Bold: The Ranger and The Robotby Strongbolt StonewingChaptersMERDA 3HostilesThe CouncilConfrontationThe StationShowdownOnwardMERDA 3It was a late summer night, and the red sun cast large shadows across the town of Appleloosa. The streets were desolate, not a soul could be seen. The only activity came from a saloon in the center of a long row of buildings. The double doors swung open and out came a stout, light brown colt with a black mustache. He wore a blue waist coat with a sheriff badge pinned onto it and a black hat with a red stripe through it. He trotted out into the center of the sand and dirt path that lead straight through the town. He studied the area around him, and looked back towards the saloon. "Come on out boys." He called. "We got work to do." Moments later a group of ponies with a variety of facial hair wandered onto the street. They stopped beside the Sheriff. "Uh, sir?" A skinny pony with glasses asked. "We ain't seen no dangerous activity in Appleloosa for months now. Why do we even bother with these daily patrols?" The Sheriff turned on him. "Listen up Specs, or for that matter, any of you who think similarly. We gave the good citizens of this here town a promise. That we would watch over them, and protect them from anything that'd put 'em in harms way. Now I don't know 'bout you, but I intend to stick to my word." "But, sir." Specs persisted. "There ain't nothing that could put 'em in harms way. Every night we go out patrolling this town and every night we find nothing!" The Sheriff grinned. "We'll, Mister Specs, do I need to remind ya that y'all were the ones who volunteered to do this? You wanna go home and snuggle up in your duvet while the rest of us, true stallions, do the dirty work, you be my guest." Specs stood speechless. "Anypony else got a problem with our routine?" The Sheriff asked, the rest were silent. "No? Splendid. Now get your backsides into yer teams." On his orders, the group split up into four teams of three. "Now," the Sheriff continued, "myself and my accomplices will be searching the south of town. Specs, y'all can take the apple orchards, Braeburn, y'all can..." "Sheriff! Sheriff!" An eager voice called in the distance. The Sheriff turned and watched a young colt with a beige coat, light brown hair and a black hat dash towards him. "Dale? Dale, that you?" The Sheriff called. Dale arrived in front of the group, he was out of breath. "Bit late for a boy to be out ? Ain't it?" "I'd prefer," Dale said between breaths, "adolescent." "Oh, don't confuse me with your fancy gibberish boy! You best have a good reason fer shouting yer mouth all across town." "Sir, I think we got a problem." Dale said nervously. "What is this time? Monsters? Aliens?" The Sheriff retorted. "A... robot, sir." Dale muttered. "A robot? A robot!" The Sheriff laughed. "Son, that is by far the most ridic-" And then he saw it. A mechanical creature jumped from out of the shadows and landed a few metres away, it's body was grey and dusty, possibly silver once, it's eyes were red and gleaming, an it's spike tail and horn whirred and spinned. The Sheriff gulped and gritted his teeth. "Nobody move a damn muscle." He whispered. The robot gazed at them, then turned its attention to a blacksmiths it charged into the wall, breaking it down, dust shot out and shrouded the scene. "Uh, Sheriff?" Specs asked, quivering. The Sheriff was motionless.The robot emerged from the blacksmiths , carrying a small pouch full of metals. "Required elements gathered." It said in a shaky robotic voice. "MERDA 3 returning to repair station." Then it launched itself into the air, turned face down and tunneled through the earth. HostilesStrongbolt stared at the map of Equestria. He traced the lines that the trains followed from Ponyville down towards Appleloosa, he took various measurement and wrote down different calculations. His wife, Shiera, watched him, slightly concerned. "Aha!" He exclaimed. "Judging by the distance from Ponyville to Appleloosa, and the time we've already spent on the train I think we should be there in..." "Five Minutes until arrival." An announcement came through the speakers. "Um, yeah, that." Strongbolt said in an annoyed tone. "You know," Shiera said, "we could have just asked someone." "But what if there is no one to ask?" Strongbolt countered. "Well, there was though." "No, I mean if we get stuck in a situation where there is no one to ask about how long the train ride is. It's best to get some practice." "Of course." Shiera laughed sarcastically. "How could I forget the everyday problem of needing to know how long the train ride is going to be when there's no one else around." "I'm just saying. It could happen." "Well, if it does, we know what to do." Strongbolt sighed, she had beaten him. "Hang on," Strongbolt said, pulling out a brown hat from his bag, "almost forgot about this." He placed it on his head. Shiera giggled. "When did you pick that... thing up?" "Got it before we left Ponyville. Thought it might fit the theme, make us stand out less." Shiera was puzzled. "What's wrong with standing out?" "Well, you know. We have our enemies." "You don't mean... The Corruption? Do you?" Strongbolt rolled his eyes. "No I mean Steve the Magic Cow, who do you think I mean?" "We beat The Corruption back in the Everfree Forest, remember?" "I guess so, but it did say it wouldn't be the last we'd see of it. And that warning Luna gave us..." "Try not to think about it too much." Shiera reassured him. "That thing doesn't even know where we are." "Don't you remember? It said 'we are everywhere.'" Strongbolt mimicked the hissing voice of The Corruption. "What if it has allies out there?" "If it does, we'll do exactly what we did to the last one." Strongbolt remembered the night in the Everfree Forest when they were attacked by The Corruption after they went in to find their friend, Twilight Sparkle. Strongbolt wondered what Twilight was doing at that moment, apparently Celestia had organised for her to stay in Ponyville a while longer. Strongbolt remembered Shining Armor, his friend in Canterlot who had seemed so upset to watch his sister leave. "Hope Shining Armor is alright." He murmured. They arrived at Appleloosa at midday, the sun hung in the sky lazily. Strongbolt and Shiera looked out across the rows of buildings. "You know, I've only heard stories about this place." Shiera said. "Have you ever been here before?" "No I..." Strongbolt began saying, but then he stopped. Something about the place seemed odd. "Where is everypony?" He asked. Shiera looked around her, it was true, the whole place was empty except for them, even the ponies on the train appeared to have dispersed. "Something isn't right here." She said. Strongbolt investigated the buildings, one of them caught his eye. "That Blacksmiths." He said. Shiera followed his eyes. "Oh!" She gasped. "There's a huge hole in the wall. What could have done that?" The train horn blew and it shifted into motion and took off, leaving a trail of dust behind. "What is going on here?" Shiera coughed. The dust partially cleared, and it became apparent to Strongbolt and Shiera that they no longer stood alone on the platform. They could not make out the new pony in the dust, however, they could see he was a unicorn, yet, oddly enough he had no mane. "Hello?" Strongbolt called. Two red circles appeared in the area where the pony's eyes should have been. "Um, Strongbolt?" Shiera asked nervously. "I see it." He said in a shocked voice. The pony stepped forward out of the dust, but it was not a pony, a mechanical being, a robot of some sort, with a drill-like horn and a short spiked tail. It scanned them. Strongbolt and Shiera stood motionless. "Alert!" It suddenly screamed. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding with disposal." "That does not sound like a 'welcome.'" Strongbolt yelled as the beast ran at him with its drill horn rotating at full speed. "Run!" Shiera shouted. They jumped off of the platform and ran for the town, the robot followed them, charging like a bull. They turned a corner and passed through a narrow passage, Strongbolt kicked a barrel over to block their persuer but it smashed straight through it, covering it in the barrel's contents: rum. Strongbolt began to get tired, he slowed slightly, unfortunately the robot did not do the same, it instead sped up, noticing its opponents weakness. It knocked Strongbolt aside with his head, Strongbolt quickly recovered his senses, grabbed the nearest object he could, an empty tin can, and threw it at the creatures head, luckily it became lodged in its horn. "Error. Drilling sequence cannot continue, switching to alternative attack systems." It said. It pounced onto Strongbolt and began frantically flailing its arms, Strongbolt tried to block but the machine overpowered him and knocked him back again, this time, however, he was cornered. Strongbolt faced his oppressor who was removing the tin can from his horn. "What do you want from me?" He yelled. The robot lowered its head and began to form a small orb in its horn, as it did this it stuck its hooves into the ground like it was absorbing the earth. Strongbolt backed up against the wall, he extended his wings but one of them was injured. "Ack!" He cried. "Charging complete." The robot hissed as the light of his horn grew brighter. It was about to launch its attack when it suddenly set ablaze. Fire engulfed its whole body quickly and it's horn flickered and turned black. "ERROR! ERROR!" It screamed. "CRITIC-C-C-CAL DERMERGE EN ALL AREAS. MERDA 3 Reterrrrning to repairrrr station." Then it jumped into the air launched itself into the ground and dug through the earth with an unbelievable speed, covering up the hole as it went like a worm. Shiera stood where it had once been, covered in soot and ash. She held a burn out match in her hoof. Strongbolt laughed in relief. "Thanks dear." Strongbolt breathed. Shiera gulped. "Don't mention it, 'dear.'" Suddenly a beige pony with a black hat appeared around the corner. "Holy hell! Are you guys alright?" He asked. "Considering we just got attacked by a maniacal robot with a laser shooting drill-horn, yeah, I'm doing pretty well thanks." Strongbolt said. "You met MERDA then?" The pony asked. "Murder?" Shiera repeated. "M.E.R.D.A." The pony confirmed. "What does that stand for?" Strongbolt