Calming Notes and Tempered Claws

Ten minutes had passed since Laura and Twilight had begun their search for the Sentinels. The former requested that Twilight fly lower so she could get a better handle on their scent. But they still hadn't found them. "They're too big to miss. We should've seen them from a distance by now."

"They must've covered more ground than we thought."

"Wait. Land in that clearing up ahead" Laura said as she pointed forward. Twilight did as asked, and Laura climbed off her, sniffing the air. "They were here. Two of them. This way. The scent is stronger" Laura said as she ran ahead, Twilight following close behind. She soon stopped and sniffed again. "There were four. They separated. Two the way we came, and two further ahead. Fly up, see if you can spot them."

Twilight flew up above the trees and scanned the area. "Nothing!" she called down before descending. Laura grit her teeth and growled under her breath. "I think this might take longer than we expected."

"Too long" Laura muttered.

"Princess Twilight!" Twilight and Laura turned around to see two armored pegasus stallions flying towards them.

"Canterlot guards?" Twilight said.

"We bring word from Princess Celestia" one of the guards said as they landed. "She requests the presence of you and your new...acquaintance."

"No time" Laura replied. "The Sentinels are still out there."

"Sirs, we can't explain fully right now, but there are large robots that pose a serious threat. Me and Laura have been tracking them."

"Yes, the Princess and the Guard have been informed of the machines. She has deployed numerous of our companies to deal with them. She insists you come with us, along with the remains of the robots you destroyed."

"Laura, as much as it pains me to say, I think we should go with them. You don't deny an audience with Princess Celestia, especially if she knows about the situation. Plus, she's sent out the Royal Guard, the ponies in charge of protecting her kingdom. I'm sure they're capable enough."

"I'm not sure. No offense" Laura said, though the two guards did look offended.

"Well if they aren't, you can tell her how to prepare them. There's a lot of them, and I'm certain they could deal with the Sentinels at a quicker rate than just the two of us. I really really really think we should go."

Laura could hear and see the nervousness in Twilight. She must regard Celestia very highly and fears upsetting her. She considered Twilight's logic and considered it reasonable enough. "Okay. We'll go." She climbed onto Twilight's back and they flew off, following the pegasi guards. They stopped at the battle sight and picked up the Sentinel hound remains.

As they flew toward Canterlot, Laura couldn't help but look back at the woods and get a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Twilight and Laura burst through the doors to the throne room, the former carrying the Sentinal hound pieces with her magic. "Princess Celestia! You sent for us."

"I did" Celestia confirmed as she stepped down from her throne to approach the pair. "You can set those down anywhere. And you must be Laura" Celestia said as she looked at the young woman. "Spike sent word of everything after you two dealt with those robots. I welcome you to our world and thank you for your help."

"Thank you, your majesty" Laura said with a respectful bow. "But there's still a problem."

"I am aware there are more of these machines, and as the guards I sent told you, I have sent out companies to deal with them."

"They don't know these things like I do. They're tough."

"And it's not just that, Princess" Twilight said urgently. "I'm afraid the ponies they've captured are in danger of some kind of process. The ones we fought mentioned something about modifications. And they prioritized capturing unicorns and me. I think they may want them for their magic. But for what purpose, I'm not sure. Any ideas, Laura?"

Laura shook her head. "This is new for them."

"This is troubling to hear" Celestia admitted as she placed a hoof on her chin. "But regardless, I'm certain the Guard can rescue the captured ponies, and any in danger being captured, and destroy these machines soon enough. I doubt we shall have to worry about this 'modification' they spoke of.

"Since you apparantly have past experience with these machines, advice on how to deal with them would be greatly appreciated."

"I think it would be better if I joined the Guard in the field. They came from my world. I should be responsible for getting rid of them."

"Your conviction is admirable, Laura. But I'm afraid I must ask that you allow me to deal with this problem, as it is my subjects that are being threatened. Plus, you and Twilight should focus on finding a way back to your dimension." Celestia placed a hoof on Laura's shoulder. "I assure you, we should be more than well equipped to handle this. We've handled worse. Though, we would appreciate any suggestions."

Laura looked up at the princess unsurely. She hadn't focussed on her size when she and Twilight first entered, but it was more apparant to her now. As well as the look she as giving her. It was one she had seen many times on different people. Her friends, the Professor, even Logan. She looked to Twilight, who gave her a similar look and a nod.

"Okay" Laura said before looking over at the hound pieces. "Do you have blade weapons?"

"We have swords, spears, and arrows."

"Can you bring some?" Celestia summoned one of each, along with a bow, having a good idea of what Laura wanted them for. Laura took the sword before walking over and plunging it into one of the pieces. She pulled it out and then tried slashing off one of the hands on a severed arm. It only went halfway through. "Needs to be sharper."

"I'll get the blacksmiths on it right away." Laura tried out the spear and a bow and arrow. She suggested not using the arrows and using the spears for the eyes and chest.

"Can you make shields with your magic?" Celestia nodded. "How strong?" Laura asked as she cut open a hound torso to mess with the wires. Celestia called a unicorn guard over and instructed him to make a shield. Laura got a shoulder canon working and made it fire at the shield. The guard didn't falter at all. "Standard Sentinels have stronger canons. Make sure you put the best shield makers on defense."

