A Cybernetic Life

by AxtontheMechanist

First published 23rd of June, 2013

A robot, more specifically, a robot with a rather sarcastic sense of humor ends up in Equestria after a rather unfortunate incident at the test facility he resides in. What will this new land offer him? Will he live prosperously? Probably not.

Sup. My name is.... Well, I don't really Have a name, as I am a test subject at Omega Test Facility, on Earth. Oh yeah, and I'm a robot. In fact, a really expensive and badass robot if I may say so myself. Aaaanyway, back to the description at hand. I find myself in a place I later learn is called Equestria. This is mainly due to the owner of the facility conducting stupid and unnecessary tests, one of which ends me up in Equestria. And guess what? I bloody called it!

(Please note, Ponies and Griffins are humanized. However, griffins will have different features as will other races. Minotaurs will be Minotaurs (normal scale, features, etc) and changelings will also have their own features (scales/chitinous bodies.) Zebras will also be humanized, but naturally being from Zebrica will have features like that of the humanized Zecora (look it up :) ).

A whole New World

Omega Test Facility, Earth....

“Subject Zero. Wake up. Command Repeat; Wake Up, Subject Zero” A deep American voice spoke over the intercom, the sound emanating around the room like a fly in a jar.

My cybernetic eyes opened, blue LED lights flickering to life as my systems came online, a labyrinth of wires activating in my processor core. ‘Activation sequence initiated’ The synthetic voice in my mind ringing clearly through my audio listening devices; or rather, my synthetic plastic ‘ears’.

The joints of my body moved to life, making small squeaking sounds as I had not oiled them that day. Standing slowly from the slab of metal that was my bed, I looked at myself in the mirror, just to remind myself exactly who, or what I was.
The reflection stared back at me, telling me everything I needed to know; I was a V-68 cybernetic combat and servitor unit, currently in beta testing. The materials I was made of were carbon fiber, strengthened, and various other metals and components which completed my form, making me a synthetic representation of a human being.

Or as close as one could be to a human by being a robot.

For a moment, I just stood there and closed my eyes, taking in the vast white cell that I had been kept in since what they, the men and women scientists who made me, called ‘Day One’. Apparently, I was their most valuable asset, costing millions, no, billions to make. In a sense, that brought pride to my AI core that was implanted within my processor, knowing that in a way, I was always valuable to them. I looked back at the cell now, my bionic eyes scanning the area, analyzing my situation. Of course, this place never really held anything for me, just endless upgrades and tests with the odd rest to accumulate power through my matter capacitors.

Now, the voice spoke again, kind as it always was. Of course, it was never any real kindness, just a fake mask that I had detected via the voice waves and patterns that came out of that little intercom.

“Subject Zero. I see you are awake, good. Today we will be testing transportation of matter through electron displacement. Isn't that exciting?” The voice was sickeningly sweet. It’s such a shame I can’t feel sick isn't it? Oh well, I didn’t reply, fully well knowing what kind of rebuke it would earn me; either 5000 volts from one of the wall mounted stun guns, or a simple beating to my metal armoured plates. Not that the latter would really hurt me. Anyway, back to the matter at my metallic hand.

I walked over to the door that led out of the cell, my plated feet making small ‘clunk, clunk’ noises as I traveled across the pristine and polished metal floor. Of course, the guards were already waiting for me, ready to take me to another damned test of theirs. It felt just too....routine for me. After a while, the guards had FINALLY escorted me to the room, shock batons at the ready. How long did take them? Five minutes? Ten minutes? Way too slow.

Moving in to the room, the guards preferring to stand by the door, I scanned it. The room was the usual testing room material; arctic white walls, polished floor and item pedestal in the middle. The only thing that really stood out on my scanners and HUD was the item that lay upon the pedestal, glinting in the light. The voice rung out again from the intercom, giving me my orders to what I should do. Or at least what I should accomplish in this test.

“Alright, Zero, here’s what you’re going to have to do.” He explained slowly, as if talking to a five year old about basic maths.

“I want you to pick up that device right there and press the activation key ‘5698’ into it. Once that happens, you should be transported to the cell on your left, which you can see through that glass panel. Of course if the device malfunctions, do not fear. Just keep to your parameters and everything will be fine.” His voice was silky smooth upon the intercom’s message. Why the hell was he trying to comfort me? Even though I can feel emotion due to my AI implants, I’m not some sort of confused infant.

Disregarding this thought, I walked over to the device, analyzing its power and capacity. Both seemed fairly high and just a little and unstable, but who am I to question what the Director makes me do? (If you didn’t know already, the Director was that incessantly annoying voice on the intercom.) I picked up the device, punching in the access code. Little did I know, the Director had the last digit wrong, as I stood there, still oblivious as to what was happening to me that very moment.
A purple light enveloped me, blanketing my entire physical manifestation in a glowing purple and magenta light. ‘Ah, crapbaskets...’ Was the final thought I processed before being zapped off to god knows where.

8:00 PM, Equestria, Near the Everfree forest...

Bellatrix Lulamoon was sitting once more in her magic drawn carriage as it slowly rumbled along the roads at what felt like a slug’s pace along the path that led around the Everfree forest. She was in a melancholy state with her head in her hands, mourning upon the fact that, in truth, she only had fans and not friends. Of course, her train of thought was broken when she heard a loud ‘thud’ outside the wagon as it rode over an object. She truly hoped it wasn’t any sort of animal. What? She may have been a bit cruel, but she wasn’t that cruel. After all, she was the Great and Powerful Trixie, so she WAS benevolent and kind.

She cast another spell, making sure the wagon had stopped before opening the back door which led out into the night. What she saw before her lay a very odd sight indeed. It seemed to be rather like her, although it was presumably male. Oh, that and it was made of metal and some sort of weird technology that highly outclassed that of Equestrian technology. Of course, since Equestrian technology was basically industrial age, it wasn’t really that hard to surpass. Even Magitech could surpass it.

Disregarding her scornful thoughts of Equestrian tech, she tried to pick up the creature. It was surprisingly light, and she began to wonder what made it like that as she carried the weird... thing, into her wagon, placing it on the sofa and finally getting some sleep for the night.

10:00 AM, Equestria, once again upon the pathway...

I awoke almost startlingly, sitting up covered in what looked like a duvet, or a blanket. Huh, this wasn’t the test facility at all. Blankets weren't really their style. ‘Investigation and Activation parameters activated’ The voice once rung out in my head. It felt nice to actually carry out my own commands for once. Of course, it was still a little strange to not be in the test facility for once. It felt almost freeing. Almost. Mainly due to the fact that I knew nothing on where I was, and no satellites (if there were any here) were picking up my geographical location and transferring it to me.

I scanned the room, finally having stood up. The wagon, or at least that is what it seemed to be, had a homely sense to it. Well, that was what my AI implant sense was picking up. From another room, I heard a small shuffling through my audio sensors, which told me something was moving in the other room. Activating my small wrist mounted pulse cannon, I walked into the room, only to find what looked like a human girl.

What was rather outlandish was her hairstyle, which was an aqua blue colour with silvery streaks running through them, like little liquid mercury rivers. She lightly stirred under her bed sheets, waking up ever so slowly. I decided to leave the room for now, so as not to be accused to be what modern society calls ‘A pedo’.

After a while, and a lot of system checks later, she finally decided to come out of her room. Y’know, now that I process the idea that this is a wagon, it is a lot bigger on the inside. Pushing that processed thought away, I saw her enter the room. Of course, she expected me to be resting, hence her wide eyes as she stammered.

“Wha- what are you? Trixie is just c-curious.” Great, she refers to herself in the third person, just what I needed.

I quietly assessed what to say back to her. After all, this was a woman we were talking about here, she could react to even the slightest jest if made wrongly. So I went with the simple option (for once) of introducing myself.

“I am a V-68 cybernetic combat and servitor unit. I don’t have a name. But you may call me Zero.”

Author's Notes:

Hey all, it's good to be back. I told the rest would be little. :3

Anywho, thanks to the ever Illusive Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading my work. Also, if you're reading this, it means you have read the chapter, so thanks for that too.

Signing off for now,

Axton

The Threat Of Bandits

After thirty minutes of constant explaining to Bellatrix (who insisted on me calling her Trixie. What kind of name is that? I’ll never understand humans.), I gave up on my fruitless pursuit in explaining my mechanics and the way my planet worked. She couldn’t even get her head around the fact that I was a robot, and not some golem. Honestly, it was very disrespectful to be called a golem; those things have nothing on my finely made exterior.

Of course, she insisted that I wear a blanket and a hot water bottle due to the fact that I had appeared outside. When I told her I didn’t feel the cold, she simply tutted and continued doting on me. Naturally, this made me a very annoyed synthetic indeed. Not a happy bunny. Not even a bunny, at that.

“You have five seconds to take this water bottle off of me.” I stated angrily, wrapped like a mummy in the blanket “This goddamned blanket too.” Being the stubborn female she is, she resisted.

“But- you must be cold!” She exclaimed, not budging from her couch which stood opposite me.

“Five.” I began counting, growing a little irritated.

“But-“She began protesting again.

“Four.” I continued, growing annoyed. Why was this blanket so strong? I can lift a tonne of tungsten, but this blanket was a whole new thing altogether.

She sighed, giving in. ‘Bout damn time. She finally took the blanket off of me, stumbling back and falling on the floor, blanket covering her face as her muffled screams rang out. Coming to think about it, this was bloody hilarious; a teenage girl, thrashing around like a stun gunned beaver under a blanket.

Controlling my laughter, I took the blanket off her, folding it in record time and placing it on the sofa. She simply looked up, stunned as I carried out said actions, mouth hanging agape at my lightning quick actions. For some reason, she now looked like something I like to call a ‘Magikarp’, her mouth a comical circle shape as it hung open.

Not long after I had helped her up, her very badly hiding an embarrassed flush, there was a loud and obnoxious thump upon the side of the carriage, sending her crashing to the floor again. For some reason, this reminded of a ping pong game between me and the floor, with Trixie as the ball. I wasn’t saying that I didn’t like it, because I did. What? Can’t blame a robot for having a little fun.

“So, I’m guessing that thumping isn’t the traveller’s Pizza service?” I asked sarcastically, pointing backwards to the wall, where the thumping continued, growing a little louder. By my guess, whatever is doing that (can’t rule out aliens or monsters yet, new world), is a bad guy. I don’t mix well with bad guys; I tend to knock them out and teabag them, it’s much more fun that way.

“B-bandits. By the sound of it, at least ten.” She began to shake, scared “I may know magic, but I’m not particularly fond of combat spells. Best we give in.” She nodded, safe with her idea. Not that this appealed to me.

“Who do you take me for? I’m a robot, not a flower.” I snorted in derision as I walked to the door of the slowly moving carriage. She tried to stop me, of course, being naive like that.

“Wait! You can’t fight all of them!” She yelled, holding me back. Who did she think I was, some sort of VI bot? Bitch, please.
I opened the door, setting my ion cannon to trap mode. I wasn’t gonna kill them unless I had to, being a good guy and all. Looking out, I saw Trixie was right; ten goons stood there, shoving against the heavy carriage. Three other goons stood behind them, commanding them.

One seemed to be a mage, what looked like runes etched on his face, making him seem outlandish and weird. The other two were much different; one was a large brutish thug, obviously the muscle (he blatantly didn’t seem very smart either as he picked his nose. Gross.) And the final one was a finely dressed man, making it quite blatant that he was one of those pretty-boys. Damn I hated those guys.

I hopped out, the carriage coming to the stop. I made a small combat roll (unnecessary, but it looked damn cool) as I hit the deck. Or rather, the ground. I casually strutted (that’s right, I got ma swagger on now) towards the group shoving the carriage.

“Sup mothertruckers. What’s the haps?” I bellowed loudly, catching their attention. Their eyes went wide at seeing me, obviously not having seen something of my kind before. That’s right, noobs, be scared. The leaders of the group however, didn’t seem scared. No fear though, I know how to deal with confident idiots like them. The large, fat and muscled one walked up, speaking obnoxiously.

“Oi! You! Bugger off, before ah sock you one or set my goons on ya!” He spoke quite loudly, making my audio sensors buzz in protest.

I simply laughed, shaking my head and reading a combat stance. I wasn’t going to use my cannon yet, not point wasting ammo. Even if it could be reproduced. He growled in anger, bellowing for his troops to attack.

The bandit goons ran forward, fists and swords a-swinging, making small ‘swoosh’ sounds in the air as they passed harmlessly around me. I chuckled; these idiots knew nothing. Hell, half of them missed me most of the time.

I ran forward back at them, readying my fist as it charged energy. It turned into a haymaker punch, and as I swung it, knocking three of them down in a row due to the power of my metallic fist hitting their dumb faces, they were knocked cold, slumping to the floor in a groaning heap. This left seven of them left as I beckoned.

“Bring it on” Were the three words that left my mouth as they resumed their attack. But seriously, these guys were terrible. It only took me, what, five minutes to knock them all out? Please, I AM the robot Chuck Norris. Boo-yah.

That left the three leaders standing there, mouths agape once more. What were they expecting, a tin can? I say again; bitch please. They started to close in on me, as one of them began speaking.

“Better piss off, tin can, or we’ll set Rock-fist here on you.” The rune-faced one spoke. Alright, sarcastic comebacks are go.

“Ok, let me guess. Stupid one on the left, pretty one in the middle, and one with weird powers on the right.” I smirked, my chrome lips twisting upwards.

“Oi, I appreciate tha’, but I’m more handsome than pretty.” The muscled one protested. Yeah, what a dumbass.

“And my powers are not weird!” The finely dressed one exclaimed, drawing his head up in an ‘humph’.

The rune faced one simply growled an animalistic growl, baring his sharp teeth. Weirdo.

Naturally, I face palmed. How could bandits be so stupid? Oh wait, they’re bandits.

“My mistake, you’re all stupid.” I chuckled, and then readied myself once more, unsheathing the ion cannon (attached with the trap use on it) as the large muscled one ran towards me, throwing a well aimed fist, which only just missed me. I couldn’t help but quip at him.

“Now now, that tree is not your eating disorder.” I laughed as he pulled his gigantic fist out of the tree, groaning in pain at his smashed knuckles. He yelled at me, being the brute he is.

“Well you’re a penis!” He blurted, pouting childishly. Brain dead, I tell you. I replied, my chat and comeback systems at full snarkiness.

“So long that you haven’t seen your own that you can’t tell the difference, right?” I chuckled to myself, catching him in a trap blast, sending him stunned to the floor. Poor sod didn’t even stand a chance.

The other two surrounded me, as rune boy fired a few blasts at me. I back flipped over the pretty-boy, making the homing lightning bolts strike him, knocking him out and giving him quite the hairstyle. This left the weirdo and me. Fortunately, he wasn’t up to a fight and ran away, metaphorical tail between his legs. Damn, that felt good. Been a long time since I’ve had a fair target practice.

I walked back to the wagon, which had stopped, taking the bandits’ money and weapons, that of which there were few. You’d think they’d be better equipped. I knocked on the door of the wagon, Trixie looking out fearfully, thinking it was one of the bandits. What she didn’t expect was me carrying a small sack of weapons in one hand, and a rather wealthy amount of money in the other. Things that Trixie called ‘bits’.

As she stared wide eyed at my smug appearance, I thought one thing.

‘It’s a damn good day to be me.’

Author's Notes:

Hey all! It's good to be back. Many thanks again to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading.

Signing off for now,

Axton

Friendly Neighborhood... Robot?

Trixie stood in the doorway, once again doing her flawless Magikarp impression, her mouth in that O shape once more. It made me laugh inside, it was just too funny. Moving on, I raised a bionic eyebrow before speaking.

“I’m sorry, but what’s with the hanging jaw?” I inquired sarcastically, as she composed herself, flushing in embarrassment.
“Trixie wishes to know exactly how you defeated not three, but TEN bandits.” She demanded that I tell her, being her wagon-mate. Okay, apparently we were wagon-mates now. Whatever a wagon-mate was, I had no idea.

I, being polite, replied finely “Stunned or knocked out most of them, the others scarpered. Simple pimple.” What? My manners are fine, thank you very much.

She simply stared at me for a moment, her eyes narrowing to try detect any lies. How does one exactly tell if a robot is lying though? They can make it so they betray no emotion, so it doesn’t really work, does it? Anyway, back to the present. Or past. Whatever.

“Trixie believes you for now. Anyway, we are headed for Manehatten, and will be stopping outside the outskirts, where we will walk into town and get supplies. It really is a good thing you knocked out those bandits and took their ill-gotten money. Not that Trixie needed any help, of course.” She spoke the last part rather pompously; this third person thing was really getting on my nerves. Why does she even do that?

Moving on. The wagon started to move again, bumping over the backs of one or two of the bandits. Serves them right. I sat down, and began tinkering with my Ion cannon attachment, while Trixie simply sat there and watched me. It was kinda creepy, actually. After an hour or two, she began to make herself dinner.

“So... Zero. Do you eat normal food or does Trixie have to find you scrap metal to eat?” Now that was just plain rude. I am not some sort of junkyard bot, I’ll have you know. Naturally, I replied.

“I don’t know about you, but robots like me don’t eat at all.” I deadpanned as she walked in, a small meal in her hands. She sat down and ‘harrumphed’ at my comment, not replying in any form. Rude, I tell you.

I guess now it was my turn to study what she was like. Not being creepy, it’s research. I looked over her form while her attention was on her food. Making a quick and undetectable scan, I gathered many things. She had a fair build not too skinny and not too fat. She actually had quite a bit of muscle in her midriff area, but I won’t go into any more detail about her more, uh, feminine areas. All in all, she was of average build, probably keeping fit by working in her wagon.

Speaking of work, I should ask her what her occupation was. I could do a brain scan, but that is unbecoming of a gentlebot like me.

“So Trixie, what do you do for money?” I asked rather bluntly. What? Might as well get the point out there.

Trixie had finished up her small plate of food by now, and replied boastingly “My job is that of only the finest stage performer in all of Equestria! I perform as the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Hell, she even stood up and said that, throwing her arms up after setting her plate down. Christ, what a show off. I inquired further, and she told me a tale of her travels. When she told me of the fearsome ‘Ursa Major’, I stopped her.

“Alright, I call bullshit right there. From what you told me, an Ursa Major is a highly magic resistant behemoth, right?” She nodded as I continued “Then pray tell, how did you defeat an Ursa Major, or rather vanquish one, when you couldn’t take on a group of bandits?” She stood there, ashamed as I said this, making me feel guilty. Damn this land and it’s annoyingly cute females. No, not in that way.

“Look” I spoke softly (there’s a first.) “No need to be ashamed that you can’t fight. There are many people out there who choose not to. Anyway, I guess that’s what I’m here for, right?” Damn straight I’m good at fighting.

She looked up and sniffled, wiping away any tears that might have been in her eyes before replying “I... I guess... Thanks, Zero. You’re a good friend.” Oh, so now were friends? This is new. Not only this, she starting to speak in first person as well. Where’s a party popper when you need one? I even caught her blushing a little. Ah crapbaskets, please don’t tell me she has a crush on me. I’m terrible with women.

The wagon stopped just outside of Manehatten (what a corny name) as we stepped out into the open air. The time by now (by my internal clock) was around 4:00 PM, Tuesday. Wow, it had only been two days since I got here? Huh.

“We should go into town, get some supplies and then put up some posters around town for the performance. We’ll be performing at the Manehatten Arts hall, where many performances will be taking place. Speaking of performances however, what can you do?” She asked, a fine lined eyebrow raised.

What could I do? As well as knowing most martial arts, I can play almost any instrument, and I have my own sound system which can play any song known to man. I can sing, dance and do acrobatics too. I said so to Trixie, who stared in disbelief at me. I quickly explained that, being a robot, I could hold countless amounts of memory, none of which are forgotten. She took this information, casting a small admiring glance my way. Damn, woman, stop looking at me like that! It was getting really creepy and annoying. Not to mention embarrassing.

We continued walking towards the centre of town where the hall was located, visiting certain places along the way. There was literally everything in this great bustling city; from shops to towering skyscrapers, this place had it all. Naturally, being on a test facility for my whole life made this seem a very exciting experience indeed. Trixie noticed this and giggled to herself (another first right there.)

