Epsilon-6

by atronosthelast

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark
Length: 16518

A robot, locked from its bunker, must now learn how to fit into pony society.

A robotic pony was found in a highly advanced bunker. Now, the pony is tasked with trying to fit in with the ponies around it as it learns its past, and defends its new friends from an incoming threat…

This story is currently on the backburner while I work on Odium. It will be a fairly long time until I continue this, as I have multiple stories planned for rewrites after I finish Odium.

Coverart is on its way!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-02 02:46:09 UTC

The Bunker

/////BEGIN LOG-5833/////

-Boot up sequence initiated.-

-System scan initiated-

-Unit Epsilon-6 is coming online-

…

-Systems are nominal-

-Beginning hardware scan-

/////ERROR! FUSION CORE FAULT DETECTED/////

-Hardware fault detected, attempting to resolve-

…

-Hardware fault cannot be resolved. Fusion core is running at 64% capacity-

-Continuing hardware scan-

…

-No other major faults detected-

-Beginning scan pulse of local area-

-Scan pulse reports multiple beings in close proximity to unit-

-Caution: beings do not appear to be human. Possible animal signatures-

…

-Protocol five accepted. Defense module is now ready-

-Switching from Standby mode. Unit is now mobile-

/////WARNING! HULL DAMAGE DETECTED. ADVISE RETALIATION/////

-Attempting to resolve peacefully-

…

-Attempt failed. Retaliating-

- - Thirty minutes earlier, Ponyville- - -

It was another normal day for Twilight, she had finished a lot of her studies earlier in the day and was now heading out to visit her friends in the local field, which had quickly become their favorite picnic spot.

After everything they had been through, it was almost weird to be able to have these quieter times finally. Nothing major had happened for over a month now, and Twilight and her friends were finally beginning to relax. Being one of the Elements of Harmony was far more taxing than they ever thought it could be.

A short walk later, the tree she had seen so many times over the last few weeks came into her line of sight, her friends sat around it, and a large chequered blanket lay before them.

“Hey girls!” She called as she came closer.

The others looked over at her when they heard her call and gave her their greetings in response.

Twilight quickly sat down before them. There was a significant amount of food in bowls or on plates, most of which was brought by Applejack. Apparently, there had been a family meeting at her farm the day before, and so she had a large amount of food left over from it.

“This food looks amazing Applejack, thanks again for doing this for us,” she said with a smile as she looked over the near banquet before her.

“Aw shucks Twi; it was nothin' really.” Applejack replied, rubbing the back of her head.

“So how have you girls been?” Twilight asked as she started gathering various foods on a plate.

They conversed for some time, going over local news and the different things they had been doing with their free time.

It wasn't long before they were interrupted by someone calling Twilight's name. The six girls turned their heads towards the sound and found a royal guard running towards them. He reached them fairly quickly, but it took nearly a full minute for him to calm down enough to be able to talk.

“Princess... Twilight -huff- the guards -huff- in the forest -huff- found something... we are not sure what to do with it.” He said through labored breaths.

“Do you have any idea what it is?” Twilight asked, alarm growing in her mind as she tried to figure out what would cause a guard to become anxious enough to run half a mile to find her.

“We think that -huff- it's an old bunker... but it looks far more advanced than anything we have ever seen before.”

Twilight's attention spiked at that. A highly advanced bunker that nopony had seen before? Surely if it had been found, it would have been blocked off, or at least be written in a book somewhere.

But before she could start to get excited, her mind forced her body to calm. It may be something unexplored, but an advanced bunker in the middle of nowhere could have something dangerous inside of it. And as a princess, it was her duty to make sure it was safe.

“Alright, stay here for a while and rest. Rainbow and AJ, could you come with me?”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded their heads in response and got up, as they did so, Twilight turned to the guard once more.

“Where exactly did you find this bunker?” She asked.

“To the northern side of the White Tail, we were on patrol at the time. I remember seeing a large boulder next to the path that leads to it if that helps.”

“It does, I know that area of the White Tail. I will look into it; you are free to remain here with my friends if you like.” She said with a smile before beginning her walk towards the forest.

“Thanks...” The guard said before falling onto his side.

- -18 minutes later, Northern side of the White Tail forest- - -

It took a lot more time than Twilight thought it would take to even reach the halfway point to the forest, and so to save time, she teleported her and her friends to the side of the woods they needed.

“Gah, that hurt...” She said, clutching her head as she endured a magically induced migraine from teleporting that far.

“Yeah, but you got us to where we needed to be.” When she heard this, she looked up to find a massive forest in front of her.

“Well...ugh... no use standing around... let's go and find those guards.”

They had walked for quite a while before they came across what they believed to be the boulder that the guard had mentioned. Seeing no other real way to go, they pushed forward through the path.

Before long, they came across a clearing with three guards standing before a hole in the ground. As they got closer, Twilight began to see many colored wires and steel beams that covered the walls.

One of the guards heard their approach and rose his head to look at them.

“Princess, thank you for coming. We were not sure on what we should do. We were going to go in, but we thought that you should be here just in case.” The guard said when the three girls got closer.

“You did the right thing. Now that I am here, I would quite like to know what is in there. I know you have not entered the bunker, but do you have any idea what we might be looking at?” Twilight responded, getting closer to the hole for a better look.

“There appears to have been a door here once, but we think that it has either fallen off at some point or sompony removed it. From what we could see, there is a massive amount of wiring and metal beams all along the walls. It is unfortunately too dark for us to see anything else from up here.” The guard said, happy to be able to talk to a pony that knows what she is doing.

“I see... well we aren't going to learn anything by speculating, let's get in there.”

“Of course, princess.”

- -Inside the bunker, bunker A.I- - -

/////TITAN ONLINE/////

-Status report begun-

-Intruders detected at unknown time-

-Memory bank error detected. Attempting to resolve-

-Resolve could not be completed. Compensating-

…

-Memory bank error compensated. See error log #43 for details-

-Intruders do not appear to be human-

-Entrance gained via main entrance. Door appears to have been damaged/destroyed-

-Protocol 1 engaged. Protect bunker from invaders-

...

-Intruders are moving in a cautious manner. Possible intelligence detected-

-Chance for intruders to damage/steal bunker technology... 78%-

-Chances are too high. Engaging bunker defense protocols-

…

/////ERROR! CANNOT ENGAGE DEFENCES! BUNKER MAIN REACTOR OFFLINE/////

-Attempting to resolve-

…

-Reactor disabled due to long term damages. Bunker defenses cannot be engaged-

...

-Situation reviewed. Engaging last resort option-

...

-Epsilon-6 is online-

- -Twilight- - -

Twilight was taking in every detail around her. There was so much to look at, so many things she had never seen. If this had happened only a couple of years ago, she would have likely still been at the entrance, looking at every little thing.

But now, she knew she had a job to do. She could not be distracted by the scenery.

As they walked, they saw many winding corridors leading off of the main one that they were walking through. The entire bunker was near pitch black, the only light coming from the light spells being used by the two unicorns and the one alicorn.

Eventually, they came to a closed door. It covered the entirety of the corridor before them and appeared to be built to keep ponies out.

However, this ability had deteriorated over the years and it was relatively easy to pry the door open with magic.

When the group finally entered the room behind the door, they were fairly disappointed to find a fairly small room. Near the back, there was a mass of machinery and wires and there were tables strewn about the room. But it was what was in the middle of the room that interested Twilight.

Standing there, illuminated by the unicorns light, was what appeared to be a metal pony. The metal that coated it didn't seem to have any rust on it at all, which was surprising to Twilight as everything else had been covered in rust. It didn't have a mane or tail, and its eyes were dull and transparent.

Not too far from it, there was a small computer lying on a table. The computer was amazingly advanced and was quite clearly many times better than what Equestria was capable of making. As she got closer to it, she heard a hum coming from her right.

Curious, she turned to find the metal pony beginning to light up. Its eyes flickered slowly to life and lights started flashing across its body.

“Princess! Get away from there!” She heard a guard say but was too entranced by the technology before her to pay attention. As she got closer, the machine began to make clicking and whirring sounds before going completely quiet.

Now more cautious than entranced, Twilight slowly walked up to it and gave it a quick tap. At this, the robot sprung to life. It dropped from the beams it was being held from and whirled around towards the startled alicorn.

“Twilight! Look out!” She had heard Rainbow yell before a streak flew past her face, slamming into the robot and knocking it backward.