inquired. "We ain't sure, but it's what that... thing calls itself." He pointed towards the upturned earth where the robot had vanished. "What is going on here?" Strongbolt exclaimed. "Perhaps it's best if y'all follow me. You ain't from round these parts are ya? "No, Canterlot." "Well fer city folk you gotta hella loada fight in ya. I ain't never seen anypony attack that thing." The CouncilThe beige pony led them into a large building, the town hall, Strongbolt presumed. The entire room was full of different ponies in western attire, huddled in the center; some were comforting others, some were just shuddering. All eyes turned to them when they entered the room. "Dale!" A pony, who appeared to be the Sheriff, called. "Glad to see ya made it back in one piece sonny. Who are these folk?" He gestured at Strongbolt and Shiera who stood their awkwardly, coated in soot and dirt. "And fer that matter, what the heck happened to 'em?" "They took on MERDA." Dale said. Everyone gasped and began muttering to themselves. "Well, technically, it took us on." Shiera corrected. The Sheriff's eyes narrowed. "You sure about that? Miss...?" "Shiera, and this is Strongbolt. Yeah, MERDA attacked us." Shiera said. "That thing's been coming into town so much we can't get out to repair or gather more resources. It breaks our walls and steals our supplies. But in all honesty, I ain't never seen it attack a pony fer no good reason." "It called us 'hostile targets' and ran at us. Wait, no good reason?" Strongbolt explained. "Yeah, it ain't a huge fan of ponies who get in its way, that's why most of us stay in here. But, anyway, since y'all are one a the few ponies who actually came face to face with this devil, you could be quite useful to us. Follow me." The Sheriff said pulling back a curtain leading into a small room with a desk in the middle, a bookshelf up against one wall and a window that had been boarded up. Inside the room were two other ponies discussing something over a book. "Braeburn, Specs." The Sheriff said. The two ponies stopped and looked up at the Sheriff then at Dale and finally at Strongbolt and Shiera. "We got anything?" The Sheriff asked. "Nothing, sir." The pony with glasses, Specs, replied apologetically. The other pony, Braeburn, nodded to confirm this. The Sheriff put his head in his hooves, then he turned back to Shiera and Strongbolt. "Listen." He said. "I wouldn't be asking this is I weren't desperate, but our town is under attack. We can't do so much as leave our homes any more out of fear of that thing returning. We need somepony, or some ponies to help us put an end to MERDA's terrorizing. And as difficult as it is to admit it, you guys know far more valuable information about it than any of us do." "Valuable information? We just got attacked by it." Strongbolt questioned. "No." The Sheriff said. "You got attacked by it and won. That things nine times the strength a all of us put together. And yet you two took it out single hoofed." "I wouldn't say we took it out, just got it to back off for a bit." Strongbolt confessed. "That's a fine place to start." The Sheriff replied. "How did you do it?" "Fire." Shiera stated simply. "It got covered in rum and we lit it up." "How'd ya start the fire?" Specs asked. "Matches. I found a couple in a department store outside." "How did you have time to find them?" Braeburn implored. Shiera looked guiltily at Strongbolt. "Strongbolt got its... attention." Shiera admitted. "I couldn't have done it if Strongbolt didn't absorb a few of its hits and kept it distracted." "Don't it seem odd though?" Dale asked. "What?" The Sheriff questioned. "That thing ain't never just gone after anypony before without it being provoked- I mean with out somepony getting in its way." "Lucky us." Shiera said sarcastically. "When did you first see it?" "First time I ever saw it I was out in the dark, about a week ago. I was looking for... something I had left behind." He said, and for a moment he sounded less western. He corrected himself, "I mean I was out lookin' fer something. When I saw its red eyes, it approa-" he coughed. "It, er, came over to me, I guess I was a little scared and I stepped in front of it, the thing called me a 'hostile target' and jumped at me, so I ran. Back then it was still... pretty broken and it struggled to- I mean it had a hard time keeping up. It musta had a bad memory back then too 'cos it lost interest pretty quick. Raided our blacksmiths it did! Took our damn hard-earned resources! I guess that's what it's been using to fix itself." "Wait, wait, wait!" Strongbolt said suddenly. "Are y'all, I mean, are you telling me this thing can actually repair itself?" "You bet." Said Braeburn. "Every time we do a slight bit a damage to it it shouts about 'MERDA 3 returning to repair station' and digs itself a tunnel straight down." "A tunnel down? So this 'repair station' could be underground?" "We don't know, nobody ever followed it." The Sheriff said. "Besides, we're farmers, not miners, we wouldn't have a damn clue about where to dig." Shiera considered this for a moment. "I think I have an idea." She said. "Have you got any shovels around here?" "Shovels?" The Sheriff inquired. "You ain't honestly suggesting we just dig about aimlessly trying to find this 'repair station' that we don't even know exists." "No, I think we already know where to dig. MERDA digs a tunnel straight through the earth whenever it gets damaged, right? Why don't we just follow one of the tunnels it's already made?" "Worth a try." Braeburn admitted. The Sheriff thought about the idea for a moment. "Alright then. We got a couple shovels in a storage cupboard somewhere around here. Be right back." The Sheriff left the room. Specs stared at the two ponies, he noticed Strongbolt's wing was injured. "Bring me your wing." He said. Strongbolt obliged and lay out his wing on the desk. "Now, this may sting a little." He snapped Strongbolt's wing back. "Ack!" Strongbolt yelled. "There ya go. Just don't fly on it fer a while." Specs smiled whilst Strongbolt rubbed his wing. "Uh, thanks, I guess." He spoke through gritted teeth. The Sheriff returned with a shovel in his mouth and another under his leg. "Well, we got two shovels. Braeburn, if you and I get digging, Specs you stay here and do a little more research, and Dale, find these two somewhere to rest up a little." Specs nodded, Braeburn picked up the other shovel and Dale saluted. "See ya an about an hour." The Sheriff called as he walked out, Braeburn followed him and Specs returned to his book. "Alright." Said Dale. "You two follow me." ConfrontationDale led them out of the room and back into the main hall, he led them up a set of stairs onto the second floor and into a room with a bed and another bookshelf. Another door led into the bathroom. "See you- er, y'all in a hour." Dale began walking away. "Wait a minute." Strongbolt called after him, he turned back, he looked puzzled. "I need to ask you something. Back there, you kept changing what you were saying, why?" "Well, I, I don't know what you..." Dale stuttered. "Dale." Strongbolt said firmly. "Is there something wrong?" Dale sighed. "Well, I suppose I might as well tell you." He checked the corridor outside. "Are you familiar with the term 'ranger' by any chance?" Strongbolt nodded. "Well, my father used to be in charge of a group of rangers who made it their duty to protect the town. They were brilliant, or so I here, I was just a foal back then. Regardless, one day the rangers started disappearing, for what reason we do not know. But, anyway, my father was the last ranger, until he disappeared too, and tradition says that when the last ranger can no longer take care of the town the duty falls to his offspring, that being me." "But I don't see where the problem is." Strongbolt said. "Well, I do not want to be a ranger, I have spent most of my life studying to be a scientist, I just put on the whole western accent and because I want everyone else to feel like there is still someone looking out for them. If they found out this is what I wanted to be..." He brought out a small metal rectangle from his pocket, when he touched the center it opened up and revealed a screen and multiple buttons. "Well, who knows what would happen." "What about the Sheriff?" Shiera implored. "Doesn't he look after the town?" "Well," Dale explained, "after the Rangers disappeared the Sheriff knew the citizens might panic, we received quite a but of trouble from... neighboring tribes back then. He gave them a promise that he would protect them, but they still wanted their rangers, and so the Sheriff made a deal with me: I pretend to be a ranger and he and his deputies would look after the town. I rarely had to do anything, more often than not the Sheriff would take care of everything." Strongbolt stared at Dale, then at the strange device he held. "Wow." He said. "Dale, that is... extraordinary. You made that?" "Yeah, I had a bit of spare time." "What, exactly does it do?" "It locates frequencies of magical activity, absorbs power to keep itself going. I use it to monitor levels of magic in and around Appleloosa." "A scientist ranger." Strongbolt said in awe. "Never thought I'd see the day." Strongbolt thought for a moment. "Why don't we use your skills to help us find MERDA?" "Skills?" Dale retorted. "Any old fool could do something like this." Strongbolt smiled. "Dale, my friend, something tells me you don't meet a lot of 'old fools' because I have never seen anything like this." Dale smiled. "Well, thank you but I don't think I will be of much-" There was a sudden crash and a scream came from the main hall. Dale turned towards the noise, then back to Strongbolt. "Quickly, wipe that soot of your face and get down to the main hall!" Shiera threw Strongbolt a sponge from the sink, he wiped his face as instructed and ran back down into the hall. He gazed down from a balcony that overlooked the first floor, in the center of the room, where the group of ponies had previously been huddled together, there was now a huge crack in the floor, big enough for a pony to fit through, with unearthed dirt surrounding it.The ponies who had originally been in the center were now backed up against the walls, shivering and shuddering. On the floor in front of the crack MERDA stood, its metal coat was now far shinier than previously and it appeared to have recovered from the burns, it scanned the groups of ponies. It finished examining an area and stated: "No hostile targets found. Proceeding to investigate further." It turned and looked directly at Strongbolt. Strongbolt attempted to duck behind the balcony. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding with disposal." MERDA yelled. "Damn!" Strongbolt cried. He turned to Shiera, who had not turned the corner. "Go! He hasn't seen you yet, find the Sheriff!" Shiera disappeared just as the robot arrived at the top of the stairs, like before, it began charging an orb in its horn. It was interrupted by Dale who pelted into its side and dragged it over the side of the balcony. Dale rolled over and got to his hooves. MERDA shook its head. "New hostile target found. Proceeding with disposal." It said. Dale gulped and ran for the stairs, MERDA ran after it, however, the fall seemed to have damaged its left legs, making it steer to the side. Dale ran towards Strongbolt. "Follow me!" He called as he shot past him. Strongbolt did as he was asked and chased Dale into another room. Dale jumped into a window and broke through it, he landed outside on a bale of hay, Strongbolt landed next to him. "We have to keep moving!" Dale shouted. Strongbolt looked up and saw MERDA arrive at the opening they had launched out of, it scanned the floor below, by which time Strongbolt and Dale were already halfway across the road. Strongbolt heard a sickening thud, but he did not turn around. They ran for a moment more before realizing they had cornered themselves once again. MERDA approached them. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding to..." It stopped moving. Strongbolt looked at Dale, Dale watched the robot. It spun back into life and said: "Malumium levels at minimum. Switching to back-up power supply." Dale's eyes narrowed on the word Malumium. "Proceeding to dispo-" A sudden shovel smacked MERDA in the cheek leaving a large dent. "You ain't so hard to find when when yer yellin'!" The Sheriff shouted, shovel in hoof. MERDA twitched, "Error. Error. Returning to repair station." It jumped into the air. "Oh no you don't!" Strongbolt said, grabbing MERDA's tail. MERDA continued to plummet into the ground, dragging Strongbolt with him and then Strongbolt felt something a lot like gravel hit his forehead. The StationAfter a few minutes of diving through dirt and stone, MERDA arrived at a small cave lit by a luminous dark red crystal protruding from the side of the wall.. It landed elegantly onto the rocky floor, Strongbolt, on the other hand, smashed face first into it. MERDA continued to gallop through the cave system into a variety of larger caverns also lit by dark red crystals. Strongbolt was dizzy, but he followed MERDA closely until they arrived at a hollow area filled with electronic equipment and a large pod in the center connected to the equipment and nearby crystals. MERDA leaped into the pod and the doors shut. It was at that moment that Strongbolt realized he had not thought his plan through. A timer that displayed the number sixty flickered into life on the pod, it began counting down. "One hour." Strongbolt said. "Okay, one hour. Got to think, got to think." He turned to the monitors and equipment attached onto the pod. "Maybe..." He grabbed the nearest cable and tried pulling it out of the pod, he had no luck. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Said a strange voice with a familiar tone. "On second thought, go ahead, do it." Strongbolt looked around helplessly. "Who's there?" He called. His eyes focused on two small crystals in the dark, the crystals flickered and came closer. Strongbolt realized they were not crystals, they were eyes. "Did you miss me, Strongbolt?" The Corruption hissed. "You." Strongbolt said. "I thought we took care of you in the Everfree Forest." The Corruption laughed. "Well, I did say you hadn't seen the last of me." "Told you so, Shiera." Strongbolt muttered. "Where is Shiera, anyway? Abandoned you?" The Corruption snickered. Strongbolt laughed, he knew the Corruption's weakness was bravery. "You think you scare me now? You're no different to the last time we met. What makes you think you have a chance this time?" "Au contraire, last time we met I had little power, and I'd just woken up. Don't you remember, Strongbolt Stonewing? I feed off of fear, and there are a lot of scared ponies up there." He gestured towards the cave roof. Damn, Strongbolt thought, I don't think its bluffing. "So, you followed us?" Strongbolt tried to change the subject. "Well, I tend to hold my grudges. Remind me to get those Princesses and that other unicorn back some day too." "Princesses? Other unicorn?" Strongbolt inquired. "Oh, you don't know? Poor little Strongbolt..." Know what? Strongbolt thought, The Corruption must be trying to mess with my head. "So, you built this robot. Tell me, what exactly does MERDA 3 stand for?" "I don't know." The Corruption admitted. "What do you mean? I thought you built this." "Well, you thought wrong. I just stumbled across it while following you and fed it a little dark magic, I have no idea where it came from. It built most of what you see around you. I just sat back and watched." "So you use it to terrorize the citizens of Appleloosa? Then feed off of their fear?" "Well, aren't you just a smart little cookie. Anyway, I've had enough questions. I had a feeling you would be a problem, I guess my suspicions were correct." The Corruption began circling Strongbolt, Strongbolt maintained eye contact at all times. Dust began to fall from the ceiling. Strongbolt glanced up. "What was that?" The Corruption asked. "What was what?" Strongbolt said innocently. He glanced up again, a crack was forming in the ceiling. "That. What you just did then." "What? I don't know what you're talking about." "You keep glancing up at the ceiling, like this." The Corruption glanced towards the ceiling and saw the crack. "Oh, you clever-" Suddenly Braeburn fell through the ceiling followed by Shiera, they landed on the pod and knocked it over. The countdown stopped. Shiera spotted the Corruption and jumped to her hooves. Braeburn got up slowly, then noticed the dark shadowy stallion. "Ah!" He yelled. "What on earth is that?" "Well, well, well. You finally plucked up the courage to show your face around here?" The Corruption imitated his western accent. "I should have known this would have something to do with you." Shiera said spitefully. "Those red eyes, no wonder." "Yes, we've been through all this already. You should have been here five minutes ago." The Corruption rolled its eyes. "Not that it matters now." It pointed to the overturned pod. "You've disturbed MERDA's slumber. It won't be happy about that." "Could somepony fill me in here?" Braeburn asked. "Long story short," Strongbolt said, "Braeburn meet the Corruption, Corruption meet Braeburn. This... um, thing, attacked us a while back and now he's out for revenge or something along those lines." "And it built MERDA?" Braeburn continued. The Corruption put its head in its hoof. "No, we've just been through this." "I'll explain more later-" Strongbolt began saying. The pod burst open, and a half broken robot tumbled out. It stumbled to its hooves. Half of its face and plating was missing, open circuits hung loosely from its body parts and its tail was missing. Its eyes flickered and spun. "E-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-O-O-O-O-R-R-R-R." It screamed. "Massive, extreme damage. Must return to- Repair station offline. Ignoring all protocols. 01001000 01000101 01001100 01010000." The Corruption laughed. "You've really done it now." MERDA jumped onto the pod and up through the tunnel that Braeburn and Shiera came from. The Corruption floated onto the pod and turned back to the group of startled ponies. "Ta-ta for now, little ponies." It looked up and rose into the tunnel and out of sight. "Okay," Strongbolt said, "I did not know it could do that." A few minutes past, Strongbolt paced up and down across the cavern: he was in deep thought. Braeburn watched him while Shiera examined the equipment. "Ahem." Braeburn coughed. Strongbolt stopped and stared at him. "I don't mean to interrupt your thinking, but we could really use a way outta here. If MERDA and that thing, The Corruption, are up there... well, I don't think the Sheriff can handle it on his own, or with his deputies for that matter." Strongbolt just stared at him for a moment, he looked back up the tunnel. "Aha!" Shiera shouted suddenly. "Apparently, if we follow this tunnel to the left," she gestured to a dimly lit, narrow tunnel in the corner of the room, "we should end up near an old mine shaft." "How'd you know that?" Braeburn questioned. "This... um, thing, shows a map of the nearby caves. It looks like we might be able to get out, but we'll have to take the railroad that leads to the surface." "Sounds like a plane, lead the way." Strongbolt said. Shiera picked up one of the pieces of equipment with her mouth and trotted to the mouth of the tunnel. Braeburn and Strongbolt stayed close and together they wandered into the darkness. Every so often they passed another luminous red crystal. "So," Braeburn broke the silence, "what do you think these are?" "Not too sure." Strongbolt admitted. "But whatever they are, MERDA uses them to power itself." They arrived in a more structured cave, wooden boards and arches held the ceiling in place. on the right were two mine carts attached onto a rail. "So, how exactly do we get these things working?" Braeburn asked. "I think I've read about these types of mines before, they used a powerful element called 'Benevolentium' to power their machines, it was, a sort of alternative to magic." "And do we have any benevo- whatever?" "Well, hopefully there is still some left over around here somewhere." Shiera said, and walked towards the mine carts. She picked up a tiny, glowing, orange pebble. "Here we are, this should get us to the surface." She inserted it into a slot at the back of the mine cart and its wheels spun to life. "Quickly, get in!" Strongbolt hopped in the back and Braeburn jumped in after. "So, you sure about this?" Braeburn inquired. "Nope." Shiera confessed, and then there was darkness and a sudden drop. ShowdownNight fell on Appleloosa. The