"
"No Sombra, your plan was ninety nine percent foolproof," Robocop replied with cold emotion, watching as Sombra's face contorted into something beyond wrath as he figured out what Robocop was implying. "I may no longer have a sense of humor like I used to, but even I can find it fun how the part of me that you said was my weakest turned out to be all I needed to fight against the monster you tried to make me. The one percent of my humanity was enough to overcome the dark magic of one of the strongest magical users in the land."
"So how do you still have this shred of humanity left?! I erased everything that made you this way!" Sombra roared from behind the dark barrier, unable to wrap his mind around how his plan had come undone so easily. "I killed the human inside of you when I erased him from your mind!"
"You did erase my memories. I have no recollection of my police work before Equestria aside from the little you left me as a joke. I cannot remember the name of my son or my wife or what either of them looked like," Robocop agreed before he took his left hand and placed it over where his heart was placed within his body. "But just because I can't remember them...doesn't mean I can't feel them. They will always be with me, always being my strength."
"But how?"
Just as I feel those I love in my heart I still feel the pride I took in saying the oath of honor that I no longer remember. I still feel the anger I felt towards the criminals who preyed on the innocent. I still feel the pain of becoming what I am. Because those feelings are in a place that even the darkest of magic cannot touch," Robocop said with conviction as he pointed his gun at Sombra's head. And now Sombra, it is time you are placed under arrest."
"Go to hell!" Sombra roared as darkness encompassed the dark king, creating a torrent of darkness as he hurled himself towards Robocop with an unholy shriek of rage. Robocop holstered his gun for the moment before placing both of his hands before him to catch the dark wave of power, his ramrods driving themselves into the floor of the chamber and held him place. "Nopony before you has been able to escape my dark influence before, no matter how kind or noble they were! And you are programmed to follow directives, no matter what they are! How can Robocop go against his directives?!"
"Because I am only ninety nine percent Robocop," Robocop responded while lifting the darkness with incredible strength, stopping the darkness dead in its tracks. "And because when all had gone dark for me, there was always that one percent. When those who built me tried to kill me and make me into their personal product, they thought that I would stay dead. Just as when you tried to make me into a machine that would terminate all in your way, you believed I would obey without question. But both times the same mistake was made. You both underestimated the one percent of me that will never surrender! You underestimated the man called Murphy!"
Robocop brought his fist back and drove it into the darkness, blasting Sombra out of his own shadows and through his throne on the other side of the room. Sombra coughed up blood as he picked himself out of the rubble of his throne, glaring daggers at Robocop as the officer began to advance towards him with pistol drawn.
"Sombra, you are charged with the following crimes." Sombra roared with rage as he picked up the chunks of the throne and hurled them at Robocop, who allowed the rocks to break on his chest as he continued to move forward. "Breaking and entering." Sombra cat his magic into the stone suits next to him and breathed life into them, the Sentinel's roaring as they lunged at Robocop.
"Kidnapping." Robocop punched the first Sentinel in the face and brought it to the ground, where a shot from his pistol shatter its skull. The second one bit into his shoulder, but the armor held true once again and allowed Robocop to fire into the creature’s skull. "Aggravated assault."
"Die already!" Sombra shrieked as dark spikes erupted from the ground and dug themselves into Robocop's armor, but they never broke through the best humanity had to build. Sombra continued to fire more and more dark magic into Robocop as the officer broke himself free, the spells never slowing him down as he continued to advance.
"Disturbing the peace. Robbery. Homicide. Animal Cruelty." Sombra cast darkness into his own veins, using his magic to increase his physical form until he toward over Robocop. He lunged at Robocop and swung at the officer with all of his magic enhanced might, but Robocop caught his hoof and stopped the attack then and there.
"Stalking," Robocop continued as he threw a devastating right into Sombra's face, knocking the dark king back. "Child abuse." Another metal fist knocked teeth from Sombra's skull as the blow snapped Sombra to the ground. Sombra screamed as he rose and slammed himself into Robocop, who held once again against the combination of magic and rage. "Assaulting an officer of the law. Attempted murder. And the murders of a number of innocent and one Granny Smith!" Robocop roared as he lifted his leg and drove it into Sombra's chest, shattering his ribs and hurling him across the room. He collapsed to the floor with a weak moan next to a pool as Robocop lowered his leg and continued to march towards him.
