A/N - Before we begin, a few housekeeping things. For starters, a different "Captain of the Guard" is used here than Shining Armor. Sorry, this was written well before knowledge of Shining Armor had even come out, and the captain used here is more appropriate for the story's purpose than he would be (since he's not making anymore appearances after this and the next chapter...probably). Second, information about this "alternate world" will be introduced quite slowly, which is more my style of writing. I know a lot goes unexplained at first, and I welcome any questions regarding this world, but many answers will come out in due time, as the story progresses. Otherwise, this is my take, I suppose, on the HiE genre, which in this case is more like a CiE (Cyborg in Equestria). There is no shipping involved, and it's only "M" for "m"assive amounts of swearing (the cyborgs to each other mainly), and violence later on (which will typically be in the form of flashback). If this sounds like your bag, then I eagerly await your reactions. If not, that's fine too, but don't say I didn't write an extremely long-winded and possibly unnecessary author's note warning you. (Update) Turning chapter one here into two separate chapters for length's sake. (Another update) I'll have some basic answers to basic questions on my profile too, so I don't end up repeating myself too much.
A stale hum was all that could be heard in the large, domed execution chamber, despite the dozens of bodies inhabiting the stands with various feelings and sentiments etched into their stone-like faces. They were well safe from the center of the facility, where two lone convicts were spread out inside of two massive ring pods, cables binding their arms and legs and splaying them outwardly so that no movement, other than their heads, was possible. The spectators had known these two men very well, as they all shared cramped work spaces. These men would constantly be heard conspiring against Emperor Xargon, their undisputed ruler, caretaker, and tyrant, depending on interpretation. It seems like they were able to stir up some unexpected trouble for their computerized sovereign.
No one knew whether to call it a blessing or a curse that these upstarts would be, in a sense, executed for their crime. Life, as the Arkarans knew it, was little more than a waking nightmare. 800+ years of grueling labor and a brand of near-immortality that could make anyone long for death. The cyber organisms sitting in their seats, awaiting the first execution in known history, were curious, some outraged by their detainment, and others simply staring, as if they were devoid of opinion on the matter at all.
Bernard, one of the bound, scanned the crowd of onlookers who were considerate enough to see them off, as a comparatively scarce number of cyborgs seemed to give a shit about their predicament.
"So, Minos," Bernard enthusiastically grinned to his older companion with a shaking in his voice, "D...does this mean that we're gonna be able to die now?"
He couldn't contain the excitement he felt. At the tender age of 248, Bernard felt the same pain as most cyborgs he'd known. His will to live never truly existed and, in a bid to end the torment, went the extra mile to attempt to end it for the rest of his miserable brethren. It had been rumored that he who could defeat the emperor and gain ultimate control over the planet would gain the power to deactivate the entire network of cyborgs, thus freeing them all of the endless suffering. Unfortunately, here they were, failed and unable to make a difference in this crap-sack society.
"I don't know..." Minos sighed in defeat, "Do you even realize what's going to happen?"
Minos curiously half-glared at the high-strung man. Bernard could do nothing but squirm in his bonds while he guessed.
"...They're going to shut off our regulatory boxes, right?"
Minos wished he could put a hand up to his forehead, which was starting to take on a painful migraine at their situation.
"You fool! They would rather re-wire the damn things to force us to be loyal than waste their "resources" by discarding them!"
Minos took a calming second to recollect his thoughts so that he would have to explain the process they were about to be subjected to only once.
"Now, listen! The emperor has only been ruling for about 20 or so years now, and with the attack we instigated, more of our brothers and sisters are sounding the call to arms than they ever have. Xargon now has to use a public execution as a warning message to any who would dare cross him, or her, or whatever the fuck that computer's calling itself these days."
Bernard gave Minos an annoyed glance as if the older man was rehashing news that he already knew.
"Yes, that's what I'm talking about! They're going to kill us by deactivating the boxes!"
Minos hissed, "Quit being so absurd! You know how the cyborgs feel about dying. They long for it! It is the only thing they even live for, pathetically enough. Killing us wouldn't be a punishment, it would be absolute heaven!"
Just the thought of death eased the older cyborg's senses, and he spoke the last words lovingly, as if it were everything to him. Bernard shook his arms in his bindings a little with exasperation.
