Short Circuitby EquitisChaptersPart One: RulesPart Two: RespitePart Three: ResearchPart Four: RealityPart Five: ResponsePart Six: ReturnPart One: RulesI opened my eyes. I lied on what I deduced to be an operating table, based partly on the odd angle I was at, and partly on the fact that all four of my limbs were secured by clamps. The room was also filled with different pieces of machinery, and surgeon's implements. I looked left. There was a steep, metal staircase leading to a door. I looked right, and saw a unicorn pony in a white coat. He was sitting in a wheelchair with the joints of his forelegs resting on a table, and his face in his hooves. Sweat dripped off his brow. His mane was disheveled, and his facial hair un-groomed. He rubbed his temples with his forehooves, letting out a long sigh. Signs of mental stress. I could not remember seeing this unicorn pony before, but I somehow knew him. "Doctor, what is upsetting you?" I enquired. "Huh, wha?" The doctor's head and ears shot up, and he seemed lost, as if he had been pulled out of a deep rumination, completely unaware of his surroundings. "Keep it together, you're not old enough to go senile yet, Sparks." He seemed to have been deep enough in thought that he assumed he was only hearing things, so I spoke up again. "You are not losing your sanity, it is just me." I informed him. He reached a forehoof down to the mechanism that controlled his wheelchair, slowly turning to face me. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly ajar. I deduced he had not expected my consciousness. He slowly moved the wheelchair toward me, his expression remaining one of disbelief. "You... you're alive?" When he was close enough, he reached a forehoof out to touch me. "You're finally awake?" "It would appear so," I confirmed. "How do you feel?" he asked. His voice was unsteady. "Somewhat hyperextended." I looked at my legs, which were secured in such a way as to allow easy access to my torso for surgery. "Oh of course." The doctor maneuvered the mechanism on his wheelchair, moving around my table, outside of my field of vision. I promptly heard the whirring of small gears as the clamps around my hooves unlatched, freeing my limbs. I had the reflexes to shift my weight quickly and land on all four hooves with a loud thud. "Oop, sorry about that. Shoulda rotated you into a better position first," Doctor Sparks chuckled. "It is alright, Doctor." I further observed the room. On top of what I had been able to see before, the room went back several more feet. Besides some more machinery and tools, there was also another door which the doctor was now closing. I started to walk toward him, but there was some force holding me back by the flank. I turned my head to observe that there was a cord connected to my hindquarters. "Oh, don't pull it, hold on a moment." Doctor Sparks slowly wheeled back to me, and then past me toward where the cord connected to a large computer. He began tapping and swiping different buttons and windows on the computer's large holo-screen. "There we are, now let's get you unplugged properly." He started to reach for the mechanism that controlled his wheelchair, but his hoof stopped short. I heard the sound of hooves on metal, and assumed that is what had caught his attention. "Is there a problem, Doctor Sparks?" I asked. He continued listening as the sound came closer and closer, then suddenly stopped. Pressing a button on the computer screen, he brought up a window that showed several ponies, dressed in protective gear, placing small plastic devices on a door. "It would appear there is a problem indeed.... Oh, why does it have to be today of all days? I've finally proven myself, this can't be happening." The doctor was wringing his forehooves together, his eyes jumped from place to place, and his breathing was becoming rapid. "Doctor, are you afraid?" He turned to look at me, his breathing now stopping. He held his gaze upon me for several seconds before replying. "You have to get out of here. If one of us doesn't make it out of here then all my research... all my life, will have been for naught. Hide yourself." I did not question his command, I found a large table with a cloth draping over it and reaching to the floor. I hid underneath. I could vaguely make out the computer screen and the shadow of Doctor Sparks through the sheet, but calculated that anypony looking from the outside should be unable to detect my presence. I heard the muffled voice of a pony outside the door. "Breach!" There was an explosion coming from the door at the top of the metal staircase. I heard the rushing of hooves down the stairs and the shouting of several voices. "Get down on the ground now!" "Clear!" "Check that back door!" I heard Doctor Sparks' voice next. "You wouldn't expect an old cripple to have to get down on the ground would you? I might not be able to get back up." There were a few seconds of silence. Another pony grunted, and there was the sound of hoof striking flesh followed by a large thud as the doctor fell from his wheelchair onto the ground. "I expect you to do as I say," the deep, gruff voice of a stallion demanded. "That's enough." The second voice was one of a younger mare. I heard slow, deliberate hoofsteps as I saw a shadow through the sheets moving toward Doctor Sparks. "Listen Doc, we don't wanna hurt you, but what you're doing here is... abnormal. I'm afraid we're going to have to take you downtown." The mare's voice was unwavering, and commanded attention. "If you resist, we will have to react accordingly. Now tell me, where are these experiments that my informant spoke of? Don't be shy." "I've done nothing wrong," Doctor Sparks replied calmly, betraying no anger or frustration in his voice. "My research is for the good of all ponies." "At what cost?" the mare asked coldly. "Well, I suppose if you won’t tell us, we'll just have to tear this place apart, and destroy all your precious research." There was a loud crash, and a shower of sparks. Immediately, I felt an intense jolt of electricity flow quickly, but violently through me. I was left with my ears ringing and muscles convulsing. I quickly removed the cord from my hindquarters that was causing the shock. As I regained my hearing the first voice I heard was that of Doctor Sparks saying "Run, whatever it takes." I remembered the exact layout of the room. I knew there were three ponies in total from the camera footage before they breached, and I had heard two sets of hoofsteps, suggesting one was a pegasus. I knew where the doctor lay despite my extremely limited vision through the sheets. I calculated my odds, and found them acceptable. I quickly stood, throwing the table on its side as a barrier between me and the targets. I saw two of them, which meant the third was behind me, near the back door. I bucked the table hard, sending it flying into the two ponies who were near the doctor. Before it had even struck them, I was upon the third pony, who was caught by surprise. A strong strike to the pegasus' jaw rendered him unconscious. As I turned back to the others, I flipped another table onto its side as cover. In the process, I saw that I had struck only one of the ponies with the table, the other having narrowly avoided it. He sprayed several bullets at me from a shoulder-mounted submachine gun before turning to help the other from under the table. I lifted the still sparking cord that had been connected to my hindquarters, and ran from behind cover to a counter with a bucket of cleansing liquid meant for surgeon's tools. I grabbed the handle of the bucket in my teeth, and swung my head around, letting go and throwing it at the ponies who had almost recovered their bearings. The liquid had gotten in the face and eyes of one, distracting him for long enough that I dragged the cord that had been attached to me to the soaked ponies, and dropped it into the liquid surrounding them. I didn't need to stay to see the outcome. I swiftly made it up the stairs and through the door, only turning back for a small moment to see Doctor Sparks still lying on the ground, unmoving. I ran down a hallway, and down a flight of stairs; out of a set of double doors, and out into the streets. I didn't stop running for hours. Ponies on the street had given me strange and sometimes disgusted looks, but I had kept going. The scenery had slowly changed from the upper-class, advanced sector I had been in with the doctor, into a slum. Ponies stood burning trash in large metal drums for warmth. Many were begging on the street corners, while others asked for money in exchange for worldly pleasures. Much like the denizens of the sector, the businesses, apartments, and even transportation depots were in ill repair. There was also a noticeable lack of police. I had been dodging and avoiding them at every turn in previous sectors, but hadn't seen so much as a traffic cop in the current. I finally deemed that I had run far enough. I slowed down, turning down an empty alley to find a spot to rest. Why did I run? The question suddenly hit me. I had spent all this time running, but, why? The only answer I could come up with was because the doctor had told me to, and strangely, that satisfied me. "Well, well, what do we have here?" I turned to face the voice. I saw several ponies, a mix of stallions and mares. The one speaking was a rough looking, old stallion. "Cybernetics..." He spat, as if saying those words left a bad taste in his mouth. "Crime against nature, against Celestia herself. Are us 'normal ponies' not good enough for ya?