I was showing Princess Luna and a scientist the HW Daleks.

“And finally” I said “we have Excitable, German, Frenchie, Heavy, Hulk, Batman and Glados”

“Oh” Glados Dalek said, in a quieter and more feminine voice than the other Daleks “it’s you”

“Why is her voice different?” Luna asked.

“DALEKS DO NOT HAVE GENDERS” Rusty, the former recon Dalek, said, hovering beside us carrying a tray. We’d been able to sway him to our side after we left him in a room with Saphyrus “SPECIAL WEAPONS DALEK DESIGNATION; GLADOS, HAS A FAULTY VOICE EMULATOR AND A FALSE GENDER COMPLEX, THUS GIVING THE ILLUSION OF BEING A FEMALE”

“Okay” Glados Dalek said, narrowing the light of ‘her’ eye “‘Why do I hate you so much?’ did you ever wonder that? I’m brilliant, I’m not bragging, it’s an objective fact; a Dalek is a genius, its knowledge is one of the most massive collections of wisdom that’s ever existed…and I hate you, it can’t be for no reason, you must deserve it, you loud, genocidal lunatic”

“Anyway” I said, turning to the scientist “we need to create new armour for them” the scientist conjured a notepad out and began scribbling notes.

“Go on” the Unicorn mare said.

“It needs to be bipedal and heavily armoured, make it about 8ft tall. A unique design, but reminiscent of the HWD design and Dalek styling in general, I want the cranial dome to be similar, but with more of a ‘face’. And make it elegant”

“DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF ELEGANCE” Rusty said, bobbing up and down slowly as he hovered on the spot.

“Oh hush you” I said, tapping Rusty on the eyestalk and causing him to move away a few inches “anyway, the voice modulator needs changing for one that sounds less aggressive but still retains the mechanical voice ever so slightly, and remove the emotional inhibitors and memory suppressors”

“WHAT IS TO BECOME OF ME?” Rusty asked “AM I TO BE CONVERTED?”

“Depends on how useful your are as is” I said “and how long before the H.W.D.s tire of your grating personality and try to destroy you”

“DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY” Rusty said.

“Tell that to the twenty odd SWDs with unique mind-sets” I said, jerking a thumb towards the line of H.W.D.s

“THEY ARE INSANE” Rusty said.

“You know what?” Dalek Glados asked, looking at Rusty “I feel terrible for what I said earlier. I’ll tell you what, let’s give your parents a call” we all heard the sound of telephone dial buttons being pressed, followed by a phone ringing.

“*CLICK* THE DALEKS PARENTS YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH DO NOT LOVE YOU, PLEASE HANG UP *BEEEEEP-CLICK*” a Dalek said.

“Oh, that’s sad” Dalek Glados said, feigning pity “but impressive, maybe they worked at the phone company” Luna gave a snort of amusement.

“At least they break up the monotony” She said.

I was walking through the workshops when I saw two of the crusaders standing next to a cross between a rolling road and a simulator, with a prototype Timberwolf attached to it. Scootaloo was the one riding it as a screen in front of her displayed a busy, one way city road like those found in British cities like London, Bristol or Nottingham. Scootaloo tilted the Timberwolf to follow the turns and the whole of the main chassis moved to the inside of each turn as she weaved between traffic.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Just testing out the software for the Timberwolves and making any adjustments” Sweetie Bell said, standing by a computer “and getting used to riding them, it feels like you’re floating”

“It feels like I’m flying!” Scootaloo exclaimed. I chuckled slightly, a couple of years ago she found out that she had a rare genetic disorder that causes her wings to be under-developed, meaning she would be unable to fly under her own power, and since then she’d been in a mood about it. It’s about time she found herself a good alternative.

“Just wait till we get to the next planet to test these bad boys out” Sweetie Bell said, looking over to the other two Timberwolves, they were painted a dark-red, with Sweetie Bell’s off-white coat as the secondary colour on one, and Apple Bloom’s pale-yellow coat for the other, likewise the secondary colour on Scootaloo’s Timberwolf corresponded with her orange coat. At that moment Rusty floated over, his armour was now red and gold.

“WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?” he asked.

“Yes please” I said “milk, two sugars” he then floated away, I noticed the Crusaders staring at Rusty wide eyed.

“What in Tartarus is that thing doing here!?” Scootaloo asked.

“Give him time” I said “besides, he’s harmless”

“But yawl fought those…things” Applebloom said.

“Yes” I said “and we now have twenty Heavy Weapons Daleks on our side” as I said this one of them rolled past.

“I still don’t trust them” Scootaloo said, jumping off the Timberwolf

“Dalek” I called, the H.W.D. stopped and turned.

“’ELLO?” French one it is, I mentally sighed.

