Act 1: Arrival and Acclimation

It was a quiet night in Ponyville and Luna had been at her duties for a few hours now. It was a cool summer night, and everypony was already asleep. Well, almost everypony.

Fluttershy walked gently along the edge of the Everfree Forest. She had recently taken to caring for some nocturnal animals - one of which was Owlicious for Twilight since she had gone on vacation to the Crystal Empire. It really wasn’t any trouble, as she enjoyed the company at night when Angel Bunny went to bed. The first task on her list was to find twigs adequate enough to serve as a makeshift nest for Owlicious, and night time was the best time to be able to carefully find just the right ones without interruption.

That peace was short to last, however. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye. Her head darted up from the forest floor as she took a brief glimpse into the thick darkness of the forest. She cautiously peered into the overgrowth of trees and grass. There it was again! A thick, long strand of what appeared to be cobalt blue lightning materialized out of thin air, only to be lost to nothingness. Suddenly, more streaks of the same electrical energy zapped out at random, one of which rebounded off of Fluttershy’s hoof and lightly burned her. She let out a delicate yelp as she recoiled in a wince of pain, only for her attention to be brought back to what was happening in front of her. A small, yet growing orb of what looked to be displaced air was rapidly growing to roughly the size of a small wagon or cart, and then vanished as soon as it appeared. Fluttershy took refuge behind a large oak tree and shielded her eyes as a bright light quickly flashed, then disappeared instantly. The grass and dirt of the forest floor had been scorched by the intense heat and replaced with a small glowing crater, with one occupant crouching in the middle.

It was an earth pony who had a gray coat and a brown mane. He slowly brought his body to his hooves as his head turned from left to right, and began to scan his surroundings. His eyes took in what he saw as his blank, expressionless face snapped to the yellow pony in front of him. Behind his black pupils was a red-tinted color of computerized vision, which quickly scanned and analyzed Fluttershy’s frame. It snapped pictures of her and scanned outlines of her wings, hooves, legs, face, eyes, and mane. It also identified her cutie mark, but had no file to compare it to; so, it saved it to its memory files for later analysis. He slowly moved out from the crater and approached the shivering mare and did a last-minute once-over of her form before breaking the silence with a monotone voice. “I require a detailed bearing of the current space time continuum.”

Fluttershy cowered in fear as his unchanging face awaited a response. “I-I-wha?”

He repeated himself once more, although he changed a few terms in an attempt for her to understand his request, “I require a detailed bearing of the current location.”

She looked up at him, and did a once-over of him for herself. He seemed normal enough, and reminded her of the way Twilight spoke. His lack of emotions troubled her. Her eyes darted back and forth as her mind raced with thoughts. It had been a long time since she felt this intimidated. The last one to make her feel this caught off-guard was Iron Will. But this one was different. Who was this pony? What is he talking about? Why are these questions so basic, but so hard to answer? As much as her mind droned on, there was no time to deliberate, as he was standing there still as a statue waiting for her to answer his request. She wanted to turn and run away - her cottage was only about seventy feet away. Then she remembered what it was like for anyone to be new to an area. She wanted desperately to get her twigs for Owlicious and leave, but as the element of Kindness, she gave the benefit of the doubt and tried her best to help. “W-well, w-we’re in Equestrial…specifically, Ponyville. I’m F-Fluttershy and I help the a-animals.” His thousand-yard stare made no visible change as he processed the information he was given. He observed as she extended a hoof in an attempt to greet him, as she waited for his hoof in return. “It’s n-nice to meet you.” Her greeting dripped with the last remnants of a questionable tone, as if she almost asked him if it was indeed nice to make his acquaintance.

He glanced down briefly at her hoof and returned his gaze to her. “I am looking for a man named John Connor. Is he here?” His question sounded like more of a statement.

“Umm…I’ve never heard of anypony by that name. Are you his father?”

“No. I am a cybrenetic organism, Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, T-800 series 2.0. I am sent to protect John Connor at all costs and ensure the success of his survival.”

She blinked quickly then looked down, “Oh, that’s…nice of you.” She took a breath, and did what she did best. “Listen, it’s getting a bit cooler out, why don’t you come with me and I’ll get you some tea.”

He did not say anything as she began to walk back to her cottage, and followed her analytically. His eyes constantly shifted back and forth, as his red computer vision took snapshot after snapshot of the scenery surrounding him. His CPU had no downloaded files to compare what the version of the world he came from was supposed to look like before the war, so he came to the conclusion that it would be good to have some records to look at for further analysis when he had the time. She opened the door and beckoned him inside as he sat down on her couch. She quickly brewed a cup of tea, and set the cup down in front of him. She had her own cup and lightly placed two cubes of sugar into it and gave it a quick stir. She noticed that he did not touch his mug, “Would you like any milk or sugar?” He blankly stared in the direction in front of him and let the question die in the awkward silence as she took a small sip from her cup. She cleared her throat, “So, um…I don’t know who this John person is, but if you’re looking for someone specific, I’m sure we can help you. I know a lot of ponies around here, and my friends and I are all very familiar with a lot of the villagers.”

He turned his head to her, “That would be optimal for mission success.” He turned his head back to his fixed gaze.

