Chapters RAC 7
Prologue
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, the birds were chirping, the pegasi have cleared the sky and everything seemed to be at peace. But it wasn’t going to stay like that for very long, Twilight Sparkle is now a princess and some things have changed, something has come to Ponyville that has changed the mane 6, changed their entire aspect on life. It was Wednesday and Twilight and Spike was walking through Ponyville inspecting it. "Everything seems to be in shape", Twilight said happily.
"So where are you going when Celestia assigns you a place to rule?", Spike asked
"I'm not sure" Twilight added.
Before she could say anything else she noticed that a bunch of ponies were running towards the center of the village, both Twi and Spike were confused. Before Twilight could ask herself what was going on, Rainbow Dash swooped in to tell her the news.
"Twilight, there you are. You gotta come look" Dash said to Twilight.
"What?" Twilight asked worried.
"Some, newcomer, came into Ponyville and is about to perform some show for every pony."
Then Spike asked, "So it’s basically another Trixie?"
"I sure hope not, let’s go look." She added.
They all went to the center of Ponyville by the old statue, where Twilight met the rest of her friends along with the CMC group, and there was a big wooden stage with brown curtains, the stage was much bigger than Trixie’s. The show was about to begin, every pony saw something come out of the curtains. It was a unicorn colt with light brown fur, a thin mustache, and top hat, and a grey coat. His cutiemark was that of a wrench and a drill along with some bolts. He began to speak.
"Greetings Ponyville citizens, I am the amazing Lazarus Keen! I come here to you with a gift!"
And of course Pinkie just had know what present he brought, "Oh boy I love presents! What kind is it? Is it big, is it small, can it fly, can it talk, what is it, what is it???"
"Silence!" he shouted. "For the past year there have been a number of attacks among Equestria. First it was Nightmare Moon, and then it was Discord, and then the Changelings attacked Canterlot, and I don’t even want to mention Sombra. I have seen these events and they were all disastrous. No pony did any real effort to stopping them!"
That comment really bothered Rainbow Dash since she knew that they did put effort and actually stopped those villains. "Hey! I made an effort! I took on that Changeling army all by myself!" Her friends gave her guilty looks seeing that her pride was getting the better of her at the moment. "Uh… I meant WE took down that army!"
"Really? Last I heard it was that new married couple who’s running the crystal empire was the ones who truly defeated them" he said snootily.
"Yeah, well…." Dash tried to make an excuse.
But Twilight calmed her down. "Just let it go".
Dash flew down with a smug looked on her face, she did not like being proven wrong.
"Anyway, the main problem is the guards of Canterlot. Sure they are dependable and strong, but they won’t last forever, and almost anything can overtake them. But not anymore, I give to you the next generation! Come out my brilliant creation".
It was soon quiet, and then they all heard loud clanking sounds. Twilight could not believe her eyes to what she was looking at, to what came out of those curtains. Rarity, AJ, and Fluttershy were shocked as well; Pinkie’s jaw literally dropped to the ground. Spike and Rainbow Dash even were a little surprised to the creation. It appeared to be a robotic mechanical Colt. It stood as tall as Twilight and even looked like the same age as her in appearance. His entire body was made out of metal. It was shining, blue, metal with some silver strips and parts to it. Even its tail was made out of a black thing metal. Its front hooves were a light grey, and looked very tough. It took also looked like an alicorn since he had a sharp horn and huge wings with silver feathers. And its right eye was robotic since it was a bright maroon and had pixels in it and the other eye was a normal pony eye. The only thing showing any pony flesh was its face and parts of his head. His mane was long, spikey, and black; and had a white face since its fur was white. And its cutiemark seemed to be a gear, scratched onto the metal. Every pony gazed at the half pony half machine, while it just stood there with a serious look on his face.
"Behold the Robotic Artificial Colt number 7!" Lazarus shouted proudly.
The mane 6 was surprised by the creation. They were also startled and intrigued by it. "Oh my…….." Fluteershy shuddered.
"Just what is that, monstrosity?" Rarity was shocked.
"I aint never seen anything like that before." AJ pointed out.
"That looks so….so…." Dash tried to think of a word, but Pinkie found it for her.
"Awesome?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"What? No! Nothing is more Awesome than me." she boasted.
"Right. I for one am stunned by this. Just how did he make that? I’ve never seen magic work like that before." Twilight was puzzled.
"This is the future right here, the next generation to ponykind everywhere! He doesn’t need to eat, sleep, he can’t even feel pain" he stated. one of those details really surprised Pinkie.
"He can’t eat? Then how is he supposed to enjoy delicious cupcakes????" asked Pinkie.
"I’m pretty sure he can eat but doesn’t have to. Still, I wonder how he made that thing", Twilight's question was soon answered.
"Many years ago, he was just a simple guard at Canterlot. Until one day an explosion went off and half of his body was blown off. So I stepped up and helped this poor young colt and gave him this new and improved body" stated Lazarus.
Twilight was shocked to hear that. To think, that that machine was actually a living pony at first just send shivers down her spine. "So, he was a regular colt at first? I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have a new body for a replacement" Twilight said.
"Sure you can what about those wings you got?" Spike informed Twilight.
"That’s not the same thing, Spike. He actually lost his body, and now has to live with THAT" Twilight shouted still in shock.
"The best part is, he can work like a normal Pegasus and unicorn; flying high and performing incredible spells. The only difference is that it’s twice as better." explain Lazarus Most of the ponies in the crowed awed in amusement, including the CMC group. But AJ and RD didn’t like the idea of that at all.
"Just hold up there, partner. Are you saying that, that hunk of metal is better than the actual pony?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think I made myself pretty clear about that" Lazarus said with a cocky tone.
Then Applejack stepped onto the stage to prove him wrong, but she didn’t know that it was going to be a mistake.
"Can your fancy robot do this?" She got out a rope and started to do a bunch of lasso tricks, jumping in and out of the hoop, up and down, even grabbing an apple from a tree and plucking it off and having it land in her mouth.
"Where have I seen this before?" puzzled Spike asked.
After she swallowed the apple she decided to finish off by lassoing the rope around the machines legs making it unable to move. But before she could say I told you so and trip it, the rope suddenly snapped and broke freeing the Machine.
"What?" AJ was indeed surprised.
The machine then brought up his right front hoof only to reveal that there was a 9 inch blade sticking out of the side of his hoof. Applejack then realized that he had used the blade to cut the rope free. The machine then retracted the blade back into his forearm; he then spotted the rope and had an idea.
"My turn." the machine said with a serious voice.
His horn began to glow a very dark purple, pretty soon the rope was beginning to glow the exact same color. The rope then float in mid-air, and like a snake it wrapped all around Applejack. Once he was done controlling the rope, he let go and AJ fell to the ground humiliated.
"Your skills are rusty" the machine stated
As Applejack began to scoot off the stage, Lazarus Keen began to speak again to the crowd.
"You see? That there is proof that this much better than the actual thing….."
As Lazarus kept on rambling, Applebloom was trying to untie the ropes around her sister while Twilight was slightly amused by what has happened.
"That machine is strong; I’ve never seen anything cut through Applejacks rope before" said Twilight.
"I don’t buy it; he only got out cuz of that blade in his hoof". Dash flew up to the stage next, trying to prove the loudmouth inventor wrong that no machine was better than her.
"So you’re a bit stronger, but that doesn’t mean that you’re faster". Dash flew up in the air and did a bunch of sky flying air tricks. She did corkscrews and loops and tornados, and even flew all around Ponyville. She then landed safely on the stage. "Ha! Just circled around Ponyville, in ten seconds flat"!
Now it was the machines turn. He spread out his silver wings, but something else appeared that Dash wasn’t aware of. Two small jet engines popped out of each side of his body and lifted him up in the air. He was basically hovering on the stage. With a loud BOOM the machine went off, with his engines for speed and his wings to glide with. He did all the tricks and moves that Dash did and even circled around Ponyville, the crowd went wild for his performance. He stopped and hovered in mid-air on the stage and landed next to Dash.