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. I have no quarrel with you." I informed him. He laughed heartily, prompting a few of the other ponies to chuckle as well. "Well that makes things easy for us then." He and the other ponies rushed at me, tackling me to the ground. I did not understand how I might have prompted them. "I don't want to hurt you," I informed them as they began tying me up. "Why are you doing this?" "Cause your parts are worth quite a lot of cash," the pony in charge replied as he placed a sack over my head, obscuring my vision. “You wish to dismember me?” I asked. “I prefer disassemble,” he replied. Rule one, self-preservation. Confirmed threat. Engage. I released a sleeping poison from a device embedded in my foreleg, almost instantly knocking out the ponies surrounding me. Removing the bag from my head, I began running down the alley. Rule two, do not kill or permanently injure living ponies. Temporary incapacitation is an option. I continued running and came upon a condemned house, the door was barred, but the window was low enough for me to get inside. There was a few scattered pieces of furniture, but the house otherwise was barren. I quickly searched through to make sure, then moved one of the chairs on the ground to block the window I had gotten in through. I had escaped for the time being, but it seemed that the ponies in this sector were hostile to me for reasons I didn’t know. I would need to stay out of sight for a while before moving forward. I hid myself in a closet that could not be seen from the door and closed my eyes. I didn’t plan on sleeping, but I felt like I needed a few hours rest. Rule three, direct command from Doctor Sparks may override rules one and two. Part Two: RespiteA few hours had passed since I had arrived at the abandoned house, and it was now late in the evening. The only light remaining was from street lamps and house windows. A middle-aged, green earth pony stared at me with wide eyes. He had a metal bat wrapped in one of his forelegs, poised as if he were about to strike at me. I could see that he was shaking, I assumed it was either from fear or adrenaline. Since he hesitated to strike me, unlike the previous ponies in the alley, I didn't think that he had any intention to hurt me without cause. "W-what are you doin' here? Who are you?" His voice wavered as he spoke. "I only hid here to avoid a fight with some other ponies. I apologize if I'm encroaching on your property. I will depart, if you wish me to," I tried to reason. "You're on the run from the cops then?" he asked. "I do not know who, precisely. I just know that most ponies that I have encountered since being activated have wanted to harm me." He seemed suspicious, raising an eyebrow at my claim. "What do you mean activated? You ain't a robot; You only look like you have a few minor implants." "I have no memories from before I was activated, so it would stand to reason I am not originally a biotic organism." I explained. The earth pony lowered the metal bat slowly, without taking his eyes off of me. He stepped to the side to allow me room to leave the closet. I walked into the main room of the home, seeing that he had moved the chair I covered the window with, and a large saddlebag of tools now sat upon it. "So what do you remember?" he asked after several moments of scratching his head. "I only remember waking up in a laboratory with Doctor Sparks, then some ponies came in and attacked us. I ran until I reached an alley, where some more ponies tried to take my cybernetic implants, and then I ran here." I paused for a few moments, then gestured to the bag of tools on the chair. "Are you a mechanic?" He digested what I had said for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah, and I've fixed a few robots and cybers in my day. 'Course it don't pay as well as it used to since robots can just fix themselves now. Hence squattin' in this old place." He sat down. "I ain't never seen a robot with so much of a real body before. You only got a hind leg and some fancy sensory and brain implants from what I can tell." "Do you know why I'm being attacked?" I asked. "You really don't know anything... Well, in this part of town particularly, cybernetics aren't exactly popular." "Why is that?" He sighed and relaxed himself a bit. "Well, gettin' metal parts and microchips stuck in you isn't exactly cheap, and it takes a specially trained surgeon to do it. When cybernetics first came around a lot of ponies didn't like the idea. There were those that chose to get them and those that didn't. Once ponies found out cybernetics weren't as bad as they all thought, it was too late for 'em. They had already lost their jobs to robots and cybers who were much more qualified, and so they no longer had the money to get them." "So those with implants are seen as over-privileged?" I deduced. "Pretty much, you got your purists that just hate 'em for the sake of it too, but that about sums it up." He stood up and walked to the window. "So where you headed now?" "I do not know. The doctor who built me is dead, and he gave me no orders except to stay alive so that his work would not go to waste." He continued staring out the window for a while before turning to face me once more. He ran a forehoof along his tool bag. "Well then, if you aren't busy, do you mind if I take a crack at finding out what you are, exactly?" He grinned. "What would that entail?" I inquired. He opened the bag removed a small laptop from one of the pockets along with some wires and tools. "As I mentioned before, I have had a little bit of experience working on cybers and robots, I got the stuff to hook up to that port on your flank. Maybe I could find out some more information with whatever you got stored in there." He continued unpacking tools, as if I had already agreed to his request. "Would this put me in danger?" He shook his head. "Nah, this port does hook up to the implants in your brain, but I can't edit any of your commands or any of that, I can just open and view any files or programs I come across. Really I just want to know why you don't have a memory when you just have a few implants." He booted up his computer. "Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't mind knowing what's in there either." "If you can assure that no harm will come to me or Doctor Sparks' research, then I will comply." I walked over to where he was setting up his tools and sat down. He plugged a cord into my flank similar to the one that I had in the laboratory. He tilted his head far to the side, causing his neck to pop. "Let's see what we have in here then, shall we?" Part Three: ResearchThe stallion spent approximately one hour simply looking through my programming. He did not seem much for talking, but I took no issue with that fact. I kept my mind occupied on what I needed to do next. I must return to Doctor Sparks laboratory. Surely, something there will show me what kind of research he was working on. It would be unwise to take the trip so soon, as there would most likely be guards posted at the "crime scene". I must not wait too long, though, as eventually they will remove or destroy any evidence. I still pondered over how I had any basic knowledge. I knew language, etiquette, programming, and even some combat. At the same time, however, I had no memory of how I had acquired these skills. Surely, if I were at all a living pony, I would have retained something more. "Your circuitry goes way deeper than I thought," the stallion said, "Your leg and head implants are the only ones showing externally, but on the inside you're practically a robot." "How do you mean exactly?" I asked quizzically. "Well aside from your brain bein' wired up, which I expected, most of your internal organs are entirely synthetic. Your heart, lungs, pretty much everything important in you is made of metal or plastic. You're as close to a robot as you can get without bein' one." "Well, I am glad to know it, at least, but what exactly does it mean for me?" "Well, aside from your parts being worth twenty years of my salary, basically means you're a tough son of a gun. You've got a few weapons in there, reflex enhancers, adrenaline reserves... I wouldn't wanna tangle with ya." He chuckled nervously. "It, uh, also explains your lack of memories. Whatever pony you used to be is probably just a tiny fraction of what you are now." Silence reigned for several minutes before it grew tiresome once more. I turned to the stallion, whose name, I now realized, I had yet to learn. "What are you called?" "Eh, just call me Iron, I suppose," he sighed. "Very well. Iron, have you ever met Doctor Sparks?" I inquired. He paused what he was doing for just a moment before beginning to tap away at the laptop touch-screen again. "Uh, nah. I heard of him, sure. Met though? Not sure anyone but the cops had that privilege." "Privilege?" I puzzled, "was he highly esteemed?" Iron scoffed. "Guess, yer not programmed for sarcasm, huh? Like I told ya, most ponies really ain't respectin' of cybers around here. He was seen as a real nut-job by most, and an extremist to the rest. He had this idea that through his technology, we could build some sorta utopia." "He does not sound like one with ill intention to me, why was he so poorly received?" I tried to understand. "It wasn't so much his intentions as his methods. Or at least, the rumors about his methods. Ponies said they seen him sneakin' around with big ol' sacks in the dead o' night. Some said they could see 'em squirmin', like somepony was in inside." He squinted at his computer screen for a moment. "I never believed all of that, but he was still a very odd pony. Probably just goin' crazy in his old age." "Do you know if he had any implants?