"For the charges stated, I hereby place you under arrest," Robocop finished as he walked towards Sombra. The dark king shook his head as he struggled to see straight, but his eyes went wide as he realized what he was looking at. He rolled weakly onto his back to look at Robocop, holding his hooves weakly up. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Alright, I give. Take me in," he said weakly. Robocop stopped walking towards Sombra and took aim at his head with his pistol, causing Sombra's eyes to shrink as he realized what Robocop was implying. "Whoa there, you're not going to kill me are you? That goes against your oath!" Robocop slowly advanced towards Sombra with his gun pointed right between Sombra's lying eyes, knowing that he could end this with one pull of the trigger. "Dammit, you're a cop!"
"Yes...I am a cop," Robocop confirmed as he lowered his gun to the side. "And you are now under my custody."
"Pity. For a second I believed that you were going to do something that was smart," Sombra said with a smirk before he hurled himself into the pool behind him, Robocop dashing forward to pull him out of it and end this. But the moment he reached the poolside a blast of pure magic shot into the air and hurled Robocop back, slamming him into the wall on the other side of the room. He shook his head and looked up to see that Sombra was now floating in the air; his red eyes the only color visible amongst a storm of darkness. "Because if you had killed me right there, then you and all the ponies would have lived."
Robocop had just risen back up to his feet when a blast of magic unlike any he had ever felt assaulted his chest, flinging him across the room and slamming him into another wall. Static quickly flickered across Robocop's eyes as he rose back to his feet, looking down at his chest to see that his armor was burnt and had small tears in it.
"So the almighty Robocop finally sees that he's not invincible," Sombra mocked Robocop as he continued to fire more darkness and Robocop, the spells tearing into him and his armor, which could barely protect him from the assault of the enhanced magic. "Now you get to see that despite your fancy armor you're nothing more than another guard that I have to kill before I get what I want. I suppose that isn't fair though. You're the LAST guard I have to kill before all of Equestria is mine."
"You have the right to remain silent!" Robocop roared as he swung at Sombra with his left hand, only for it to be caught by the darkness that now was more than a match for Robocop. Sombra let his teeth shine in the darkness before he tore with all of his magical might, ripping Robocop's arm out of its socket. Robocop collapsed to his knees as he looked at the torn wires and metal where his arm used to be, before slowly looking up at Sombra.
"Anything else you want to say?" Sombra asked with a smirk.
"You...have the right to an attorney," Robocop continued as he struggled back up to his feet, slowly marching towards Sombra once again as he reached down into his right leg. Sombra's horn flashed with power as the darkness wrapped itself around Robocop's right leg, shredding the metal and wires as he tore it off of Robocop's body. Robocop fell to the ground and began to breath heavily, reaching out with his right arm and dragging himself towards Sombra.
"Anything you say...can...and will...be used against you," Robocop stammered as he struggled to move forward, Sombra laughing with delight as he wrapped his tendrils of darkness around Robocop's left leg and tore it off as well, laughing as Robocop began to twitch as he reached down to where his leg was no longer.
"Then if I say it's over and you're dead against me?" Sombra asked with a laugh as he dropped Robocop's left leg in front of him, throwing back his head and laughing while Robocop reached into his left leg and pulled out a small disc. "What's that? Is it your final weapon against me? Or is it one of those explosives that you used to kill the Lumberwolf. I hope you realize that in this for I cannot be hurt. But go ahead; give me your final act of defiance. Because after you do, the next limb that comes off is your head."
Robocop wanted to fight against what Sombra was saying, but he knew that the dark king was correct and that his weaponry was no longer up to the task of killing Sombra. Robocop looked at the disc in his hand with absolute certainty that this was the end, that he had failed when he had been needed most. But then his scanner started up and began to display information on the screen, telling him that the magic that fueled Sombra was the same magic that ran the Sentinel's.
'No, it is not certain. There is still a one percent chance!' Robocop thought as he pulled his right arm back as far as it could go and hurled the disc at Sombra. The dark king cackled as the disc sailed through his body, missing him completely and landing in the pool. Robocop could feel the darkness wrap itself around his head as Sombra brought his face in close, a smile on his face.
"Well Robocop, that truly was a pathetic last attempt to kill me," the dark king taunted with arrogance flashing in his eyes. "So, any last words before I tear your head off and make it the first of many to be mounted on my wall?"
"Level ten." A massive explosion went off in the pool, turning the liquid magic within it into steam from the heat and force of the explosion, cracking the structure of the chamber and beginning to cause it to collapse from the shockwave. The green magic that had flowed through the walls began to pulse with a dark light before exploding, the magic growing more and more powerful without a source to manage it. Sombra howled in pain as the magic that was within began to erupt, causing the darkness to burst forth from within him, blasting his armor off of his body and the horn off of his head. Sombra collapsed to the ground next to Robocop once the magic had expelled itself from his body, weakly looking around as the magic within the building began to go critical.