"Circled around Ponyville, in FIVE seconds flat" said the machine.
The crowd gasped in amazement, but Dash was horrified to hear that some pony or something had broken her record. She just stood there paralyzed with defeat; she didn’t know what to do next. Pinkie decided to just run up stage, pick up Dash, and ran right off.
"Wow that was half the time it takes for Dash to fly around. It’s really strange" Twilight stated. But now, even Rarity wanted to prove she was better than the colt.
"Oh, it is on" she exclaimed.Before Twilight could warn her, Rarity has already gone on stage to confront them.
"So your little toy is stronger and faster than the normal pony, but that doesn’t mean that’s the most stylish" said Rarity.
"What are you getting at"? asked Lazarus.
"I mean nothing can top this". Rarity used her magic to make a bunch of old curtains into the stylish dress in Ponyville, the crowd awed at the masterpiece. But Lazarus took no notice and decided to humiliate her anyway, but the machine didn’t respond.
"Number 7, why are you just standing there"? questioned Lazarus.
"I honestly don’t know what to do? I didn’t think that fashion would be a major topic in…….." but Lazarus didn't want to hear about his machines opinion.
"I don’t care! I will not let these fools think you are not better than them" he told him severely. He then took out a small control box with a red button and pressed it. By doing that, it gave the machine pony a shock in the back of his neck. Twilight noticed the little red shocks coming from the machine, she started to wonder why. The colt then dropped its head revealing a smaller cube on the back of his neck with several electricity bolts flaring out. But while she was examining the device, all Spike was doing was staring at Rarity’s dress. The colt then lifted his head back up and it had that serious look again. He turned towards Rarity.
"Please, only a fool would worry about something as meaningless as fashion purposes" he said. Rarity heard that comment and looked sternly at him, she did not look happy about it.
"Excuse me"? asked Rarity.
"You’re making a big deal out of nothing" said the machine sternly.
"Nothing?! Well, I’ll have you know that it is indeed important that you have a great look on where ever you go, and that I’m the most fash……….."Before she could go on, he shot a small purple magic beam at the bottom or Rarity’s dress and instantly caught ablaze. Pretty soon her whole dress was disintegrated. "What have you done? You monster! That was the most stylish dress out of curtains I’ve made, and you just destroyed it"!
"Like I said big deal out of nothing" the colt said. Rarity then stormed off stage and back with her friends with an angry look, Spike went over to comfort her and started to develop a hatred for that machine colt.
"You see, those were some of the very infamous ponies who walk this land, and each one has fallen defeat to my brilliant creation! This IS the next generation to Ponykind". Lazarus was about to go on, but Twilight felt like she had enough of this.
"That’s enough"! she shouted. Everyone cleared the way to reveal to the inventor that it was her, Twilight Sparkle. But Keen was not afraid of her at all, he looked down to her. "I’ve seen this before; another pony just like you named Trixie came to town and showed off just like you. But do you know what happened in the end? We proved that she was no great pony and she ran off in humiliation. And if you don’t stop then the same will happen to you". But Lazarus was not convinced.
"Well! Who do we have here, folks. It’s princess Twilight, Ha! But wait, I don’t see a crown on your head, and I see that you don’t even have a kingdom to run. So that makes you, no pony really".
Spike tried to defend Twilight, "Hey! Twilight is not a nopony! She’s kind and smart and she always pulls through, and she is a real princess and"….
"Number 7"! he shouted. The colt then aimed his horn at Spike and open fired on him; luckily he jumped out of the way before any beams could hit him.
"I hate dragons" he stated.
"Spike, you alright"? Twilight asked worryingly.
"Yeah I’m fine" said Spike who was nearly shot at.
"Good, now show them all who’s more superior" Lazarus commanded the machine.
"What? I thought our only purpose was to show every pony that I was better" wondered the machine.
"Exactly, now we will show them an example of our power by removing our new powerful leader" this was not the same idea that the machine had at all.
"But isn’t that a little too fa………." but before he could finish, Keen interputed him.
"I said get on with it! Show them who’s superior"! He then grabbed his control box and zapped the colt again; his head dropped revealing the cube behind his neck again.
"Hey, what’s that cube"? Twilight demanded to know.
"What? Oh this is how I can make him do what I please" he explained.
"But you’re shocking him, and I thought you said he couldn’t feel pain"? said Twilight.
"No, but whenever he wears this controlling cube I can give him enough shocks to electrocute a full sized dragon" said Lazarus. The colt then brought his head up again with his serious look on. He then stared menacingly towards Twilight and her friends.
"Fine……" He then jumped in the air and landed behind the stage in an open area. He just stood there waiting for them. Twilight and the others faced him. The colt then spotted a fruit cart; he levitated it in the air and threw it at them. Luckily Twilight caught it just in time with her magic and set it down gently. He then levitated a bunch of stones on the ground and fired them at her friends. Again, Twilight was lucky enough to find a large bolder to block the stones from hitting them. He then flew into the air and grabbed a gray cloud and he then placed it in front of Twilight and made it shoot lightning at her. She quickly formed a force field around her and her friends, deflecting the attack. Dash finally snapped out of her shocked form and was ready to fight him.
"Let me deal with this" Dash said all confidently.
She then flew full speed at the machine colt with her right front hoof in front of her. And right before she was about to hit him with her hoof, he quickly blocked her attack with his front left hoof; the impact of the block actually left a crater in the ground. The colt was even strong enough to grab a hold of Dash with his other hoof and launch her into a faraway tree. Dash was thrown pretty far; he threw her like a football. "Don’t let your guard down"! Lazarus shouted at his creation.
The inventor gave him another shock, and yet again exposing the cube to Twilight. She knew she had to do something
"Enough"! shouted Twilight. She shot a magical beam at the machine, and with a direct hit knocked the cube off his neck. The attack was so hard that it even knock the colt onto the ground. As he sat up, he noticed that the small cube from behind his neck was no longer attached and was sitting in front of him smoking. He remained motionless, but Lazarus was stunned.
"What?!?! How is this possible? Get up"! shouted the inventor. He tried to shock him to make him do what he wanted, but it wasn’t working. He realized that the cube was no longer on. He tried again and again to make sure it wasn’t really off, but it was no use. The others just stared at him, menacingly. Rainbow just flew back to see what happened.
"Ha! Looks like your bucket of bolts isn’t so impressive after all"! Dash gloated.
"You know; you shouldn’t try to replace something with a machine. It won’t be such a good idea, especially if there’s nothing wrong with the original. Robots aren’t always the answers". Twilight tried to reason with him, but had no effect.
"You ruined everything! This isn’t the last you’ve heard of me"! And with that, the inventor vanished with a big flash of his magic, but he also dropped his controller. As soon as he did, every pony left the area except for the mane 6 and Spike.
"Where’d he go? I want to give him a piece of my………"
"Forget Dash, he’s not worth it". said Twilight. Then they all turned at the machine who was on the ground still feeling defeated.
"So what do we do with him"? asked Applejack
"Should we take him apart and use his medal parts to mend things"? wondered Rainbow Dash.
"No", Twilight said with dignity. The others were confused. She then walked up to the machine to see what he would say or do. He looked up at her and was ready to accept his fate, but surprisingly Twilight reached her hoof out to him and helps him up. The colt decided to take it and got up and as soon as he was standing on his four hooves again, he was confused as the others.
"What? Aren’t you going to destroy me"? asked the Machine.
"Of course not. I’m not that kind of pony" said Twilight.
"Aren’t you upset that I humiliated your friends"? asked the defeated colt. Twiilght thought for a moment to think up of an answer.
"No. I saw that device on the back of your neck; you were just following his shocks and commands. Besides, it’s not you wanted to hurt them, right"? asked Twilight.