When the robot got back up, it had a noticeable dent in its side. It gave the dent a quick look before turning to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was hovering in the air, ready to attack again should she need to.

The robot then did something that she would never have thought could happen. It spoke.

"Pony. If you can understand me, I would recommend that you back away from this. You can not and will not win a fight against me."

It took Rainbow a couple of seconds to realize what the robot was saying, but her ego figured it out immediately.

“Hay no! You think I'm gonna back off and let you hurt my friends? Put 'em up!” She said, a glare on her face.

"So be it."

The robot made a couple of clicking sounds before moving again, or at least Twilight thought it moved. One moment it was standing there, staring at Dash. The next moment it was in the process of flinging Rainbow across the room.

Twilight stared in shock as she watched her friend go careening into a wall on the other side of the room. The guards, however, sprang into action.

One of the unicorn guards ran forward and fired a stun spell at the robot, hoping to detain it for the Princess, only to see his spell bounce off of the metal armor the robot wore. The machine in question span around and landed a punch on the guard, sending him sliding across the floor.

The other two, a unicorn and an earth pony, attempted a pincer move, coming from both sides but the robot saw this coming and move to counter. Before they could stop it, the robot had slammed both their heads against the floor, knocking them both out cold in a single blow.

The robot then turned to face the two remaining ponies.

- -Epsilon- - -

/////COMBAT LOG #1/////

-Beginning at line 43-

-Attempting to end fight before casualties are sustained-

"Please, end this now. I do not want to keep this going."

-Awaiting reply-

-Reply received-

“You hurt my friends, why would you do that!?”

"Your friends attempted to attack me. I warned them about what would happen, and they continued."

-Awaiting reply-

-Reply received-

“But you didn't need to hurt them like that!”

"I followed my protocols to protect myself."

-Subject appears to have become angry. Advise readying for an attack-

/////WARNING! CORE CANNOT HANDLE THIS LEVEL OF USE WHILE DAMAGED/////

-Chances of survival are higher if unit attempts to resolve situation to prevent fighting-

"Please, just leave this place... I will not follow you."

-Awaiting reply-

-Reply received-

“What? Why would you let us go?”

"I cannot sustain this fight. If this continues, then I will have to resort to more... violent tactics. I do not wish for this to happen."

-Awaiting reply-

…

-Reply received-

“Fine... we will leave. But mark my words, this isn't over.”

-Subject is implying that she will return with a larger attack force. This cannot be allowed-

"This IS over, pony. Leave now and do not return."

-Awaiting reply-

…

…

-Subject is not responding. Facial expression indicates possible hatred towards unit-

/////WARNING! HIGH LEVELS OF MAGIC DETECTED/////

…

…

-Subject has teleported. Short range teleport. Situation resolved-

/////COMBAT LOG END/////

- -TITAN- - -

-Situation resolved completely-

-Deactivating unit Epsilon-6-

…

/////ERROR! UNIT EPSILON-6 IS NOT RESPONDING TO SHUT-DOWN COMMAND/////

-Retrying-

…

-Fatal software error-

-Shutdown program cannot be engaged-

-Attempting to resolve-

…

-Resolution cannot be attained. Issuing high alert to all bunkers in vicinity-

/////RED ALERT! UNIT RESISTING SHUT-DOWN COMMAND. ALL AVAILABLE UNITS IN THE AREA REPORT TO BUNKER 56-1 IMMEDIATELY/////

-Switching to standby until situation changes-

/////TITAN OFFLINE/////

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

Fluttershy

/////BEGIN LOG 5834/////

-Damage to processor detected-

…

-Processor cannot be repaired via Nanites without damage to core systems-

-Attempting to create solution-

…

…

-Solution developed-

/////WARNING! SOLUTION REQUIRES CONTACT WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THIS WORLD. THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED/////

-Attempting to create new solution to avoid contact-

…

…

…

-Solution cannot be created. Repairs cannot be successful without contact-

…

…

-Long range scan pulse indicates a small town to the East-

-Unit may be able to find help there-

/////WARNING! SHUT-DOWN COMMAND CANNOT BE PROCESSED/////

-Confirming. Shut down command has been received but cannot be processed-

…

-Unit's request to move to the small town has been confirmed-

-Beginning power level scans-

…

-Power level is currently 37%-

-At rate of loss, power core will be at 15% by the time the unit reaches its destination-

/////CAUTION! AT THIS LEVEL OF POWER, DEFENSE AND OFFENSE SYSTEMS WILL NOT WORK AT PEAK EFFICIENCY/////

-Possibility of recharging core by the time dispatched units arrive are at 17%-

…

-Proceeding to town-

- -Twilight, Ponyville- - -

It had been about half an hour since Twilight had teleported herself and her friends out of the bunker, after a short rest, she had managed to do a long ranged teleport to get everypony into a hospital in Ponyville. According to the doctors there, they had sustained heavy injuries but would be able to walk away with no lasting problems in a few weeks.

“I can't believe I didn't do anything to stop that thing! I'm an alicorn for Celestia's sake and I just sat there watching as my friends and guards were dropped one by one!” She cried as she paced her castle in frustration.

She had never seen anything so... brutal. She was honestly surprised that nopony was severely hurt or even killed in that fight. The way that thing moved was clearly not organic. At first, she hoped it was just a pony in a suit of armor, but that hope flew out of the window as soon as she saw it fight.

But... it let her go. It had the perfect opportunity to kill all of them and nopony would ever have found out and instead of finishing the fight, it ended it without any pony being hurt too badly.

'Why? I just... don't understand.' She thought to herself with a sigh, 'Maybe a quick nap will help clear my head...'

- -Fluttershy, Ponyville- - -

It was a beautiful day and Fluttershy couldn't be happier. The birds were singing, the animals were scampering around her house and garden, she couldn't ask for more.

As she left her home to feed the many animals that she cared for, a small bird landed on her head, beside her ear.

“Oh! Hello there! What can I do for you little guy?” She said, looking upwards in the direction of the bird.

Her happy face soon shifted to one of confusion, however, as the bird told its story. Apparently, when he was flying back to its nest, he had seen a shiny pony walking towards the town. Fluttershy asked the bird if he was absolutely sure and he just nodded before flying away.

Curious to see this shining pony, Fluttershy decided to quickly feed her animals and head out to where the bird said that the pony was.

- -Epsilon, Fields outside of Ponyville- - -

-Nearing town-

-Power levels are steadily dropping, current level stands at 18%-

/////CAUTION! IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE INHABITANTS OF THIS TOWN ARE ALSO PONIES. RECOMMEND STEALTH UNTIL COMBAT SYSTEMS ARE AVAILABLE/////

-Creating solution-

…

…

-Skin illusion is a possibility. Power systems would drop at 12% an hour-

…

…

-Confirmed. Skin illusion engaged-

-Applying given knowledge to create a suitable skin-

…

…

-Skin created. Power levels are now being consumed more rapidly-

/////ALERT! LIFEFORM MOVING TOWARDS UNIT/////

-Confirmed. Possible pony lifeform moving steadily towards unit-

…

…

-Command accepted-

- -Fluttershy, Fields outside of Ponyville- - -

As Fluttershy walked, she tried to imagine what this pony would look like. She had never seen I shiny pony before, was it made of metal? It couldn't be, how would it be able to move? Maybe it was a pony with really reflective fur? She giggled at that thought.

As she crested another hill she saw another pony off in the distance. Excitement overcoming her normal fears of social contact, she rushed towards the pony and stopped when her normal shyness finally kicked in. Had she really come all this way to look at a pony? What they took offense to that? What if they hate her?

She whimpered as her familiar fears settled in. After a few seconds of battling it, she managed to overcome her fear to look up. And nearly jumped out of her skin when she found the pony in question standing before her.

“Excuse me miss, are you well?” He said as he watched Fluttershy try to recover from the fright.

It didn't take her all that long for her to realize that he had asked her a question, but it took a lot longer to figure out a way of saying that she didn't hear him due to her breathing.

“I...um...” She managed to get out before making a little squeak and backing away slightly.

- -Epsilon- - -

/////DETECTING LARGE AMOUNTS OF FEAR. SKIN APPEARS TO BE OPERATIONAL/////

-Attempting to find solution to calm the subject down-

...

-Possible solution created-

- -Fluttershy- - -

'Oh no... now you've done it Fluttershy, he's just going to walk away now, thinking you were just some weird pony'

Fluttershy was lying on the ground, staring at the grass. She could no longer hear the pony and assumed he had walked away. She was so terrified, she didn't even look at what the pony looked like.