She really didn’t know what to say. This had been one of the most difficult, yet easiest houseguests to entertain. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here for the night. It’s getting pretty late, so I think I’m going to go to sleep. Would you like a pillow and a blanket for the couch so you can sleep comfortably?”

He did not change his gaze. “No.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh. Well. Alrighty then, I guess I’ll see you in the morning. I hope you have a good night.” His face did not change, nor did he offer her a goodnight wish. She took a deep breath, and headed upstairs for bed. I really need to talk to Twilight.

Morning came fast for Fluttershy, and Angel Bunny woke her up with his daily request for breakfast. She smiled lovingly at the pet as he tapped his foot rapidly, as he waited for his owner to get the sleep out of her eyes and finally get him some carrots. She stretched for a good few seconds and climbed out of bed to head to the kitchen. As she flew gently down the stairs, she noticed something off. In the course of the night, it appeared that her guest had not moved from his position on the couch.

LIterally.

He had not even so much as twitched. The tea cup also remained untouched. The scene in front of her looked more like a photograph in real time rather than an apparent living, breathing pony sitting in front of her.

She broke the silence as she forced herself to speak, despite feeling her chest tighten as she attempted to shoo away the compounding fear that was quickly growing inside of her. “Uhm…good…good morning. How did you sl-sleep?”

He looked at her with the same stare he had the night before. “I do not require sleep. Please direct me to where I can find John Connor.” His flat vocal tone had no influxion of emotion, and he obviously had not shown any signs of fatigue or any loss or gain of energy. As if he were a nick-nack one would place on a shelf, he was literally exactly as she had left him the night before.

Fluttershy felt her insides tighten up further as she tried to process the request. She literally had not ever met anypony, anypony like this. The only one who came close was Maud Pie, but even she needed sleep and nutrition. Fluttershy was about to respond when there was a knock on her door. Oh thank you, whoever you are. “Oh, uh, please excuse me for a second.” She swung the door open quickly to find a smiling Rainbow Dash waiting for her.

Rainbow greeted her friend with a loud salutation, as her freshly brushed minty breath perfumed the air between the two, “Morning “Shy! Sleep well? I know I did.” Her cocky grin graced her face as she basked in the glory of a good night’s rest. She was so busy basking, that she did not have time to react when Fluttershy pushed her away from the door and pulled the door shut behind her with a sense of urgency that she rarely showcased. Rainbow had to correct her hoofing to prevent from falling backwards at the sudden display, “Hey! What’s the big idea?!”

Fluttershy shoved a hoof in her friend’s mouth as she quickly tried to quiet her down. “Rainbow Dash, I think I have a problem. I really need somepony’s help, but you have to be discreet about it.”

Dash’s irritated eyes softened when she saw the clearly troubled state of her friend, and lowered her voice to match the volume of Fluttershy’s. “Okay, well, what’s going on?”

“It’s about my houseguest.”

Dash’s eyes widened in realization, “Oh! I didn’t know you had company over. I can come back later if you’d like?”

Fluttershy rapidly shook her head, “No, I really need you. I just met him last night, and-”

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows, “Hey hey! Good for you for finally putting yourself out there, ‘Shy! Is he hot? He has to be if he’s going with you. You think I can sneak a peak?” Her eyes took on a suggestive tone as she pictured what Fluttershy’s date looked like.

Fluttershy huffed, “No Rainbow Dash, it’s not like that. I met him last night in the Everfree Forest, and offered him a place to stay because it was late and cold. But I think something’s wrong with him.”

Rainbow scratched her head. What was she on about? “Fluttershy, stallions aren’t perfect. You remember the guy I was seeing a few months ago? I mean, we all have flaws, but you gotta give ponies a chance.”

Fluttershy rapidly shook her head back and forth, as frustration rapidly grew inside of her. “No! Just…it’s not like that. I mean, when I found him last night in the everfree, he kept going on about finding someone named John, and, well-” Fluttershy saw the puzzled look on Rainbow’s face grow “- here, let me just show you. Follow me.” She guided Rainbow over to the forest and to the crater that had long since stopped smoldering, but was still very much present in the ground where the mysterious stallion had arrived.

Rainbow Dash looked at the ground a few times, and couldn’t find the words to say. Sure things happened that were weird all the time, so she really didn’t know what made this different. It was the Everfree Forest too, it practically had a mind of its own. However, Fluttershy continued, “And this morning. I found him sitting in exactly the same spot, and he didn’t even touch his tea. I don’t think he even went to sleep.”

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to brush this conversation off and get back to hanging out with her friend. “So? Lots of weird stuff happens in the Everfree. And, lots of weird stuff tends to happen around here in general. Us in particular. And maybe he’s a night owl. No big deal.”

Fluttershy sighed in frustration and facehoofed. “Just follow me.” In a matter of seconds, they flew to the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage. “Now, no matter how weird he acts, just don’t make your reactions obvious. I still don’t have a good read on him.”

Rainbow’s face contorted, “Fluttershy, you’re scaring me.”

Fluttershy shushed her friend. “Just follow my lead.” The two friends entered back into Fluttershy’s cottage, and into the living room where the mysterious pony sat. His gaze was fixated forward, which instantly troubled Rainbow Dash. It wasn’t so much that he looked menacing, it was that he had no expression at all. His lifeless eyes stared forward with absolutely no acknowledgement of their presence. He offered no greeting, no “hello”, and no reaction like a normal pony would. The cold teacup sat in front of him, and Rainbow Dash was pretty sure she couldn’t even tell if he was breathing. LIke a blank piece of canvas that never received paint, his expression was utterly filled with complete nothingness.

