Prologue
“It’s finally finished,” I said before taking a step back to admire my work. I have been working hard on this thing for months, and now it’s ready. My Dalek…
I spent a lot of time and money on this thing and I went all out. “This Defense Drone Dalek is totally awesome!” I exclaimed.
I went through the trouble of installing a bunch of LEDs where they were needed, Speakers and cooling fans in the vents, Camera in the eyestalk, I even went through the trouble of making it possible for me to see the same way they do by including the Dalek HUD in a VR headset, so I can see the world just like the Daleks do. I put a strong laser in the gun and included the sound effects so it can be close to the real thing, the claw can open and close and the manipulator arm can extend too, I even included a few Bluetooth speakers so I could play entrance music and other stuff! I’m going to be the envy of every Dalek at the convention center.
I quickly took it apart by its sections and loaded them into my car before grabbing my duffel bag and tossing it in. The drive to the hotel was pretty uneventful, and I made it there in record time. When I parked in the parking lot, I had an idea.
I quickly took out the Dalek sections and began putting them together and checked the connections before getting my duffel bag and putting it into the grip of the Dalek Claw. I turned everything on and started gliding towards the hotel entrance. As I came in through the doors I silently went up to the front desk and announced myself while they had their back turned.
“Excuse me!” I said, startling the Clerk half to death. “I have a reservation, for Defense Drone Dalek!” I told him. ‘I thought it would be funny at the time to have me listed as a Dalek,’ I thought as the clerk searched through the computer and held out a room keycard.
I opened the chest panel, reached my arm out, and gently grabbed the keycard before retracting my arm and closing the panel. “The supreme race thanks you!” I told him before heading to the elevator and backing in slowly.
I turned my dome to the right and saw a woman dressed up like Rose Tyler. “This feels familiar,” I said before turning back to the door. “Floor 5 please,” I said.
She hit the button for me and we spent the next ten minutes completely silent. After that, I headed to my room, opened my chest panel again, used the keycard, and entered the room. Once I was inside, I got out of the Dalek and stretched before I tossed my bag onto the bed.
“Tomorrow is going to be a good day,” I said. I went behind the Dalek and flipped open the bottom hemisphere and pulled out a retractable plug to recharge the Dalek. “So glad I included that in the design,” I muttered.
Then I began thinking about how people have been going missing at the convention center lately. “I wonder if those my little pony fanfictions are true and people are getting displaced?” I mused. “If I get displaced, I hope I end up somewhere nice, then again… I could end up anywhere or any time… Meh, wishful thinking,” I said before I headed into the bathroom to get ready for the next day.
As soon as morning came, I immediately stashed my things into the Dalek after unplugging it and got inside. I took the elevator down and returned the room key before heading off to the Convention Center. “I’m so excited,” I said as I happily rode my Dalek at full speed towards the convention center. But as I approached I noticed a problem. STAIRS. I begrudgingly got out of the Dalek and carried it up the stairs piece by piece before getting back inside.
“Damn that was heavy,” I mumbled as I started to get moving and entered the building with a smile on my face. As I entered, I looked around to see everyone having fun and some setting up stalls. As I continued deeper I saw people looking and taking pictures of my Dalek. I looked around and noticed one stall that looked interesting. I was drawn to a 14th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver replica.
“Something catch your eyestalk?” Someone asked. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a resident evil merchant. “It's for sale if you want it.
I decided to play the role and responded. “Daleks have no use for sonic screwdrivers!” I told him.
“And why not?” He asked.
His question made me think. ‘Why not?’ I wondered. ‘I suppose I could probably have it installed as an addition to my manipulator arm?’ I thought before looking at the arm in question. I looked back at him and asked. “How much
“I think about 75 dollars.” He said.“If you like I can put it into your manipulator arm. It won’t look any different but will have all its original functions plus the sonic screwdriver’s, and as I bonus I’ll install some Sonic Blaster technology into your gun?” He offered, holding up a Sonic Blaster replica based on the one Captain Jack Harkness used.