"Well, what in Arkarus are they planning to do to us then, oh One-who-knows-all?"
Minos quickly intervened and kept on with his explanation.
"Look, you see the rings they have us bound to?"
Bernard took a sarcastically experimental look in his area. Indeed, as he had already known, he was tied up with no way out.
"Yeah, what else is new?"
"Okay, look in front of us. You see that gigantic ring there, similar to ours, but, like, a million times bigger?"
Bernard still wasn't sure what he was getting at here.
"Uh huh, so what?"
"That, my friend, is what is called a dimensional rift. Pretty soon, the emperor will be opening this incredibly powerful portal that will draw us in. Where it leads to, even our top scientists don't have any idea. The only thing they know is that it gets rid of the trash, us for example, and it never comes back."
The young man was even more excited about this turn of events.
"That's great! That means we get to leave this shitty dump, and can start fresh someplace else!"
Minos was typically of the mild-mannered sort, but being assaulted by Bernard's ignorance made it a chore not to smack him upside the head, at least if he could do so now.
"Think about it, Bernard, it's even more likely that where we end up will be even more horrible than it is here. The most likely, unfortunately, is that for the centuries we have remaining in these boxes," he gestured down to his chest, "we will float in the black expanse of the universe, aimless, motionless, and trapped in silent agony."
All of this talk about there being places possibly worse than this crap-hole made Bernard gulp in terror. Suddenly, the prospect of escape and his opinions of Arkarus began to reverse.
"No, no, that's so messed up, man! Can't we ever catch a damn break? I don't want to be stranded for my whole life!"
His bravado from before had been broken, and Minos was starting to feel the least bit sorry for the poor bastard. He felt like a big brother, watching his sibling crumble mentally.
"Steel yourself, Bernard! It is not what we are doomed to that matters! What does matter is that our friends out there have had a taste of what it is like to not be afraid of their master, and to strive to accomplish something that drives them, which to me is the most admirable goal any of us can achieve!"
A sudden burst of compressing and decompressing air, followed by alternating high and low pitched screeches signaled to all in the great chamber that their emperor, Xargon, was going to make an announcement over the intercom. Few had seen the face of the tyrant, save for the two criminals in their harnesses, and all communications from the emperor are done strictly through said medium. A crackling, sharp, metallic voice began to ring through their ears.
"ATTENTION: IT IS BROUGHT TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR SAVIOR THAT TWO CYBER ORGANISMS HAVE BROKEN THE COMMANDS BY WHICH ALL OF YOU ARE GIVEN THE PRIVILEGE TO FOLLOW! THEREFORE, THEY SHALL BE CAST OUT INTO THE ABYSS OF SPACE, WHERE THEY WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BEG FOR A SWIFT DEMISE!"
A stunned, pensive silence broke out among the cyborgs. Bernard took another hot gulp while Minos was starting to breathe a little heavier with his own burst of fear.
"IF THE PERPETRATORS HAVE ANY LAST WORDS, THEN BY ALL MEANS, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!"
The crowd laid their eyes upon the pitiable suspects, strapped helplessly into their restraints. Minos gave a pointed look toward his long time friend, encouraging him to speak his mind. Bernard took this as his cue and drew in the longest breath he could. Tense throbs wracked the body of the younger man as he spoke up.
"Xargon, you can go crawl into the deepest pits of Arkarus and rot into a pile of circuit boards and wires for all I give a shit!"
"THAT WILL BE ENOUGH OUT OF YOU THEN! NOW, THE SECOND?"
Minos had trouble finding the words, being so close to the great unknown and a possible eternal torture. He thought back to all of the horrors he had witnessed as a younger cyborg, having nearly been eaten by a necrobyte when he was but 30 years old; how he developed heightened emotional sensitivity because of that and many incidents leading up to the present; how the previous emperor had even tried to free the cyborgs from their labors, and failed. He knew what he had to say.