"No. This has been some kind of routine with us". the colt said with sadness.
"What do you mean"? asked Twilight.
"Ever since I was created, we’ve been traveling to different towns in Equestria. Keen would present me to the public, saying that I was the next generation of pony kind. And any pony who didn’t like the idea and stood up against us, he would make me hurt them. I hated it, many ponies objected that it was a bad idea and many ponies got hurt" he explained sadly.
"So he turned you into a brute"? asked Rarity.
"I guess you could say that. This isn’t why I was built. I actually thought he was great, when he created me. But now he abandoned me. And now, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life". Twilight felt sorry for him.
"I know this may sound strange asking but, don’t you have any friends that you want to see"? she asked curiously. But the colt had no idea what she was talking about.
"Friends? Keen said that I don’t need friends, if I’m like this" he said.
"What? Didn’t he tell you what friendship was"? asked Twilight.
"All he said that, it would get in the way of our goals. That it was pointless" stated the machine.
"What? How can he say that? So you have no idea"? asked the shocked Twilight.
"No, I never learned what friendship was. I think I’ve caused you enough trouble. I’ll be off" he said. As the colt was walking away, Twilight couldn’t help herself but to take him in.
"Hey! Why don’t you join us"? All of her friends gave her a surprised “what?” and the colt turned around to see if she was serious.
"Huh"? stuttered the Machine.
"It’s obvious you got nothing, so why not stay here with us"? Twilight pointed out. The machine was really puzzled. He didn’t think that somepony would actually want him to stay. He then walked back to the group.
"Very well" he said with acceptance. He then levitated the shocking cube and the control box and gave it to Twilight as an offering. "My life is now in your command" he stated.
"Sweet! Our own robot"! Dash was excited, but Twi had other plans.
"That won’t be necessary". Twilight then shot a magic beam, destroying both the controller and the shocker. The colt didn’t understand this.
"Twilight, what are you doing"? Dash asked with some disappointment.
"He may be mostly mechanical parts, but he’s still part pony" she answered. She then turned her attention to the machine colt; some of her friends did the same.
"If I’m going to be mentoring you, I want to treat you like a regular colt" she said.
"Wait, wait, wait. Did I hear you say ‘mentoring’"? Spike asked with a anxious tone.
"Yes. I’ve already learned the magic of friendship, I think it’s time I showed it to some pony else". The others couldn’t believe what they were hearing, including the colt. Twilight was going to teach this strange half robot half colt everything there is about friendship.
"Really"? asked the colt
"Yes. It’s time you know what friendship really is" she answered happily. The colt smiled at her, and the others were on board with this and were about to fully introduce themselves. "Let me properly introduce myself, my name Twilight Sparkle".
And pretty soon it went down the line of friends introducing themselves to one at a time and made peace with him. Now it was his turn.
"I think it’s time I fully introduce myself. I am the Robotic Artificial Colt number 7" he said with pride.
"That’s a little long to say. How about we just call you………RAC for short"? Dash suggested, she liked the name, but wondered if he would.
"RAC? I like it". he said.
"Well RAC, let’s just say that you are about to make a lot of new friends here" informed Twilight.
"Yay a new friend! This calls for a party"! Pinkie said all excited.
And so, this was the start of a new adventure for RAC to learn everything there is to know about friends. But this was only the beginning……….
Chapter 1
Everypony went to Twilights house to throw RAC a huge welcome party, Twilight had told him that he could stay with her for the night. RAC saw the mane 6 there, of course, along with other pony folk. RAC started to talk with Rainbow and AJ. “So what is it that you guys like to do” he asked both of them.
“I work on my farm and we are very busy, especially with our HUGE apple family” AJ said with enthusiasm. Then Dash explained what she liked to do,
“Me? I was training to join the Wonderbolts” she said.
“I thought you got in already” wondered Applejack.
“I did, but I told them I would consider joining them, since that incident” Dash pointed out.
“Oh right. Maybe you ‘ought to join, RAC” she asked her new robotic friend.
“Me?” asked RAC.
“Why not, you’re already faster than Rainbow” Applejack joked.
“He is not! He’s only quicker since he’s part machine” Dash boasted, but RAC started to get the wrong idea.
“So, I’m not considered as a regular pony” he asked.
“No it’s that, it’s just…….. You’re just learning” Rainbow informed him.
“Yeah, that’s what it is” AJ said sarcastically.
“But seriously, if it was an actual show or competition I would totally win. Hey, why don’t we do that sometime” Dash asked RAC.
“I’m not really a fan of competition” pointed out RAC.
“How come?” asked Dash.
“Because it wouldn’t be fair, seeing how i would always win. It’s just a fact.” RAC answered; although he wasn’t trying to be cocky Dash thought he was challenging her.
“Is that a challenge?” asked the Brash Pegasus.
“No, it’s a fact. I just said it.” RAC pointed out, again not trying to be arrogant.
“Ok then. How about this? You and me race on Friday, what do you say?” Dash said with a competitive tone in her voice.
“Um, ok” RAC answered with a confused response.
“Great, get ready to loose” Dash boasted. With that she flew off somewhere else, and then AJ walked next to him giving him some advice.
“I gotta warn ya, Dash often cheats in these sorts of things. So don’t be surprised if she hits you with a tree branch” warned Applejack giving him a slight smile, but RAC was certainly confused by all of this.
“Sure” he said. She walked away as well, and then Twilight came up next to him when she noticed his confused look.
“What was going on?” asked Twilight.
“Oh, I think Dash and I are racing on Friday? She started to boast and then challenged me” answered the baffled colt.
“Is that so? Yeah that’s Dashie alright. How do you like this party?” Twilight asked.
“I’m really having a good time. So, how is this supposed to teach me about friendship?” he wondered.
“It’s not; it’s just one of Pinkie’s big welcome parties. The real lessons will begin tomorrow.” She stated. The party went on for hours until every pony decided to go home when it got really late. Twilight’s house, of course, was a mess. There were cups on the floor, streamers on the bookshelves; Spike was passed out in the punch bowl, and just a bunch of confetti everywhere.
“What a mess” Twilight said out loud.
“I got this.” RAC said. RAC’s wings sprung and his jet engines lifted him up in the air. And he went from 0 to 48 mph forming a small tornado in Twilight’s library, and when it cleared up, everything that was a mess before was now spotless. Twilight couldn’t believe her eye’s, she had never seen the library so clean before, it even shined.
“Well, that was fast. Thanks, RAC” said Twilight who was very happy with his work.
“You’re welcome” RAC responded. They both went upstairs and Twilight saw that Spike was out in his bed. Twilight was trying to figure where RAC was going to sleep.
“I think I have a spare bed somewhere for you” she said.
“That’s ok, I don’t need it” RAC told her.
“Really?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah, I don’t have to sleep, remember” reminded RAC, Twilight then remembered the presentation and how it was said that he couldn’t eat or sleep.
“Oh, right” said Twilight. With that, Twilight crawled into her bed and closed her eyes. RAC just trotted to the window and sat in front of it looking out at the sky outside. Twilight opened her eye a little an hour or so later, noticing that RAC was still looking at the glass. “RAC, are you sure you don’t need to sleep? Do you even get tired?” asked the half-awake Twilight.
“Sometimes I do. But for some reason, this body won’t let me sleep” he said with a clam tone in his voice.
“That’s strange” said Twilight.
“I’ve tired closing my eyes, but they won’t stay shut. So every night I would look at the night sky, staring at Princess Luna’s moon” RAC said as he continued to stare out into the moon.
“Won’t you be groggy?” asked Twilight.
“Not really, for me all of my energy comes naturally to me. I never have to rest or stop. I guess there are some things that are………”
He looked over to Twilight and saw that she was already asleep; RAC couldn’t help but laugh at it. He then focused back at the glass window. Morning came and Spike was the first to actually wake up. He rubbed his eyes and once his vision was clear, he noticed RAC sitting at the window with his eyes open, not tired at all.