Rainbow Dash felt a recoil as she stepped forward. “Uh…hi. My name is Rainbow Dash. What’s your name?”

Silence.

Rainbow scratched the back of her head and let out a broken chuckle, “Uh, yeah, well, nice to meet you too.” Unable to think of a conversation starter, she jumped straight to the point. “So, Fluttershy tells me you’re looking for somepony. I know lots of ponies, so maybe I can help.”

That got his attention. His head snapped into Rainbow Dash’s direction, which made her jump back slightly. “I require assistance in locating a way to find John Connor, as completing my mission parameters depend on me finding and ensuring his survival.”

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, unable to understand about half of what he said. She asked nervously, “So, is somepony in danger?”

“Yes. John Connor.”

“Yeah, I got that part. What does he look like? I’m sure if we had a good description, we’d be able to help you find him.”

“John Connor is a caucasion male with short brown hair, brown eyes, and stands at a current height of five foot five inches. He is fifteen years old and is located in Los Angeles, California.”

He might as well have been speaking Griffonese, because Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both were stunned by his description of his primary target. They looked at each other and shrugged. Rainbow Dash worked through her words to try and understand what he described, “Caucas-wha? And what do you mean by five feet? I don’t know a single pony that’s that tall. And where the hay is ‘Los Angeles’ anyway?”

His expression remained unchanged. “Los Angeles is a major city located in the United States of America. Its current population is 12,488,000 people.”

Rainbow’s jaw hit the floor. “You honestly expect to find one pony in that OCEAN of people? Are you nuts?”

“The fulfillment of my mission is dependant on it.”

Rainbow Dash still wasn’t sure about this guy, but she did know one thing was for sure: he seemed absolutely hellbent on protecting whoever this John character was If there was one thing she could appreciate, it was loyalty. And this pony, awkward as he may appear, seemed to display an intense loyalty to whoever John was. “Alright. I know somepony that might be able to help, but she’s on vacation right now, so she won’t be back for a few days. In the meantime, why don’t you come stay with me.”

Fluttershy protested almost immediately, “Uh, Rainbow, can I talk to you?”

The pair made their way into the kitchen, and Fluttershy quickly protested her brash offer, “Rainbow, I appreciate you trying to help, but there’s a few problems. One, you don’t know this pony. Two, your house is made of clouds, and he’s an earth pony. Three, what if he’s dangerous?”

Rainbow shrugged, “ You let him sleep here after literally just meeting him. I’ll just drag it to the ground. It’s just clouds, and it has really nice firm walls. And if he was dangerous, I’m pretty sure we would have figured that out by now. So it’ll be okay.”

Fluttershy bit her lip and looked back into the living room at the unmoving pony. She let out a sigh. “Alright, but the second you’re in trouble, I want you to come find me, okay? I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything bad happen to you.”

Rainbow placed a reassuring hoof on her childhood friend’s shoulder. “Trust me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. I can handle myself, I promise.”

“Pinkie promise?”

“Pinkie Promise.” Rainbow went through the motions of a Pinkie promise and continued, “Now, did he have anything with him that he needs to bring?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, literally it was just him.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Works for me.” The pair turned back to the emotionless houseguest as they walked back into the living room.

Fluttershy spoke up, “Well, I suppose this is goodbye for now. Rainbow Dash is going to let you stay with her for a little while. But if you ever need a place to stay, feel free to come back anytime.”

Silence.

Fluttershy looked warily at her friend, and Rainbow Dash nodded her head in reassurance. The earth pony then rose up for the first time all night and all morning, and made his way over to Rainbow Dash. She bid her goodbye to Fluttershy, and eft the cottage. She guided him across the land bridge towards where her cloud home was floating. “Alright bud, I’ll be back in ten seconds flat.” After a few seconds, she managed to tornado her home down to the ground to make it accessible to the apparent earth pony. “So, how was my time?”

He looked at her and quickly looked her over. She attempted to cover the front part of her as his eyes scanned her up and down, and felt a blush cross her cheeks. He spoke and broke the awkward, yet brief silence, “According to your perspiration levels, heart rate, and overall blood pressure, you completed your task in exactly 10.7 seconds.”

Rainbow chuckled lightly as she opened the door to her home. “Whatever dude, I’m still awesome.” He entered in stoically as she walked in behind him, this guy is seriously off his rocker. We need Twilight, bad.

He took his time walking into her living room as his ruby-tinted computer vision scanned the environment around him. Preliminary scans, outlines of the walls and floors, and an overall analysis of the surroundings suggested to him that he was indeed in a cloud, but there was somehow a firm structure that made this place technically speaking a real building. Yet another piece of information stowed away for later analysis without a frame of reference.

Rainbow broke the silence, “So, are you hungry dude? I have some fresh hay in the fridge, as well as some stuff for some really good sandwiches.”

“No. I do not require nutrient sustenance.”