"My brothers and sisters," he paused as they listened on, "you and I were thrown into a world which we did not choose to be a part of. The only states that this world ever constantly seems to be in are violence, apathy, and rage. As you all know, I have been involved heavily in freeing the Arkarus cyborgs from this nightmare we call life, and it has been an uphill battle on all fronts. I have broken commands and made many enemies in this quest, assisting in the capture and killing of that psychotic cult leader who wished to make it so that our collective turmoil would last for eternity, and more recently, attempting assassination on the current emperor, a feat which they boasted never has and never will succeed. I have done all of these things for you, fellow workers."
Minos paused to catch his breath, starting to sweat under the scorching light assaulting their bodies as they were displayed. Not a soul stirred in the audience, as was typical for any old meeting.
"I implore each and every one of you, not to spare my wretched life, but to look deep inside of yourselves and ask, "What is it that I want?" We have all established, to death, what it is our emperor wants, but what is it that you, my brethren, desire? Remember this before I go, you have the power to stop this madness! If even only one of you listens to me here and now, and acts on that statement alone, then I can leave this world a more confident man, knowing that I leave this planet in more capable hands than my own!"
The dull humming, energy gathering into the dimensional rift, was, once again, the only sound that could be heard after Minos' voice stopped reverberating.
"...NOW THESE VIGILANTES SHALL RESIGN TO A FATE WORSE THAN ALL IMAGINABLE! LET THIS BE A TESTAMENT TO THIS NEW AGE, ITS MESSAGE BEHELD IN PERFECT CLARITY, THAT ALL WHO OPPOSE YOUR SAVIOR WILL SUFFER INDEFINITELY!"
An unholy wind cascaded through the monumental ring, wrapping the clasped convicts in a blanket of life-stealing suction. White sparks trickled from top to bottom down the center as the fabric of space was snipped, and the vast expanse held within became increasingly visible.
"Gaaaaaaah!" Minos was the first to scream out as his bound wrists and ankles began to tear at the seams, little more than putty compared to the mega-typhoon level torrent of rushing air. Even at this stage of the opening, the vacuum they were caught in was horrendously strong.
"Eck...errrrgh!" the man next to Minos could hardly contain his own howls of pain as a similar sensation ripped through his arms and legs.
The oval that was starting to form in the portal made the very cosmos visible to the unbelieving eyes of its victims, far away stars and planets dancing among comets and asteroids in an unstable yet somehow balanced system.
"Fuck, it hurts so damn much!"
"Remember, Bernard, your regulatory box will mend your wounds and grow your limbs back quickly, this is their way of punishing us further, by making the trip as painful as possible!"
The older cyborg could hardly grit the words out as he felt bones start to shatter in most of his body. The turbulence was picking up, as impossible as that may have seemed a few moments ago.
"Well...(crack)...at least...we went down...fighting!"
Bernard gave Minos one more look to make sure he was still over in his own pod. Minos answered his companion's audacious comment.
"Couldn't...(crrrulp)...have...said it...better...myself!"
Finally, tiny hints of emotion, and possible empathy, could be noticed in the participants in the stands, watching the entire event unfold before their very eyes. The rift was now at full mast, and many swore that the eye of a demon was a more appropriate simile for its terrifying visage. The lights surrounding the patrons were swaying and flickering madly, unstable in the incredible energy storm brewing at the center of the chamber.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Finally, the two criminals' arms and legs were not strong enough to hold intact, snapping apart like toys with a disgusting squelch, tossing their now limbless (but not lifeless) bodies into the vortex, screeching like banshees into their new home, one that they could only guess would be more than likely to rival their own hellish planet.
The lovely, vibrant land of Equestria; ponies of all shapes, sizes, and types were fortunate to inhabit such a wonderfully lush planet, with its multitude of colors, sights, sounds, and smells. Though every world has problems, as the citizens of this fair planet could attest to, some would say that their general situation is...idyllic, in a way.
With a pair of all-loving, infinitely understanding rulers, nopony saw rhyme or reason in rebellion, in fact, just the thought of such a thing would leave a cloud of undeniable guilt hanging over one's head. Since the citizens loved their princesses so much, especially in this day and age, their own royal guards, as intimidating as they could be, had become little more than escorts, custodians, and watch dogs for a world with a fairly minimal crime rate.