Not far into the city, I spotted a slender dark-haired woman walking along the streets with a group of thugs right on her metaphorical tail. I noticed that they were probably going to harass her for money or something of the sort, mainly due to her fancy get-up she had on. With the heavy cello case she carried, it wouldn’t have been hard to overcome her. Of course, I guessed right as the circled her, pushing her around. Now, normally, I’d try to avoid conflict (Ha! Just kidding), but this was an innocent woman getting picked on. So I chose tactic #2 out of my tactics book; scare the living daylights out of them.

Switching into holographic ‘disguise and tricks’ mode, I morphed into a fearsome looking demon, with fake fire trickling out of my eyes. I tapped one of the goons on the shoulder and as he turned around, his eyes wide at my appearance, I roared as loudly as my audio emitters would allow in this form. Of course, they scarpered for their lives as I changed back into my normal form, Trixie running up behind me and coming to my side as I changed back into my normal default mode.

“W-who are you? W-what are you?” The woman in the fancy attire asked, her voice quivering and scared. Great, another scared person.

“You can call me Zero. I’m not from around here, although you probably wouldn’t understand what I am. All you need to know is I’m not gonna hurt you, ok?” I spoke softly to her, consoling her (you’d think I’m becoming soft round these humans.) She looked up at me with wide eyes, noting how tall I was.

“Thank you, Zero. M-my name is Octavia Philharmonica.” She had calmed down by now, and dusted herself off. “I’m friends with a Miss Vincenza Scratch. Although she prefers just to be called Vinyl. You’ve probably heard of her.” She rolled her eyes, making it clear that Vinyl was a bit of a handful as well as being quite famous.

After Trixie had introduced herself, we walked off down the street, a trio of performers in the low sunlight of Manehatten. I thought to myself with a little chuckle.

’Subject Zero, your friendly neighbourhood Robot’.

Author's Notes:

Ooooooh, look, two chapters in one day! :D Just thought I'd make it up to you due to not being here at the weekend.

Thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading!

Signing off for now,

Axton

Performance Time

I walked down and into the Manehatten hall, where the stage was already set. The area is bustling; the crowd mills around like a nest of ants readying for their queen, while performers discreetly slipped in and out of the stage wings, moving instruments and all manner of props around the area like some sort of secret agency. I spotted an electric blue haired woman onstage, testing out her sound system. From what I could guess, this was the one and only Vinyl Scratch. A loud WUB was sent through the building as performers and crowd alike glared at her after getting up from the floor which they were knocked onto. She scratched her head awkwardly.

“Heh, sorry all of ya. Kinda slipped.” Octavia groaned in exasperation at this; this was obviously a daily thing for her. Vinyl walked down from the stage after another few minutes, coming down to meet us.

“Sup. Name’s Vinyl Scratch.” She grinned, shaking hands with us.

“Vinyl! Manners!” Octavia exclaimed, hands on hips as she glared at Vinyl angrily. Y’know, watching these two bicker is rather like watching two school girls argue; always fun, until someone brings in the mace. Cat Fight, Cat Fight! (What? Can’t a bot enjoy some people fighting now and then? No? You’re no fun.)

“Ah come on Octy” She pulled Octavia into a hug, said Octavia blushing profusely, mumbling an ‘I told you not call me that in public’. I simply laughed, why Trixie tried to suppress her mirth. It was, in fact, rather funny and for a simple reason too; it was now like watching a teenage couple argue instead. Oh the joys of being me.

A loudspeaker boomed over everyone speaking “The show will begin in five minutes. I repeat the show will begin in five minutes. Performers grab your props and equipment, crowd, please take a seat. Thank you.” The loudspeaker toned out once more, leaving the crowd and performers to go about their business accordingly.

Octavia leaned over “Good luck. Those who perform well receive pay.” She smiled and walked off toward the stage. Or rather, walked as well as possible with a giant fuckoff cello in one’s hands.

Vinyl simply nodded and jumped up to her sound system, ready to perform. Of course, she was going first. I prepared my audio sensors for the worst; this place was gonna get real loud, real quick. I jumped backstage, where Trixie was waiting for me (Not in that sense, perverts.)

Vinyl stepped up to the front of the loudspeaker and said “Stand back everybody, I got this. Octavia, hit it!” Octavia nodded and began to play, while Vinyl filled in as the song began. Everybody began to nod their heads, making the crowd seem like a collective mass of bobble-heads. Even I had to admit, this song was damn catchy. Goddamn me and my AI’s sense for music.

The song carried on for what seemed a few hours, in truth it was actually just around four minutes (a long time to play the cello for on stage. I can play the cello, I know, but imagine the amount of pressure that would create.)

A lot of other people performed their songs, most earning a very good reception from the audience; truly, this was a performer’s paradise. The many songs included ‘Panic Station’, ‘Payphone’ and ‘The Melancholy of Pinkie Pie’. All were highly impressive songs, and earned high applause from the audience.

Finally, it was time for Trixie and me to perform. Naturally, she had a few jitters, but with enough encouragement, finally got on stage. Even I had to admit again; the crowd was massive. I waited in the wings of the staging area while Trixie performed her piece. She was truly amazing; pyrotechnics everywhere led across the stage, not setting alight to it, but simply going across it in a graceful and passionate manner, making a beautiful display. What, didn’t expect me to admire a performer’s piece? No, I do not have a thing for her! Shut up!

The fire seemed to dance around the stage, eventually forming a gigantic fiery snake, which hissed and slithered around the hall, an inferno basilisk. I had to admit, that was rather impressive. I nodded my head in appreciation as Trixie continued performing upon the large stage, making all manner of illusions appear; from fiery orbs, to loads of me break dancing. And damn, did I look good.

The audience clapped in uproar, appreciating Trixie’s amazing performance. Hell, even I clapped, and there’s a first for a long time. Trixie bowed onstage, before announcing.

“Thank you for liking the outstanding performances of the Great and Powerful Trixie” I had to chuckle at that, her exclamations always made me laugh “And now, for my partner in crime, the Illustrious and Amazing Zero, from lands unknown!” Wow, this girl sure knew how to introduce someone. Nice title too; I could live with this.

I strode onstage, my appearance flashing and changing once more. I now had a cape similar to Trixie’s, apart from it was a steely grey with silver lining. And damn did it make me look awesome. I sat down, pulling out a guitar from my Quantum Portal Storage. I began to sing, my synthetic voice melodious as it was tuned. It cut through the air like a knife as the crowd standing in front of the stage began to cheer, clearly liking my song. Hell, I did too.

I carried on singing until I was finished, the crowd giving a collective roar of appreciation as Trixie and I bowed. We walked offstage, where I was able to talk to her.

“Wow, Trixie-I mean, I knew you could play and sing, but that was-“ She began to yammer excitedly, before I interrupted her. Christ, she was acting rather unlike herself right now.

“Absolutely awesome? I know. Anyway, you weren’t too bad yourself, that fire snake thing was pretty cool” I nodded my head while she tried, but failed to hide a blush. Seriously, I swear if she has a crush on me.... well.

We eventually received our prize money, having done well (was there ever any doubt?).

I then thought to myself,

‘Badass performance level; me.’

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading!

Signing off for now,

Axton

Brace Yourselves; Awkwardness Inbound

Naturally, today had gone well; we (me and Trixie) performed our show, got paid and finally got some time to relax. After all, the last few days had been quite hectic; what with all the fighting (silly bandits), Magikarp impressions and nigh carnivorous blankets, which seem to have an affinity for attacking Trixie. So yes, very ‘hectic’. Not to mention, whole new planet, loads of new stuff. Like how I just found out I can ingest food, like a normal human (Mmmm, pizza).

Speaking of pizza, Trixie and I (after finding out that there was nothing more to do at the hall), decided to go to a nearby restaurant. No, it was absolutely not a date, and there was absolutely no awkward moments at all. Nope. Not one.

The dinner actually went quite smoothly; Trixie and I chatted to one another about casual topics such as magic in Equestria and other generalized subjects like economy, etc.

After a few hours, we decided to head home; Luna’s moon hung high in the sky, a giant luminescent light bulb, bathing the land of Equestria in a silver glow of pure beauty. Trixie stood up, yawning.

“Well, Trixie is quite tired, so- zzzzzzz” Trixie unceremoniously fell asleep at the table, narrowly avoiding her plate as her face slammed into the table with an audible ‘thud’. As if it wasn’t awkward enough that everyone was staring at me like some sort of alien. Honestly, what’s wrong with a little metal?

Moving on. After paying the bill (and adding a small tip due to Trixie’s rather... inappropriate behavior), I placed the pouch of bits we had earned on a small hook which I attached to my leg plating, making it like an attachable coin purse. Which, let’s be honest; that is pretty cool.

I hauled Trixie’s motionless sleeping form into my arms, in fireman position. Y’know, this was really awkward, considering that she was a girl, and I, being a gentlebot meant I was predominantly male. Not a bloody word or I swear... You know what? Fuck it, let’s just fast-forward a little.

Ten minutes later...

Okay, so I was walking through the streets, a still sleeping and exhausted Trixie in my arms. Ignoring the odd looks the passers-by gave me, I eventually reached the caravan/wagon that we stayed in. Naturally, as the gentlebot I am, I placed her in her bed. That’s when things started to go downhill. I was just tucking her in, when she decided to wake.
“Wha..?” She noticed me, standing over her. Fuck. She decided the best course of action; throw the nearest item at me. “GET OUT OF TRIXIE’S ROOM THIS INSTANT!!!” She was blushing bright red by now, for some odd reason.
“Look, you just happened to be the one who fell asleep! At the table, no less!” What, did she think I was, a pervert?

"..."

"..."

... Well, crap.

I rushed out of the room, just in time to see a bunch of fluffy toys get thrown at me, along with multiple books. Seriously, was that it? I’ve had missiles, boulders and grenades thrown at me back on the Omega test facility. And all she had was a couple of toys and some boo- ow, bitch!

One of the books had decided to go for my face, knocking me over. Bandits, I could take, but books are just goddamn nasty. Especially hardback books. Ugh. As I was saying, a book (specifically a book named ‘Ain't that a kick in the head?’. Oh, the irony) decided to dive-bomb in her magic grip (that of which was guiding the homing items of mass annoyance which she threw at me), hitting me smack bang in the face as it attacked me, somehow teleporting into my face.

After finally getting all of the items away from me, I bolted into the bathroom of the wagon (How the hell does that work anyway?), locking the door behind me. Phew glad that was out of the way.

After a few minutes, I heard the books and oh-so-deadly toys drop to the floor. I opened the door just a smidgen to check if there was anything behind there. And oh boy there was. And not just anyone; a very, VERY angry Trixie was glaring at me from the other side.

Wait a minute. Why the bloody hell was I running from her again? I’m a robot, not a human. Deciding on a course of action (diplomacy), I walked out the door to face the Great and Angry Trixie.

“Now, I know you think I’m a-“Before I could speak, I was interrupted once more; this time by a very hard slap to the face, which made a loud ‘CLANG!’. Now don’t get me wrong; usually, this would hurt. IF I was a human. Now as I have mentioned very recently; I’m. a. Bloody. ROBOT!

So all she really ended up doing was slapping my metallic face. And ending up hurting her hand in the process. She didn’t even speak; she just looked at her hand like it was the last human on Earth, all the while whimpering in pain.
Honestly, you have no idea how amusing that was. Really, it was hilarious.

“And the award for stupidest act of violence goes to....” I smirked, wiping the small hand print off my face. In hindsight, that’s probably what set her off. But of course, I turned serious, explaining the whole situation.

After another ten minutes of explaining...

“...And that is why you futile, yet annoying acts of violence are completely unnecessary, given the circumstances.” I finished explaining, after explaining the whole ‘you went to sleep at the bloody table’ scenario. I was quite proud of myself really; never had I given such a witty status report.

She simply tossed her head with a small ‘hmph!’ and proceeded to walk out of the door of the wagon, tossing her long hair behind her. I face-palmed, sighing and sitting down on the couch, which currently resided in the living room of the wagon, which never failed to surprise me; it’s bigger on the inside, making it seem more like a moving bungalow.

My wise and ponderous thoughts were interrupted by a scream piercing through the night air, cutting through said air like a knife through Swiss cheese. I sighed, moving my weary cybernetic limbs to stand; after all this bloody hoopla is over, I’m having a nice, long recharge.

I ran out into the night air, my combat systems coming back online as I snapped out another one of my beta-stage weapons; the wrist mounted portal gun. Even in its prototype stage, it was damn good to have around. The air whipped against my metallic structure, making a badass whistling sound as my speed boosters skipped into overdrive, allowing me to run at least 50mph towards the source of the sound, whilst also letting me dodge the civilians that plagued the streets of Manehatten (I STILL think that’s a corny name. Now, back to me being badass).

I dodged round a corner, finally reaching the source of the scream. And surprise sur-bloody-prise, I find Trixie, cornered by two thugs at the back of the alley I had just turned around to.

“Now listen ‘ere girly, give us ya coin purse, or we’ll ‘ave ta find anotha’ form of ‘compensation’.” One of them sneered. Hell, my odour detectors could pick up his body odour from a whole ten feet away. Poor Trixie, she must be gagging right now. I guess that makes us even.

“Leave Trix- I mean me, alone! I-I’ll turn you into a toad, and then you’ll regret it!” She yelled, splaying her hands, ready to cast a spell.

Even I had to admit, that was terrible. Toads? Seriously?

The thugs shared that feeling, as they tipped their heads back and roared in laughter. Now I realized; they weren’t thugs, they were simply drunk buggers. Not that I could tell the difference, there’s a fine line between being a violent drunk, and a thug (they kind of both act the same.)

So, instead of hurting them, I simply decided to activate my stealth drives, turning invisible as I readied my portal gun. Now, the fun began.

Just as the first drunk/thug (I have now dubbed him ‘Mr. Compensation’) advanced towards Trixie, an orange portal opened up beneath him, sending him as a yelling and cursing mess through to its blue counterpart, which deposited from a nearby wall, knocking him out as he slammed face first into the wall opposite, also being rewarded with a sickening crunch to the face as his nose took the full impact of going at high speeds into the old and aging bricks. Good thing this was a narrow alley, right?

I closed up the portals, making it seem to the entire world that the second drunk’s drunken buddy had disappeared right in front of him, and appeared only seconds later to get knocked out. Probably super-creepy from his point of view.

“W-who’s there?” The second drunkard bellowed, stumbling around to try see who had knocked out his buddy. Silly drunk.
Just as he had his back turned to me, I disengaged my stealth drives, appearing behind him. He slowly turned around (this was almost comic, I tell you), facing up to all 6ft of my excellent metallic body, which gleamed ominously in the light. I leaned in toward the drunk, looming over him.
“...”

“...”

“...”

I continued to lean in, face to face with him now; I simply spoke one word to the drunken thug-like man.
“Boo.” I grinned wolfishly at him, blue synthetic eyes twinkling creepily in the dank light of the alleyway.
What I didn’t expect however, was for him to shriek like a five year old girl, and run off, jabbering something along the lines of;

“ALIENS! RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! ~” He ran off like a bolt of lightning, as fast as his drunken stumble/jog could take him.

I watched him go, bemused at this strange human behaviour. I had seen some pretty strange things back at the facility, but this took the cake.

I looked back at Trixie, who simply gaped at me (gotta love that Magikarp impression), wide eyed.

I decided at that point in time to record a small note log in my memory banks.

‘Note to self; humans are fucking weird.’

Author's Notes:

Yeah, sorry the chapter is late and all, I have loads of things going on at the moment (work experience, revision for some exams, etcetera)

Anywho, many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading. Also, post what you think of this chapter and story so far in the comments below, where I'll be glad to answer any questions given.

Lastly, this is a Magikarp, for those of you who don't know what one is: http://faqsmedia.ign.com/faqs/image/ani129.gif

Signing off for now,

Axton

Of Guards And Robots

I walked beside Trixie the next day in the warm and bustling streets of Manehatten, as the skyscrapers loomed over us in the sunlight, casting shadows great and tall.

“About last night...” Trixie began, looking guiltily at me. I swear she’d give a whimpering puppy a run for its money.
“It’s fine.” I state bluntly, crossing my arms as we continued to walk. What? Just because I go and save her (been three times now, it’s nearly as bad as that companion cube back in the test facility), does not mean I’m in the mood for too many theatrics. I thought this ‘Equestria’ would be a peaceful place. Not that I’m complaining, it gives me plenty of time to test out my abilities and new attachments/weapons/totallynotWMD’s.

“Anyway” I continued “I thought the whole ‘toads’ thing was a good backup plan.” I shrug, smiling at her, causing her to laugh. She had quite a good laugh, in retrospect. Light, but not too giggly.

Great, Now I’m becoming soft.

We continued walking for a little while enjoying what little sunshine that was provided in the shade of the great looming blocks of concrete that were Manehatten’s skyscrapers. That was, until a guard came running up to us, along with two others, spears in their hands and no-nonsense looks on their faces.

“In the name of the Law, Stop Right There!” One yelled, dressed in gold armor. As the other two were dressed in steel plate, I guessed that he was their leader. Commander. Sergeant. Whatever.

“I wonder how annoyed they’d be if I called them piggies.” I mutter to myself, smirking, as Trixie and I turned to face them. My LEDs scanned over them, taking in their features.

All in all they were natural guards; brown and black haired, piercing eyes and fairly muscled bodies. The gold one stood out with his sharp chin and feline facial features, but there was nothing apart from their armor that made them seem out of the ordinary.

Trixie stood there, eyes wide at the prospect of being possibly arrested by guards. I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze to tell her everything was ok, before speaking.

“Alright, what is it?” I bluntly ask, putting my poker face on. No one could get past my poker face.

“You, metal man, you’re coming with us. Gotta lot of questions to ask you.” The guard in gold states, frowning at me like some sort of criminal. Let me just state now, I never liked guards. Like, ever.

I pondered what he just said for a few moments, taking in what he just said. If I can guess correctly, this meant that the government had become interested in my actions. And that meant that there was possibly going to be money involved. I liked money. Almost as much as I liked pizza.

“Ok, I’ll go with you. On two conditions, however.” I glare at them dangerously, making the two steel plated guards sweat a little.

Gold Guard frowns again under his helmet “Alright, shoot.” He crosses his arms, leaning back a little.

“One; my friend Trixie here comes with us. Two, don’t call me metal-man, that’s Racist against robots. Call me Zero. If you annoy me, I’ll castrate you. Got it?” I announced my conditions, the latter statement making their eyes widen. It didn’t help them that I said it so casually either.

“A-Alright. Come with us. Corporal, Private, you escort the young lady. I’ll keep an eye on M-“I shot him a warning glare “Zero.”

Twenty Minutes Later, Manehatten Guard Station

Trixie and I sat in the Guard Station’s waiting room, awaiting (obviously) the verdict on what was going to happen to me. The tension was slowly building as we waited, until the tension in said room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

That was, until Gold Guard (look, it’s the name I've dubbed him with ok?) walked in and announced “Zero, the Constable wants to see you. I will escort you to the room where you two will speak.” He betrayed no emotion in his voice, but I could already tell he didn’t like me.

I looked at Trixie, who looked worriedly at me, her lavender tinted eyes betraying the simple emotion of fear. I looked at her and smirked.

“Look, I handled the killer toys and books you threw at me, I’ll be fine.” I rolled my eyes in their cybernetic sockets, giving her a small playful punch on the shoulder.

This warranted a small smile out of her as she looked back at me, reassured.
“Good. Trixie wouldn’t want her performance partner in trouble now, would she?” She said, putting on an air of mock authority. I laughed at this, my first genuine laugh in a long time.

“Ahem, the Constable wants to see you now!” He glared daggers at me as he said this, clearly wanting me out of his hair. I nodded at Trixie, before following him to a room.

Like any other questioning room in a police station, this room was soundproofed, with a single table and two chairs in the middle of the room along with the double mirrored listening screen. What a friendly place.

I sat down at the table to face who I assumed was the Constable, as Gold Guard left the room, locking the door behind him with an audible ‘CA-CHUNK’. The Constable looked like a fair fellow; graying hair, leather armor complete with crossbow and guard insignia, slightly aging features and a kind smile upon his face.

