Techorse II: Captain Arbiter's revenge

By Spirals95

Prolouge

Equestria had made a good recovery from the attack the small team of humans had made on their world. Six months had passed since the terror had been defeated, and life had returned to normal. The cities had been rebuilt completely, and enough therapy had helped the citizens recover from any psychological turmoil from the attacks. With their space station vaporized, all traces of human presence had been wiped, with the exception of a gigantic factory, which was now overrun with ivy vines and trees as nature tried to reclaim the area. The smokestacks no longer belched their horrible pollution into the air, and the skies had cleared up over the factory. But as the structure continued to sit and produce nothing, a group of ponies was busy clearing machinery out of it. In particular, they were taking away the mining probes; large machines resembling the tunneling devices used to carve subways or underwater tunnels for cars. The raiders managed to find several still-active probes, hijacked them, and drove them away from the factory. No one really cared, with the property abandoned, there was no security to make sure nothing was ever taken out of the building. The three ominous digging machines, all the size of warships, simply drove off across the plains the factory was built on. When they reached the mountains, the drill bits on the front activated, and the worm-like robots cut tunnels into them and disappeared below the surface of the world. It was unclear what the plans for the massive drilling machines were, but if human technology falls into the wrong hooves, trouble is inevitable.

Chapter 1

"Come on Rainbow Dash, pitch the ball already!" called out Applejack as she stood next to home plate. A small group consisting of the two friends and eight other ponies were engaged in a variant of kickball. But Rainbow Dash was refusing to kick the ball towards home plate for some reason, perhaps to take advantage of Applejack's impatience. Rainbow squinted her rose-colored eyes and stared down at the country girl, who was looking very cross at the stalling. Applejack stomped a hoof on home plate, "We ain't getting any younger!"

Rainbow Dash picked up the red foam ball in front of her with a wing and quickly rolled it towards her friend. Applejack intercepted the ball and gave it a heavy front kick with her right leg. The foam ball arched up into the air and away from the ball field. The rules of the game stated that the Pegasus ponies had to stay on the ground, no flying was allowed, so it was unlikely the ball was going to be caught. Applejack had scored a home run, and she galloped around the bases, laughing in celebration of her victory. Rainbow stared in shock that Applejack had managed to kick the ball so far, she tended to underestimate the strength of earth ponies. "Well, that's 2-2" said Applejack as she crossed home again, "we need a tiebreaker next innin'"

"After we get the ball back." said Rainbow Dash, "it flew over there." Rainbow motioned towards the well-built stone castle behind them.

"Aw, did it go in Tech's castle?" said Applejack, "he's gonna be upset."

"Have the teams wait here, I'll deal with the crabby inventor." Sighed Rainbow as she flapped her wings gently and went to get the ball back. Techorse's castle was not too large or ominous, but it had plenty of spots on it where a foam ball could enter and get stuck. Rainbow Dash entered an open window on the castle skillfully, landing gently inside the structure.

"Hey Techorse, we lost our ball in here again!" shouted Rainbow.

Techorse heard her and replied gently, "Just find it, Rainbow."

Rainbow was a little happy Techorse wasn't upset about the issue, and kept searching for the kickball. She found it wedged into the top of the largest pipe on the castle's pipe organ. Rainbow Dash could have flown up and plucked the ball out of the instrument, but decided that was too much work, and searched the keyboard for the matching pipe. Having no musical talent, she simply guessed and whacked a large number of the keys on the organ. The sour chord sounded throughout the castle, and the ball flew out of the top of the tube. It bounced off the tile floor and out the window of the castle again. Rainbow Dash turned to leave and was about to jump out the window to fly away when a cold metal object touched her neck. Turning around, she saw Techorse had put a robotic hand on her. The colt was soaking wet, and his battle saddle was sparking from the water damage.

"I was watering a houseplant above my head when you hit that chord." He said through gritted teeth, trying not to yell.

Rainbow laughed sheepishly and replied, "Sorry about that, ball stuck deep in the pipes." Techorse sighed and let the robotic arm slide back into a panel on the side of his back-mounted invention. The panel closed with a metallic click, and the machine emitted a puff of smoke as a little more water entered it.

"After you leave, I'm closing these windows" said Techorse, "and then I want you to stay out of my sight, Rainbow."

He scooted her out the open window and watched as she flew away, then locked the paned windows and groaned in anger. A nearby computer monitor flickered on and the face of a robot popped up.

"That was a little rude." commented PAL, in central computer form. Techorse, water still dripping from his mane, looked at his robot and said to him, "This is the fifth time this week she's lost a kickball in the castle, and then destroyed something looking for it."

The computer suggested, "Maybe you should invent something to repel the kickballs and keep them from getting in here. You know, use that brain you used to build me."

"That idea is a waste of time." replied the pony, "I've been too tied up running my business to invent fun things like that."

PAL said nothing in response, only looking around the edges of the computer monitor to see if any icons caught his fancy.

"I think you ought to apologize anyways." said PAL, "she is one of your friends, and you did just mistreat her."

Techorse yelled, "WHAT? She keeps wrecking this place, and you want me to apologize because I call her out on it? How is that fair?"

"Well I'm only saying you were rude in calling her out on it, master. She was getting annoying, but that's no reason to blow up."

"You're going to blow up if you don't can it!" threatened the colt as he stormed off to go fix his saddle.

"Third threat on my existence this week." mused the computer, "The master's gone absolutely insane from this appliance business he runs. The money is simply not worth it, he should limit the number of orders allowed per month." PAL decided the best option, through a series of logical calculations, was to switch to his robot body and go into town to get away from his angry master. He thought that maybe he could apologize to Rainbow Dash on his creator's behalf.