Twilight also advised against relying on magic blasts, considering even hers did minimal damage to hounds. Celestia thanked her and Laura and gave them permission to leave as she told a guard to relay the information to the others. Laura still wasn't fully confident and still felt the need to provide hands on help. But Twilight assured her that they had indeed dealt with difficult enemies before. She hoped the Sentinels wouldn't be a challenge.

"Let me go! Let me go, you oversized wind up toy!" a unicorn shouted while struggling to get out of a Sentinel's grip.

"Resistance is futile. You will soon be subjected to modification to aid the Sentinel cause."

"Where are you taking me?!"

"That is confidential" the Sentinel replied as it made its way through White Tail Woods. It eventually reached a large opening in the earth that sloped downward, and descended into it.

The unicorn started to struggle even harder as the light began to fade away, raising their fear. The ground eventually leveled out, and the Sentinel continued forward. The unicorn soon saw light coming from an opening ahead of them, and could tell it wasn't sunlight. Once they went through it, the unicorn's eyes widened at what they saw.

They were in an immense underground cavern, with mechanical lights illuminating the entire place. There were at least thirty of the same type of Sentinel that had captured the unicorn, many of them were carrying other ponies, mostly unicorns, to holding pens. The unicorns had what could only be described as horn cuffs that beeped, and zapped them the second they ignited their horns.

Scattered about the cavern were three much larger Sentinels apparantly overseeing the smaller ones. There were also at least fifteen Sentinel hounds, mostly guarding the pens, aiming their canons or activating their laser claws at any pony that tried anything.

But what caused most of the unicorn's shock was what sat upon a large stone chair in the center of the cavern. A Sentinel bigger than any of the others, with a panel in the middle of its torso. Whirring sounds came from the metal goliath, and the panel opened to deposit three of the smaller Sentinels.

"Observation" one of the three larger Sentinels spoke. "Master Mold's suggestion to create smaller units than us has indeed proven less time consuming and efficient to our work."

"Agreed" a second one replied.

"Ah. New Test subjects. Good" the third one said to three of the smaller units that had a pony in each hand. "Initial attempts at modification with smaller units have proven less than successful. Hopefully these will not perish as quickly, or Master Mold can take a break from making smaller units."

"Perish?!" the newly captured ponies exclaimed.

"STATEMENT" Master Mold began to say, in a slightly deeper voice than the three standard units. "THE AMOUNT OF SMALLER UNITS I HAVE CREATED APPEAR TO BE SUFFICIENT FOR OUR NEEDS. I CAN REFRAIN FROM MAKING MORE AND START USING MY NEW AND BETTER SUITED MODIFICATION EQUIPMENT."

"Excellent. Take these new subjects to Master Mold. Then go and dispose of the perished organic material." The newly captured ponies screamed and struggled, to no avail. They were brought to Master Mold, and the panel opened, releasing metallic tentacles to pull them in, and the panel closed. The ponies in the pens could only watch in horror and listen to the screams, until they stopped after a few minutes.

"PROGRESS REPORT ON THE EQUINE MUTANTS THAT THE SMALLER UNITS WERE CHARGED WITH MODIFYING."

"The organic energy referred to as magic has been successfully harnessed and channeled into the laser canon foreleg prosthetics. It has been two hours, forty eight minutes, and thirty two seconds since the last malfunction and explosion. Integration of CPU interface technology to the craniums has been the most successful. They will make excellent servants."

"WHAT OF FLIGHT CAPABILITY?

"The rocket hooves that have replaced their organic hooves work perfectly, but their four legged equilibrium makes it difficult to achieve balance in flight. We are attempting to further alter them to be upright for easier aerial capability."

"KEEP ME UPDATED."

"Yes, Master Mold."

Two more smaller Sentinels entered, but with no ponies, and both were damaged. They approached the standard Sentinel nearest to the entrance. "You do not have any equine mutants with you. Or your third companion. And one of you is missing a hand. And the other is missing two fingers."

"We have encountered resistance from what the equine mutants call the Canterolt Royal Guard. They are using primitive bladed weapons but very effectively, and with strong magic shields. Our capture attempt was a loss."

"Unlike our progressing modifications, this is an unacceptable loss. Master Mold is occupied with modifications and cannot administer repairs. Wait in the standby line" the standard Sentinel instructed as it pointed to an empty section of cavern wall.

"There is no line."

"That means you'll be attended to first."

"We do not get paid enough for this" one of the smaller Sentinels said to his fellow partner as they walked to the space.

"We do not get paid at all."

"Exactly."

"Calling for three available smaller units and two hound units" the standard Sentinel said.

"WAIT" Master Mold said, turning his head to the standard. "ARE THERE ANY MODIFIED UNITS WORKING AT HIGH CAPACITY?"

"The highest capacity the modified units are working at is 92.6%."

"HOW MANY ARE WORKING AT THIS CAPACITY?"

"Four."

"SEND THEM WITH THE THREE SMALLER UNITS AND THE TWO HOUNDS. SEND THEM TO A SMALL POPLUATED AREA. IT IS TIME THEY BE TESTED."