“Now, sonny, you’re probably wondering why you’re here?” He chuckles, stroking the growing stubble on his chin.
“You’re going to ask me some questions. I will answer them, to an extent.” I replied evenly, keeping eye contact with him, my blue LEDs against his soft brown irises.

He looks at me, smiles as if he knows what I’m talking about then continues “Well, as you know, we ain’t seen anything like your kind round here. Mind telling us about yourself?”

I close my eyes and gather all needed information to answer the question before answering “I am a V-68 Servitor and Combat Unit, formerly known as an SCU. I was created on Omega Test Facility, and got put through thousands upon thousands of tests, involving portals, dodging, ducking, fighting, pillow fights, situational awareness tests, speech tests, and many more.” I listed off the tests on my metallic fingers casually as the Constable stared at me wide eyed. I then finished off with “Oh yeah, I’m also a badass robot.”

“Well...” He eyed me cautiously “You’ve led quite the life, kiddo. But I digress. I may have... a proposition for you and your lady friend.”

I was about to stammer at the whole lady friend bit, my processing core having a whole ‘what’ moment, before composing myself and leaning back.

“I’m listening.” I lean back on my chair, my balance perfect and ready to listen to this ‘proposition’.

“Well, you see, there’s this high man coming into Manehatten. Calls himself The Kingpin. He runs a slave trade off the coasts of Baltimare, but knows all of our men, even our private investigators. The bastard’s got spies everywhere, so we can’t even pick our noses without him knowing our position. Of course, he doesn’t know you, or your lady friend sitting in the waiting room. Now, I’m not asking you to kill him or anything, just to take him and his men down and arrest them with some ‘cuffs we can provide you.” He leans forwards “You’re a smart guy- er – robot, Zero. Whaddya say?” He smiles at me, reassured that I will accept.

I simply sit there, pondering on a decision for a few moments, before I lean forward on my chair and reply.
“Alright, as long as the pay’s good, I’m in. Just brief Trixie on it, she’s great with Illusion magic. A good asset.” I nodded, as he grinned at me, nodding as if I’d just gave him a winning lottery ticket.

‘This could be interesting’

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Sorry for the long wait, writer's block was attacking me with all manner of mental annoyance. :3

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading for me again, He's awesome.

Lastly, please state in the comments below what you think of this chapter, if it needs improving,etc and just your general views on it. Until then I'm...

Signing off for now,

Axton

King of The Hill

Trixie and I sat facing The Constable in the briefing room as the night began once more. Trixie, although looking a little nervous, had kept her cool and sat looking at me and The Constable, waiting for any type of interaction.

After around five minutes of silence, The Constable piped up, making sure he has our attention before speaking.

“Alright, kiddos, here’s the plan. The Kingpin’s gonna be staying in a hotel two klicks from here, a fancy smanshy place called ‘The King’s Eye’. Of course, he owns the whole joint, meaning that security will be way-up for their boss’s visit.

However, one area of the hotel is always left unguarded- the staff entrance. If you can sneak in through there and climb the stairs to the Penthouse Suite and arrest Kingpin, then we can get some info from him about that bastard slave trade he’s running, maybe even shut the thing down. Whatever you may need is on the table over there.” He gestured to a table on the far side of the room which had a few weapons on it, along with some handcuffs. “Any questions?”

I looked at Trixie, then back at The Constable before replying “Do we have permission to kill in dire consequences?” I looked at him very seriously, wanting an answer.

He looked me dead in the eye “Yes, you have permission to kill, but please use it as a last resort. We don’t want too many casualties, so keep it to a minimum. Any more questions?” He asked, seeming slightly happier.

“Just one more” I stood and activated my stealth and disguises drive, sunglasses and suit coming into clear view “Mr Anderson” I smirked “Surprised to see me?” Even I had to admit, my Agent Smith impression was flawless. Then again, being a multi-million dollar robot kind of helps.

They both looked at me in confusion as my jaw dropped. ‘They hadn't seen The Matrix series?! What madness is this?!’
Shaking my head, I walked over to the table containing the weapons to see what we had; a few pistols, three stun grenades and a taser, alongside ammo and handcuffs to boot.

“Alright, let’s do this.” I nodded, throwing Trixie two pistols and a pair of handcuffs, along with some ammo.

Meanwhile, in the Kingpin’s Hotel Suite...

“Sir!” A goon exclaimed, running in “We got some bad news!” He stood there, catching his breath.

“Well? What is it, Minion No.456?” Kingpin turned in his chair, eyeing one of his many minions with disgust; why couldn’t they be better dressed?

“Rumor from one our moles in the police system, is that some sorta robot and his lady friend are heading here to come get us! He’s got all sorts o’ technology on him! Much more than ours, boss!” The goon blathered, nearly tripping over his words.
Kingpin stood, walking over to the large window that overlooks Manehatten, sighing angrily, before he turned and looks at the goon, smiling evilly.

“Good. Let him come; we can trap him here, kill him and this bitch of his off. Maybe even salvage some parts from the walking scrapheap.” He laughed, a booming laugh that seemed to shake the room and scare those living on the lower floors out of their minds.

Back on the streets of Manehatten, nearby ‘The King’s Eye’...

Trixie and I walked through the streets, nearing the hotel where we were going to confront Kingpin. Trixie seemed annoyed for some reason, and asked, “Is that disguise really necessary?” her snarky tone in full use.

I looked across at her, raising an eyebrow and lowering my sunglasses a little and speaking sarcastically “Miss Lulamoon, you disappoint me. I need this disguise so I am not noticed by the guards. Capiche?” I readjusted my sunglasses, dusting off my sleeves.

She simply rolled her eyes, muttering about ‘nerds’ before we reached the staff entrance, where I used a lockpicking tool in my right index finger to unlock the door. We sneaked inside, silent as mice; it would be rather suspicious for someone to be spotted using a staff entrance after hours.

As we snuck out into the corridor of the hotel and walked towards the elevator, my AI core had the rather bizarre decision to play mission impossible inside my head, the cheesy tune making this mission seem terribly corny.

We reached the elevator, and the doors hissed and closed, lighting up two floors; the 20th floor and the Penthouse Suite floor. Why would the twentieth floor be in use at this hour? Apart from cleaning staff going in and out, there was really no point.

“Trixie, ready those pistols, we may have company” I nodded to Trixie, arming my now concealed ion cannon to stun mode, a spider waiting for its prey. She looked at me, listening, then nodded, pulling two pistols out and aiming them at the door.

“Trixie is ready.” She said, her eyes looking at the door with deadly accuracy. Damn, I had to admit, she looked hot dressed in black sneaking garb. Moving on.

The door to the elevator pinged open, revealing two women... wait, a minute! Octavia and Vinyl?! They stood there, dressed in black suits and shades, pistols aiming back at us. Well, Vinyl still wore her trademark purple shades and smirked at us.

“Hey, Trixie! Wassup? This your date or somethin’?” She laughs, putting away her pistols and gesturing to me. Trixie reacted by blushing bright red, while I spluttered indignantly, undoing my disguise in the process.

I finally regained my composure, eager to change the subject “No, we’re just friends. Anyway, what are you two doing here?” I asked, shaking my head and looking at them.

Octavia flipped out a badge as she dusted off her shoulder and laughed lightly. “Oh please, you didn’t think we were just musicians did you? We work for Princess Celestia Solaris’s secret service, and are on a mission to catch the Kingpin. You?” She put the badge away, as did Vinyl, still smirking at her little joke.

“Basically the same thing. Joining us?” Trixie stated, and then holstered her pistols, smiling at them. The two musicians looked at each other, brows raised, before nodding and smiling back at us, stepping in to the elevator.

The door hissed closed once more and the lift began moving up toward the Penthouse Suite. Octavia looked at us, before speaking.

“So, Trixie.” Capturing Trixie’s attention, she asked “Are you and Zero here going to get together anytime soon?” She smirked under her shades, wanting an answer.

“What do you mean?! Trixie is not-“She began to stammer, blushing furiously.

“You make it way too obvious, Trix. Even Tavi saw you eyeing him up back onstage in the hall.” Vinyl laughed, as her blue hair jiggled around a little.

I stood there, not liking the feeling of being ignored “Hey what am I, some sort of next door neighbor?” I asked, indignant.
They all laughed, as Trixie leaned over and muttered to me “We’ll discuss this later” before badly hiding a light pink blush and standing at the door, readying her pistols, while the others did the same.

The door pinged open, as we all aimed our weapons at it, ready for any kind of fight that this supposed ‘Kingpin’ could throw at us. To our surprise, he stood in the middle of a platform, under the raised roof of the Penthouse Suite.

He turned round, showing his face as he spat out a cigar, smirking. He walked backwards, as we followed, running onto the platform, our weapons at the ready and pointing at him.

“Of course. Scrapheap here and his lady friend, along with two accomplices. As if there was ever any doubt that-“He was interrupted by me bitch slapping him round the face.

“No. Bad. That’s Trixie’s line.” I smirked as he stumbled up and away from me, signalling his goons to surround us.
“Sic ‘em.” He grinned at us as his goons began to advance on us, snickering as they outgunned us. Well, they outgunned Trixie, Octavia and Vinyl. Not me.

“I’m gonna give you five seconds to stop what you’re doing and run away, or things are gonna get REAL messy in here” I snarled at them, pissed off. No one was gonna hurt Trixie, or my friends.

“Heh, yeah sure, what you gonna do? Piss oil on us?” One of them laughed, causing another wave of snickers all round. That. Was. It.

I whispered to my comrades so the others couldn’t hear me “Get down. Now.” They nodded as I growled a menacing growl and they jumped to the floor, crouching.

This was when my temper snapped. “Battle mode, activated.” My LED eyes turned a fiery red as my arms snapped into action, dual wield machine ion blasters firing off 167 rounds per second, literally destroying the goons in a fountain of blood, death and gory body parts as I span in a circle, also destroying small pieces of the room in the bursts of deathly plasma that were my ion bullets.

All Trixie, Vinyl and Octavia stood, mouths gaping at my bloody performance, my dance of death. My then red LEDs locked onto Kingpin, before turning blue again.

“Now, unless you want the same fate, come with us. You’re under arrest.” My LEDs narrowed as he quivered in fear.

“Alright, Alright! I’ll come with you... just please don’t hurt me like that.” My eyes flashed red again at his comment as I snapped the cuffs onto him, picking him up and throwing him onto my shoulder.

“You’re just lucky I don’t destroy you within an inch of your life for what you’ve done, Kingpin.” I left it at that as the other followed me out of the building, watching out for any other signs of threat as we walked towards the Guard Station.

Manehatten Guard Station...

We entered in silence, till Trixie spoke up “Constable, we’re back. And we have Kingpin.” She then fell silent as the Constable entered from a door off to the side, coming in with three other Guards, one of the being Gold Guard. They took one look at Kingpin before nodding and taking him off, leaving Gold Guard and The Constable with us.

“Congratulations, all of you. Good to see two Agents of Celestia here with us. I’ll put a word in.” Tavi and Octavia nodded and walked out, smiling to each other, both bound to get some sort of promotion. “And you two.” He grins from ear to ear “Great job! Now we have Kingpin, we can start on shutting down his slave trade. So, how’d it go?” He grinned again at the two of us, then noticing our somber expressions.

“What’s wrong?” He asked worriedly, eyes darting from me to Trixie.

I gulped, my throat cords making small whirring noises before speaking “Sir, I killed around eight goons in a burst of shots, killing them instantly before they could hit the floor.” I looked down in shame. I didn’t want to kill; my AI core, when angered too much, can go unstable; which didn’t end well for those goons.

Gold Guard spoke up “Look, I would’ve done the same if they were threatening me or my friends and comrades too.” He nodded in reassurance to me, making me feel a little better.

The Constable nodded too, understanding my actions “We all kill in our lives, kiddo. Anyway” He passes me and Trixie a large bag of bits “That’s 300 bits each, Kingpin’s bounty.” He nods to us, before beginning to walk off.

“Oh, there’s someone you might like to meet, someone who’s recognized your actions.” He said as a man walked in. The man was rather tall and muscled, armoured in bright golden armor, which twinkled in the light. He took off his helmet, revealing a fairly chiseled face and blue eyes, along with blue and azure streaked hair.

“Meet Captain of the Canterlot Guard, Simon Armory.”

Author's Notes:

Boo-yah, criminal snagged! So, what did you think of this chapter? Leave your opinion in the comments below, that would be nice. :D

Also, many thanks to the great Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading this chapter :)

That's all for now, I need some sleep XD

Signing off for now,

Axton

The Invitation

I stood there, as I faced yet another Guard; why do I always end up attracting the attention of those things that I hate most?
Meanwhile, Simon simply stared at me as he raised a brow and pulled some blue hair out of his eyes. Of course, I got my act together quickly.

“My name’s Zero. I’m sure that we’ll get along just fine.” I couldn’t help adding a little sarcasm in, due to the avid hate of my long lasting enemy, the common guard. But the reason for that hate is a story for another day.

He nodded, smiling at me; why had he smiled at me? Oh Christ, don’t say he’s attracted to me. I do NOT want that!

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance too, Zero. As you know, I am Simon Armoury, Captain of the Canterlot Guard. The only thing that Constable Sharpsword here forgot to tell you is that I’m part of the Canterlot Royal Guard, her majesties’ finest Guard organization.” He explained his rank to me rather smugly; I could tell we were going to get along just fine.

Trixie however, had not noticed a word of what Simon was saying, and stared at me intently, eyes glazed over. Even I had to admit, this was very unlike her. Not that I minded, of course, I’m used to being admired. After all, I am a very attractive bot.

“Right. So, what is it you want, ‘cause I could really use a recharge right now.” I moaned, as I rubbed my chromium temples. Seriously, my power had been reduced to at least 50% in that battle situation back at the hotel.

Simon laughed, and continued “Look, I’m sure you’ll get plenty of rest and talk on the train, alright? Anyway, I came here to pass on an invitation to the Canterlot Royal Castle, from the Royal Sisters, Princesses Celestia and Luna.”

He passed both Trixie and me a letter, obviously the invitation to get into the castle. Man, security must be tight there if a written invite is required to enter. Some land of peace you got there, princesses.

“Depends. What does this ‘Invitation’ entail?” Trixie finally stopped staring at me and asked, eyes filled with curiosity.

Simon now looked at both me and Trixie very seriously, his face turning from smug authority to seriousness in a split second. Christ, it wouldn’t hurt to look like a nice guy once and a while would it?

“That is of the utmost confidentiality, Miss...?” He looked at her inquiringly, still serious.

“Lulamoon. Trixie Lulamoon. Don’t call me Bellatrix.” She added the last piece with a hint of venom in her voice; what was wrong with the name Bellatrix? I personally liked it.

“Alright then, Miss Lulamoon. As I said, this meeting with the princess will be of the utmost confidentiality, and thus is not to be talked about in public. If you wish to come, both you and Zero, we will take care of any assigned dwelling you have while you are in Canterlot, where you will be meeting both princesses and the Elements of Harmony to discuss some... important events that may take place. Of course, the meeting with the princesses will take place three days after your arrival, so as to give you some rest and whatnot. Do you accept this invitation?” He announced all of this rather cordially; he must have been very proud of his job to announce it in such a manner. Not like I cared about that sort of thing; I mean come on, I’m a robot, not a royal or a noble.

“Can you give us some time to think?” Trixie asked, looking a little worried as she looked from me and back to Simon.
Simon looked at us, and after noticing The Constable had left after introducing him (he probably went home or something), nodded and walked into the other room to wait for our decision.

Trixie turned to me, worry clearly etched onto her face. She began to speak, her tone quite cautious.
“Zero, are you sure we should go? I’m not really.... enthusiastic about you being seen in Canterlot. In Manehatten, its ok, they’ve seen much stranger. But in Canterlot, the nobles can be quite.... vindictive. I just don’t want you to get too much bad attention is all.” She explained, as she tried to cover up her blush in true Trixie fashion, tossing her hair back carelessly.
I grinned at her, as I revealed the small silver teeth in my mouth. I spoke calmly.

“Look, Trixie, I’ll be fine. If not, you can always turn them into toads, right?” I laughed, as the little quip I made also caught onto her, making her laugh too. Damn, that laugh was sexy.

Five minutes later...

Simon came back into the room, as Trixie and I had made our decision, fortunately not running into any problems. I had to admit, Trixie had quite the head on her shoulders. Just another good quality about her. What? Laughing because I finally admitted it? Screw you.

“So, have you made your decision?” He inquired, raising a brow and also clearly impatient. I could tell that he wasn’t usually like this, so I simply answered, not wanting to anger someone of his position (don’t get me wrong, normally I wouldn’t care, but this is someone who has connections to the princesses).

I nodded “Of course, we accept. Wouldn’t want to upset the princesses would we?” I grin jokingly at him, as a small smile appears on his lips.

“Good, you won’t regret accepting this invitation. And uh, sorry for acting so... serious” He grins sheepishly at me “I’m just nervous, is all. Anyway, here are some tickets to the Manehatten train station, allowing you to take first class to Canterlot, courtesy of the Princesses.”

I looked impressed back at Trixie as we made a silent agreement ‘Whatever this is, it’s important’.

She nodded, but wanted to confirm a few things “Thank you, Simon. So, we will head out in the morning? What time shall we be leaving for the train?” She crossed her arms, considering what she’d need for the trip.

He looked at her, crossing his arms “Just the basics; clothes and any other small equipment you’d like to take on the train. Just try to keep the weapons to a minimum as the locals tend to be rather... jumpy. That and we will be searching you for any overly dangerous weapons.” He smiled, before he continued to speak “Is that all then?”

We nodded; everything was in order and Trixie could pack some clothes and keep her pistols (not to mention the dagger I found in her clothes drawer).

‘Let’s roll.’

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading!!

Also check out xXCondemnedSoulsXx for some cool stories!

Please post your comments below, thank you :)

Signing off for now,

Axton

The Canterlot Prince

“Alllll aboard the Canterlot express, we leave in five minutes! I repeat, All aboard!” The conductor of the one and only Canterlot express yelled at the top of his voice, stomping his foot once in a loud and authoritative manner, before pacing up and down the station like a predator.

Trixie had just boarded the train, me close behind with her luggage. I, being a robot, meant that I did not actually need luggage; I had my weapons, my disguises and my source of power all inside of me. Oh yeah, and my badass toy Mister Fluffles (which I took from Trixie, don’t tell her) is stored in my chest’s secret compartment. Don’t hate on the little guy. I had everything I needed stored within my finely made body.

On the train, I couldn’t find any familiar faces, apart from the odd guard who was off duty. It wasn’t a particularly tiring task; it was just that every time I bumped into someone’s seat, they gave this irritated look, as if someone had thwacked them over the head with an equally irritating object. Like a rubber chicken. One of them even went and told me to ‘buck off’. At the time, I had no idea what this meant, so I ignored it.

After what seemed like hours, I sat down on the seat finally able to relax as I closed my eyes to recharge. Only to be jabbed in the face by Trixie, who motioned for me to get up.

Ok, first I lug not one, not two, but five suitcases into this train’s overhead compartment. Then, when I finally get to rest and recharge; she goes and jabs me in the face to try telling me to get my chromium ass out of my seat? Nope, not happening. You had your chance to go to the loo before this, Trixie.

I was then broken out of my reverie by yet another jab from Trixie. FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, MY FACE IS NOT ONE GIANT BUTTON! I was immediately awakened by the second jab, now irritated myself.

“For all that is science, please let this be important.” I muttered to myself as I turned to face Trixie, who had a small smile on her face, as if she secretly hoped for something.

“Could Tri- I mean, could I speak to you in private for a moment?” She asked, as she gave me the puppy dog eyes.
No. Not the puppy dog eyes. I felt my AI core slowly submit to her as I nodded against my will. How do girls do this to me?! Damn you, puppy dog eyes, you have won this one, but not the war!

Ranting over, I stood from my seat and let Trixie up from hers, allowing her movement. She nodded in thanks and walked off in the direction of an empty carriage, again motioning silently with her hands to follow her.

This is very strange behavior to me; as you know, Trixie tends to strut around like she either;

a) Owns the place. Or,
b) Knows she can beat you and or/has ultimate power over you.

