Pain.
That was all #0032541 felt. Pure, unclouded pain. It’s accelerometers told it it was falling, but that didn’t matter. It felt like every atom of it’s body was burning in nuclear fire. Perhaps they were. It couldn’t tell. Slowly, the pain started to fade, and it could start to think straight. It had been on an invasion force to an odd planet. The planet was a geocentric one, with a small star orbiting around the ball of rock itself, rather than the opposite. Dalek scanners had displayed that the planet was inhabited, so they had set out to exterminate whatever lived there. But when they had arrived, the small sun had fired a solar flare at them, burning the Dalek saucer out of the sky. Apparently, #0032541 had somehow survived. And it was now falling towards the planet’s surface. With this realized, #0032541 did the logical thing.
It screamed.
It screamed and screamed and screamed, as loud as it possibly could. Only to be cut off, with an impact. And the dalek lay silent.
“What do you think it could have been?” Rarity asked, as she and her friends walked. All of Ponyville had seen it: the shooting star in broad daylight, and all had heard the screaming. The terrible screaming, that sounded like whoever it was was burning and drowning both at once. The great crash, as whatever it was slammed into the ground. The fires that had burst to life around the crash site, the same fires the Main 6 were currently walking towards.
“I don’t know, but whoever it was, we have to help them!” Twilight replied. She was leading the group, having been the only one to somewhat accurately tell where the thing had landed, having been watching the skies through her telescope. Suddenly, they reached the top of the small hill they had been climbing, and they saw it. A great wound in the earth, fires all around it, and in the centre, what they had been searching for.
It had the appearance of a large, bronze, metal cylinder, just big enough to fit a small pony inside. About half was covered in small domes, golden in color. The other end had another dome covering the top, with lights sticking out like ears. On the midsection were two appendages, which had the appearance of… A toilet plunger and an egg whisk? On the dome with lights, there was another jutting stick, this one with a blue light on the end. The entire contraption was lying on what they assumed to be it’s side, the three appendages hanging limp.
Rainbow Dash took a step forwards.
The stick with the blue light suddenly swivelled to look at her, like an eye, the entire dome it was attached to moving with it. The ponies jumped, Rainbow moving back into a defensive stance. The small, egg whisk like arm twitched, a second passed, and then it spoke. The lights on top lit up, and the same gargling, almost mechanical voice they had heard screaming earlier emitted from the device.
“Who… Are… You…?”
0032541 was confused. It wasn’t dead? How was that possible? It must have fallen from orbit! A sound caught it’s attention, and it tried to swivel it’s eyestalk to see. To it’s delight, it succeeded.
Wait. Delight? Daleks were only supposed to delight in extermination. How could it gain one of the only two emotions it could feel from such a simple task? It decided to file this away for later, as in it’s vision it saw six very interesting beings in it’s vision. It questioned why it found them interesting, as again that was not a dalek emotion, but no matter. It would exterminate them, as they were obviously inferior, repair itself, and then cleanse this world of the filth that dotted it’s surface. #0032541 tried to move it’s gunstick to fire at the beings… And failed. Something was holding it back. It tried again, in vain. It was starting to feel scared now. Scared? What were these emotions? They were non-dalek! What was going on?
0032541 firmly buried those thoughts, to figure out later. It decided that if it’s gunstick was damaged, it could at least talk to these beings and keep them here while it restored it’s weapon. And so, it croaked out a query.
“Who… Are… You…?”
The purple alien blinked, with it’s impossibly large eyes (Surely it couldn’t have space for a brain?), before it replied. “What?”
Ah, so they were sapient. Good. It would make their extermination more fun.
“I… asked a… question. Who… are you?” #0032541 asked again.
“Well…” The pink one stepped forward. #0032541 swivelled it’s eyestalk to look at it, then immediately regretted it as half it’s scanners produced error messages. It moved it’s scanners to cover the group as a whole. They were all emanating with an odd energy, that the scanners identified as a kind of harmless radiation. It decided to further the scan afterwards, as the pink one had continued talking.
“I’m Pinkie Pie, that’s Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy!” She described, gesturing to each one as she said their names. If #0032541 could snort, it would have. Such un-dalek names!
But of course they’d be un-dalek. These weren’t daleks. Why would it have expected otherwise? It turned it’s attention back to the aliens.
“And what’s yer name?” ‘Applejack’ asked, stepping forwards away from the others. She leant down to stare #0032541 in the eyestalk.
“I am Dalek Zero-zero-three-two-five-four-one.” The dalek responded, the auto-repair function having managed to heal the voice modulator back to normal levels. Pinkie Pie started muttering, as the others gained confused expressions.
“Darling, that’s a number, not a name!” Rarity exclaimed. She looked as though she was going to say more, before #0032541 cut her off.
“Daleks have no need of names.”
Twilight Sparkle looked at #0032541 curiously. “So, you have designations, not names… Are you automatrons? Or is there some kind of creature inside that thing?”
"I am a cyborg." #0032541 replied. Twilight Sparkle seemed visibly excited by this.