Such was the case of four of these royal pegasus guards, spending their time helping elderly ponies cross the streets of Canterlot, or taking up police duty, stepping into various stores and shops, only to realize, bored to tears, that heinous crimes are a thing of the past. Well, might be a thing of the past...no one could even remember hearing of one in a long time. The four would sigh inwardly while standing at attention on the city streets, wishing that something more interesting would fall right out of the sky and land in the forests below the mountain.
"Oh my..." a fancy looking unicorn pony looked up through his monocle from his position, mere feet from the four guards, posted on both sides of the street, "...it seems to me as if some sort of...objects...are floating toward that forest on the mountainside! Hmm...I wonder what they could be..."
Hot damn! That was just what these four, tired out guards had been hoping for all day! Two of them all but gleefully sprinted with a few appreciative bounces in the direction of the crash landing while one ran with a little less vigor. The fourth, Captain Broadlance, enthusiastically but politely ran up and motioned to the unicorn with his hoof.
"Sir, we'll handle this from here!"
The unicorn seemed a little put off and uneasy at the captain's brisk response.
"Oh, well then good luck, Captain."
The captain flew to catch up with his subordinates. They weren't going to take all of the fun for themselves while he was around, no sir! By the time he had sped up to get behind them all, they had unleashed their wings as well to dive over the cliff that the great city sat upon. They were all anxious to get a better view of what exactly had touched down just moments ago.
"I'll bet it's a nice little care package, courtesy of the Military Mares organization, they're so freakin' hot!" Hotshot, a cadet, swooned as he thought of all those cute fillies who supported the troops.
"No, I bet it'll be a dragon that got attacked by some of its own kind, vulgar beasts!" Morning Whisper sneered at the very thought.
"...I'll bet it's nothing at all..." Buzzkill droned monotonously, no mirth apparent in his eyes.
"Knock it off over there, soldiers! This ain't no sewing circle, so quit squawkin' and do your jobs!"
The last response was from the captain himself, tired of his ragtag crew socializing like they were at some cheap bar.
"Oh come on, Captain," Hotshot flew closer to the stern old warrior, "Surely you must be just as curious about what's going on down there as we are!"
If there was any excitement in their veteran mentor's actions, he had a poker face that could trick a mob boss out of all his money. He shifted uncomfortably at Hotshot's interrogating stare.
"Well, what do you think, cadet? This is the most action we've had all month! Of course I want to know!"
With that, Broadlance zoomed ahead of the pack, leaving the scrubs to eat his proverbial dust.
"Let's catch up to him!" Morning Whisper all but ordered his same-ranked comrades.
"Whatever..." Buzzkill sighed submissively.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, when did YOU start giving the orders around here, Whisper?"
Hotshot looked poised to start pounding on the pushy pegasus if he didn't cut it out.
"Back off, Rookie, or I'll..."
"You'll...what exactly?"
Buzzkill lagged behind as the two unsupervised punks started getting into a slap fight of sissy proportions.
"...Nothing good ever comes from fighting...but whatever..."
The three slower pegasi had touched down into the forest clearing, only to see a confused, horrified look on Broadlance's usually so strong and brave face.
"Geez, Captain," Hotshot called to him, "You look like you just saw your grandma in sexy lingerie!"
The trio mewled in disgust, even Buzzkill with a monotone, "...ew...".
"Wh...wh...wh...what in the name of the holy, royal sisters are those things?"
Broadlance pointed a hoof, as if to guide his soldiers' attention, to the two, grotesque beings, writhing on the ground, not but ten feet away.
"I don't understand, Captain," Whisper respectfully started, "what could be so... OOOUUUAAAAGH?"
Hotshot stared in disbelief for a moment before his more immature side surfaced yet again.
"Eeeew...that's so gross, man! Look at them wriggling around like that!" He laughed disgustedly.
Buzzkill didn't seem to physically register that anything was bothering him by the display, but he nevertheless commented.
"They're...hairless..., those...weird limbs..."
One of the creatures had a face that could, in pony terms, be considered very pointed. His jaw and nose were fairly prominent, with a shouting maw filled with sharp, white teeth. A black...mane?...dangled down to the pointed knobs on his body; some kind of shoulders...perhaps? There was a tuft of fur growing under his mouth as well. He seemed frail and malnourished through the odd, light blue shirt and pants adorning his body. He was also of a liberally tanned skin, or it could have just been his natural color.