Sheriff waited, he watched the tunnel, staring at it constantly. Specs stood beside him, watching him watch the tunnel. "Sir?" Specs asked. "Sh, I'm watching the tunnel." "I know sir, it's just they've been-" "Sh." "But they-" "Sh." "Sir, could we just-" "How many times do I have to say 'sh' boy?" "Boy?" Specs remarked after a long pause. "Sh." The Sheriff whispered. Specs put his head in his hooves. A faint light appeared in the tunnel. "Hey, look." Specs looked up, he saw the faint red glow, it grew brighter. "Uh, sir?" Specs muttered. "Oh fer cryin' out loud." He breathed. "What? What is it? What do you so desperately require my attention for? Can you not just stay quiet for five-" "Hostiles Lo-o-o-o-ocated." Said a voice from the tunnel. The Sheriff froze. "Oh, you're kidding me." He murmured. "Well, if it isn't the Sheriff? Finally, come out of hiding I see." Said a different voice that changed in pitch and tone. A dark stallion with red eyes and a body made up of black smoke rose from the tunnel and landed next to a twitching MERDA. "Now who the heck are you?" The Sheriff asked calmly. "My name is unimportant. what matter is-" "Hostile! Hostile! Hostile!" MERDA interrupted. "Oh, would you shut that infernal voice unit of yours for five seconds?" The Corruption yelled. "I know how you feel." The Sheriff empathized, glaring at Specs. "Honestly, its been 'self-destruct' this, and 'hostiles' that, the whole way up the tunnel! And it wasn't over quickly! Took the best part of fifteen minutes to get out of there! Fifteen minutes of your eternal blabbering!" It shouted at MERDA. "I wouldn't be surprised if Strongbolt, Shiera and that other guy were already up here by now, what was his name? Broburt, or something?" "Braeburn?" The Sheriff guessed. "Yeah, that's the one." "Wait, you know Strongbolt and Shiera?" The Sheriff asked. "Know them? I hate-" "Self-destruct iminiminiminiminant!" MERDA screamed. "In fifteen mininininutes." "Just shut up, already! Sometimes I wish I'd never found you." "Wait, you know this thing?" "Again, if you had been here, maybe twenty minutes ago. I had literally just explained-" "Hold it right there!" A young colt's voice came from behind them. They all turned to face Dale, who stood holding a small metal device. "And you are?" The Corruption asked. "I am Dale, the last ranger." Dale said proudly. "And I'm here to put a stop to that thing for good!" He pointed at MERDA. "Oh, of course. I forgot, it's been nice chatting to you, we'll have to do this again sometime, if you survive." The Corruption gave an evil cackle. Nobody reacted. "Really? You're not feeling the evil laugh? Okay, whatever. Regardless, these will be your final hours! MERDA is just about ready to blow, and when he does, all the Malumium in him will light this town up like a fireworks display!" They looked at it, puzzled. The Corruption sighed, "It'll blow this place like a barrel a gunpowder!" They all gasped. "Not if I can stop it!" Dale said heroically. He tapped a button on the metal device and it grew and surrounded his hoof, forming a small arm cannon. "Dale, where the hell'd you get that?" The Sheriff inquired. "I... made it, sir." Dale admitted. "You made that thing? Son, that's brilliant!" The Sheriff exclaimed. "Really? I thought that you-" "Whoa, wait!" The Corruption said. "I'm going to stop you right there. I can tell this is going to turn into some emotional realization moment of some sorts and I really don't have the time for that. MERDA! Attack!" MERDA shuddered and sprung forward, randomly firing lasers. The Sheriff, Dale and Specs ducked behind a barrel. "Dale, I sure as heck hope that thing of yours works!" The Sheriff yelled. "It should, but we've only got three charges on it!" He called back. "Why are you shouting?" Specs asked. "You're right next to each other!" "Shut up, Specs. Listen, Dale you make those shots count!" Dale rose his head, he fired one shot, it hit MERDA's front leg, taking it out completely. MERDA made a noise like a cat that had been dropped in water and fell on its side. Its eyes flickered and turned off. "What?" The Corruption yelled. "That was it?" "Nice shooting, Dale. For a moment then I thought you'd waste the first two bullets and end up nailing the last one like some sort of old west story or something-" "Rebooting. MERDA 3 systems online." "For the love of- how many times do we have to destroy this same robot?" The Sheriff exclaimed. "I'll try again." Dale said confidently, he shot another blast that flew straight past MERDA. "Smooth, Dale. Real smooth." The Sheriff said sarcastically. "Look, we've got one shot left, if I can get its head I can take it out." "Dale, I'm pretty sure that first shot was one of the best I've ever seen you land. i am now completely confident that we are all screwed." The Sheriff confessed. "This battle ain't over yet!" Dale yelled. "Self destruct sequence activated." MERDA said. "In five, four-" "I stand corrected." "Three, two..." There was loud crash and in the place where MERDA had stood, there was now a mine cart and a lot of scrap metal. Two minutes earlier: Strongbolt hated fast movement, spinning and total darkness. At that current moment, he was experiencing all three. He curled up in the corner of the mine cart while Shiera and Braeburn looked for any sign of light. "Shiera, honey, how much longer?" He groaned. "There!" She said suddenly, in the distance a faint dark blue light could be seen. "We're almost there!" They approached the dark light at an incredible speed. "Um, how exactly do we slow this thing down?" Braeburn asked. "Oh," Shiera said, "I hadn't thought of that... I'd get your head down if I were you." Shiera and Braeburn dropped to the floor beside Strongbolt. There was a sudden crash and they were coated in the glow of the moonlight. The three got up, and found themselves high in the sky. "Um?" Braeburn muttered. "It appears that the benevolentium I put in was too powerful, the cart is moving without tracks." Shiera murmured. "Through the sky?" Strongbolt moaned. "Well, we were going pretty fast." "I told you, you need to use more calculations before you just... oh..." Strongbolt's voice trailed off, he clutched his stomach. "No, I remember you saying something about a train and the time it takes to arrive from one place to-" "Look out!" Braeburn shouted. Shiera turned back to the front, they were plummeting towards Appleloosa. "Hold on!" Shiera said. After another few seconds of falling, there was a loud crash, and everything stopped moving, except for Strongbolt, whose head was still spinning. Shiera peered out of the mine cart, she saw Specs, The Sheriff and Dale, who had some sort of metal cannon on his hoof. The cart was surrounded by scrap metal and red crystals. "Now that," The Sheriff said, "is accuracy. Dale, you could use some of that." Dale rolled his eyes. Shiera got out of the mine cart and Braeburn helped Strongbolt out. "What happened to you guys?" Specs asked. "We'll explain later. Where's MERDA?" Shiera said. The Sheriff gestured to the scrap metal on the ground. "You mean we...?" "You bet. That thing was just about to blow too." Strongbolt regained his senses, he looked around, in front of him was MERDA's dismembered head. He picked it up, on the back there was an inscription: 'MERDA 3. Excavation and Defense Unit. Property of Dr Ratchet Onsano. Manehattan.' "Manehattan?" Strongbolt whispered. "Manehattan? Ain't that a city?" The Sheriff scratched his head. "Yeah, this thing was made in Manehattan. Wait, if this is 'MERDA 3' then do you think there are MERDAs 1 or 2?" Strongbolt said in realization. "If there's somepony making these then..." Shiera's voice trailed off. "Where's the Corruption?" "You mean that red-eyed guy? He's right..." The Sheriff pointed to where the Corruption had been. "What the? He's gone." "Strongbolt looked at Shiera, Shiera looked back at him. "We have to go to Manehattan." They said in unity. "You're right." Dale said. "If there are more of these things then we gotta stop 'em." "Dale," Strongbolt said, "I think you can drop the western accent." "Quite true, my faithful accomplice." Dale admitted. "Wait, Dale you-" The Sheriff began. "I will justify later on." Dale promised, he turned back to Strongbolt and Shiera. "You two should rest here first, we will begin to make repairs and return the community to its rightful-" "That is gonna take a lot of getting used to." The Sheriff said. OnwardThe following day, after the citizens had returned to their normal lives and the town had been cleaned up, Strongbolt and Shiera gathered their belongings, some of which were still on the train platform. "Listen," The Sheriff said, "we can't thank ya enough fer helping us out. If you ever need assistance in the future, you give us a yell, alight?" "Will do, Sheriff." Strongbolt nodded. "Take care of yourselves." Dale said. ` "Will do, ranger." The train whistle blew. "Well, I guess we'll be going." Shiera said quietly. "Tell Specs and Braeburn we said goodbye." "You can count on us ma'am." Strongbolt picked up a bag and trotted into the train, Shiera followed him. They turned back and waved one last time, before the doors shut and the train left for Manehattan. Two days later, the Sheriff sat in his office in the town hall, Dale, his new right-hoof man and head of the newly appointed rangers, read through a book on quantum physics. There was a knock at the door, the Sheriff looked up from some paperwork. "Come in." He said. The door opened and a pale peach unicorn with orange hair and a hood over her head walked in. "Good morning." She said. "I'm looking for... two ponies, they go by the names of Strongbolt and Shiera." Dale looked up, now interested in the conversation. "What are they to you?" He asked cautiously. "How long ago were they here? Three days?" "How did you- I never said we knew 'em." The Sheriff growled. "I guess it is them, then." The hooded pony said. "The Princesses were right. At least I didn't make the trip for nothing." "What are you talking about?" The Sheriff inquired. "I have to leave now. I hear they've done much work in Manehattan." The pony headed for the door. "Wait a minute. Can we at least get a name?" The pony turned back, she stared at the two of them. "Iris." She said abruptly. "My name is Iris. We shall meet again." And then she left.