"Dammit...whole place is going to explode...got to...escape," Sombra muttered as he shakily got to his hooves. But the moment he did so a data spike shot out of Robocop's wrist, which Robocop then drove through Sombra's leg and buried it in the ground. "What are you doing?!" Sombra howled through the pain.
"As I said, you are in my custody," Robocop replied weakly, but his data spike was buried within the ground.
"Don't you get it you fool, if you don't let me go then we will both die here!" Sombra screamed at him, but when he looked into Robocop's cracked visor he found resolve in his eyes. "I'll make you a deal; if you let me go I’ll get you out of here as well! Come on, what do you think?"
"If I let you go here, then more innocent will die. More ponies will be harmed because of you. And as an officer of the law and one who has sworn his life to the safety of others I cannot allow that to happen! No Sombra, today is the day that you answer for your crimes. Whether I take you in front of a judge that is a pony...or The judge that eventually judges us all, I am taking you in. So be it dead or alive," Robocop said as he glared into Sombra's eyes with his own, eyes that filled Sombra with more fear than the explosions around him did. For Murphy's eyes were not afraid of death.
"You are coming with me."
A flash of green light enveloped them both, creating a massive explosion that shot into the sky for all of Equestria to see. The chamber that was at the nexus of the explosion was completely destroyed, along with anyone or thing within it. But yet as one being was blasted into nothingness with a scream of rage, the other smiled as best he could as the magic engulfed them both.
Flash sifted through the rubble along with Princess Twilight behind him and the CMC off to the side, the five of them the only ponies in any condition to try and found out how the battle had ended. 'And with Celestia and Luna both rushed to emergency care, most of the ponies are looking to Twilight to lead them now. But we all know what we need to do. We need to find Murphy.'
"Do ya think he survived?" Applebloom asked as she and her friends worked to more a large rock, saddened to find only the remains of a Sentinel beneath the rubble. "That explosion was massive, so much so that all of us could see it from across the city. Do ya think that...?”
"He survived it. He survived everything else," Scootaloo said with no uncertainty in her voice as she pressed her body against the side of a rock, straining to push it to the side and managing to do so with some effort. When she was able to see what was under the rock she gave it a long, hard glare before spitting onto the bones of a certain pony. "You deserved far worse. Yo, found what remains of Sombra over here if any pony cares!"
"Hold on a moment Scootaloo, that might tell us where Murphy is!" Twilight yelled as she hobbled over to the fillies, who gave her a look that told her to explain herself. "Think about it, if everything was about to go the heck and Sombra might escape, where would Murphy be?"
"He'd have a death grip on Sombra to make sure that he didn't get away," Scootaloo said as the three fillies helped Twilight begin to move rocks, Flash racing over to help when he saw what they were doing. Their efforts proved fruitful as the found the internal metal skeleton of a robotic arm next to Sombra's skeletal leg, with a blade extending from its wrist into Sombra's leg. "Murphy never gave him the chance to escape. I don't blame him. Come on, we're close!"
The five of them clawed at the rocks and stones that surrounded the area next to Sombra's remains, eventually uncovering the one that they had been looking for. But as their eyes filled with sorrow as they looked upon him, they realized that their hope in him surviving may have been misplaced.
The body before them was definitely Robocop, but the chest plate was horribly mangled and shredded, some of the wounds so deep that the ponies could see clean through the chest. The arm that was still attached to Sombra was hanging onto the body by a few lose wires and screws, all of which had been burned by magical energy. His other limbs were missing and his lower torso was no longer attached, but the area that all of them were drawn to was his head, where his jaw hung off to the side at an awkward angle. And then there was his skull, which had a long crack in the dome and allowed the ponies to see bits of Murphy's brain within.
"Is...Is he...?" Sweetie Belle whispered as Twilight gently lifted him with her magic and scanned him for any signs of life, turning to look at Sweetie Belle with a shake of her head.
"I don't know. He could be for all I know, but since he was mostly mechanical, there's the smallest of chances that he...might have survived," Twilight said with no confidence as she looked at the mangled state that his body was in. The ponies hung their heads for a moment before Flash walked over to Twilight and looked down at Robocop's body, narrowing his eyes for a moment before looking at her.
"I think he's still alive. I don't know why, but I just have a feeling," he said with the faintest strands of hope in his voice. "He can't show it in this state but he has to still be alive. Twilight...if there is any chance that you might be able to rebuild him, to get him operational again..." Twilight turned to look into his eyes, looking away at the expectations within them. But as she looked down she looked into the eyes of the three fillies, all of them begging her to help.