The face on the computer monitor disappeared, and electrons flowed from it down the output cable, through the wiring, and into a robot body lying up against a wall on the other side of the castle. PAL opened his eyes and took in the information from the surrounding area, then straightened himself out and walked for the back door. Reaching the outside access, he grabbed the handle on the oak door and pulled it up like a manual garage opening. The machine walked out into the sunlight and had a quick look around the peaceful garden, then strolled off to go find his friends. He found the kickball teams moping around and doing absolutely nothing. Some of the ponies took notice of the robot and started to shy away a little, PAL's form made him about twice as big as them, and he was somewhat threatening. But the robot was programmed to be happy and gentle, and the machine introduced himself to the ponies he didn't recognize, "Hello, I am PAL, Personal Assistant and…"

"Aw knock it off PAL." said Applejack, "Are you here to finish yellin' at Rainbow Dash for him?"

PAL crossed his arms and said, "Not at all, I was getting tired of the master's attitude myself. I came here to play with you."

"We're not going to play anymore." stated Rainbow, "he's just going to yell at us again when we lose the ball over there."

PAL scanned the playing field and suggested, "What if we treat second base as home instead and play in that direction? There's no fence behind home, so we can still kick the ball in that direction without interference."

Applejack turned her head on looked at the field, then said cheerfully, "Hey, why didn't we think of that? What team do you want to be on, PAL?"

The robot picked up the red ball and said, "I'll pitch for both teams. My father was a pitching machine."

"Really?" asked Rainbow Dash as she looked up at the machine curiously.

"No not really." Replied PAL, "that's just one of my favorite self-deprecating jokes to tell."

"Come on you silly gadget, let's play!" giggled Applejack as she pushed the robot towards the pitcher's mound. PAL walked over to the mound as the ponies got into position to start the new game.

As the game recommenced, across town Twilight Sparkle was busy catching up on world events. It was a slow day at Ponyville's library, and so she had plenty of time to read the newspaper. Looking casually over the text, she searched for an interesting article to read.

"Coal purchases for power plants up 400%." She said to herself as she read the second page's main article. "Do we even need that much more electrical power?" her assistant, Spike the dragon, hopped down from a bookshelf and peered at the news.

"Not sure, Twi. Where does the coal come from anyways?"

Twilight explained, "Coal is a fossil fuel, it's made in the ground over millions of years from dead plants, trees specifically. It has to be dug up and then burned to make electrical power. Because we use so little electricity as a society, we just buy and burn all the available coal. But with this fourfold increase in coal, we're making way too much power."

"What's the worry?" asked Spike, "Four times the electricity means more hot water and other stuff, right?"

"Maybe, but it also means four times the pollution generated. Some unlucky pegasus pony has to clean that up and damage his wings. Not only that, but it can in large amounts change the environment permanently."

"That's insane." commented Spike in disbelief, "how could a little burnt coal change the planet like that?"

"According to Techorse, it happened to Earth." Answered Twilight, "and Earth had less of a natural balance than we do. The pollution will be much more devastating."

"I thought you said coal was clean last month, and now it's cursed." sighed Spike, putting up with Twilight's indecision.

"It does burn cleaner than oil, but we're burning four times the amount of coal that we need to! The power plants always purchase every last piece of coal available and burn them without thinking."

Spike asked, "So, what do we do about it?"

Twilight said, "We need to investigate. If things get out of hoof, I'll write the princess and let her know about the problem."

Chapter 2

A week passed by, giving the two plenty of time to research the effects of burning coal on the environment, and how much was actually needed to supply the cities of Equestria with enough electricity. Unfortunately, they simply lacked the statistics needed to continue in their project, they needed more information about where all the coal was coming from. Spike suggested they ask Techorse if they could borrow his castle's radar equipment to search for the source of the extra fossil fuels. Twilight agreed with him and they left that afternoon for the small castle on the edge of town. Arriving at the wooden doors, Twilight knocked gently with a hoof.

PAL answered the door gruffly, "We're not interested in a new sofa, thank you."

Spike said to the monitor, "It's us, PAL."

"Oh, it's Spike and Mistress Sparkle. Hold on, I'll open the door right away!" said PAL, changing his attitude quickly. The two halves of the door swung open slowly to grant access to the guests, and they walked inside the moment the doors provided enough space to enter. "He's in his laboratory working on something." said the robot, referring to Techorse.

"Thanks." Replied Twilight as she walked gently through the stone halls. She and Spike found the green-coated pony making adjustments to his favorite invention: the robotic saddle. Holding a tiny wrench with his teeth, he twisted one last screw into place before opening his mouth and dropping the wrench into a toolbox.

"Techorse." Called Twilight, "can we ask you for a favor?" He turned around and swished his tail, "Of course, Twilight. What can I do for you?"

Spike barged in, "We need to borrow your radar to see where all this extra coal stuff is coming from. Twilight says it's polluting the planet to death, but I don't see how."

"The radar isn't the best piece of equipment for geological study." Replied Techorse, "what you would want is a satellite to send pictures from space. I haven't gotten around to sending one up yet."

"We know." said Twilight, "your job keeps you working around the clock."

"Hey, I never thought my kitchen inventions would sell so well." He replied with a quadruped shrug, "All I did was make a produce peeler that could be operated easily with these hooves."

"Don't be so humble." teased Twilight, aware he knew it would become popular.

"Anyways" continued Techorse, "it's worth the income. I'm a pretty lucky pony."

"I've heard you're not so lucky." Said Twilight, "You've been working so hard you've become bitter towards others."

"Let me guess." sighed Techorse, "Applejack told you that."

"Yeah." Said Spike, "she sounded pretty mad about how you treated Rainbow Dash."

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I've just been so busy it's gotten me all upset." replied the inventor.

"Maybe you should declare a vacation and shut down your production for a bit." suggested Twilight.

