The Mechanical Menaceby Silver Centurion
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Twilight Sparkle had done teleportation spells many times before, sometimes even resulting in a human to appear right before her very eyes. But nothing could've prepared her for what was to come.
"Okay, you can do this Twilight Sparkle. Just a simple spell." , said Twilight as she hovered over a book, studying it with great precision. "We don't want a repeat of last time.", she mumbled , thinking back to the time she teleported a giraffe into her house by accident.
As Twilight rose from the book she started to focus. Focus so much that it blocked all other audible sounds out. Even when the CMC knocked on her door to see if they could talk to her, Twilight didn't even notice them, much less take action. Her horn began to glow, dimly at first, but then rising up and became a brilliant magenta light. As she reached her peak the room exploded with a burst of light and Twilight fell to her hooves. She regained her stance and squeed in delight as she saw the dazed human sitting on the floor in front of her. Now make no mistake, Twilight had seen humans before, so she was a bit frightened when she noticed something about this human in particular. He was..... different somehow....
But Twilight being in her state of delight shrugged it off and aproached the confused human. "Oh, almost forgot!", Twilight squeed with way too much enthusiasm as she went over to a table and got a pad and quill. She then began to approach the human once again.
She froze in her tracks as she didn't hear anything coming from the human. Not a word at all. She was VERY suspicious at this point. Not only do humans usually talk frantically when they end up in Equestria, but they scramble around like crazy. This human hadn't done either, in fact he sat in the same place as when he arrived. Twilight putting together the pieces of an incomplete puzzle approached the human with caution and decided that he must be scared or well mannered. She was dead wrong.
"Uhm, what's your name?" Twilight asked, now with a look of uncertainty in her eyes.
The man did not reply.
"Excuse me? I asked your name." Twilight said with a bit of resentment in her tone, as she was getting impatient with her mute guest.
No reply again. Instead the man got up, and turned to Twilight.
Twilight was taken aback at what she saw. The man's entire left side had been completely incinerated. In its place stood a hulking mass of metal and wires. And where his eye should've been on his left, was replaced by a glowing red ball that stared into Twilight's very essence.
"W-w-w-w-What are you?" Twilight mumbled , barely able to breathe at the amount of fear welling up inside her.
The machine started to limp toward her, clanking all the way.
RUN, YOU'VE GOT TO RUN!!!! GET AWAY FROM HERE! ANYWHERE BUT HERE!!, Twilight thought as her instincts kicked in.
"TWILIGHT!!! Y'ALL GOTTA COME OUT HERE! GUMMY IS TRYING TO EAT SCOOTALOO!!!!", Applebloom shouted as she banged her hoof on the door. Moments later she was knocked over by a hysterical Twilight, who had kicked the door open.
"Twilight? Why are y'all so wriled up?" Applebloom asked without hesitation after getting back up.
"Applebloom? Good, alright I've got a job for you. Go get everypony in town and assemble them in the town square. Don't ask why, just go!" Twilight blurted out as she slammed the door behind her shut.
"What? Well, okay if you say so. But first we need to get Scootlaoo o-" Applebloom stuttered midsentence as Twilight flung Gummy off of Scootaloo with a a clear look of urgency in her eyes.
"GO!!" Twilight shouted as Scootaloo got to her hooves and rejoined the Crusaders.
"Okay Twi', we'll do our best, maybe even get our cutie marks!" Applebloom's face lit up as she said the last part, and then cantered off with her friends, with a determination to accomplish this mission.
Twilight was thankful that it was only matter of time before she could get the town to safety. But for now she had more immediate problems in mind.
Twilight continued to hear the clanking for about a minute or so when it stopped. She wondered what had happened.
This thought was put to rest as the terminator pulled the door off its hinges and sent it flying across the front of the library. Twilight barely had time to duck as he hurled the heavy piece of wood as if it was piece of paper. What scared her even more was that he had done it with one hand. As soon as the robot started to move again Twilight bolted off in the direction of Sweet Apple acres
She didn't know what she had teleported here, but it was not friendly. Twilight thought about something that could've doomed her and her friends as she ran. She forgot to stop casting the spell. Noticing this she looked up and noticed her horn was still glowing. "EEEEK!!!!!" she yelped as she desperatley tried to stop casting the spell. She came to halt and fiddled with her horn for a while before giving up.
She ran towards Sweet Apple Acres and couldn't help but think how many of those thing would be teleprted here before her spell stopped. She had wittnessed the raw power of one. Dozens, or even hundreds could destroy Equestria entirely. She shuddered at the thought, and put it in the back of her mind as she ran to get help.