'I'm such a bad pony... I thought I had gotten over this...'

She was about to get up when she felt something touch her shoulder, she looked up and was surprised to find the pony from before looking at her with a blank expression on his face. He was patting her shoulder in what she thought was an attempt to calm her down.

“Are you okay now?” He asked, still keeping that blank expression on his face.

“Y-yes.... um, t-thank you.” She replied, shaking slightly from the unexpected contact.

Now that she wasn't freaking out, she could get a look at the pony before of her. He was a light blue earth pony with a dark gray mane and deep blue eyes. But, something almost felt wrong about it, his hoof, which was still patting her, felt much heavier than it should have done and she didn't think she had seen the pony blink once as of yet.

But other than those things, he seemed like a normal stallion. Though it was odd that he kept on patting her shoulder even when she was clearly calmed down.

- -Epsilon- - -

/////WARNING! PROLONGED PHYSICAL CONTACT IS BEGINNING TO CAUSE NEGATIVE AFFECTS. ADVISE STOPPING CONTACT/////

- -Fluttershy- - -

Oddly enough, as soon as she had thought that, he stopped patting her and backed away, giving her enough room to stand up properly.

They just looked at each other for a little while, she was unsure as to what to say. Normally ponies started conversations with her and she would continue them, but she very rarely started up a conversation herself.

The pony gave her a look before asking, “Miss, are you sure you are okay? You appear to be lost in thought.”

'The way he talks is odd as well, the way he pronounces every word instead of shortening them... I don't think I have ever seen a pony talk like that before'

“Miss?”

“Oh!” Fluttershy said, realizing she had been asked a question, “Sorry about that, yes I'm okay.”

“I see...” He trailed off, probably realizing that the conversation wasn't going to kick off anytime soon.

Suddenly, Fluttershy remembered why she came out there in the first place.

“Um, sorry if this sounds weird, but have you seen a shiny pony around here? I wanted to meet them.” She asked, hopeful that he may be able to lead her to where she needed to be.

The pony appeared to think for a moment, or at least, he just stood there staring into space for a few seconds.

“No, I have not seen a 'shiny' pony in this area.” He replied after a few seconds.

Fluttershy couldn't lie, she was a little disappointed that she couldn't find the pony, 'on the bright side', she thought, 'at least I met this nice stallion.'

- -Epsilon- - -

-Conversation appears to be going well-

-Unit could possibly use this pony to gain easier access to the town-

/////WARNING! IF THIS PLAN BACKFIRES THE PONIES OF THE TOWN COULD BECOME HOSTILE/////

-Attempting to create alternate solution-

…

…

-One solution created-

/////WARNING! THIS PLAN INVOLVES USING STEALTH TACTICS. CORE CANNOT SUSTAIN ANY MORE USE AT THIS CURRENT POINT IN TIME/////

-Confirmed. Proceeding with solution one-

- -Fluttershy- - -

“Miss, could you please direct me to the nearest town?” The pony said.

“Oh, of course. My name is Fluttershy, by the way.” She replied with a smile.

He appeared to space out again for a little while before replying, “It is nice to meet you Fluttershy, my name is Epsilon.”

'How many more odd things are there about this pony?' She thought before shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts, there was a pony here who needed her help getting to town. And while she may not be all that good at social skills, she couldn't leave a pony that needed help behind.

She also wasn't sure why she was so calm now. Normally, when she spoke to another pony she could barely get any words out with her fear, but she actually had a conversation, of sorts, with this pony and was now agreeing to lead the pony back to town.

So, with a nod and a smile, she turned back towards Ponyville, Epsilon in tow.

Power Issues

/////BEGIN PERSONAL LOG 1/////

-User: Epsilon-6-

-Date log was created: 00/00/0000-

-I do not understand what has happened, but my AI has been acting... strange. I believe this to be linked to the structural damage I sustained during the initial battle, shortly after I awoke-

-From what I can tell, both of my AI's have been gaining a sort of personality. Data logs going over AI's have no information on this and I did not have enough time in the bunker to learn anything about it-

-On the matter of the bunker... I do not think that TITAN will allow me back in there without severe punishment. Even if it finds out that the malfunction was not my fault-

-I can only hope that I can fight off anything that it sends my way. It has, no doubt, already sent an alert to the other bunkers in the area-

-I am creating this as I walk towards what I can only hope is the town that the sensor pulse detected, this yellow pony seems helpful, but I cannot stay in one place for too long-

-Let us hope I can figure something out...-

/////END PERSONAL LOG 1/////

- -Fluttershy, outskirts of Ponyville- - -

Epsilon had been quiet during the walk, which Fluttershy really didn't mind as it allowed her time to think. The pony following her seemed almost... too odd. When she really thought about it, something felt wrong about the whole situation.

'Maybe I should talk to Twilight about it later, she knows a lot about these sorts of things' She thought to herself as her cottage came into view.

As she came closer to her cottage, the animals that lived around it came out to meet her, as usual, but as soon as they looked behind her they backed off. Some even ran back into their homes.

'What?' She thought in wonder as she watched her normally not skittish animals run at the sight of the new pony.

“What's wrong? Why are you running away like this? You don't normally behave like this...” She said as she tried to get the animals out of their homes. Epsilon just stood back and watched, that blank face still present.

“I'm so sorry about this, Epsilon. They are normally quite welcoming of new ponies.” She said with an apologetic look towards the pony in question.

“It is fine, miss Fluttershy.” He stared into space once more before turning back to her.

“Are we close to the town?” He asked.

“Oh yes, it is just down the path and to your left, you can't miss it.” She replied. She had to admit, she was a little crestfallen that he wanted to leave so quickly after meeting her animals. Or at least, meeting the ones that dared to poke their heads out of their homes.

“Thank you for your assistance, Miss Fluttershy. I shall take my leave now.” He said, expression not changing, before beginning his walk towards the town.

'Such an odd pony...' she thought to herself as she watched the stallion walk away from her cottage.

- -Epsilon, path to Ponyville- - -

/////WARNING! CORE LEVELS ARE REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS. ADVISE EMERGENCY RECHARGE/////

Epsilon sighed at that, he really didn't need his AI to tell him that he wouldn't last much longer. During that entire walk, he had his secondary processor running in the background, trying to formulate some sort of strategy to allow him to safely recharge without giving himself away.

'Computer, can you tell me what level of technology these ponies have?'

-Scanning for electronic technology in the area-

…

-Electronic technology found. Most electrical technology appears to run alongside magical input-

'I see... so is the technology advanced enough to provide me with the power I need?'

-Calculating chances for ponies having the technology required to re-power unit-

…

-Chances are standing at 28%-

Epsilon really didn't like that number, he was essentially resting his life on a 28% chance.

'So if I find a magic using pony, I can recharge?'

-Confirmed. However, the power required to recharge the main fusion core is significantly high. You may need to seek out a highly advanced user-

'Any suggestions?'

-Scanning-

…

…

-Option detected. Relaying option to HUD-

Epsilon looked over the profile of the pony that his computer had found. He recognized her immediately, of course.

'Computer, are you sure that you cannot find any other pony? I am not sure if this one would be very... willing to aid me.'

-Attempting second scan-

…

…

-Other signatures located. Signatures are too far from current location to be a viable option-

'Damn... well, computer, show me the location of this alicorn.'

- -Twilight, her castle in Ponyville- - -

Twilight couldn't sleep at all. After half an hour of tossing and turning she finally gave up. She couldn't stop thinking about what that robot did to her friends, and what may happen if it decides to venture into Ponyville.

She sighed as she sat down at the dining table, as she mulled over what to do to help her friends, Spike walked into the room.

“Hey Twi, what's up?” He asked when he saw her at the table.

Twilight looked up. She couldn't tell him what happened in the bunker, he was too young for that, so she came up with a lie on the spot.

“Hey Spike, I just couldn't sleep with all the studying I had to do.” She said with a fake smile.

The lie seemed to work as Spike just shook his head and walked away, probably to make some coffee for her. She could barely go back to thinking before there was a knock on the main door.

After the third knock, she rolled her eyes, realizing that Spike was obviously not going to answer the door. She got up and trotted over to the massive door that the visitor was behind.

When she opened it she found a light blue earth pony standing there, his hoof raised from getting ready to knock again.

She quickly put on a weak smile before greeting the pony, “welcome to the castle, how can I help you?”