"I just don't want to look lazy." replied Techorse, "It's not fair that I shouldn't work because I made a bundle off of these gadgets."

"But you're working yourself to death." protested Twilight, closing the distance between them, "you need a bit of rest before you go nuts."

"Alright." caved Techorse, "I'll declare two weeks of time off for myself and shut down production. If any pony out there needs one of my machines, they'll have to go to the store and buy it from them."

Techorse asked them to follow him as they descended down the stairs and into the production room, where a few pieces of large machinery were making and boxing the appliances. A flip of a switch brought the noisy machinery to a halt, and the factory room became eerily quiet. "With that settled, let's go see what we can do about that coal problem you were talking about." He suggested, motioning for them to go back up the stairs.

They walked into the instrument panel room of the castle on the top floor and stood in front of a 42 inch computer monitor. Techorse pushed a button with a hoof and watched as the picture on the screen started to form. The monitor displayed a large green ring with a sweeping green line coming out of the center. The line quickly traveled the length of the circle once, and a number of green objects showed up to represent the topography of the surrounding terrain. "This is what the radar is capable of showing, just the surrounding objects as these green blobs on the screen. If you're asking me where all the coal is coming from, I have no way of telling from this."

"Do you have a map of Equestria stored on the computer?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah.", he said after thinking for a bit. "Try combining the two and see if that helps." She ordered. Techorse hit a few keys, careful not to let his hooves smash a large number of them at once. The picture changed, showing the continent they were standing on, with the radar on top. The mountains on the map were soon covered by the matching green blobs that the radar picked them up as.

"Still no good." said Spike, "I can't see any coal mines anywheres."

"Well maybe if we..."

"Hi, watcha guys up too?" came a cheerful voice from behind. A pink pony jumped into the room and landed with a gentle bounce behind the friends.

"Hello Pinkie Pie." said Techorse "How did you get in my castle without me knowing this time?"

"PAL left the door open again." She answered with a giggle. Pinkie Pie stood up a bit on her hind legs and stared at the monitor with her cute blue eyes.

"Ooh!" she exclaimed, "What's with the pretty map? Playing a game?"

"We're looking for the source of all the extra coal being burned in the power plants." stated Twilight.

"Didn't hear about that." said Pinkie Pie.

"That's because you never read the news." explained Techorse in a nasty tone.

"Hey, I do too!" she said, "Just only when it involves party planning or baking!" Techorse shook his head and continued to focus on the monitor. Spike could tell Techorse was going to get angry, so he tried to draw Pinkie Pie away from him.

"Hey, Pinkie." He said to her, "Let's go back to your place and try that new recipe you've been talking about."

"Great idea!" she said, "bye-bye Twilight and mister grumpy pants!" Techorse snorted as they left the room, leaving him alone with Twilight.

"Man she's annoying." He commented as he hit another button the panel.

"See, there you go again." criticized Twilight, "you're being nasty to your closest friends!" Techorse sighed and kept staring at the monitor.

"I guess you're right." He said sadly, "I've just been so stressed out recently that I've completely forgotten my manners." The male exhaled sharply and finished, "I'll see if I can find anything else tonight. If things go well, we can locate the source of the extra coal and slow down the pollution."

Twilight told him, "Just try to relax. I'm sure after a few nights of rest you'll be a nicer colt again. See you tomorrow." She left the room and stopped only for a second to stare back at her frustrated coltfriend. Twilight felt somewhat sorry for him, she knew it was only his work that was making him act the way he did. She dropped the topic from her mind though as she headed for the front door.

Chapter 3

The next day was uneventful for the town. Work continued as normal, but nothing interesting happened to the citizens. The morning came and passed like it was absolutely nothing, and the early afternoon dragged on as the sun continued its path along the sky. As the shadows began to lengthen due to the afternoon coming to a close, dark figures approached the town stealthily. They used every rock, tree, and building to their advantage to move through Ponyville undetected. Not one resident noticed them due to their speed, but some could feel the eerie presence as the day started to come to a close. The shadowy characters made their rounds to a few key buildings in town, with plans to complete their mission without being seen. One resident of the town who did not have a care in the world about their presence was Rarity, who was busy going over her inventory at the end of the work day. As a master dressmaker, Rarity always made sure to check her supplies daily in order to avoid running out when a critical order came through. Thus, inside her well-decorated boutique, she carefully went through each door and closet.

"Let's see now, two bolts of red cloth, one of blue polyester." She counted as she sorted through the materials, checking for what she needed to order. Rarity's horn glowed a soothing white as she moved the cloth magically from the closet into her studio.

"Hmm, I'm out of forest green. I'll need to pick some up tomorrow." She said to herself as she found an empty metal tube. Last on her list was to open a vault she used to store the gemstones she sewed into nearly every dress she created. Rarity punched in the code and swung the metal door open. She counted the various gemstones out, and was satisfied in finding that she had a good balance of various stones. A weird draft came in the room as she finished looking over the gems, and the air flowed over her well-curled hair, making it flutter gently.

"Brr, did I leave a window open?" she asked herself with a shiver as she walked over to one of the store walls. To her intrigue, ever last window was closed, and so was the front door. Whatever had caused the draft of cold air had simply vanished into thin air. Rarity decided to brush off the event as a silly happening and started to pack up the cloths again. When she went back to her inventory, however, she noticed a square of plain white cotton material had been torn off neatly. "I didn't use any white cloth today!" she said, suspecting something, "a certain pony's playing a prank on me." Rarity believed that Pinkie Pie had snuck into her store to steal some cloth as a "harmless" joke. So, she picked up a magazine with her magic powers and rolled it into a playful club.

