From the walls came a voice that would have sounded like an older stallion, were it not for the odd mechanical gargle whenever it went an octave too low. As a result, this friendly voice sounded sincere, yet subtly artificial. "Hello visitors, and welcome to the 'Mandeville Arms' Research and Development 'All-In-One' Headquarters," the soft voice greeted.

The six struggled to disentangle the equine knot they had become.

Fluttershy freed herself from the tangle and let her eyes wander about the room. "Um, Wh-. who's there?" she asked, careful to keep her distance from the talking walls.

"I am CAIRO," the walls answered, the steely tiles producing a mild reverb. "The Central Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Overseer, and I will be assisting you for the duration of your stay."

Pinkie Pie sprang out of the pile, and the last four cautiously stood up on the cold grey metal. The room was much as Plumeria had described: the size of a standard living-room, and every surface consisted of the same tiles they'd seen. With the exceptions of the floor, certain tiles served as large square light fixtures on every wall. The pure white light was unlike the sun they had left behind: cold, bleached and artificial.

Twilight steeled herself and spoke to the voice. "Wait, the central—" she asked.

"Central Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Overseer,” CAIRO repeated. “I am mandated with the maintenance of this facility's functions. This includes design optimization, manufacturing, drone deployment and drone tactics, according to the needs of Mandeville Arms."

Twilight engaged the voice, however much she wanted to demand answers. The situation was not to their advantage, and she knew it. The walls hid something, and provoking the ownerless voice would not be wise. Best play along.

"Sounds like a taxing job."

"For a naturally evolved biological intelligence, yes,” he said. “I, however, am authorized to modify my central core according to my own processing needs. By way of adding or modifying processing cores and random access memory modules, I can in fact improve myself. Evenly distributed at my highest experienced load, my processing cores maintain a comfortable 34 degrees Celsius while immersed in a liquid-cooled environment."

Applejack tilted her head, eyes glazing over. “Huh?”

"So, you're... you're not really," Twilight began, her eyes widening.

"You're some sort of machine!" Rarity blurted, finishing Twilight’s thoughts.

"Structurally, I am a computer,” CAIRO said. “A programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out dynamic sequences of arithmetic or logical operations. The CAIRO system software allows me to process input data, such as your questions, in the context required by my operator."

Only Twilight in her utter bookishness made anything of this answer. She paused, shaking her head before she pressed on.

"Well, if you're here to assist us, could you answer a few questions? Princess Celestia of Equestria has sent us to investigate trespasses made against the-"

He cut her off, no less friendly in tone as he did. "All further questions, concerns, police warrants and governmental inquiries will be summarily dealt with, after the requisite touring program has concluded."

"Touring program?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes narrowed. "We never asked for some lousy tou—"

In a single fluid motion, Applejack stuffed Dash's mouth with an apple.

"I reckon it'd be a mite bit prudent to see what we might be in for, sugarcube."

"Very well then," Rarity said. "Might you be so good as to begin this tour, CAIRO?"

"Request acknowledged. Touring will begin in 3... 2... 1..."

Music blared from the walls, making them jump in spite of the countdown. A short jingle from what sounded like a trumpet and a series of rippling electronic tones shot through the room, like an orchestra had surrounded it from outside.

"You are about to tour one of the most advanced facilities ever constructed!" CAIRO gushed in an oddly rehearsed manner. "During our tour, you are likely to encounter strobing lights, loud noises and various exposures to anomalous material. If you have a heart-related condition, are pregnant, epileptic, or have previously sustained the maximum legal dosage for radiation work, please let us know now, and we will divert you from the tour on an alternative route to the visitor's center."

There was a momentary pause, before CAIRO rapidly belted out words in a language none of the ponies understood.

“¡Usted está a punto de recorrer una de las instalaciones más avanzadas alguna vez construidas! Durante nuestro viaje, usted probablemente encontrará luces strobing, ruidos fuertes y varias exposiciones al material anómalo.”

However, suspiciously similar-sounding words to their native Equish caught their attention now and then.

“Si usted tiene una condición relacionada con el corazón, está embarazado, epiléptico, o ha sostenido antes la dosis legal máxima para el trabajo de radiación, por favor avísenos ahora, y le divertiremos del viaje en un itinerario alternativo al centro del invitado.”

Finally, CAIRO went silent again.

"What the hay was THAT?" Pinkie Pie said, the least bewildered of the wide-eyed mares.

Another moment of silence and the lights dimmed halfway to darkness. The ponies’ vibrant colors muted as a large series of tiles on the front wall sank into itself. Like a revolving bookcase, it spun around to reveal a replacement section covered with black, glassy tiles. Once aligned, the tiles sunk back seamlessly into the wall.

"And that!" Pinkie added.

Then they heard a slow, soft violin note from the walls, followed by a pair of flutes in a short melody.

"Music?" Rainbow Dash asked, before they heard CAIRO's voice again.

"Our world is an uncertain, dangerous place. Our fate rests upon our security."

The lone instruments were joined by an orchestra that slowly swelled, remaining quiet in the background.

"But who can provide this security?"

The music in the background began to build in palpable anticipation.

"One man, one name, offers safety to the world. That name, is Mandeville."

On queue, the orchestra exploded into a triumphant blare of drums, tubas and trumpets. The black glass lit up with something no pony had ever seen before: color motion pictures. Upon the screen shone a symbol of a grey and white "M" in a circle, with a few odd red shapes behind it. The image then changed to a bright afternoon sky over a vast expanse of ocean, as a fleet of sleek metallic vessels cut quickly through water. A tiny figure stood atop one of the vessels as the camera approached it, clutching a railing. The girls quickly realized it was nothing they were familiar with. The figure filled the frame, beaming at them as the music quieted to a piano and violin performing a soaring, friendly melody.

