While on the way to Ponyville, Dragnet and I decided to go to Canterlot to take in the sites, The train fair was decent, but I was marked as cargo and put in the storage car.... In a box.... with packing peanuts. I hated it, but Dragnet was nice enough to stay by my side.

Chief Lock n' Key gave me a trench coat and fedora, it helped that I kept my face open as much as possible, so ponies didn't freak out, thank Luna for the Facsimile face!

I continued to pick packing peanuts out of my joints as Dragnet and I trotted around the city, trotting the street of Canterlot, I saw there were more Unicorns than any other of the three races. Some Pegasus guards here and there, but few civilians.

"Wait up." Dragnet said as we got to a crowded area.

Ponies were gathered in the plaza, They were watching a broadcast on a view screen.

"And this is just in," A pony, Red unicorn stallion with blue mane and purple eyes. He wore spectacles on the bridge of his snout as he read. from a paper. "A Threat has been made to Canterlot by an unknown party, all this a week before the royal wedding!"

"Royal wedding?" I said as I looked to my partner. "Did you know anything about this?"

Dragnet shook her head. "No, we're going to ponyville, remember?"

"As such, all incoming and outgoing traffic has been halted until further notice, all except guests and family for the wedding are now allowed to enter...." The stallion lost his professionalism as he looked off screen. "Does this mean I can't visit my mother tomorrow?"

We trotted off to a quiet area as everypony dispersed.

"Great!" Dragnet groaned rubbing her face with a hoof. "Now we're stuck here!"

I looked at my unicorn friend with pity, Then dots were connected as a smile formed on my muzzle. "You know, why not enjoy the situation while we can?"

Dragnet looked up at me over her hoof. "What do you mean?"

I wrapped my foreleg over her withers and pulled her close. "C'mon, Draggy! We can do some sight seeing, I been to canterlot before, it's changed sure, but we can make it work!"

She pursed her lips before a smile came up on her muzzle. "Guess your right, what about the threat though? What if the city's under attack?"

I just smirked. "Well, I'm a crime fighting cyborg, your a Manehattan police officer, You still have your service gun right?"

Dragnet looked at me and patted the side of her jacket. "Never leave home without it." She said as her horn flashed. "And I am well versed in defensive and offensive spells."

Smirking I lifted the trench coat to one side. "You know I'm always packing." Justice poked out of my right side panel.

So you know, my rifles are built where my ribs would be. So they're well hidden.

later through that week I got a fresh polish job, some waxing, and Dragnet commissioned somepony who worked on detailing for chariots to put my cutie mark on my left hip, it felt good to have it again, even though I know it's a replication. I also carried a bag, it held a bag of money bits, in case I found something I wanted to buy, I also had more arcane crystals brought with me in my side pouch that was under the coat. Needless to say, I was paranoid.

For good reason.

Later that evening we found a hotel to stay at, Needless to say I took the stairs, the elevator couldn't take my weight, and the looks I got when the thing almost fell off the cable was a reminder of a freak I was. Still, Dragnet and I sat in our room as she ate her salad and I enjoyed a chocolate smoothie, at least I could taste.

The next day, Dragnet and I were shopping, the guards trotted past us became more apparent, they seemed to beef up the security since yesterday and there was a pink bubble around the city.

"They sure are paranoid, huh?" Dragnet asked as she watched the guards, one of whom came up to me.

"Miss," he asked as he looked at me. "You need to remove the coat."

Oh dear...

"U-uhm, well the thing is, I can't, I have... I..."

"She's a war veteran, sir." Dragnet said as she jumped to my side. "She's covered in scars...."

The guard was skeptical, he looked at me and narrowed his eyes. "It's against the law to impersonate a guard, you know that, right?"

My own eyes narrowed, I hope my acting was good enough. "Tell that to the 354th Earth Pony battalion that perished at the battle of Celestia hoof, sir."

Dragnet grabbed my hoof. "Easy there, lieutenant." she looked at the royal guard. "P-Please, she lost good friends, if you push her any further she'll have a flashback, real nasty."

The royal guard was sweating and nodded. "I-I'm sorry, I just have to verify----

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME, SOLDIER!?" I yelled at him, hoping the time my dad scolded me when I exploaded the kitchen would help me here.

How was I supposed to know putting fireworks in the oven was a bad idea? plus it was a triple dog dare! YOU CAN'T REFUSE A TRIPLE DOG DARE, You CAN'T!

The Royal guard, who quickly saluted at me sweated so much he left a pool under him. "P-Private Cold Breeze, Sir-er Ma'am, Sir-Ma'am!"

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SEE YOUR FELLOW SOLDIERS FALL, PRIVATE COLD BREEZE!? Or Should I call You Private No Brains!?"