Regrouping
As the lavender unicorn sprinted away from the chaos that had unfolded at a mile a minute, so too did her thoughts. She kept trying to not think about what happened but how could she not? These thoughts plauged her until she realized something. Something very important. She remembered that Spike was still in the library with that, Thing. She quickly came to a halt and high tailed it back towards the library, which considering there was a killer robot near it, was probably not the best of ideas. Twilight finally realized this as the library came into view. It was on fire."SPIKE!!!" Twilight yelped as she desperatley searched her mind for a spell that could cast water, of any kind. She quickly ruled that option out as she ran into the blazing building. No sign of the man, but no sign of Spike either. As Twilight yelped and stumbled through her beloved library, she couldn't help but shed tears while looking for Spike.
"TWILIGHT?!?!!?!WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN THERE? GET OUT HERE!!!"
Twilight turned and rejoiced as she saw Spike dropping his groceries. Although Twilight was overjoyed he was okay she also felt quite stupid about forgetting that she had sent him to pick up the groceries. She had little more than a few seconds to feel stupid about herself before a scorched branch fell next to her. She snapped out of thought mode and went into overdrive as she dodged and ducked under various flaming obstacles. Finally just as it seemed she would make it, just as she reached the doorway, the library collapsed. Spike looked on in horror and began to cry uncontrollably...... until Twilight emerged from the rubble, encased in an orb of magic. "Spike, are, are you alright?" Twilight said in a motherly tone.
"Y-Ya Twilight, I'm fine.", Spike replied, as he tried to preserve his last shred of machoism, wiping his face.
"Good, we need to get to Applejack and round up the others. They should all be at her place for Winona's birthday."
"O-Okay Twilight but why?", Spike inquired.
"I'll explain once everypony is safe, please don't ask questions, we need to get this situation under control."
Spike accepted Twilight's answer and hopped on her back for the ride to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight was worried sick about her friends all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. She didn't know what that thing was first of all, and second of all she didn't know where it had gone. She continued to worry in her usual manner, trying to keep it a secret, which meant you could tell right away that something was wrong. Spike picked up on this and asked Twilight why her horn was still glowing. Twilight had forgotten about the spell not ending and replied with a simple, " Because something went wrong OK?" Twilight continued to gallop at hight speeds toward all her friends..... or so she thought.
Twilight burst through the farm gates and immediatley did a barrel roll once she collided into Applejack. Spike went flying and both Twilight and AJ rolled at least 20 hooves before coming to a complete stop on their backs.
"Twilight?What in Tarnation has gotten into you?"
"For once I agree with Applejack. What has gotten into you dear?" , The white unicorn asked as she helped Twilight up.
"The, the, the...." Twilight panted as she tried to explain."I'll explain inside, just meet me inside and make sure everypony comes."
The tired mare then trotted over to a Spike who had his head stuck in the ground. She then proceeded to pull him out and place him beside her with her magic.
"Twilight? What the heck is going on?" asked the baby dragon.
"I'll explain in a second, just follow me."
The dragon obliged and walked with his master until they entered Applejack's house. Twilight took a seat on the floor and Spike sat in the corner. Twilight waited as all of her friends follwed suit.... all but one. Twilight being in a rush didn't seem to notice and started to explain things once everypony was ready to listen.
"Okay girls, here's what happened. I was in the library practicing a teleportation spell when something went wrong. You know those things I usually bring to Equestria? Humans?" The four ponies nodded, knowing about Twilight's quirk for studying otherwordly creatures. The purple unicorn continued," Well, i didn't bring one of those here this time. I mean maybe I did, but, it wasnt like any human I've ever seen. It was normal on the right side but on the left, it was made of metal, and-."
Applejack cut her off, "You mean to tell me this thing is made of metal?"
"Yes.... I suppose, but now I need your help, it burned down the library and it's on the loose now.", Twilight said sheepishly.
The four ponies stared at Twilight, with a flabbergasted look on their faces. Nopony knew what to say. Pinkie broke the silence not with her words, but with one of her random twitching attacks. After she was finished she looked at everypony and said, "Something terrible is coming. Something even worse than a hundred hydras."
Everypony looked at eachother with worry, knowing that when Pinkie said something bad was coming, it was going to come, and it was usually pretty bad. Twilight only then noticed that Fluttershy wasn't present.
"Where's Fluttershy?!?!??!" Twilight said with an immense amount of worry in her voice as she heard Winona begin to bark at somepony outside. But she knew it wasn't anypony, it was that thing....
Twilight said something uninteligible under her breath turned to everypony and said, " We have to get to Fluttershy. Now."
"Just one more thing Twi', why is your horn still glowing?" Applejack asked , truly curious.
"Well, that's the one part I don't know. I think it's because the spell won't stop casting."
"What spell?" Applejack replied.
"The spell that brought that thing here...."
The room fell silent as the ponies realized the magnitude of the situation.
"Look, we need to get to Fluttershy before that thing does, now let's go!"