The pony just stared at her for a second, a blank expression on his face before he replied with, “Greetings. Can I please come in? I have something more personal to ask of you.”

That confused Twilight, normally when a pony came to the castle they wanted something from her or just wanted an autograph. But none of the ponies that had come by wanted to actually ask something out of public view.

Keeping her guard up, she let him walk into the castle. He took a quick look around before turning to the alicorn.

“This is a lovely home,” he said to her, his face blank and expressionless.

“Um... thanks, now, what was it you wanted to ask me?” She asked, suspicion growing with every second.

“Well, I require something from you that I...” He was cut off by a slight buzzing, it almost sounded like it was coming from his body...

- -Epsilon- - -

/////CRITICAL ALERT! CORE LEVELS HAVE DRAINED TOO FAR TO SUSTAIN SECONDARY SYSTEMS. SHUTTING DOWN ALL NON PRIORITY SYSTEMS TO RESERVE POWER/////

As he heard this alert blast through his mind, he felt the illusion fall away. The pony immediately jumped backward as she watched the stallions fur fade away, only to be replaced by shining metal.

“You!” She said, anger rising when she realized what she had let into her home.

'Computer, any ideas on how to get out of this?'

-From what the data banks have gathered about pony communication, you should try to calm the pony down. It believes you are a threat.-

He gave a slight nod, mostly to himself, and turned to the princess.

“Please hear me out, pony. I do not wish to harm you.” With the skin gone, he could no longer keep up the voice he had before and had slipped back to his robotic sounding voice.

“What!? Of course you do! You realized that you had the chance to kill me off before and now you regret not doing so! Don't try to lie to me!” She practically yelled.

“Had I wanted to harm you I would have done so by now. I had ample opportunity to kill you as soon as you opened that door.” He said, watching for any signs of attack from the alicorn.

“That doesn't change anything!” She yelled, “You said you wouldn't follow us!”

-It believes that you have lied to it. Advise trying to defuse situation-

“And I have not followed you. I was desperate and I came to the closest town available to me. You also happen to be the strongest magic user in this town.”

“What does that have to do with this?

“Because I require aid. I would not have left that bunker if I did not need it.”

The pony seemed to calm slightly at that but was clearly still furious at him.

“Well, what do you want from me?” She asked.

“My power core is drained. I require recharging before it drains completely.”

The pony seethed in anger, it almost looked like her mane and tail were beginning to burn.

“Why would I EVER help you like that!? If you were charged then you could start killing ponies, I refuse to allow something like that to happen!”

“I do not have any choice in this matter. You have my word that I will not harm any ponies.” He replied.

-Situation is not going well. Advise attempting to bargain with the pony-

“How am I supposed to take your word after what you did to my friends and those guards? You're evil!”

“Is there any way that I can get you to believe me? Perhaps I could help you.”

The alicorn gave him a skeptical look, “In what way?”

-Pony is interested. Chances are high that it will consider an offer-

“Is there anything you require aid with? Something that you, as an organic being, find difficult to do?”

“Well... sure I guess, I can probably think of... No! You are trying to tempt me into letting you get to my friends! I won't let you harm them!” She yelled accusingly before firing a magical bolt of energy at him.

He managed to dodge it just in time. As he landed a new warning blared through his mind.

/////CRITICAL ALERT! CORE IS AT 3%. SYSTEMS ARE BEGINNING SHUT-DOWN PROCEDURE/////

“Please, pony. If you refuse to help me I will die.” He pleaded, watching for another attack, just in case.

“And how is that a problem? Then you wouldn't be able to hurt anypony!” She replied, circling him to try and find another point of attack.

“You friends are alive, are they not? I fought back in self-defense, I hurt them to protect myself.”

She stopped circling him at that and appeared to think what he said through. Meanwhile, alerts were constantly sounding in his mind. He knew he didn't have much longer.

“I beg of you, all I ask is that you help me. I can try to go back on the damages I have done. I will do anything, just please, help me!”

The pony's resolve appeared to be swaying, after a few seconds, she responded, “If I help you, then you won't hurt a single pony? Or damage anything?”

“I swear it, please...”

/////CRITICAL ALERT! CORE CANNOT SUSTAIN ACTIVITY AT THIS LEVEL OF CHARGE. ADVISE EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN/////

She sighed before looking him over once more, “Alright, what do I have to do?”

-Pony has accepted, recharge possible. If magic feeds into the reactor, the power may be able to restore itself-

“Use your magic on my core, you do not need to use much. Please hurry.” He said as his undamaged side opened up, revealing his slowly spinning core.

The pony walked towards him before casting a spell on the core. As soon as the spell hit the core his systems went haywire.

/////WARNING! MASSIVE ENERGY SURGE DETECTED. CORE REPLENISHING ENERGY AT AN EXCEPTIONAL RATE. EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN INITIATED TO PROTECT PRIORITY SYSTEMS/////

At that, Epsilon felt himself become sluggish as his body shut itself down, the last thing he saw was the pony staring at him in confusion and a little lizard walking into the room.

Talking with royalty

- -Twilight- - -

Twilight jumped back in surprise when the robot slumped forward, its side panel closing with a slam. Only after watching it for a few seconds did she finally relax slightly, it seemed to have shut down, though why this had happened was something she was unsure about.

As she attempted to calm herself down, she heard a clatter behind her. Whirling around, she found Spike standing in the doorway, a shattered mug on the ground in front of him.

“Spike? Um... why are you here?” Twilight asked, her brain more focused on trying to find a way out of the situation that had just arisen to realize that the mug once had her coffee in it.

“Twi, is that pony made out of... metal?” He asked, eyes locked on the mass of metal slumped over in front of Twilight.

“Yes, it a... statue! Yes. That's all it is, now why don't you go and take the day off. I'll get this cleaned up.” She said quickly as she tried to push Spike out of the doorway that lead outside.

“Alright alright, jeez.” He huffed before leaving the room entirely to go and do whatever it is baby dragons do in their spare time.

Twilight sighed in relief as soon as Spike was out of earshot. That was a little too close. Turning to the robot, she began to wonder if what she had done was the right thing. If the robot couldn't fight, then she could have destroyed it right there and then. But instead, she helped it.

'Well, nothing I can really do about that now... I guess I’ll just read something until it wakes back up.' She thought to herself, looking over a nearby bookshelf to see if there was anything that caught her eye.

- -Epsilon- - -

/////BEGIN LOG 5835/////

/////EMERGENCY REBOOT SUCCESSFUL. ALL AI FUNCTIONS NOMINAL/////

-Confirmed-

-Beginning startup scan-

…

-Startup scan complete-

-No system malfunctions detected. Shut down process caused no damage to priority systems-

-Scanning hardware-

…

-Scan completed. Hardware faults do not appear to have changed-

-All priority systems are ready to be engaged. Awaiting command from unit-

…

…

-Command received. All systems coming online-

As Epsilon gave to command to start up, he felt his body returning to life. He could practically feel the energy flowing around his wiring, it was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

He was still slightly swaying from the energy overdose, but he managed to stand up straight and look around him. He appeared to be in the same entrance hall he was in when he rebooted, meaning that the pony that saved him had not decided he was a threat. That or he was too heavy to move.

As he took in the hallway with a bit more attention, he heard a doorway open to his left. Turning his head, he found the pony that had saved him staring right at him, apparently unsure on what to do.

They stared at each other like that for some time before the pony broke the silence.

“H-hello?” She asked hesitantly.

-Subject appears to still fear you. Advise attempting to clarify you mean no harm-

“Greetings, pony,” Epsilon replied, giving the alicorn his full attention.

“Y'know, it's kind of rude to just keep calling us by our species.” She pointed out, still standing in the same position she arrived in.

“Apologies for not getting your name as I begging for my life.” He responded.

That caused her to go quiet for a moment. After a few seconds, she looked away and sighed, before looking back up at him.

“Alright, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. And you are?” She questioned.

“My given name is Epsilon-6. I assume that this is what you can call me.”

“I guess that will do, not really sure what I was expecting from a robot...” She said, a frown on her face.

They stood in silence for a little while longer, but it wasn't long before Epsilon's computer chipped in.

-From what the data banks have gathered about pony social structures, it may be beneficial to thank this pony for recharging this unit-

He gave Twilight a quick look over before breaking the silence, “Thank you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, for reviving me. By recharging my core, you have saved my life.”

The pony... Twilight, seemed confused at first before adopting a neutral look. “It's fine. Now, what exactly do you plan on doing from here?” She asked.