The creature was tall and thin, cream-colored in its lack of coat. It reminded Twilight of those poor hairless desert cats she'd once read about. Its mane was short and blonde, covering the top of its head and two narrow patches above emerald-green eyes. Stubby ears and the lines around its nose and mouth offered features far different from ponies, as did the hands gripping the railing. Its body appeared black, but only because of the fine suit it wore. The suit hid whatever features could be made out beyond the erect posture and long legs. It looked male to Twilight, but that might only be a result of her own preconception. Like the mistaken idea that panting dogs are smiling. This creature might not even have male or female distinctions.

“Is that some kind of spindly chimp?” Twilight wondered aloud.

"A spindly suit-chimp?" Pinkie elaborated.

"Suit chimp?" Fluttershy parroted. "Well, it's definitely a smaller kind of ape."

"Hi!" the suit-chimp said in a high voice with a quality like silk. "I'm Adrian Mandeville, founder and owner of Mandeville Arms! I created this company with a single goal in mind: to stay ahead of the curve with security that's second to none. Mandeville Arms provides world-class defensive equipment, from home defense to anti-ICBM protection! Don't believe me? Each of these submarines are equipped with one tactical nuclear missile, and all but one are aimed directly at my facility. The very same facility you're touring!"

Applejack frowned. "I ain't exactly certain what he just said, but it didn't sound any good. Y' reckon we should skedaddle?"

"Don’t be silly Applejack," Rarity scoffed. "This is a recording, obviously. This has the clear markings of something doctored and babied until it's just right."

The camera drifted to the right, revealing an island in the distance, a lustrous, gray, cubic monolith jutting out of the ground and into the afternoon sky.

"Our 'Missile Interception Security System." Mandeville donned a pair of sunglasses. “Or 'MISS,' will either protect my facility from the bombardment, or very quickly run me out of business."

"Aha! Did you hear that?" Rarity exclaimed. "A pony's business is her castle. He wouldn't knowingly risk it if it weren't safe. He's clearly trying to build a solid reputation amongst his peers."

"Yeah yeah, yer' real clever," Applejack groaned.

Behind him, one of the vessels unleashed a deafening, crackling roar. Blinding light burst from a compartment in the hull and a sleek white rocket sped off toward the horizon on a pillar of fire.

"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted at the sudden spectacle.

"And yes," Mandeville shouted over the noise. "They're real!"

The rocket peaked and visibly sank towards the ocean, only a lens-flare against the afternoon sun. In a flash, everything else in the image turned dark as the exposure adjusted. A blinding light radiated from where the rocket had been not seconds ago. The sun itself might have entered the atmosphere. After a few moments the light dimmed, revealing a massive roiling fireball: the darker flames nearest the top rolling over the disc-shaped ‘head’ before being sucked back into the glowing center below, feeding back into what Twilight knew was a classic convection current, but on a enormous scale. Another moment later and the terrifying sound of the blast caught up. A howling wind ruffled Mandeville's suit as the raging, bestial noise dominated the unseen speakers.

"Well," Rarity gasped, watching the fireball in awe. "I must say that —as fireworks go— this was more than a touch ostentatious."

"I knew it!" Pinkie Pie shouted, slamming a hoof into the floor and making them all glanced her way. "It makes giant mushrooms! Diabolical! I knew mushrooms were evil!"

"No," Twilight said, her voice hushed. "It's an explosion. A massive, city-sized explosion!"

Rainbow Dash sneered. "So? I can do that too."

"That is a fireball," Twilight told her. "It's not the same as somepony slamming into the ground like a meteor... more like an asteroid. It's like nothing I've ever seen!"

"Alright then!" Mandeville cried excitedly, camera panning right towards the island as the fireball drifted on the wind. "Moment of truth! Launch!"

In rapid-succession, all of the vessels deployed their rockets in a cacophony of roaring flames as the image turned to the island. In moments they closed in, before bright red streaks erupted into the sky from various points on the surface of the great structure. Back in the room with the six ponies, the flashes of light bounced off of every surface in a chaotic display.

Numerous popping sounds were audible over the water as the rockets disappeared in puffs of dirty-looking brown smoke. Silence fell at last, leaving the structure stalwart and proud as smoke drifted lazily away.

"Is it over?" Fluttershy whimpered from beneath her hooves.

"Lasers! Is there anything cooler?" Mandeville asked, like a child showing off his newest toy.

"Let me answer my own question, " he said. "Unpaid endorsements!"

The image changed to that of another of the creatures standing in front of a grand, palatial gated house. This one too wore a suit, but this one was white, much to Rarity’s approval. The creature itself had a short brown mane and maintained an air of self-satisfaction.

"I trust only Mandeville Arms for the security of my estate. From firearms for the guards to the built-in anti-theft countermeasures, I couldn't be in safer hands."

The scene changed again to a more modest home. A family of creatures stood before it. The gender distinction was now more obvious to Twilight, seeing the ‘stallion’, the ‘mare’, and two rather adorable ‘foals’ standing beside them, holding their mother's hands. In the background, other creatures clad in black uniforms drug a disheveled creature towards a very strange contraption. A sleek, black and white steel carriage with a bar of flashing red and blue lights on top of it overwhelmed some of the scene.

"Because I bought Mandeville Arms brand 'riot-buster' rounds for my nine millimeter,” the husband said, “I kept my family safe... without taking the life of another human being."

" 'Human bean?' " Applejack echoed, tilting her head. "Did I just miss somethin'?"

"I think he said 'being'." Twilight said.

Pinkie idly munched on popcorn from her bag. "Hey, what's a nine milli-meer?"

"Shhh!" Rarity hissed. "We're missing valuable information!"

"I dunno much 'bout this Mandyville feller'," the slack-jawed human drawled, coarse-looking blue pants with straps gripping his shoulders while lazily eying the ponies from the porch of his rickety shack.

“Where’d this guy come from all the sudden?” Rainbow said.

"But I buy his buckshot,” the human said, “an' I done killed more a' them damn possums than I ever did wivout 'em!"

"K-k-killed? Possums?" Fluttershy whimpered, her lower eyelids suddenly thick with tears. "Why would anypony hurt possums? Sure, they're a bit rowdier than other animals, but that doesn't make it okay t- to...”

