Epsilon-6

• - -Twilight- - -

“W-what is that thing Twilight?” Rarity asked, watching the object move ever closer to the trio.

Twilight stayed silent, trying to make out any details on the object. It was obviously made of metal but was moving much too fast to have legs like Epsilon had. After a few more moments, it came close enough to make out a few details.

It appeared to be a ball, though the only part that was moving was a middle strip. The strip circled the entire ball and had lines of slanted metal to help it dig into the dirt. The half circles to the left and right of the ball moved in a way that aided it to turn quickly, though how they did this eluded Twilight.

It didn't take long for the ball to reach where they were standing, they were all in a fighting stance, ready to fight it should they have to. Up close, they could see a lot more detail on the ball. The entire thing was covered in dirt, likely to have been picked up from rolling through the fields at high speeds. The strip around the middle of the ball had a small break almost directly in the center, implying that it could separate it should it need to. It stood about three feet taller than Twilight, who was standing fairly close to it.

As they were examining it, they heard a voice emanate from the machine, “Greetings. I am Reclamation Drone 7-4B. I am here to retrieve a unit that has fled the bunker that it resided in. If you could guide me to it, I would be greatly appreciative.”

It spoke in a heavy voice, if one listened carefully they could hear the tinny voice behind it. But the voice spoke authority, Twilight knew she had to ask her questions carefully.

She gave it another look over before replying, “Why does this robot need to be returned?”

“The robot is property of legion three. Any and all hardware that leaves the secure bunkers must be returned to their rightful place as soon as possible.”

“So you just want the robot? You don't want to harm anypony or damage anything?” She asked.

“All I require is the rogue unit. If something attempts to stop me then I am authorized to remove them from the situation. The way you say this intrigues me, however. Are you implying that this unit has caused damage or harm to your kind?”

She could feel the eyes of her friends boring into the back of her head. She knew that she had to say yes, but if the drone took Epsilon, then what would Celestia say?

Steeling herself, she gave her reply.

“Only in self-defense. It has not harmed or damaged anything with the intention to kill or heavily injure.”

As the drone processed this she could feel her friends shock. The way she had said it made it seem like she was just passing off the harm that Epsilon had done to two of their friends.

“Understood.” It eventually said, “So you have seen the unit, yes? Could you please guide me to it so I can take it back?”

Twilight thought the request over for a second before nodding her head and walking back towards Ponyville, her two friends in tow.

• - -Epsilon- - -

“Miss Fluttershy, I hate to cut this short but I need to go,” Epsilon said, standing up.

“Oh, but Twilight said you mustn't go anywhere,” Fluttershy said, looking up at him expectantly.

“And I understand that, however, if I do not move then things here could get... problematic.” He said as he moved towards the door at a brisk pace.

As soon as he reached it, he opened it and left without even looking back. In his rush, he failed to see the little purple dragon that had run backward slightly when Epsilon had opened the door.

While walking down the halls towards the exit of the castle, he tried to formulate some sort of plan to deal with the drone.

'Computer, if I was to use combat systems, how long would I have available to me?'

-At full power, combat system would last a total of thirty minutes-

'Are any areas of the system malfunctioning?'

-Running hardware scan-

…

-No major faults detected. All combat systems are available-

'Ammunition count?'

-500 rounds-

'Load the 30.'s and have them ready for the fight'

-Understood-

With his weapons ready, all that was left was to actually figure out how to use them. He was armed with two automatic thirty caliber guns that were built into his shoulders. If the drone was anything higher than an MK5 then the bullets would do nothing to the drone's armor, but every robot has a weakness somewhere.

He threw open the castle doors and began running in the direction that his scans last found the drone. He could only hope that he would reach it in time.

A quick run later, he found himself looking towards a fairly large hill. He had already scanned the area once again and found the drone not even three hundred feet from the hill. He decided to use what little time he had to check on his systems.

'Computer, are the weapon systems ready?'

-Confirmed. Both firearms are loaded with 250 rounds each. Advise conserving ammunition until replacement can be found-

He nodded, knowing that there was no backing down now. If that drone reached the town then hundreds could die from the havoc that would ensue.

Just two minutes later, he saw Twilight crest the hill, her two friends behind her and... a Mark 7 Reclamation Drone. If he had a heart it would have sunk right there and then.

'TITAN isn't pulling any punches with its retaliation.' He thought to himself as he watched it get ever closer.

The drone noticed him immediately, naturally, and drove around the girls to confront him.

“Unit Epsilon-6. Stand down, you are to be returned to your bunker.” It said.

Instead of responding, Epsilon gave the drone a scan, hoping to find anything he could use to his advantage.