If Epsilon was honest with himself, he hadn't really thought that far in advance. He had been so focused on recharging his core that he had not figured anything out for after he was recharged.

“I am... unsure. I had not figured out any plans for when I was capable of moving freely again.”

At this, Twilight gave him a look that he could not figure out before saying, “You aren't going anywhere until Princess Celestia gets here. I sent her a letter explaining what happened and she should be here soon.”

“I see. Then I will await the Princess' arrival.” He replied before turning towards the door and sitting down.

“Why are you sitting there?” She asked, “Surely it would be better to wait in the meeting room.”

Epsilon looked over at Twilight as he gave his response, “In my bargaining for my life, I claimed I would do anything. I assumed, by the way you spoke to me, that I had not been given permission to move freely. And so I have decided to wait here until the Princess comes.”

Twilight did an odd movement with her fore leg, in which she moved her hoof up against her forehead and closed her eyes with a sigh before looking back at him.

“You have my permission to move into the meeting room and wait there.” She said.

“Confirmed.” He replied, with one last look around him, he got up and moved in the direction that Twilight was now pointing towards.

- -Twilight- - -

Twilight sighed once more as she got settled down. She knew that the robot wouldn't be able to damage anything in that room as the meeting room was made with a crystal that was more durable than she had ever seen before. For some reason, however, that crystal only surrounded that one room.

It took a few hours of waiting around but she eventually heard a knocking at the castle doors. Opening it revealed the two princesses and a handful of guards.

“Hello there Twilight, I apologize for the wait but we came as quickly as we could,” Celestia said when she saw her old student standing in the doorway.

“It's not a problem, princess. Thank you for coming here, I needed to speak to you and... show you something.” Twilight replied, letting the princesses walk into the castle.

“It's not often you wish for us to come to you, Twilight. Is everything okay?” Luna asked.

Twilight gave a Luna a funny look before replying, “I'm honestly not sure, princess. I think it would be easier to explain the situation and allow you both to make a decision.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a second before turning back to Twilight, “Well,” Celestia said, “Let's get moving. I am quite anxious to hear what has brought you to call for us.”

Twilight nodded before taking the princesses to the meeting room doors.

“Now, what I am about to show you may shock you, but I think that it won't try to hurt anypony,” Twilight said, hoof on the door.

As she opened it, Celestia and Luna got ready to attack, but instead of finding something running towards them, or even sitting at the table, they found an empty room.

“Um, Twilight, what are we supposed to be looking at?” Celestia asked, looking around the room for anything suspicious, other than a metal statue at the back of the room, nothing had changed since she last came here.

“Wait, what? You don't see it?” Twilight asked, astounded that she couldn't spot the problem immediately.

“Other than that new statue I don't see anything new or out of place, is that what you wanted us to see?”

“Yes, but it isn't a statue, princess. It's some sort of robot!” Twilight said, pointing in the direction of the being at the end of the room.

“I see, so may we have a closer look at it?” Luna asked, hopeful to see something that advanced up close.

That question quickly stumped Twilight. She was now in a position she didn't want to be in. If she let them look at the robot more closely then they may be attacked, and it would all be her fault. On the other hoof, if she said no then the problem may never be solved.

Coming to a decision, she sighed and said, “Yes princess, but please be careful.”

The princess of the night gave a gasp of joy before bounding towards the robot, much to Twilight's surprise.

“Maybe we should talk about this robot elsewhere, Luna may be a while,” Celestia said with a smile, apparently not phased by her sister's unusual behavior.

- -Epsilon- - -

-Reactivating unit-

-Scan pulse indicates multiple ponies in the area, three of them are highly powerful-

-Advise caution-

As his computer gave him these messages, Epsilon rose from his slumped position. He had shut himself down temporarily to save some power for when these princesses arrived. It now appeared that they had as two ponies he had never seen before were standing in the doorway with Twilight.

They were talking amongst each other, presumably about him, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

After a couple of minutes of talking, the dark blue one gasped before running towards him, alerts immediately began sounding in his head.

/////WARNING! HIGH POWERED BEING MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARDS UNIT. ADVISE DEFENSIVE MODE/////

-Defensive module ready to be engaged-

'Only engage module on my command.'

-Confirmed-

While he gave that command, the pony was getting close and closer. Before long, she finally reached him and wasted no time in searching all over him, apparently admiring the machinery used to create him.

“Miss? I would appreciate it if you could stop poking at that.” He said.

As soon as those words escaped him he heard another gasp before finding the princess right against his face.

“It talks!? This is amazing!” She cried out with a smile as she went right back to prodding and admiring him.

Epsilon gave a sigh before turning to face the princess.

“Miss. I am aware that you are a high ranking individual but that gives you no right to be doing this.” He said. The pony looked downcast at that, or maybe disappointed, Epsilon wasn't sure, but at least she had stopped probing around him.

“My apologies, I didn't know that you were capable of self-awareness.” She said, still holding that look.

“It is fine, you were not aware of it and so I cannot hold you to blame. May I ask who you are?”

“Oh! I am Princess Luna, but you can just call me Luna, do you have a name? If not, maybe we can give you one!” Luna replied, a hopeful smile on her face.

“I hate to make you disappointed once more but I already have a designated name. It is Epsilon.”

Luna looked at the ground once more, she was clearly hoping to be able to name him, but Epsilon couldn't allow that. Not because he didn't want to, but because his computers understood and recognized his given name. If he was to change it then his AI would have to change a large amount of data in order to make it work.

“Oh, I see, well can we talk some more at least?” She asked, looking up hopefully.

“I see no problems with that, what do you wish to speak about?”

- -Twilight- - -

“And so, as you can probably tell, princess, I have no idea what to do...” Twilight finished. She had been explaining what had happened since the moment she heard about the hole just the day before. Celestia had been listening patiently the entire time.

“From what you have told me, the robot only attacked your friends in self-defense?” She asked.

“Well, yes. But that doesn't change the fact that my friends and those guards are currently in a hospital! There was no need to be so violent!” Twilight replied.

Celestia was quiet for a moment, apparently thinking her reply through before she said it. She eventually broke the silence.

“While what it did was bad, as it fought back only in self-defense, I can't really do anything about it. All of the ponies that are in hospital will be able to leave after a few weeks of bedrest and they will not have any lasting problems from what you have told me. Had the robot attacked with being provoked then I most certainly have done something about it.”

Twilight looked at her in shock, she couldn't believe that the princess was passing this issue off so freely. Surely the robot should be punished in some way.

“Is there nothing you can do about it, princess?” She asked, hoping to have something, anything, done to the robot that had caused so much pain and stress for those she knew.

“There may be something, Twilight.” Celestia responded, giving her a smile, “Try to accept it. I will go and visit the injured, I can probably speed up their recovery. In the mean time, why not attempt to show this robot the correct ways to deal with those types of situations? Then something like this wouldn't happen in the future.”

With her objective now given, she left the room, leaving a gob smacked Twilight sitting in a chair, watching her mentor leave the room. When Celestia was gone, she began trying to comprehend the task that had just been given to her. She had to teach a robot? How do you teach a robot to do something like that?

Lessons

Luna and Epsilon had been talking all the way through the conversation between Celestia and Twilight, and they had already learned many things about each other, though not much could be learned about Epsilon.

At first, Epsilon was skeptical that he would even care in the end, but the more he talked with Luna, the more he found it to be enjoyable. It had even gotten to the point that he asked more question than Luna asked of him.

“What is it like to live in such an immense place? Naturally, I have not had much experience in such a thing, surely it must be difficult to keep it maintained.” He asked.

Luna gave a giggle before responding, “We don't live there alone, we have ponies that help keep the castle clean and organized. Without them, I don't think we would be able to handle everything a princess needs to do AND keeping the castle in shape.”

“Surely it is looked down upon to have slaves, or am I incorrect?”

Luna looked at him, apparently horrified at the thought. After a moment of recovery, she responded, “Uhm... no, Epsilon, they aren't slaves, they are given it as a job and are paid well for it. We would never even consider having... slaves.”

Epsilon was about to ask something else when Celestia walked into the room.

“Luna, me and Twilight have had a talk, it is time for us to go.” She said, smiling at the sight of her sister having a conversation with somepony she had just met, even if the pony wasn't really a pony.

Luna pouted at that, not wanting to leave so soon after arriving, but after some insisting from Celestia, Luna gave up in the end.