So naturally, I followed her to the empty cabin where she was waiting patiently. Again, weird behavior on Trixie’s part. She looked at me, before indicating a train seat opposite her. Again, following her instruction, I sat; my curiosity was the only thing that made me follow her.

Then it hit me; she was here to speak about that. Oh bugger, why I hadn’t thought of anything to say was beyond me. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!

My panic must have caught on to her, as she looked at me strangely. Then, realizing that I had caught on to what she was going to speak about, she blushed as bright as beetroot, contrasting against the small amount of silvery and ice blue hair she hid behind.

“Trixie wanted to ask you something very important to her... do you think Tri- I am pretty? Good looking to you, I mean.” She blushes, hiding a little shyly behind her hair.

Even though I had seen this coming, I could not help being at a loss for words as I stood there, red lights in my cheeks flaring up. Why the hell would a robot need to blush? Damn you, Director, damn you and your haughty airs.

Before I could stop myself, however, my mouth and AI core decided to take leave of their senses as I blurted “To be honest, I think you’re beautiful.”

I then proceeded to clamp my hand over my mouth as I looked around for the exit to the cart. The only possible exit was exactly where Trixie was standing.

Honestly though; she was beautiful, and I liked her a lot, I just didn’t want her... well, jumping on me as soon as I said it. I prefer there to be actual romance in a relationship, not all ‘play’ and no speak.

Moreover, here I am being soppy. Again. Back to the story.

Trixie looked at me, eyes wide as she suddenly danced for joy right in front of my eyes. It would have been cute if it weren't so out of character for the woman.

Just as she had begun dancing, Fate decided to troll me. And by that, I mean that the train went over a very large bump on the tracks, making all the carts jolt for a few seconds.

Naturally, we stumbled, trying to grasp some sort of handhold for stability. Or rather, I stumbled and stabilized myself with the pads on the underside of my feet while Trixie fell towards me.

Time seemed to go in slow motion as she stumbled and fell onto me, the stabilizers I had activated turning off due to surprise, leaving her lying on top of me in a very compromising position.

I swear, if I blushed any brighter, I would have resembled a red sun; blinding bright red lights came alight on my cheeks, as I noticed she was pressed very tightly against my metallic body.

When she shook her head to clear her blurred vision, I found I could not move; my feet stabilizers were now stuck to the floor, seemingly in possession of a life of their own and my feet with them. Tried as much as I could to get them off, they were in lockdown and thus proved impossible until I could get my head straight and punch in the access code via my processor core.

I looked back up to Trixie, who began looking deeply into my mechanical LEDs that served as my eyes, her dark grey-violet eyes meeting my blue ones. She slowly leaned in, lips puckered (almost, rather bizarrely, reminding me of a duck) as I just did what was natural, kissing her lips, metal meeting skin.

I’d just like you to know that I have never kissed anything other than a test bot (and she was damn ugly); this was a completely different experience. Her lips were warm, for one and she moaned lightly as she began to kiss me more, looking to get purchase with her tongue inside my mouth.

Before we could go any further, a large and sonorous cough came from the carriage door as we both froze in place, lips now apart from each other. I looked past Trixie’s shoulder to see a smirking Simon standing there, arms crossed and with a look that said ‘Is this what I think it is?’.

We quickly readjusted ourselves, standing up and brushing ourselves off, while Simon continued to stand there, stifling his laughter and putting on a serious face.

“Are you two done yet?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and dusting some muck of one of his golden shoulder pads.

“Uh, yeah, of course” I managed to stammer, still comprehending what had happened between Trixie, a light pink glow still faint on my cheeks.

Trixie simply nodded, placing her hat that had fallen onto one of the seats back onto her head.

“Good” He flicked his head in the direction of the carriage behind him “Prince Blueblood and some of the other nobles have requested to see you. You coming?” His tone was slightly friendlier as he held the door open for us.

We followed suit and walked through the door as Simon escorted us into the Royal Carriages. For some reason, he had his sword drawn when we approached two guards who donned purple and black armor, with a white crescent moon on their chestplates.

“This is the Royal Prince Blueblood’s carriage, under the protection of the Night Royal Guard. Direct orders from Princess Luna are that no one is to enter without-“ He stopped his monotonous rule yammering as Simon put a seal of approval from both Luna and Celestia in front of his face, sword still drawn as he held the papers at eye height in front of the two impervious guardsmen.

They looked at it for a moment, before nodding and stepping aside with a small ‘humph’.

We stepped into the carriage, to see a few nobles sitting around a large table, chatting animatedly and sipping tea. Christ this was so stereotypical I was half expecting one of them to jump up and go ‘Tally ho, gentlemen!’.

One of the nobles noticed us and nodded to Blueblood, and muttered something along the lines of ‘The metal man is here’. This prompted Blueblood to turn in his seat and smile, small greedy eyes registering my appearance.

“Good to see you have arrived in this luxurious carriage of ours of ours, Mister...?” Blueblood inquired, smiling lightly.

His hair was perfectly coiffed into a blonde quiff, reminding me of a slimy and disgusting version of Elvis. Not only this, but his voice reminded me of all the smarmy guards that had hit me in the back with their stun batons back on the Omega Facility. For fun.

So naturally, I took a disliking to him and thus replied as so “Zero. Why did you want to speak to me?” My tone was flat and calculating, offering no warmth to the Prince.

His smile disappeared as soon as it had come onto his face, his eyes narrowing “Now why would you be named after a number?” He frowned at me, looking unimpressed.

I replied evenly “I do not know, Blueblood. If I do, it’s locked and classified in my memory banks, so you would not be able to know even if I wanted to. Only The Director knows the password to all my most secure memory banks.”

He looked me up and down before he angrily whispered, “Know your place, robot. You will address me as Prince Blueblood, My Prince, or your highness. Got that?” He snorted, frown creased even more.

“I will reply to you as I wish for there is nothing that you can do to hurt me in any physical way. Capiche?” I walked a step closer to him, dwarfing him in height. Even with his coiffed and elevated hair did he only come up to my shoulder.

He quivered, before pulling out a leather glove on me, smirking like a kid who had just won an argument with his older sibling.

He then proceeded to slap me across the face with the glove, once and only once. The glove flopped onto the surface with a dull ‘flup’, which made my processor core go up in a sea of laughter. Of course, this affected me too, and I roared in laughter, my bright silver teeth glinting in the light of the carriage interior.

This confused Blueblood, who snarled and said “Well, scrapheap, do you accept my challenge? Will you fight my champion?” He attempted to look down his nose at me, which failed.

Trixie was looking with absolute horror from Blueblood to me, then back to Blueblood, before pulling me aside.

“Do you know who his Champion even is?” She whispered fearfully “He’s a fully grown minotaur, about half as tall as an average sized house! He’ll crush you, please, just forget it!”

I looked at her and shook my head and replied “Trixie, I always have an ace up my metaphorical sleeve. Let’s just say the fight will be ‘quick’” I grinned, kissing her lightly, before turning to Blueblood.

“Alright Prince Weed, I accept” I made a mock bow, jibing him just a little as the other nobles looked on in wonder at me. What can I say? People just love me.

He made a ‘Harrumph’ before he decided to walk off to the other side of the carriage. He plonked himself down, pouting like a three-year-old child who had been denied his toy.

I turned to Simon and Trixie, who simply shook their heads, smiling a little as if to say ‘Brave, foolish and ever hilarious’.

I nodded to them, and winked at Trixie as the train came to a halt and the conductor on the platform called “Welcome to Canterlot, Ladies and Gentlemen! Please exit the train in an orderly fashion!”

Author's Notes:

So, that's another chapter done and dusted :3 Unfortunately, Fluttershy Auditore wasn't able to proof-read this one, due to being on holiday. The assassin has earned it, I guess :3

Due to that, I would like you to point out any mistakes that you see that are worth pointing out. Of course, that is, if you want to.

Please post your likes/dislikes/general views/obsessionsaboutrubberchickens down in the comments below. Thank you! :D

Signing off for now,

Axton

It's Clobberin' Time!

I exited the train, Simon and Trixie close behind; it felt good, to have two people you could rely on. Even if one of them was a no good rassa-frassa stinking’ butt faced guard.

I took in the view of Canterlot as my LEDs widened to get a better view of the shimmering city from down below on the train station. Everything seemed so ornate here, so... regal; the buildings glittered in the sunlight as quartz caught in an inspection lamp’s rays, every side showed a reflection of true beauty and culture.

The purple secondary coloring to the buildings only contrasted the two colors, making them pleasing and attractive to the eye.

True, a few of the buildings had different coloring designs ‘Like the shops.’ I thought ‘On that note, who would sell chairs and inkwells? Just those two items, it befuddles me!’

Despite the shops disrupting the colour scheme, the city looked stunning, and the sunlight that poured down onto the city only served to reinforce that fact.

Before I could continue on my observations of Canterlot, Blueblood and his cronies pushed past us. Trixie glared at them and Simon stood stock-still, not interfering. Blueblood turned to us and smirked before he announced.

“Be at the Canterlot arena at four o’clock, sharp. Got it?” He sneered up at me, his posture ever confident.

I grinned, which unnerved him to his core. I then replied, my tone even “Fine. But” My grin grew in size “If you lose, you have to apologize to everyone. Publicly.” I lowered my head, looking him dead in the eye.

He quivered once more in place, which I found hilarious. He then proceeded to bristle angrily for a few moments like a small toddler who had been insulted by an older kid. After what seemed like an hour (but was actually minutes), he replied.

“Fine, but if I win, then you must bow down to me. And accept that you are utterly useless.” His tone was immature and childish, which was answered by my booming laughed, which cascaded off the walls of the bustling street.

The huge sound drew more than a few eyes as I walked toward the Prince, smirking mischievously. The guards beside him didn’t move a muscle, knowing that they couldn’t interfere with the conflict, lest they get a reprimand from the Prince or a beating from the metal clad robotic warrior.

I leaned down, and ruffled his hair condescendingly “Sure thing Princeykins” I replied to his outburst with the most stupid and soppy voice I could put on, before pushing him aside and walking off, Trixie and Simon close behind. Both had put on a straight face, determined not to laugh at the Prince, who was red in the face from rage and on the way to having a purple face from unrestrained anger.

I laughed once more, giving a carefree wave as I walked off, Trixie and Simon close behind, both of their faces scrunched to restrain their own mirth.

3:00 PM, Canterlot Arena...

We had gathered in the arena early to get in a few warm-ups for my fight against the titanic Minotaur, I was throwing punches at a few make-shift targets, as I made each punch was swift and fast, my mind completely in the zone. Even though I understood this Minotaur person was probably pretty strong, I remembered that strength is nothing without technique. This in mind, I still intended to embarrass Bluepants, or whatever he’s called, so there was no way I was gonna lose.

After an hour of training, Simon nodded “You should be set, Zero.” He grinned at me before he walked over to the stands entrance. He turned round once and asked “Zero?”

I looked at him and raised a brow before he said, “Kick some ass for me. Blueblood needs to learn a lesson.” Before turning and walking to the stands, where a large amount of people were already filed into the wooden seats. If you unfocused your eyes a little, they could look like a swarm of ants.

Trixie walked up to me and hurriedly kissed my plated cheek, which made me blush a bright red. She winked at me before she strutted off, hips swaying a little. Damn, now I had to win this. I nodded to her, as she mouthed ‘Win’ and nodded brusquely, as she blushed and rushed into the stands to watch.

Crowds had gathered, many of the spectators carrying banners with them, each one supporting a different side. I grinned, waving at them as a large proportion of them cheered.

However, the cheering was silenced almost as quickly as it started, the arena going as silent as a winter’s night as a fully armor clad Minotaur lumbered forward. His armor had small stains on it, bloody and crimson fading into the dull grey iron. Along his shoulder plates were small crushed bone fragments, which made his sturdy armoured shoulders almost seem like a gruesome mosaic.

I cringed at the thought of being added to his collection, and readied myself, as I went into a fighting stance. No weapons were permitted for this match, just cold, hard, fisticuffs. One on one. Mano El Mano... I can’t think of any more.

I stood only ten feet apart from him, eyeing him evenly as he snorted and dug his hooves into the ground. I blinked once, unmoving and still, ready to take on any move he could throw at me.

“I’m going to crush you, tin can. Don’t try and make this any harder for you!” He snarled, revealing sharpened teeth. That was new.

I grinned at him “I’m actually made of chrome, numbnuts.” I pumped both my hands, clanging them on my chest “Come at me bro!”

My provocative gesture caused him to charge full tilt at me, roaring and horns down with a snarl that could scare even the most hardened adventurer.

Before he reached me, I smartly stepped aside, leaving him to smash into the wall of the stone-floored arena, embedding his horns in the wall as he yelled in frustration.

Tried as he did, he could not move his deadly horns and was stuck there like a man stuck in stocks as he pulled and grunted with effort. I casually walked up to him and kicked him up the ass, making him howl in pain as his horns were broken up from the roots, leaving him bleeding as he stumbled back, clutching his head.

He then turned to me, anger in his eyes, the irises alight with an anger that could rival even the fiercest of dragons. He let loose a mighty roar and charged before I could react I was slammed into the ground by the bloody faced behemoth that was the Minotaur, my circuits taking a beating.

Everyone in the crowd gasped; Trixie held a hand to her mouth, tears coming into her eyes while Simon gripped the safety rail, knuckles white.

Just as his fist was about to drop, I grabbed it, my hand extending to match his as I crushed it, standing slowly, the bones in his cracking as he knelt on the ground, unable to react due to the pain.

I gritted my teeth, keeping my circuits together by a thread as I yelled at him an old fighting tune from when I was first made, and young.

“I AM STRONG! I AM MIGHTY! I. AM GOING TO WIN. THIS. FIGHTY!!!!” My voice echoed as he knelt, shoulders slumping from the pain as he cradled his hand.

He whimpered and muttered out “I yield... you are more than a match to me, O Metal One.” He bowed his head.

I held out my hand to him “You fought well. Will you be my comrade in arms, O.... Furry one?” I looked down upon the beaten Minotaur with sympathy as he looked from Blueblood to me and back to Blueblood.

He allowed me to help him up and said “I would be honored, metal clad man. Tell me, what is your name?” He looked down on me, being a full head taller, his bloody hand now drying out, as well as his other wounds.

“Zero. Glad to make your acquaintance..?” I looked at him as Blueblood looked on in horror down on us; there was no escape for him; a large group of Canterlot citizens guarded the entrances, having seen the challenge issued. I guessed most of them had been insulted previously by him and wanted their apology.

“Hammerfist the Unbroken. It’s a rather ironic in this situation.” He chuckles as I join him.

“And now, Prince Blue Nuts will make his apology speech” I laughed as Blueblood hastily made his apology and left, face burning red in embarrassment.

I only had seconds to relish the moment before I collapsed to my knees, powering down, my circuits fizzing and short-circuiting as I fell to the ground, a mighty tree felled from its roots.

Author's Notes:

Hello again! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I'm not that good at writing humongous battle scenes :/

Oh well :3 Anyway, many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading. In case he missed anything (which is unlikely) please do tell me in the comments below. :D

On that note, don't forget to like and favorite, as well as posting your thoughts on this chapter (or even the story so far!) in the comments beneath this A/N.

Signing off for now,

Axton

A Doctor and His Assistant

Canterlot, The Doctor’s Workshop...

I awoke on some sort of workbench and shook my head, which cleared my vision so my LEDs could see as I got rid of a small layer of dust that settled on my cybernetic eyes. I proceeded to stand up, and commanded my systems to reboot. I felt oddly energized, which was odd; the last thing I remembered was the memory of when I collapsed, due to my power on critical levels due to the beating that I took from Hammerfist.

Even though he was my friend, I was determined to get back at him for that; for personal revenge of course. I grinned, as I knew I was probably going to get him back through a prank.

I studied my surroundings; I seemed to be in a small room, with brick walls. Dust gathered upon the walls and surfaces like a film of dirty snow, making the area seem as though it hasn’t been cleaned in a century. However, pristine tools, some of them familiar, lay nearby on a small table; I could spot a plasma wrench, and my power core, along with a bunch of other tools that were from the Facility.

‘Whoever has these tools might know who I am. Maybe... no, that’s a stupid idea.’ I disregarded the thought, looking more around the room, seeing if I could spot anything out of the ordinary. I spotted my power core upon a small round table over at the opposite side of the room. But if that was over there, then...

I was broken out of my reverie when a man in a long brown coat walked in. He had a blue tie, a white shirt and black trousers, with an odd hairstyle. If anything, I would have pegged him as a bit of an eccentric, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he walked up to me.

“Ah, good to see you’re finally awake!” He exclaimed cheerfully, but stopped himself “Where are my manners? You can call me Doctor. Speaking of names, I only got snippets of information, who are you?”

I looked at him; yup, definitely crazy. I shook my head once more, and answered him.

“The name’s Zero. How...?” I began to ask, as I looked over at my old power core, which was still faintly glowing blue upon the small round table on the opposite side of the room.

He noticed where my gaze was headed, chuckled, and intervened “Are you still standing when your power core is over there? Good question! Believe it not... well you know magic exists in this world correct? Well, I gave you a magically powered core, similar to your own. Of course, it runs on magic absorbed from the environment, giving you an infinite power source! Not only this, but it’s able of giving a greater power output due to the large amount of power you will be absorbing.” He finished off his explanation with a grin, proud of his work.

I stood there, as I took in the information “Alright, so I don’t have to recharge?” I looked at him; if I didn’t have to recharge, it meant I could do things much more efficiently!

He nodded, and I had to stop myself from doing a small dance right there and then. Before either of us could talk any further, a blonde haired girl burst through the door. Literally.

The door fell into a splintered heap of scrapped wood, and the girl stood there. Unlike The Doctor, she had a rather unstable atmosphere around her, which exuded unorganized chaos; great, a walking catastrophe, that was all I needed right now.

“Sorry...” She smiled sheepishly, as her yellow crossed eyes seemed to look at The Doctor “I just don’t know what went wrong!”

The Doctor sighed, and rubbed his temples as he forgave her little apology “It’s alright, Derpy, I was just letting our friend up and out of here.” He looked across at me pointedly, and motioned for me to get out of the room before his wall-eyed friend blew me up.

Said wall-eyed friend ran up to me, shaking my hand vigorously. I swear, if she shook my hand any harder, my joints would have come off in a fountain of nuts and bolts.

“My name’s Diane, but you can call me Derpy!” She continued to shake my hand, and only stopped as she undid the clasp of her satchel, placing it on a surface nearby.

“So” She continued “What’s your favourite type of muffin?” She looked right up at me with her wall-eyed gaze.

I looked at her and chuckled, as the Doctor looked at me a little urgently, and once more motioned for me to get out. I gave him a look to tell him I was fine and answered “Well, I’ve never really had a Muffin before, but I’ll be sure to try one sometime soon, I guess.”

I started getting nervous when she froze up, there and then. She whispered to herself incredulously, as one of her eyes twitched. The Doctor looked at me worriedly, as if to say ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you’.

“Never... had.... Muffin..?” She walked over to her satchel, pulling out a muffin and walked up to me, and looked at me, her eyes haunted.

Before I could react, she unwrapped the muffin with lightning quick speed, forcing my mouth open and shouting “EAT THE MUFFIN NOW!!!!! TAKE IT!!!”

I nearly wasn’t able to digest the muffin due to the speed that Derpy shoved the crumby treat down my throat, only just managed to chomp it down, and slightly gagged.

The Doctor simply jumped away and hid behind another workbench, and cowered in minor fear from the muffin-wielding blonde-haired woman.

After I had recovered, I looked at her, terrified out of my cyber-implanted wits. Not once did I ever want to do that again.
She looked at me, returned to normal and smiled “You can go now. Bye!” She then looked at The Doctor, who has put two fingers on the bridge of his nose, massaging it.

After I had run out of there (as fast as possible, I assure you. I will never touch a Muffin again...), The Doctor turned to Derpy, who gave him her usual wall-eyed stare.

“Derpy, we need to talk.”

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading this chapter! :P Also many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading this chapter.