"I don't know if I can," she eventually said with a shake of her head as she looked down at the mangled metal. "I don't know if I can reproduce the results that created him in the first place. I'm smart, but putting a dying man into a robots body might be beyond me! And if I do, there's no guarantee that he'll be the same!" She looked down at the ground and began to sob slightly. Flash gave her a look of concern before he gently placed his hoof on her chin and lifted her eyes to look at his again.
"Can't you at least try? For him? Because while the chances are slim that you can do it...if you don't try, then they're zero. I think Murphy would want you to shoot for the impossible instead of never leaving the starting line," Flash said with a weak smile. "Because if there's one thing I know it's that there's nothing that is impossible, not even coming back from the dead."
Twilight turned her head to look at the fillies, who were all nodding at her with belief in the princess in their eyes. Twilight raised her hoof and gently placed it on Flash's for comfort before looking down at Robocop, remembering what he had done for them.
"Alright. I’ll do my best Murphy. I promise you that."
DPD
The sun light beamed down as the sounds of trumpets rang throughout the castle grounds, hundreds of ponies standing at attention for the event. The three princesses stood proudly atop a large stage as a certain orange yellow Pegasus stood with his head held high beneath them, staring up at them with a look of pride on his face. All eyes were on him as the white alicorn with bandages around her chest stepped forward, smiling down at him before speaking.
"Ponies of Canterlot! As many of you now, a number of weeks ago our home came under attack by the dark king that we know as Sombra," she said aloud, the crowd booing at the mentioning of the name of the pony. "During his attack he managed to take control of the guardians that I created to keep you all safe. Their failure and the lives that they have claimed are on me. It was a mistake to trust a machine over the brave guards that risk their lives to protect us."
"And that is why today we are honoring one of the most noble of these guards, one of the ones who fought against Sombra and his forces despite all hope seeming lost!" Luna added as she stepped forward next to her sister, her voice ringing with pride and power. "This guard not only fought against the Sentinel's, he inspired the other members the other members of the royal guard to find their courage and to uphold the oath they had taken. But just as we honor this guard, we honor all the others who gave their lives in the pursuit of peace. May the rest well."
"Flash Sentry," Twilight began as she stepped forward next to the other princesses, using her wing to motion for Flash to join them upon the stage. "You have proven yourself to be truly courageous and willing to sacrifice all for the sake of others. Because of this nobleness of heart, you are hereby promoted to the Captain of the Canterlot guard. As my brother, the former captain, is now protecting the crystal empire, we feel it best that you take up the role he left behind. Congratulations, captain of the guard."
Flash bowed his head humbly as Twilight levitated to him the new helmet for him, the helmet that the captain of the guard wore. Flash removed his own helmet and slipped the new one on in its place, holding it upon his head with a look of pride as he looked out at the ponies who applauded for him and cheered loudly.
"I thank you all for this great honor. But the honor is not mine to hold alone. Many brave ponies gave their lives in defense of Canterlot...and another who gave his life to save us all," Flash said with tears trying to choke his voice, but he remained strong and lifted his head again. "To honor their memories, I will do what should have been done ages ago. I am going to rebuild the royal guard, making them better, faster and stronger than ever before. And I will do this by basing the new guard around the words that a brave man lived by..."
"Serve the public trust. Uphold the law. Protect the innocent," Flash finished with the burning passion of belief in his words. "These will be the words upon which the new royal guard is built around. And you all have my word that I will not let these words be said in vain. The new guard will be different than the ones of old! We shall be the ultimate enemy of crime and evil! We shall be officers of the law!" The crowd exploded into cheers and applause for Flash, but he barely heard any of it as he nodded and stepped down, looking off into the distance towards where Robocop had given everything for the sake of others.
'You have my word Murphy, I will honor everything you sacrificed for us,' Flash thought with confidence. 'That is my oath.'
DPD
The sun set over the horizon as the sounds of steel hitting steel filled the air, almost sounding like the sounds of birds singing to the captain of the guard that stood atop the castle wall as he watched his guards train with a ferocity and purpose that the old guard never had. The faint sound of wingbeats could be heard and he lifted his head to see the princess of friendship flutter down next to him, landing besides him as she too began to look over the guard.
"Silver armor huh?" she asked as she saw the armor glistening in the setting sun. "I like it. It reminds me of a certain officer that helped us when we needed it."
"Like I said at the ceremony two weeks ago, I promised to uphold his memory," Flash said with conviction as he nodded towards his guards. "The new guards are coming along nicely. They might not be as experienced as the ones of old, but after hearing what Murphy did for them they have a fire in them, a fire that the old guard did not have. I figured that a change of armor would help rid our thoughts of the old guard and only focus on the new."