Sure enough the four mares did what they were told and headed outside with Twilight leading the way with Spike on her back. They froze as soon as they saw the T-800 limpng towards Winona. Winona continued to bark and howl but it was no use, the machine kept coming and eventually got close enough to grab her. He snatched the dog up, placed one hand on her backside, the other on her head, and pulled. The dog's cries were silenced immedatley as she was effectivley torn in two.
The four mares had witnessed the vile act and looked on in horror as the terminator threw Winona's bleeding and destroyed body to his right without showing so much as a sign of remorse.He just continued to advance, with those bright red, souless eyes.
Applejack of course was infuriated by what he had done. She tried to charge him, but Twilight held out a hoof to block her. Twilight simply said "No." and the argument ended before it ever started. Applejack, though enraged beyond belief knew she couldn't take this beast, and although it tore her up inside to see Winona go in sucha grisly manner, she listened to Twilight and stepped backwards.
"Okay, girls that, is what I was talking about.That is the thing.", Twiliight said, shivering from fear.
"Let's get a move on then! I am not ending up like that, and neither is Fluttershy! Let's move!!!" Rainbow Dash said motioning to Winona, then the gate as Pinkie and Rarity snapped back to reality.
The robot began to move once again and started limped it's way over to the mares. Learning their lesson from what had just happned, all five ponies skirted their way around the machine and made it to the gate.
"HAHAHAH!!! Try and catch me now!" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered in the air, sticking out her toungue at the robot. The machine began to analyze the situation and adapt to it. He pulled out a .45 and fired at Rainbow. Rainbow not knowing what it was didn't try to doge it. The bullet grazed her left foreleg and she dropped to the ground like a rock. She writhed in pain grasping her wound as the others rushed over to her to see what had happened. All of them knew Rainbow had been hurt, but only Twilight really knew what had happened.
She thought back to a few months ago. She was in a blue pony box with a certain Spikey haired stallion with an hourglass cutie mark. He had briefly told her about a thing humans made called a 'gun'.(He also told her about his policy of not carrying one.) He told her that they could kill humans and ponies alike. He also briefly described the look of a handgun. Twilight knew Rainbow had been shot. Twilight also knew basic first aid, so she proceeded to concentrate on Rainbow's injury, as she tried to heal it with a spell. he eventually patched it up, but it didn't help that a terminator was SHOOTING at her.
"Thanks Twilight, we should uh, we sould run now." Rainbow Dash stated obviously.
(Spike had stayed silent through it all, not because he chose to, but because he couldnt formulate the words to speak. He passed out on Twilight soon after the demonstration of the machine's raw power on Winona. She didn't seem to notice.)
The 4 ponies, who weren't accustomed to violence were more than happy to oblige. The ponies turned and ran as fast as thay could as the machine reloaded his handgun. Within a few minutes they lost sight of the terminator, but the loud bang of the gun continued for several more minutes until they reached Fluttershy's house. They weren't pleased at what they saw.
The first thing everpony noticed of course was the large bipedal figure standing beside Fluttershy's house in her animals yard. The next thing they noticed was the pile of animals, all dead that lay strewn across the yard. Few animals survived the figure's onslaught, a few birds cowering in trees here and there, that was about it. The last thing everypony noticed about the figure was that he was made of metal. They all froze instantly at this observation. Things went to hell after that.
Twilight then realized the spell HAD been bringing more of those things to Equestria. But she had little time to think as the machine turned around to reveal it's frontside smeared in blood. It started not to walk towards them, but RUN.
The ponies thought fast as they scrambled in different directions for cover. Which of course awoke Spike who stood up dazed and confused after Twilight had accidentally thrown him off while dodging one of the terminators punishing blows. But after seeing what the others were doing to stay alive he copied them in his own attempt at survival. They continued to dodge the robot's charges for several attacks, until they heard Fluttershy.
"HEY! LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" Fluttershy shouted in a similar voice to when she told off that dragon a while back, emerging from her house.
The terminator obviously heard her because he turned , and barreled right at her. Fluttershy, realizing her mistake, reverted to her normal self. And she was terrified at what she saw coming for her. In a last ditch effort to save herself she tried to run at it and duck under it, knowing retreating back into her house would spell certain death. As she passed to the right it seemed like it might work! But then the terminator snatched her up by the throat and held her up to his bright red, souless eyes.
The other ponies stood rooted in place, watching what was happening unfold before their eyes but not wanting to beleive it was. All but one. Rainbow Dash rocketed up as high as she could and started to descend as fast as she could, to try to pile drive the machine. But she was too late before she even got close to the terminator, it pulled a 9mm handgun from a holster with it's free hand and nestled it right between Fluttershy's eyes.
He pulled the trigger. Twice.