"You cannot do this D!" the silvery defender standing over me said in a synthisized voice. "I will never let you hurt Sarah. None of this is her fault!"
"Machina?" D asked, a broad grin breaking over his features. "It IS you! It's so good to see you! How have you been? Where have you been? Are you alright? Can I-" A bright beam cut across D's cheek, leaving a deep smoking hole in the stone wall behind him.
"I will not be lulled into a false sense of security." Machina said, unfolding four extra arms ending in scything blades as she kept moving to keep herself positioned over me. "I will defend her, even if it means I- WOOOOOOOAH!"
She slid backwards a hundred feet and slammed into a stone wall, a Nightmare circle burning on it. I stood up, careful to keep the charged gem pressed against the arcane power line connecting me to the circle.
"OK, steel was a good guess. I was worried I was only going to get an arm or a leg."
"Sarah? You are doing this?" Machina asked in wonder.
"Well, Nightmare is drawing the circle, but it's my knowledge."
Our knowledge
D stepped closer, and I was surprised to see Machina actually manage to free one arm from the circle.
"Sarah, you have to be careful. He would not listen to me, he thinks you have come to drag us back to ARCO in chains."
"Yeah, D, how is the search for my nefarious plan to drag you back to ARCO going?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
"Just because I haven't found it yet doesn't mean it's not here."
"Yes D," I sighed, "You got me. The special conversion pod is hidden in the fourth cell in the dungeon."
"But I already-"
"I know you checked it two days ago. I have it moved on a regular basis."
"I knew it!" D exclaimed as he ran off to the dungeons, happy that he had finally gotten the best of me.
He's as bad as Lance was.
"Sarah?"
I turned to Lyra and the others, realizing they were all staring at Machina.
"What... What is that?"
I set my foot on the gem to hold it in place and waved at Machina. "This Is Machina, my second companion."
"Huh," DJ Pon3 said, "The stories only ever mentioned the one."
"I suppose looking like a half a skeleton made most ponies think I was just an aspect of D." Machina said. "I hope you will not think less of me for hiding this from you."
"Are you KIDDING?!" Pon3 exclaimed. "This is awesome!! I get to tell ponies that I had a famous Daemon as a roadie for months! I gotta get a photo, no one's gonna to believe this!"
"Is it safe?" Octavia asked.
I pulled the gem away, and the circle collapsed. Machina slid to the ground, folding herself back into a mostly pegasus form. Everyone cringed away.
"Um, Machina? You sort of ripped your outer coating, and kind of look like a robo-zombie-pony. Maybe a new form would be better?"
Machina looked over herself. Between shifting into a battle mode and being slammed against the wall, all but her chest and head were shredded. I was silently thanking any gods that would listen that Machina only used synthetic skin and hadn't tried to grow a biological outer coat. The machine pony shifted, turning and rolling into herself until she stood like a human.
Mostly human. She had four arms, and a pair of digitigrade legs, as well as a pair of small metal wings that looked mostly ornamental. The fur had been recycled, thankfully out of sight, into a deep blue kimono. Her round head had only four glowing blue eyes to give it any direction or expression.
"OK, forget safe. Tell me how dangerous it is." Bon Bon said. "I want to know if I should run screaming or if just a pleasant jog will do."
"Machina is an excellent statistician and mathematician, with focuses on precision work." I explained. Machina bowed to the crowd. "She is the subtle blade, a precision scalpel to balance D's sledgehammer."
"So, not very powerful then." Bon Bon sighed in relief. I got the sense that if Machina had given herself eyebrows, one would be raising right now.
"She provided me the weapon that took out the giant timber wolf."
I had wondered about that, but you never volunteered and I simply didn't ask.
"There is no need to scare everypony with horror stories of my power Sarah." Machina said, "Not since you have your own twisted tales of blood and death."
"Tales of what?" I asked confused.
Machina nodded. "Traveling with Vinyl Scratch-"
"DJ Pon3!" the DJ shouted, "I've got a brand and image to maintain!"
"Traveling with Pon3, one hears a number of rumors and stories." Machina advanced on me, hissing at me. "You threw every pony in your construction team out in a fit of drunken rage. You sabotaged your own repairs just to keep the guards assigned to you here longer. You've gathered an army of monsters, gryphons, zebras, minotaurs, and canids to assault Equestria with. You eat assassins and consort with demons."
"Where are you getting all of this???" I demanded. "An army? Have you seen the creatures around here? Most of them are just refugees! And sabotaging my own repair work? I'm bound here until the repairs are done. unlike the guards who got to leave when the money ran out."
"Still, you cannot deny that you killed a monster hunter sent here to exterminate you!" Machina said. "I've seen the official reports, he has been missing for so long he has to be dead."
"I haven't killed any pony, hunter or otherwise."