“Hey, have you been up all night?” asked the small dragon.
“Well I never really went to sleep. If I could I would” stated RAC.
“So you just sat there all night with your eyes open? That’s kind of creepy” said Spike who was just waking up.
“Not really, I like watching the sunrise. By the way, you passed out in the punch bowl” said the machine.
“Again? Aw man” Spike said.
“Don’t worry I helped Twilight clean up the mess last night before she went to bed” informed RAC. Spike felt a little anxious and jealous when RAC told him that, Anxious that he forgot to help Twilight, again. And jealous because helping Twilight was his job. But he was trying to control it, remembering what happened last time when he got envious of Owlicious. He got up and started to walk towards RAC. “So, what’s your purpose here?” asked RAC
“I happen to be Twilight’s #1 assistant. I help her with her letters and schedules and everything” Spike boasted with pride and happiness.
“Oh, so you’re like a servant?” asked RAC. He had a curious tone in his voice, but Spike thought he was mocking him. He felt insulted when RAC thought he was a servant, he could practically hear glass breaking as he said that.
“What did……No! I just said that I was her assistant! Why would you think I was her servant, I’m not!!” he yelled furiously at him.
“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you” apologized RAC.
“But seriously? Why did you think I was her servant?” wondered Spike.
“Well, that because that’s what Lazarus used to describe me, sometimes. I wasn’t just a presentation; he also used me to carry out some of his deeds” RAC said to him.
“Well, that Lazarus guy isn’t here anymore. And you are no pony’s servant and neither am I” Spike said informingly.
“Ok” said RAC.
“First you Zap me, then you address me as a…….”
“I didn’t want to do that to you, Lazarus was making me. Why would I hurt you?” asked RAC.
“And how do I know that’s the truth” Spike questioned.
“Because if I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be here” RAC said with a cold and serious tone. Spike was speechless. He didn’t know what to say about that. Out of nowhere, he let out a small burst of green fire from his mouth. The fire soon turned into a scroll and dropped on the floor, RAC was curious. He lifted it up in the air with his levitation spell and examined it.
“What they hay?” he wondered. Just then Twilight gave out a big yawn and saw that both RAC and Spike were already up, she rubbed her eyes and got out of bed.
“Oh, good morning; are you ready for your first lesson of friendship?” she asked with enthusiasm.
“Yeah, I’m ready when you are. By the way, you have a letter.” RAC told her. Twilight took the letter from him and read it; she was slightly surprised to see that it was from the princess.
“It’s from Princess Celestia” she stated.
“What does it say?” asked RAC. Twilight began to read it aloud.
“It says:
Dear Twilight,
Gather up your friends, you must meet at the castle in Canterlot, I must speak with you. Oh, and also invite your new friend along, I must speak with him too.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia”
“What could that be about?” pondered RAC.
“I’m not sure, but we should probably head on over there” said Twilight. Twilight and RAC went to others homes, telling them about the letter. Then they all met at the train station. The train to Canterlot arrived right on time, they quickly got on and the train was off. They were all curious to what the Princess wanted. They finally reached Canterlot, they got off the train and started to trot on over to the castle. But as they were going along, many ponies made expressions and pointed at RAC.
“Don’t worry about them; they’re just nervous that some pony like you has arrived” she said to RAC trying to make him feel less awkward about everything. RAC just went along and approached the castle. Twilight opened the doors with her magic, only to see that the Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne waiting for them. They all approached them and bowed, including RAC. They got back up and Celestia was about to speak.
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student” the princess announced proudly.
“Hello, princess. Is there a reason why you called all of us here?” Twilight asked her mentor.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. But first, why don’t you tell me who your friend is?” Twilight knew that the princess had a suspicious tone in her voice.
“Oh, he’s…….” But RAC quickly interrupted and decided to introduce himself to the princess.
“I am the Robotic Artificial Colt number 7. But you may call me RAC for short” he said with much innocence in his voice.
“RAC, what an interesting name, and why number 7?” asked the Princess.
“Because I was the seventh one created, but the first to actually function right” he answered. Celestia didn’t really care much, and she focused back on Twilight.
“Anyway, I’ve called you all here because I have found out that Twilight has decided to take this colt in and teach him about friendship” the Princess said.
“For a good reason. He’s still half pony so he deserves to know what friendship really is. And….” But Twilight was yet again rudely interrupted, this time by the princess.
“Are you aware, that this creation has been traveling with Lazarus Keen, and has been trying to replace the royal guard?” she asked with suspicion.
“Yes but, wait how do you know who Lazarus is?” Twilight asked.
“He used to work for me. I would instruct him to create new inventions to help defend this kingdom. But he would always try to do things his way; he wanted to create a new type of pony, and that it would be better than the original. He told me the idea several times, but I wouldn’t allow it. He eventually quit and went on making his own creations. Throughout the years, he would travel all of Equestria trying to get others to support his ideas”. From hearing this story, both Twilight and RAC knew that the princess did not indeed trust him, and she especially doesn’t trust RAC for being one of his creations.
“But RAC isn’t like that” Twilight stated.
“And how are you so sure?” Celestia demanded.
“Because he told me. He said he hated that idea” Twilight said.
“I’m sure he told you a very good story” the princess said with an untrusting tone.
“But princess, just give him a chance” begged Twilight
“He was created by a power-hungry colt. How can you be so sure that he’s not acting innocent? I don’t believe that this is the best idea.” informed Celestia.
“But….” Twilight began before being interrupted again.
“There’s a good chance that he could betray us and call his master in at any second” she shouted.
“But…..”
“I’m trying to do this, for your own good” said the princess.
“If you would just……..” began Twilight.
“Twilight, I don’t want you to………” But this time, it was RAC who interrupted the conversation.
“Shut the hay up!” he shouted. Most of the other ponies in the room were shocked to hear RAC raise his voice at the princess. “Why would I do that, to a kingdom that I’ve never been to?” yelled RAC. Even the princess had a stunned look on her face, no pony has ever shouted at her before. RAC then stated, “I was built for two things and two things only, to do great things and help others. I’m willing to anything to make things right in this world. And with Lazarus out of the way, I can pursue that goal. But I’m still missing something, something that every pony can’t live without. I still haven’t learned all the values of life or friendship yet, and I need Twilight’s help to do so. Please, let her teach me, I want to learn”. Celestia stared down at him, she tried to give him an angry stare to try to scare him but it had no effect. He was solid as a rock with that dead serious look. She could see how cold and focused his eyes were; those were the eyes of determination, both his robotic and pony eyes. Celestia just stared at him, seeing if he’ll brake and end up apologizing for his behavior; but it was no Fluttershy stare.
“Just how determined are you, machine colt?” she asked.
“I’ll do whatever it takes. Even if I have to fight four colts who are like, twice my size; I’ll still do it to get what I need” RAC said.
“Is that so?” Celestia asked. RAC and the others didn’t know what she was thinking, but they soon found out. Celestia, out of nowhere, yelled “Guards” and four Pegasai guards swoop down surrounding RAC. He was outnumbered and the guards were closing in, the others didn’t know what to make of the situation. One of the guards then charged at RAC from behind, so RAC made a quick reaction and bucked him in the chest, which sent him flying. The guard hit the ceiling and fell on the floor, both impacts were very loud. Another guard was about to attack above him, RAC saw him coming with his right eye; and once the guard was in the air he elbowed him in the gut then punched him right in the chin; every pony in the room could hear his jaw breaking. Another guard attack from the front, RAC slide kicked him then kicked him off to the side. The last guard came at him with a spear; RAC made a reversal attack by grabbing the spear with his hooves and using it to smack the guard in the face. He then took the spear, slammed him in the back of the neck with it, and then broke the spear in two. The whole thing went pretty fast, in five seconds flat to be exact, the mane 6 were speechless and terrified. RAC then faced his attention towards the princess who was smirking.