“He looks pretty sunburned,” Twilight noted. “No doubt they’d be particularly sensitive without a natural coat of their own.”

"I was recommended Mandeville Arms' SHADE drones for dangerous air-support operations," the next human on screen said.

This time it was a rough-looking older male with thick eyebrows and yet another suit. He stood in front of a vast, flat, grey road with numerous lines painted on it. The background was dominated by huge hollow steel structures containing a number of large, sleek objects on tiny wheels with narrow pointed ‘noses.’ Dark square shafts were built into the body below their two bladelike... well, Twilight couldn't really describe them properly. She smirked as the word "wingspan" entered her mind—

Twilight paused, and scrutinized the objects in a different light. They looked a lot more like gigantic metal birds. And if that were true, then it only made sense that they were designed to... Twilight stopped herself, shaking her head. "Of course not, silly idea," Twilight muttered to herself as the human plowed on, heedless to their attentions, or lack thereof.

"—that not only did they complete their tasks with the utmost efficiency,” the human plowed on, “but they safely returned to base! I'll be honest: I wouldn't have believed anything could survive such suicidal conditions before that day. All a credit to Mandeville Arms."

The image changed to a strange armored machine, rolling along a hillside using a series of gears moving a huge, segmented belt of some kind. The top of it pivoted from side to side, pointing its comically large pipe in different directions. Suddenly, the whole thing shook with an incredible noise as a flash of fire erupted from the mouth of the pipe. Twilight recognized this as a bigger, tougher and meaner looking version of the "tanks" made years ago for the Equestrian military: A war machine designed by a neighboring nation for use against non-magical targets. They were of limited production and mainly just for show, but they were still rather famous for their unique shape, intense durability, and their ability to travel the roughest, most impossible terrain. Rainbow Dash even named her pet tortoise after them.

Soon after there was a screeching noise in the distance, and the tank vanished in a fiery blast, the room beyond the screen painted deep orange from the light. The ponies shrieked in surprise as flaming metal fragments soared in all directions, while the camera panned skyward to see what had caused it—

"No way!" cried Twilight, as she realized the things from before were in fact, flying machines.

Twilight stared as the thing hovered in place. Confusing in itself, given its great wings were doing nothing apparent to help it stay airborne.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked her.

"What's wrong? That thing is flying!"

"So?” Pinkie Pie said. “My Pinkie-copter does the same thing."

"But that's all pony-powered, and it's small, and it’s light. How does that big metal... thing even get off the ground?"

But the situation only confounded her further as something within the machine revved up and spurted a jet of flame out two pipes behind it. It sped forward, ceasing to hover and switching to full forward flight. Cutting through the air in an impressive sounding roar, it made all speed for the horizon.

"I don't care how it does it,” Dash cried, “that thing is awesome! Did you see how it just shredded that tank?"

CAIRO's narration cut-in again. "Our governments. Our businesses. Our homes. Mandeville Arms can and —will— protect them all. Now, and always."

The music began to wind down as the image showed a little red human stick-figure frolicking to and fro, while a black targeting reticule tracked it. The figure seemed to notice the reticule and threw its little ball hands into the air in surrender. The image froze and turned upside down, revealing itself as the "M" in the Mandeville Arms logo. The other letters appeared in sequence next to it as it shrank to the appropriate size.

The lights returned to full strength as CAIRO addressed them, now sounding far less theatrical.

"Touring will begin momentarily. Be advised that this module will be moving through the facility. Due to recent geological complications beyond our control, certain sections of the tour are unavailable due to repairs, and others have been recently repurposed. Due to the potential obstacles, this module will likely take routes with significantly small clearances, and therefore, we ask that you please keep your arms, head and legs within the module at all times."

"Wait," Rarity said. "Did you say this room is going to be mov—"

The room gave a sudden lurch that forced them all to reacquire their balance.

"That answer yer' question?" said Applejack, surprised as any of them.

They heard a steady ‘clickety-clack’ above and below them, and vibrations in the floor told them they were indeed moving deeper into this Mandeville mystery.

"Thank you for your cooperation," CAIRO said, warmly. "The first phase of this tour will be in demonstration of the Mandeville Arms 'Dynamic Tiling System', or 'DTS' for short. In its humble beginnings, Adrian Mandeville and I both decided the options for research and development were too constrained under a static environment. Fabrication of structures built for specific purposes was costly, and as methods of manufacture and spatial needs constantly evolved, it was decided that a better solution would be for the facility to be one-hundred-percent dynamic. Thus, the installation was designed around a three-dimensional gridwork of steel girders with built-in tracks, with which to support modules of any conceivable size, comprised of multi-purpose interlocking tiles on fully-poseable hydraulic arms."

"Sounds familiar," Rainbow growled, gazing up at the same ceiling tiles that had spat them into this chamber of humans and headaches.

"Later however,” CAIRO continued, “the steel girders were replaced with smaller ones which could interlock end-to-end. This made routine maintenance and accidental damage easier to manage, as well as making the facility itself more tolerant to listing in the event of earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes, given our island placement."

"That's starting to bug me," said Twilight, shaking her head. "In that presentation —and just now— it showed this place on an island. The Everfree Forest is not an island, and I've never read anything about tall, hairless chimpanzees with this kind of technology."

"What're ya' thinkin'?" Applejack asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I know? It's like this place just dropped out of the sky!"

"Thank you for your patience," CAIRO said. "In a moment we'll lift the mid-section tiles, allowing you to see the facility in full. In safeguarding trade-secrets and preventing the possible mapping of this facility by those in the business of industrial espionage, we've purposely kept them closed and brought this module away from view of its point of entry. In the event of an emergency however, this module will stop and await the docking of another module. Failing that, the DTS will provide a temporary catwalk, and lead your party to the closest exit."

"Well I don't see what good modeling our outfits will do us in an emergency situation, apart from the obvious," Rarity commented.

"Different kind of catwalk," Dash whispered, before the rest of the statement hit her. "Wait, what obvious part?"

"Oh Rainbow," Rarity sighed, patting her blue head, "a pony like you wouldn't understand."