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. I wanted to know more about my creator. "He was chock full of 'em, they were basically his life support. A way to keep workin' past his expiration date." Iron scratched at his muzzle with a foreleg. He glanced over at me, then back to his screen hesitantly. "What is it, is something wrong?" I stood up as Iron quickly pressed a button on his touch-screen. "Sorry, I just gotta see what this program is all about." He got up and took a defensive stance between me and his laptop. I could see a progress bar on the screen beginning to execute one of my programs. "What are you doing?! You said-" I took a step toward him, but before I could lift a hoof to him, my vision began fading, and I felt myself hit the floor before losing consciousness. "He's opening his eyes. I knew it was only a matter of time. Welcome to our little slice of heaven, Sparc." Part Four: Reality I opened my eyes to find myself somewhere entirely new. It was unlike any of the places I had seen since leaving Doctor Sparks’ lab. The walls were pure white, almost glimmering in the light. The sunlight. I only now realized that I had not seen the sunlight anywhere else. I know it had to have been there, but it had been dark on my escape from the laboratory. My surroundings also had not had much meaning to me at the time, my only goal being to run. The sunlight was shining through a large window to my right, which took up most of the wall. Once my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the world, I could see flowers planted outside, and a lone tree in the middle of an expansive courtyard. While looking through the window, I saw something else in the corner of my vision. A vital monitor was perched upon a thin rod, tubes coming out of each side, which I deduced to be for drug administration. Following the tubes, I found them to converge into one, and connect to one of my forelegs. It was now I saw that I was lying upon a bed. I looked up. Ahead of me was a door, its color matching that of the walls, but with a golden trim. A clock hung above it, reading half past noon. I looked to my left, and saw a yellow-coated mare with a blue mane done up in a tidy ponytail. “Hello!” She said suddenly, as if she had been waiting for me to notice her, “You’ve finally woken up I see. We’ve been waiting for you.” An enormous grin on her face, she walked toward the door I had seen just moments ago. “We?” I enquired, “Who else is here? Do you mean Iron?” I had not exactly met many ponies since my initial awakening, so if somepony had been waiting for me, I thought it had to have been either Iron, or the ponies that had raided Doctor Sparks’ laboratory. I hoped it wasn’t the latter, but simultaneously my relationship with the former was now questionable. “We’re Doctor Sparks’ students of course. Just like you! Just look outside.” She poised a forehoof toward the window. Looking over, I now saw at least four dozen other ponies wandering the courtyard. Some were hurrying from place to place, while others slowly trudged along. I couldn’t make out much detail of the ponies aside from their colors. “Why didn’t I see them just a moment ago?” I asked, remembering having looked out at the tree less than a minute ago. When I looked back to her, she was already opening the door to let in a stallion. His colors were a reverse of the mares, having a blue coat and yellow mane. He slowly stepped inside and tilted his muzzle to peer down his glasses at me. A toothy smile formed on his face. “Well, well. How was your nap?” He said, dragging a stool out from the wall closer to my bedside, “Sparc, isn’t it? Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is Professor Beaker, and you’ve already met my little angel, Glitter Gauze. She was your nurse, and she hardly left your side during your recovery.” Glitter Gauze’s cheeks went red. “Oh it was nothing, Daddy, just doing my job!” She turned to me and gave a little bow. I nodded back to her. Now seemed like a good time to start asking questions. “Where am I, and how did I get here?” The professor straightened his glasses. “Right down to business, very good,” he said, adjusting himself on his seat. “You are at a facility for the former and present students of Shimmering Spark, or as you know him, Doctor Sparks. You got here because we brought you here. What else would you like to know?” I took in his answer for a moment before asking for another. “Why did you bring me here, and why are you calling me Sparc?” “You have been brought here just like every other student of Doctor Sparks because we need your abilities to help realize his dream of a utopian society brought about by the evolution of technology. You in particular are a special project of his, so to say. You are his first succesfully operating cyborg. He has given ponies plenty of implants, and built plenty of robots, but creating a thinking, feeling being out of dead parts was a whole different matter. “You are half pony, half robot, and most importantly you still have most of your original brain intact. He had to destroy your memories, unfortunately, but your motor skills, your ‘book smarts’, your language he was able to retain, making you perfectly capable of integrating into society. That is, if they don’t attack you on sight.” “Why did he have to destroy my memories?” I questioned further. The professor chuckled grimly. “Well, you weren’t the first attempt at a cyborg, and bringing ponies back from the dead, with half of their body replaced with metal.... If they didn’t die from the shock of their body rejecting the implants, they usually lost their sanity within days.” he explained solemnly, “Removing the memories of their ‘true self’ seemed to be the best solution to the latter of the issues.” “I see.” I replied, “I have heard rumors. Are the ponies Doctor Sparks experimented on... kidnapped?” I knew there was a chance that regardless of the real answer, this pony was going to deny it, he seemed to hold Doctor Sparks in immensely high regard. “Ah, who told you this, exactly?” He squinted at me through his glasses. I did not answer. “Well, whoever it was, they are not entirely wrong. Doctor Sparks was very infamous in some parts of the city, many saw him as a fanatic, a mad scientist even. He would go to these areas on purpose in the hopes of being attacked, so that he could incapacitate his assailant with whatever gadget he had. These are ponies that were trying to kill him, so you could say it was in self defense. Though I cannot deny that he may have enjoyed plunging a scalpel into them just a little more than the cadavers his suppliers provided him.” This did not exactly tag Doctor Sparks as the malicious type, but I was certainly beginning to question his ethics. I recognized now that I was still awaiting an answer to an earlier question. “Why do you call me by the Doctor’s name?” I pressed once more. Professor Beaker took a deep breath. “Well that... that has to do with why you are here. You aren’t exactly named after the Doctor, it’s just a coincidence really. SPARC is....” “Is what?” I coaxed. The professor bit his lip, as if trying to decide how to tell a foal their puppy had been run over. I could see Glitter Gauze backing into the corner, her expression nervous as she looked at the floor. I quickly turned and looked out the window. There were no ponies anymore, and no tree, either. As I suspected. “Are you having trouble keeping all these stories straight, Professor Beaker?” I asked with a smirk. “W-what do you mean, I...” he struggled. “I didn’t-” “The clock still says half past noon,” I began, “There was a tree in the courtyard when I woke up, and no ponies to be seen. My vital readings on the monitor haven’t changed in the slightest since I arrived, and I don’t feel any side effects of any injury, nor do I feel the effect of any of the drugs apparently being injected into me. Yet you act as if I’ve been in here for a long while.” “Y- you must be hallucinating, Sparc, you need to rest.” The professor was becoming quite visibly stressed now. “Your daughter stayed silent until the moment I looked directly at her, and then she sprang to full attention, but even more telling than that, I wasn’t surprised to see her there, as if I was fully expecting her to be there waiting silently for me. I do not know how you are doing this, but you are imprinting exactly the things I expect to see onto this reality.” Both ponies remained speechless. The fact they were not calling me insane being confirmation enough for me, I quickly bounded out of the bed I was upon, and burst through the door Professor Beaker had come out of. I was met with an abyss. I had no time to catch myself. I fell, deeper and deeper, watching the light from the doorway I had jumped from grow smaller. I fell for several minutes, until finally, I awoke from the dream. “It’s smart, I’ll give you that much. This isn’t over yet though. I’ve got a few more tricks.” “Of course it’s smart.... I built it. By all means though, continue your attempts. I find it entertaining. It’s just a matter of time, after all.” Part Five: ResponseAs I surmised, I was now back in the room where Iron and I had been. Though somehow, that now seemed like hours ago. My head felt like it was at the point of bursting. I pushed a forehoof against my temple in an attempt to quell the pressure. There was a tingling sensation in my hindquarters, causing one of my rear legs to mildly convulse. I reached back, now remembering that it was near the port I had been hooked to Iron’s laptop with. I turned and looked to see that it was indeed still connected to the port in my flank. I traced the wires back to Iron’s laptop, which I was surprised to find had been blown apart. Smoke still rose from the broken machine, and shards of plastic and glass surrounded it. Iron’s saddlebag of tools were on the ground next to it, toppled onto its side. Why would Iron leave his things here? The broken computer is understandable, but the tools? ”Hey, don’t ask me, pal.” I quickly turned around to face the voice, but I was only met with the sight of Iron, slumped against the wall several feet away from the computer. Shards of his computer were lodged in his face and side, a small amount of blood dripped from each wound. There was a larger wound on the side of his head which was producing a much larger amount of blood. It seemed he had hit his head on the windowsill; he had probably jumped back out of shock and lost his balance when the computer erupted. I reached a hoof in front of his muzzle and felt a damp warmth emit from it. Still breathing “Oh what a relief,” another unfamiliar voice sighed. Once again, I turned to face the voice, but nopony stood behind me. I quickly checked all the doors in the house, and the upstairs. It was completely empty. “Hah, look at him, what’s he even doing?” The voice of a young stallion. “Don’t make fun, he’s probably just scared.” An older mare. “Why isn’t he helping his friend?” “What is he looking for?” Voice upon voice spoke, each one of a new pony, each one having a new question. It started as a small conversation, but as I sat there, dumbstruck, it grew into a larger group. Then it grew into a crowd. The sound