Please leave your comments below, thank you! (That is, if you want... *Fluttershy whisper* )

Please feel free to spot any mistakes :)

Signing out for now,

Axton

A Royal Welcome

After having ran from the borderline psychotic muffin loving woman, I decided to get to the castle (and to my friends) as soon as possible. I activated my speed boost, as I ran along the rooftops as my metallic feet made short work of the rooftops, and allowed me to get near the castle.

However, I was confronted with a minor problem; the main entrance to the castle was on the other side of the great walls that I was faced with. I looked around for another alternate entrance, my LED eyes scanning meticulously over the great structure, like a teacher’s eyes over a test; bingo. A window, one that was open, stood proudly amongst all the other closed windows.

Honestly, I was surprised, to say the least; on a warm summers day like this, why would only one window be open? Very strange. Maybe a lot of the inhabitants of the castle were acclimatised to this sort of weather.

I began to store energy, as it started flowing through me as it filled every ounce of my being, as my metal cables began to glow blue under the metallic plates of my body, and showed up; overall, I looked pretty badass to the average eye.
I grinned at the power within me as I changed my voice to that of the notoriously famous video game character.
“Falcon... JUMP!” I yelled at the top of my voice, as my legs propelled me up above the window. Unfortunately, I began to fall almost as soon as I had reached the peak of my height.

Due to my skill, I quickly grabbed onto the ledge and pulled myself up as I jovially thought ‘It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed.’

I walked inside casually noticing that no one was there, and grinned, and knew that now was the time to get to the throne room to talk to the Princesses. My feet made small ‘ting’ noises against the polished floor, my traction pads made sure I kept my balance. I swear, how does anyone walk on these floor without slipping over?

I eventually reached the throne room, or at least the doors of them. Two guards, rather buff and well muscled crossed their weapons.

“Stop right there! Show us identification, or pay the court’s fine!” One of them commanded, while the other simply nodded, spear still crossed over his comrade’s one.

I shrugged, as I told them that I was the ‘man’ that the Princesses wanted to see. They looked at each other for a moment, and did a small team huddle with each other. All the while, they murmured to each other. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait; I already slid past them and sneaked into the throne room.

“Alright, you can go... wait, where’d he go?” They looked at each other, and then proceeded to look around, clueless.

Inside the Throne Room...

“Ah, Zero, good you could make it. As you know, I am Celestia. And this,” She motioned to her sister, sitting aside her on a similar throne, just decorated to look more nocturnal “Is my sister Luna. We have decided to entrust you and your... companions, with a mission.” She smiled at me, as did Luna.

Near the base of the throne stood Vinyl, Octavia, Hammerfist and Trixie. Each nodded to me in turn as I walked up to where they were. Well, Trixie winked at me, which made me blush lightly. Luckily, I covered it rather quickly, and turned to look up at the Princesses.

Celestia looked positively radiant in the Daylight, her mane flowing more freely than ever, the colors of it much more vibrant. Luna was a little more toward the opposite of that; she looked much more tired, which was probably due to the fact that her sleep cycles were different so she could raise the moon.

“Our mission” Celestia continued “Is for you to go to the Griffin Kingdoms, so you may deliver” She pulled out a fairly large scroll “this treaty. Naturally, we expect you to return fairly unharmed. While the Griffins can be rather... unsociable, we understand that they would not hurt an envoy of our kingdom, as it would risk the possibility of war. The mission will take around a few weeks at least, a couple of months at most. It is a long and arduous journey, so we wish you luck should you accept it.”

“Of course” Luna cut in “Should thee and thy companions accept this mission, thou must be careful; there are quite a few Griffins whom are known to... eat humans” She shuddered at the thought “so we ask that thee be careful.”

I looked at my friends (and my girlfriend) and nodded, as I got return nods; they were ready, more than ready should we run into a fight. With Hammerfist’s brawn, we would be able to take out enemies much more easily.

“Don’t worry, me and Tavi got you covered.” Vinyl grinned as Octavia blushed once more and chastised her friend on using said nickname.

Hammerfist looked at me and grinned “What, thought I wouldn’t go on this mission? Possibly insurmountable odds, fights bound and enemies skulls to crush? Wouldn't miss it for the world!” He laughed a booming laugh and looked away again.

Trixie simply looked at me, nodded and blushed, looking away once more. Trixie... Y U ACT SO CUTE!?
Luna noticed all of the replies, and continued telling us of the mission.

“The going shalt be treacherous indeed, adventurers. Always be wary, think fast, stay sharp.” She emphasized the word ‘sharp’, making the ‘p’ extra pronounced “We wish you luck, both I and mine sister. And Hammerfist” She blushed, looking away for a moment. “Do be careful.”

Hammerfist grinned and gave her a thumbs up, and didn’t show any signs of a blush.
I turned to Celestia and nodded “We accept your mission, Princess.”

Celestia smiled in a motherly manner down at us “Thank you, Zero, your deed will not be forgotten for neither you or your friends. I suggest you go to the armory and get geared up for your venture.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as we had walked out of earshot, she got up and poked Luna, singing in a joking manner “Luna has a Cruuuushh~!” She continued to repeat it as Luna begged her elder sister to stop the merciless mocking.

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore once more for proof reading!

Please leave your comments and thoughts in the comments below, and don't forget to subscribe! (Wait, this isn't YouTube. :3 )

Signing off for now,

Axton

First Journey

We headed straight to the armoury, on our way to gear up for the first venture into the Griffin Lands. Here was the basic plan; we would first head to Baltimare, a civilization by the sea, and see if we could hire a ship, possibly one selling and importing goods to the Griffins. To be honest, if we were conspicuous in the Griffin Lands, we’d likely be thrown in jail, as the import and civilian laws were very different (very few people not from the Griffin lands rarely got in as the Griffins made one thing clear in their badlands and plains; Griffins rule, and other species do not.)

We all decided to go together to the armoury, mainly due to the fact that Hammerfist had a strange and slightly psychological love of battleaxes.

As we passed through the hallways, we received some odd glances from the Guards and Staff of the castle; I mean, it’s not every day you see a robot and a minotaur tagging along with three humans, is it?

After a while, we had reached the armoury; before us lay a huge, ornate door, which loomed over us, like a giant that stared down upon a human.

“Impressive” Hammerfist grinned “But...”

We all looked at him and rolled our eyes as he barged through the door to the armoury, finding dozens of large weapons, small weapons and everything in between. Hammerfist grinned a grin which bordered on happiness and the psychotic.

I had to admit, for an industrial age kingdom, this armoury had it all. Well, for us, anyway. Pistols (flintlocks), rifles (muskets) and small cannons lined the walls and floors, along with a wide range of melee weapons; from daggers to Minotaurian Battleaxes, some in cases, some hung up on the armoury’s weapon racks.

“Alright, I’m ready” Hammerfist grinned, as we rolled our eyes. The armoured minotaur had two battleaxes strapped to his back, a sword at his side, and three daggers strapped to his shoulders. I looked at him pointedly and chuckled.

“Hammer, we aren’t going to need that many weapons” I explained, trying (and failing) to keep a straight face “Griffins may be a little hostile, but if you come in waving those weapons around and looking like a walking and talking battleship, they may not take too kindly to us.”

Hammerfist groaned, putting away the sword and daggers as he glared at me, making me chuckle; Hammerfist; One, Zero; 1.

Vinyl and Octavia were on the other side of the Armoury, where the pistols and rifles were, chatting quietly, while I waited (What, I already have everything I need with me; Plasma cannon in one wrist, Portal gun in the other.)

Meanwhile, Trixie had picked out a small few select items; some easily concealable daggers, and a small shortsword. Clever girl. I walked over to her, leaning on the wall nearby.

“So” I asked “How do you think this whole thing is gonna turn out?” I gestured a hand absently to Hammerfist, who had began to casually swing a battleaxe around in front of him. Not only this, but he managed to knock over a sword stand, said swords clattering to the floor.

She watched the spectacle, rolling her eyes as she replied “Tri- I mean, I, think that it will go well, after all you are leading this mission, right?”

I nodded “From what you’ve told me about Equestria’s geography, Baltimare should be to the...” I wracked my brains for a moment “east of Canterlot, right? Then we can get a carriage to Baltimare, and take a ship to the Griffin Lands.”
Trixie nodded in confirmation, and smirked “You’re not entirely useless then.”

I laughed, and stroked her cheek “Nope.”

She blushed, before Vinyl interrupted with a loud “HEY, LOVEBIRDS!” which knocked out of our harmless flirting.

Trixie instantaneously jumped, which made Vinyl laugh uproariously. I looked at her with a raised brow, as Octavia and Hammerfist walked over. Octavia rolled her eyes, obviously used to her blue-haired friends antics.

Trixie glared at Vinyl for a moment, before she sighed resolutely and explained the Plan to everyone present. Octavia nodded to Vinyl, who returned the gesture, and also grinned under her purple sunglasses.

Hammerfist grunted, still slightly angry at me for my reprimand on his weapons, while I nodded, already knowing the plan.
We headed out of the armoury shortly after, weapons ready and on hand, pistols loaded and daggers sharpened, ready for the first journey we were to take to get to the Griffin Lands.

Before long, we had reached the east gate, and hired a carriage (a flight one, of course, as Canterlot IS on a mountain), and set off towards Baltimare. Little did we notice a shadow that slinked off back to the streets of the great, bustling city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blueblood paced back and forth in his room, angry and impatient as his feet made contact with the floor, over and over.

“Damnit, where is that emissary?!” He growled to himself, his blonde hair dishevelled from the past few days of constant planning to get back at that... that... freak, Zero. That... that bastard who took away his honour by defeating, no, befriending his champion.

His anger bubbled as he smacked a fist against the wall, only hurting himself in the process. He yelped in pain, holding his hand, seething with pent up anger.

A shadow entered the room, pooling onto the central carpet; it was like a pool of tar, but smelled like a bad sewer, of rotting corpses and dung.

Blueblood turned around, his dark scowl turning to a triumphant grin. He walked over to the pool of shadow as it receded, and a man ascended, cloaked in a black robe, complete with cowl and a silver trim.

“Good of you to finally arrive, Fenrir.” Blueblood remarked sarcastically, before pulling a small pouch of coins from his pockets “The information. Now.”

Fenrir chuckled “Straight the point, eh? I like that. They’re heading out of the east gate, and are quick on the way to Baltimare, via air carriage. Now, about that pay...” He quickly received the pouch of coins, checking to make sure they were Equestria’s currency of bits.

“Glad we could do business, my Prince.” He bowed elaborately, and walked to the door, only to be stopped as an ice blue aura stopped it, forcing it closed.

“Actually, there is one thing I need done... Fenrir.” Blueblood grinned evilly and walked towards the hooded man, explaining his meticulous and malicious plan.

Author's Notes:

Oh look, a new Major Story Arc has begun >:) excellent. But seriously, this took a bit of planning to do :3

Please put your thoughts/opinions/emoticons about this chapter (and the story so far) into the box below :D *flutteryay*. Not only this, but if there are any mistakes still there (possible, being me XD ) please point them out so I can get rid of them.

Many thanks to the ever Illusive one known as Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading my chapter.

Signing off for now,

Axton

First Encounter

Fenrir rode on through the pouring rain, his dark black mount snorting angrily and nearly out of breath as he tracked the flying carriage through the air, his hood, now soaked through (like the rest of his clothes), drawn over his face.

He was undetectable against the dark and gloomy day that had ensued since he set out, a dark determination bubbling away inside of him, imitating the morbid storm clouds above.

Lightning struck against the ground nearby as he and his mount dashed past it, not even flinching as it nearly blinded him; it gave an eerie glow to his face, as the shadows cast a malicious shadow.

‘Soon, robot, you and your companions shall die, I’ll get my gold and no one will know any better. Anyway, it’ll be registered as a ‘system shutdown’...’ He chuckled to himself, his voice low and scratchy.

‘Soon...’

4 Hours later, At Baltimare, the city of the Sea...

I jumped out the cart and stretched some odd kinks out of my back as the others moaned, and held onto the hand rails nearby as they tried to hold in their stomach’s contents; it had been a bumpy landing, and the cart (as it began to take off again) dropped our contents gently onto the floor, its ‘deliver and return’ acting on its own accord.

“Well...” Trixie stumbled over, holding onto my structurally intact plating for a support “That was different”.

I chuckled, and straightened her light blue and mercury silver hair out as she breathed out a sigh of relief, her amethyst eyes closing as she gave in to the caring treatment.

After I finished, the others (that’s Hammerfist, Octavia and Vinyl. Just in case you forgot) got together the gear, and made sure it was strapped to the back of Hammerfist; being a Minotaur, he could easily carry all the stuff we brought with us. Hell, he could probably move a building if he wanted to.

“Alright, where next?” The horned warrior inquired, shrugging his shoulders as he adjusted to the weight of our equipment.
“Well” Octavia began, as Vinyl yawned and took in the environment “we need to get a ship to the Griffin Lands, a good one too; the storms out on the Golden Sea are treacherous, and could easily rip apart any wooden sea craft. We’ll need a Steam Powered Latch Boat. Anything like the carriage we came here in would also be destroyed.” She nodded, and pulled out a map before she handed it to Vinyl who went through it.

“Alright everybody, we’re on the north side of the city; I’ve been on tour here before, so we’ll need to get a ship from the southern ports. That’ll take us through the Bazaar, so we’ll need to keep an eye on our equipment, make sure none of it gets stolen. Then, we go simply get to the port through the southern exit of the bazaar and BLAMO!” She grinned, giving us a thumbs up “We get ourselves a ship, deliver this treaty thingy and then get home before Hearth’s Warming!”

Octavia giggled, and covered her mouth as she shook her head; it was one of the antics that she liked about Vinyl. No one else could pique her sense of humour in such a random and wild way.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Hammerfist bellowed a laugh, and then jogged off towards the bazaar, us in tow.

Three hours later, The Grand Bazaar...

We walked through the busy, bustling bazaar and kept an eye out for any cutpurses and thieves as we traversed its packed market streets. All around us, merchants sold their wares; from spices to trinkets, the Baltimare Bazaar had it all. Anything went here, and the range of merchants (from the shadiest of scum to the finely clothed) was beyond that of the average human sight. Civilians, blacksmiths, couriers and more weaved their way around the city, all with a certain set determination in their eyes and either a scroll, coin purse or any other of the wide-spanning equipment in their hands.

It wasn’t just the diversity of the jobs of the people here, or the wares for that matter; it was their race. Black chitin-covered people went to and fro, flittering above the crowds on bug-like wings, while lumbering Minotaurs carried their hammers to steaming anvils. Griffins (you could tell by the feathery wings and purple rimmed eyes) walked silently about, grim faced as ever; only one or two we passed ever seemed cheery. Other than that, there were a few grizzled faces (that, oddly, reminded me of a Donkey in similarity) and the main population of ponies.

We took in the sights like sweet nectar, the Olde Style brick buildings and tiled roofs giving the city a rugged beauty. However, I was snapped out of my reverie by a small weasel-faced man brushing past me. I could already tell he had stolen the small coin purse he now expertly handled as I tried to weave through the crowd, but in vain as he weaved past countless people.

Fortunately, he was stopped by a large and thin man, dressed a black duster (with leather shoulder pads), a midnight black shirt and pair of jeans in the same colour along with a set of cowboy black leather boots. The man placed a stopping hand on the weasel-man’s shoulder, took the purse and threatened him quietly before letting the small man get away, a hand quickly extended to give me back the miniature leather bag.

“You alright there, mate?” His accent having a low rasping sound to it “You going through the Bazaar to get to the port, then?” He smiled thinly as I took the purse, nodded and placed it back on my hip.

“Yeah” The others had caught up to me by now, and panted, breathing heavily from the hard task of getting back to me through the dense crowd.

We nodded to each other, as I smiled and nodded again, a little low on power to speak; after all I hadn’t recharged in at least 12 hours (the carriage ride was long. As was the whole Canterlot fiasco).

“Well then, you best follow me then, laddy” He walked off in the separate direction, headed for the southern entrance on the way to the port, as he sent a message to his boss.

‘The bot’s following me. Phase two will be ready by nightfall’.

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Sorry about the long wait, but exams are happening pretty soon. Like literally, I have a spanish one this thursday. :/

But oh well :D stayin' happy. Please leave any thoughts, opinions and views about the story or the chapter in general (that is, if you want to. Just Saiyan)

Also, if you haven't already, don't forget to like and favorite! *Flutterbeg*

Signing off for now,

Axton

Choices

We headed with the strange, bearded man through the over-crowded streets, as the crowd parted before him, which gave us a clear walk through the claustrophobic, cobblestoned paths of Baltimare. Behind me, Trixie and Octavia chatted quietly, discussing their familiar like to classical music (Octavia still held on to her secret love of electronic music. How do I know, you ask? She mutters in her sleep. That is all).

Vinyl had her arms stretched behind her back, making a makeshift headrest behind her electric-blue haired head, as Hammerfist fiddled with his battleaxe (no innuendo intended. Go figure), rubbing off small, nearly unidentifiable scrubs and wads of dirt.

It was rather strange, however; I had my suspicions about this man, with his odd beard. I never trusted people with odd beards. Or guard insignias for that matter; but back to the story at my incredibly awesome metallic hand.

We quickly cut our way through the crowd, a sword of people that cut a swath through a horde of slightly annoying tourists. Unfortunately, something quickly stopped us; and by that, I mean a mob of large thugs with a small, rat-faced and repulsive little man in the middle. They barged past us, knocking all of us (apart from me and Hammerfist, who grabbed a fairly muscled one and threw him into a wall nearby, and walked over imposingly to question him), as I stabilized myself. The man who was leading us to the port bellowed in anger, drawing his sword and yelled something about ‘City Cobras’, which I guessed was the gang that had bumped into us.

As I noticed one of them running off with all our coin purses, and nodded to the others, I kicked my speed boosters into overdrive, and sped off after them. As getting through the crowd would be too complicated, I quickly rappelled up a wall, as quick as a dog toward some leftover food on the floor after a Sunday dinner.

Fortunately for my plas-connect pads on my hands (which could be utilized whenever I wished), I was quick to the roof, wall jumping multiple times thanks to the walls being made of oddly polished-off brickwork. It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed.

After I reached a viewpoint where I could see the group of thieves from, I found that they were around a few hundred meters from my eagle-eyed position atop the high rooftop, kicking my boosters into ‘vroom’ mode (I am going to drown the guy that named that protocol. Seriously, stop laughing).

It wasn’t long before I had a eagle-eye view of the group of thugs, and began to calculate the way to get a jump on them, all the while as I kept up with them, a light blue blurry mist seeping out from behind me (out of small back vents that open up to deal with the chemical heat created of me using the speed boost; like a robot fart.)

After a few minutes, I jumped into the middle of the group, upon the small vermin man who quickly crumpled to the floor, as he hit his head and got knocked out upon the cobblestone surface. The other thugs quickly whipped around, with alarmed faces which quickly turned to sneers as they surrounded me, ready to shove or hit me. A few of them (there were six), had already drawn weapons, crude looking daggers that looked like they couldn’t bust a wheel.

I laughed and readied my fists as I went straight into combat mode, my eyes once more showing of the gruesome blood red they did the first time I turned into my more badass alter-ego. One by one, they were defeated beneath my fists of glory as they were felled like trees, slow and clumsy punches being out maneuvered by my quick AI reactions and lightning-fast blows, all which left steaming burns upon the poorly crafted black and green armor they had donned before heading out to thieve from citizens.

After what seemed like hours, my eyes turned back to normal as I gathered up the coin purses from the rat-faced man, making sure not to accidentally crush any of his bones as I also destroyed their weapons after gaining back the leather pouches and placing them back on my waist (which was easy, considering the crudely made daggers and shortswords were simply weak steel or strong iron/steel crafted blades.)

I jumped ahead of the crowd that had begun to gather, and landed on a rooftop, quickly dashing back toward the others, who smiled back at me from my vantage point. All except for the strange, bearded man who was leading us.

As I landed nearby and walked over, the crowd parting before me, he nodded and motioned for me to follow again and the group once more fell in line, traversing the streets again; toward the port we went.

Twenty minutes later, Baltimare Port...

Y’know I said that Baltimare itself was a beautiful city? Well, if you thought my description of the city was riveting, then the port completely blew it out of the water.