"She's going to get a little bop on the head." She thought to herself, hoping it would bring a few laughs when it all boiled over. Looking around the room for Pinkie Pie, Rarity spotted a very large bulge in a thick red curtain on one of her windows. She smiled and said, "Bingo." Rarity walked over to the curtain and prepared to brush it aside with her hoof and then bring the magazine down on Pinkie's head. She whisked away the velvet curtain and swung the magazine through thin air. Absolutely nothing was behind the curtain. Rarity frowned and looked back and forth; she still had a prankster loose in her shop. "Oh dear." She said sarcastically, "I sure hope Pinkie Pie doesn't prank me while I'm out here in the open!" Rarity readied the magazine again, ready to make it count when Pinkie would inevitably giggle and reveal her location. But no such thing happened, Rarity heard absolutely nothing. "Well, that's odd. I can't seem to find her." she said, "looks like she gets away again."

Suddenly, a black blur rushed in front of Rarity, and she shrieked in surprise. Rarity swung the magazine at the thing, but missed whatever it was. After that moment, the white section of missing cloth came down over her face. Rarity struggled to get it off, but something was holding her still, she couldn't break free. She took a breath in from the cloth and noticed it smelled very strange. The cloth had been soaked in something akin to chloroform. The unicorn pony collapsed on the ground unconscious as the chemical knocked her out cold. Something then dragged her limp body out of her store and away from the town, unnoticed by a single being.

About two hours after Rarity's disappearance, Ponyville began to get concerned. They found evidence of a breaking in and entering, but couldn't find the criminals responsible. It was simply assumed that Rarity had fled in fear of a burglar entering her home and shop, and that she would eventually return once she calmed down. Word of the robbery spread through the town like wildfire, despite nothing of actual value being taken from the store itself, this type of crime was rare. Ponies began to lock down their own stores in order to protect their places of work and their families. Fluttershy, who lived at the edge of town in her hollowed tree, also barricaded her windows to prevent anything from happening. As a pony afraid of anything, sometimes even her own shadow, she never took chances whenever potential danger was about. She pushed the last board over her door and stepped back a bit to admire her precautions. Her home was prepared more for a hurricane than a thief as boards covered the windows and held the door shut.

"There." She said, "Nobody's coming in here tonight." To calm her nerves, she walked over to her fireplace and started a small wood fire to boil a pot of water. A rabbit inside the home hopped over with a teabag and dropped it gently into the pot. "Thank you Angel." said Fluttershy to her pet. The tea began to brew and filled the sealed home with a strong aroma. "Oh that smells good." thought Fluttershy as she leaned into the large fireplace to get a whiff of the boiling tea. Something clamped onto her long pink hair, and Fluttershy screamed as the attacker pulled her up the chimney, nearly scalding her hind legs on the metal pot. The rabbit jumped to try to grab Fluttershy back, but the heat from the fireplace nearly scalded her, and he had to watch as Fluttershy was taken away in the one place she never expected an attack to come from.

Rainbow Dash was lazing off again from her duty in weather management. Despite it being her only job, she tended to not do it until the very last minute. As she sat on her mattress in her cloudhouse, she caught sight of a black blur out the window. "What is that?" she wondered as she observed the speeding object. "I gotta check this out." She said as she opened the window to get a better look. However, the blur disappeared underneath of her floating home. "Hey!" she shouted as she jumped out the window and inverted herself to fly underneath the house. Rainbow looked around, but saw nothing in the shadow cast by the floating structure. "That was a little freaky." She said. Calling out to the ponies walking around below her, she asked, "Did anybody else see that black line running around here?" She got a bunch of headshakes for an answer, the blur had only been seen by her.

"Blind." She said sadly as Rainbow flapped her wings and drifted back into her house. "Alright." She said, "I'll make dinner, then go and bring that rain we need today for the grass. Some of the lawns around here are looking pretty dried out." Rainbow walked into her kitchen and got out some fresh ingredients from her refrigerator. As she sorted out the grains and vegetables, she felt a presence behind her. Rainbow Dash grabbed a knife in her teeth and spun around quickly to face whatever was there. Except for the kitchen door, nothing was behind her; it was only a bit of paranoia. She dropped the knife on her counter and shook her head, letting her striped mane wave back and forth. An impact to her skull brought her thoughts and consciousness short, as a loud metallic clang put Rainbow Dash down. Her living but unresponsive body was removed from her house as quick as a flash, leaving behind only a ladle with a few strands of colored hair on it.

The town's panic had been brought to maximum level. With three disappearances in the hour, no one was taking any chance whatsoever. The mayor declared a state of emergency and ordered every citizen to arm themselves with something blunt and heavy. But word had not yet reached Twilight or Techorse, for no pony in town had bothered to make the now perilous trip through town to reach them. Twilight had kept the library open, unaware of the panic of the town. Spike watched as the residents outside dived into their stores and shut them down for the day.

"The stores are closing early." He said, "so much for getting that comic book I wanted today."

"There's always tomorrow." Said Twilight as she shelved returned books, "but it is a little odd they're shutting down this soon. It's only five o'clock." A loud knock on the door sounded as Twilight pushed a heavy dictionary onto a shelf.

"Will you get that, Spike?" asked Twilight as she grunted under the weight of the volume, "I'm still busy here."

"Sure." He said as he walked over to the red ornately-carved door. The dragon brushed the green fin on the top of his head into a neater position, and then opened the door. A brown male unicorn wearing a green and white baseball cap was standing there. On his back was an odd plastic square tray, on which rested a flat white box.

"Pizza delivery." said the guy, "for a Mrs. Sparkle."

Twilight might have wanted the food, but she had already put her paycheck in the bank and didn't have anything left in the house, so she said, "We didn't order a pizza."

"You sure?" he asked, "It's half sprouts and half rubies."

Spike loved gemstones and said, "Come on Twilight, that's our favorites!"

"I don't have any money to give him." said Twilight as she looked at Spike.

"Someone else already paid for this." explained the delivery guy, "I'll just set it on the table here for ya."