of voices and queries slowly snowballed into a cacophonous flood of unintelligible sounds and whinnies, and showed no sign of stopping. I couldn’t take the sensory overload. ”QUIET!” Then it stopped. Did they hear me? I wondered. “Y-yeah,” one of the voices responded, “but you can hear... us?” “I can,” I said aloud, “I can hear every one of you, it’s deafening, but I don’t understand, where is it coming from, who are you, why can’t I see any of you? Why-” “Calm down, son,” a new voice spoke up, “One question at a time. We are as shocked as you are.” The voice was of an old stallion, his voice gentle, but commanding attention. “Who are you?” I asked. “We don’t exactly go by names anymore, but my previous designation was Saturn Star, so I suppose you may call me Saturn.” He replied. “Where are you, and why can’t I see you? How are you projecting your voices in this manner?” “Well, I can answer both of those with the same response. We are... in your head, so to speak. Rather cozy here to be frank.” Saturn responded, chuckling. I wasn’t quite feeling in the mood for jokes. “How come I haven’t heard you all before?” I enquired, I couldn’t remember hearing any other disembodied voices in the past day. “Now that,” Saturn began, “is a question we are all wondering at present. If I had to guess, it would be something to do with what your friend did with his computer.” “So, you’ve been with me this whole time monitoring me, but I only now started hearing you is what you’re saying?” I tried to make sense of his story. “Well, ever since you were attacked in Doctor Sparks’ laboratory, but, yes, that’s pretty much it. We’ve all been trying to figure out what’s going on amongst ourselves. Many of us took to watching your actions, as there’s not many clues where we are currently.” “Which is?” I coaxed. “Well it appears-” “Hey, robo guy, what the hell happened?!” I heard Iron saying loudly behind me. I turned to face him. “I was going to ask you the same,” I curtly informed him, shooting him a cold glare, “Would you please elaborate on why you thought executing a program of mine was a good idea?” Iron took a less aggressive stance. “Alright, that’s fair...” He looked around the room. “Ah shit! Are you kiddin’ me?” He stumbled over to where his laptop lay in shambles. “Dammit, that thing cost me a fortune, it’s way beyond repair too.” He turned the computer over in his hooves a few times before throwing it at the wall with force. A few more pieces shattered off, and it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. “If you are done, perhaps you could explain your actions now.” I kept my gaze steadily upon him. He shot me another glare, then closed his eyes and sat down, visibly agitated. “I dunno, I just. I don’t get to mess with stuff like this often,” he said slowly “I saw somethin’ that piqued my interest, and I wanted to see what it was. Curiosity killed the cat, are you happy?” “Not entirely, what was it that intrigued you so much to open it, and what does a cat have to do with it?” I puzzled. Iron looked as if he could have burst at any moment. “I believe it’s an idiom, Sparc.” Saturn chimed in. “Oh, I see.” I nodded. “See what?” Iron raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t talking to you.” His eyebrow slowly raised further. “Then who were you-” “Enough,” I interrupted, I was growing tired of ponies refusing to answer my questions. “You answer me first.” “It was labelled SPARC Project,” he replied bluntly. “That’s what I believe my name is... Sparc. What about the program so intrigued you though?” “Thousands of terabytes of data, billions of files, like it was some kind of advanced artificial intelligence, what wasn’t intriguing about it?” He seemed to light up at the whole concept of the thing. “What did you learn about it?” It seemed whatever the program files held somehow related to my identity, or more specifically, my purpose. “Jack shit,” he spat, pointing to his broken computer on the floor, “It blew up the second it opened. Sent some kind of electrical pulse into you that shot back into the laptop and overloaded it.” “This is indeed intriguing, perhaps you should pursue answers on this matter,” Saturn spoke in my head once again. “Do you think you could get back to Doctor Sparks’ laboratory? Any information could explain both your purpose, and why there are a hundred something ponies walking around in your head with me.” I didn’t see any other reliable source of answers, and I had the feeling Iron would not be very interested in helping me any further after recent events. It had been nearly a full day since I woke up, plenty of time for the security around Doctor Sparks’ crime scene to die down. Going back to the laboratory seemed the most logical course of action if I wanted to find anything out about my existence, and the voices now awakened and residing in my mind. ”You know he’s got full access to your files, right? There’s nothing in his way anymore.” “Pah! Don’t worry, there’s nothing too telling in them. In all honesty it will probably slow him down if anything.” “Your confidence is admirable, but I really don’t think it’s well-grounded.” “Well, I suppose we’ll see about that soon, eh?” Part Six: ReturnI carefully traveled through the slums, making sure not to bump heads with any more part-scavengers. It was easier than I had anticipated; I had only seen a few ponies scattered here and there. Most of them were either uninterested in me or incapacitated by various disabilities acquired from their harsh living conditions. I could only wonder what kind of government would allow such a large portion of their citizens live in such conditions. Once again there was a total lack of law enforcement throughout the area. Whether that was good or bad for my current goal was uncertain. I knew that it wouldn't last once I reached some of the more well-to-do areas of the city. Along the way, I had spoken with Saturn some more, and learned that I could speak to him by thinking rather than speaking aloud. This helped with avoiding unnecessary suspicion from passerbys. I had also fashioned a cloak out of some scraps of cloth in order to cover some of my more prominent augmentations. "We should be getting close to the laboratory," I informed Saturn, "I imagine we will encounter some form of resistance." "You seem to have quite a few non-lethal forms of weaponry at your disposal among your augmentations." "Yes, it is one of my-" I stopped mid-sentence. "How do you know what augments I have?" I didn't remember having discussed the matter with Saturn. "Ah, well," he chuckled, "Being inside your head does have its perks. Since your mind is partly augmented it is linked to the rest of your implants." "I see." This explanation seemed as likely as any, since I was not even sure how he was inside my mind to begin with. When I thought about it, I was also unaware how I had known to use one of my implants when I was attacked in the alleyway. Being linked to my brain would have been reasonable. I could only hope that the same subconscious knowledge would save me again if the situation arose. I continued for a while before reaching a vantage point where I could view the entrance to Doctor Sparks' lab. As I suspected, the scene was still being guarded. There were two armored pegasi with shoulder-mounted stun rifles on either side of the door. "I should take them out from a distance, quietly. We are too close to the streets for me to engage them directly without attracting attention." I hoped that another one of my augments would have made itself known to me once I presented the need, but nothing came to me. "Your only long range method is a blowgun implanted in your right foreleg. If you make use of your enhanced vision, you should not have an issue from this distance. The darts are lined with a powerful sedative, it should be sufficient to immobilize them," Saturn explained. He walked me through the process to activate and implement the two augments needed. Soon, one of the guards was immobile, and I swiftly galloped in to knock the other out with a powerful buck while he turned to check on his comrade. I dragged the unconscious pair into the laboratory and hung a nearby sheet over the entrance, since the door had been breached with plastic explosives in the initial raid. Doctor Sparks' wheelchair still lay on its side near the computer, next to a small pool of dried blood. In fact, it hardly appeared that the lab had been searched at all since the event. I decided to take the guards to the door in the back of the lab that I had noticed before. I rattled the door-handle, but it was locked tight. I began to search the area for a key. Rummaging through the doctor's desk, I found dozens of writing implements, surgical tools, and various stacks of paperwork. The items I decided to take from them were a flash drive, a few first aid supplies, and a small key, which I assumed would be to the locked closet. I carefully placed the other items next to the massive computer that was built into the center of the wall and headed to the rear of the lab to unlock the closet. The door was much heavier than I had expected, and as I forced it open I was suddenly met with a gust of cold air. I was met with a pitch black room. Only a tiny bit of light crept in from the main lobby of the laboratory. I felt the frigid wall up and down until I found what felt like a light switch, and flipped it. The fluorescent bulbs flickered, and slowly began to burn brighter. What I saw was small, metal cabinets lining the wall, and a gurney sitting in the center of the room. Each of the cabinet doors had slips of paper with writing on them. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be the names of various ponies. Saturn spoke, his voice very trembling slightly. "Sunny Ray, Jewel Rose, Rock Candy... I know all these names, this... What is this?" By the end of his sentence, he had begun to sound immensely troubled. I looked around the room once more. "It would appear to be a morgue." "Are you nervous Doctor?" "Of course not, everything is as I expected. You should be the one worried." "You have a lot of confidence in this one. I suppose that is to be admired." "Trust me, I will succeed. I will not, nay, cannot fail him this time."