I looked at him for a while and thought about the things he was offering. “Deal,” I told him before I opened my chest panel and gave him the money. I waited for a couple of minutes and nothing happened. “Is something supposed to happen now or…” I asked, trailing off.
The last thing I remembered before blacking out was seeing him give me a toothy grin before saying. “Good luck!”
I woke up later, feeling strange. “Why do I feel so… different?” I asked myself. I felt like my mind was in a haze.
I put a tentacle up to my forehead to try to alleviate the headache….. wait… TENTACLE?! It took me a while, but I realized that my body has become what I never believed possible… I had become a Dalek. I was about to start freaking out before I stopped myself and started thinking. “I am a Dalek,” I said before I looked around and noticed where I was, I was in the defense drone casing. I opened the panel in the chest, crawled out, and looked at the Dalek casing before crawling back inside.
‘Okay… so I’m a Dalek now… I guess I should probably figure out how all this works,’ I thought before the casing immediately connected itself to me and I started seeing and feeling everything around the casing. I remembered that Dalek casings work by reading thoughts so I put it to the test. It took me a while but I eventually learned how to move.
After learning how to move I started to take in my surroundings to see I was in a forest of some kind. “Where am I?” I asked myself. I felt like I remembered this. It was then I realized something, I couldn’t remember… The past two days, I couldn’t remember anything about my life beyond that. “I can’t remember my name!” I exclaimed. The most I could remember was that I was human, and I went to the convention as a Dalek. I had a few other memories but they were a bit… foggy.
I was panicking on the inside, but I knew I had to get somewhere safe before I did anything else so I started to roam, looking for a spot to stay for a while. I searched for hours and eventually came across a cave with a smooth floor, perfect for my use. I entered the cave and slowly examined the interior to make sure it was vacant before calming myself. “Okay…. I have a place to stay now, and by the looks of it, it’s almost nighttime, so I should probably get some rest,” I said to myself. I then moved to the back of the cave and moved into the shadows where I couldn't easily be seen before powering everything except the life support off.
I slowly drifted off to sleep and didn’t wake up until at least a week had passed.
When I woke up, I began exploring the cave. I found some interesting minerals, a bunch of quartz crystals of various colors and sizes. There wasn’t anything I could do at the moment to have a reason to dig them out, so I left the cave and began searching the forest.
I wandered around for hours and found many things, such as many strange animals, but I had yet to find any kind of unnatural structures until I eventually came across a clearing that spread out, where I found a small village.
I zoomed in and saw its inhabitants… Ponies. I checked to see if what I was seeing was correct and ran diagnostics, and everything came out fine. ‘Okay… seems some of those displaced fanfictions were true,’ I thought before going back to check again, never hurts to double-check.
During the second diagnostic check, I noticed that my phone merged with the casing and became a part of it. I checked it and saw my music, photos, notes, and contacts were still there but any photos with me or my name in them were gone… I rolled my eyes-er… eye and grumbled before I saw my music was still there, I decided to play something later and then went back to check the town. I looked closer and saw how the ponies dressed, and how they acted, I even managed to filter a few things out and began listening to what they were saying.
Their dialect sounded odd, like Middle English, like reading the original Middle English version of Beowulf. I continued listening until I realized this may have been “old ponish”. ‘Interesting…’ I thought before I returned to the forest.
I quickly returned to the cave and began thinking about where or when I might’ve been dropped into this world. However, with how they were talking I know I was at least around the time when Nightmare Moon first appeared, if not earlier.
“Hmm, I need more information,” I muttered to myself. “I also need to learn how to fly…” I said, looking down before looking outside and up into the sky. I then turned my attention back to the cave walls.
The next day I silently glided into the town with a bag made of leaves and made sure my lighting was off so I wouldn’t scare the ponies too much. When they saw me I kept quiet and went over to the marketplace. The ponies gave me a wide berth as I traveled and looked around.
I eventually came to an apple cart and I picked one up and scanned it before looking towards whom I believed to be the owner of the cart. They watched me with a hint of fear before I put down my leaf bag, pulled out a gem, and showed it to the pony.