Immediately after, the middle tiles of every wall —save for the corners— sank in and tilted upward to line up with the ceiling like an awning, and the ponies within could now see what had only before been described to them.

"Holy macaroni!" Pinkie cried. "That's big!"

"What in the name a' Celestia!" Applejack whispered, eyes wide.

Outside of the mobile room was a cavernous space. The ceiling was over a hundred feet above them, all comprised of tiles, but the very bottom couldn't be seen at all. A grid of segmented girders obscured their vision, like the skeletons of buildings seen under construction in cities like Manehattan. The vertical beams were thicker than tree trunks, connected and stabilized by smaller horizontal ones. The largest were spaced a hundred feet apart, but still smaller girders rolled between on tracks set into the larger ones. Equipment and tiles transported to and fro along the grid in a hypnotizing show of efficiency. The complexity was such that Twilight forced herself to stop analyzing it.

Twilight eyes and mouth gaped. "It must've been an abandoned Ursa cave. I can't imagine any other way for there to be this much open space in a mountain."

"I hope it was abandoned!" Fluttershy said. "Ursa's have such a hard time finding homes to begin with."

"I'd like to see the builders of this place force an Ursa Major from its cave," Rarity giggled .

Their room was supported by four of the smaller kind of girders; two on top, two on bottom. Every time they reached the end of one set, another set would arrive to carry them further on, horizontal, vertical, at times both at once. It was all one massive chamber bathed in floodlights at every juncture. An illusion of division came from some of the larger structures, many of which dwarfed the town hall in Ponyville. Some were comprised of tiles, the hydraulic arms standing naked before their eyes, holding them in their proper places. Other structures were more complex, suspended by the gridwork of girders, but wore no tiles. Most of these fed pipes of various sizes that led into the nearest vertical support, taking the least obstructive path possible, naturally to prevent collisions and economize space. Something that, given the size of the place, seemed laughable.

Eventually, they came upon beams that were bent out of shape or outright torn apart. Some structures were broken, tiles hanging off, resembling weathered Ponyville roofing tiles. One of the exposed structures was lopsided, pipes busted and dripping some unidentifiable fluid into the abyss below.

"Wh-what happened here?" Fluttershy asked, cowering behind Applejack from the immensity of the alien space.

"That might have something to do with it." Rainbow pointed, noticing a lone alien in this world of mechanical order: a pillar of rock broken at the top. Its loose-end lying smashed into the side of one of the tiled structures, having left dusty, white streaks in the dark metal.

"Hey! Land-ahoy!" Pinkie declared, pointing even further ahead. Indeed, they could see a great dune of broken rocks, dirt and dust below. It might have been the bottom, except it had clearly buried other structures. This area buzzed with yellow and black machines on oversized rubber wheels, shunting and lifting the obtrusive rocks —in buckets at the end of long, metallic arms— like so many massive worker ants. Even tiles on mobile girders moved in force to shove the offending refuse into the lower levels like big metallic brooms.

CAIRO’s voice filled the room once more. "Below, you will see excavation drones busily clearing fallen debris from a recent recently damaged sector of the facility. We at Mandeville Arms would like to remind you that the odds of such an incident occurring twice are considerably slimmer than they were the first time."

"Oh, that inspires confidence," Twilight muttered.

"We thank you for your patience during this brief detour. The proper touring course starts up ahead. If I could divert your attention to the left."

Three of the tile-awnings, front, right and back, slid back into place, drawing their eyes leftward as the room negotiated a narrow path into one of the nearer structures.

"Here we have one of our many firing ranges,” CAIRO said, “where we test all Mandeville Arms brand firearms and ammunition."

The room they had entered was the size of a gymnasium. Every surface was made up of grey and white tiles, bare and empty aside from the far end where bull's-eyes on tall pads were placed at varying distances.

" 'Fire-arms'? 'Ammunition'?” Dash ruffled her wings restlessly. “Would you just speak Equish already?"

"Query relevant,” was CAIRO’s response. “The term 'firearm' describes any weaponry that uses the deflagration of a combustive material like gunpowder to launch a projectile, usually metallic, at high speeds into a desired target. The more casual term, 'gun' applies to most handheld weaponry, while larger mounted firearms are often called 'cannons'."

"Oh, I get it!" Twilight cried . "We know what a cannon is. But you've gone and made really small ones?"

"Correction," CAIRO began. "Not smaller. Simply more efficient. All calibers have prospective uses in combat situations. For example, other subsets of handheld firearms include pistols, shotguns, rifles and machine guns, with specific calibers and varieties of projectile. The projectiles loaded into a firearm are known as 'ammunition', or 'ammo'. Observe."

A tile in the floor of the room outside sank out of sight, replaced by one of those all too familiar swiveling pipes. This one, however, had several pipes of different sizes, which whirled slowly around with a deep humming sound. It pointed sideways to provide them with a better view. A chamber in the mechanism behind the pipes opened to reveal a number of silvery spikes mounted into some kind of belt, smoothed and curved in a very sleek and precise form.

"This form of ammunition is commonly known as a 'bullet'. Gunpowder in the flat-base of the bullet is triggered by firearms, which sends the projectile on its way down and out of the barrel. The aerodynamic design allows for fast and accurate flight, compounded further by rifling in the barrel, which provides the bullet with a spin, preserving a stable flight path."

The cannon swung to face the targets. It chose a "barrel" to fire from, and as the end flashed and the nearest target bore a new pockmark in the very center, Twilight ears and chest were filled with that deafening sound, like before. The ears of all six ponies reflexively recoiled at the piercing noise. From a side compartment, they barely noticed the small brass cylinder fly out and clatter softly onto the floor, almost in mockery of the ear-splitting sound that preceded it.

"That was so neatarrific! First it was all like, 'POWIE'! Then we were all like 'WOWIE!' An' then were were all like, 'owie...'" Pinkie groaned, massaging her ears.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end a' that," Dash muttered. "You see that hole it made? I didn't even see anything come out."