MERDA 3It was a late summer night, and the red sun cast large shadows across the town of Appleloosa. The streets were desolate, not a soul could be seen. The only activity came from a saloon in the center of a long row of buildings. The double doors swung open and out came a stout, light brown colt with a black mustache. He wore a blue waist coat with a sheriff badge pinned onto it and a black hat with a red stripe through it. He trotted out into the center of the sand and dirt path that lead straight through the town. He studied the area around him, and looked back towards the saloon. "Come on out boys." He called. "We got work to do." Moments later a group of ponies with a variety of facial hair wandered onto the street. They stopped beside the Sheriff. "Uh, sir?" A skinny pony with glasses asked. "We ain't seen no dangerous activity in Appleloosa for months now. Why do we even bother with these daily patrols?" The Sheriff turned on him. "Listen up Specs, or for that matter, any of you who think similarly. We gave the good citizens of this here town a promise. That we would watch over them, and protect them from anything that'd put 'em in harms way. Now I don't know 'bout you, but I intend to stick to my word." "But, sir." Specs persisted. "There ain't nothing that could put 'em in harms way. Every night we go out patrolling this town and every night we find nothing!" The Sheriff grinned. "We'll, Mister Specs, do I need to remind ya that y'all were the ones who volunteered to do this? You wanna go home and snuggle up in your duvet while the rest of us, true stallions, do the dirty work, you be my guest." Specs stood speechless. "Anypony else got a problem with our routine?" The Sheriff asked, the rest were silent. "No? Splendid. Now get your backsides into yer teams." On his orders, the group split up into four teams of three. "Now," the Sheriff continued, "myself and my accomplices will be searching the south of town. Specs, y'all can take the apple orchards, Braeburn, y'all can..." "Sheriff! Sheriff!" An eager voice called in the distance. The Sheriff turned and watched a young colt with a beige coat, light brown hair and a black hat dash towards him. "Dale? Dale, that you?" The Sheriff called. Dale arrived in front of the group, he was out of breath. "Bit late for a boy to be out ? Ain't it?" "I'd prefer," Dale said between breaths, "adolescent." "Oh, don't confuse me with your fancy gibberish boy! You best have a good reason fer shouting yer mouth all across town." "Sir, I think we got a problem." Dale said nervously. "What is this time? Monsters? Aliens?" The Sheriff retorted. "A... robot, sir." Dale muttered. "A robot? A robot!" The Sheriff laughed. "Son, that is by far the most ridic-" And then he saw it. A mechanical creature jumped from out of the shadows and landed a few metres away, it's body was grey and dusty, possibly silver once, it's eyes were red and gleaming, an it's spike tail and horn whirred and spinned. The Sheriff gulped and gritted his teeth. "Nobody move a damn muscle." He whispered. The robot gazed at them, then turned its attention to a blacksmiths it charged into the wall, breaking it down, dust shot out and shrouded the scene. "Uh, Sheriff?" Specs asked, quivering. The Sheriff was motionless.The robot emerged from the blacksmiths , carrying a small pouch full of metals. "Required elements gathered." It said in a shaky robotic voice. "MERDA 3 returning to repair station." Then it launched itself into the air, turned face down and tunneled through the earth.
HostilesStrongbolt stared at the map of Equestria. He traced the lines that the trains followed from Ponyville down towards Appleloosa, he took various measurement and wrote down different calculations. His wife, Shiera, watched him, slightly concerned. "Aha!" He exclaimed. "Judging by the distance from Ponyville to Appleloosa, and the time we've already spent on the train I think we should be there in..." "Five Minutes until arrival." An announcement came through the speakers. "Um, yeah, that." Strongbolt said in an annoyed tone. "You know," Shiera said, "we could have just asked someone." "But what if there is no one to ask?" Strongbolt countered. "Well, there was though." "No, I mean if we get stuck in a situation where there is no one to ask about how long the train ride is. It's best to get some practice." "Of course." Shiera laughed sarcastically. "How could I forget the everyday problem of needing to know how long the train ride is going to be when there's no one else around." "I'm just saying. It could happen." "Well, if it does, we know what to do." Strongbolt sighed, she had beaten him. "Hang on," Strongbolt said, pulling out a brown hat from his bag, "almost forgot about this." He placed it on his head. Shiera giggled. "When did you pick that... thing up?" "Got it before we left Ponyville. Thought it might fit the theme, make us stand out less." Shiera was puzzled. "What's wrong with standing out?" "Well, you know. We have our enemies." "You don't mean... The Corruption? Do you?" Strongbolt rolled his eyes. "No I mean Steve the Magic Cow, who do you think I mean?" "We beat The Corruption back in the Everfree Forest, remember?" "I guess so, but it did say it wouldn't be the last we'd see of it. And that warning Luna gave us..." "Try not to think about it too much." Shiera reassured him. "That thing doesn't even know where we are." "Don't you remember? It said 'we are everywhere.'" Strongbolt mimicked the hissing voice of The Corruption. "What if it has allies out there?" "If it does, we'll do exactly what we did to the last one." Strongbolt remembered the night in the Everfree Forest when they were attacked by The Corruption after they went in to find their friend, Twilight Sparkle. Strongbolt wondered what Twilight was doing at that moment, apparently Celestia had organised for her to stay in Ponyville a while longer. Strongbolt remembered Shining Armor, his friend in Canterlot who had seemed so upset to watch his sister leave. "Hope Shining Armor is alright." He murmured. They arrived at Appleloosa at midday, the sun hung in the sky lazily. Strongbolt and Shiera looked out across the rows of buildings. "You know, I've only heard stories about this place." Shiera said. "Have you ever been here before?" "No I..." Strongbolt began saying, but then he stopped. Something about the place seemed odd. "Where is everypony?" He asked. Shiera looked around her, it was true, the whole place was empty except for them, even the ponies on the train appeared to have dispersed. "Something isn't right here." She said. Strongbolt investigated the buildings, one of them caught his eye. "That Blacksmiths." He said. Shiera followed his eyes. "Oh!" She gasped. "There's a huge hole in the wall. What could have done that?" The train horn blew and it shifted into motion and took off, leaving a trail of dust behind. "What is going on here?" Shiera coughed. The dust partially cleared, and it became apparent to Strongbolt and Shiera that they no longer stood alone on the platform. They could not make out the new pony in the dust, however, they could see he was a unicorn, yet, oddly enough he had no mane. "Hello?" Strongbolt called. Two red circles appeared in the area where the pony's eyes should have been. "Um, Strongbolt?" Shiera asked nervously. "I see it." He said in a shocked voice. The pony stepped forward out of the dust, but it was not a pony, a mechanical being, a robot of some sort, with a drill-like horn and a short spiked tail. It scanned them. Strongbolt and Shiera stood motionless. "Alert!" It suddenly screamed. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding with disposal." "That does not sound like a 'welcome.'" Strongbolt yelled as the beast ran at him with its drill horn rotating at full speed. "Run!" Shiera shouted. They jumped off of the platform and ran for the town, the robot followed them, charging like a bull. They turned a corner and passed through a narrow passage, Strongbolt kicked a barrel over to block their persuer but it smashed straight through it, covering it in the barrel's contents: rum. Strongbolt began to get tired, he slowed slightly, unfortunately the robot did not do the same, it instead sped up, noticing its opponents weakness. It knocked Strongbolt aside with his head, Strongbolt quickly recovered his senses, grabbed the nearest object he could, an empty tin can, and threw it at the creatures head, luckily it became lodged in its horn. "Error. Drilling sequence cannot continue, switching to alternative attack systems." It said. It pounced onto Strongbolt and began frantically flailing its arms, Strongbolt tried to block but the machine overpowered him and knocked him back again, this time, however, he was cornered. Strongbolt faced his oppressor who was removing the tin can from his horn. "What do you want from me?" He yelled. The robot lowered its head and began to form a small orb in its horn, as it did this it stuck its hooves into the ground like it was absorbing the earth. Strongbolt backed up against the wall, he extended his wings but one of them was injured. "Ack!" He cried. "Charging complete." The robot hissed as the light of his horn grew brighter. It was about to launch its attack when it suddenly set ablaze. Fire engulfed its whole body quickly and it's horn flickered and turned black. "ERROR! ERROR!" It screamed. "CRITIC-C-C-CAL DERMERGE EN ALL AREAS. MERDA 3 Reterrrrning to repairrrr station." Then it jumped into the air launched itself into the ground and dug through the earth with an unbelievable speed, covering up the hole as it went like a worm. Shiera stood where it had once been, covered in soot and ash. She held a burn out match in her hoof. Strongbolt laughed in relief. "Thanks dear." Strongbolt breathed. Shiera gulped. "Don't mention it, 'dear.'" Suddenly a beige pony with a black hat appeared around the corner. "Holy hell! Are you guys alright?" He asked. "Considering we just got attacked by a maniacal robot with a laser shooting drill-horn, yeah, I'm doing pretty well thanks." Strongbolt said. "You met MERDA then?" The pony asked. "Murder?" Shiera repeated. "M.E.R.D.A." The pony confirmed. "What does that stand for?" Strongbolt inquired. "We ain't sure, but it's what that... thing calls itself." He pointed towards the upturned earth where the robot had vanished. "What is going on here?" Strongbolt exclaimed. "Perhaps it's best if y'all follow me. You ain't from round these parts are ya? "No, Canterlot." "Well fer city folk you gotta hella loada fight in ya. I ain't never seen anypony attack that thing."
