A young yellow haired filly with a light peach coat ran through the streets of Fillydelphia. Robotic ponies were all over the city, and killing the ponies that lived there. She was separated from her parents somewhere in the crowd. She was only six, and one of the robots was on her tale. It hurt to breath but she kept going, taking a wrong turn to a dead end alley. The clunk of metal hooves made her ears flatten and caused her body to shake as she turned around to face the cold face of the metallic stallion coming towards her at a calm pace.
“You will be upgraded,” it said in its cold electric voice.
Just when she thought she was going to be killed, a small explosion sounded as the robot’s head blew up in a burst of metal and electricity, a stray shard of metal left a cut on her cheek. But she didn’t care. All that the young filly cared about was the light orange unicorn with a short blonde mane and some scruff on his muzzle dressed in a black hoodie, standing behind the robot’s decapitated body. He was smiling darkly and his electric blue aura of magic held a strange looking gun. Her ears remained flattened down as she shrunk into herself with her head still sticking out.
He looked at her and his smile faded. “Stay here and you might just make it out of here alive,” he said, turning around and leaving the dark alley.
She didn’t stay though. She crawled out of the alley in time to see him blast off the heads of a few more ponies. She could tell that the weapon didn’t use bullets. The gun appeared to be charging before it fired. It was the coolest thing she’d ever seen. The clunking of metal behind her caused her to whirl around to see another cyber pony standing above her. She shrunk down once more. She heard a soft buzz only to hear another explosion right above her head a few seconds later. She looked up to see the face of the orange stallion scowling at her.
“I said, stay in the alley,” he put simply. “What part of that told you to follow me?”
“The part where you said I might live,” she said. “But you make me feel safe.”
“Do you know who I am?” he asked as she turned around, shaking her head as she did. “Didn’t your parents ever talk to you about stranger danger?” She shook her head yes. “Then why follow me?”
“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you,” she said. “I’ll be real quiet! I promise!”
He scowled again, looking left and then right. There were no other robots in the area.
“Come on, I’ve got something I think you can do,” he said with a cruel smile.
She trotted after him anyway, ignoring her tired legs and lungs screams for air. The stallion was on the move, and she was eager to follow.
“So what is your name?” she asked, “If it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’m the Master,” he said simply, not stopping or slowing to accommodate her small legs.
She waited patiently for him to ask her name, but the question never came. And she was content. They continued trotting until they got to a large building.
“I know this place, my mother talked about it. Said that they made Bluetooths for silly ponies with too much money,” she said before catching her breath.
“Yea, well, it’s also the place where all of the Cybermen are made,” he sneered.
“Cyber- who?” she asked.
“Right,” the Master said before muttering “stupid horses” too low for her to hear. “Cyberstallions.”
“Oh, so what am I supposed to do?” she asked.
“There’s a vent up there. I’m too big to fit, but you seem just right,” the Master said, levitating her without her permission. She didn’t squirm she simply aloud herself to rise a good sixteen feet taller than she was, up to the grate of the vent before it popped up and she was placed carefully inside. “Now, if you look forward there should be a fork. There will be another after that. Keep going right and then slide down. Then go left and look down. You should see a control room where you’re going to wait until I can contact you. You got that?”
“Y-yes,” she said, fearfully, before following the Master’s directions through the vents.
It was dark and cold, and certainly not worth any protection the Master could offer. She followed the directions until she reached a vent that was right above something that looked like a control room. I would have been easy just to move the grate and get inside, considering it was just popped on as the one on the outside had been, if it wasn’t for the five Cyberstallions in the room.
She considered backing out of the vent above the room, but then one of the robots said, “We are needed on first floor. A pony has broken through our defenses,” causing all of the Cyberstallions to file neatly out of the room.
“Oi! Girl? Are you above that room yet? Kick the vent if you are it should pop out,” the Master’s voice came through a computer. She did and she tried her best to get down carefully, resulting in smashing three boxes as the Master continued “Now, come over to the computer I’m speaking through and press the button that says ‘Shut Down’ in big white letters under it.”
She searched and pressed the button. She was quite startled to see a flashing red light as metal plates slammed over the doors and hear a loud whooping siren.
“There you go!” the voice shouted. “Now no one should bother you as you follow my instructions. There should be a panel in the room that has multiple switches, lights, buttons, and a key slot.”
She looked around for awhile before finding the panel and running to it as the Master started again.
“Now, press the yellow button that is lit up. If you’re behind on this I’ll know now,” the Master mumbled the last bit angrily, as if he would be angry at the young worn out filly for not being able to keep up with his quick instructions.
However, she was quick and found the yellow buttons before pressing the single one that had a glow about it from the light bulb under it.
Intercom On a voice came from the speakers.
“That’s it! Very good, say something into the microphone on the panel to test it!”
“Um, like this?” she said timidly, once she’d found the microphone.