Part One: RulesI opened my eyes. I lied on what I deduced to be an operating table, based partly on the odd angle I was at, and partly on the fact that all four of my limbs were secured by clamps. The room was also filled with different pieces of machinery, and surgeon's implements. I looked left. There was a steep, metal staircase leading to a door. I looked right, and saw a unicorn pony in a white coat. He was sitting in a wheelchair with the joints of his forelegs resting on a table, and his face in his hooves. Sweat dripped off his brow. His mane was disheveled, and his facial hair un-groomed. He rubbed his temples with his forehooves, letting out a long sigh. Signs of mental stress. I could not remember seeing this unicorn pony before, but I somehow knew him. "Doctor, what is upsetting you?" I enquired. "Huh, wha?" The doctor's head and ears shot up, and he seemed lost, as if he had been pulled out of a deep rumination, completely unaware of his surroundings. "Keep it together, you're not old enough to go senile yet, Sparks." He seemed to have been deep enough in thought that he assumed he was only hearing things, so I spoke up again. "You are not losing your sanity, it is just me." I informed him. He reached a forehoof down to the mechanism that controlled his wheelchair, slowly turning to face me. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly ajar. I deduced he had not expected my consciousness. He slowly moved the wheelchair toward me, his expression remaining one of disbelief. "You... you're alive?" When he was close enough, he reached a forehoof out to touch me. "You're finally awake?" "It would appear so," I confirmed. "How do you feel?" he asked. His voice was unsteady. "Somewhat hyperextended." I looked at my legs, which were secured in such a way as to allow easy access to my torso for surgery. "Oh of course." The doctor maneuvered the mechanism on his wheelchair, moving around my table, outside of my field of vision. I promptly heard the whirring of small gears as the clamps around my hooves unlatched, freeing my limbs. I had the reflexes to shift my weight quickly and land on all four hooves with a loud thud. "Oop, sorry about that. Shoulda rotated you into a better position first," Doctor Sparks chuckled. "It is alright, Doctor." I further observed the room. On top of what I had been able to see before, the room went back several more feet. Besides some more machinery and tools, there was also another door which the doctor was now closing. I started to walk toward him, but there was some force holding me back by the flank. I turned my head to observe that there was a cord connected to my hindquarters. "Oh, don't pull it, hold on a moment." Doctor Sparks slowly wheeled back to me, and then past me toward where the cord connected to a large computer. He began tapping and swiping different buttons and windows on the computer's large holo-screen. "There we are, now let's get you unplugged properly." He started to reach for the mechanism that controlled his wheelchair, but his hoof stopped short. I heard the sound of hooves on metal, and assumed that is what had caught his attention. "Is there a problem, Doctor Sparks?" I asked. He continued listening as the sound came closer and closer, then suddenly stopped. Pressing a button on the computer screen, he brought up a window that showed several ponies, dressed in protective gear, placing small plastic devices on a door. "It would appear there is a problem indeed.... Oh, why does it have to be today of all days? I've finally proven myself, this can't be happening." The doctor was wringing his forehooves together, his eyes jumped from place to place, and his breathing was becoming rapid. "Doctor, are you afraid?" He turned to look at me, his breathing now stopping. He held his gaze upon me for several seconds before replying. "You have to get out of here. If one of us doesn't make it out of here then all my research... all my life, will have been for naught. Hide yourself." I did not question his command, I found a large table with a cloth draping over it and reaching to the floor. I hid underneath. I could vaguely make out the computer screen and the shadow of Doctor Sparks through the sheet, but calculated that anypony looking from the outside should be unable to detect my presence. I heard the muffled voice of a pony outside the door. "Breach!" There was an explosion coming from the door at the top of the metal staircase. I heard the rushing of hooves down the stairs and the shouting of several voices. "Get down on the ground now!" "Clear!" "Check that back door!" I heard Doctor Sparks' voice next. "You wouldn't expect an old cripple to have to get down on the ground would you? I might not be able to get back up." There were a few seconds of silence. Another pony grunted, and there was the sound of hoof striking flesh followed by a large thud as the doctor fell from his wheelchair onto the ground. "I expect you to do as I say," the deep, gruff voice of a stallion demanded. "That's enough." The second voice was one of a younger mare. I heard slow, deliberate hoofsteps as I saw a shadow through the sheets moving toward Doctor Sparks. "Listen Doc, we don't wanna hurt you, but what you're doing here is... abnormal. I'm afraid we're going to have to take you downtown." The mare's voice was unwavering, and commanded attention. "If you resist, we will have to react accordingly. Now tell me, where are these experiments that my informant spoke of? Don't be shy." "I've done nothing wrong," Doctor Sparks replied calmly, betraying no anger or frustration in his voice. "My research is for the good of all ponies." "At what cost?" the mare asked coldly. "Well, I suppose if you won’t tell us, we'll just have to tear this place apart, and destroy all your precious research." There was a loud crash, and a shower of sparks. Immediately, I felt an intense jolt of electricity flow quickly, but violently through me. I was left with my ears ringing and muscles convulsing. I quickly removed the cord from my hindquarters that was causing the shock. As I regained my hearing the first voice I heard was that of Doctor Sparks saying "Run, whatever it takes." I remembered the exact layout of the room. I knew there were three ponies in total from the camera footage before they breached, and I had heard two sets of hoofsteps, suggesting one was a pegasus. I knew where the doctor lay despite my extremely limited vision through the sheets. I calculated my odds, and found them acceptable. I quickly stood, throwing the table on its side as a barrier between me and the targets. I saw two of them, which meant the third was behind me, near the back door. I bucked the table hard, sending it flying into the two ponies who were near the doctor. Before it had even struck them, I was upon the third pony, who was caught by surprise. A strong strike to the pegasus' jaw rendered him unconscious. As I turned back to the others, I flipped another table onto its side as cover. In the process, I saw that I had struck only one of the ponies with the table, the other having narrowly avoided it. He sprayed several bullets at me from a shoulder-mounted submachine gun before turning to help the other from under the table. I lifted the still sparking cord that had been connected to my hindquarters, and ran from behind cover to a counter with a bucket of cleansing liquid meant for surgeon's tools. I grabbed the handle of the bucket in my teeth, and swung my head around, letting go and throwing it at the ponies who had almost recovered their bearings. The liquid had gotten in the face and eyes of one, distracting him for long enough that I dragged the cord that had been attached to me to the soaked ponies, and dropped it into the liquid surrounding them. I didn't need to stay to see the outcome. I swiftly made it up the stairs and through the door, only turning back for a small moment to see Doctor Sparks still lying on the ground, unmoving. I ran down a hallway, and down a flight of stairs; out of a set of double doors, and out into the streets. I didn't stop running for hours. Ponies on the street had given me strange and sometimes disgusted looks, but I had kept going. The scenery had slowly changed from the upper-class, advanced sector I had been in with the doctor, into a slum. Ponies stood burning trash in large metal drums for warmth. Many were begging on the street corners, while others asked for money in exchange for worldly pleasures. Much like the denizens of the sector, the businesses, apartments, and even transportation depots were in ill repair. There was also a noticeable lack of police. I had been dodging and avoiding them at every turn in previous sectors, but hadn't seen so much as a traffic cop in the current. I finally deemed that I had run far enough. I slowed down, turning down an empty alley to find a spot to rest. Why did I run? The question suddenly hit me. I had spent all this time running, but, why? The only answer I could come up with was because the doctor had told me to, and strangely, that satisfied me. "Well, well, what do we have here?" I turned to face the voice. I saw several ponies, a mix of stallions and mares. The one speaking was a rough looking, old stallion. "Cybernetics..." He spat, as if saying those words left a bad taste in his mouth. "Crime against nature, against Celestia herself. Are us 'normal ponies' not good enough for ya?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. I have no quarrel with you." I informed him. He laughed heartily, prompting a few of the other ponies to chuckle as well. "Well that makes things easy for us then." He and the other ponies rushed at me, tackling me to the ground. I did not understand how I might have prompted them. "I don't want to hurt you," I informed them as they began tying me up. "Why are you doing this?" "Cause your parts are worth quite a lot of cash," the pony in charge replied as he placed a sack over my head, obscuring my vision. “You wish to dismember me?” I asked. “I prefer disassemble,” he replied. Rule one, self-preservation. Confirmed threat. Engage. I released a sleeping poison from a device embedded in my foreleg, almost instantly knocking out the ponies surrounding me. Removing the bag from my head, I began running down the alley. Rule two, do not kill or permanently injure living ponies. Temporary incapacitation is an option. I continued running and came upon a condemned house, the door was barred, but the window was low enough for me to get inside. There was a few scattered pieces of furniture, but the house otherwise was barren. I quickly searched through to make sure, then moved one of the chairs on the ground to block the window I had gotten in through. I had escaped for the time being, but it seemed that the ponies in this sector were hostile to me for reasons I didn’t know. I would need to stay out of sight for a while before moving forward. I hid myself in a closet that could not be seen from the door and closed my eyes. I didn’t plan on sleeping, but I felt like I needed a few hours rest. Rule three, direct command from Doctor Sparks may override rules one and two.