"Of course, Mandeville Arms produces all manner of ammo types, including rubber riot rounds, medicating darts, full metal jacket, hollow point, buckshot, solid slug, flechette, bola, tracer, incendiary and explosive. From stun to kill, we fit the bill!"

The room began moving again, and the testing range slid out of sight. Promptly, it slowed to a stop again, in front of a much smaller room, containing-

There was a collective gasp as they saw it. Standing on three hooves, a head taller than a pony. Blank, masked mannequin face pointed ahead, still as a statue.

Twilight too found herself immobile, heartbeat pounding in her ears as her breath went ragged.

"One of those puppets, like from the Library!" Rarity breathed.

"Early on, Mandeville Arms' goal toward self-sustaining automation naturally branched to the need for combat drones. While weapons were useful, the need for a human operator undercut their potential for overall effectiveness. In short, human error could decide a battle regardless of technical superiority. This, combined with the risk of human life, prompted the creation of the first, and best, robotic soldier."

On cue, the puppet gave a spasm of movement and adjusted its three legs closer to its center. It’s fingers curled and spine rolled, giving the impression that it was waking from a long sleep.

"Meet CID: the Central Infantry Drone! CID can quickly navigate even the harshest terrain with its tripedal motion system, based in part off the revolutionary technologies of Boston Dynamics. This robotic supersoldier is fitted by default with a 32 caliber rifle for pinpoint accuracy and devastating stopping power."

Immediately, the CID began to convulse and turned up to face the ponies.

"Uh oh!" CAIRO warned theatrically. "I think this unit is going rogue! Deploying bullet-proof panels."

A few whirring sounds filled their ears as sheets of thick glass rose up in front of them. No sooner had this been done than the girls shrieked one at a time. The CID had rapidly whipped its gun in their direction, splattering the glass in front of each of their faces with something red and pasty. It had only taken less than a few seconds.

"Just kidding folks!" CAIRO mechanically chuckled. "Only paintballs in this unit. CID have very limited AI and can only be controlled remotely. Each unit acts under a hive mind. In this case, they are in fact controlled by me. Each CID is equipped with an array of visual, motion and infrared sensors. These sensors are limited in resolution, but a platoon of these drones can collectively map-out a topological battlefield to make strategy and mobility more effective. The CID can then share other forms of battlefield intelligence —such as enemy placement— and act as a whole with only one drone having sighted the target in question."

Twilight had been stunned and immobilized at the sight of the CID, up until she was shaken awake by the paint splatter. She had scarcely heard a word CAIRO said. But now, woken from her reverie, she was filled with something that felt foreign to her.

She hated it.

Yes, she'd seen the one at the Library. But it had been lifeless, just a broken tool. This thing was alive and, as far as Twilight was concerned, it was guilty. It had been easy to blame herself before, when her foe had been unknown and elusive. The cause of her pain, the murderer of her friend, it began and ended with this... thing. And it was waving at them, wrist jerking jovially left and right.

Even Twilight was surprised to see the CID's head erupt into flame as her cutting beam melted through the glass. It hadn't lasted long, but the power of the beam had clearly been enough to erase the featureless face and much of the machinery behind it. Instead of crumpling, it remained comically locked in its waving position, as though taken instantly by rigor mortis.

CAIRO’s jovial tone had quite vanished. “Anomaly detected in tour-module. Analyzing...”

After a moment, CAIRO spoke up again, the warmth in his voice returned. “We apologize for a brief recess from the tour; a conflict was detected in 'tour_route_A', 'exhibit_2'. Error type: entity 'cid_demo' does not exist. Troubleshooting the problem may take a few minutes."

"Twilight!" Applejack cried. "What the living hay was that about?"

"That," Twilight huffed, only now aware that she was short of breath, both from the potency of the spell and from the strength of her own anger, "was for Spike."

"For Spike, or for you?" Applejack probed. "Listen, I understand. I'd like nothin' better than to buck that thing to bits, but we're neck-deep in this place, we don't know the way out, n' so far the only thing tryin' to attack us did it with balls of paint and a neighborly wave. Not keen to change that too soon, y'know?"

At that moment, the awning tiles retracted, blocking their view of the outside, the ominous action accentuated by the lights clicking off, submerging them in total darkness.

"Aw, consarn it!" Applejack moaned.

"Oh, this'll be good," Rainbow Dash said.

Rarity shrieked. "Ah! Somepony touched me!"

"It's just Pinkie! Ooh, we could play 'Mareco Pollo' real easy like this!

“Mareco!" she called.

"Pinkie, now's not the time, this is serio— Oof!" Twilight wheezed as she was tackled by Pinkie, who giggled.

"Silly, you're just supposed to say 'Pollo'! But I guess a 'Pinkie's' as good as a 'Pollo' to a blind pony!"

"Analysis complete,” CAIRO said at last. “ 'Force-Five' disturbance confirmed. Type: electromagnetic. Visitors in Touring Module identified as two, Equus sapiens normalis. Two, Equus sapiens unicornus. Two, Equus sapiens pennatus. Please stand-by for immediate rerouting."

"Force Fi-? Equu-? Rerouti- What's going on already?!" Rainbow shouted.

The lights returned and the room began moving again, evidently in a different direction.

"No, CAIRO, I'm busy," a high, smooth, vaguely familiar voice said from the walls.

"What?" he asked of thin air. "Now? Well, it took long enough, I suppose. Let's have a look then."

With that, a ceiling tile in front of the screen retreated, before a little mechanical yellow eye snaked in, surveying them and illuminating the room like a searchlight. A moment later, the screen came to life again. This time it showed a tile-less room, like a bunker, but more lavish in design. But for that was a neglected mess. Boxes, bags and cartons littered several surfaces. Looking back at them, stubble on his chin, hair mussed and wearing a far more modest and wrinkled white shirt than the black suit they'd last seen him in, was—

"Adrian Mandeville!" Twilight cried.

The human's eyes similarly widened, before smirking and holding his arms behind his head. "Ah, my reputation precedes me.”