"It was not a pony, it was a minotaur."
"A.. a what?"
"A minotaur. He specialized in rare monsters and had a crossbow. It happened months ago so you might not even remember-"
"I- back when I was freshly banished, Nightmare's power was leaking. It was making my nightmares real within the castle."
"What?" Machina fell back a step. "Sarah, I know everywhere you have been. Please tell me that is not still happening, because I do not want to wake up in fields of ash and glass."
"No I... we, got it under control. But on the last day I had a dream, or I thought it was a dream, of being a monster. A huge monster and a monster hunter came and he... and I..."
Sarah, I'm going to need the body for about an hour.
"What? Why?" I hissed.
I'm going to be violently ill.
"Wait in line." I muttered under my breath,
"What did you do Sarah?" Machina asked. "Where is his body."
I swallowed, trying very hard not to loose what I had for breakfast. "I dreamed that Nightmare grew a massive maw and I- I ate him. I swallowed him whole."
It took two hours to calm me down, and in that time only Lyra, D and Machina would approach me. Nightmare was utterly repulsed at the idea. Though creatures had been hurt in the past as a result of her actions, that she had in some way not just killed but eaten a living sentient creature was terrifying to her. In dreams she killed all the time, but those were just dream creatures, no more than shadow puppets of her own making.
Bon Bon stood a little ways off, eyeing me and trying to coax Lyra away. Lyra wasn't moving save to brew me some relaxing tea, at greatly reduced strength, and try and offer words of comfort. Even D felt sorry for me.
Machina was doing her best to compile a list of rumors she had heard, as well as talk to anyone who would listen and get info about the castle.
"Here," she said, handing over three scrolls. "A list of the rumors that are mostly true and a list of those that are complete fabrications. Due to the sheer number of accurate or semi accurate stories I have heard, I can only assume that someone within the castle was feeding information to ponies outside."
"That makes sense," I said, sipping the tea with a shaky hand. "We tossed out a number of spies only a few weeks ago." I looked at the third list, which comprised of names, titles, types, and a percentage. "What is this?"
"A list of books, plays, short stories, and songs about you and Nightmare and how terrible you are."
"This looks a little older, how did you get an accuracy rating on them already."
"That's their popularity rating."
I looked over the long list, processing it.
"The Nightmare in the Forests, Poems in the Dark, Nightmare Edition, Demonic Debauchery?" I looked up, "What is all of this?"
"My best guess would be an organized smear campaign. Anypony who wanted to make anything that put you in a bad light in the past few months has been given extra funding by anonymous donors."
"Ugh," I closed my eyes and laid my head back. "The princesses promised me they would fix my image problem, not fund it's complete collapse."
"Hey, they have Nightmare of Equestria on here!" Lyra said, "I know it paints you as this creature of immoral darkness, but the songs are amazing and the story is fantastic!"
"Oh, I love the title song in that." Bon Bon said. Then an idea struck her, and she turned to the musicians who were setting up. "Can you guys play Nightmare of Equestria?"
"Can we?" Octavia acted as if she had been slapped. "We were the original band for it's first twenty performances."
"Bet you can't keep up if I rock out to it, though." Vinyl called in challenge.
Octavia narrowed her eyes at the eccentric DJ. "It. Is. ON!"
Two opposing styles of music filled the air and, after a moment's cacophony, harmonized into something eerily beautiful. Octavia's violinist set her instrument down and began to sing.
"At night she sang to me
In dreams she came
that voice which calls to me
and speaks my name
and do I dream again?
for now I find
The Nightmare of Equestria is there
inside my mind."
"Here," Machina said quietly, so as not to disturb the music. "I made it for you, in thanks for giving it up to save me." She handed me a long, heavy cardboard box. Inside I found a metal right arm, far simpler than the one Machina usually resided in, but still fully serviceable.
"Thank you." I whispered, and felt a tear on my cheek at finally having the friends I'd survived so much with at my side again.
Bon Bon was just about bouncing with excitement at the song, singing along with the parts she knew. "Oh Lyra, this is fantastic! I never thought I'd hear something like this."
"Yeah, but they were more polished at the party." Lyra said.
Bon Bon stopped. "The party? What party?"
"The party. On Nightmare Night, where they..." Lyra looked confused. "No, wait, that's? Huh?"
"You alright?"
"Fine, I must have just dreamed it or something. Don't mind me Bonnie."
"I believe this should settle the land dispute between your two families." Princess Celestia said, passing down her judgement on the two nobles before her. They bowed and retreated.
"Next appointment?" She asked her steward, who looked down the scroll.
"A new kingdom seeking recognition." he said, nodding for the petitioner to step forward.
Celestia lit her horn and lifted the petitioner's package towards herself, unfurling the scroll on top and reading through it. Her eyebrow arched upwards.