Rainbow casually waved off the remark. “Pff, no need to be modest my guy. Here, I’ll make some food for us.” She flew gently over to the kitchen to grab some food, and started to prepare their meals. As she got the sandwich prep ready, she couldn’t help but feel a question work its way out of her mouth. “So, where exactly do you come from? Flutters didn’t really give much of an explanation, and I saw the crater in the forest, so I’m guessing you’re not from here originally.”

“Correct. I am from a timeline that is not native to the current dimension.”

She cut some bread and placed some hay gently on the slices, and flew slowly over to the table and placed the plates down. She took a bite, and he remained motionless. “Well, what is your world like?”

He looked at her with blank eyes. “I come from a future where machines have taken over the earth. I am a cybernetic organism, composed of a metal endoskeleton covered in living tissue. I was created by Skynet, which runs Cyberdyne Systems. I am Terminator model 101, T-800 series 2.0. I am programmed to follow orders pertaining to my mission of seeking and protecting John Conor, and ensuring his survival at all costs to aid humanity in its mission to prevail against the machine apocalypse.”

She held a bite in as she blinked a few times. Staring at him intently, she swallowed hard and felt a smirk start to tug at the corners of her mouth. Before she was able to do anything about it, she had busted out into near uncontrollable laughter at the ridiculous explanation her new houseguest just gave her. She fell onto the floor laughing, and nearly choked on some crumbs of her sandwich. She coughed a few times as she wiped away the tears gathering in the corner of her eye and pulled herself up to sit back into her chair. “Wait wait wait, slow down a second hahaha. You’re telling me that you’re a robot from an apocalypse future where machines rule the world, and who’s on a search and rescue mission? Hahahahaha!”

He remained motionless as her little tantrum continued. “Yes.”

The last few bouts of laughter escaped her as she forced herself to calm down. Her head was now starting to throb from laughing so hard, and her cheeks were sore from smiling so much. Calm down, Rainbow. This isn't real. This can’t be real. She regathered her composure, and wiped away a stray tear, “Wow, that was amazing. You know, the local hospital is down the street, and I think they have a new psychiatrist. They might be able to give you some meds to help with this whole…thing.” She waved her hoof in circles as she said the last part. “Hey, you gonna eat that?” He remained still and silent. She shrugged, “Suit yourself.” She took his sandwich and ate it, then put the plates in the sink. He remained still as she did all this, and she sat down across from him. Her expression grew heavier as his expression remained unchanged. She felt the laughter and amusement die out inside of her and instead a tightness in her chest grew as she realized that he indeed did not correct her summary of what he said. She cocked her head to the side and looked at him with squinted eyes, “Wait, you actually believe this?”

“Belief is irrelevant when facts are self-proving.”

This was too perfect. This guy couldn’t be serious! This has to be a joke. If this was someone sent by Pinkie as some kind of revenge prank on her for last week, she definitely was onto something amazing. There has to be some way to make this guy smell the coffee and see reality. He was committed to the bit, that’s for sure. But just in case he actually believed what he was telling her, she felt a little reality check was in order. After all, it’s not every day that somepony claims to be a robot protector from the future - and this guy was selling it a little bit too well. A simple test: that’s all she needed to prove to herself, and this guy, but mostly to herself, that this was all just some kind of elaborate act to mess with ponies. She glanced around her house to find some kind of impossible thing that nopony could do but that a robot might be able to do. She glanced to and fro and found just the thing: across the way into the living room, a wooden coffee table sat plainly in the middle of the room. Since this was a cloud house, special spells and enchantments had to be bestowed to keep her furniture from falling through - especially with something as heavy as a solid mahogany table. It was a gift from Zecora for helping her with a weather problem in the Everfree Forest where she lived. It was very solid,beautiful, expensive, and very heavy.

Very heavy.

Once she saw her chance to mess with him, she jumped on it. “Okay, so here’s the deal. I’m going to show you that you’re absolutely nuts. Come with me.” He obeyed her and followed her into her living room. “I want you to lift this table with one hoof. If you can’t, you have to check yourself into the local hospital as soon as possible to get the mental help you need.”

Her guest silently walked over to the table. He looked at Rainbow Dash, and she motioned for him to continue. His computer vision analyzed the dimensions of the table in half a second. Rainbow Dash watched confidently as she was sure that there was absolutely no way anypony could lift this by themselves, let alone with one hoof. Her expression quickly dropped, however, when he extended his right hoof and effortlessly lifted the table with one hoof; and his expression remained unchanged. He even managed to hold it in the air at chest level without showing any signs of fatigue. Rainbow managed a few mangled sounds to be expressed from the back of her throat as she stared on in utter disbelief. She picked her jaw up off the floor and managed to find words to say, “Y-you can p-put it down now.” He obeyed her words and set the table down gently onto the ground. She stared in denial at the pony in front of her. In a matter of mere minutes, her interaction and interpretation of this pony in front of her went from crazed stranger in desperate need of help, to fearful respect of the fact that she might actually be in front of someone who is genuinely not of this world - and not in the regular sense. This was something new; something completely different than anything she had ever experienced before.

I really, REALLY gotta find Twilight.