The CouncilThe beige pony led them into a large building, the town hall, Strongbolt presumed. The entire room was full of different ponies in western attire, huddled in the center; some were comforting others, some were just shuddering. All eyes turned to them when they entered the room. "Dale!" A pony, who appeared to be the Sheriff, called. "Glad to see ya made it back in one piece sonny. Who are these folk?" He gestured at Strongbolt and Shiera who stood their awkwardly, coated in soot and dirt. "And fer that matter, what the heck happened to 'em?" "They took on MERDA." Dale said. Everyone gasped and began muttering to themselves. "Well, technically, it took us on." Shiera corrected. The Sheriff's eyes narrowed. "You sure about that? Miss...?" "Shiera, and this is Strongbolt. Yeah, MERDA attacked us." Shiera said. "That thing's been coming into town so much we can't get out to repair or gather more resources. It breaks our walls and steals our supplies. But in all honesty, I ain't never seen it attack a pony fer no good reason." "It called us 'hostile targets' and ran at us. Wait, no good reason?" Strongbolt explained. "Yeah, it ain't a huge fan of ponies who get in its way, that's why most of us stay in here. But, anyway, since y'all are one a the few ponies who actually came face to face with this devil, you could be quite useful to us. Follow me." The Sheriff said pulling back a curtain leading into a small room with a desk in the middle, a bookshelf up against one wall and a window that had been boarded up. Inside the room were two other ponies discussing something over a book. "Braeburn, Specs." The Sheriff said. The two ponies stopped and looked up at the Sheriff then at Dale and finally at Strongbolt and Shiera. "We got anything?" The Sheriff asked. "Nothing, sir." The pony with glasses, Specs, replied apologetically. The other pony, Braeburn, nodded to confirm this. The Sheriff put his head in his hooves, then he turned back to Shiera and Strongbolt. "Listen." He said. "I wouldn't be asking this is I weren't desperate, but our town is under attack. We can't do so much as leave our homes any more out of fear of that thing returning. We need somepony, or some ponies to help us put an end to MERDA's terrorizing. And as difficult as it is to admit it, you guys know far more valuable information about it than any of us do." "Valuable information? We just got attacked by it." Strongbolt questioned. "No." The Sheriff said. "You got attacked by it and won. That things nine times the strength a all of us put together. And yet you two took it out single hoofed." "I wouldn't say we took it out, just got it to back off for a bit." Strongbolt confessed. "That's a fine place to start." The Sheriff replied. "How did you do it?" "Fire." Shiera stated simply. "It got covered in rum and we lit it up." "How'd ya start the fire?" Specs asked. "Matches. I found a couple in a department store outside." "How did you have time to find them?" Braeburn implored. Shiera looked guiltily at Strongbolt. "Strongbolt got its... attention." Shiera admitted. "I couldn't have done it if Strongbolt didn't absorb a few of its hits and kept it distracted." "Don't it seem odd though?" Dale asked. "What?" The Sheriff questioned. "That thing ain't never just gone after anypony before without it being provoked- I mean with out somepony getting in its way." "Lucky us." Shiera said sarcastically. "When did you first see it?" "First time I ever saw it I was out in the dark, about a week ago. I was looking for... something I had left behind." He said, and for a moment he sounded less western. He corrected himself, "I mean I was out lookin' fer something. When I saw its red eyes, it approa-" he coughed. "It, er, came over to me, I guess I was a little scared and I stepped in front of it, the thing called me a 'hostile target' and jumped at me, so I ran. Back then it was still... pretty broken and it struggled to- I mean it had a hard time keeping up. It musta had a bad memory back then too 'cos it lost interest pretty quick. Raided our blacksmiths it did! Took our damn hard-earned resources! I guess that's what it's been using to fix itself." "Wait, wait, wait!" Strongbolt said suddenly. "Are y'all, I mean, are you telling me this thing can actually repair itself?" "You bet." Said Braeburn. "Every time we do a slight bit a damage to it it shouts about 'MERDA 3 returning to repair station' and digs itself a tunnel straight down." "A tunnel down? So this 'repair station' could be underground?" "We don't know, nobody ever followed it." The Sheriff said. "Besides, we're farmers, not miners, we wouldn't have a damn clue about where to dig." Shiera considered this for a moment. "I think I have an idea." She said. "Have you got any shovels around here?" "Shovels?" The Sheriff inquired. "You ain't honestly suggesting we just dig about aimlessly trying to find this 'repair station' that we don't even know exists." "No, I think we already know where to dig. MERDA digs a tunnel straight through the earth whenever it gets damaged, right? Why don't we just follow one of the tunnels it's already made?" "Worth a try." Braeburn admitted. The Sheriff thought about the idea for a moment. "Alright then. We got a couple shovels in a storage cupboard somewhere around here. Be right back." The Sheriff left the room. Specs stared at the two ponies, he noticed Strongbolt's wing was injured. "Bring me your wing." He said. Strongbolt obliged and lay out his wing on the desk. "Now, this may sting a little." He snapped Strongbolt's wing back. "Ack!" Strongbolt yelled. "There ya go. Just don't fly on it fer a while." Specs smiled whilst Strongbolt rubbed his wing. "Uh, thanks, I guess." He spoke through gritted teeth. The Sheriff returned with a shovel in his mouth and another under his leg. "Well, we got two shovels. Braeburn, if you and I get digging, Specs you stay here and do a little more research, and Dale, find these two somewhere to rest up a little." Specs nodded, Braeburn picked up the other shovel and Dale saluted. "See ya an about an hour." The Sheriff called as he walked out, Braeburn followed him and Specs returned to his book. "Alright." Said Dale. "You two follow me."
ConfrontationDale led them out of the room and back into the main hall, he led them up a set of stairs onto the second floor and into a room with a bed and another bookshelf. Another door led into the bathroom. "See you- er, y'all in a hour." Dale began walking away. "Wait a minute." Strongbolt called after him, he turned back, he looked puzzled. "I need to ask you something. Back there, you kept changing what you were saying, why?" "Well, I, I don't know what you..." Dale stuttered. "Dale." Strongbolt said firmly. "Is there something wrong?" Dale sighed. "Well, I suppose I might as well tell you." He checked the corridor outside. "Are you familiar with the term 'ranger' by any chance?" Strongbolt nodded. "Well, my father used to be in charge of a group of rangers who made it their duty to protect the town. They were brilliant, or so I here, I was just a foal back then. Regardless, one day the rangers started disappearing, for what reason we do not know. But, anyway, my father was the last ranger, until he disappeared too, and tradition says that when the last ranger can no longer take care of the town the duty falls to his offspring, that being me." "But I don't see where the problem is." Strongbolt said. "Well, I do not want to be a ranger, I have spent most of my life studying to be a scientist, I just put on the whole western accent and because I want everyone else to feel like there is still someone looking out for them. If they found out this is what I wanted to be..." He brought out a small metal rectangle from his pocket, when he touched the center it opened up and revealed a screen and multiple buttons. "Well, who knows what would happen." "What about the Sheriff?" Shiera implored. "Doesn't he look after the town?" "Well," Dale explained, "after the Rangers disappeared the Sheriff knew the citizens might panic, we received quite a but of trouble from... neighboring tribes back then. He gave them a promise that he would protect them, but they still wanted their rangers, and so the Sheriff made a deal with me: I pretend to be a ranger and he and his deputies would look after the town. I rarely had to do anything, more often than not the Sheriff would take care of everything." Strongbolt stared at Dale, then at the strange device he held. "Wow." He said. "Dale, that is... extraordinary. You made that?" "Yeah, I had a bit of spare time." "What, exactly does it do?" "It locates frequencies of magical activity, absorbs power to keep itself going. I use it to monitor levels of magic in and around Appleloosa." "A scientist ranger." Strongbolt said in awe. "Never thought I'd see the day." Strongbolt thought for a moment. "Why don't we use your skills to help us find MERDA?" "Skills?" Dale retorted. "Any old fool could do something like this." Strongbolt smiled. "Dale, my friend, something tells me you don't meet a lot of 'old fools' because I have never seen anything like this." Dale smiled. "Well, thank you but I don't think I will be of much-" There was a sudden crash and a scream came from the main hall. Dale turned towards the noise, then back to Strongbolt. "Quickly, wipe that soot of your face and get down to the main hall!" Shiera threw Strongbolt a sponge from the sink, he wiped his face as instructed and ran back down into the hall. He gazed down from a balcony that overlooked the first floor, in the center of the room, where the group of ponies had previously been huddled together, there was now a huge crack in the floor, big enough for a pony to fit through, with unearthed dirt surrounding it.The ponies who had originally been in the center were now backed up against the walls, shivering and shuddering. On the floor in front of the crack MERDA stood, its metal coat was now far shinier than previously and it appeared to have recovered from the burns, it scanned the groups of ponies. It finished examining an area and stated: "No hostile targets found. Proceeding to investigate further." It turned and looked directly at Strongbolt. Strongbolt attempted to duck behind the balcony. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding with disposal." MERDA yelled. "Damn!" Strongbolt cried. He turned to Shiera, who had not turned the corner. "Go! He hasn't seen you yet, find the Sheriff!" Shiera disappeared just as the robot arrived at the top of the stairs, like before, it began charging an orb in its horn. It was interrupted by Dale who pelted into its side and dragged it over the side of the balcony. Dale rolled over and got to his hooves. MERDA shook its head. "New hostile target found. Proceeding with disposal." It said. Dale gulped and ran for the stairs, MERDA ran after it, however, the fall seemed to have damaged its left legs, making it steer to the side. Dale ran towards Strongbolt. "Follow me!" He called as he shot past him. Strongbolt did as he was asked and chased Dale into another room. Dale jumped into a window and broke through it, he landed outside on a bale of hay, Strongbolt landed next to him. "We have to keep moving!" Dale shouted. Strongbolt looked up and saw MERDA arrive at the opening they had launched out of, it scanned the floor below, by which time Strongbolt and Dale were already halfway across the road. Strongbolt heard a sickening thud, but he did not turn around. They ran for a moment more before realizing they had cornered themselves once again. MERDA approached them. "Hostile targets located. Proceeding to..." It stopped moving. Strongbolt looked at Dale, Dale watched the robot. It spun back into life and said: "Malumium levels at minimum. Switching to back-up power supply." Dale's eyes narrowed on the word Malumium. "Proceeding to dispo-" A sudden shovel smacked MERDA in the cheek leaving a large dent. "You ain't so hard to find when when yer yellin'!" The Sheriff shouted, shovel in hoof. MERDA twitched, "Error. Error. Returning to repair station." It jumped into the air. "Oh no you don't!" Strongbolt said, grabbing MERDA's tail. MERDA continued to plummet into the ground, dragging Strongbolt with him and then Strongbolt felt something a lot like gravel hit his forehead.