"N-NO MA'AM!" He said shaking in his armor. "I-I'm sorry Ma'am, I am honored to stand before a veteran guard!"

"DO YOU WANT TO SEE HOW I AM A VETERAN!?" I yelled showing a metal leg, his eyes widened as he saw his reflection in the polished steel. "I lost this leg by fighting the griffin scum that killed my men! Tell me now if I'm impersonating!"

"N-No ma'am, your not, I was just---"

"DROP AND GIVE ME TWO HUNDRED, PRIVATE NO BRAINS!"

"MA'AM YES MA'AM!"

And thus he did exactly that, Dragnet and I trotted off until we got far enough away that we busted out giggling.

"Private No Brains?!" Dragnet snicked. "Oh, that poor pony, Blue you were so mean to him!"

I snickered. "Oh, he'll be fine, I'm sure."

We trotted through the city, doing some shopping and sight seeing, I was hoping to see my father, but alas, he didn't seem to be around, probably being held at the castle.

We stopped at a cloths shop, Dragnet saw some dresses she wanted to look at, I couldn't help but wonder why?

"Blue, you need one as well."

SHIT!

"Shit..." I mumbled under my breath, er if I had a breath... "Draggy, how could I wear a dress, I won't be able to wear one, remember?" I emphasized by moving my foreleg, the whirring it made was enough evidence.

Dragnet rolled her eyes, she looked around and found an employee.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

The pony turned and looked at her, she came up and looked at the dress Dragnet picked out.

"Ah, good choice, miss. But I think Green would go better with your coat and compliment your eyes."

My unicorn friend blinked and nodded. But, alas, I couldn't get out of the situation that easy.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind, but my friend here needs one as well," She said, much to my annoyance, and embarrassment she pulled my coat off. "As you can see, she's a special case."

The poor employee gaped at me and looked like she was about to run out screaming. But I give her credit, she shook her shock off and smiled, albeit in an unsure manner.

"I'm sure we can find something for your friend, let's see what we can find for her?" she looked me up and down. "Hmm, you are a tough one, aren't we?"

"Bullet proof, too." I remarked, earning an elbow to the side hull by my friend... she quickly regretted it as she groaned holding said appendage in pain.

Looking me over she circled me and tapped my side, earning a 'tink tink' in return.

"Oh, your a challenge alright, but I never deny a challenge!"

After an hour of looking, the employee returned, empty hooved.

"Unfortunately, your a challenge even I can't take on..." She said with a sigh, suddenly she gasped and stamped a hoof. "BUT! I know who can!"

"Who?" Dragnet and I responded.

"Why, Mistress Rarity, of course!" She replied by showing us a pamphlet. "She's an up-and-coming new pony in fashion! She's based in Ponyville, but word has it she's in Canterlot, at the castle as we speak, if you hurry, you might be able to find her after the wedding!"

"When's the wedding?" I asked, my eternal database looked up the information before the pony could reply, I got an answer. "NOW!?"

Both Dragnet and the employee blinked before Dragnet smiled. "She's quite gifted, y'know." she said looking at the employee.

Galloping out the store, we bolted toward the castle, Dragnet had my trench coat, I didn't have the time to fiddle with getting it on, we worried about ponies running from me, but we were in a hurry....

Wait....

Why isn't the towns ponies running from me?

Looking around, we saw everypony in the streets staring up into the sky at the pink dome, I noticed it got darker there were loud muffled thuds.

"What the hay?" I said, I looked to Dragnet to ask, but it seems she too was in a trance at what was happening above us.

Curiosity got the better of me too, I looked up and my scanners went haywire.

Above us, outside the dome were strange ponies, well, at first glance they looked like ponies, but were more insectoid, they had holes in their legs and curved horns, their wings were like insects and buzzed as they flew. They rammed themselves against the dome, causing it to eventually shatter.

As the Magic barrier fell, pieces of it came down on us, I shoved Dragnet and anypony too scared to move out of the way, the pieces hit me, but didn't stop me, until I heard a yell and saw a filly in the street, her tail was caught by a piece of the barrier, another large one was about to crush her, my systems worked overtime as I moved as quick as I could.

I activated my rifles, having them deploy from my side, I fired at shards as they came down, the largest pieces were my targets as I ran towards the filly, I hadn't the time to shoot the shard, lest I risk hitting her, I did the next best thing.

Jumping over her and shoving her under me, I took the shard at full impact, which hit me pretty hard, my vision froze up for a second or two, I had major tracking error, Damage readings showed my optical circuits have been knocked for a loop, no doubt I got hit in the head.

Once my systems readjusted themselves and my vision was back to full 1080px, I looked down at the filly.

She was an orange Pegasus with purple eyes, purple mane with a tomboy style short cut. She was staring up at me in awe as though I jumped out of a comic book.