"Speaking of our friend...I still don't know," Twilight said with a pained sigh as she rested her hooves on the edge of the castle wall and leaned her head onto them. "I'm just starting to learn how his systems worked and whatever the humans did to create him in years beyond anything I can replicate. It's still too early to know for certain." Flash smiled slightly as he wrapped a hoof around her should, not noticing Twilight face turn red.
"If anypony can do it it's you princess. All of us have faith in you, along with him," Flash comforted her as she hid her face in her arms. "Take as long as you need. He's Robocop. He'll last a long time." Twilight smiled slightly at his words as she gently lifted her head and leaned it against him, one of them looking down at the future of the guards while the other thought at the future of their friend, but both of them were thinking about the future.
DPD
Peace. That was all he cared about. There were no sounds of whirring parts as his body moved or the images of words played before his eyes in the emptiness. There was only peace. He knew not how long he had been in this emptiness, but he was content for the most part. He kept his eyes closed the entire time he was in there, not wanting the peace to end. But this day was different from the others. This time there were images and he decided to open his eyes to watch.
He knew not where they came from, probably the deepest recesses of his mind, but he enjoyed looking at them all the same. They were the images of a happy family, one that had just moved to a new city since the father had been assigned their by the force he worked for. They all smiled as they unpacked the boxes and moved into their new home and he was happy for them, happy that their life was so happy.
But as the images began to change to the man’s first week in his new position he shunned the memories away, having a feeling that they only ended badly and he wanted to remember the family as it used to be. Happy. But as the images faded back into his consciousness he heard another sound approaching him. The sound of metal feet.
"Are you ready to go back yet?" a metallic voice asked from behind him, but he knew not what it looked like as he never turned around to look. He had been asked this question once before and last time he had given no answer. But as he had thought before, this time was different. This time he felt like he should give an answer.
"There is nothing here for me in these images of the past," he responded with a small smile. "I will cherish them, but I shall leave them in the past. So yes, I am ready."
DPD
Sensors came online as the man felt himself waking up, looking through a very clean visor at a ceiling, which was lined with crystals and other assortments of gems. He could feel that he had a body, but he decided to explore the visor before him some more. The words in the visor told him that all systems were operating normally, yet his attention was quickly drawn away from the words and to his nose, which he did not remember being so long or so square.
Curious to see if there were any other changes, he slowly lifted his left arm to see if his limbs still looked the same. To his surprise, he found that he no longer had hands at the ends of his arms and instead the robotic limbs ended in what looked like hooves. Confused, he took a quick glance at his other arm, finding it to be similar. He slightly lifted his head to looked down at his body and legs. He found that his chest was smaller and looked far different than he remembered it and his legs were similar to his arms, except the joints weren't the same. But there was one similarity between what he remembered and all that had changed. He was almost all robotic...almost.
"Hey wait a second...did he just move?!" a voice that sounded familiar yet different said from outside his field of vision, followed by a gasp and the sounds of running hooves as he laid his head back against whatever he was laying on. A moment later his vision was filled with four different ponies, all of them looking familiar but also looking different.
"Murphy...? Are you awake?" Twilight asked him, her voice confirming his assumption that it was here. She hardly looked changed except that her mane was now shorter and she had it up in a short ponytail, but other than that she was the same. That could not be said for the other three. The three who used to be fillies now looked ten years older and had radically changed in that time. Scootaloo looked more rough and tumble with her mane having been cut short whereas Sweetie was her total opposite, with her mane having grown longer and she now looked more ladylike. And finally Applebloom looked far more muscular and grown to be the biggest of the three with her mane looking similar to her sisters. But once again there were two features that linked them all together despite the changes.
And that was the huge smiles on their faces and the tears in their eyes.
"Murphy, if you can hear me, move your head towards me," Twilight asked, letting out a cry of joy when his head turned to face her. "Oh thank Faust you're finally awake! I know that you must be wondering what happened to your body and that is that I don't know the human anatomy as well as a ponies and I had to rebuild you somehow and...Oh, I'm just so glad that you're alright!" the four of them began to cheer with happiness in their voice as he began to look around, getting familiar with his new form.
"Murphy?" Scootaloo asked, making him turn his head to face her. "It's really you right? You remember us and everything? You remember who you are?" Dead silence greeted the four and for a brief moment they believed that he had been reset. But then a large smile crossed his face as he said,
"Designation: Robocop. Name: Alex Murphy. Status: Free," he stated for them as the smiles returned to their faces, mirroring the one that he wore on his face as well.