"A cyborg? So there is something organic in there... Are you able to open the device, or is it fused?" She inquired.
Now #0032541 was seriously confused. It wanted to open it’s casing, and ask for help from these beings (Which it’s databanks showed bore a strong resemblance to Earth ‘ponies’). But no dalek would ever do that, even in a case of life or death! What was wrong with it? But even as it thought this, it’s psychic connections activated on their own. “I will open my casing. I will need your help to move the panels. First, you will need to lift me upright.” #0032541 was screaming at itself, shrieking that even suicide would be better than this. These new emotions, however, beat that side down using… a lollipop? The dalek dismissed the mental image as suddenly it’s scanners went haywire. Twilight Sparkle’s horn-like appendage was glowing with a purple light, and the scanners indicated this area of her skull was currently overflowing with the mysterious radiation. A purple glow enveloped #0032541’s vision. It’s altimeters informed it that it was levitating into the air, despite the gravity repulsors being completely offline. It was set down, upright as asked for, and spoke after a moment.
“What was that?”
Twilight Sparkle blinked at it again, the glow fading from her horn, and replied with a slow “Magic.”
“Daleks have no concept of magic. I repeat, what was that?” #0032541 was utterly astounded at this ability being displayed, but refused to show it.
“Magic.” Twilight Sparkle repeated. “I’m sorry if you have no concept of magic, but that’s what it was. I’m sure we can talk about it later, but didn’t you say you were going to open your casing?”
0032541 dismissed the topic of ‘magic’, agreeing that getting fully operational was indeed the priority. It activated the opening mechanism.
The group was startled, as a loud hissing of steam was heard. The dalek’s front side shifted, revealing several visible seams. Remembering that it had said it would require their assistance, Twilight took one of the panels in her magic and shifted it to the side, all the others moving aside with it. The being inside, however, was not what they were expecting. A loud “Urk!” was heard from behind, as Rarity fought back the urge to vomit, and a squeak came from Fluttershy as she tried to turn herself into a singularity by sheer will.
Within the casing of the dalek was a small fleshy mass. It had the vague appearance of a brain with tentacles and a single eye, and had wires and tubing piercing into it's body, connecting it to it’s shell. The only pony interested was Twilight, as Pinkie was still muttering to herself. Twilight looked at the being sitting in the opened chamber, blinked, and asked “Where’s your mouth?”
“I do not have one. The psychic connectors relay the thoughts I wish to vocalize.” It gestured to a pair of wires leading up into the ‘head’ with one of it’s tentacles, as the wires lit up in correspondence with the voice, much like the earlights had. Twilight seemed satisfied by this, sat back on her haunches, and bluntly stated “I have so many questions, but now’s not the time. Let’s help you out.”
0032541 was feeling ecstatic. These ponies had foolishly helped repair and heal it, and now it was ready to continue it’s mission. The extermination of all inferior lifeforms. It raised it’s gunstick at the ponies, began diverting power to the device… And failed again. What? It had been completely and utterly repaired! Nothing could prevent the device from firing aside from a physical blockade or a disconnection, and neither of those were present. It tried to use the manipulator arm to latch onto Twilight Sparkle’s skull and crush it, but that refused to extend as well. What was going on? #0032541 ran a full systems check while the ponies watched, afraid. The check came up negative. Nothing was wrong. The dalek did it again. And again. And again. All had the same result. Now, #0032541 was scared. It was more than scared, it was terrified. Why weren’t it’s weapons functioning? It ran the check again and again and again, before finally screaming “Why are my weapons non-functional?!”
The ponies stopped. There was silence, aside from Pinkie’s mutterings. Finally, Fluttershy spoke for the first time.
“W-w-weapons?”
0032541 was confused. These ponies were advanced enough to have a language that it’s telepathic circuits were capable of translating, but they had no concept of weapons?
“Correct. My weapons system-“ It raised the gunstick. “Is non-functional.” It turned to demonstrate, wondering why it was doing so instead of plotting to kill the aliens via other means. It attempted to fire at a nearby tree- And succeeded. A bolt of blue energy burst out of the device, leaving the tree ablaze. #0032541 was shocked, despite daleks- No, it’d need to stop thinking that. It was evident that something about this place deactivated the emotional lock, so it wouldn’t do it much good to interrupt it’s thoughts to reflect on that. Issue resolved, it went back to the issue at manipulator.
It looked at the burning tree, then angled it’s gunstick back at the stunned ponies and tried to attack. Again, it failed. And this time, it could identify the feeling that went through it as it tried. An emotion, though it could not identify which. It ignored this, instead accusing the ponies. “Do you have some form of shielding technology active?”
“Shiel- no? No, we don’t have any shield spells active.” Replied Twilight Sparkle, still staring at the tree, which was starting to die down. She looked back at #0032541, noticed the gunstick pointed at her face, and understood.
“You were going to kill us!” She cried, horn glowing. The other ponies caught up, and likewise moved into fighting stances.
“Yes. Is that not the natural way of life? One race is superior to all others?” #0032541 asked.