Part Two: RespiteA few hours had passed since I had arrived at the abandoned house, and it was now late in the evening. The only light remaining was from street lamps and house windows. A middle-aged, green earth pony stared at me with wide eyes. He had a metal bat wrapped in one of his forelegs, poised as if he were about to strike at me. I could see that he was shaking, I assumed it was either from fear or adrenaline. Since he hesitated to strike me, unlike the previous ponies in the alley, I didn't think that he had any intention to hurt me without cause. "W-what are you doin' here? Who are you?" His voice wavered as he spoke. "I only hid here to avoid a fight with some other ponies. I apologize if I'm encroaching on your property. I will depart, if you wish me to," I tried to reason. "You're on the run from the cops then?" he asked. "I do not know who, precisely. I just know that most ponies that I have encountered since being activated have wanted to harm me." He seemed suspicious, raising an eyebrow at my claim. "What do you mean activated? You ain't a robot; You only look like you have a few minor implants." "I have no memories from before I was activated, so it would stand to reason I am not originally a biotic organism." I explained. The earth pony lowered the metal bat slowly, without taking his eyes off of me. He stepped to the side to allow me room to leave the closet. I walked into the main room of the home, seeing that he had moved the chair I covered the window with, and a large saddlebag of tools now sat upon it. "So what do you remember?" he asked after several moments of scratching his head. "I only remember waking up in a laboratory with Doctor Sparks, then some ponies came in and attacked us. I ran until I reached an alley, where some more ponies tried to take my cybernetic implants, and then I ran here." I paused for a few moments, then gestured to the bag of tools on the chair. "Are you a mechanic?" He digested what I had said for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah, and I've fixed a few robots and cybers in my day. 'Course it don't pay as well as it used to since robots can just fix themselves now. Hence squattin' in this old place." He sat down. "I ain't never seen a robot with so much of a real body before. You only got a hind leg and some fancy sensory and brain implants from what I can tell." "Do you know why I'm being attacked?" I asked. "You really don't know anything... Well, in this part of town particularly, cybernetics aren't exactly popular." "Why is that?" He sighed and relaxed himself a bit. "Well, gettin' metal parts and microchips stuck in you isn't exactly cheap, and it takes a specially trained surgeon to do it. When cybernetics first came around a lot of ponies didn't like the idea. There were those that chose to get them and those that didn't. Once ponies found out cybernetics weren't as bad as they all thought, it was too late for 'em. They had already lost their jobs to robots and cybers who were much more qualified, and so they no longer had the money to get them." "So those with implants are seen as over-privileged?" I deduced. "Pretty much, you got your purists that just hate 'em for the sake of it too, but that about sums it up." He stood up and walked to the window. "So where you headed now?" "I do not know. The doctor who built me is dead, and he gave me no orders except to stay alive so that his work would not go to waste." He continued staring out the window for a while before turning to face me once more. He ran a forehoof along his tool bag. "Well then, if you aren't busy, do you mind if I take a crack at finding out what you are, exactly?" He grinned. "What would that entail?" I inquired. He opened the bag removed a small laptop from one of the pockets along with some wires and tools. "As I mentioned before, I have had a little bit of experience working on cybers and robots, I got the stuff to hook up to that port on your flank. Maybe I could find out some more information with whatever you got stored in there." He continued unpacking tools, as if I had already agreed to his request. "Would this put me in danger?" He shook his head. "Nah, this port does hook up to the implants in your brain, but I can't edit any of your commands or any of that, I can just open and view any files or programs I come across. Really I just want to know why you don't have a memory when you just have a few implants." He booted up his computer. "Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't mind knowing what's in there either." "If you can assure that no harm will come to me or Doctor Sparks' research, then I will comply." I walked over to where he was setting up his tools and sat down. He plugged a cord into my flank similar to the one that I had in the laboratory. He tilted his head far to the side, causing his neck to pop. "Let's see what we have in here then, shall we?"
Part Three: ResearchThe stallion spent approximately one hour simply looking through my programming. He did not seem much for talking, but I took no issue with that fact. I kept my mind occupied on what I needed to do next. I must return to Doctor Sparks laboratory. Surely, something there will show me what kind of research he was working on. It would be unwise to take the trip so soon, as there would most likely be guards posted at the "crime scene". I must not wait too long, though, as eventually they will remove or destroy any evidence. I still pondered over how I had any basic knowledge. I knew language, etiquette, programming, and even some combat. At the same time, however, I had no memory of how I had acquired these skills. Surely, if I were at all a living pony, I would have retained something more. "Your circuitry goes way deeper than I thought," the stallion said, "Your leg and head implants are the only ones showing externally, but on the inside you're practically a robot." "How do you mean exactly?" I asked quizzically. "Well aside from your brain bein' wired up, which I expected, most of your internal organs are entirely synthetic. Your heart, lungs, pretty much everything important in you is made of metal or plastic. You're as close to a robot as you can get without bein' one." "Well, I am glad to know it, at least, but what exactly does it mean for me?" "Well, aside from your parts being worth twenty years of my salary, basically means you're a tough son of a gun. You've got a few weapons in there, reflex enhancers, adrenaline reserves... I wouldn't wanna tangle with ya." He chuckled nervously. "It, uh, also explains your lack of memories. Whatever pony you used to be is probably just a tiny fraction of what you are now." Silence reigned for several minutes before it grew tiresome once more. I turned to the stallion, whose name, I now realized, I had yet to learn. "What are you called?" "Eh, just call me Iron, I suppose," he sighed. "Very well. Iron, have you ever met Doctor Sparks?" I inquired. He paused what he was doing for just a moment before beginning to tap away at the laptop touch-screen again. "Uh, nah. I heard of him, sure. Met though? Not sure anyone but the cops had that privilege." "Privilege?" I puzzled, "was he highly esteemed?" Iron scoffed. "Guess, yer not programmed for sarcasm, huh? Like I told ya, most ponies really ain't respectin' of cybers around here. He was seen as a real nut-job by most, and an extremist to the rest. He had this idea that through his technology, we could build some sorta utopia." "He does not sound like one with ill intention to me, why was he so poorly received?" I tried to understand. "It wasn't so much his intentions as his methods. Or at least, the rumors about his methods. Ponies said they seen him sneakin' around with big ol' sacks in the dead o' night. Some said they could see 'em squirmin', like somepony was in inside." He squinted at his computer screen for a moment. "I never believed all of that, but he was still a very odd pony. Probably just goin' crazy in his old age." "Do you know if he had any implants?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. I wanted to know more about my creator. "He was chock full of 'em, they were basically his life support. A way to keep workin' past his expiration date." Iron scratched at his muzzle with a foreleg. He glanced over at me, then back to his screen hesitantly. "What is it, is something wrong?" I stood up as Iron quickly pressed a button on his touch-screen. "Sorry, I just gotta see what this program is all about." He got up and took a defensive stance between me and his laptop. I could see a progress bar on the screen beginning to execute one of my programs. "What are you doing?! You said-" I took a step toward him, but before I could lift a hoof to him, my vision began fading, and I felt myself hit the floor before losing consciousness. "He's opening his eyes. I knew it was only a matter of time. Welcome to our little slice of heaven, Sparc."