"Well, your tour...” Twilight searched for the right word, “thing preceded you, really, but—"

"Tour?" Mandeville cocked an eyebrow before frowning up at the ceiling. "CAIRO, I told you before: if anyone enters the module, forget the touring program and tell me."

"Incorrect," CAIRO replied. "What you said was—"

Mandeville's disembodied voice filled the room.

"You don't have to do the old touring program. Just tell me and I'll handle it."

"So wait," the real Mandeville said. "Are you saying you wanted to run the tour?"

There was a brief silence before CAIRO answered.

"We so rarely have guests."

"Oh boy," Mandeville sighed. "Since when did you grow a personality?"

He considered a moment.

"Rhetorical question, CAIRO."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

Rarity coughed. Mandeville's attention was drawn to her, amused and intrigued by the interruption. "Pardon me, sirs, but might I observe that it's hardly proper etiquette to ignore a guest? Particularly if those guests are ladies?"

"Ah!" Mandeville cried, hand clapping to his forehead. "Where are my manners! What, my dear, brings you to my humble, massive weapons facility in the middle of nowhere?"

"Well, there were certain, er- how did you put it, Twilight?" Rarity asked, losing steam. "Something about a tress?"

"Trespasses. Mister Mandeville, on behalf of Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, we are here to investigate trespasses made against the kingdom, we believe, by somepony involved in your organization."

"Oh?" he said, raising a blonde eyebrow. "Well, those are some pretty serious accusations, aren't they Miss...?"

"Spar—" Twilight said, but was kicked behind a foreleg by Applejack. "Er— Twinkle."

She could scarcely believe she’d nearly let slip her name. Possibly to the very being who burnt down a library and killed an innocent baby dragon to get to her.

Mandeville's eyes pierced through the screen at them with the subtlest rise of his other eyebrow to add to that million-bit smile. Not physically present in the room, the screen gave the illusion that he was looking at all of them at once. Like a portrait. It was enough to be unnerving.

"Well, Miss Twinkle,” Mandeville said, “have you got any proof that we had something to do with, er... whatever it is you're accusing us of? I do sorta' get the feeling, maybe, that you didn't even know we existed until a fair few minutes ago?"

His tone sounded distinctly non-threatening to Twilight, at least in this burst; like someone fudging their way through a poorly-researched science project. It was quite a shift from the calculating stare mere sentences ago.

"Come to think." Mandeville’s eyes drifted to the ceiling. "How'd you get here anyway? I think you've noticed we're underground. And I get the feeling folks don't typically come this way."

"A unicorn called Plumeria claimed to have taken the old Stalliongrad path with a friend of hers. She said there was some kind of landslide on the path, and they entered a cave unearthed by it. According to her, they passed some kind of test, and... well, she said a voice told her they were 'smart'."

"Intelligent," CAIRO corrected.

"Beg pardon?" Twilight asked.

"Given the nature of Mandeville Arms' business dealings, the possibility of infiltration and subsequent gravitational displacement, was too high to ignore the need for a contingency plan."

"Huh? Wait, what does any of that have to do with a test in a cave?" Rainbow asked, sighing as she massaged her temple with a hoof.

"The test was designed to evaluate whether any extraterrestrial beings who might find this facility were intelligent enough to be reasoned with, or provide aid. It required an exact sequence of correct completions to simple, purely mathematic patterns."

"You were looking for aliens?" Twilight asked. "Why did you expect to find aliens?"

"I'll take this one, CAIRO," Mandeville said. "We expected aliens, because we figured that was our only hope of rescue. Ever heard of wormholes?"

Hardly surprising the other five ponies, Twilight nodded. "They're theoretical passages between two spaces, created by incredibly powerful gravity-wells that fold space-time onto itself. We've never see them occur, naturally or otherwise. Are you trying to tell me that you—?"

"Yes. I take it you've realized just how out-of-place all this is to your world, especially something like me?"

"B-but," she spluttered. "How did you end up in a massive gravity-well? Why didn't it tear your facility apart? That kind of gravity would tear planets apart!"

"Yes, until a fair number of years ago, it was apparently impossible. The energy required for such a thing was more than our race had ever produced. Then, we found the Higgs Boson."

Pinkie frowned. "Pig's what?"

"Higgs Boson," Mandeville repeated. "The particle that gives all matter mass. The particle itself was just another confirmed piece of a well-studied puzzle, but our understanding of the physical world improved by an order of magnitude. Our margin of error in physical calculations shrank as a result. Within a decade or so, we were able to punch holes in space-time, while stabilizing the gravity-well as to make interaction with wormholes relatively harmless."

"That's incredible!" Twilight gushed, nearly forgetting herself. "With that kind of technology, you could go anywhere in the Universe!"

"Yes, well. We're still getting a handle on that," Mandeville muttered bitterly. "Problem is, we know how to open them, but we don't know how to control where they open to.”

“And if it’s random,” Twilight puzzled, “it's not likely to be somewhere close, either; nor likely to be safe for something living.”

Mandeville nodded. “It became little more than a weapon. Banned everywhere of course, save for research purposes. Sucking people off the planet —probably into the icy vacuum of space, bathed in radiation— so far beyond the observable Universe you'd never even know the general direction of home. 'Cruel and unusual' doesn't quite describe it."

"So," Twilight said, "you got sucked through?"

"Me,” Mandeville sighed, “my facility. Apparently, someone really didn't like me, so they set one of those things off from the inside. We planned for something like that though."

CAIRO leapt into the conversation.

"Yes. In such an event, Adrian is immediately placed in a state of suspended animation, and the facility is put into a low-power standby-mode. Several of the extraterrestrial intelligence tests are placed in intervals along the outer walls of the facility, in hopes that while hurtling through space, an intelligent aliens species will discover it and be able to provide assistance. This process did not go quite as planned."

Mandeville scoffed. "Obviously. Thing is, we never got back any data from probes we sent into wormholes. Even tethered and retrieved, the curiosities that affect electromagnetism between openings prevented recording anything but static or blackness. It didn't help that they probably opened light-years away either, but it looks like we never knew where wormholes opened to at all."