"Who?" asked Spike. He looked at Twilight and they both knew.

"Techorse." They said together as the unicorn used a magic burst to place the box on the counter in the middle of the room. He then left without a word, oddly not asking for a tip.

"Let's finish putting these books back before we eat." said Twilight, noticing Spike reaching for the pizza.

"Fine." replied Spike with dissapointment, drawing his hand away from the box. As they turned to work, a small metal pipe emerged from the box and started to quickly fill the room with grey smoke. It took the two a while to notice it because they were facing away from the box, but they soon saw it.

"What the?" exclaimed Spike as the smoke continued to fill the room. Twilight opened a window and brought out an oscillating fan to push the smoke out of the room. As they worked to clear the mess, several black blurs entered the door and whisked around the room. Twilight got scared and cast a spell to blast the pizza box out the door, ending the smoke problem. When the vapors finally left the building, Spike and Twilight found themselves surrounded by three Pegasus ponies wearing completely black tight fitting clothing. Only their eyes were visible through a rectangular box cut from the cloth.

"Ninjas!" shouted Spike, "I'll handle this!" Hoping to repeat what he had read in the previous issue of his comic books, Spike breathed fire on one of the ninjas. The green flames danced around the bad guy, but when he ran out of breath, Spike realized that he had done no damage. "Fireproof suits? Dang!" he shouted as the ninjas moved in closer on them. Twilight shot a bolt of destructive energy at one of them, but he raised a wing and deflected it into the ground. Then the three leapt to attack them at once. Twilight looked at Spike and knew that both of them would be killed if she didn't act fast. So in a moment of love for her lifelong apprentice, she used a pusher spell to kick the dragon out of the library as the ninjas fell on her. Twilight shut her eyes and felt a hard knock on her head before she fell unconscious.

Chapter 4

Spike had hit his head on the cobblestone streets of the town and had been knocked out, he was collected by the medical experts of Ponyville and put on a sick bed until he could wake up. Word of the disappearances of the heroes of the town put everyone in despair, if they were robbed themselves, they would have to defend themselves. The only one to not know yet of the disappearances was Techorse, who was still stuck in his castle working on the maps to look for the coal source. Pinkie Pie had decided to visit him again today and ask about where her friends might have gotten off to, so she bounced up cheerfully to the castle with a basket of cookies clenched in her teeth. She knocked on the door and waited for either him or PAL to answer. No response came, but the gates opened up anyways. Pinkie left the basket on a table immediately to the left of the castle entrance, and then walked while humming a cheerful tune to find him. She entered the radar room again and saw Techorse continuing to stare at the screen, but this time he was wearing his saddle.

"Have you been there all night and day?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"No." he replied without turning to look, "I've been taking breaks. Good to see you again Pinkie." She let her fluffy tail swish in the air as she prepared to ask Techorse her question, but PAL entered the room with a strange plastic bag. Inside the bag was a couple of interesting rainbow-colored rope shaped objects.

"Hello misses Pie." said PAL.

"Hey PAL!" she replied, turning to look in his direction without moving her head. She then spotted the bag in the robot's left hand and asked,

"What's in there?"

PAL removed one of the objects from the bag and said, "It's a new treat recipe I made! They're homemade gummy worms. Want one?"

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth wide and tilted her head back.

"Chirp!" she said, imitating a baby bird. PAL laughed and dropped the chromatic confection into her waiting maw. Pinkie closed her mouth and began to chew on the jumbo gummy worm, enjoying the unique multi-flavored taste of the treat.

"That's good." She said in ecstasy from the flavor of the worm.

Techorse said to Pinkie Pie, "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday."

"M'ok." replied Pinkie, mouth full of gummy treat.

"Anyways, PAL and I couldn't find the source of that coal Twilight was talking about." He said as he looked back at the monitor. Pinkie Pie nodded thoughtfully and continued to chew, the ridiculous size of the worm made it impossible to swallow the treat quickly.

PAL said, "I'll go check the mail while you two talk, ok?"

"Go ahead." said Techorse. The robot left to go check the mailbox, making loud metallic footsteps as he walked out the open door of the control room. He went out front and found the plastic box, then opened it. Inside was a small brown package tied with a plain white string. PAL removed the rectangular object and turned it over in his hands, scanning it carefully with his optical sensors.

"Interesting, a package." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone. PAL shut the door on the mailbox and turned to go back inside when he was stopped by Applejack.

"PAL, wait up!" she said while short on breath, "Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity have all gone missin'. The town's in a panic!"

PAL said, "If that's true, misses Applejack, then we must inform master immediately. Follow me in." He took the orange pony upstairs and went back into the room.

Applejack spotted Pinkie and said, "Oh thank goodness, Pinkie's already here tellin' Techorse about it."

"About what?" asked Techorse as he turned to see Applejack, "nice seeing you by the way." Applejack walked up beside Techorse and said, "Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash have all fled their homes for some reason and haven't come back yet. Somethin' terrible must have happened!"

Applejack wanted to get in another sentence, but was getting annoyed by Pinkie's noisy chewing and asked, "Pinkie Pie, what are you eating?"

"A worm." She answered as she continued to masticate her snack.

"I've seen ya do some pretty disgusting things." said Applejack, "but eatin' a worm is new even for you!"

Pinkie Pie explained, "A gummy worm silly. Look." Pinkie opened her mouth to reveal the ball of rainbow-colored bolus.

Applejack recoiled in disgust, "Ok! Ya didn't need to show me."

Techorse stopped the distracting talk and asked, "What about the disappearances, Applejack? Tell me." She tipped her hat forward on her head and explained, "It seems some of our friends have gone missin' after that chain of breaking-ins. No one knows where they went."

"Maybe they just fled in panic." Said Techorse, "I'm sure they're all ok."