The StationAfter a few minutes of diving through dirt and stone, MERDA arrived at a small cave lit by a luminous dark red crystal protruding from the side of the wall.. It landed elegantly onto the rocky floor, Strongbolt, on the other hand, smashed face first into it. MERDA continued to gallop through the cave system into a variety of larger caverns also lit by dark red crystals. Strongbolt was dizzy, but he followed MERDA closely until they arrived at a hollow area filled with electronic equipment and a large pod in the center connected to the equipment and nearby crystals. MERDA leaped into the pod and the doors shut. It was at that moment that Strongbolt realized he had not thought his plan through. A timer that displayed the number sixty flickered into life on the pod, it began counting down. "One hour." Strongbolt said. "Okay, one hour. Got to think, got to think." He turned to the monitors and equipment attached onto the pod. "Maybe..." He grabbed the nearest cable and tried pulling it out of the pod, he had no luck. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Said a strange voice with a familiar tone. "On second thought, go ahead, do it." Strongbolt looked around helplessly. "Who's there?" He called. His eyes focused on two small crystals in the dark, the crystals flickered and came closer. Strongbolt realized they were not crystals, they were eyes. "Did you miss me, Strongbolt?" The Corruption hissed. "You." Strongbolt said. "I thought we took care of you in the Everfree Forest." The Corruption laughed. "Well, I did say you hadn't seen the last of me." "Told you so, Shiera." Strongbolt muttered. "Where is Shiera, anyway? Abandoned you?" The Corruption snickered. Strongbolt laughed, he knew the Corruption's weakness was bravery. "You think you scare me now? You're no different to the last time we met. What makes you think you have a chance this time?" "Au contraire, last time we met I had little power, and I'd just woken up. Don't you remember, Strongbolt Stonewing? I feed off of fear, and there are a lot of scared ponies up there." He gestured towards the cave roof. Damn, Strongbolt thought, I don't think its bluffing. "So, you followed us?" Strongbolt tried to change the subject. "Well, I tend to hold my grudges. Remind me to get those Princesses and that other unicorn back some day too." "Princesses? Other unicorn?" Strongbolt inquired. "Oh, you don't know? Poor little Strongbolt..." Know what? Strongbolt thought, The Corruption must be trying to mess with my head. "So, you built this robot. Tell me, what exactly does MERDA 3 stand for?" "I don't know." The Corruption admitted. "What do you mean? I thought you built this." "Well, you thought wrong. I just stumbled across it while following you and fed it a little dark magic, I have no idea where it came from. It built most of what you see around you. I just sat back and watched." "So you use it to terrorize the citizens of Appleloosa? Then feed off of their fear?" "Well, aren't you just a smart little cookie. Anyway, I've had enough questions. I had a feeling you would be a problem, I guess my suspicions were correct." The Corruption began circling Strongbolt, Strongbolt maintained eye contact at all times. Dust began to fall from the ceiling. Strongbolt glanced up. "What was that?" The Corruption asked. "What was what?" Strongbolt said innocently. He glanced up again, a crack was forming in the ceiling. "That. What you just did then." "What? I don't know what you're talking about." "You keep glancing up at the ceiling, like this." The Corruption glanced towards the ceiling and saw the crack. "Oh, you clever-" Suddenly Braeburn fell through the ceiling followed by Shiera, they landed on the pod and knocked it over. The countdown stopped. Shiera spotted the Corruption and jumped to her hooves. Braeburn got up slowly, then noticed the dark shadowy stallion. "Ah!" He yelled. "What on earth is that?" "Well, well, well. You finally plucked up the courage to show your face around here?" The Corruption imitated his western accent. "I should have known this would have something to do with you." Shiera said spitefully. "Those red eyes, no wonder." "Yes, we've been through all this already. You should have been here five minutes ago." The Corruption rolled its eyes. "Not that it matters now." It pointed to the overturned pod. "You've disturbed MERDA's slumber. It won't be happy about that." "Could somepony fill me in here?" Braeburn asked. "Long story short," Strongbolt said, "Braeburn meet the Corruption, Corruption meet Braeburn. This... um, thing, attacked us a while back and now he's out for revenge or something along those lines." "And it built MERDA?" Braeburn continued. The Corruption put its head in its hoof. "No, we've just been through this." "I'll explain more later-" Strongbolt began saying. The pod burst open, and a half broken robot tumbled out. It stumbled to its hooves. Half of its face and plating was missing, open circuits hung loosely from its body parts and its tail was missing. Its eyes flickered and spun. "E-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-O-O-O-O-R-R-R-R." It screamed. "Massive, extreme damage. Must return to- Repair station offline. Ignoring all protocols. 01001000 01000101 01001100 01010000." The Corruption laughed. "You've really done it now." MERDA jumped onto the pod and up through the tunnel that Braeburn and Shiera came from. The Corruption floated onto the pod and turned back to the group of startled ponies. "Ta-ta for now, little ponies." It looked up and rose into the tunnel and out of sight. "Okay," Strongbolt said, "I did not know it could do that." A few minutes past, Strongbolt paced up and down across the cavern: he was in deep thought. Braeburn watched him while Shiera examined the equipment. "Ahem." Braeburn coughed. Strongbolt stopped and stared at him. "I don't mean to interrupt your thinking, but we could really use a way outta here. If MERDA and that thing, The Corruption, are up there... well, I don't think the Sheriff can handle it on his own, or with his deputies for that matter." Strongbolt just stared at him for a moment, he looked back up the tunnel. "Aha!" Shiera shouted suddenly. "Apparently, if we follow this tunnel to the left," she gestured to a dimly lit, narrow tunnel in the corner of the room, "we should end up near an old mine shaft." "How'd you know that?" Braeburn questioned. "This... um, thing, shows a map of the nearby caves. It looks like we might be able to get out, but we'll have to take the railroad that leads to the surface." "Sounds like a plane, lead the way." Strongbolt said. Shiera picked up one of the pieces of equipment with her mouth and trotted to the mouth of the tunnel. Braeburn and Strongbolt stayed close and together they wandered into the darkness. Every so often they passed another luminous red crystal. "So," Braeburn broke the silence, "what do you think these are?" "Not too sure." Strongbolt admitted. "But whatever they are, MERDA uses them to power itself." They arrived in a more structured cave, wooden boards and arches held the ceiling in place. on the right were two mine carts attached onto a rail. "So, how exactly do we get these things working?" Braeburn asked. "I think I've read about these types of mines before, they used a powerful element called 'Benevolentium' to power their machines, it was, a sort of alternative to magic." "And do we have any benevo- whatever?" "Well, hopefully there is still some left over around here somewhere." Shiera said, and walked towards the mine carts. She picked up a tiny, glowing, orange pebble. "Here we are, this should get us to the surface." She inserted it into a slot at the back of the mine cart and its wheels spun to life. "Quickly, get in!" Strongbolt hopped in the back and Braeburn jumped in after. "So, you sure about this?" Braeburn inquired. "Nope." Shiera confessed, and then there was darkness and a sudden drop.