“What was the point of that?” he asked.
“You said that you would fight four colts to receive what you need. I wanted to see if you were serious” she said. Then RAC replied,
“You know, you could’ve just told me” RAC said.
“Anyway, it seems that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get your education on life and friendship. Therefore, Twilight shall be your teacher, just as I have for her”. Celestia said.
“Princess, are you serious? You mean you’ll allow it” Twilight said all excited.
“Yes, but let me say that I still don’t trust you, RAC. But I have faith in you. If you must learn the magic of friendship, then you shall” the princess said proudly. Every pony was happy to hear the news, especially Twilight.
“Oh, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” she shouted. She then faced RAC. “Isn’t this going to be great RAC, now you’re really ready to learn. I will do my best to teach you everything there is to know.”
“Thank you, Twilight. And like I said, I’ll do anything to get what’s needed.” RAC said. With that, the mane 6 and RAC went home. Where the machine colts training and learning can really begin………….
Chapter 2
They all went back to Twilight’s to begin RAC’s lesson on friendship, knowing they have the princess’s approval and faith. RAC was standing in the library listening to Twilight about all the things he’ll learn. She thought she should start off with something simple, such as the elements. “RAC, do you know what the elements or harmony are?” asked Twilight.
“No idea, are they some kind of material used to create massive energy to wipe out enemies?” he asked. Twilight was confused on what he had said, and so were the other ponies and Spike.
“Sort of, the elements are rare artifacts that are really powerful in Equestria, and each one represents an element of friendship: loyalty, honestly, generosity, laughter, kindness, and magic”, Twilight explained, “And you need to know these elements if you want to learn all there is about friendship”.
“Alright, sounds easy enough” RAC said.
“Here’s how this is going to work: you will live life here in ponyville like any other pony, there will be times where you might be put in situations. Each one will test you on what choices you will make and know about the consequences. It’s up to you to learn these lessons, once you’ve learned a valuable lesson in friendship you will report to me of what you have learned from that once a week” she said.
“Are you sure that will help me?” asked RAC.
“I struggled at first too, but as time went on I learned very important lessons. And each one had something to do with real life situations. If it worked for me, then it will for you” Twilight answered. “I have an idea on how you can start, you will spend the day with each of my friends; learn from them. That way, you’ll know how to act as a true friend” Twilight added.
“Ok, so who am I going to start with?” RAC wondered. Twilight thought for a moment, and decided the best way on which he should get to know first.
“I know, you will start off with Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. That’s the order of when I first met my friends, so that’ll be your order too, I’ll be last. I have a bunch of reports that I still need to fill out.” she said.
“Ok, sounds good to me” said RAC. Then they all left Twilight’s house and RAC followed AJ back to her farm. They walked all the way back to Sweat Apple Acres; RAC could see that there was a huge red barn along with a field with several rows of apple trees. “Welcome to Sweat Apple Acres, RAC” AJ said.
RAC was amused, “That’s a lot of trees”.
“Everything you see here we grow ourselves” she said. Just then Applebloom came out of the barn to greet her sister, when she quickly recognized RAC.
“Hey I know you, you’re that fancy machine who attacked my sister!” And she ran right up to him and started to hit and buck him. But it had no effect on him, “Take THAT! And THAT” she shouted, but it just made *ding* noises on his medal legs.
“Is this how you greet others?” asked RAC.
“Not really”, said AJ, “Applebloom, stop. I know he attacked me but I forgave him. He’s good now” and with that, the little sister stopped.
“Oh sorry about that; so what’s he doing here, sis?” asked Applebloom.
“I am going to teach him what honesty is” answered Applejack. Then she turned towards RAC. “Now I already mentioned my huge Apple family” started Applejack.
“I know you told me about that. But what is it that you do?” asked the machine.
“We just grow apples and make them into anything we can serve: apple pie, apple fritter, apple cider.” RAC then turned towards a long row of apple trees.
“How do you get them down?” asked RAC.
“How else, we buck the trees ‘til they fall down” she then grabbed a basket and placed it under a tree. She turned and gave the tree a quick buck, and all the apples fell into the basket. “Just like that, why don’t you give it a try?” she asked.
“Really?” asked RAC curiously.
“Why not” answered AJ. So RAC went up to an apple tree and turned around. He lifted up one of his hind legs and bucked the tree so hard, that the roots came out and the tree went flying; then it hit the next tree and that one came out. Pretty soon an entire row of trees were gone with just one kick. RAC turned around and saw the damage he made, he felt embarrassed. Both apple sisters stood there speechless. RAC turned back and looked at the sisters, then back at the destroyed trees, and then back at the sisters. Back and forth back and forth, he continued. Then he began to speak.
“Uh…uh….” Even he was speechless, of course he knew that he could do that, he just didn’t take others reactions. “I…….”
“Maybe we should move on to something else” AJ suggested. They all went in the barn and AJ was talking to RAC all about what honesty is. “It looks like you don’t know your own strength there” started Applejack.
“Yeah sorry about that, but you told me to…”
“I know, just forget it” AJ interrupted. “Now, honesty is when you tell the truth to a pony and mean it” Applejack said.
“That’s all?” asked RAC.
“Well, believe it or not, honesty isn’t always good. There’s a phrase that goes like this: if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. But true friends should always be honest with each other, it shows you can really trust them”.
“Like how?” asked RAC.
“Well when Twilight was hanging off a cliff, I grabbed onto her. I told her to let go, and I promised that nothing bad would happen. As soon as she did, my other friends caught her. She trusted me because she knew that I was honest to her” she answered. As soon as he learned this, RAC now knew what honesty is. Then they heard a voice outside the barn, they came out to see that it was Rainbow Dash hovering over them.
“Hey guys” she greeted. Then she noticed the row of destroyed apple trees. “Whoa, what happened over there?” she asked.
“Don’t ask” AJ told her. “Anyway, is there a reason why you’re here?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s my turn to teach RAC” she answered. AJ turned to RAC, she gave him a nod that meant go, and he took off with Dash. Dash took RAC high in the clouds and even landed on one to teach him what loyalty is. “So how’s your day so far?” she asked him.
“Pretty good, so far I’ve learn what honesty is, which is telling the truth” RAC answered.
“Yeah yeah that’s good and all, now it’s time you know what loyalty is” she told him.
“Loyalty is never letting your friends down, always standing by their side. And no pony is more loyal than me” she added.
“Hmm, explain” he asked.
“Explain what?” Dash asked.
“Explain why you’re the most loyal pony” RAC asked.
“Oh that’s easy, this one time we were trying to cross a bridge but it was all fallen apart, so what do I do? I fly over to the other side and get the other side of the bridge. But then this evil group called the Shadowbolts came in and wanted me to join them. But NO, my friends come first. So I turned them down and helped my friends cross to safety” she answered with a lot of pride.
“That’s interesting” RAC said.
“So have you been training for our big race tomorrow?” Dash asked.
“I don’t need to” RAC told her.
“Oh I see, trying to sound all confident are you?” she asked in a very questionable manner.
“Not really” RAC answered.
“Well, I hope you’re ready to eat my dust” and with that Dash took off at supersonic speed, but RAC stayed behind; RAC seemed to never understand Rainbow Dashes personality. Next was Rarity, he met her at her boutique. Rarity welcomed him inside, but she wasn’t really happy to see him.
“Hey, Rarity, so you’ll be explaining what generosity is?” asked RAC.
“Yes” she answered “But before I do, let’s just get one thing clear. I haven’t forgotten what you did to me yesterday” Rarity continued. RAC felt uncomfortable, he felt like she was spreading seeds of distrust to him.
“But I thought we put that behind us” RAC wondered.