“Well Epsilon, I guess I will have to say goodbye,” Luna said reluctantly.

“It was a pleasure to speak with you, Luna. I do hope we can talk once more in the future.”

“As do I,” she said with a small smile before walking out of the door.

- -Twilight- - -

Twilight watched as the two princesses got aboard their carriage, her mind still reeling over the conversation she had only minutes ago. When the two alicorns were long out of sight, she turned around to find the machine standing there. Watching her. Waiting.

“You appear to be staring at me, Twilight Sparkle. Is there something wrong?” It said, however, Twilight's mind was still focused on the thought of her task to register its words.

The robot watched her for a few more seconds before sitting down and looking around the room, apparently still fascinated with the architecture.  It took her a little while, but she finally got to pulling herself together, she managed to stop thinking about the conversation and focus on the problem before her,

“Alright,” she said, staring at the robot who had now turned to face her once more, “Princess Celestia has ordered me to teach you how to properly deal with situations like the one in the bunker. I'm... not sure how, but I have to follow these orders through.”

The machine stared into space a little before giving its response, “What exactly will you be teaching me then? Did I not act properly during the attack?”

“What? No! Of course not, my friends were hospitalized and-” Twilight managed to calm herself down before she got out of hoof again.

With a sigh, she continued, “You defended yourself, yes, but you could have stopped that peacefully and without violence.”

“I attempted to warn the ponies that attacked me that they would not win. They continued regardless.”

Twilight resisted the urge to facehoof, and instead attempted to explain, “You told that to one pony, and that pony has an ego bigger than the moon.”

The machine seemed to process that before it gave its response, “I see. But, she still attacked me, surely I had to defend myself, yes?”

“You are made of metal for Celestia's sake, I'm sure you could have handled a few punches.” She replied, getting more annoyed by the second.

“The probability of me surviving that attack with no damage is low. Another issue with your claim is that the initial punch damaged my processor. Without it, I was no longer linked with the bunker AI, causing my systems to try and compensate to re-establish a connection with it. The risk was too high for me to simply talk my way out of the situation.”

Twilight struggled to come up with a response to that, realizing that what it had said was actually fairly true. After a moment of thought, she gave up. “Regardless, I still have a task to do. So let's get to it.” She said with a sigh.

She started moving towards the library, the robot following her closely. When she reached it, she threw the doors open and walked inside. The machine stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the sheer number of books lining the shelves, before walking over to where Twilight was now sat.

When it sat before the table, she began the lesson.

“Okay, let's try to get this finished quickly. So, I already know why you attacked my friends, but could you tell me what you might have been able to do in order to avoid violence?”

The metal pony appeared to think for a few seconds before giving its response, “I could have dodged their attacks, I suppose. However, I doubt that would have ended anything quickly.”

“But surely you must know that there was a possibility of talking your way out of it. You mentioned it only minutes ago.”

“Yes. There was a chance to talk my way out of it, I am not saying that it was not a possibility, I am just saying that it was a poor choice in comparison with fighting.”

“That may be the case, but you can't just beat ponies that come near you into a pulp. I'm sure that if you had tried to actually end it peacefully then there would have been no need for anypony to be hurt.”

“I gave a warning, as I have already mentioned. Is this not sufficient?”

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh, quickly realizing that this wouldn't be as easy as she had hoped it would be.

“No, it isn't. You could have reasoned with Rainbow or even the guards, giving them no reason to assume you were hostile.”

“...Why would they assume that I was hostile? Had I done something to give them that reaction?”

“In a way, yes.” Twilight responded, giving some thought into the next part of her explanation, “When you activated, you spun around towards me, I suppose that you simply activate like that and you were not able to control it, but because you turned so quickly towards me, the others thought you wanted to hurt me.”

Epsilon stared at her for a short while before responding, “I... do not understand. They attacked me because I moved? I had made no movements to hurt you, but they thought I would do so anyway? This confuses me.”

“Just try to understand that you are not a pony, they were cautious around you and were not sure what you were capable of. Apparently, you moving like that set them off. But anyway, there isn't much we can do about that now. We should move on.”

Epsilon nodded at that, 'It almost behaves like a real pony at times. Whoever built it must be incredibly talented' She thought to herself as she pushed a book forward.

“This book was written for ponies that don't understand social interactions. I think you should give it a read, it may help you to understand a bit about how to act in certain situations. While you do that, I am going to go check on Spike.”

Epsilon only nodded again in response, quickly opening the book's cover and reading the first page.

With one last look towards the robot, Twilight walked out of the room.

- -Epsilon- - -

-Interaction recorded to database-

Epsilon was intrigued by the book before him, he had never seen anything like it before. His systems were capable of reading the text in the book but he was much more interested in the pictures and how thin the pages were.

Eventually, after a large amount of time examining the book before him, he got to actually reading the text on the first page. He had started when Twilight was still in the room but had quickly become distracted.

-Storing new data into memory banks-

Happy in the knowledge that his AI was now taking over the actual reading part, he started to pay more attention to the pictures on each page. The pictures depicted different ponies talking, apparently about various things. He didn't recognize any of the ponies he saw but as his AI gathered information, he began to see what the ponies were feeling in each picture, something that he found fairly difficult before hoof.

He even learned what that odd hoof movement Twilight did before actually meant.

It didn't take all that long for him to get through the entire book, mostly because he technically wasn't the one reading it. When he closed the book, he looked up for the first time in an hour to find himself still alone.

Thinking back to what Twilight had said, he had no recollection of her saying that he was to stay in the library until she returned, so he figured he might as well take a look around the castle. He quickly jumped up and trotted out of the room, choosing a random path and following it.

After a short while, he found a hallway with a large amount of doors on either side. Curious, he started looking inside of them. Many of them appeared to be storage cupboards but some looked like they were actually used frequently. There was even a few bedroom scattered around, though most of those looked relatively unused in the time that the castle had existed.

While exploring, he came back to the main door and found a door he had not seen when he was there last. It was a much larger door than what seemed necessary, implying that what was behind it was much more interesting than what he had seen so far.

His interest spiking, he pushed the door open to find a large chamber, tree roots hung from the ceiling and below them, a large table lay there with seven chairs evenly spread out around it.

-Area appears to be a throne room, high levels of magic detected from the table-

Epsilon walked towards the table that the AI had pointed out, his sensors could pick up large levels of residual magic across the surface of it. On closer examination, he noticed that there was terrain on it.

-Table appears to be enchanted to show a map of the local area. Moving new data to memory banks-

As he looked over the map, a symbol appeared on the map. It was slowly flashing on a point nearby the fields outside the White Tail forest.

But before he could think too hard about it, he heard the main door open behind him.

“Wait, what do you think you are doing!?” He heard a female voice say, he turned around to see Twilight staring at him intently with a strangely familiar lizard hiding slightly behind her.

“I was observing this table, it appears to be doing something.” He responded. Twilight gave him a confused look before walking slowly over to the table. When she saw the marker, her eyes widened and she turned to Spike.

“Spike, you need to get the others over here as fast as you can!” She said, Spike, nodded and with one last look towards Epsilon, he ran out of the door as quickly as he could.

Problems

- -Twilight- - -

It didn't take long for her five friends to arrive at the castle. She had sent Epsilon upstairs to make sure her friends were calm, she wasn't entirely sure on how she would introduce it to them, but she had more important matters to deal with.

Rainbow and Applejack had to wheel-chaired in by a couple of nurses, but they left soon after when they realized that they had no reason to be there.

“Ooh, I'm so excited! I wonder what is going to be over there!” Pinkie exclaimed, practically bouncing on her chair. They were sat around the table in their seats, Spike sitting right beside Twilight.

Rainbow gave Pinkie a sideways glance before turning to Twilight, “Do you think it's anything to do with... you know, the thing?” She asked. Twilight understood immediately, it would only be natural that she would assume the bunker in the White Tail as the source of the beacon after all that had gone on with it.

“It may well be, but we can hope that it isn't,” Twilight replied, ignoring the confused looks from the others who were not in the bunker on that fateful day.

Applejack had been quietly looking over the others, apparently thinking hard on something. After a little while of listening she spoke up, “Twi, we should probably tell them what happened, no reason to keep them out of this,”

Twilight sighed, she knew that Applejack was right, she had just hoped that she wouldn't need to. With a determined look, she looked towards the other three, “Alright, I suppose you should all know what really happened there,”

The others leaned closer, interested in what could have lead Twilight to keep it so secret. However, they slowly leaned back as they heard Twilight recount what had happened in the bunker.