ShowdownNight fell on Appleloosa. The Sheriff waited, he watched the tunnel, staring at it constantly. Specs stood beside him, watching him watch the tunnel. "Sir?" Specs asked. "Sh, I'm watching the tunnel." "I know sir, it's just they've been-" "Sh." "But they-" "Sh." "Sir, could we just-" "How many times do I have to say 'sh' boy?" "Boy?" Specs remarked after a long pause. "Sh." The Sheriff whispered. Specs put his head in his hooves. A faint light appeared in the tunnel. "Hey, look." Specs looked up, he saw the faint red glow, it grew brighter. "Uh, sir?" Specs muttered. "Oh fer cryin' out loud." He breathed. "What? What is it? What do you so desperately require my attention for? Can you not just stay quiet for five-" "Hostiles Lo-o-o-o-ocated." Said a voice from the tunnel. The Sheriff froze. "Oh, you're kidding me." He murmured. "Well, if it isn't the Sheriff? Finally, come out of hiding I see." Said a different voice that changed in pitch and tone. A dark stallion with red eyes and a body made up of black smoke rose from the tunnel and landed next to a twitching MERDA. "Now who the heck are you?" The Sheriff asked calmly. "My name is unimportant. what matter is-" "Hostile! Hostile! Hostile!" MERDA interrupted. "Oh, would you shut that infernal voice unit of yours for five seconds?" The Corruption yelled. "I know how you feel." The Sheriff empathized, glaring at Specs. "Honestly, its been 'self-destruct' this, and 'hostiles' that, the whole way up the tunnel! And it wasn't over quickly! Took the best part of fifteen minutes to get out of there! Fifteen minutes of your eternal blabbering!" It shouted at MERDA. "I wouldn't be surprised if Strongbolt, Shiera and that other guy were already up here by now, what was his name? Broburt, or something?" "Braeburn?" The Sheriff guessed. "Yeah, that's the one." "Wait, you know Strongbolt and Shiera?" The Sheriff asked. "Know them? I hate-" "Self-destruct iminiminiminiminant!" MERDA screamed. "In fifteen mininininutes." "Just shut up, already! Sometimes I wish I'd never found you." "Wait, you know this thing?" "Again, if you had been here, maybe twenty minutes ago. I had literally just explained-" "Hold it right there!" A young colt's voice came from behind them. They all turned to face Dale, who stood holding a small metal device. "And you are?" The Corruption asked. "I am Dale, the last ranger." Dale said proudly. "And I'm here to put a stop to that thing for good!" He pointed at MERDA. "Oh, of course. I forgot, it's been nice chatting to you, we'll have to do this again sometime, if you survive." The Corruption gave an evil cackle. Nobody reacted. "Really? You're not feeling the evil laugh? Okay, whatever. Regardless, these will be your final hours! MERDA is just about ready to blow, and when he does, all the Malumium in him will light this town up like a fireworks display!" They looked at it, puzzled. The Corruption sighed, "It'll blow this place like a barrel a gunpowder!" They all gasped. "Not if I can stop it!" Dale said heroically. He tapped a button on the metal device and it grew and surrounded his hoof, forming a small arm cannon. "Dale, where the hell'd you get that?" The Sheriff inquired. "I... made it, sir." Dale admitted. "You made that thing? Son, that's brilliant!" The Sheriff exclaimed. "Really? I thought that you-" "Whoa, wait!" The Corruption said. "I'm going to stop you right there. I can tell this is going to turn into some emotional realization moment of some sorts and I really don't have the time for that. MERDA! Attack!" MERDA shuddered and sprung forward, randomly firing lasers. The Sheriff, Dale and Specs ducked behind a barrel. "Dale, I sure as heck hope that thing of yours works!" The Sheriff yelled. "It should, but we've only got three charges on it!" He called back. "Why are you shouting?" Specs asked. "You're right next to each other!" "Shut up, Specs. Listen, Dale you make those shots count!" Dale rose his head, he fired one shot, it hit MERDA's front leg, taking it out completely. MERDA made a noise like a cat that had been dropped in water and fell on its side. Its eyes flickered and turned off. "What?" The Corruption yelled. "That was it?" "Nice shooting, Dale. For a moment then I thought you'd waste the first two bullets and end up nailing the last one like some sort of old west story or something-" "Rebooting. MERDA 3 systems online." "For the love of- how many times do we have to destroy this same robot?" The Sheriff exclaimed. "I'll try again." Dale said confidently, he shot another blast that flew straight past MERDA. "Smooth, Dale. Real smooth." The Sheriff said sarcastically. "Look, we've got one shot left, if I can get its head I can take it out." "Dale, I'm pretty sure that first shot was one of the best I've ever seen you land. i am now completely confident that we are all screwed." The Sheriff confessed. "This battle ain't over yet!" Dale yelled. "Self destruct sequence activated." MERDA said. "In five, four-" "I stand corrected." "Three, two..." There was loud crash and in the place where MERDA had stood, there was now a mine cart and a lot of scrap metal. Two minutes earlier: Strongbolt hated fast movement, spinning and total darkness. At that current moment, he was experiencing all three. He curled up in the corner of the mine cart while Shiera and Braeburn looked for any sign of light. "Shiera, honey, how much longer?" He groaned. "There!" She said suddenly, in the distance a faint dark blue light could be seen. "We're almost there!" They approached the dark light at an incredible speed. "Um, how exactly do we slow this thing down?" Braeburn asked. "Oh," Shiera said, "I hadn't thought of that... I'd get your head down if I were you." Shiera and Braeburn dropped to the floor beside Strongbolt. There was a sudden crash and they were coated in the glow of the moonlight. The three got up, and found themselves high in the sky. "Um?" Braeburn muttered. "It appears that the benevolentium I put in was too powerful, the cart is moving without tracks." Shiera murmured. "Through the sky?" Strongbolt moaned. "Well, we were going pretty fast." "I told you, you need to use more calculations before you just... oh..." Strongbolt's voice trailed off, he clutched his stomach. "No, I remember you saying something about a train and the time it takes to arrive from one place to-" "Look out!" Braeburn shouted. Shiera turned back to the front, they were plummeting towards Appleloosa. "Hold on!" Shiera said. After another few seconds of falling, there was a loud crash, and everything stopped moving, except for Strongbolt, whose head was still spinning. Shiera peered out of the mine cart, she saw Specs, The Sheriff and Dale, who had some sort of metal cannon on his hoof. The cart was surrounded by scrap metal and red crystals. "Now that," The Sheriff said, "is accuracy. Dale, you could use some of that." Dale rolled his eyes. Shiera got out of the mine cart and Braeburn helped Strongbolt out. "What happened to you guys?" Specs asked. "We'll explain later. Where's MERDA?" Shiera said. The Sheriff gestured to the scrap metal on the ground. "You mean we...?" "You bet. That thing was just about to blow too." Strongbolt regained his senses, he looked around, in front of him was MERDA's dismembered head. He picked it up, on the back there was an inscription: 'MERDA 3. Excavation and Defense Unit. Property of Dr Ratchet Onsano. Manehattan.' "Manehattan?" Strongbolt whispered. "Manehattan? Ain't that a city?" The Sheriff scratched his head. "Yeah, this thing was made in Manehattan. Wait, if this is 'MERDA 3' then do you think there are MERDAs 1 or 2?" Strongbolt said in realization. "If there's somepony making these then..." Shiera's voice trailed off. "Where's the Corruption?" "You mean that red-eyed guy? He's right..." The Sheriff pointed to where the Corruption had been. "What the? He's gone." "Strongbolt looked at Shiera, Shiera looked back at him. "We have to go to Manehattan." They said in unity. "You're right." Dale said. "If there are more of these things then we gotta stop 'em." "Dale," Strongbolt said, "I think you can drop the western accent." "Quite true, my faithful accomplice." Dale admitted. "Wait, Dale you-" The Sheriff began. "I will justify later on." Dale promised, he turned back to Strongbolt and Shiera. "You two should rest here first, we will begin to make repairs and return the community to its rightful-" "That is gonna take a lot of getting used to." The Sheriff said.
OnwardThe following day, after the citizens had returned to their normal lives and the town had been cleaned up, Strongbolt and Shiera gathered their belongings, some of which were still on the train platform. "Listen," The Sheriff said, "we can't thank ya enough fer helping us out. If you ever need assistance in the future, you give us a yell, alight?" "Will do, Sheriff." Strongbolt nodded. "Take care of yourselves." Dale said. ` "Will do, ranger." The train whistle blew. "Well, I guess we'll be going." Shiera said quietly. "Tell Specs and Braeburn we said goodbye." "You can count on us ma'am." Strongbolt picked up a bag and trotted into the train, Shiera followed him. They turned back and waved one last time, before the doors shut and the train left for Manehattan. Two days later, the Sheriff sat in his office in the town hall, Dale, his new right-hoof man and head of the newly appointed rangers, read through a book on quantum physics. There was a knock at the door, the Sheriff looked up from some paperwork. "Come in." He said. The door opened and a pale peach unicorn with orange hair and a hood over her head walked in. "Good morning." She said. "I'm looking for... two ponies, they go by the names of Strongbolt and Shiera." Dale looked up, now interested in the conversation. "What are they to you?" He asked cautiously. "How long ago were they here? Three days?" "How did you- I never said we knew 'em." The Sheriff growled. "I guess it is them, then." The hooded pony said. "The Princesses were right. At least I didn't make the trip for nothing." "What are you talking about?" The Sheriff inquired. "I have to leave now. I hear they've done much work in Manehattan." The pony headed for the door. "Wait a minute. Can we at least get a name?" The pony turned back, she stared at the two of them. "Iris." She said abruptly. "My name is Iris. We shall meet again." And then she left.