Boats had gathered aside the tiled masonry that divided each piece of the port from the other, great gargantuan glorious behemoths of wood that heaved to and fro in the calm waters as crews of men, women and an assortment of other creatures worked aboard. The waters were still and blue, twinkling beautifully in the sunlight, reflecting the image of those who stood over it.

Much like the city, a lot of people still worked along the walkways and streets that made exits and entrances to the port, as market stalls were already set up. They sold foreign goods; from Minotaurian metalwork to Zebrican gemstones, this port had it all and had earned its name as one of the best trade centers of the world.

“Alright” Fenrir snapped me and my friends out of our reverie, speaking in his low, rasping and neutral tone “Feel free to look around and spend your bits on what you feel is necessary. The journey will take 4 days upon my ship, 'The Prince’s Plan'. When you’re done here, meet me aboard there, say to the porters that you’re an honored guest and they’ll let you through without any trouble. She’s a big black vessel, four masts and giant sails, with the flag of a white crown and crossed daggers; you can’t miss her.”

He nodded, leaving us to our devices, but stopped for a moment and called back “You can call me Captain Fenrir, one of her majesties’ finer former warriors.” He chuckled darkly and walked off, black shoulder cape flowing behind his midnight black leather chestplate.

I nodded, as Octavia, Trixie and the others waved him off. When he was out of eyesight (lost in the trundling crowds, no doubt), we turned to each other and grinned widely.

What could possibly go wrong?

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Again, sorry for the chapter shortness, schoolwork is piling onto me like a tonne of bricks and general free time is short, so this is all I could make today. Hey, a guy's gotta relax, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zero: Not if he had a recharge function.
Me: Shush. Sleep is for the weak.
*Zero mumbles darkly*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, if you haven't already, don't forget to like and favorite (that is.. if you want *fluttershy whisper*), and please point out any mistakes that my wonderful (and slightly handsome. don't tell him I said that ;) ) editor, Fluttershy Auditore (many thanks to him) could have missed!

Keep those gears turning,

Axton

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

After we purchased our items at the market (Octavia brought a sapphire necklace for Vinyl, who (surprisingly) blushed when receiving it. Hammerfist didn’t buy anything as he stated ‘Minotaurs don’t shop; the only time they do is for battle and food resource’.

Trixie however, brought a new magic book called ‘Luna’s Illusional Encyclopaedia’, which detailed all magic attacks, defenses and tricks to do with the illusion magic school. We headed along the docks, supplies in hand; I hadn’t bought anything mind, sans some odd parts here and there. And by parts, I mean giant sheets of metal. And no, I won’t tell you what they’re for.

We quickly found the ship we were looking for; after all, it was quite hard to miss. It stood proud at the third dock, moored in place by eight thick ropes that clung to its heavy and dark hull like writhing tentacles.

The ship was made primarily of a shining skin of mahogany wood, which had glowing bright blue runes in it, which lit the ship up like a beacon, even in the morning light. On the side of the hull read the words ‘The Prince’s Plan’. Although it was a bit of an odd name, I disregarded any suspicious thought protocols and climbed a ladder which had dropped down from above deck and climbed aboard, the others quick to follow me up onto the spit-shined deck.

Sailors and workers of all shapes and sizes toiled away on deck as they got ready for the long voyage ahead of them; they readied the sails, which unfurled, revealing the white crown upon the black sails. Oddly, this gave me the sensation of an electrical charge spanning my metallic spinal cord.

Once we were all aboard, Fenrir strolled up to us, garbed in his usual black leather, which almost made him seem invisible against the dark brown deck.

“Speak of the metal-clad devil! Welcome aboard The Prince’s Plan.” He paused to call over a tiny little boy, probably only about 10 or 11 years old “This is Archie, my son, although he insists on being called Pipsqueak.” He chuckled, ruffling the kid’s hair, said kid quickly readjusting a black pirate bandanna on the scruffy mess of brown hair atop his minuscule head.

“Aye Aye, Cap’n!” Pipsqueak grinned, then dashed off towards the below deck stairwell and shouted “With me, landlubbers!” He stumbled halfway through his mad dash for the lower decks, but picked himself up continued running.

Octavia looked at Vinyl as if to say ‘Can we keep him?’ to which Vinyl only laughed and mouthed ‘Maybe’. Hammerfist nodded to us, placed our packs down on the wooden deck and proceeded to lumber off to the kitchens, all the while murmuring about ‘Could do with some good old fashioned chicken.’

With ourselves settled later in our rooms, The Prince’s Plan set sail upon the endless oceans, sails unfurled and anchor risen up onto the deck.

Later, Octavia’s and Vinyl’s Cabin...

Vinyl and Octavia sat in the cabin of the ship (cabin 419 to be specific) and had quickly begun a conversation between each other. It was a rather close conversation which consisted of very close... proximity.

“Vinyl,” Octavia asked, as she moved slightly closer to her blue-haired friend “I was gonna ask...” She was interrupted as Vinyl leaned in and kissed her full on the lips, leaving Octavia to blush as she melted into the kiss.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until both pulled away, both panting for breath. Two blushes had spread across their cheeks, their demeanor both flustered.

“That... was amazing, Vinyl.” Octavia let out, still short of breath. Before she could go any further, however, a resounding ‘BOOM!’ filled the cabin.

They both turned and jumped out of the way, just in time to see a cannonball rip apart the roof to their cabin as it tore through the hull of the ship, a rune glowing on it. Shouts came from above deck, and yells filled the ship, ranging from ‘All hands on deck!’ to ‘Not the ostrich!’

The two agents nodded to each other, and dashed to the upper decks.

Back on the upper decks...

“FIRE ALL THE MAIN CANNONS!” Fenrir yelled and pointed his leather-clad arm at the enemy pirate ship, which rounding on them fast; they were in a losing battle and he knew it. Those enchanted cannonballs would tear through his hull, if he didn’t do something about it.

Meanwhile, Trixie was doing her best to reflect cannonballs from the enemy ship back at them; she was doing well, but it wasn’t enough. Hammerfist was shooting cannonballs at them left right and centre, but to no avail, as most of them missed.
I watched all the carnage and racked my archives for a solution as all around me, carnage erupted. Cannonballs flew past my head, as an idea sprung to mind.

“Captain!” He looked across at my call as I yelled at him “Get all the cannons over to me, I have an idea! And bring as many powder kegs here too!” He nodded and began yelling orders, as I prayed my idea would work.

Upon the other ship, ‘The Pirate’s Wrath’...

The pirates yelled and dashed about as they faced ‘The Prince’s Plan’ in hopes of getting some sweet booty for their hoards of gold upon the ship. All of them failed to notice the giant transformation happening in the middle of the enemy ship, as their musket shots rang clear, hitting royal troops. Cannons were currently being reloaded, and thus were out of use for now.

One of them, however, stood stock still as the pirate manning one of the cannons paled, his skin turning a papery white in a very comical fashion. His comrade walked over to him and asked “Oi, Rat, you ok?” only for ‘Rat’ to raise a shaking finger at the behemoth that was the monster made of moving cannons and powder kegs. The monster that was aiming at their ship.

Rat’s comrade suddenly comprehended what was happening, and also paled “Ah, shite...”

‘KRAKA-THOOM!’

Author's Notes:

Alright, ye pirate scum! Let's start us a drinking game! Every time you hear me say 'YAR!', you shout, 'AHOY THAR' and take a swig o' yer whisky and rum. Got it? Let's get to it, ye scurvy dogs!

YAR!

*Silence*

YAR!!!! *Silence, again*

Arrr, yer no fun... *grumbles*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silliness aside, how did you enjoy/not enjoy that chapter? Please post your answer in the comments! Also, if you noticed any mistakes by yours truly, don't forget to point them out. And thanks to Fluttershy Auditore (who's laptop is broke, consarn it), for proof reading this chapter. Don't forget to like and favorite!

Keep those Gears turning, Coglings (your new fan names. If you want to post a suggestion, don't hesitate :P )

~Axton

A Desperate Plan

I pulled myself out of the small pyramid of cannons that I had used to transform, shaking my head clear of gunpowder as carnage erupted around me like a bull in a china shop. As I hauled myself to my feet, I surveyed my surroundings, my blue cybernetic lenses scanning the area with unworldly precision.

The enemy pirate ship was left as nothing more than a skeleton, due to the intense cannon fire I had used to tear through it; it reminded me of all the hurricane devastation videos I watched from back on the facility.

I blinked once, rolled my shoulders and looked about our own ship; it fared not much better than theirs; while the hull was still intact, multiple gaping holes riddled the hull, with the sails flying freely in the wind; they were also peppered with holes from musket fire and any ropes securing them to the masts had fallen onto the decks like great sinewy snakes.

In short, the ship was already on its way under the waves, which meant we only had around an hour before it sunk beneath the roaring waves of the ocean.

Vinyl and Octavia had already ran onto the deck and began to check the pulses of the sailors aboard the ship, while Trixie healed those who were wounded. Fenrir stood at the poop deck of the ship as he surveyed the damage with a heavy stare full of anger and malice, his usually neutral features clouded with rage.

Hammerfist carried out his duty as the strongest being on deck and threw all the fallen debris (pieces of mast, sail and wood) of the dying ship into the sea as his powerful muscles were rippling, debris finding its way off of the slowly suffering vessel and into the vast waters that laid between us and the Gryphon lands.

Twenty hours had passed since we set off and the ship was already on its way down, the only thing keeping it afloat being the multitude of enchantments that had been cast upon the ship.

Fenrir crossed over the deck to me, a frown on his face as he knew his mission would have to be delayed. That meant it would take longer to get the gold he so dearly needed.

“Any way you could possibly get us out of here?” He raised a brow, and looked across the deck to what remained of his crew; only three or four sailors were still left alive and they were either mortally wounded or too scared to do anything.
I thought over this; we couldn’t get out of this mess by using the life boats as they had been smashed to smithereens. A lot of the cargo was already broken, minus whatever had been salvaged from all the rooms by Hammerfist and Octavia. Finding out that the other sailors had died hit the three women pretty hard and they stood vigil at the bodies muttering a few muddled prayers as the stench of death filled the air.
“Let’s check over what we’ve got. While I do technically have infinite power, it only has a certain amount of output before I go ka-put. I have enough power for another transformation right now, as long as it lasts for not too long. I can go for about three days in a transformed state, but that all depends on the components at hand. My core isn’t exactly the state-of-the art style, even if I am, or was, one of the latest models of robot.” I nodded and walked over to the salvaged supplies, Fenrir close behind.

We had a fair amount to work with; the sheets of metal I had brought with me (which totalled to around 10 sheets of 5x10 meter sheets), many wooden planks and boards, nails and whatnot, along with two piston motors and a menagerie of bits and bobs. Along with the food and water we had (which was enough to feed a small army), I had something to work with.

“Alright, I have an idea. Get everyone here now; this isn’t going to be easy.” I ordered Fenrir, who nodded and stalked off, his feet pounding on the deck. Before long, everyone had gathered in a small semi-circle upon the wooden flooring of the dying ship; we didn’t have long, and if this was going to work, I needed everyone’s cooperation.

By now, the weather had calmed and everyone had their eyes on me; Trixie looked at me with worry, while Vinyl and Octavia simply had an anxious look on their faces. Hammerfist had donned a stoic expression, no emotion passing upon his weathered warrior’s face, while Fenrir’s emotion reflected exactly what he was thinking; he was worried about his own safety, which was obvious given the circumstances, but bore great dread around him like a curtain covering a small child.

I smiled as I knew I could trust all of these people (and if you want to get technical, the hulking Minotaur that was Hammerfist). Even Pipsqueak had come out of his hiding place and now stood by his dad’s side. Fenrir smiled back slightly, his lips twitched upwards with relief at the sight of his son.

“Alright, everyone. We’re in deep water here, no pun intended, so I have come up with a plan; I am going to transform for the second time today. Using the materials we have here, and your help, we can get to the Gryphon lands.” Everyone looked unsure at this point, but I continued to explain the plan regardless, hope burning in my AI core like a forest fire “First off, I’m going to make these multiple sheets of metal into blades, which I can use for flight with the right measurements and cutting, which I can do via using my plasma. Which, trust me, can cut through pretty much anything. Apart from that, I will need you to salvage any rope you can find and secure it to my chest and legs. Trixie, I want you to do that, you’re the best at using your magic for this kind of thing. I will then attach the blades and other various components to my back, with the help of
Hammerfist. Octavia, Vinyl and Fenrir, I want you to make the biggest raft possible from the supplies we have here. Fenrir, make sure it’s seaworthy. Everyone got that?” I look back at the myriad of faces staring at me.

However, their emotions were different from what they were a few moments ago; this time, they were filled with hope and confidence; they could get out of this alive and they knew it.
And so, a desperate plan had been hatched.

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Sorry again for the long wait, exams are being a bitch right now :/

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading this chapter, without him my work wouldn't be as good as you see it now.
Also, sorry if my work does not reach up to you, the reader's, expectations. I know there are loads of fanfics which are probably gazillions of miles better than mine, but I thank you for all your support and likes, favorites, especially the witty comments you all tend to put in the comments box. After all, what's a story without its readers? So my biggest thanks go to you, all you readers of this story, for your input and constant support. :D

Please leave your comments in the box below, whatever they may be!
And remember to....

Keep those gears grinding!

~Axton

A Plan in Action

By now, the platform had been made, wood and timber strung together to make what looked like a makeshift raft, with barrels upon the bottom of the wooden boarding. All in all, it could fit around 10 people on it, which was more than enough for us. I nodded; all was in place for our last ditch escape plan. I nodded to Trixie, who stood a little way away from me and was looking forlorn, out to sea. I could imagine her now; The Great and Powerful Trixie, Siren of the Sea. Before I could fantasize any further (look at me, getting soft again. Now, be quiet, or pain shall follow) Hammerfist knocked on my back, and I turned to him.

“You ready, Zero? I mean... are you sure about this plan? You’re not exactly the most waterproof of people.” He frowned and looked at the newly attached back and leg plates, along with other small rubber bindings which basically made me a watertight juggernaut. I had explained the plan to everyone, but they still felt a little underwhelmed at the simplicity.

I grinned back at him, silver teeth flashing in the sunlight “Of course; it’s rather simple, really. I’ll transform, and with the ropes attaching me to the raft, I’ll be able to propel us using the plates on my back as a sort of motor. To switch directions, I simply grab the raft and turn my back we’ll be able to head in another direction.”

He then proceeded to nod, looking slightly reassured as he walked to the raft, hefting some barrels of salvaged supplies and food onto it and then secured them with a lengthy piece of rope; finally, our vessel was ready.

If you had looked at it from afar, you would see a wooden and metal raft, big enough to hold ten; it looked slightly ramshackle, but it was all we needed, along with the supplies.

I shrugged my shoulders, knocking a few pieces of grime out of it; it had been too long since I had polished my plates, and they were riddled with scratches and miniscule dents that itched and ached; whose idea was it to put pain receptors into a robot?

I yelled to catch everyone’s attention “Alright everyone, get aboard and we’ll be off!” Everyone filed onboard the makeshift raft, like ants into a hive; overall, we had Vinyl and Octavia, Hammerfist and Fenrir (along with his chipper son, Pipsqueak) and Trixie. The latter came over to me, worry painted over her face, obvious as day.

I looked at her and smiled reassuringly as she asked “How do you do it? I mean, you always save us. Why?” She crossed her arms, doubt painted across her features.

I replied, my smile ever growing “You see, it’s within my protocol to protect humans, well ethically good ones which have been judged by my AI system anyway. It was hardwired into me on day one; I can’t let a good human die, my protocols won’t let me. Even if they have done me wrong; it’s why I couldn’t kill anyone back on the facility. The guards who beat me were simply men following orders; the Director was simply a man who was working for the advancement on society. Sure, his tests were damn annoying, but it was all in what my AI recognized as ‘Evolution for Humans’. So I have nothing against him. Anyway” I looked straight at her “I have a beautiful girl to look after. And I’ll be damned if I let her die on a shipwreck.” I walked forwards and gave her a cheeky peck on the cheek, then proceeded to walk toward the raft and sat on the back edge of it.

Trixie grumbled, and went and sat on the other side of the raft, the blush on her face that had turned it bright red evident. She bore the cutest pout on her face, and swung her legs to and fro in an attempt to divert her thoughts from her romance.

I nodded at Hammerfist, who had settled down on the centre of the craft, near Fenrir (who sat with the young and chipper Pipsqueak in his lap). He replied with a grin and thumbs up, his battleaxe strung to his back. I swear he probably slept with that thing.

Vinyl and Octavia sat behind the father and son, chatting quietly to each other; I could’ve ear-wigged in on them, but I’m not that kind of bot; you thought I was? How rude.

With everyone on board, I nodded to myself “Alright, let’s get moving!” I picked up the raft and everyone on it (I swear, all these guys together weigh a tonne! Don’t tell Trixie I said that, she’ll hit me with a bombardment of books) and hefted us over to the edge of the ship. Everyone clung on for dear life as I dropped us over the edge and jumped down into the sea, my AI actively recording the near-freezing temperature of the water as I began to transform.

My legs immediately tucked into my stomach, while my arms grasped onto the back of the raft with inhuman grip. The pain was excruciating; every transformation was painful, but I couldn’t give up now. I held back any speech, the blades on my back that were connected beginning to whir.

Before my pain could reach a peak, we shot forward and onward, in the directions that Fenrir gave out; he carried a compass and a sexton, and wasted no time using both to tell us where to go.

We headed out across the sea; the plan had started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day One upon the raft...

We blasted along the waves, everyone hanging on to the raft as sea spray flung up around us like tiny dolphins, only to jump back into the ocean once more. The blades on my back were still going strong, my body more than willing to keep going. I made sure the power was notched at as fast as I could go without draining the energy I would need for the next two days. My eyes grew determined; I would not give in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day two upon the raft...

Fortunately, we had enough supplies to last us a fairly long time; around another two days for humans. Unfortunately, Hammerfist ate like a ravenous manticore, devouring a fair bit more. We had enough to survive one day. Oh, and according to Fenrir, Hammerfist ‘smelled like a piss soaked timberwolf sap bucket’. Hammerfist looked fairly annoyed, and clocked him on the head in anger, while I continued to focus; right now, it was the only thing I could do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day three upon the raft...

It had turned nightfall, and my power was low, almost critical levels. Trixie sat by me now as worry clouded her face. I was in permanent lock in my actions, not able to give up until I ran below a dangerous 10% of power, which is when I would turn off.
After the passing of another few hours, I ignored the cries of joy as we reached what Fenrir noted was a seaside town called ‘RedBeak’. By now, my body felt like it had a tonne of the heaviest metal in existence on it.

I hauled myself up onto the raft, transforming back under the excruciating pain that it took to become my ‘normal’ form again. Once I had done so, I quickly passed out, my metal head and core not having enough power to even let me stand.
My mind entered the hibernate mode, shutting me down as I heard the yells of worry from the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, at Canterlot Castle...

Blueblood paced around his room, waiting for the reply from Fenrir; was that bothersome Zero dead along with his peasant whore of a girlfriend? He grunted and sat impatiently at a chair, until his mind registered telepathy.

‘Fenrir! You buffoon, you haven’t answered in Celestia knows how long! Where are you?’ He mentally berated the shadowy man, a scowl upon his face.

‘Let me tell you something; you know our deal? It’s off. You said the ship was invincible, the crew was well trained and that there would be no damn pirates out on that route throughout the whole week! I don’t care about the amount of money you want to give me. Stay out of my life and away from my family, you bastard. We nearly died out there and all you probably care about is one robot who, by the way, saved our hides.’ Fenrir sent the telepathy message as anger burned through his mind like a raging inferno.

Blueblood stood there, stunned as he received the message. That was, until he received a mental bitch slap from Fenrir, who proceeded to end the message as the royal prince fell to the floor, dazed; that slap hurt.

And on that day, Blueblood swore to get revenge, rage boiling and bubbling away in his blood.

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Sorry for the long wait (school is being a bitch with exams. English and RE.) !

Anyway, big shout out to Commander Ice and xXCondemnedSoulXx, for awesome stories! (I suggest Gamer God for Commander Ice, and The two guild stories. I suggest reading the prequel to The Guild; Fallen Kingdom, first though. It would make much more sense).