“I’m still keeping my eye on you” she told him in a very rude tone. But that went from rude to polite in a second. “Now then, Generosity is when you give without expecting anything in return. For example, this poor sea serpent was upset because part of his mustache was missing. So, I cut of my tail and gave it to the poor thing as a replacement” Rarity explained.
“Are fashion purposes that big around here?” RAC asked.
“Well why do you care? You said that it was meaningless and worth nothing” she scoffed. RAC rolled his eyes and told her once more that it wasn’t his doing of what happened yesterday. “But, seeing how I’m supposed to show you how generous I am, I suppose your medal parts could use a good shining” she stated. She told him to stay in the room until she got back. RAC decided to look around the boutique. As he was staring at some of Rarity’s designs and dresses along the walls, he couldn’t help but notice that he was being watched by tiny eyes. RAC turned his head and noticed something disappear around the corner. A few seconds later, a face began to pop out, it was Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle. She looked at him from a distance and smiled. Rarity returned to the main designing room with some shining material, when she saw that RAC and Sweetie were playing catch with a very large beach ball.
“Care to explain what you’re doing?” asked Rarity.
“Uh, Sweetie Belle looked like she wanted to play” RAC answered.
“Sweetie Belle, I need you to leave us be; I’m trying to teach our guest a thing or two about generosity” ordered the elder sister.
“Aw c’mon Rarity, you never allow any fun around here”, complained Sweetie.
“Don’t worry; we’ll play again sometime soon” RAC told the little filly. She smiled and trotted off.
“Now then” said Rarity and she shined all the parts on RAC that was covered in medal. After she was done, RAC was very impressed with her work.
“Wow, I’ve never looked this good. Thanks, Rarity” said RAC.
“You’re very welcome, darling. Now remember what I told you” warned Rarity.
“About what generosity is?” asked RAC, but that wasn’t the answer Rarity was looking for.
“That, and I have my eye on you” she said. RAC still felt uncomfortable about Rarity not fully trusting him, yet.
RAC left the boutique and went straight to Fluttershy’s cottage. He walked right up to the door and knocked, he heard a soft voice say “come in” so he did. When he walked in he was surprised to see that her home was full of animals.
“Oh, hello RAC”, Fluttershy greeted.
“Hey, Fluttershy, are all these animals yours?” he asked.
“Well, I don’t actually own any of them I just look after them and take care of them” she answered with a soft and gentle voice.
“So, you represent the element of kindness?” he asked.
“Oh yes, I’m the kindness out of my friends. Kindness is when you’re really, well kind, to some pony” she started as she was feeding some animals. “Perhaps you can demonstrate by helping me feed the animals” Fluttershy suggested.
“Sure” RAC answered, and gave the animals their proper lunch. “So, I still don’t understand what how kindness works” he wondered.
“It’s a little hard to explain. This one time we were all fighting this scary manticore in the forest, when it turns out it just had a thorn in its paw. So I took it out and gave it love and affection” she answered. “Besides, we should all show some kindness to every pony” she added.
“I wonder” RAC added. As soon as he was done helping Fluttershy, he ran right to his last stop, at Sugar cube Corner to meet Pinkie Pie. RAC made it to the bakery; he thought it was funny how the building looked very much like a cake. He walked right inside, when he did he was greeted with an explosion of confetti.
“Surprise!” a voice shouted, RAC quickly realized that it was Pinkie Pie, she then popped out of nowhere to say hello. “I’m glad you could make it. It’s about time you knew what my element is. Can you guess? Huh? Can ya, can ya??” she asked all hyper.
“Um, laughter?” RAC assumed.
“Yes!” shouted Pinkie Pie who was very happy to see him. “Laughter is something that no pony can live without. It really brings every pony together, I mean without laughing and smiling, where would we be?” she wondered.
“Nowhere, I’m guessing. So, Pinkie Pie, can you explain a little more why laughter suits you?” RAC felt like that it was a dumb question since he knew the answer, but he felt like he should ask her anyway.
“What? OH, now I know what you mean. When we were all lost in the forest and attacked by scary tree’s, I just laughed at them. They thought it was a monster, but it was just a tree with a funny face. We laughed and laughed, I even sang a song about it. Wanna hear it?” she asked all excited for no reason.
“No thanks, maybe later. So you’re saying that laughter is what brings others closer?” he asked.
“Not exactly, it’s just nice to get a good laugh every now and then, it makes every pony happy” Pinkie said. “Hey, since you’re here, wanna try one of my cupcakes?” she held up a tiny red cupcake with white frosting and rainbow sprinkles on it.
“You know I don’t have to eat, right?” asked RAC.
“I know that, but just try it. Taste how yummy it is” she offered. RAC took it from her, and took a big bite out of it. He chewed it then swallowed it.
“Delicious” he said.
“Yay, I’m glad you like it” she yelled.
“Thanks, Pinkie. I should probably go back to Twilights now” he told her.
“AW, already? Ok see you tomorrow” she said happily as he exited the bakery. The sun came down and the day was really long for RAC. Now he just had to check in with Twilight. He walked in, just when Twilight had just finished her reports.
“Hello, RAC. I see your back from your day of learning. I suppose it’s my turn to tell you my element. My element is magic” she started, “As you know, unicorns and alicorns have the ability to use magic. And I’ve noticed that you know quite few spells as well. But there’s a certain type of magic that most ponies know of. That is the magic of friendship. Have you learned enough today?” she wondered.
“Yes, but..” RAC started,
“But what?” asked Twilight.
“For some reason, I felt like I haven’t learned enough. I’m still having trouble trying to soak in all the elements and what they are. I just don’t know what I’m doing or what I’ll do for the rest of my life” answered the machine.
“Don’t worry RAC, like I said you’ll learn more lessons as the days go by. Today you just learned what the elements are. You’ll learn a lot more tomorrow” she told him.
“I hope you’re right” said RAC “because I’m hoping that I’m more than just a machine colt” with that, RAC’s first day was over, and was already getting ready for the next day……….
Chapter 3
Today was Friday, which meant that today was the day that Rainbow Dash had challenged RAC to a big race, and other things she decides to add when she can’t accept defeat. RAC saw the morning sun and went downstairs, noticing that Twilight and Spike were already down there eating muffins and reading from a book. “Hey, some pony finally woke up” said Twilight.
“Well, I never went to sleep” replied RAC.
“Then some pony finally noticed we were awake” she said with a good mood.
“Hey, Twilight, before I went to…uh….stare out the window” he started, “I was skimming through some of your spell books, and I learned this really cool spell. Want to see it?” he asked all excited.
“Sure” she answered. RAC took a few steps back to perform the spell. His horn began to glow that dark purple from before. Pretty soon, his whole body became wavy and transparent. And then, he disappeared. Twilight was baffled. “What?” she said. Then she noticed that her muffin was floating in mid-air and she wasn’t even levitating it.
“Invisibility spell?” she asked.
“More like a transparent spell, this could really come in handy” the invisible RAC stated.
“I’ve never seen magic like this before” Twilight said. Then RAC became visible again and released the muffin.
“If you think that was new, watch this” his horn began to glow dark purple again, even his eyes lit up, they both began to become brighter and brighter. Even a small halo of light started to form around his ankles. He even began to shout something. “Flare gun, x2!” and a huge purple beam came shooting out of RAC’s horn, blasting a huge hole in Twilight’s roof and into the sky, every pony could see it. When the beam finally died down, Twilight was surprised at what RAC has learned. She and Spike were both hiding behind the fallen table, and Twilight was holding onto Spike as if he was a stuffed animal. They both poked their heads up and saw the damage that RAC has created; luckily he didn’t seem damaged himself.
“W-What was that!?!?” Twilight shouted.
“Um….” RAC levitated a book and started to flip through the pages.
“Oh, it’s called a flare gun spell. It says that it’s really powerful and can easily damage anything in sight” he said cheerfully as if nothing happened. Twilight took the book from RAC to examine it herself; she wasn’t impressed like RAC was.