"T-Thanks...." She said, looking at me with wide purple eyes.

"Your welcome." I replied, my scans showed she was unharmed.

When the barrier's spell evaporated, the shards disappeared, freeing the filly's tail. However, the danger wasn't over, the buzzing got louder, looking up and around the creatures started to invade, some used magic from their horns to accelerate themselves and impact into the ground to terrorize the civilians, three impacted near us, surrounding me and the filly and cutting me off from Dragnet.

"Dragnet!" I yelled. "Forget me, I'll be fine. Get to safety!"

The unicorn, stubborn as she was shook her head, pulling out her service pistol and loading it. "Don't think so, partner."

I sighed. "We have no jurisdiction here!" I lowered my head and checked my data.

The princess since updated my system, and by princess, I mean Celestia, she wanted to make changes I feel were intrusive, I had freedom, but something felt off. It's then I knew why.

Directives popped up on my new HUD, an actually useful upgrade by Cyber Tech, While I made my own choices, sometimes my cybernetic systems would suggest things I needed to do if situations rises.

Celestia apparently added some of her own programming to it.

'Directive objectives updated....'

Directive 1: Protect the citizens at any cost.

Directive 2: Drive back unknown hostiles in any means necessary.

Directive 3: Get to the Castle to provide backup.

'All Jurisdiction limitations lifted, Unit is to protect and serve kingdom to the best of it's ability, for the Princesses of Equestria, for the lasting of harmony.'

Oh, well that's within understandable tolerances, makes me feel like a weapon now, though.

The creatures hissed as they set their compacted eyes upon the filly and I, From how they bared their fangs at us and their body language were showing intent to harm, I gladly began letting my targeting system take control.

Shoving the filly underneath me as I acted as a body shield, my helmet formed around my head, it was domed with a silver reflective visor.

"Alright, bugs." I said as my Rifles reloaded and I began taking into account the fact more of the creatures seemed to be gathering around us. "You want to play? Okay let's play, hope you like it...."

"ROUGH!"

With that I began firing Law and Justice, sending bolt rounds into the monster's skulls, their blood was green and bits went everywhere, As soon as I fired, Dragnet joined in, I opened a path for her to run to as we formed a protective circle.

The creatures were easy to bring down, but by the stars, they had numbers on their side! Sadly we only so much ammo, and I was limited to the ground, I didn't bring the flight pack....

Oops.

Dragnet spotted one of the freaks trying to sneak up and take a bite out of her, it was quickly rewarded with a hoof to the face, she was rewarded with a satisfying crunch, which made her smirk.

"This is getting expensive!" Dragnet yelled over gunfire as she jumped behind me to reload. "I only have so much ammo!"

"Doesn't this place have a police department!?" The filly asked. "They might have ammo for you."

Dragnet looked around. "Not on this block, Blue?"

I took a moment for my system to find the Canterlot PD, it was down the block to the left, near the Guard Barracks. Oh dear...

"You won't like it..." I said, Dragnet fired over my shoulder, using my side panel as cover. "It's across town, we'll have to run like maniacs."

Dragnet looked down at the filly who was holding her ears closed from how loud my guns fired. She snorted and grabbed her and threw her on my back.

"Dragnet, what the---

"Your the fastest, GO!" She yelled as she booked it down the street.

"Damn You!" I yelled as I too ran, kicking one of those freaks in the face, snapping it's neck when it's head flopped back at an angle most unnatural.

Running as fast as we could the buzzing got louder, it seemed the rest of the swarm got called in and decided to investigate why their troops were herded in one spot.

Dragnet and I were side by side when we turned the corner, We thought we were home free when a Green bolt shot past us, I was shocked to see my armor nearly melted from it.

I dared to look back, I wish I hadn't as I saw a whole fleet of the damn things, flying and shooting at us with green magic bolts from their horns, they hit the pavement, making it melt, One shot nearly took my side paneling off.

A second look I noticed these were different from the ones we faced in the Alley, they were bigger, had different, I dunno insects.... Oh, Chitin, yes, their chitin was thicker, wings were bigger to compensate, having two sets on their backs with a shell, they wore dark blue helmets with armor that was spiked, it reminded me of a rhinoceros beetle.

If it weren't the fact they intended to brutally murder us, I'd find it cool.

Needless to say, I had better things to do tonight than die.

These bigger bugs... Oh, I got a name from my database, They're changelings. These particular set, Six of them precisely, were called Bullet Changelings... I see why....

The doors of the Canterlot Police Department greeted us, Well, I greeted it first by going through them.... literally, OH YEAH!

Needless to say the Royal guards and police officers there were ready to start shooting at me until Dragnet ran in and I turned to fire at the Bullet Changelings.

Oh, I get it, cause their like bullet ants.... okay...