"By the way master, a package came for you today." Interrupted PAL. PAL handed the box to his master, and a pair of robotic arms came from the saddle on his back to accept it. Techorse took the string off the box and opened the top of it. Applejack gasped at the contents, and Pinkie Pie immediately swallowed the rest of the worm in shock. The box contained a lock of Twilight Sparkle's tail hair, recognizable by the pink and dark purple stripes on it. Techorse found a note underneath the lock and quickly picked it up to read it.

"Hello Techorse, it's your good old friend. It seems my followers have taken your love Twilight. She is being held captive in my castle at the following coordinates:" Techorse punched the numbers into his computer and watched the map change. Then he finished reading the note: "Do not send these coordinates to princess Celestia. I have unicorns scanning the air for traveling message particles, if they pick any up written by you, I will be forced to deal with your friends immediately. That being said, with the coordinates, you have three days to make it to my castle and turn yourself over. Because you were one of the aliens, I cannot simply allow you to live after what your kind did to ours six months ago. As insurance that you will arrive, I will not tell the location of your other lesser friends whom I have also kidnapped. They are locked up in different dungeons to prevent you from plotting the escape of all of them at once. Enclosed is a lock of Twilight's hair to prove I am not bluffing about any of this. Should you fail to show up at my castle in three days and turn yourself over, the next package I send you shall contain Twilight Sparkle's head. Make your decision, and I hope to see you very soon. Signed, Arbiter."

"I don't believe it." said Techorse, "Captain Arbiter's back."

"It looks like he wants revenge after you got him fired." commented Applejack.

"Well we can't just sit here and let him cut off Twilight's head!" shrieked Pinkie, "We have to do something!"

Techorse resigned himself and said plainly, "I'll turn myself in to him. He will keep his word and let you all go. I can't let any of my friends get hurt because of me."

"We're not letting him get you!" said Applejack strongly, "we're going to kick his tail and rescue them the old fashioned way."

"Thanks Applejack, but we don't know where the others are being kept. Unless I turn myself in, there's no way we'll be able to save them."

PAL added, "You have the coordinates of the main castle this Arbiter is staying in. There is a good chance the fortresses where the others are being kept is hidden somewhere between here and that castle."

"True." Said Techorse, "It's unlikely Arbiter would put the prison off in a location where it couldn't be defended very well."

"Then let's go now. We don't have any time to lose." declared Applejack.

PAL detected a knock at the front door and said, "Someone's at the front gate, I'll let them in." The robot walked out of the room and tossed the bag of gummy worms to Pinkie Pie.

"Before you stuff yourself and can't talk again, Pinkie, I need to know if you'll be able to help us on this mission." said Techorse as he swiped the bag away from her.

"Well duh." She replied, "I can't let that mean guy Arbiter keep them all locked up!"

"You know, that's just the oddest thing." said Applejack, "We weren't all locked up. For some reason, he didn't capture me or you, Pinkie Pie."

Techorse said, "Arbiter didn't capture either of you because we're all earth ponies. With no special powers, he thinks you'll be too weak to do anything."

"That racist!" shouted Applejack angrily, "Wait till I get my hooves on him!" PAL returned to the room with Spike in tow. The dragon was wearing a bandage wrap on his head, evidence of the injury from last night.

"Twilight's been captured!" he shouted to Techorse.

"I know." He replied, "we just got a message saying so. In fact, everyone you see here are the only ones not captured."

"Who captured Twilight?" demanded Spike angrily, wanting revenge.

Techorse said, "Did she ever tell you about Captain Arbiter, Spike?"

"No" he replied. Techorse took a breath and explained, "Captain Arbiter was princess Celestia's captain of the guard after Twilight's brother left. He wanted to destroy me because, as you know, I was a human. When he got caught setting up a guillotine to kill me, he was fired and banished from Canterlot. Now he's captured the others and is holding them hostage, wanting me to exchange my life for theirs."

Pinkie Pie spat out the gummy worm she was chewing and rushed up to Spike. "Not only that!" she said loudly, "he's also got Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy!"

"Nobody touches Rarity." said Spike menacingly.

Applejack interrupted, "Alright, enough talk. Let's gear up and head out to Arbiter's castle."

"I'm going with you!" said Spike.

"It's too dangerous for you." said Applejack, "You have to stay here."

"That's not fair." Complained the young dragon, "I'm not a baby you know."

Techorse told him, "Twilight told me that in her absence, she wanted me to take care of you. Since she's been locked up, looks like that comes into effect. I give you permission to join our party, Spike!" Applejack stared angrily at Techorse, she had been overruled and wasn't happy about it.

Pinkie Pie shouted eagerly, "Yes! Everyone's going together!"

PAL laughed and said, "I guess I'll stay here to provide updates to you, master." "Ok, but remember PAL, if you need to get to us quickly…" "Yes I know, I'll be there to help." said PAL, waving a hand.

After a little bit of preparations for the adventure, the team of four set out to go liberate their friends from Arbiter's dungeons. Before they left the castle though, Techorse made sure the gadgets in his saddle were working properly. The laser cannons were going to be of use on this mission for sure, so he ensured the topaz crystals were changed out to give him the maximum number of shots possible. He also packed a few spare items into the cargo bin to take on the trip. After the diagnostics check, they walked in the direction of the land where Arbiter's castle was located according to his ransom note. So that they didn't get lost, Applejack had taken the note and kept it under her hat in order to keep a copy of the coordinates on hand.

"We're going to be headin' into territory unmarked on the map." said Applejack, "so it'll be very dangerous. I want y'all to be careful."

Spike got up on Techorse's back and seated himself on the robotic saddle, "With Techorse, nothing's gonna stop us! Any monster tries something funny, and bang!"