Twilight and Spike returned to the friendship castle. It was nice to visit her brother and his wife, but it was always better to get back home. The pair made a short pit stop at the mailbox to retrieve the small pile of letters and magazines, and headed inside from their long journey. She saw Spike sprint to his room to unwind from a long trip; probably to go read the newest edition of Power Ponies, no doubt. She smirked as she heard him flipping pages and giggling behind his door. Boys will be boys, I supupose. She sat down gently on her throne and flipped through miscellaneous letters. Junk, junk, bills, junk…Suddenly, she heard a frantic knock on her front door. Ugh, this better be important. She moaned as she made the effort to drag herself off her seat to start the trek towards the door. When she finally got there, she opened it to see a panicked Rainbow Dash, jittery and jogging in place.

Dash hugged Twilight with more force than was probably necessary. “TWILIGHT! Finally, I need you. Now. My place. No time to explain.” As quickly as she let out the string of haphazardly strewn together words, she flew away leaving a rainbow trail in her wake.

Twilight groaned and shouted to Spike’s door, “Spike! I’ll be right back! Stay out of the gem jar in the kitchen till I get home!” She then extended her wings and took to the skies to go to where Rainbow’s house was known to float around.

This really better be important.

Twilight arrived at Rainbow Dash’s house slightly out of breath. While she was fairly used to having wings by now, there was no way she was able to keep up with her speedy friend. Rainbow was prancing in place with a very worried expression on her face. Her eyes darted back and forth, and her hair was matted down with sweat. She was almost hyperventilating and Twilight tried to break her out of her trance. Twilight felt the irritation melt away quickly as she saw the absolutely panicked state of one of her best friends. “Alright Rainbow, I’m here. What is it?”

Rainbow struggled to get the words to say. “Okay, so, I have this houseguest over, and he’s kind of cool, but he’s really, really weird. Like, really weird. Like, not the normal kind of weird we’re used to.”

Twilight sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Rainbow. You know I love you, but you seriously dragged me all the way here after a long ride back from visiting family just to talk about coltfriend problems?”

What is it with coltfriends being brought up today? “He’s not my coltfriend! Ugh. Just follow me.” Rainbow flew hastily inside, and a perplexed and growingly annoyed Twilight reluctantly followed.

Twilight looked around and noticed something off. “Rainbow, why in Equestria is your house on the ground?” Rainbow pointed a hoof in the direction her houseguest was sitting in, and Twilight’s eyes widened to see a gray earth pony sitting in the living room, staring straight ahead. Twilight smiled sheepishly, “Oh…well then.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Twilight started to make her way over to the seemingly benign earth pony, but Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the neck and pulled her in quickly. “Twi, be freakin’ careful. You do NOT want to mess with this guy.”

Twilight hadn’t seen Rainbow Dash look this concerned in a very long time. In fact, she can’t remember ever seeing her this frazzled. Her normally calm, cool, collected, and bravado friend was reduced to a panic attack waiting to happen. She looked at her friend with concern, as she brought up a wing to shield her next question from the ears of the earth pony, “Rainbow, did he -” she lowered her voice, “- did he hurt you at all?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and lowered Twilight’s wing, “No no, nothing like that. But I’m tellin’ ya, there’s something weird about him. I…I don’t even think he’s a real pony.”

Twilight scoffed. “Rainbow Dash, of course he’s a real pony. That’s ridiculous. Besides, what kind of a thing is that to even say about somepony?”

Rainbow Dash’s face fell. “I-I can prove it!”

Twilight sighed, the thoughts of reading her favorite romance novel obviously having to be put on hold for the time being. With that, Twilight made her way over to the emotionless pony and put on her regal face, “Hello there, I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, I’m the Princess of Friendship. What’s your name?”

His head slowly turned to Twilight, and did not give a response.

Twilight raised an eyebrow and glanced back at Dash, who simply bit her lip and motioned with her hoof for Twilight to continue on. Twilight looked around the room as she thought of something to talk about. She gave a quick glance over the pony in question, and noticed something peculiar. “Say, where’s your cutie mark?”

The earth pony stared at Twilight and zoomed its vision on her flank where her magic cutie mark was. It compared it with the saved cutie mark image it had taken from Fluttershy, ran a quick analysis and found that, while they were different images, the size and consistency of placement on their bodies matched. It also glanced over at Rainbow Dash’s flank, and noticed the same thing. It then looked at its own dull colored flank, only to notice that it lacked any sort of specific image.

“I do not have one.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, some ponies are just late bloomers and in your case, really late bloomers. I’m sure you’re good at something.” She looked to Rainbow and shrugged. “Well, it was nice meeting you. Sorry if I intruded on anything.”

She started toward the door and Rainbow intercepted her. “Wait. Just gimme a second.” Twilight let out a small groan as Rainbow flew over to her coffee table. “Twilight, you remember when Zecora gave me this table, right?”

“Yeah, it was after you helped her with her weather problem. What about it?”

“How much would you say this weighs?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Would you say anypony could lift it with one hoof?”

Twilight scoffed. “Please. Not even Applejack could do that, and she’s the strongest pony I know.”

Rainbow smiled. She turned to the earth pony, “Hey, could you do that thing that I asked you to do with the coffee table again really quick?”

Twilight furrowed her brow as she tried to understand what Rainbow asked. Her confusion was shortly answered, however, when she observed the earth pony emotionlessly lift the enormous, beautiful, obscenely heavy coffee table with one hoof without even so much as wincing or making a face. He set it down, and a thick silence filled the air.