The second one, looking as monochromatic in the same light blue outfit and looking nearly as malnourished as the first, had a more brown and much shorter mane, barely escaping past the top of what could only be construed as his head and monkey-like ears. He had a pale complexion and body, from what was gathered by his limbs, and his face was much less pointed, almost a little smashed up against him, by comparison.
Both, however, had the strangest forelegs and back legs that anypony had ever seen. The forelegs sprouted tentacle-like appendages, squirming in time with their thrashing. The back legs seemed less so, although their knee joints were twisted around, bending forward instead of backward.
Broadlance just stared at the two creepy beings in front of them, they were screeching something in an unusual language, one that he had never heard before in all of his years of service. The four ponies just stood, rather slack-jawed, watching in queasy curiosity as they struggled against each other helplessly.
"...Has the end finally come?..."
Minos' vision had faded to black as he shut his eyes as tightly as possible, never wanting to subject his mind to the untold horrors that would greet him on the other side of the portal. For moments on end, a cold, hollow silence was the extent of his hearing, and his entire body felt light as a feather. In fact, he couldn't really feel much at all, as the atmosphere he had come to rely on was wrenched from him mercilessly. Soon, he had his answer, as his breathing, while laborious, continued on.
"No...unfortunately...not yet..."
His eyelids still blocked the vision in his eyes, but a shade of red became visible, as if there was some kind of light attempting to invade his retinas. He tried to speak out to the one he called "Bernard", if he remembered right. It felt like an eternity had passed as his mind started to fry with the fear of impending, infinite torture.
"Bernard...BERNARD...are you there?"
It took a minute for his face muscles to do his bidding, as they refused to do anything for a short while, apprehensive of the alien wind and its effects on his body. He hadn't expected an answer, as he had surmised that he was long gone, cast off into another section of space, or another dimension entirely.
"Yeah...I'm here! You still there Minos, or am I finally going insane?"
"No, you're not, I'm probably right next to you, as miraculous as that sounds."
Bernard was curled up in a similar position, dread filling every pore of his body, clamping his eyes shut and taking a few seconds to get a grip on the fact that he wasn't dead. Also, that he was resting against some sort of ground, and not floating in the nearly non-existent gravity of space. Minos started up again, surprised that he was so relieved to have someone to talk to in his exile.
"...It's so warm here...by the emperor, I think I'm roasting!"
Bernard had a similar sentiment to convey to his long time companion.
"Shit man, you're right! It's like we're in a damn volcano or something!"
A dreadful possibility flashed through the older cyborg's mind as he became more cognitively aware.
"Oh no! I think we might be in the path of a supernova!"
Panic overtook the brown haired man as the thought of taking the full impact of a supernova was a pretty high promise of excruciating misery, and with the nigh-indestructible regulatory boxes in their middles, they might live through it to feel it all.
"What," Bernard started to get scared himself, "a supernova? You've gotta be kidding me, you lousy bastard! You can't be serious!"
"Don't open your eyes, Bernard! Just keep them shut tight!"
"Why? They'll just grow back again anyway!"
Minos was thrashing around at this point with increasing dread.
"Well then you can watch as our bodies are fried to a crisp! I'd rather not look upon it myself, and my eyeballs will be gone long before I'm subjected to it!"
Whenever Minos got scared about something, Bernard was typically not very far behind. He trusted his senior more than most of the cyborgs he'd known, and if he was freaked out by this, then it must not be good for either of them.
"Alright, alright, I'll keep them shut! Oh, crap, this is going to hurt!"
Bernard and Minos began to struggle against each other as the heat seemed to intensify between them.
"Here it comes! Shit, we're so screwed! Farewell, Bernard! I am proud to have called you my ally!"
"What in the blazes are those two talking about?" Broadlance watched as they struggled, "Morning Whisper, this is beyond my jurisdiction now. We need to summon the princesses to command us on what actions we must take. Gather some more guards and escort them both to this very spot!"
Whisper made a wing salute to his captain in a show of confirmation.
"Yes, Captain, I will return as soon as possible!"
He steadied himself and his wings, tearing his eyes away from the positively callous sight before him, and took off toward the palace to alert the princesses of Equestria as to the appearance of these...aliens...