"Despite having weapons", he said sternly to Spike, "I prefer to use them as a last resort, Spike." Spike looked for a way to pry the weapons out of the machine and said, "How are we supposed to go through a wild area without dying if you don't even use your guns?"

"Simple." He explained, "Applejack's in charge. She knows how to get through these rough areas better than anyone else. With her as leader, we'll make it through without firing a shot."

Applejack stopped the group and turned around to face him.

"Hold on." She said, "I thought you were leadin' this rescue party."

"Yeah!" agreed Pinkie, "when Twilight's not around, you're always the leader."

"Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I have to be the boss." replied Techorse.

"That's not what we mean." Said Applejack shaking her head, "I meant you're the best combat expert we got. Your strategies save our hides on a regular basis."

"Yes, but I'm also the least familiar with this planet. I've been here six months, you've been here your whole life. I need you to trust me and take command here Applejack, without you guiding me through this new area, I'd get us lost. And we only have three days to do this."

"Ok." said Applejack, "I'll lead. Just stay close, we have to follow this trail around the mountain. I know a place we can ask for directions." They went at a quick pace, stopping only for a drink of water or for a few breaths in order to make good time. After making it around the mountain bordering Ponyville, they came across a small forest of deciduous trees. "This forest over here is not home to a lot of creatures. If we just stick to the path, we won't find any trouble." instructed Applejack as she pointed to the small woods.

"We're tired!" complained Pinkie Pie, "this running's killing me!"

"Arbiter's gonna kill them if we don't hurry, and as much as I dislike Rarity's vanity, I don't wanna see her head come off! Now come on!"

As they walked amongst the trees and entered the peaceful forest, Spike asked Techorse worriedly, "He's going to get Rarity too?" Techorse drew his laser cannons and assured his friend, "Not if I can help it."

Chapter 5

The walk through the forest brought them to a small flat building on the other side. It was a plain structure with a shingle roof, a red brick chimney with several bricks missing, and a handful of plain glass windows. The faded white color of the place gave away the place's great age. "What is that place?" asked Pinkie Pie, "a small house?"

"That's a bar." replied Applejack, "The Victory Lap."

"Why would we go in a bar?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Applejack explained, "The place where Arbiter's castle is, is built in an area home to the roughest, toughest ponies around. If we ask the folks here, they'll probably tell us where the other fortresses are too."

"I'm too young to go in there." Said Spike nervously, not wanting to get roughed up in a bar fight, "I'll just wait outside."

"Alright." said Applejack, rolling her eyes at his cowardice. Spike dismounted from Techorse and hid inside a bush outside the bar.

"Don't mention to anypony who we are." warned Techorse, "Arbiter might still want you two despite not initially ordering your capture. We need to be careful."

"Okey dokey lokie!" said Pinkie Pie as she trotted inside the door of the saloon. Applejack and Techorse gave each other a look of hopelessness and entered the bar. Very tough looking characters were seated at the tables in the bar, playing card games, sipping their drinks, and having a good time.

Applejack whispered, "Things seem quiet now, but they can sure get violent quick. Ask and let's get out of here asap." Techorse nodded and made sure none of his gadgetry was sticking out of his saddle, as it would tell them who he was right away.

Pinkie hopped up to the bar and jumped up on one of the wooden stools. She spun around on the stool quickly and shouted, "Wheee!"

No one paid any attention to her as she looked at the ugly room. The wood supports of the roof were visible, and from them hung simple chandeliers made from wagon wheels. Very few pictures hung from the walls, and the ones that were had some kind of damage. A hoof grabbed Pinkie Pie on the head, and she stopped spinning around. The bartender took his leg off her hair. He was a tall and lanky pony with a grey coat, brown eyes, a thick yellow haircut, and a prominent yellow mustache. "What can I get you?"

he asked. Pinkie Pie thought and replied, "A strawberry milkshake!" The bartender gave her a confused look.

Pinkie realized she had to order something tough to fit in, so she added, "without any whipped cream!" The bartender rolled his eyes and retreated into the kitchen.

"I thought I was only guy who ever ordered that." Came a deep voice with a hint of Russian in it from beside Pinkie. She turned and saw the gigantic stallion sitting behind her. He was wearing a leather vest which went well with his black shirt. In physical appearance, the bar patron had a soft brown coat, a slick black mane, and deep yellow eyes.

He had his milkshake beside him, and he showed the glass to Pinkie Pie. "Who are you?" asked Pinkie.

"Mega." replied the stallion, "I'm biggest guy here."

"Nice to meet you!" said Pinkie happily.

"You're very nice." continued Mega, "Most ponies run from Mega. They say I'm mean and stupid. But Mega just doesn't know common language well. I was born in different country. It is nice to meet pony who's friendly out here."

"Oh come on, who wouldn't want to be your friend?" giggled Pinkie as she received her shake from the bartender.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Techorse were asking around the tables for any information about the fortresses where the others were being held hostage. Techorse sat down at a table in the middle of a card game and said, "Deal me in." He tossed a handful of gold coins onto the table, not caring if he lost the hand. To him, the information the three colts at the table had would be worth the 15 bucks he added to the pot.

One of the ponies sitting there said to him in a bootlegger's accent, "That's a pretty decent bet there, fella. Got lucky at the races today?"

"No." replied Techorse as he picked up his cards with his hooves, "but I hope my luck changes when I go to work for Arbiter. You gents seen him lately?"

"Arbiter doesn't have any new job offerins'." said one of the ponies, "all the guard positions went like that." The gambler knocked his hoof on the table once.

"Guard positions huh?" said Techorse curiously, "where?"

"The new bastille down the way, about four miles in the direction of the river." said the third gambling pony. After drawing a couple of cards each, they all laid down their hands.

"Dang, the new guy wins." declared the leader of the three. Techorse had no clue how he had won, the game was so different from Earth poker it was impossible to tell the objectives.