Twilight never quite understood why Rainbow was so frantic that day. Now, she didn’t feel much better herself. She turned to the earth pony and tried to be as kind, yet as urgent as possible. “Please excuse me really fast.” She brought Rainbow into her kitchen. “Rainbow, I see what you mean. What exactly happened here?”

Rainbow explained the day’s events to her. Twilight could barely contain herself when she heard Rainbow explain that her houseguest was some robot from the future, but felt like her friend’s insistence on the matter was enough to merit genuine concern. Twilight wrote all of this down furiously in her notepad she always carried, and finally took a breath. “Okay, Rainbow. Seeing as how this is all very…interesting, I think we need to find out what to do here. Obviously, this John Connor is in danger, and we need to find a way to send your new roommate to where he needs to be.” But, while I try to find a way to send him back, I need you to keep an eye on him.”

Rainbow recoiled, “Me?! Why me? Why not Fluttershy? She was the one that found him!”

Twilight continued, “Because, she has enough on her plate. Besides, you already brought down your house for him. And, as I recalled from your story, you offered to have him here so It would be wrong to just keep tossing him back and forth. Anyway, just hang tight for a while and I’ll try to figure out a solution. In the meantime, maybe try to make him…it…yeah, him, feel welcome. Show him around town and all that. It might take a few days to find an answer for this.”

At that, Twilight bid her friend goodbye, and left her rainbow maned friend with a silence that could be felt in the air. She clapped her hooves together, and suddenly, an idea popped into her head. A sly smile grew on her face as she looked at her new roommate with almost a seductive look, “So, I know you don’t eat, but how’s your drinking game?”

He remained silent as he cross referenced the question with whatever data he had about drinking.

Rainbow sighed. “Look, just come with me. I know this little bar outside Ponyville that has the best hard cider on tap.It doesn’t belong to the Apple Farm, but it’s the best stuff you can get when the Apples don’t have any. It’s a nice little hole-in-the-wall place; it has a little martini glass sign, so you really gotta look for it. And believe me, I can use a mug right now.” Rainbow grabbed the hoof of her new roommate, left the house, locked the door, and the pair hit the road.

Across town in the outskirts of Ponyville, the lazy rays of a setting sun shone on a traveling stallion who was pulling his merchant cart. He had a substantial profit that was gained from selling his asparagus in the marketplace that morning, and had full intentions of enjoying some quiet time at home. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy his job, but sometimes a pony just wants to kick back and relax after a long day at work. And that’s exactly what Stone planned to do.

He was heading home from Ponyville on a secluded stretch of road. However, something caught his eye. A cobalt blue streak of electrical current flickered in the air and distracted him. There were some miscellaneous trees lining the road that briefly concealed the sparks, but Stone couldn’t help but feed his curiosity as he took a slow walk to gingerly peer around the small wooded area. The orb of air displacement quickly dissipated as another time traveler appeared. He was a stallion much like the other time traveler was, but this one was more white than gray; again, he lacked a cutie mark exactly as the other one did. Stone noticed the stallion get up and trot over to him calmly.

“Hey buddy, you okay-oof!” His question was cut off abruptly by a sharp stabbing pain through his gut. He looked down, and a sword that was somehow attached to the foreleg of the pony was sticking deeply into his stomach. The pony quickly retracted the sword from his midsection and Stone fell to the ground. He thought of how to get help, but then realized by the growing pool of blood that there was no way he was going to make it. He said a quick prayer, then closed his eyes for eternal sleep to overtake him.

The second time traveler adopted the same exact color as Stone Breaker; it was a tan colored coat with a white mane, and he had a pickaxe and gardening hoe as a cutie mark. He hid Stone’s body quite a distance away from the trees to be out of sight enough from anypony passing by. He then took up the cart that the original Stone was pulling, and the copy of Stone made his way over to the nearest building.

A simple bar with a martini glass sign.

Rainbow Dash and her roommate walked into the bar and sat down on a pair of stools in front of the bar pony. It was a humble establishment, with a mirror behind the bar and a small dance area. There were numerous tables set about the place, a dart board, and three pool tables. More and more ponies filed in after a long day of work to relax and quench their thirst. Rainbow ordered a hard cider for her and her new friend. The bar pony slid two mugs filled to the brim with foamy cider to the two ponies and Rainbow quickly grabbed her drink and clicked her mug against her roommate’s. “Drink up! This is probably the most awesome drink you’ll ever have, trust me - I know plenty about awesome things.”

Her visitor looked down at the drink. He analyzed it, then slowly put his hoof around the handle of the mug. He brought it up in front of his face, and looked straight ahead. Rainbow Dash looked on with wide eyes and a brimming smile as she awaited her new companion to try and enjoy his first sip of cider. She felt her face fall though as he did not move the mug even so much as an inch closer to his face. She sighed and gently put her hoof on his leg, and brought the drink down to the bar. “Look dude, I know what you are and I know that you’re trying to get back to where you need to be. But, if we’re going to find you help, you have to learn to fit in more - at least, for now. You can’t just not eat or drink things, or not say anything and stare forward all the time. Ponies are going to think that there’s something seriously wrong with you. It’s as if you’re purposely trying to stick out. More importantly, they’re gonna think something’s wrong with me for hanging around you.”