“Yes, that’s it- oh! Not today scrap metal!” The Master sounded like he was fighting off Cyberstallions at that very moment. “Now, go to the computer I was speaking from and press the only purple button on the consul.”
She sprinted over, nearly tripping over the many cords that were scattered over the floor in her haste. She pressed the button and took a moment to breathe. Many numbers danced over the screen in lines and rows, with almost no pattern or meaning that she could tell, in endless jumbles.
“There it is, now just go back to that microphone and read as many of those moving numbers in order as you can!”
She ran back to the panel and turned the microphone as she stood on the board so that she could see the screen, being careful not to press buttons.
“Um, let’s see… three, six, four, nine, eight, three, nine, one, two, four, eight-” she cut herself off as she heard screams of pane from outside the doorway.
“Don’t stop you bloody idiot! You’re holding them off! Keep going!” the Master shouted, he could be heard from on the other side of the door now as well as the computer.
“Well, uh- seven, two, nine, five, zero, one, eight, six, four, three, nine, nine, two, one, three, four, zero…” the list went on and she didn’t dare stop again. If there was any chance the Cyberstallions could get into the barricaded room, they would now. She kept going, hoping for the screams to finally stop and signal that they were dead. But they never did. The screams came at a constant volume, never softening or getting louder. But she was running out of room for error. She’d started from the end of the list of course, giving her a while to register the numbers. But, being so young, her literacy rate wasn’t very high. So she was around the beginning of the lines now, a dangerous place to be for one that could barely read a fifty page picture book. Then, the screams stopped and many hooves thundering through the halls caught her attention, the distraction causing her to stop reading the numbers.
“Oi! Kid? Are you still there?” the Master’s voice finally came from the large computer.
She turned her head to the microphone quickly and started up “Oh! I’m sorry, uh- three, nine, seven-”
“Stop that! We’re good now, I killed the signal. The Cyberstallions are off line now, but I figured I should tell you that you’re safe now, so you can take a breath now.\," the Master said. “Oh, and while you’re at it, can you turn off the bloody lock down?! We’re all stuck in here until you do!”
She sprung off the panel and pressed the red button, opening the doors. The Master was directly in front of one of the doors and scowled at her for a moment. Then, he grinned a bit and said “You know kid? You did pretty-”
“There he is! The stallion that saved us!” a mare with purple hair in a bob said, pointing to the Master.
“And the filly who read that code off and let us escape!” another unicorn mare said.
Suddenly a rush of cheering came as the crowd charged at them, lifting them onto their backs and carrying them out of the building.
“Put me down! I didn’t save anyone!” the Master yelled, but the crowd went on through the streets.
Ponies were singing and cheering, foals shouted their gratitude with their mothers crying and saying ‘bless you’ all the while. Finally, the crowd had lost too many ponies to carry them any farther and the last of them scattered off to their remaining families.
“Alright, well good day then,” the Master said, walking off.
“Wait, sir! You can’t just leave her by herself,” a mare said, walking over and pointing a hoof at the filly.
“And why can’t I?” the Master said.
“Yea, I live down the road, I’ll be fine,” she assured the mare.
“May I speak to you for a second sir?” the mare said with concerned eyes.
The Master sighed dramatically and said “Sure, why not.”
They walked a bit of the way off before the mare began speaking “I saw that filly running from her house with her parents behind. The robots they- they got her parents and killed them. I was going to run after her and grab her but my husband pulled me away too fast. She’s an orphan.”
The Master was never one to show kindness. But, a young foal under his wing with a moldable mind, and an ear for orders? Those were qualities that he could certainly use to his advantage.
“I see, I’ll have to tell her then,” the master said, putting his head down to sell it. He didn't exactly have the ability to shut this mare up considering he’d lost his gun when the crowd picked him up, with her husband not too far off if she didn't believe that he cared and wanted to take the foal for herself.
“Chin up,” the mare said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “She’ll be fine. She has you after all.” Sold.
With that, the mare trotted off to join her husband and go home. And the Master turned to face the young filly as he lifted his head up and grinned, trying his best to be heartwarming.
“What did she say?” the filly asked, tilting her head.
“She said that you’re parents- how can I put this?” The Master had always been a brilliant actor, how else could he be and pass off as Harold Saxon for all that time? “You’re parents are… gone for a small while.”
“What?” she choked out, her eyes growing wide. “Where did they go?”
“I don’t know,” he lied. “But I can take you to search for them, if you’d like.”
She looked like she was thinking it over, tilting her head as a few tears came to her eyes. “They’re dead aren't they?”
The Master was surprised. He’d wanted a good minion that wouldn't question his orders, but another brain never hurt any plan. He sighed deeply before saying “Well, yes. I’m sorry,” and placing his head down for effect. “But, that mare said that they wanted you to travel with me. But I’ll only take you if you want to come. So? What will it be?”