“RAC, this spell is forbidden! Meaning that no pony is allowed to perform it! It even says, Warning: Do not attempt! How can you be this naïve and careless?” she scolded at the machine. RAC’s smile went to a frown in an instant.
“Sorry, I guess my stupidity got the better of me, again” RAC said sadly. Then Twilight decided to ease up a bit.
“What?” she asked.
“This isn’t the first time, something like this has happened. When I was with Keen, I would mess up a lot, and he would say ‘how stupid can you be!’ so yeah” RAC answered.
“Well, you’re not stupid, RAC, you just have to be more aware of what’s safe around here” she told him. “This is exactly why you’re here, to learn what’s right” she continued, “Now please promise me you won’t do that again?” she asked him. RAC agreed, but little did they know that that spell would become useful to them later. Twilight decided to change the subject. “So, anything going on today?” she asked.
“Well, I guess I have this big race with Rainbow Dash today?” he answered.
“Really, that’s great” Twilight said. But RAC had different thoughts.
“Well, I find it that it’s unfair”, he said.
“What would be unfair?” asked Twilight.
“Rainbow Dash challenged me to a race, but seeing how I’m already faster than her I would automatically win. I’m not trying to boast or anything, I’m just pointing out a solid fact” he pointed out, RAC wasn’t trying to sound cocky or even brag, he just knew what he knew. “But every time I try to tell Rainbow, she thinks that I’m challenging her” he added.
“Well maybe you could tell her that, in a way that doesn’t so arrogant” Twilight suggested.
“But I’m not trying to sound arrogant” RAC told her.
“Well, I really don’t know what to tell you, RAC” Twilight said.
“I don’t want her to feel bad” RAC said.
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out” Twilight said, without knowing what to tell him.
“I suppose” RAC added. After Twilight finished her breakfast they made their way towards an open field, where the race was being held; it was near the place where Rainbow and Fluttershy created that huge hurricane. There, RAC saw all the other ponies he had met including AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and the crusaders. They all had seats to watch the race. RAC thought if he went a little slower than his normal speed, then he would be giving Rainbow a chance. He and Twilight saw Dash stretching at the starting line.
“Hey, Rainbow” Twilight greeted.
“Hey Twi, Did you see that huge blast in the sky?” she asked.
"Don't ask" Twilight said, knowing that she was referring to RAC's flare gun spell.
"Ok, so are you here to see me win?" she boasted. Then RAC trotted up to her.
“Hey, Rainbow, it’ll be fun racing against you” he said.
“Thanks” she replied.
“Just so you know, I’ll lower my speed to give you more of a chance” he warned her.
“What? Dude, if you have a secret plan you’re not supposed to say it aloud. Plus, I don’t want you to go easy on me. I want you to race me at your best” she said proudly.
“Are you sure about that?” RAC asked her.
“I’m positive” she said as she trotted towards the starting line. Soon they were both at the start and every pony took their seats. Rainbow Dash spread her wings out, “You ready?” she asked. RAC then spread his huge silver light medal wings, and two small jet engines popped out at each side of his barrel and under his wings, “Yeah” he said. Even though RAC’s idea fell apart, he still felt like he wanted to go easy on her. Fluttershy was holding the checkered flag in her mouth, and RAC and Dash were waiting for her to swing it. She waved the checkered flag, and they were both off at supersonic speed, leaving Fluttershy spinning out of control. They took off at 300mph and were soaring through the skies. There were barriers made of clouds to direct them on where to go. They were as high up as Rainbow’s house. They started to fly faster and faster, Rainbow trying everything she can to beat RAC. They flew around made a few turns and loops and circles. They kept flying straight, and then they both took a vertical drop dive. They were flying in steep and coming in really fast, they looked like they were going to smash into the ground. They kept on falling and falling, until they finally pulled up when they just barely touched the ground. They then flew straight into a forest; there were a lot of obstacles for them like trees and rocks and animals. Dash flew through all of them, and tried to avoid anything else. But RAC was doing better, he had a quicker react time than Rainbow; a flock of birds were coming at RAC, but he quickly noticed them and flew over them as if they weren’t there. Rainbow noticed that she was in the lead, and that RAC was not too far behind. “Time to make things interesting” she said aloud, she quicker grabbed a nearby branch and pulled it back. Right when RAC was about to pass, she let go hoping that it would slow RAC down; unfortunately it didn’t. RAC saw the branch coming towards him, but to him the branch moved very slow; right when it was about to hit him, he quickly shot a beam from his horn and disintegrated the branch, and ended up disintegrated the entire tree. Rainbow saw the whole thing, so she quickly stepped on it, but RAC was unaware that Rainbow Dash tried to sabotage him.
“What just happened?” he asked himself. He decided to just continue the race and catch up to Rainbow Dash. Dash noticed he was catching up, so she flew faster.
Next, they flew in a rocky canyon. Rainbow Dash remembered that this was the place her pet turtle save her from a fallen boulder on her wing. She looked back and saw that RAC was nearly behind her. She thought of a way to try to slow him down, again. She flew up and landed on a mountain above the canyon; she then gave a boulder a big and loud BUCK. With that, it caused an avalanche and rocks flew everywhere; Rainbow luckily made it out, but RAC was just entering. He saw the avalanche; since there was no turning back he flew right in. A bunch of boulders were about to smash him, so he got out two large blades coming out of both front hooves. The first boulder flew at him; he leaned back and gave it a big SLICE cutting the solid boulder in half. And he did that with every other boulder that came at him. He went *slice*, *slash*, and *X slash* everything. More and more boulders were falling, so he brought out two more blades coming from his back hooves; and sliced and diced everything in sight. He reduced falling boulders to tiny pebbles. Rainbow Dash saw the whole thing, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Whoa” she yelled. But then she noticed that RAC was nowhere to be seen. “Huh, where’d he go?” she asked herself. She was beginning to believe that the avalanche destroyed him. But, out of nowhere, RAC went flying upwards at 400mph, nearly hitting Rainbow Dash off guard. She started to spin out at his surprise attack. “WHOA!” she exclaimed. She looked up and saw that RAC was ok, but as soon as she focused on him, he quickly took off and continued the race; Dash followed. Now RAC was in the lead, they were both flying very high in the skies. But Rainbow Dash was up to her tricks again, she spotted a nearby cloud and jumped on it. A bolt of lightning was shot out, and electrocuted RAC. With that, he started to plummet and Rainbow Dash gaining the lead again. He was falling at 28 thousand feet in the air; he safely landed on a cloud. Luckily the lightning didn’t affect him since he was an artificial mechanical being, and nothing electrical in him. He got up and recovered, but this time he saw Rainbow Dash do something.
“So that’s how she wants to play it?” he groaned to himself, this time he felt cross. His jet engines lifted him up and he took off. He wasn’t too far back from Rainbow Dash, but he had her in his sights. He had a lock on her, and then he open fired. Several purple beams came shooting out of his horn, and the beams were around Rainbow Dash. Twilight was watching this through her binoculars, she felt concerned.
“Oh no, this doesn’t look good. What if he accidently performs the Flare gun spell?” she said frightened.
“The Flare gun spell” asked Rarity.
“What in tarnation is that?” demanded Applejack. Twilight explained what it was, and their reactions weren’t too impressed.
“Oh my, do you think he’ll actually do it?” asked the timid Fluttershy.
“Let’s hope not, that simple spell can be more powerful and possibly more lethal than the elements” she explained. They focused their attention back on the race, Dash was dodging beams.