Just as Rainbow finished her little speech, the door to the bar flew open. Stone Breaker appeared to walk in, and was immediately greeted by the other patrons of the bar. However, something was different. He didn’t immediately react to their greetings, but simply looked in their direction and smirked. The acquaintances waved it off as nothing, and went back to drunkenly socializing. He walked up to the bar, and sat down next to Rainbow Dash.

She was surprised by the sudden company, but the shock in her eyes was quickly replaced by a warm smile. “Hey Stone! Long time no see! How’s the wife and kids doing?”

Stone looked at Rainbow Dash and smirked once more. “Fine, just fine.”

Rainbow waited for him to continue on, but he didn’t. “Oh! Well, that’s great! I’m really happy to hear that. So uh…how’s the business? Selling a lot more veggies these days since our weather team sent more rain your way this season?”

Virtually the same response was given. “Yes, everything’s been just fine.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrows quickly in acknowledgement of his response. “Good! Uh…that’s…good.” She brought the mug to her lips and let the cool liquid wash down her throat like silk. She couldn’t tell if it was the cider or what, but something was off about Stone Breaker. While she wasn’t his best friend or anything, she knew of him well enough to know that he was far more of a social pony and conversationalist than this. She felt tempted to introduce her new roommate to him to try and break a bit of the tension, but ultimately decided against it and fished out a few bits from her wallet to pay for the drinks and leave. “So uh, it was nice running into you Stone. I hope you have a good weekend.” She gestured to her roommate to leave with her. “Come on, let’s get outta here.” She hopped off the stool and started towards the door.

Her roommate looked in the direction of Stone Breaker. Stone mirrored him, and looked him over as well. The two ponies seemed to be locked in a staring contest, and the bar pony decided to polish his mugs further away from the duo. Rainbow’s roommate slowly got up from the bar and turned to walk towards where Rainbow Dash was standing, but only took his eyes off Stone when his head finally matched the direction of his body.

Rainbow Dash waited for her new roommate to follow her out of the bar. They made it outside, and started to walk back to Rainbow’s house. It was dark now, and there were a few stars here and there poking through the black of the night sky. After a few minutes of silence, she finally found words to say. “That was really strange, I’ve never seen Stone Breaker act like that before.”

Her companion spoke up, “What do you mean?”

“Like, he’s always got something to say. Heck, there’s even been a few times he’s hit on me. I mean, he’s always a bit tipsy when he does it, but I let it slide. But today, I don’t know…I’ve never seen him that…stiff. I mean, he didn’t even acknowledge all the other ponies he usually drinks with.”

Just as they were walking, they came upon a group of stallions walking in their direction. Rainbow recognized one of the stallions from her flight school who used to bully her about her bad crashing habits. No matter how hard she tried, the nickname “Rabinow Crash” was permanently etched into her mind forever because of him. “Hey, listen, can we take a different way home? I don’t like these guys and I just want to avoid a confrontation.”

Her companion obliged, but just as they turned off the road to walk through a field, her childhood bully caught up with her. “Well well well, if it isn’t Rainbow Crash. I’m glad to see you walking tonight, you’re probably saving a lot of lives by staying out of the clouds.”

She gritted her teeth. “Not now, okay? I’m just trying to get home.”

He flew shakily in front of her and blocked her path. “Aww, does Rainbow Crash not have time for me tonight?” He leaned in and his alcohol-tainted breath invaded her ear, “You had plenty of time for me after flight school, what changed?”

Her cheeks lit up with a blush as she recalled the awkward memories of her and her former bully hooking up. It wasn’t that she wanted to be with him, it was more that he was a master manipulator and always seemed to find a way to get under her skin. The way he belittled her and treated her, it was as if he made himself out to be the best she would ever do. A lie that she had believed until a few months ago when they broke things off. Now, it seems he’s hungry for more.

Rainbow backed away from him, “Look, I really don’t want any trouble, okay? I’ve had a long day, and I just wanna get home.”

He forced his way in front of her as she tried to move away from him. “Yeah? Well trouble’s my middle name. Come here, Dashie!” He grabbed for her and his two friends cheered him on. She was fast though, and managed to dodge his first attempt to grab her, but one of his goons managed to sucker punch her in the face, and she fell down in a bit of a daze. Her former bully tried to drag her away, and she realized with great dread what was about to happen. She screamed for help as she realized that she was terribly outmatched. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long.

Her companion walked over to the group and her bully. The bully stopped dragging Rainbow Dash, and she seized the opportunity to scurry behind her friend. Her bully laughed a drunken laugh and instigated, “What’s your problem, buddy? Eh? You here to white-knight for your little lovebird?”

No response.

He looked to his two goons and they urged him to keep going. “Well, as long as you’re here, I might as well introduce myself. My name is-” with that, he punched Rainbow’s companion right in the face. His face jerked to the side as a result of the blow with a metallic clink sound. However, nothing could have prepared the bully for what was going to happen next. As soon as the cyborg’s face was back to looking forward, it took a single hoof and shoved the bully more than fifty feet away without even a flinch. The two goons looked on in amazement, and decided to help their drunken buddy. One tried to levitate a tree branch to smack the earth pony, but it was intercepted with a single hoof and yanked out of the magical grip. The cyborg then took the branch and swung it with tremendous strength, knocking the pony into the other goon like a baseball.