"So," Hotshot went up to Broadlance and mumbled in his ear as they crept ever closer, "do you think we should, you know, go over and try to calm them down? They look like they're in some kind of fear or pain."
"Nonsense, cadet," the veteran shot back with a gasp, "that would be a risk that I cannot take, and you shouldn't either."
As the sound left their mouths, Broadlance noticed the one with the long, black mane freeze in place like he turned to stone. He and Hotshot jumped back a foot, readying themselves for a fight if necessary. It kept on communicating with its big friend.
"Uh...Minos...shouldn't there be, I don't know, like, some kind of deafening noise coming toward us if there really is a supernova?"
Minos also ended up freezing his movements, earning another accusatory stare from the two guards.
"That's true, I can hear you, so sound should accompany pretty much everything happening here, in theory."
Bernard turned to his left, where all of his companion's ramblings seemed to be coming from.
"All I know is that I just heard two other voices, and neither of them were yours."
It was Minos' turn to be disbelieving.
"I don't hear anything. You must be imagining things, Bernard! Quit fucking with me!"
"Oh, don't trust me? Open your eyes then and take a look!"
Minos almost laughed at his friend's absurdity, a reaction that is not often seen in their world.
"Oh no you don't! The minute I look out, I'll be swallowed by a 100 trillion kilometer mass of cosmic energy! You open YOUR eyes if you're so confident in your story!"
The long haired man was getting more angry by the minute.
"Man, just do it! Quit being so stubborn all of the time!"
"Oh, I'M the one who's stubborn? I'm not the one who was nearly reprogrammed after beating a chief facility operator to within an inch of his life because he wanted to get an extra hour off the line to sleep. I saved your ass that day when I told them I'd vouch for your loyalty from there on out!"
Bernard was pretty furious at this point.
"You know how hard it is to get some rest there! They would rather have us work constantly, without it, for our entire lives, all so that their "quotas" are met on an asshole-tight schedule!"
Minos put a hand up in defeat, not wanting to rile him up more than he already had.
"Alright, relax Bernard! Fine, if you think it's SO safe out here, then I'll open mine first, and when you hear my screams of agony, we'll see who's the most full of shit!"
If Minos wasn't so spooked by the thought of facing a supernova head on, he might have even made a smile at how ridiculous Bernard could be. As it was right at the moment, he was terrified to even so much as peek. However, he had promised the guy that he would volunteer, so there were no ways out of it.
"Well, here goes..."
He lifted his eyelids ever so slightly, a bright, blinding heat was all he could register. There were no sources of light this bright on Arkarus, being a dark, desolate world with little natural heat or luminescence. It was incredibly annoying at first, and he could hardly pry them apart before recoiling. Soon, however, his body went upright and his eyes were wide open, beholding a planet rich in color and life, or at least what seemed like life, as foreign and long forgotten waves of vegetation rolled in the light breeze. It was an unusual sight, but, somehow, it was calming, comforting, one might even use the term...pleasant.
Minos was shaken out of his admiring state when three figures approached him. It took a few minutes for the realization to hit that these absolutely horrid-looking creatures, four arms or legs, craned, distorted necks, protruding growths from their backsides, and wide, freaky eyes were looking ready to strike them indiscriminately.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"Whoa, what's going on with it?" Hotshot asked fearfully as Minos shouted for his very life.
"Oh no, Minos was right, there really is a supernova coming this way!" Bernard remorsefully bemoaned.
Broadlance, Hotshot, and Buzzkill stood fast, not wanting to get caught off guard just in case there was an incident.
"Ow...my ears..." Buzzkill complained with his typical mood-killing words.
"You call this SAFE?" Minos looked over to his right to find Bernard laying in the grass, eyes still closed. He took hold the man's shoulders and threw him upright.
"LOOK!"
Bernard didn't know what was going on, but it seemed as if Minos wasn't getting his flesh torn off, so Bernard made the painful decision to try to open his own eyelids as well. As with his companion, it took some time, but the first thing he finally did see was Captain Broadlance, looking as monstrous and hostile as Minos feared.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"Good heavens, what's wrong with these two?" Broadlance quipped with hurting ears.
A/N - Chapter 2 will actually be the second half of chapter 1, which will explain the bad end point. Thanks.