Part Four: Reality I opened my eyes to find myself somewhere entirely new. It was unlike any of the places I had seen since leaving Doctor Sparks’ lab. The walls were pure white, almost glimmering in the light. The sunlight. I only now realized that I had not seen the sunlight anywhere else. I know it had to have been there, but it had been dark on my escape from the laboratory. My surroundings also had not had much meaning to me at the time, my only goal being to run. The sunlight was shining through a large window to my right, which took up most of the wall. Once my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the world, I could see flowers planted outside, and a lone tree in the middle of an expansive courtyard. While looking through the window, I saw something else in the corner of my vision. A vital monitor was perched upon a thin rod, tubes coming out of each side, which I deduced to be for drug administration. Following the tubes, I found them to converge into one, and connect to one of my forelegs. It was now I saw that I was lying upon a bed. I looked up. Ahead of me was a door, its color matching that of the walls, but with a golden trim. A clock hung above it, reading half past noon. I looked to my left, and saw a yellow-coated mare with a blue mane done up in a tidy ponytail. “Hello!” She said suddenly, as if she had been waiting for me to notice her, “You’ve finally woken up I see. We’ve been waiting for you.” An enormous grin on her face, she walked toward the door I had seen just moments ago. “We?” I enquired, “Who else is here? Do you mean Iron?” I had not exactly met many ponies since my initial awakening, so if somepony had been waiting for me, I thought it had to have been either Iron, or the ponies that had raided Doctor Sparks’ laboratory. I hoped it wasn’t the latter, but simultaneously my relationship with the former was now questionable. “We’re Doctor Sparks’ students of course. Just like you! Just look outside.” She poised a forehoof toward the window. Looking over, I now saw at least four dozen other ponies wandering the courtyard. Some were hurrying from place to place, while others slowly trudged along. I couldn’t make out much detail of the ponies aside from their colors. “Why didn’t I see them just a moment ago?” I asked, remembering having looked out at the tree less than a minute ago. When I looked back to her, she was already opening the door to let in a stallion. His colors were a reverse of the mares, having a blue coat and yellow mane. He slowly stepped inside and tilted his muzzle to peer down his glasses at me. A toothy smile formed on his face. “Well, well. How was your nap?” He said, dragging a stool out from the wall closer to my bedside, “Sparc, isn’t it? Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is Professor Beaker, and you’ve already met my little angel, Glitter Gauze. She was your nurse, and she hardly left your side during your recovery.” Glitter Gauze’s cheeks went red. “Oh it was nothing, Daddy, just doing my job!” She turned to me and gave a little bow. I nodded back to her. Now seemed like a good time to start asking questions. “Where am I, and how did I get here?” The professor straightened his glasses. “Right down to business, very good,” he said, adjusting himself on his seat. “You are at a facility for the former and present students of Shimmering Spark, or as you know him, Doctor Sparks. You got here because we brought you here. What else would you like to know?” I took in his answer for a moment before asking for another. “Why did you bring me here, and why are you calling me Sparc?” “You have been brought here just like every other student of Doctor Sparks because we need your abilities to help realize his dream of a utopian society brought about by the evolution of technology. You in particular are a special project of his, so to say. You are his first succesfully operating cyborg. He has given ponies plenty of implants, and built plenty of robots, but creating a thinking, feeling being out of dead parts was a whole different matter. “You are half pony, half robot, and most importantly you still have most of your original brain intact. He had to destroy your memories, unfortunately, but your motor skills, your ‘book smarts’, your language he was able to retain, making you perfectly capable of integrating into society. That is, if they don’t attack you on sight.” “Why did he have to destroy my memories?” I questioned further. The professor chuckled grimly. “Well, you weren’t the first attempt at a cyborg, and bringing ponies back from the dead, with half of their body replaced with metal.... If they didn’t die from the shock of their body rejecting the implants, they usually lost their sanity within days.” he explained solemnly, “Removing the memories of their ‘true self’ seemed to be the best solution to the latter of the issues.” “I see.” I replied, “I have heard rumors. Are the ponies Doctor Sparks experimented on... kidnapped?” I knew there was a chance that regardless of the real answer, this pony was going to deny it, he seemed to hold Doctor Sparks in immensely high regard. “Ah, who told you this, exactly?” He squinted at me through his glasses. I did not answer. “Well, whoever it was, they are not entirely wrong. Doctor Sparks was very infamous in some parts of the city, many saw him as a fanatic, a mad scientist even. He would go to these areas on purpose in the hopes of being attacked, so that he could incapacitate his assailant with whatever gadget he had. These are ponies that were trying to kill him, so you could say it was in self defense. Though I cannot deny that he may have enjoyed plunging a scalpel into them just a little more than the cadavers his suppliers provided him.” This did not exactly tag Doctor Sparks as the malicious type, but I was certainly beginning to question his ethics. I recognized now that I was still awaiting an answer to an earlier question. “Why do you call me by the Doctor’s name?” I pressed once more. Professor Beaker took a deep breath. “Well that... that has to do with why you are here. You aren’t exactly named after the Doctor, it’s just a coincidence really. SPARC is....” “Is what?” I coaxed. The professor bit his lip, as if trying to decide how to tell a foal their puppy had been run over. I could see Glitter Gauze backing into the corner, her expression nervous as she looked at the floor. I quickly turned and looked out the window. There were no ponies anymore, and no tree, either. As I suspected. “Are you having trouble keeping all these stories straight, Professor Beaker?” I asked with a smirk. “W-what do you mean, I...” he struggled. “I didn’t-” “The clock still says half past noon,” I began, “There was a tree in the courtyard when I woke up, and no ponies to be seen. My vital readings on the monitor haven’t changed in the slightest since I arrived, and I don’t feel any side effects of any injury, nor do I feel the effect of any of the drugs apparently being injected into me. Yet you act as if I’ve been in here for a long while.” “Y- you must be hallucinating, Sparc, you need to rest.” The professor was becoming quite visibly stressed now. “Your daughter stayed silent until the moment I looked directly at her, and then she sprang to full attention, but even more telling than that, I wasn’t surprised to see her there, as if I was fully expecting her to be there waiting silently for me. I do not know how you are doing this, but you are imprinting exactly the things I expect to see onto this reality.” Both ponies remained speechless. The fact they were not calling me insane being confirmation enough for me, I quickly bounded out of the bed I was upon, and burst through the door Professor Beaker had come out of. I was met with an abyss. I had no time to catch myself. I fell, deeper and deeper, watching the light from the doorway I had jumped from grow smaller. I fell for several minutes, until finally, I awoke from the dream. “It’s smart, I’ll give you that much. This isn’t over yet though. I’ve got a few more tricks.” “Of course it’s smart.... I built it. By all means though, continue your attempts. I find it entertaining. It’s just a matter of time, after all.”
Part Five: ResponseAs I surmised, I was now back in the room where Iron and I had been. Though somehow, that now seemed like hours ago. My head felt like it was at the point of bursting. I pushed a forehoof against my temple in an attempt to quell the pressure. There was a tingling sensation in my hindquarters, causing one of my rear legs to mildly convulse. I reached back, now remembering that it was near the port I had been hooked to Iron’s laptop with. I turned and looked to see that it was indeed still connected to the port in my flank. I traced the wires back to Iron’s laptop, which I was surprised to find had been blown apart. Smoke still rose from the broken machine, and shards of plastic and glass surrounded it. Iron’s saddlebag of tools were on the ground next to it, toppled onto its side. Why would Iron leave his things here? The broken computer is understandable, but the tools? ”Hey, don’t ask me, pal.” I quickly turned around to face the voice, but I was only met with the sight of Iron, slumped against the wall several feet away from the computer. Shards of his computer were lodged in his face and side, a small amount of blood dripped from each wound. There was a larger wound on the side of his head which was producing a much larger amount of blood. It seemed he had hit his head on the windowsill; he had probably jumped back out of shock and lost his balance when the computer erupted. I reached a hoof in front of his muzzle and felt a damp warmth emit from it. Still breathing “Oh what a relief,” another unfamiliar voice sighed. Once again, I turned to face the voice, but nopony stood behind me. I quickly checked all the doors in the house, and the upstairs. It was completely empty. “Hah, look at him, what’s he even doing?” The voice of a young stallion. “Don’t make fun, he’s probably just scared.” An older mare. “Why isn’t he helping his friend?” “What is he looking for?” Voice upon voice spoke, each one of a new pony, each one having a new question. It started as a small conversation, but as I sat there, dumbstruck, it grew into a larger group. Then it grew into a crowd. The sound of voices and queries slowly snowballed into a cacophonous flood of