The pony nervously chuckled before he gave a nervous smile before asking. “H-how may I help you?” He asked.
I hoped they’d trade me the gem for the apple. I placed the gem on the cart next to the apple and tapped the gem with my claw before tapping the apple.
The pony looked at me for a moment, then picked up the gem and examined it closely before looking at the apple. He seemed to think about it for a moment before finally nodding and picking up the apple as well. He put them both into my leaf bag and closed it, his gaze still on me. I lifted and lowered my eyestalk to act as a nod before I began moving back toward the forest.
As I glided through the forest, I thought about what I had learned so far. The ponies were afraid of me, but also willing to trade. Perhaps if I could find a way to convince them that I meant no harm, I could probably have a decent life.
I grabbed the apple and froze when I realized something. “How am I supposed to eat this?” I asked aloud.
The next day, I returned to the village with more gems and a bigger leaf bag. Unfortunately… all the ponies were gathered in the town square. When I zoomed in and looked closer, I wished I included an iris in the eyestalk to show a little emotion, because right now I was completely surprised at what I saw.
It was the pillars, Starswirl the Bearded, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mistmane, and Rockhoof.
‘This can not be good,’ I thought before I got to cover behind a house. I immediately began listening closely to what they were saying.
“Good ponies, we have come here today because we have heard rumors of an odd creature appearing here,” said Starswirl.
“Yes, he’s been coming and going,” Said a pony.
“Hasn’t really been doing anything other than trading gems for apples,” said another pony.
“Can anyone tell us what it looks like?” Asked Starswirl
“Uuuuuh tall… black, looks kind of like a big salt & pepper shaker with arms?” Said one pony scratching their head in thought.
“Hmm,” Mumbled Starswirl as he stroked his beard. “Seems we will have to find this creature and see what it wants.”
After that, I quickly headed back towards my cave as fast as possible, unfortunately, I may have taken a wrong turn and got myself lost. Now I was near the edge of a cliff. “Huh…... maybe now’s a good time to figure out how to fly…” I said but I wasn't quite sure how to start. “Oh wait, the casing uses thought to get it to do stuff,” I said to myself. I thought back to the episode “Dalek” and focused on how to start flying, then remembered they said “Elevate”, and then I started thinking about the song by Big Time Rush.
Suddenly I began floating and lifting into the air. ‘Awesome!!!’ I screamed inside my head before I lowered myself back to the ground. Suddenly I began hearing voices. I slowly moved closer to the voices and hid behind some bushes. It turned out the voices were coming from the pillars. ‘Dammit! What are they doing here?!’ I thought before I began listening in.
“Are you certain it came this way?” asked Flash Magnus.
“The village ponies said it lived somewhere in the forest,” said Rockhoof.
“And I am certain it came this way.” Said Starswirl.
“Agreed, the ground and foliage here have been disturbed by something,” said Mage Meadowbrook.
‘I should probably start floating over stuff now…’ I thought before I began elevating into the air. ‘I think I should also leave too…’ I thought before slowly floating away.
I managed to make it 4 feet away before Flash Magnus spotted me. “There it is!” He shouted, pointing a hoof at me.
‘Oh shit!’ I thought before I began flying away at top speed.
*Fun fact: Dalek units are able to engage in anti-gravity flight, capable of accelerating tk several hundred kilometers an hour. They don't seem to do it very often, but they can.
Before Flash could even catch up I was gone and far away, leaving him exhausted and worn out.
“What happened?” Starswirl asked.
“He’s super fast, I couldn't catch him.” Said Flash.
“Hmm… we need to catch him,” Starswirl said. “Perhaps a simple binding spell could hold him,”
“Must we catch him,” Somnambula asked.
“If a creature like that can fly without wings, there’s no telling what else it’s capable of,” said Stonehoof.
“I agree,” said Fash.
“Then it’s settled, this creature must be contained!” Said Starswirl.
TO BE CONTINUED