“Unit. Your cooperation would be advised. Return to the bunker now.”

Seeing something near the back of the drone, Epsilon looked up at the drone, finally acknowledging its presence.

“As you wish. I will return with you.” He said to the drone, but instead of turning around like he hoped it would, it spoke up again.

“Your weapons are still armed. Disarm them immediately.”

Epsilon groaned, he knew that it wouldn't be that easy. Unable to think up a reasonable plan, he looked once more upon the towering metal ball.

“I do not think that is going to happen, drone,” he said, channeling more power to his weapon systems. He was fully aware of what was about to happen.

“Your cooperation would be appreciated, unit. Comply now.”

Epsilon didn't reply, instead, he stood his ground and waited.

“Unit is resisting. New orders received. I will attempt to make this quick.” It said, revving its motors and flying towards him.

He was only just able to dodge the machine as it drove past him, in the few seconds he had, he managed to see what he was looking for. An armored casing protecting the drone's combat system. Without it, the ball would be harmless. He just needed to find a way to break it open.

Realizing that it had missed, the drone whirled around, but instead of charging again, it rolled back slightly and began making more motorized noises.

/////WARNING! SCANS INDICATE DRONE IS SWITCHING TO ASSAULT MODE/////

Sure enough, the middle strip around the ball fell backward, revealing a massive cannon behind it that deployed as soon as it had room. Epsilon knew about the weapons that the Mark 7's had, but had never seen them up close before.

He only had a split second to move before a massive shell shot out of the gun. He managed to get out of the way from the blast, but the shockwave disoriented him.

The drone wasted no time and quickly took aim again, readying for what it assumed was the final shot necessary. After a short reload, it fired once more.

• - -Twilight- - -

The display of firepower before her was almost staggering. The speed and reaction time that Epsilon displayed was faster than anything she had ever seen and the sheer firepower that the drone showed awed her to the point of disbelief.

But as the fight went on, and the drone readied the second shot, she came to a realization. If those weapons went off in Ponyville, the damage would have been immense. When she first saw Epsilon waiting for them, she had thought that it wanted to turn itself in. However, after seeing what had happened here, she realized that it had come here for a totally different reason.

It wanted to protect them.

Guilt washed over her as the reality of the situation set in. It could have just waited at the castle and let the drone tear the town apart trying to find it, but instead, it came out and faced it in order to save the town. And she was the one that lead it there.

Determination setting in, she turned to the fight. She was aware that she only but a few short seconds to pull anything off, but she felt she had to fix what she was nearly responsible for.

With only a split second remaining, she cast a shield spell around Epsilon. Due to the spell only having a fraction of a second to cast, the shield shattered upon impact. But it seemed enough to protect Epsilon from the devastating weapon.

As the smoke cleared, she watched as two lights turned towards the drone. The drone in question appeared to be recovering from the blast as it rolled backward.

Taking the opportunity, Epsilon jumped out of the cloud and jumped on top of the drone. It noticed the unwanted rider immediately and attempted to shake it off, but Epsilon had a strong enough grip to stay attached.

Confusion settled in quickly for Twilight, she couldn't understand what Epsilon was trying to do. It clearly had the advantage in the situation but instead of using it, it jumped atop of its enemy.

As Twilight watched, Epsilon crawled as quickly as it could towards the back and lined itself up with the dark box attached to the back of the drone.

The machine had seemed to realize what Epsilon was trying to do and was putting everything it could into trying to remove Epsilon from its hull but couldn't fight against the grip Epsilon had on its metal.

The entire minute after that became a blur for Twilight. She heard a burst of incredibly loud explosions and the screech of metal grinding against metal. The drone was still trying to get Epsilon off of it but its gun had started to return to its previous position, though its track in the middle was still retracted.

After a few more moments of thrashing, everything went quiet, the machine had stopped trying to remove the robot on its back, and Epsilon was climbing off of the machine. Its shoulders were smoking slightly, as was the back of the drone, so she could only assume that they both had something to do with the fight ending so suddenly.

Without a word, Epsilon slumped forward, hitting the ground hard. Leaving three very confused ponies with their thoughts.

• - -TITAN- - -

/////BEGIN LOG 47/////

-Reclamation Drone 7-4B is no longer responsive-

-Assuming mission has failed-

-Issuing alert to all nearby bunkers-

/////ALERT! ROGUE UNIT HAS RETALIATED AND DESTROYED A RECLAMATION DRONE. ALL UNITS RESPOND IMMEDIATELY/////

…

-Seven nearby bunkers have responded. New reclamation drones inbound-

-ETA: 8 days-

-Shutting down until situation has changed-

/////END LOG/////