“Doesn’t this guy give up?” she yelled. She took off, continued the race, and dodged as many shots as possible. RAC didn’t really focus on firing but more on catching up. He even caught up to her, and they were both neck and neck. RAC looked next to her, and he noticed something strange about her. He began to notice that she was starting to look brighter and brighter, he raised an eye brow in confusion of what he was seeing. And then BOOM, Rainbow Dash performed her famous Sonic Rainboom, and left RAC in the dust. RAC was spinning; he saw that Dash was way in the lead. He decided to crank up his engines, and blasted off. Rainbow Dash’s Rainboom lasted for a while, but it finally died down when she was only a few hundred yards away from the finish. “Yes, I can taste victory!” she yelled proudly. RAC kicked it up to Mach 5 speed and finally caught on to Rainbow, yet still very far behind.
“That’s it” he told himself. RAC was fed up with Rainbow’s cheating; he focused and locked on her. And then, he shot one more beam at Rainbow. She didn’t see this one, ZAP, it hit her in the back and damaged one of her wings. She was so close to the finish line in the sky, but now she was falling hard.
“RAC shot her down!” exclaimed Twilight to every pony. They were very shocked; they can see Rainbow falling to her doom. RAC felt worse than them all, seeing how he was the one who shot her.
“Oh no, what have I done? DASH!” He changed directions and dived straight down and heading for Rainbow Dash. He put his front right hoof forward and reached for her; he saw that her eyes were hardly open. He cranked his speed up to Mach 6, it still wasn’t enough, Dash was about to hit the ground. He started to fall faster and faster, trying desperately to reach her. “I won’t….let you fall!” he yelled. His body started to become brighter and brighter and more arrow dynamic. Before he knew, BOOM, he broke the sound barrier and made his own sonic boom. But instead of his looking like a rainbow, his sonic boom looked like that of a giant gear. His speed was doubled and Rainbow Dash was within his reach.
“Was that?” started Pinkie Pie.
“Did he” followed Applejack.
“Did he just perform his own Sonic Rainboom?” Twilight wondered.
“It certainly doesn’t look like a rainbow” added Spike. They focused back on the situation. They could hear RAC screaming from the agony of going beyond his limit. It was really close but………..He caught her, he caught Rainbow Dash and flew straight back up into the air and to the finish line in the sky.
“He did it! He caught her! Woohoo!” Fluttershy cheered. RAC was carrying Rainbow dash in his hooves and still flying high. Pretty soon, they both crossed the finish line and made it on the ground safely. Every pony was there to see if Rainbow was ok. After a few seconds on the ground, Dash was beginning to wake up; RAC was still holding her in his medal arms. The first thing she saw was RAC.
“Hey, can you hear me?” he asked her.
“Y-yeah”, Dash answered. She sat up and saw that all of her friends were there, she then turned her attention to RAC, “Hey, thanks for saving back there” she thanked him.
“You’re welcome, it was wrong of me to do that to you. I’m sorry” he said with sorrow.
“No, I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have cheated, that made you shoot me. It’s mostly my fault” she apologized. “But at least I raced you at my best. Maybe we should call this one a draw” he said.
“Yeah, after all, this was pretty fun. We should do this again sometime” she said. She then brought out her hoof for a hoof-bump, so RAC gave her one making a loud *ding* noise. Rainbow felt like it hurts, so she hid her hoof behind her back and waved it until the pain went away. But that was just the least of their troubles. As they were congratulating both RAC and Rainbow, they suddenly heard a familiar voice in the background. It sounded girlish, yet in a tough and irritated tone.
“Oh, isn’t that precious. I see your still hanging out with dweebs, Rainbow Dash” the voice said. They all turned around, hoping that it wasn’t who they thought it was. But it turns out, that it was. “Did you miss me, Dash?” the figure said.
“Gilda?”…………..
Unfortunately, it was Gilda the griffin; the one who made fun of and hurt Rainbow’s friends. She recognized that griffin from anywhere.
“Where did she come from?” wondered Twilight.
“I’ve been watching the whole time, you just didn’t notice me because you were too busy watching that little race” the griffin snorted.
“So, do I have to race her too?” asked RAC who seemed hopelessly lost.
“What are you doing here?” asked rainbow Dash who was still recovering.
“Two things; one: I heard that there was going to be some huge race of pony vs. machine. So I had to see that, when I saw that it was YOU racing I was just waiting for you to lose. By the way, it looks like you seem really happy with your new dweeb colt-friend holding you like that” she mocked. Rainbow noticed she was still in RAC’s hold and felt embarrassed to look so helpless and feminine, her face began to turn red.
“Put me down!” Dash ordered. RAC set her down gently on the ground, but she could barely stand. “So what’s the second reason why you’re here?” Dash asked her former friend.
“Revenge!” she roared.
“What?” asked Dash.
“You humiliated me in front of those dweebs and made me lose my cool!” she continued.
“Gilda that was your fault! You were the one who blamed Pinkie for all of those pranks I set up. You were the one who over reacted and got the wrong idea” she yelled back.
“Whatever, I see you’re still being a flip-flop” she attempted to insult.
“That’s not even clever!” Rainbow responded.
“Anyway, because of YOU, I ended having no friends! I traveled throughout this country, and I guess every other pony and griffin didn’t match my style. What’s worse, I became known as the jerky griffin who hates everything, but I’m not! Now, I’m going to destroy you like how you destroyed me!” Every pony looked frightened by her speech. But RAC just had that confused and clueless look on his face; he looked like he didn’t even care about Gilda’s evil revenge plot.
He tilted his head and asked, “Is that so?” in a very questionable way; but this insulted Gilda.
“Is that so? What do you mean is that so?!?! Who the hay is this guy anyway?!” she roared.
“I-I’m the robotic artificial colt; RAC for short” he answered innocently, “I was the one who raced Rainbow Dash” he added. But this made Gilda laugh.
“Ha, oh right! Now I know what you look like up close! That was awesome how you shot Dash down, by the way, really made me jump from my seat” she humored him.
“How was the awesome? I only shot her down because she was cheating so much, I could’ve killed her” he said mournfully.
“Yeah, too bad you didn’t” she laughed.
“What is your problem” demanded RAC.
“Uh, weren’t you paying attention? Rainbow really pissed me off and humiliated me” she said.
“But it sounds like it was mostly your fault” added RAC.
But she replied, “Look, she set me up. Now get out of my way before I bring the hurt on you!” RAC took no notice to her threat.
“I don’t see how you can hurt me” said RAC.
Gilda shouted, “Look at me! I’m a very fierce griffin! Haven’t you seen wings this big, or talons this sharp” she showed him her sharp eagle-like talons, “You could at least tremble in fear or be threatened or something!”
RAC decided it was his turn to intimidate her, so he brought up his right front hoof, and activated his large blade hoof out in an instant; it even made a loud *shing* sound. Gilda was surprised by RAC’s blade.
“WHOA! Where’d you get that, you freak!” she exclaimed.
“Take it easy, you’re going to hurt my feelings” RAC said in a mocking tone while retracting his blade.
“Your feelings? Ha! I’m going to hurt more than your feelings if you don’t move out of the way” she threatened. He looked back at Rainbow Dash who was still hurt from the race and the fall, he knew what he needed to do. He stepped in front of every pony and faced Gilda.
“No” he said.
“What?” questioned Gilda.
“You can’t fight Rainbow Dash. Not like this, she’s still very injured and if you attack her then it won’t be fair. You’ll just win the cheap and biased way; I won’t let you. If you want to face her, then you have to face me first. I won’t allow you to hurt my friends!” RAC yelled sternly at the griffin. Dash was watching the whole thing and couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she felt a little touched that RAC was defending her like that.
“RAC....”, Dash whimpered.
“I don’t have time for this, you’re in my way!” she then flew passed RAC and charged at the fallen Rainbow Dash. Before she could make an impact, RAC jumped in the way right on time. He blocked Gilda’s attack and shielded Dash with his body. RAC’s horn then began to glow brightly. Gilda noticed it but didn’t know how to react, but it was too late. RAC shot a large beam at Gilda which sent her flying across the field. RAC then flipped out his engines and wings and flew after her to finish her off……..