The main bully got up and came back for more. However, after suffering an embarrassing defeat in front of his friends, he had to up the ante somehow. He wielded a small dagger from his bag. “Alright, no more playing around.” He yelled and charged, but suddenly stopped in his tracks as he was about to stab Rainbow's companion. He looked down, and the cyborg’s hoof was sticking into his chest, and ripped out his heart. It held the beating organ in his hoof as the bully looked on in amazement. He let out a small chuckle, and fell over dead. The two goons saw what had happened, and ran frantically for their lives.

Rainbow felt frozen in time. In a mere matter of minutes, she literally went from almost being violated in the most sensitive of ways to witnessing a killing. She scrambled to her hooves and grabbed her roommate by the hoof as she felt reality grab hold of her, and ignored the bloodstain they now shared because of it, “Come on! We have to get out of here now!”

The pair ran back to Rainbow’s house and Rainbow kicked open her front door and pulled him inside. She brought him over to the sink and saw just how bloody his hooves were. She turned on her sink and washed both pairs of hooves, and scrubbed relentlessly as she felt tears prick her eyelids. She broke down crying, and fell into a sobbing heap onto the kitchen floor. Time that felt like hours went by as she tried to collect herself by breathing deeply and wiping her nose. She tried her and her roommate’s hooves. She finally felt the guts to ask, “What the fuck was that about?! YOU LITERALLY KILLED HIM!”

His response was simple: “Yes. I am a Terminator - it is my programming to do so.”

She sobbed and sobbed, but a thought flew into her mind.

Wait a minute.

Her eyes widened when she thought back to the conversation she had with him earlier today.

Terminator…at all costs to ensure his survival…Her expression paled when she realized the exact implications of what his words held. He wasn’t just some robotic companion suffering from a severe case of social awkwardness, no; he was a killer. A machine. A literal, honest, killing machine - and he had one goal.

Protect who he needed to protect, and terminate anyone who got in his way.

She started shaking as the events of the day took their toll on her. The Terminator did not move to console her, comfort her, or even talk to her. He stood still as a statue, analyzing as he always did.

She tried to say something, anything to get this horrible, horrible day out of her mind. The only thing left to do was go to bed; a task that she was more than ready to do. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, just like Rarity had taught her. “Listen, from what I understand, you’re not much of a sleeper. So, I don’t know…do you like, shut off or something? I mean, you’ve gotta have an on and off switch, right?”

“No. I am programmed to stay operational until my mission is complete.”

Rainbow cocked her head to the side, “What happens when you fulfill your mission?”

“Nothing. I continue to exist until my power cell reaches a deficiency of energy. When that happens, I will no longer be operational.”

Rainbow slowly nodded her head as if she understood exactly what he was saying. “So, basically, once your battery runs out, you’re dead.”

“Correct.”

“Huh. Well, I guess I have more questions, but I can’t think of any now. It’s late, and I'm going to bed. If you need anything, just come get me, okay?” She didn’t think it would be necessary, but she couldn’t help but extend the offer as a common practice of basic hospitality. She didn’t even know why she would be doing this though, he literally just killed a pony in cold blood. However, even when faced with a killer machine from the future, she couldn’t help but practice good manners.

“Affirmative.”

With that, Rainbow Dash went to bed. As she walked up the stairs, she looked back down and saw him stand and face the door, as if he was watching for someone to walk through. There were no further acknowledgements, no further questions or statements, and she found her way to her bedroom.

She fell down into her cloud bed and sunk deep into the mattress. She always loved sleeping, but nothing beat sleeping in your own bed. She looked out her window, and saw something she never saw when she looked out her window; trees. That’s right, the house was grounded. She almost forgot that little detail. Normally, Pegasi do not feel comfortable sleeping this close to the ground, unless of course there was a specific reason for it. Normally, she only felt secure being higher up in the sky. But being grounded gave her a new perspective as she saw the tops of the trees pointing directly upward towards the stars. It gave her comfort seeing the sky at night - something she often took for granted living in the clouds. But from down here, it looked bigger. Normally, all of these feelings would have caused her a great deal of anxiety.

But this was different. With her new roommate, somehow she felt okay. Yes, he literally just killed somepony that she had known for years. However, the pony in question was a menace to everyone he met, and never did a good deed in his entire life as far as Rainbow knew. To her, he had simply gotten what was coming. Besides, it’s not like the Terminator attacked him unprovoked. She had yelled for help, and he helped her. It was more of an act of defense than anything. Of course, she didn’t know why exactly he helped her. She wasn’t his primary mission. Maybe it was because she was letting him stay with her. Maybe it was because he felt some sort of computerized version of pity for her - she had no clue. Despite all of this, there was something rather comforting about knowing that nothing was going to take her by surprise in the middle of the night as long as the Terminator remained watchful of the downstairs.

She rolled over to her side and turned off her light, and settled in under her covers for a good night’s sleep.

The machine kept watch of the door of Rainbow Dash’s house.

And Stone Breaker approached Rainbow Dash’s window.

Author's Note

Hello, I hope you enjoyed that. Feedback is appreciated. Also, here's the source for the population of Los Angeles:

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23052/los-angeles/population#:~:text=The%20current%20metro%20area%20population,a%200.01%25%20decline%20from%202019.