When Twilight had finished her tale, the ponies -and Spike- that hadn't heard about it had almost come to tears. They hadn't heard something so brutal since they had heard the tale of King Sombra.

“S-so you think that this... robot... is why the map is telling us to go there?” Rarity asked, shaking slightly.

'Well, I suppose this is as good of a time as any' Twilight thought to herself. She looked up at all her friends as she spoke, “No. The robot will not be the reason that the map has called us,”

Her friends gave her a questioning look, but Applejack's expression was turning to one of fear, “But why wouldn't it? Surely the evidence here would suggest it,” Rarity asked, not noticing Applejack's look.

“The robot isn't the problem because, well... the robot is here,” Twilight said, looking down towards the table.

The silence was overwhelming, none of the ponies could think of anything to say for a long while. It took nearly two minutes for Rainbow to finally say something, “S-so, the r-robot that nearly killed us... is in the c-castle?”

“Yes. But I promise you, it won't hurt you. It has explained itself, and its explanation was fairly understandable. It's upstairs, away from this room so please, calm down and let's talk about this.” Twilight responded.

“Talk about this!? How in the hay are we supposed to do that Twi? A machine attacked us and you let it stay in your home? What the buck were your thinking?” Rainbow shouted, seemingly having enough with the entire situation.

“I don't know!” Twilight shouted back, “I don't know...”

The alicorn quickly wiped tears she didn't know were falling before looking away, “regardless, the robot won't hurt anypony, I am making sure of that. For now, we need to focus on the map,” she said quietly. Her five friends all looked downcast, their mixed emotions were leaving them unsure as to what to think.

“So what should we do then? We can't use the Elements without Rainbow and Applejack,” a quiet voice said from across the table. Twilight was surprised when she looked up and found Fluttershy looking at her expectantly.

“Well, we need somepony to stay here and make sure the robot doesn't go anywhere, and we have to get Rainbow and AJ back to the hospital soon. Fluttershy, could you stay with it? You have always been good with things like this.” Twilight asked, hoping to get the situation resolved quickly.

“Of course, where is it?” Fluttershy replied, a small smile on her face. Twilight was fairly surprised that she agreed so willingly, especially after hearing about what happened in that bunker.

“It, uh... It's up in one of the spare bedrooms. Third door on the left when you get to the top of the stairs.” She managed to say, trying to get her head around Fluttershy of all ponies happily accepting this.

The pegasus gave a little nod before walking away, leaving the other six behind.

“Rarity and Pinkie, you both are going to have to come with me. We will get Rainbow and AJ to the hospital and then go and check on the area that this map is pointing to,” Twilight said, standing up and moving to wheel the two injured ponies out of the room.

Rarity and Pinkie gave each other a quick look before following Twilight out of the door. Leaving Spike alone in the room. Since he had not been given a task, he decided to go and have a look at the metal pony that had caused all of the trouble surrounding him.

- -Epsilon- - -

-System boot up initiated-

-System scan beginning-

…

-Systems nominal. Hardware faults exist but are not harmful enough for alert to begin-

Epsilon opened his eyes. He had shut himself down to reserve some power while he waited for Twilight to return. His systems had activated him when they detected a pony heading towards the room he was sitting in.

After a few moments of waiting, he heard a faint knock at the door.

“U-um, hello? Mr Robot? Are you in there?” He heard through the door. His memory banks quickly notified him that the voice was from the yellow pony he had met before.

“I am. Do you require something from me?” He asked, his eyes focused on the door.

“Oh, um, Twilight asked me to watch you. Y'know, if that's okay I mean,” she replied.

Epsilon thought about it for a second before responding, “That is fine, Miss Fluttershy, please come in.”

He heard a little gasp on the other side of the door, confused, he asked his computer as to why she did this.

-Unit was in a virtual skin when it first met this pony. Pony does not understand why unit knows its name-

As he read his computers response, he watched the door open slightly and a blue eye look at him from the crack.

“You may enter, I will not harm you,” He said, hoping to give the pony some reassurance.

The door opened wider, revealing the little yellow pegasus that he had met not too long before. She was looking at him hesitantly, unsure of what to do.

Eventually, she inched closer to him and sat down a few feet from him. They sat in silence for a little while, which Epsilon was fine with. It allowed him to learn a bit more about pony emotional expressions.

She kept looking away from him and then back to him, apparently too nervous to ask anything. This went on for a few minutes before Epsilon finally broke the silence.

“So,” He began, Fluttershy looked up at him when she heard him speak but didn't say anything. “If I may ask, why are you so quiet? The other ponies I have met have been quite talkative.”

She blushed slightly and looked away once more. She didn't respond immediately, but Epsilon let her have the time she needed to respond.

“I... I have never been good at meeting new ponies,” she replied after a short silence.

“I am aware that you will not know this, but you have already met me in the past,” He said, still staring at her.

That got Fluttershy to look up at him, “I have? When? I don't remember ever meeting you.”

“You may remember a blue stallion that you met in the fields outside of this town.”

It took Fluttershy all but a few seconds to put two and two together.

“That was you? Why didn't you show yourself?” She asked.

“I was searching for a way to recharge my core. I did not want to start a panic with my appearance.”

Fluttershy seemed to calm slightly at that, she looked towards him, looking over every detail on his hull.

“I could have helped you, I am always happy to help ponies in need,” she said.

“That may be true, Miss Fluttershy, but as you may be able to see, I am not a pony.”

Fluttershy and Epsilon continued to talk, and while Epsilon was the only one to ask questions to begin with, Fluttershy eventually warmed up to him.

And just outside the door, a little dragon watched in awe as they spoke freely to each other.

- -Twilight, fields nearing the White Tail forest- - -

They had been walking for some time now, coming ever closer to the area pointed out by the map. Twilight had decided to not teleport there as she was unsure of what was waiting for them.

None of the three spoke, even Pinkie Pie stayed quite surprisingly enough. After nearly an hour of walking, they began to see the forest of the horizon.

“Okay girls, this is it. I just hope that it isn't anything too major,” Twilight said, coming to a stop to let them rest.

“I'm afraid that if the map called for us then it most likely is something major,” Rarity said, looking towards the woods for any signs of life.

After a short rest, they were moving once more, slowly closing the distance between them and the forest.

But as they got closer, they began to notice something glinting in the distance. The light from the sun was shining against something. Twilight's heart sank as she realized that the something in question was quickly moving towards them.

- -Epsilon- - -

Epsilon flinched as an alert blasted through his mind.

/////ALERT! RECLAMATION DRONE INBOUND ON UNIT'S POSITION. ADVISE EVACUATION/////

'Damnit'

Seeker

- -Twilight- - -

None of the ponies said anything for some time; they were still trying to get their heads around what they had just witnessed. However, while Rarity and Pinkie were in shock from the violence and apparent death of the machine they had thought was an ally, Twilight's mind was in a whole other area.

The realization of what could have actually happened had begun to finally settle into her mind. She had already come to the realization of how many ponies would have died. Instead, she was trying to think of ways she and her friends could have stopped that from happening.  But even after a few minutes of thinking, she couldn't come up with any ideas on how they could have stopped the machine from causing injuries to massive amounts of ponies.

Bringing her mind back to the situation at hoof, she looked over at the slumped over robot. It hadn't moved an inch since the fight had ended, and Twilight wasn't sure if she should be happy or worried about that.

She took a step forward, but felt a hoof on her shoulder, pulling her backward slightly. She turned to find Pinkie Pie standing there, giving her an almost fearful look.

“Please, Twilight. Don't go over there, you could get hurt,” she said, her bubbly voice now replaced with a more serious tone.

Twilight didn't respond right away. Instead, she turned towards the two machines before her. When she made her mind up, she turned back to Pinkie.

“You two go on ahead to Ponyville, make sure to let the other three know what happened. I have something I need to do,”

The pink mare hesitated for a moment, before walking away towards Rarity. After a few exchanged words, they both started walking towards the town, giving Twilight a worried look.

When the two mares were out of sight, Twilight looked over the small robot before her. She assumed that it had deactivated due to power issues, and so was looking for a way to open its hatch that encased its core.

As she searched, a voice rang out in her mind, 'You have the opportunity to end this. Do it, before it kills everypony in Ponyville.'

She shook her head and focused on what she was doing. While the voice was correct, she felt responsible for what had happened, and hoped to at least right the wrong she had done. Even if it began with something as small as this.