"This says the kingdom is barely more than a few acres of unclaimed wilderness and a single stronghold." The princess said.
"Yes, your Majesty."
"The population is very small as well. Are you certain you would not prefer to petition for annexation into Equestria? We could provide support in terms of funding, troops, materials and food."
"Thank you , your Majesty, but no. We have already been recognized by a few other nations as being independent, and we feel we must stand on our own. We simply request recognition as an official nation by Equestria."
"Your kingdom isn't just some rebel stronghold in a far off land is it?"
"No, your Majesty. It is in a wilderness that none lay claim to, and it has no desire to expand it's borders." He bowed.
"It says here your primary exports are shining gems." Celestia said, opening the box. "These are certainly some fine examples. Are you worried about outside forces attempting to take control of your mines?"
"That is not a problem your majesty. We have had one or two attempts in the past, but they have all been halted by our own forces. The local terrain also limits much military action."
Celestia smiled, happy to see any group that could stand on their own. "Very well. I, Princess Celestia, Co-ruler of Equestria do hereby recognize the Kingdom of Dreams as a friendly nation, and welcome trade and diplomatic relations with it."
Reggie bowed low, a happy smile on his face. "Thank you, your majesty."
D still hasn't caught on?
4727263 D is an odd mix. While he does focus on combat (see speed boosts, claw morphs and deer of death) he can do sneaky when he tries (shape shifting). Sarah is more tactically cunning than him, and its lead him to be a bit paranoid, especially about ARCO. He knows this is probably just another dead end but he also fears that the clue overlooked is the one he needs.
Only four pages of comments for a story that has minimal errors that are easy to fix as well as being close to a thousand words, has no signs of stopping soon AND has a, so far, compelling storyline?
'Tis criminal, I say.
4728529 Perhaps but there is no *sex* tag (and isn't likely to get one anytime soon) so most people overlook it.
4728580
Well, that's not my problem. People just be missing out on good stuff to read.
Well, this has been an impressive read. Woefully underexposed though :(
I was so hoping she'd get D rebound to her though. Hopefully M stays though. Her production abilities would be a huge boon.
D is silly. I can't believe Celestia didn't ask where exactly the Kingdom of Dreams was when the first ambassadors come out of the Everfree I want to see her face when she realizes she's been played. I can totally see Sarah inviting her former guards, the CMC, and maybe Luna to the castle as ambassadors for a formal event, only for it to be a party worthy of Pinkie Pie's wildest dreams.
4728852 Glad to see Machina has some fans.
4728529
I totally agree, I ran into this story a while back, but then the updates stopped and I mentally relegated it to the “Great story, but author gave up” bin like so many other stories I loved, but here it is with a double update. I really hope this gets the recognition it deserves, after all, it is uncommon to find a story with a balance of “ponies are scared bigots” and “ponies aren't that bad”, especially considering that recently there has been a spike in the “ponies are good, but Celestia does stupid shit” category on the site.
4728580
Solution! Have an omake with D and Machina!
Machina: Oh D, I love your paranoia and casual destruction, take me now!
D: Whatever you say, my little Terminator Dove.
*insert Tap D into Light-socket M*
*begin impromptu electo therapy for D*
*reader goes to liquor cabinet to forget this whole situation*
4729646 While the idea of an Omake isn't bad, your scale is a bit off. What you described would be a pair of B or C class entities copulating. Machina and D are S class.
It would be like Cthulu and Skynet getting it on.
4729753 But, earlier in the story, you had D telling Sarah that, after the fiasco with the Elements, he was at best a mid-B class!
4730185 Chapter 31: tooth and Claw
4730200 Chapter 31: Tooth and Claw:
4730333 Ok, point. I'll have to go back and tweak the wording of that a bit. It's supposed to be relative power level. Like, normally he could do a lot more, but after exerting a lot of power on various tasks he's gotten weak and needs to recharge.
4730442 Oh, I see what you meant! His upper limits are still the same, he's just used up most of his power.
This story was updated an hour after I finished rereading it, this has happened to me almost 20 times so far for various fics I thought were dead (2+ months since last update and 80k+ words) over the last year or so... I also have the occasional precognitive dream...
I have to say that I am glad that you are steal writing this story. It has come a long way. It look like that it steal has a long way to go before it is dun. I look forward to the next chapter to this good story.
When Sarah has taken the responsibility for the welfare of the people that are staying with her instead of running off when all the construction was dun. She has made sum good friends and she is trying to help them. Now that Machina is back, may bee he can figure out where all the gold was spent for the reconstruction? Sarah knows that she had bend rip off by the contractors. I don't know what she can do about it when she has the proof.
I hope you keep up the good job you are doing and you can update more often.
Dragonfox
Ahem.....
I don't need words.
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