“It’s the natural way of life for one creature to kill others, but no race is superior! All are important!” Fluttershy spoke up finally, flying up to stare #0032541 in the eyestalk. As it stared back, it felt another feeling. Fear. The kind of fear that only one name could instil in a dalek.
Predator. Oncoming Storm. The Living Death. Dalek Killer. Destroyer of Skaro. Ka Faraq Gatri.
Doctor.
0032541 was more than scared. It was terrified. It was terrified of this small equine, who somehow managed to replicate the absolute feeling of dread They radiated. It rolled backwards, trying it’s absolute hardest to get away from whatever this thing was. It rolled back, before crashing into another tree, halting it’s progress. “What… are you?” It asked the confused ponies.
Fluttershy stopped her stare, and the feeling of fear faded. Now, #0032541 was curious. She was capable of generating such a feeling of absolute horror in beings. What other powers did she possess? Twilight Sparkle started talking.
“R-right. We’re going to take you to my house, so that we can study you better. Even if you want to kill us, I can’t pass up this opportunity to study an alien species!” She gave a small squeak, which #0032541’s database identified as a ‘squee’ (Where in Drallaka had it found that?) before regaining her dignity. “A-hem. Anyway, there are going to be more ponies around, so don’t try to attack them, or Fluttershy will use her Stare again.” Twilight held her gaze for another second, before nudging Fluttershy. “H-huh? O-oh, yeah!” Was the timid mare’s response. #0032541 almost laughed. It was obvious these beings were incapable of attacking it. But even so…
“I obey.” They had displayed interesting power, and if #0032541 ever got back to the Dalek Fleet, it would be able to give vital information for conquering the planet. It trundled forward, the ponies quickly moving out of it’s way, and stopped. “Lead the way.” It asked.
And then Pinkie Pie finally stopped mumbling, leapt up in the air, and shouted.
“Essal!”
Everypony and everydalek stared at her, the latter quickly looking away. She was hanging in midair, despite the fact it broke so many laws of physics even They would have difficulty replicating the effect.
“Essal?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yeah! Essal! Take off the zeroes, nobody needs them, and change the two into an S because Ezsal just looks weird, and we have a name!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Everypony looked at her disbelievingly, but #0032541 was calculating. The name… sparked something. It wasn’t sure what, but it was something.
And it was good.
“Very well. My new name will be Essal.” It stated. And as it said that, a sort of warmth spread throughout it’s being. It ignored this, believing it to just be another of those silly emotions, and waited for the ponies to continue to their destination. They finally realized this, and set off, Essal following close behind.
Essal was following behind them, making the ponies uncomfortable. It didn’t seem to be capable of firing on them, but it was still terrifying. It had been pure luck that it had such an extreme reaction to the Stare. Fluttershy had explained that if it had had such a reaction, it must have encountered something absolutely terrifying previously, as the Stare was technically memory magic, utilizing memories of previous fears. They felt sorry for it, given their naturally forgiving nature, but it still wanted to kill them. So they were being cautious. They spoke quietly on the trek back to Ponyville, constantly giving it backwards glances. It didn’t seem to notice, instead silently looking around at the scenery, aside from the quiet hum that it emitted as it moved. This silence is what caused them to jump when it spoke again, as they hadn’t been expecting it.
“You mentioned magic.” Twilight looked over her shoulder at it, trusting her friends to direct her.
“Y-yes. What about it?”
“Daleks have no concept of magic. By all rights, I should still be denying it. Yet I am not.” Essal stated. It rotated it’s eyestalk, extending it like a screw. It stared at Twilight, the single purple lens burning into her soul. “I have been experiencing emotions since I landed on this planet. This is not normal for daleks.” It stopped, and the ponies stopped too. The others had, of course, been listening too.
“Can you assist?”
“No… emotions?” Applejack asked. “But how do ya get through life then?”
“We have no need for them.” Essal replied. “Everything they provide is supplied by our life-support system. I do not know what to do, now that I have emotions.”
“Well,” Twilight started, “Princess Luna knows mind magic. Do you sleep?”
“We have no need, but it is possible.” Essal responded.
“Well, we can work on that tonight. Aside from that, I can see if Thorax or one of Ponyville’s resident changelings will help.” Twilight said.
They kept walking in silence.
After a short time, they arrived in Ponyville. Essal made no comment as it glided over the bridge, continuing to observe silently. Twilight and Co. made their way through the center of town, before stopping when they could no longer hear Essal’s hum. They looked back to see it staring at a large group of ponies. Most of the ponies were staring back, but some would shrug and continue on their way. After all, this was Ponyville. They had survived literal planet-sized octopus demons, a singular pepperpot-thing was nothing. Essal, however, seemed to think otherwise, before speaking.
“Binary vascular system.”
Twilight, being Twilight, understood. “Two hearts? But there’s only one pony here who has that…”
“Respiratory bypass.”
“Essal?” Twilight queried. The dalek made no sign of having heard.
“High amounts of artron energy! Timelord! Timelord! Timelord!” It screeched.
And then it barked a warcry that would haunt Twilight’s nightmares for months to come.
“EXTERMINATE!”