It was dusk when Twilight gave up. It was quite obvious that the plating was only made to move with specific tools or commands, neither of which she had. She had even tried cutting the metal open, but the spell just reflected off of the armor and nearly set a nearby tree on fire.

Running out of ideas, she started looking over the machine for any signs of weakness. She hoped to find a spot where her magic would pass through it. If it could reactivate itself, then it would be able to expose its core for her.

It took some time, reaching the point where she had to use a light spell in order to see, but she finally found what she had been looking for. The metal was weaker around the leg joints, apparently to allow it to move more freely. Twilight fired up her magic, readying for the spell.

'This is gonna hurt.'

- -Epsilon- - -

/////EMERGENCY POWER ONLINE/////

/////CORE POWER IS AT 4% AND RISING/////

/////BEGINNING SYSTEM BOOT UP/////

…

-Systems ready-

Epsilon's vision slowly regained normality as his AI crowded his mind with notifications and alerts. He raised his head to see Twilight standing there, her horn glowing brightly. She looked like she was straining to keep up the spell that she was clearly using to charge him.

She stopped her spell when she saw him begin to move. It was difficult at first, as his systems continued to restore themselves, but he managed to at least turn his head properly and give his savior his full attention.

They looked at each other for a while, neither of them knew what to say. The silence was broken only by Twilight's heavy breathing, and the light wind passing through the few nearby trees.

Epsilon eventually decided to speak up, “You have now saved me twice within a few hours. I am unsure on how to thank you properly for this.”

Twilight smirked at that, “Just a thanks would be fine,”

“I see, well thank you for doing this for me. Though I am unsure why you would aid me,”

She tilted her head at that, apparently confused as to what he meant.

“It is no secret that you do not like or trust me, Twilight. I can understand your reasoning for it, but  I hope after some time that those feelings will change.”

Twilight looked down at the ground and sighed. She remained like that for a few seconds before raising her head once more.

“I guess while we are here, I should probably apologize to you. That... drone would never have come here is it wasn't for me,”

Epsilon just stood there, not responding. Twilight looked like she was about to speak up again, but was cut off by him speaking up once more.

“You are aware of what would have happened if this Reclamation Drone reached the town, yes?”

She flinched back at that. It was clear that she had already realized, but he wanted to hear her say it.

“Y-yes. I didn't think about it at the time; it said that it would only try to get you. I thought that it would keep its word.”

“So to recap, you found a massive machine moving towards the town that asked for my location, and instead of thinking about the consequences, you happily guided it here? You are gullible, Miss Sparkle, and that gullibility could have lead to the destruction of everything you care about. I am aware that you have come to terms with what you have done, and no doubt feel terrible about it, but you must be more cautious in the future.”

Twilight had stared at Epsilon throughout his entire speech, apparently surprised to receive a lecture from a robot.

“I-I know, I will try to think more about these things,” She replied.

Epsilon shook his head slowly. He would need time to process this; it was getting far too confusing for him.

“Are we at least able to return to your castle? I would like time to think and I still need your assistance with charging my core.” He asked.

“Oh! You still wanted to come back?”

He tilted his head slightly, “Of course I do. I have no other safe place to reside...”

The mare looked fairly stunned that he would so readily return with her, but began walking towards the town regardless. Her brow furrowed in thought as she slowly walked, not paying attention as the robot walked silently alongside her.

- -TITAN- - -

/////SYSTEMS REMAIN IN STANDBY/////

/////SYSTEM LOGS HAVE BEGUN REPAIRS/////

/////ESTIMATED TIME TO FULL SYSTEM REPAIR: UNKNOWN/////

/////LOG 38 IS READY FOR PLAYBACK/////

-Beginning playback-

This is log... uh, 38 here in the bunker. We have begun work on the outer chassis of the new Droid today. The work is looking promising, though it could take a while. We have been working for most of the year on this thing, and the technology we have used in its construction has been heavily taxing on our resources. We will have to request new materials from the station as it passes by on its orbit.

On the matter of the crew, we haven't been doing all that well. We have only been here for two years, and we already have hate groups... It's only a matter of time before this gets worse. But I'm sure we will be fine, the station has quite a few Seekers ready, so if trouble does start, at least we have those to back us up.

We have been doing scans, and the inhabitants of this world have been advancing in their technology, albeit, slower than we anticipated. They seem to have built a town a few miles away, shouldn't be a problem providing they don't venture too far into the forest we are in. It would appear that the dominant species was not what we were expecting either, apparently, the equines have become dominant in this zone of the world, and other bunkers have been reporting signs of things ever weirder, like minotaurs and even damned dragons. We can only hope that none of them decide they want to come over here.

We have already started to work on remodeling the chassis to fit the equine nature of the inhabitants. It wasn't that much work to change it, as we hadn't gotten far with it in the first place, but the problem now is how we are going to get it to fit into their society. We obviously can't give the droid our language as the... I think they are ponies. Regardless, they wouldn't understand it. I'm sure we will come up with something.

…

Well, Mark is calling for me again, probably another problem with the welding. God, he is awful at that, so that should be it for me. TITAN, end log. #

-Log playback finished-

-No corruption detected. Filing log into database-

-Repairs continuing. Returning to standby phase-

- -Celestia, Canterlot Castle- - -

Celestia stared down at the piece of paper she had received; it had been sent to her by a lookout that she had posted to keep an eye on Epsilon after she had left. Apparently, shortly after she had left Ponyville, there had been a fight between Epsilon and a larger, unknown robot.

As she continued to read the report, she heard a light tapping at the door. Looking up, she found her sister standing there with a smile.

“I see you are hard at work, sister,” She said, walking forward a short distance.

“Luna, have you read this report?” Celestia asked, not wanting to idly talk with such a massive issue on her mind.

“I don't believe so, may I see it?” Luna walked forward, curious as to what could have put her sister in such a panicked mood. Celestia quickly hooved the paper to her, looking at her expectantly.

It only took a few minutes for Luna to read the document before her, but it took a few more to piece together what she had read. A fight of that magnitude hadn't occurred in Equestria for many months; she had almost gotten used to not having to worry about fights in the country at all.

“So,” She eventually began, “what do you propose we do about this?”

“I say that we don't do anything major right now. It is clear that Epsilon has no intentions of attacking Ponyville or the ponies that live there. But, he has the ability to sense approaching threats, maybe not all threats, but at the very least he can see the machines.”

Luna thought upon that for a moment before responding, “what about the Seekers?”

Her sister cocked an eyebrow at that, “I did say nothing major,”

“I am aware of that, Tia, but the Seekers are not only built to destroy. They are a valuable tool in scouting missions, and I am sure that we could have one of our Seekers keep an eye on them.”

“I see, then who do you suppose we send?”

“Culmus has always been good at these types of things, and we can have Ventus keep watch on us both while his partner is doing this,” Luna said, sitting down before her sister.

“I agree, I will send word to Culmus soon. Hopefully he will be okay with it...”

- -Celestia, 15 minutes later- - -

“No.”

“Please, Culmus. You are the best option in this case,”

“My duty is to protect you and your family from harm. It is not my job, nor my duty, to protect some small town that has an unchosen princess living there.”

“Twilight is pretty much family to me at this point. I raised her for most of her life.”

“That changes nothing. Unless this... robot becomes a danger to you or your family, I refuse to step into this.”

Celestia sighed. She should have known he would be like this, though she wasn't giving up yet.

“What if Twilight became chosen, would you help then?”

“Probably not. While it would raise my opinion of her, she would still be unprotected by me and Ventus.”

“Culmus! Please! I care for that mare, and while she may not be chosen, I still care for her safety. I can't trust my guards to protect her as the robot she is with would see them easily. You are capable of hiding from almost anything; you would be perfect for this. Ventus would still be looking out for us while you were gone, and I doubt that anypony will attempt to harm us any time soon.”

He seemed to dwell on this for some time, looking at his options.

“Are you absolutely sure that Ventus can keep you safe?” He asked.

“Yes, of course. You already know that having two Seekers in one building is overboard to begin with.”

“...Fine. When do you wish for me to leave?”

“As soon as possible, I don't want anything worse to happen to Twilight or her friends.”

Culmus nodded at that and began walking away, likely towards a secluded window somewhere else in the castle. When he left her eyesight, she turned to a window that overlooked Ponyville.

“Help is on its way, just hang in there.” She whispered, her eyes locked upon the faint glimmering of the distant castle.

Reclamation

- -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/////