"Where ya' reckon now?" Applejack asked, mystified, but keen to follow Twilight’s lead and keep Mandeville talking. One way or another, the more they knew, the better off they were.

Mandeville —who hadn't heard Applejack speak before— paused and stared a moment and smiled before answering. "Well, there have been several theories on the nature of how Universes form, but no evidence has been compelling either way. We always expected wormholes to take us to other points in the same Universe, but now it looks like we're actually punching holes into neighboring ones."

"So you're not just an alien," Rarity deduced. "You're from an entirely different dimension!"

"Dimensions are not the same as Universes," Twilight and Mandeville both blurted, simultaneously. Twilight couldn’t help appreciating what Mandeville knew. Be it common knowledge on his world or revelations he personally discovered, he held answers to a lot of questions.

"Well," Mandeville said. " 'Entirely' might be a bit much. And 'alien', only in a few senses. Based on the research I've done so far, I think it fair to say I'm still on planet Earth. And that we can narrow quantum theory down to the 'many worlds' interpretation and rule out Copenhagen. Not that it benefits anyone where I come from, being stuck here."

"Wait, this is Earth," Rainbow pointed out. "If you're from Earth, but not from here, then what are you even saying— Gah! All this makes my brain hurt!"

"This is, I believe, another Earth,” Mandeville explained. “An alternate Earth. From what I can theorize, Universes that neighbor each other are Universes that have branched off from various places. According to the infinite realm of possibility, a new Universe seems to split off for every event that goes a different way. If you flipped a coin and it turned heads, there's probably a 'tails' Universe floating around there somewhere. This, as far as I can tell, is Earth, but with a lot of fundamental differences. This explains why we landed inside a mountain on a planet, upright, and not in the center of a star.

“The biggest of these differences is the discovery of Force Five."

"What is 'Force Five?’ " Fluttershy asked, recalling CAIRO's reaction a while back.

"Well, in physics where I come from, there are four basic forces: The strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force. When we first arrived, we quickly began to realize the presence of what you locals call ‘magic’. We're still barely understanding it. Very deep stuff. But while we always theorized the presence of a fifth force, we've got nothing like this."

"You don't have magic where you come from? Wow. How sad," Twilight said, feeling sorrier and sorrier for this alien. Who was not an alien.

"Yes, miserable I'm sure," Mandeville muttered, frowning.

Twilight's mind swam at all this information. To think, this was first formal contact with an alien species! They could learn so much from each other; the realm of possibility was endless! But something bothered her, in the back of her mind. She was forgetting somethi—

Twilight leered. "Hold on. This is fascinating, really. But we're forgetting the issue at hand. Plumeria came to Ponyville with a limp; she was terrified when she described whatever happened after passing the test. She came back alone, claiming her friend, an Earth pony named Peppermint, was taken. I don't suppose you know anything about this?"

"Oh, naturally." Mandeville hadn’t so much as flinched. "I'm afraid CAIRO was a bit... er... overzealous when I asked that he invite them in. Not his finest hour, I assure you. You see, we needed to ascertain the workings of this world very quickly, in case the worst should happen. The lay of the land, the ruling bodies, the laws, the dominant species and their degree of civilization. Dear Peppermint has been busy helping me with such things."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "And the ponies that've gone missin' in the forest?"

"I've learned a lot about the Everfree Forest since I got here," Mandeville said. "Who's to say they didn't just lose their way, or run afoul of some creature?"

Applejack nodded. “That happens, now n' then. But not enough for Celestia herself to hear about a pattern a' disappearances. Somethin' new has to've come to this forest. It only started a few days ago, and from what you've said, you and your big fancy machine-fortress only got here a few days ago."

"That might sway a very lacking jury," Mandeville replied, his eyes narrowing as he glared at her. "Miss...?"

"Applejack," she simmered.

"Yes, well, Miss Jack—"

"Ain't two words like 'Twilight Sparkle', partner, it's just 'Applejack'."

Mandeville's face lit up, mouth pursed into a small, smiling "o" as he tilted his head back and watched her realize her mistake.

"Aw, shoot," Applejack moaned, ears flat against her head.

Mandeville’s reaction to her name didn’t go unnoticed by Twilight. ”Does that name mean something to you, Mister Mandeville?” she said, leering at him.

“Not really, just another silly-sounding pony name.”

“Says the guy named ‘Adrian Mandeville’,” Rainbow Dash fired back, “Like that means anything.”

“Mind your tone, missy!” Mandeville snarled. “You’re in my house!”

“Please,” Rarity cried, “enough of this nonsense! Please Twilight dear, continue.”

Twilight took a quiet breath. "Last night, the Ponyville Library burned to the ground.

"The cause of the fire so far is unknown, but witnesses tell of two figures fleeing the scene and into the woods."

"I guess now you'll accuse me because my base happens to be within the borders of the forest.” Mandeville rolled his eyes. “Please."

"No,” Twilight said, “I'd accuse your organization because of the disabled 'CID,' found in the basement."

Twilight had struck gold this time. Mandeville only stared, that calculating look on his face again.

"And don't try telling me they acted on their own. I saw the tour, I know they can't do that. But it could have been another human giving them orders though. An eyewitness said that one of the perpetrators was flesh and bone. Maybe somepony else working for you?"

"Wha—" Mandeville sighed, a deep crease growing in his eyebrows. "Who could've— I mean, surely they wouldn't have shown themselves in the open?"

"They didn't. They were seen by a..." Twilight’s face softened. "A victim of the perpetrators.

“Somepony in the Library when it was broken into, who fought them off, but...” she stammered, “b-but died later, after giving his account."

"Bullshit!" Mandeville barked, provoking frowns and tilted heads throughout the room.

"Bull what?" Fluttershy asked, shrinking away at the outburst.

"Bull. Fucking.Shit!” he repeated. “As in, there's is no way that rabid, saurian nightmare lived through that, even for a little while. Nothing, survives that launcher!"

"Oh Celestia," Twilight breathed. She thought she was ready to confront the one responsible, but she could never have anticipated everything she was feeling now. "It was you. You're the one who killed Spike."