Needless to say I was shocked when it took a whole arcane crystal to drop just one. I felt the filly climb off me, I checked her and saw she was unharmed. Unfortunately for the bugs, I don't care for those who harm children intentionally.

The bugs got behind cover and started taking pot shots at me, some hit, but they weren't as hot as before, guess they have a limited amount of affect per shot. Still wish the damn things would drop easier as their lesser armored buddies.

"Who the hay are you!?" A pony yelled, turning to look I saw it was a royal guard Pegasus.

"Manehattan Officer Dragnet, and Officer Silver Blue, we were on vacation when these things attacked." Dragnet explained further, I was too busy dropping bugs as I could with my limited ammunition.

"Silver Blue? that thing's your friend?" the guard asked, shaking his head. "I'm Rumbling Thunder, I'm with the 25th division until we got separated."

Dragnet snorted. "And yes, that 'thing' is my friend. She and I were partners on the force longer than you've worn that armor."

Rumbling Thunder looked at me as I continued to fire, I jumped back to reload and finally I looked at him.

The pegasus shook his head. "Well good, we could use a shield, we need to establish a line back to the castle."

"That's where we're going," I said before jumping back out the door to continue firing, of the six that attacked us, four now remained, as I said these things don't drop easy.

Rumbling Thunder turned to Dragnet and the filly. "We'll get you two to safety, so long as that thing can keep them busy."

"SHE'S NOT A THING!" Dragnet yelled, "Her name is Silver Blue! She's a pony like everypony else! She.... She only got this way because she was...." She sighed when she caught my side look at her. shaking her head she trotted beside me. "You can go run away, but my partner and I are staying, we'll both give you cover."

Rumbling Thunder watched us go at work and shook his head. "Fine, die at the side of a machine." He turned to his troops. "Fall in, boys. We're getting out of here!"

One of the guards came up to us.

"I'm Freefall," he said, he too was a Pegasus. "Do you ladies need anything?"

I gave him a side look and nodded. "Ammo, we need 44.mag rounds and Arcane crystals, 12 gauge preferred."

The stallion nodded and galloped off to the armory, another ran in with him to help. Some of the officers loaded their respective weapons, rifles mostly.

"You girls aren't alone, we'll help you out from the windows." the officer, a unicorn, old enough to be Chief's age.

I nodded and fired another round, blowing the head off number three.

"Shit, here comes more, Standard little bastards this time." one officer said from upstairs.

"Damnit!" I said before shouting. "Does this station have any heavy weaponry?" after hearing more shots I finally got an answer the moment my rifles went dry, I was out.

"Armory, theres a Arcane Machine gun, it's too heavy for anypony.... "There was a magic bolt shot. "oh, you sonova---"

I went to the armory and saw a thing of beauty. the Arcane Machine Rifle was huge, it was almost as big as me and had boxes and boxes worth of ammo. If I could orgasm, the floor would be wet right then and there. I think I might have sprung a leak.

Apparently cyborgs can orgasm, it just wasn't that fun, sadly.

Taking the arcane MG, I went to the doorway and set it up, I was about to fire when a green bolt hit Dragnet, she screamed out and fell, leaning against the steps railing.

"DRAGNET!" I yelled, my scans showed she was hit in the shoulder, she'll be fine so long as she got medical attention, never the less I was pissed, I decided to hell with the set up and held the MG like a boss and began firing at the Changelings.

The moment they realized they not only pissed off a cyborg with heavy weaponry, they also realized their numbers quickly dwindled, I shot them up to the point most had more holes then their legs did, firing like mad until they decided we weren't worth their trouble and got the hell out of dodge, or in this case out of the street.

Once the last changeling fled or fell to my fury, I set the MG aside and ran to Dragnet, she was holding her shoulder that was bleeding badly, I did another scan that showed the damage wasn't as bad as it looked.

"Officer Down!" I called to the officers up stairs, several with medical bags ran in, they were field medics, no doubt the city had more problems then it made you believe.

"Don't worry about me, Blue." Dragnet said as she whimpered when a doctor began treating the wound. "I've had worse, remember the raid on that drug den?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, we both got shot to hell, That was before this." I said, looking at myself.

Dragnet chuckled. "Good times." She said wincing again. "And more to come, now go, get to the castle and see if you can help there."

I nodded, though reluctant to leave my partner and best friend. "I'll come back for you, Draggy."

She laughed and groaned as the doctors brought her inside for triage.

"We'll take good care of her, thanks for your help." The CPD Chief said as he shook my hoof. "Take the MG, we'll give you more ammo too."

With a smirk I nodded.

Author's Note

I always imagined Changelings to look more like something H.R. Giger would design. similar to a Xenomorph, or Sil. something actually bigger than a pony.