He swept the golden coins in with a leg towards himself and said, "Maybe I can get all you guys a round on me." He passed the money to a staff member and got a bit of cheering from the others for his generosity. Techorse whispered to the staff member, "I'm trying to get some information from these guys, so nothing for me thank you."

While Techorse was trying to get information by waiting for the salt licks and sugary drinks to work it out of the patrons, Applejack used her charm. Normally she would look like a working girl without much physical appeal, but she had taken off her hat and untied her hair. She looked a little more attractive this way to the bar patrons, but tried not to frown as she saw the number of boys staring at her body. Applejack only wanted information and was not flattered at all by the attention she was getting.

"Look at the hocks on her." said one of the males quietly to his friend.

Another said, "Over here sweet thing!" She ignored the catcalls being thrown at her and walked over to the most intelligent looking pony at the bar. He was reading a magazine and enjoying a small drink of something.

Applejack put her front leg gently on the table and said, "Excuse me mister, but woulda mind talkin' to a girl for a moment?" The cream-coated pony looked up at Applejack and realized he was being given attention by a woman.

"I'm pretty busy." He said, playing hard to get.

Applejack hated to do what she was going to do next. She had seen Rarity do this to get attention before, and if it worked for Rarity, it would have to work for her. Applejack tilted her head a bit, moved a little closer to the stallion and batted her eyelashes gently at him.

"Please? It's awful important." she said sweetly.

The guy looked into Applejack's beautiful green eyes and asked, "What do you need to know?"

"I'm looking for a fortress." She started to rub the guy's front leg muscles and replied, "A big strong one."

"Take your pick lady." Replied the stallion, "There's tons out here."

"Well, the one I'm lookin' for is owned by this crazy guy with an eyepatch." said Applejack.

The stallion said suspiciously, "One of Arbiter's prisons? Why do you need to know where that is?" She pulled her front leg back and let it hit the floor with a soft clop.

"I'm supposed to take supplies there." She said, "I can see you're a big, handsome, smart pony who would know where it is."

The stallion finally caved into Applejack's charm and told her, "Why don't you come out back with me and I'll tell you where the fortress is?"

Applejack grimaced nervously and said, "Why can't you tell me in here?" The stallion wrapped a limb around her and drew her close. She wasn't going to like his answer.

Techorse had gotten all the information he was going to get out of the intoxicated bar buddies. They were either drunk from something or dehydrated from salt lick, so Techorse decided it was time to round up his friends and leave. As he got up from the table, he heard a horn start to charge for a ic pellet to shoot at him. It was a grey coated colt with a brown mane and hazel eyes, wearing only an orange vest around his middle. He had Techorse within his sights, and was not afraid to let a beam loose in the middle of the bar.

"Going somewhere, Techorse?" asked the pony.

"Well, Coaltorch, as a matter of fact, I was just about to leave your watering hole." He replied as he backed up away from the knife. It was too bad his new friends were horribly dehydrated from all the salt he had bought them, or they could have helped him out.

"Arbiter says you have two days to get to him before your marefriend's head comes off." continued Coaltorch.

"Oh so yesterday counted, huh?" said Techorse smugly.

"Now." continued Coaltorch gently as he made Techorse sit down at a booth with him, "I've got an offer to make you. Arbiter may want you in two days, but he offered a reward to anypony who dragged you in early. I'm going to collect on that if I can, but it has to be a live delivery, you see." Techorse wanted to defend himself, but knew using his cannons would start a terrible brawl amongst the barflies, and that would be the worst case scenario.

"I know you're a wealthy colt, and I don't want to hurt you." Continued Coaltorch slyly, "So just give me the extra 2500 bits in a neat little check, and I'll let you go. In fact, I won't even tell a soul about our meeting here."

Pinkie Pie turned on her stool and noticed Coaltorch aiming at Techorse's neck. She gasped loudly, nearly drawing the attention of Coaltorch and the others in the bar, but she only managed to get Mega to spin around and look too.

"Who is that?" he asked. "My friend Techorse is in danger, that guy's gonna hurt him!" whispered Pinkie desperately to her new giant friend. Mega got up from his stool and wandered over to the two.

Coaltorch spoke again to Techorse, "Well buddy, what'll it be? Give me the money, come with me, or get blasted in the face?" Techorse saw Mega walk up behind Coaltorch, but tried not to let his eyes wander to avoid giving him away. Coaltorch pushed his horn a little closer to Techorse's neck.

"Choose!" he demanded.

Mega reared up and brought both hooves down on Coaltorch's head, crashing him through the table and leaving him with a concussion. The stallion in the booth behind them let go of Applejack as she jumped away from him to see what had happened.

"Who was that?" she asked, staring at the now unconcious Coaltorch.

"It's the guy who attacked that club we went to a while back. Remember?" said Techorse, referencing an earlier event that year.

"Oh yeah." said Applejack, "he was tryin to get ya?"

Pinkie Pie dashed up to them and shouted, "Of course, Techorse is always fighting off bad guys!"

"Wait a minute." Said one of the bar patrons, "that's Techorse?"

"Well no duh." Said Pinkie sarcastically, "who did you think he was?" Immediately, the other patrons tried to collect the reward on Techorse's head and approached him as a mob. Techorse drew his laser cannons and prepared to defend himself. But the mob was stopped in their tracks when Mega stepped in front of them and picked up a chair, threatening to use it as a club.

"Nobody hurts friends of Pinkie Pie." Shouted Mega angrily, "All you guys treat Mega poorly and call me stupid. But she was nice to me. If Techorse friend of Pinkie, he friend of mine too!" Mega turned his head back and said to them, "Go!" The three ran out of the bar as quick as they could, and heard loud crashing as Mega smashed the chair to pieces on the floor of the bar.