“How are you?” I asked.

“MIND YER OWN BUISINESS YEW DIRTY INGLESH PIG-DOG!” the Dalek replied, before rolling away, I heard laughter and saw the Crusaders rolling on the floor laughing.

“Okay” Scootaloo said “I take what I said back, they’re brilliant”

“What are the others like?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Insane, but harmless” I said “just take what they say with a pinch of salt” the three teenage fillies beamed before running off after the Dalek, at that moment Rust returned with a mug of tea.

“YOUR TEA, SIR” he said.

“Cheers, mate” I said, before taking a sip “ahh, now that’s a cuppa”

*POV 3rd person*

The Crusaders ran after the French Dalek.

“Hey!” Scootaloo called out “wait up!”

“BUZZ OFF!” the French Dalek said.

“We want to meet the other Daleks” Sweetie Bell said.

“GO AWAY, YOU EMPTY HEADED ANIMAL FOOD TROUGH WATER” the French Dalek replied, only for Scootaloo to jump in front of the Heavy Weapons Dalek.

“HEY, you don’t talk to ponies like that!”

“GO AWAY OR I SHALL TUANT YOU A SECOND TIME” the French Dalek said, before rolling around Scootaloo and carrying on back towards the Dalek hangar.

“What the buck is wrong with yawl!?” Applebloom asked.

“AH’M FRENCH!” the Dalek said, before promptly ignoring them until they got to the hangar. Where about 18 other Heavy Weapons Daleks were milling about doing sod all other than being bat-shit-fucking-insane. At that moment a Heavy Weapons Dalek with a white turban on top of its dome burst through the doors in an explosion.

“HELLO” it said, rolling around knocking random things over “SORRY I’M LATE”

“THAT’S NOT GONE WELL” another Dalek remarked in an approximation of a British accent, standing next to two others. The turban headed Dalek looked around at the growing carnage and said.

“PUT IT ALL IN THE CURRY”

“YOU BLITHERING IDIOT!” one of the group of three Daleks said, as the other two burst out laughing at the antics of the other Dalek

“I think their insane” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes in opposite directions whilst twirling a hoof at the side of her head in a ‘cuckoo’ gesture.

“OH YES, IT’S VERY NICE” the French Dalek said, looking at them.

“Oh hi” a Dalek said in a synthesised, female voice, rolling other “ignore the others, they talk nonsense half the time anyway, we’re lucky his room is practically indestructible, else they would have wreaked havoc on this entire facility already”

“Why are you here?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“I keep the others from getting out of hand” it said, sounding board and actually sighing “I hate them, it’s like a swarm of voices constantly nagging in the back of my mind”

*POV 1st Person Vuur Koning*

I was stood at the back of the ship with Autumn, sharing a couple of drinks. Thankfully not many people come back here so it’s good for a quiet moment.

“I can’t believe it” Autumn said “soon I’ll be a grandmother”

“We still need to have a talk about…” I said, before looking down to her stomach “well, you can probably figure out”

“But we already have Ruby and Garnet” Autumn said “plus I want to get married before we even think about considering having our own kids, and now isn’t the best time for us to tie the knot, we both agreed on that”

“Yeah” I said “if we get married, I want my Mum and Step-dad to be there”

“I never understood why you don’t just call him Dad” Autumn said

“He’s a decent bloke” I said “and I mean him no offence when I say this, but there will only be one person I will ever call dad, Minion shares that opinion. Anyway, back to the subject, I want to have my own kid-slash-kids, not just adopt, I want to watch them grow up from a baby…or foal, I want to be there for them their entire life, not suddenly appear when their already teens” I absent mindedly swirled my drink whilst looking over the edge at the stars below. Autumn leant her head on my shoulder and hummed in agreement.

“I do too” she said, kissing me on the cheek “but we need to wait for the right time” I suddenly chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Autumn asked.

“Just remembering something a comedian said about granddads” I said “Granddads are like this mystical person that comes into your life when your two, and they’re like; ‘hello, I’m your granddad, I’m gonna be the funniest thing in your life for the next 15 years, but then I will go mental’ that’s their role in your life; funny, funny, funny, washing themselves in a puddle, Granddads!” Autumn snorted with laughter.

“Just as long as you don’t go washing yourself in a puddle” she said, nuzzling my cheek, I hummed in agreement.

“If I do, you may as well kill me, as I’m already dead” I then took a sip of my drink before pulling a face “Does this cider taste off to you?” she took a sip of hers, I started feeling lightheaded.

“I think there’s something…” Autumn said “…in the…” whatever she was going to say was cut off as I fell to the floor and Autumn fell on top of me before I blacked out. Next Chapter: Chapter 20 Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 10 Minutes