"Spike?” Mandeville grumbled, “Was that the little bastard's name?"

"You killed Spike!" Twilight shouted, hate filling her heart again. "You killed him!"

Twilight charged the screen and bucked it with all her might.

One of the tiles of the screen cracked as Mandeville merely watched, creased eyebrows tempered by an amused smile below them. "It's called a monitor, kid. I'm not actually in the room with you. And you'll never find me in this place, either."

"Why?" Twilight screeched, tearing up as grief began to mix with rage. Her friends watched, staring at Mandeville with parted lips and flattened brows. "Why did you do it? He was my best friend, he was as much family as anypony!"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were by Twilight's side in a moment, forelegs across her neck in a hug as they glared at the human on the screen.

"He was only a baby dragon, he never harmed anypony in his life!" Fluttershy sniffed, finding courage in her outrage. Suddenly, her watering eyes turned stern and huge.

"So much he'll never know,” Fluttershy cried, not blinking, “so much he'll never see, all because you took it from him!"

Mandeville frowned curiously at Fluttershy, barely hearing her words. "Why does it look like you're trying to kill me with your gaze? That's freaking me out."

Fluttershy's eyes softened and shrank. "Y-you mean, you don't feel sorry at all?"

"What?" Mandeville asked, pursing his lips as one eyebrow rose higher than the other. "Was that your 'Lariet of Guilt' or something?"

"I just," Twilight choked, "want to know why."

"I'm sorry the kid got in the way, sure,” Mandeville said, “but he had his chance. Got himself too involved. I hadn't intended to kill him, you know. I was actually just going to sedate and capture him, same as you, Miss Sparkle. But I'll be the first to admit we'd made our move with a certain lapse in intelligence."

"You'd better believe it!" Applejack shouted.

"Not that kind of intelligence, 'Calamity Inane',” Mandeville said. “The military sort. We couldn't exactly have witnesses this early in the game."

"A game?” Rarity snapped, voice boiling in her high-class manner. “What kind of sick way is that of describing your actions, you tasteless, unkempt lout?!"

"Only bullies play games where somepony gets hurt!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "They're all the same; they tell you they want to play 'pin the tail on the pony', and the next thing you know, you've got two tails and a real pain in your rump!"

"Life is a game. Everyone is a player," Mandeville said. "I used to play a very reserved game, for my means. When the board changed, I found myself in... a surprisingly advantageous situation. Originally I was going to play it safe, but... I've changed my mind since then."

There was scarcely a reaction to his words, aside from the constant glare.

“My friend is dead,” Twilight said, eyes closed and voice shaking. “And you don’t really care, do you?!”

Before Mandeville could say anything, Twilight shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“YOU DON’T EVEN CARE!!!”

With the last word, her eyes finally opened. Even Mandeville’s face went blank, eyelids retreating into his skull at the sight of the glowing orbs. Burning white, yet devoid of any measure of warmth.

Twilight's magical aura swelled to engulf everything they could see in seconds. Twilight grunted as the metal around them creaked ominously. She was trying to move something in the room, likely segments of the walls, given the noise. But they refused to budge. As her exertion of power reached its peak, the monitors fizzled before the watching eye above them crumpled in upon itself like a paper cup, sparking and ruined. The ominous creaks had the other five ponies keeping their distance from the walls, as though they might explode. For a moment it seemed nothing would happen, and then Mandeville's wide-eyed face was split by the growing crack in the glass screen, the same crack Twilight’s hooves had made earlier.

"What's going on down there?" Mandeville asked, blind to them because of the destroyed mechanical eye.

The entire screen splintered into tiny shards, Mandeville’s image gone as the glass, the monitor and indeed most of the wall it occupied blasted into the depths of the facility beyond. An alarm sounded as the previously pure white wall-lights flashed red, and the room came to a stop.

"Structural integrity of touring module compromised," CAIRO said, "Deploying emergency catwalk."

"What?!" They heard Mandeville cry over the same speakers as a fleet of tiles suddenly made their way from all directions of this forest of gantry-like girders. They arranged themselves into a precarious, yet stable surface beyond the gaping hole in the wall. Other tiles lined up in sequence next to each other to form a pathway.

"This is our only chance ladies, let's skedaddle!" Applejack ordered, leaping out onto the tiles and galloping down the catwalk, Twilight right behind her and Fluttershy hesitantly following, eyeing the straight drop with apprehension and taking measured steps.

"Fluttershy, come on, you're a Pegasus!" Rainbow Dash begged her, taking wing and pushing Fluttershy forward.

"But it-it's... so high." Fluttershy breathed.

"You can fly! You're not gonna fall!" Dash said, before Fluttershy let out a shriek and Rainbow found herself falling flat on the tile.

Bathed in a violet aura, Fluttershy hovered before Twilight, whose horn glowed. "I've got her, now let's go!" Twilight shouted, "We've got to get moving before Mandeville—"

At that moment, the tiles supporting Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack separated from the others, splitting the group in half as they sped away.

"Girls!" Pinkie cried, followed by a "What the—" from Rainbow Dash.

"We'll be okay, just get out of here!" Twilight shouted back. "It's me he's after!"

"But—! Ah, you heard her, guys." Rainbow linked her front-hooves with Rarity and Pinkie's. "We're going for reinforcements!"

"Rainbow Dash, don't you dare!" Rarity growled as Rainbow spread her wings.

"Do you dare!" Pinkie encouraged as Rainbow leapt off into the void, before shouting "Arapaho!" over the dismayed shrieks of the distressed designer.

"Afraid no one is leaving today, Sparkle," Mandeville's voice issued from the tiles below the feet of the other three. "CAIRO's automated responses notwithstanding, I directly control this entire place. There's nowhere to run or hide."

Twilight glanced around at the structures of the facility. She just needed to see one good spot.

“Try and keep up then!” she yelled, before her horn glowed and the three ponies vanished in a flash of light.

“Wha—” Mandeville cried to empty space. “She can fucking teleport?!”