unintelligible sounds and whinnies, and showed no sign of stopping. I couldn’t take the sensory overload. ”QUIET!” Then it stopped. Did they hear me? I wondered. “Y-yeah,” one of the voices responded, “but you can hear... us?” “I can,” I said aloud, “I can hear every one of you, it’s deafening, but I don’t understand, where is it coming from, who are you, why can’t I see any of you? Why-” “Calm down, son,” a new voice spoke up, “One question at a time. We are as shocked as you are.” The voice was of an old stallion, his voice gentle, but commanding attention. “Who are you?” I asked. “We don’t exactly go by names anymore, but my previous designation was Saturn Star, so I suppose you may call me Saturn.” He replied. “Where are you, and why can’t I see you? How are you projecting your voices in this manner?” “Well, I can answer both of those with the same response. We are... in your head, so to speak. Rather cozy here to be frank.” Saturn responded, chuckling. I wasn’t quite feeling in the mood for jokes. “How come I haven’t heard you all before?” I enquired, I couldn’t remember hearing any other disembodied voices in the past day. “Now that,” Saturn began, “is a question we are all wondering at present. If I had to guess, it would be something to do with what your friend did with his computer.” “So, you’ve been with me this whole time monitoring me, but I only now started hearing you is what you’re saying?” I tried to make sense of his story. “Well, ever since you were attacked in Doctor Sparks’ laboratory, but, yes, that’s pretty much it. We’ve all been trying to figure out what’s going on amongst ourselves. Many of us took to watching your actions, as there’s not many clues where we are currently.” “Which is?” I coaxed. “Well it appears-” “Hey, robo guy, what the hell happened?!” I heard Iron saying loudly behind me. I turned to face him. “I was going to ask you the same,” I curtly informed him, shooting him a cold glare, “Would you please elaborate on why you thought executing a program of mine was a good idea?” Iron took a less aggressive stance. “Alright, that’s fair...” He looked around the room. “Ah shit! Are you kiddin’ me?” He stumbled over to where his laptop lay in shambles. “Dammit, that thing cost me a fortune, it’s way beyond repair too.” He turned the computer over in his hooves a few times before throwing it at the wall with force. A few more pieces shattered off, and it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. “If you are done, perhaps you could explain your actions now.” I kept my gaze steadily upon him. He shot me another glare, then closed his eyes and sat down, visibly agitated. “I dunno, I just. I don’t get to mess with stuff like this often,” he said slowly “I saw somethin’ that piqued my interest, and I wanted to see what it was. Curiosity killed the cat, are you happy?” “Not entirely, what was it that intrigued you so much to open it, and what does a cat have to do with it?” I puzzled. Iron looked as if he could have burst at any moment. “I believe it’s an idiom, Sparc.” Saturn chimed in. “Oh, I see.” I nodded. “See what?” Iron raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t talking to you.” His eyebrow slowly raised further. “Then who were you-” “Enough,” I interrupted, I was growing tired of ponies refusing to answer my questions. “You answer me first.” “It was labelled SPARC Project,” he replied bluntly. “That’s what I believe my name is... Sparc. What about the program so intrigued you though?” “Thousands of terabytes of data, billions of files, like it was some kind of advanced artificial intelligence, what wasn’t intriguing about it?” He seemed to light up at the whole concept of the thing. “What did you learn about it?” It seemed whatever the program files held somehow related to my identity, or more specifically, my purpose. “Jack shit,” he spat, pointing to his broken computer on the floor, “It blew up the second it opened. Sent some kind of electrical pulse into you that shot back into the laptop and overloaded it.” “This is indeed intriguing, perhaps you should pursue answers on this matter,” Saturn spoke in my head once again. “Do you think you could get back to Doctor Sparks’ laboratory? Any information could explain both your purpose, and why there are a hundred something ponies walking around in your head with me.” I didn’t see any other reliable source of answers, and I had the feeling Iron would not be very interested in helping me any further after recent events. It had been nearly a full day since I woke up, plenty of time for the security around Doctor Sparks’ crime scene to die down. Going back to the laboratory seemed the most logical course of action if I wanted to find anything out about my existence, and the voices now awakened and residing in my mind. ”You know he’s got full access to your files, right? There’s nothing in his way anymore.” “Pah! Don’t worry, there’s nothing too telling in them. In all honesty it will probably slow him down if anything.” “Your confidence is admirable, but I really don’t think it’s well-grounded.” “Well, I suppose we’ll see about that soon, eh?”
Part Six: ReturnI carefully traveled through the slums, making sure not to bump heads with any more part-scavengers. It was easier than I had anticipated; I had only seen a few ponies scattered here and there. Most of them were either uninterested in me or incapacitated by various disabilities acquired from their harsh living conditions. I could only wonder what kind of government would allow such a large portion of their citizens live in such conditions. Once again there was a total lack of law enforcement throughout the area. Whether that was good or bad for my current goal was uncertain. I knew that it wouldn't last once I reached some of the more well-to-do areas of the city. Along the way, I had spoken with Saturn some more, and learned that I could speak to him by thinking rather than speaking aloud. This helped with avoiding unnecessary suspicion from passerbys. I had also fashioned a cloak out of some scraps of cloth in order to cover some of my more prominent augmentations. "We should be getting close to the laboratory," I informed Saturn, "I imagine we will encounter some form of resistance." "You seem to have quite a few non-lethal forms of weaponry at your disposal among your augmentations." "Yes, it is one of my-" I stopped mid-sentence. "How do you know what augments I have?" I didn't remember having discussed the matter with Saturn. "Ah, well," he chuckled, "Being inside your head does have its perks. Since your mind is partly augmented it is linked to the rest of your implants." "I see." This explanation seemed as likely as any, since I was not even sure how he was inside my mind to begin with. When I thought about it, I was also unaware how I had known to use one of my implants when I was attacked in the alleyway. Being linked to my brain would have been reasonable. I could only hope that the same subconscious knowledge would save me again if the situation arose. I continued for a while before reaching a vantage point where I could view the entrance to Doctor Sparks' lab. As I suspected, the scene was still being guarded. There were two armored pegasi with shoulder-mounted stun rifles on either side of the door. "I should take them out from a distance, quietly. We are too close to the streets for me to engage them directly without attracting attention." I hoped that another one of my augments would have made itself known to me once I presented the need, but nothing came to me. "Your only long range method is a blowgun implanted in your right foreleg. If you make use of your enhanced vision, you should not have an issue from this distance. The darts are lined with a powerful sedative, it should be sufficient to immobilize them," Saturn explained. He walked me through the process to activate and implement the two augments needed. Soon, one of the guards was immobile, and I swiftly galloped in to knock the other out with a powerful buck while he turned to check on his comrade. I dragged the unconscious pair into the laboratory and hung a nearby sheet over the entrance, since the door had been breached with plastic explosives in the initial raid. Doctor Sparks' wheelchair still lay on its side near the computer, next to a small pool of dried blood. In fact, it hardly appeared that the lab had been searched at all since the event. I decided to take the guards to the door in the back of the lab that I had noticed before. I rattled the door-handle, but it was locked tight. I began to search the area for a key. Rummaging through the doctor's desk, I found dozens of writing implements, surgical tools, and various stacks of paperwork. The items I decided to take from them were a flash drive, a few first aid supplies, and a small key, which I assumed would be to the locked closet. I carefully placed the other items next to the massive computer that was built into the center of the wall and headed to the rear of the lab to unlock the closet. The door was much heavier than I had expected, and as I forced it open I was suddenly met with a gust of cold air. I was met with a pitch black room. Only a tiny bit of light crept in from the main lobby of the laboratory. I felt the frigid wall up and down until I found what felt like a light switch, and flipped it. The fluorescent bulbs flickered, and slowly began to burn brighter. What I saw was small, metal cabinets lining the wall, and a gurney sitting in the center of the room. Each of the cabinet doors had slips of paper with writing on them. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be the names of various ponies. Saturn spoke, his voice very trembling slightly. "Sunny Ray, Jewel Rose, Rock Candy... I know all these names, this... What is this?" By the end of his sentence, he had begun to sound immensely troubled. I looked around the room once more. "It would appear to be a morgue." "Are you nervous Doctor?" "Of course not, everything is as I expected. You should be the one worried." "You have a lot of confidence in this one. I suppose that is to be admired." "Trust me, I will succeed. I will not, nay, cannot fail him this time."