Anyway, Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please post comments below and any questions via the comments box or via PM, I will answer to the best of my abilities. If any mistakes are seen, please put them in the comments below; don't forget to like and favorite! Many thanks for Fluttershy Auditore, who proof read this chapter :3 .

Keep those gears grinding!

~Axton

A New Ally

Please Note that Zero (as of the recent chapters, is currently in a recharge coma due to his extremely difficult transformation in the previous chapter(s) ). Hence, the chapter is in third person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trixie sat on the beach by Zero, worry worming its way into her heart as she checked everything was working in him; she didn’t really know, it was just something to occupy herself from her avid and worried thoughts. The beaches of Equestria were nothing like those of the Griffin Kingdom; these beaches were made of lifeless, dull and smooth basalt brick and stone that didn’t even shine in the light; if anything, this beach absorbed the light. Not that the citizens minded; they spent most of their time working, training or just earning money to get by for the time being.

Nearby sat Hammerfist, sharpening some weapons and bending the metal used from Zero’s recent transformation to be more useful; sweat gleamed on his forehead as he worked away, using a hammer to bend the metallic items into an applicable tool or weapon. His muscles bulged as he worked away, the overcast weather making him seem a very powerful being indeed.

A small distance away, Vinyl and Octavia (along with Fenrir and Pipsqueak) were discussing what would, or could, happen next; their conversation was deep and insightful (which proved to be confusing for Pipsqueak, who only added the odd comment).

A few hours passed, and the overcast weather stayed the same; the time seemed to stop in the area for the small ragtag group there as they busied themselves.

An hour Later, RedBeak Beach...

The group was huddled round a fire, Zero placed nearby Trixie and Hammerfist as they chatted away the cold and gloom that had begun to surround them. A villager from the small settlement saw them sitting there and rushed over from her house.

“What are you idiots doing?!” She hissed through clenched teeth at them as she stormed over, catching them by surprise.

The group looked at the women, stupefied as to why one of the natives would be so outraged to have them on the beach; she was a woman in her mid-twenties, with stunning looks and emerald green eyes. Feathered wings adorned her back, not unlike a cloud-folk of Cloudsdale; they were white, tinged a little with purple, to match her long and straightened out hair. She was rather tall and thin and was dressed in traditional Griffin Land Leather armour.

“Excuse me?” Trixie stood up, undignified by the sudden scolding “If you haven’t noticed, we were just having some fun whiling the time away, until you came along!” She snapped angrily at the Griffin verbally, who took a step back, flabbergasted by the venom in the mercury silver and azure haired woman’s voice.

Hammerfist grunted to himself, not wanting a fight to break out between the two enraged females.
“You two, shut the hell up” He turned to the Griffin lady “Sorry for my friend’s hostile behaviour, we’ve just been through quite a bit and we’re all very worn out. Mind telling us what the problem is?”

Mollified by the Minotaur’s refined language (that of which he learned in his time spent with Luna), the Griffin smiled and brushed some of her snowy white hair from her face.

“Well, since you asked so nicely” The woman sent a pointed look at Trixie, who harrumphed and looked in the opposite direction “My name is Celia Beaks; I’m the daughter of this settlement’s mayor. Of course, the ones who make the big decisions are those in the capital of this lovely country.” She laughed harshly, sarcasm thick in her voice “Mainly though, it’s the Council of the Wise who call the shots nowadays. Ever since the Queen and King have fallen sick, the Council has been enforcing laws and rules that have driven this race nearly into Poverty; anyone who doesn’t comply by these rules are killed or tortured by the Council’s BlackCloaks. They’re Ruthless men and women who are the epitome of sadistic. Basically, if you have any happiness in public, they’ll burn it, and then stamp on it.”

She stood there, while the small group of adventurers took the information in, mulling it over. Of course, their reverie was interrupted by the sounds of heavy footfall and a yell of “I think I heard something! BlackCloaks, with me!” and the sound of running.

Celia looked frantic and quietly hissed at them “Come with me if you want to live!” before running off toward a fairly large house’s back entrance. Hammerfist was quick to pick up their supplies and Zero, while the others quickly stamped out the fire and ran out of the clearing after the Griffin woman.

They entered the opulent house, through the servant’s entrance, where the quickly slipped into the living room. Outside, the muffled sounds of the BlackCloaks searching for any illegal immigrants to their country were heard, and the room was filled with tension as to what would happen.

Eventually, the sounds of them walking away sounded outside the house as the BlackCloaks muttered angrily to themselves, wanting to have at last one person to torture that day.

The whole group relaxed and Celia, who was busy talking to her father (who wanted to know why a bedraggled group of adventurers had intruded on his house) sighed in relief and smiled.

The man walked forward; he was clothed in silken embroidery (no doubt expensive stuff) and was an old man, around 40-50 years old with a look in his eyes that practically yelled that he was suspicious of the group.

“So” The man chuckled “What are a group of adventurers doing in my house?” He grinned, putting the others at ease “You could’ve at least taken your shoes off.”

Celia, who noticed this, ushered the others to do so; they complied, relieved that their bodies finally had a chance to rest. The night was quickly approaching, so the man (who revealed himself to be called Mayor Beaks (Although he insisted on us calling him Fred), allowed them to stay the night.

He appointed a small portion of his guards to (obviously) guard the group while the stayed in a few guest rooms, marking them down as ‘Friends of the Family’.

Midnight, RedBeak Manor.....

Trixie lay awake in her room as the moon lay cradled up in the sky, serene and silent as ever. She got up from her bed, walking over to the window; in the moonlight, she could easily be mistaken for a Maiden of the Moon (a sect of religious women dedicated to protecting the moon and any artifacts/people related to it).

She sighed, her eyes swimming with sadness in the pale beams of reflecting light that was the Moon’s, as she thought one thing and one thing only, her head bowed.

‘Zero... please wake up, I need you.’

Author's Notes:

Hey, everypony! Long time, no see/write/comment/whysomanyslashes? :P But really, it's great to be writing again after my Mock Exams (that of which kept me very busy... revision. that is all.)

Many thanks again to Fluttershy Auditore (I advise checking his stuff out :D )

Now that's all out of the way, I can only say one (or two) things....

Sit back, relax and enjoy the chapter; don't forget to buy popcorn. :3

Now in Slytherin (for obvious reasons :P),

~Axton

'Guards'

As Celestia’s sun rose over the ridges of the towering Gryffonian Mountains, a beacon of Harmony and longevity, those sleeping in Redbeak Manor were woken up by the servants bustling around downstairs, busy at work. Of course, everyone woke up different; Hammerfist awoke with a bit of a yell and as a heavy thump resonated through the house due to his enormous muscle mass slamming painfully to the ground from the height of his bed. Octavia woke up gracefully, stepping over Vinyl who still lay asleep; as to her previous arguments with the woman, it would take a firework to wake the electric-blue haired DJ up. Fenrir woke up silently as usual, the shadows under his eyes unchanged; every day seemed to bring a new challenge and the glint in his eyes showed that. Pipsqueak woke with a mumble after his father, his normally messy brown hair a catastrophe that sat atop his head, like spikes.

Trixie was the only one who was already awake, reading her Book of Spells that she had salvaged from the shipwreck; she kept it in a small pocket realm, making it safe whenever she wanted to keep it so. Celia was already awake, training in the courtyard with a sword at her waist, leathers already adorning her slender body. Fenrir took a look at her and chuckled to himself, a slightly raspy one as he was getting on slightly in his years. After much washing (and shouting for the current person to hurry up in the washroom) and cleaning up, Fred yelled up at the ragtag band of adventurers to come downstairs for breakfast; it was a full Gryffonian breakfast, with hash browns, sausages, bacon, eggs (fried, poached, you name it) and a healthy helping of toast and butter.

The group sat down at a table, Celia walking in and quickly washing before walking down in the average noble gown she frequented when in the house; a white with light blue (possibly cobalt) threading interwoven into an eagle on her back, which had its wings spread in a heroic pose. Servants constantly bustled in and out, cleaning up plate and refilling glasses as the Mayor chatted with Trixie who was the de-facto leader of the group.

Zero lay still on an armour stand, his systems having taken a serious beating from the sea air. His eyes were closed, showing the marble-white reflective plating that covered the rest of his body; while most of him gleamed, the wear and tear on him was evident; small dents and scratches covered his body, mainly on his chest. Small wires still functioned, being insulated, the usual blue glow running through them, up into his head. Whether he was on his way to recovery was yet to be seen, his body as still as the grave itself.

Back in the dining room...

“So, as I was saying” Mayor Beaks looked at his daughter pointedly “You’re looking to go the Capital of our country?” The impressive Griffin-kin leaned back in his chair, pushing his fingers up into a steeple.

Trixie nodded resolutely “We’re on a mission from the pr-“She got interrupted by Hammerfist, who shook his head before mouthing ‘Walls have ears’. Trixie nodded, before hauling the hand from her mouth, spitting out a few hairs.

“I meant to say we’re on a merchant mission from” She looked at Hammerfist for a moment “Prince Blueblood, to bring in armours back to our country. To negotiate a deal, of course.”

Mayor Beaks knew better than to question and simply nodded before mentioning “Of course; we could supply a carriage and horse for a simple negotiation of our own.”

Celia seemed to take interest for a moment, watching her father intently through a small mouthful of seared bacon, her emerald green eyes shimmering in interest for the briefest moment, a few seconds at most.

Hammerfist motioned for him to go on, silent. They hadn’t much money since the shipwreck and didn’t know whether this country had different currency; the possibility was very likely, considering the Griffons were strict with their trade routes.

“My deal is that you protect my daughter on your way to the Capital, allow her to visit it. By doing so, I’ll provide you with a fair amount of money should you keep her safe on her way there.” He nodded with a smile sent in the direction of his daughter. Said daughter grinned at him, flashing a normal but nonetheless dangerous looking amount of teeth, turning to Trixie with the exact same grin.Trixie looked at the others, who nodded; Fenrir was the last to nod, knowing a larger crew could cause more liabilities (or other reasons besides, of course). Trixie turned to Mayor Beaks and nodded.

“We’ll take her and protect her as best as we can, but she’ll need to know how to fight too.” Trixie nodded, eyeing the count levelly with her amethyst gaze; her voice was as calm as a silent breeze on the winds of the oceans.

Mayor Beaks smiled gently in reply to his daughter “Go pack your stuff. Only the essentials, ok?” Celia nodded rapidly and whooshed off on a burst of her wings, leaving a few feathers on her seat. The Mayor chuckled, a sad look in his eyes before turning to Trixie, a stony look on his face.

“Just watch out for the BlackCloaks and Red Hoods, ok? They’re the kind of people you don’t want to see on a dark and stormy night.” His eyes were set, just like the muscles in his jaw “Because if you let her get hurt, I will not hesitate to get each one of you skinned alive. Alright?”

Trixie shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and nodded, silent, much like most of the time she was ever in anyone’s company. Hammerfist looked at her for a moment, noticing her change in mood; she looked back at with a shake of her head, as if to say ‘Don’t ask’.

Celia came back down a few moments later, fully dressed in riding leathers and a brown hood to keep her concealed, looking inconspicuous as she possibly could.

“Ready?” She asked, her smile big enough to split her ears; brilliant white teeth shone through. Fenrir looked away with a dark scowl, his ears burning a healthy crimson.

Octavia nodded to everyone “Of course, we’ll just-“She was quickly interrupted by Vinyl who stood up and half-yelled;
“Alright, everybody! Suit and boot, let’s move it!” She grinned while Octavia sighed dramatically as the adventurers went upstairs to get ready for the long and no doubt dangerous journey ahead of them.

Author's Notes:

Hey, Everypony! Another chapter as normal, but things are getting... interesting again as we head into another major story Arc! (The first being Blueblood and the intro).

Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proof reading my work;Again ( :P As he is awesomesauce). However, do feel free to place your comments, views, opinions and strange meme pictures down below! :P And of course do not forget to favorite and like; if you haven't already ;) .

Of course, I do slip up in my writings, so also feel free to place any constructive criticism and mistakes made.

Gears are grinding,

Axton

A Perilous Journey

That was it; they had to go through a passage in the Gryffonian Death-Ridge Mountain; the news hung heavy in the air, a penetrating silence that pierced everyone’s mind like a red-hot knife heated in a fire. Said mountain was a long way away, hung east of the town; around 30 klicks away in military terms; the mountain was black basalt and looked to the entire world as if it was some shadow of a great beast.

Their carriage was fairly good; reinforced ironwood and steel by make, it was one of the sturdiest transport pieces on the market; it’d take at least two gigantic boulders to drop on it before denting in the least; the only problem was that it was so heavy and moved at the speed of a slow cloud-folk flying; basically, 30mph.

A bolt of lightning struck down as fast as an eye blink; it illuminated the inside of the carriage, lighting it up like a split second light-bulb flash; shadows were thrown across the faces of the carriages occupants, making them seem oddly creepy.

They were on their way up the wide and sprawling mountain path, choosing to go at a slower speed so they did not tip over the edge of the rocky road. They had about 5 meters between the edge and their cart, so there really was nothing to worry about.

Another bump rocked the cart as it trundled over a small rock, a heavy ‘THUD’ and a collective moan coming from all the people inside the giant carriage. The responses went something like this;

“AH!!!” Octavia screamed, jumping up from her seat; she was asleep and having just woken up with a start, she was naturally scared. Vinyl said nothing, asleep with Dubstep in her ears; as mentioned earlier in the story, it would probably take a firework to wake her up (possibly a large group of fireworks, actually).

“Bloody damn bumps on the road!” Fenrir yelled at the exact same time, waking up with a start; his eyes had shot open and if you looked at him, he looked quite comical, his beard a little frazzled and his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Hammerfist grunted a little, muttering something like ‘deal with it’ under his breath as he shrugged his massive muscled shoulders, the mountains of fur and muscle rolling forward and backward a little. On the other hand, Trixie yelped a quick sentence (something along the lines of ‘Sonofabitchonaspeedboat!’). She tumbled to the floor of the carriage, and grunted, slowly getting up off of the floor as she rubbed dust off of her cloak, hat and skin.

Pipsqueak murmured in his sleep, slowly shifting a little; much like Vinyl, it would take quite a few fireworks to wake him up. Celia jumped, holding onto Fenrir’s hand about a second later, her grip only a little tight; a crimson blush spread across the sea pirate’s face, like a small ripple of a red-crimson wave; for the record, he didn’t relinquish his grasp of her hand, simply allowed her to hold on for as long as she needed to. As soon as she noticed what she was doing, she also blushed a deep crimson, her hand retreating rather quickly back to her lap; she quickly looked away from him and tried to occupy her mind.

Hammerfist chuckled after witnessing this and mentioned “You two should totally get together. And kiss; that kind of thing.” He grinned, showing pearly white teeth as his voice rumbled throughout the carriage. Fenrir and Celia blushed even further (as if that was actually possible) and silence reigned in the cabin for a fair amount of time.

The cabin continued to rumble over the ground on the mountain path, and multiple conversations started. Some of them were like this;
“So, anyone wanna play I spy?” Trixie piped up, bored as hell and wanting some sort of amusement.

“Ok.... I spy with my little eye... something beginning with R.” Octavia chuckled; Hammerfist was quick to reply.

“Rock.” He laughed a little and a small chorus of laughs rang throughout the carriage.

“Ok...” Hammerfist chuckled and continued “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with B.” This time, Trixie was the first to reply, a smile on her face as she did so.

“Boulder” She giggled and the silliness of the situation dawned on them as they began to laugh a little more.
Other conversations however, went like this;

“So, Fenrir, how much do you like Celia? Honestly, now.” Octavia smiled, her palm resting on her cheek as she leaned on her arm, the carriage continuing to trundle along.

“...” Fenrir refused to answer, blushing and looking away; Celia did the exact same when Octavia asked.

All of a sudden, a sudden heavy thud rocked the carriage once more as it was rocked by about 50 or so heavily armoured Brigands pushing and shoving at it; they had approached the carriage silently and had begun shoving it.

Everyone got up, alarmed and another shove rocked the carriage, knocking it over onto its side; Hammerfist flung the door open and yelled back at his comrades.

“There’s too many of them!” He bellowed, worried; what would happen to them. The brigands swarmed over the carriage and attacked them; the occupants of it were trying to hold out against the trained brigands (possibly they were warriors of the army gone rogue) but things were going in the thieves and murderers’ favour.

“ZERO, PLEASE, WAKE UP!!! I NEED YOU!” She cried, yelling at him, shaking him, trying anything to wake him up. The brigands were starting to swarm the carriage, Hammerfist and the rest of the occupants (sans Pipsqueak, who was hiding in a compartment of the carriage, a bolt hole of sorts); there was around 40 of them left, ten having been killed already.

//: PAREMETER [WAKEUP START] BEGINNING :// ...

//: AI CORE STARTING UP... ://

//: INSTANT BATTLE MODE PARAMETER READYING ://

//: BEGINNING WEAPONS READY PROGRAMME... ://

:// READY; START? ://

Author's Notes:

Hey y'all! Many thanks for reading this chapter :D

Also, many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for proofreading! :)

Please feel free to point out any mistakes or things you think just seem wrong in general.

Keep those gears grinding,

Axton

[BATTLE; PROTOCOL; BEGIN]

//: BATTLE PROTOCOL READY FOR ACTIVATION: //

//: FIGHT.EXE STARTING UP...://

On the Battlefield, with the Brigands...

Hammerfist roared in pain, cuts and gashes streaking blood like a gory waterfall down his chest as he slashed at the Brigands with his axe; Vinyl and Tavi were doing their best to hold off the horde of armoured foes, but they kept coming, wave after wave of steel flashing in the silvery moonlight. Considering they only had small axes and long silver broadswords, they were doing surprisingly well. Celia was firing arrows into the necks from a Sapwood bow, the string letting off tonnes of poison tipped arrows. But as usual, the brigands kept coming, getting up from their wounds (the poisoned were dying, but you can only shoot so many arrows) as they stomped back into action. Fenrir was comforting a crying Pipsqueak within the carriage as Trixie undid the binding keeping Zero in place as he started up, blue lights blinking into life like those of a metallic metropolis.

Hammerfist grunted suddenly, falling to one knee, just as a voice rang through the clearing. The battle froze in place, the brigands staying with their weapons raised, sharp blades glinting menacingly with the threat of a swift death at the ready. Tavi and Vinyl kept their pistols in place, black metal triggers at the ready. Fenrir continued to calm his sniffling son, while Trixie froze, terror coursing through her veins at the voice.

“Now now, there’s no need for violence here, I assure you.” An oily and nasally voice cut through the crowd as the Brigands stepped aside to reveal an equally greasy looking man; he was dressed in the black robes of the BlackCloaks, with a badge pinned to his chest. He was clearly not a griffin for he had no wings under the fur coat that he wore. “How about we talk like civilized people, hm?”

Hammerfist clenched his jaw, blood streaking from a small cut on his face; the man walked forward, brushing some imaginary dust.
“Now, before we talk, let’s get everyone out of that wreck you call a carriage, shall we?” He chuckled darkly and upon seeing the shivering form of Pipsqueak, laughed a little “A child? Wow, people really are stupid to travel these roads with infants in their care”

He exclaimed the last bit, his laughter reaching a peak as he wiped his eyes with a mouldy handkerchief, stemming his tears.
The brigands remained stoic behind the visors of their steel helmets, wanting loot and most of all, a good tankard of mead to fill their bellies. The man walked through the lines of defeated adventurers, finally coming to Trixie.

“My my, if it isn’t little miss Great and Powerful herself. Warm my bed from now on and I might let these poor souls go” He grinned, showing off yellowing teeth that hadn’t been washed in at least eight moons.

The only reply he received was a Great and Powerful glob of spit hitting his unimpressed face; it landed in his eye as he grunted in annoyance, wiping the spit from his stone cold eyes as he sighed outwardly.

“Y’know, I wish it didn’t have to come to this my dear...” He motioned with one of his hands, as a Brigand passed him a sharp looking dagger, with a snake carved into the hilt. He brought the weapon above his head in a killing blow, only for his hand to be stopped by a shiny metal hand, just coming out of camo.

