Short Circuit

I 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.