“What sorcery...?” He stammered, eyes as wide as dinner saucers at the mechanical being in front of him.
“Sup, bitch. Get yours slimy hands off my girlfriend.” Zero landed a punch straight onto the man’s sniffer as he staggered back, blood pouring from his face.
“G-GET THEM!!” The slimy man yelped, yelling out his orders left right and center. The brigands leapt at Zero as he laughed, engaging his weapons. Dynamo blue plasma tore through their armor as the surrounding men cried out in pain, sizzling caustic burns ripping away at their skin as Zero’s plates began to change, going into battle-station mode.

Before long, he stood before them, a hulking behemoth of metal and weaponry; eyes turned from blue to red as a dangerous grin lit up his face; the numbers were 25 to one. These men were from the rear lines; muscles rippled under heavy duty steel armor, cleft jaws lined the rows of faces facing the humongous robot.

“Bitch, please.” Zero boomed a laugh as his plasma cannons turned back into large ham-hock sized fists of lead and tungsten, mixed in with white-gold to colour it. He launched himself forward into the fray, battering in heads and smashing in steel plate as though it was tin foil. The armor of the enemy was further ripped apart by the giant metal fists when he released a burst of white-hot plasma (napalm form) from the palms of the giant destroyers. This sprayed against the faces of the enemy as they screamed in pain, skin slowly melting from the torturous liquid as they fell to their knees. One remained, shaking there, holding an axe. His head was quickly crushed, a little bit of blood splattering onto Zero’s plates.

“Now you’ve gone and got my armor dirty.” He chuckled, shifting back to normal to face the quivering form of the man in the greasy robes. “Now, what’s your name?”

“R-Rendall.” He quickly blurted out, worried for his life at this point in time.

“Alright, Rendall” Zero quietly whispered, his face coming a finger’s width from the evil man’s face “You better run back to your superior fast-like. And tell them Zero’s coming into town.” The man nodded furiously and dashed off of the road, falling into a bunch of ferns before quickly getting up and leaving with all due haste for the capital.

“So” Zero turned and grinned at the others, wiping some blood off of his shoulder plates “What did I miss?” He walked up to the group, going over to Hammerfist “And does anyone know healing magic?”

Trixie shakily walked over, mascara running down her face as she unsteadily healed him. Tavi and Vinyl joined them, sweat glistening on their foreheads; as soon as Hammerfist was healed, he leapt up to crush Zero in a bone-breaking bear hug.

“Dammit! I knew you weren't dead! I damn well knew it!” He grinned, as Zero chuckled, said chuckle muffled by the sweat and blood stained fur of the Minotaur.

After Hammerfist’s bear (or should I say, Minotaur hug) was over, Zero went over to Trixie, who openly wept into his shoulders. He quickly pulled away a little, holding her chin up gently, kissing her lips. Cold metal brushed against warm skin as she blushed brightly; Fenrir let off a wolf whistle, grinning, while Pipsqueak went and said “Ewwwww!!!”

He looked into her eyes after pulling away and smiled, saying;

“Told you I’d come when you needed me.”

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to all of you for continuing to read my works!!! :D

Seriously though, I can't thank you enough. Lately I've been going through a fair bit at school (what with exams looming to try take a 3 course meal bite out of my grades. Bring it :P ) and home too. I have a pantomime to get ready for on the 18th to 22nd (the latter being my birthday), and exams (as mentioned above). While I would ask you to wish me luck, I can only ask that you keep reading. Once more, ultra sorry for not being able to update much due to revision and shizzle. Any mistakes that you wanna post down below, do feel free! :D

Keep those gears grinding,

~Axton

Recovery and Emotion

"Told I'd come when you needed me." Zero proclaimed with a confident, yet somehow charming smile that contained a myriad of brightly shining titanium teeth.

Trixie promptly burst into tears on the spot, her more sensitive side coming to show as tears poured down her well-kept face. Mascara trickled down the magician's cheeks like small, dark waterfalls. It'd be graceful if Trixie's crying face wasn't as bad as it looked now (It was like Jennifer Lawrence in Catching Fire, seriously).

Zero smiled gently, his aquatic blue irises refocusing gently, camera lenses whirring as he leaned in and wrapped his metal clad arms around the female magician. Trixie immediately got goosebumps from the cold, hard metal that coated Zero like a second skin, but nonetheless continued to cry into the metal humanoid's icy yet warm embrace.

"I was so w-worried!!" Trixie wailed in between sobs and gasps of air as her mercury and pale blue hair fell across Zero's silvery protective plating. Zero comforted her, hugging back.

"I've survived worse. Like biceps on hooves over there." Zero pointed behind him jokingly at Hammerfist, who grunted in annoyance and rolled his eyes, getting to sharpening his battleaxe; the heavy mithril weapon had taken a bit of a beating and some of it was heavily scratched or blunted from the copious amount of battle the group had gone through.

Celia, on the other side of the small encampment, was tending to Fenrir's wounds, while Pipsqueak hung out with Tavi and Vinyl; the two agents and the child pirate were chatting amiably and jokingly at what 'secret stuff' Tavi and Vinyl had done over the years.

"So" Celia smiled, cleaning up an nasty gash on Fenrir's back "You've been a pirate for how long?" curiosity was clear on her face, practically written all over it.

"Around 10 years, since my wife left me. After Pipsqueak was born." He grunted, irritated that he may have to bring up his.... less than pretty past. But his wound didn't really bother him, a mild stinging at the back of his mind. After all, he'd been through worse. Much worse.

"I was wondering. I mean, you'd always seem brooding or grumpy whenever I brought up your past. But... y'know, sharing can help ease the burden of carrying that." She spoke sweetly, her voice having its usual layer of sugar to it. Not that kind of sugar. You dirty sods.

Again, Fenrir grunted in annoyance as he said "I'll say it one more DAMN time. I don't. Want. To talk about... it. Especially not to someone I don't trust. And no offence, missy, but I don't trust anyone easily. The only one I trust here is tin can on the other side of the camp; that's cause he saved my life damn near twice and that he's about as trustworthy as my pa on a great day. And that's not even stretching it." Despite his clear annoyance on the subject, Fenrir's admiration for Zero's actions were pretty clear.

"I know. But you can't keep running away from your past, Fenrir. It isn't right. You understand, right?" Her face now showed concern along her finely chiseled gryffonian face; it made her look rather angelic in the low light of the campfire, her wings snowy white and half open, with her golden eyes focused upon the grizzled pirate. Or rather, ex-pirate or adventurer would seem more appropriate in the current circumstance.

"I..... fine. Ten years ago, a long time I know, I had a wife. Her name was Electra, a mage-folk from Equestria; we met one time when I saved her and the rest of the people off of a sinking ship. She was beautiful... raven black hair that settled just right and silvery eyes. Not blind, some sort of birth gene mutation that made them that colour. Tall, but not lanky. Thin but not skeletal. Just right. She was amazing; witty, charming, smart, you name it, she had it. Until one day.... she became pregnant. Had the baby, Pip. Little Pip. And then... " The middle-aged man's eyes welled as his voice became a whisper "She left. Left because she couldn't handle having a kid. Took most of the money, the jewelry... heck, even sold the house to some rich estate agent bastard."

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty tough guy. But to see a full grown man recount such a heart pummeling story, then dissolve into tears? Damn. It ruins you.

Celia blinked away some tears, holding him close, comforting him gently. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and upper body, warm and welcoming. Fenrir gently began to sob, his mind and will broken into tiny pieces from holding in that much emotion for nigh on 10 years. For having to stay strong for that long, not just for himself, but for Pipsqueak.

Pip and the two agents, Vinyl and Tavi, couldn't hear them, lost in their tales of adventure and grandeur. Their faces were bright and full of laughter, a stark contrast to the atmosphere around Fenrir, which was a dark, stormy grey.

Celia fell silent for a moment, then turned Fenrir's face to her own and quietly said "You are so brave. So, so brave. You've dealt with this burden for 10 years and took care of your son, Pip. And I admire that. A lot." Her gold eyes sparkled with affection and a bucket load of admiration quite literally coming off of her.

And in that moment... they kissed. And explosion of sensations met the two people's lips and minds as their eyes closed, the two getting much more into it as the lips locked and tongues wrestled together. A blush had spread across their cheeks, red and blooming, not unlike the action of a flower spreading out its petals and flower head.

They finally parted when Zero began getting everyone's tent set up as Celia and Fenrir held each other; the stormy blue of Fenrir's eyes met Celia's golden and glistening yellow as he quietly whispered, in a hoarse voice;

"Thank you"

Author's Notes:

Many thanks for Fluttershy Auditore's support! You should check out some of his stuff sometime! In particular one story,

Running out on the edge; http://www.fimfiction.net/story/71431/running-out-on-the-edge

:) Many thanks to all of you for reading this chapter and the chapters thus far; I am quite snowed under by exams (I have a drama one this week :O ) and will continue to get out as many chapters that I can get out within a safe time! Also, make sure to like and favorite and also make sure that I haven't made any mistakes! (Help is always welcome :) )

Keep those gears grinding,

~Axton

The City of Tricks

Before long, the ragtag group of adventurers had set out again upon the mountainous roads. The day was tough, with boiling hot weather that scalded and beat against the skin like a thousand clubs of pain and venom. The rocky road beneath their feet was a dull brown-khaki mix of mud, dirt, dust and tufts of grass that was downtrodden by the feet of the countless travellers who had tramped and trudged upon the lonely path that lay before them.

Hours ticked by like decades as the group walked away, hunger biting at them and heat sizzling at their skin. Yet still, they walked on, through day and night as the men, woman and creatures of the group moved together, a single unit, a single person. Strength of mind and rations spread thin pushed them on through night and day; the nights were as cold as the Arctic, the day as painful as volcano lava.

Many days passed, the group just able to cling together through times both tough and testing. Many arguments were had out of the sheer stress of their limited supplies and patience. They passed through the lands of the Griffins, through the many ways of the land. More than once they got lost, detouring their route. Many a times they had they encountered danger; and by the skin of their teeth, they escaped it, for fortune smiled down upon them.

The group had spent many a night under the stars; and in this way, relationships had started to bloom, happiness fading to love and joy. Zero and Trixie spent these nights discussing magic, tactics and their own relationship. Vinyl and Octavia's nights were filled with steamy passion and musical miracles through cello and magic (how Octavia managed to save her cello and cello bow was beyond Vinyl and the others). Celia and Fenrir spent their time thinking of their future, what they were going to do and the such. On the other hand, Pip usually got most the supplies, being a gifted hunter due to his youthful agility.

And then there was Hammerfist.

He sat alone on the edges of their camp, often found looking up at the moon. Many people had often asked him why he had not chosen someone already, why he had not settled down; after all with his strength and Champion of the Arena title, he could get anything he wanted, anyone.

Yet that was not the way he liked to have his life. Being born in a poor, destitute clan, he fought, learned to fight life the hard way. He trained every day, hunted, bought books with the little money he had back then, in the days of clan Fire Blood. He had defended his clan of twenty alone, with his trusty axe, the axe that had helped him fight against the bandits, brigands, warriors and warlords. He was the Bloody Biped, the Warrior of One, The One 'Taur Army.

...So why did he feel so alone?

Of course, he knew the answer. Luna. Ever since he met her after that very first arena match when he first moved to Equestria, after his Clan had found peace, he had fallen head over armoured hooves in love. In a way, it was ironic how many he had fought, how many he had slain in anger, rage, justice and hope of a better day; yet in the end, he had fallen for a Princess. Tough as she may be, that is what she is to him. Someone who he needs to protect with his life, or die trying.

And when he got back, he knew what he was going to do. He was going to sweep her off her feet and make sure she knew exactly how special she was to him. He nodded resolutely, and from that night onwards, he slept peacefully.

6 days later...

The ragtag group, on their seventh day of long and arduous travelling, reached a ridge upon a cliff, only to be rewarded with one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen in their lifetimes (in all honesty, Zero hadn't ever seen outside of the facility, so this was very astounding. So amazing that he took a selfie in front of it).

Beyond them stood a giant city, made entirely of bronze and other various assortments of metals; it stood proud, glimmering in the morning's sun, a beacon of hard work and glory. The walls were made of shimmering marble, pure white and perfectly maintained; they were so white, one could mistake them for the morning snow on a winter's day.

Vinyl grinned "Awesome! If I knew Luna and Celestia were sending us on a holiday, I would've signed up quicker!".

This raised a deadpan look from most of the group, ruining the mood completely; Octavia sighed, rolling her eyes as the adventurers tried to work out a way to get down the mountain. Soon enough, the had set to abseiling down the rocky cliff-face, making it down within a short time due to the fact that they had built up a fair bit of muscle having travelled so far in such a short time. In any case, it was Celia's luck that she could fly down with her wings to the bottom, which made the whole process quicker (the rope they had left had to be used less, which also kept it in better condition).

This eventually lead to walking along a stone-laid path toward the hulking behemoth of a city; guards, dressed in black cloaks. At this, the group froze as the guards walked over, weapons drawn.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" A griffon with his face covered grinned inside his dark mask as he undid his sword "You're wanted criminals, you know that?" He grinned, unsheathing his sword from it's scabbard.

A whole battalion of other guards had drawn their weapons, a few Minotaur drawing devastating looking arrays of weaponry out of shoulder sheaths; one even held two broadswords, one in each hand.

Despite this, the group prepared to fight, Zero about to go into Battle Mode; until something horrific happened.

As the group were about to launch themselves into battle, a device latched onto Zero's chest, shocking him and leaving him helpless to stumble into the floor, lights and wires flickering under the powerful shock that left him defenceless.

The last thing his cerulean blue cyber-eyes saw before blacking out were a screaming Trixie and a grinning man in a black cloak standing over him as the adventurers were quickly overrun.

Author's Notes:

Hey all! I just managed to slip out a chapter; these exams are super-tough right now. :( Fortunately, my Drama exam has been completed :D I think I did well as the R.S.M. from Killed (Look it up, great play :) ) Many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore for being proof-reader for this chapter :) .

Once more, should you find any mistakes (We can't spot all of them when they appear :P ) please post them in the comments; and don't forget to like and favorite! ;D

Keep those gears grinding,
Axton

At Odds

Gryffonian Holding Cell....
9:30 AM, Zero's Cell
Zero's Pov....

My systems came online to pitch-black darkness, the kind of darkness you could find in a blacked out solitary confinement cell, or the kind of darkness that happens in an over-the-top horror movie. Never liked horror movies; way too predictable (for once, it'd be nice to have a villain in a horror movie that likes the nice things. Like cups of tea, or flower arranging. Yet despite the fact that this place was pitch black, I could tell it was well kept from the fact that my base sensors couldn't pick up any dirt, feces or generally harmful bacteria (not that any of could harm me, me being a robot and all that. A really, really sexy- ahem. Moving on.)

But the thing that disturbed me the most was the fact that I couldn't access any of my more advanced programs, like my Plasma Cannon or Traction Control and Speed Inhibitors on my feet.. or my home video collection! Those bastards stopped from seeing that smoking V-79! ...On to more important things. Not a word of this to anybody else.

As I looked around my rather dank and rather smooth cell, I was interrupted by light suddenly flooding the area. Considering most my physical and technical capabilities, I was unable to break out sooner or reboot fast enough to gather up plan; blocking the light stood one of the black-cloaked baddies from earlier. More specifically, the same one that had attached the device to me that stopped me fighting. But that didn't make sense! They don't have that kind of technology here!

The man in question strode up to me, a smug look on his ugly mug; he seemed to be aging, probably in his forties if my analysis that I took the second I saw him was correct. He grinned, leaning down to me with his garlic scented (by what my scent detectors could tell; any other things like advanced diagnostics and advanced scanning, as well as physical strength (to a certain point) were down) breath.

" 'Ello there, tin can!" He chuckled a wheezy laugh "I'm Grubbly, your gaoler and the cause of your capture. Your dumb tin head got that? Good. I'm here to take you out into the arena, sharpish. But first, 'd boss wants t' parade ya out in front of the populace. Tell 'em that the great Metal Warrior's been done in. Defeated." He burst into a coughing fit, from laughing his tobacco smoke ridden lungs off.

I kept my face neutral, not taking the bait as he undid my shackles from the walls, hoisting me up and forcing me to get out the cell; not having much strength meant that I had to stumble around on my sleek legs awkwardly as my systems try to route power to them. As soon as I am outside the cell, they placed what looked like some sort of stockade holding onto my shoulders, a metal bar that secured my chrome hands in an extremely uncomfortable position above my plated shoulders; the weight of the thing, considering that I had little to no strength in me at the moment, made me go onto one knee as I struggled to get back up. Two of the guardsmen (still hate guards, by the way. Most of them are assholes; at least the cliché ones are) hoisted me up as Grubbly shoved me forward to follow a shinier looking Gryfonnian, who nodded to me curtly.

"This way, Zero." He stated to me imperiously as he marched off with me stumbling in tow, a platoon of inferior guards lumbering behind me, weapons ready at any time; the device that had sapped me earlier seemed to have a long lasting effect. Unless someone reversed those effects, I guessed that it would at least be a couple of hours before I could fight normally again, with limitations on speed. Hell, at least this guard had manners; at least more than the rest of the ones I've met so far. Black-Cloaked bastards.

After leading me through a series of tunnels and up a ramp, sunlight greets me; the glaring brightness means that it took a few seconds for me to adjust my ocular sight lenses. This caused one of the guards to shove his hobnailed boots into my back, denting it (having no defenses online, like shields and impact protection measures meant that I was basically, at the time, a walking husk of myself in terms of abilities); stumbling forward slightly as I continued on following the brightly armored Gryphon guard in front of me, I could see the faces of those passing by, as well as those peering out of windows down at me. Multitudes of people were murmuring, parting before the small group of guards that were escorting me toward what looked like an arena; although many faces in the crowd looked like they had lost hope, they were crowding around me and the other guards, following us and looking over other crowd members to see what was going on.

I was marched toward the arena, being given the occasional shove or push from one the the guards flanking me from behind and on my left and right. Said arena stood tall and proud, made of a variety of stone, looming over us like a stoic, stony face giant; it blocked out most the sunlight, creating a shadow that loomed even further than itself, casting a fair few houses into shadow.

As the guards pushed through the clamoring crowd, with me and my quite dented and scratched silvery body in tow, we were led into the arena, guards unshackling me as they shoved me through a barred and into the harsh and boiling hot sands of the arena; people of all races (but mainly Gryphons) were beginning to file into the stands and seats that surrounded the main fighting zone.

Seated in a rather lasciviously decorated, was the King of Gryphons, along with the Prince and a rather slimy looking associate; the Prince, despite being a seemingly good person, obviously wanted nothing to do with this; yet the King seemed to have some sort of emerald green amulet on, his eyes holding the same tint as his jewelry as his the slimy looking man with murky blue eyes and raven black hair, with scaled gauntlets on, walked forward.

"I, Counselor Torindal, announce this... thing, a traitor to the mighty and illustrious empire of Gryffonia! He is hereby to blame for the war between the Gryphons and the Equestrians! For this, he is sentenced to death in the arena, against the might Gorundicus, king of the giants!!!" And with that, the Counselor gave me the darkest grin I had ever seen.... something told me this wasn't gonna be easy.

My fears were confirmed when a heavy rumbling sound was heard, followed by a roar so loud it shook the very foundations of the arena itself.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys, thanks to reading this chapter of A Cybernetic Life; don't forget to like and favorite! ^_^

Also, many thanks to Fluttershy Auditore, my editor and/or proofreader! Any mistakes we missed, please don't forget to point out! (Also, no more exams for now! *Fist Pump*).

Gears are Grinding,
Axton

Mind over Matter

Deep within the Gryffonian Royal Prison...

In the deep, dark cells of Gryffonia (quite unlike the cells that Zero was kept in), Trixie (and the rest of the ragtag group of adventurers) sat alone; Hammerfist had a cell to himself, due to the fact that he nearly took up most of the single cells that the countries' most corrupt criminals resided in; to say that the gang's thoughts had turned to a darker shade was, as they say, the understatement of the century.

Instead of waiting for someone to break them out, Octavia and Vinyl were planning with Trixie via telepathy; being unicorns, they were extremely lucky that Trixie had kept her spell book with her in a Magi-realm (a magical realm separate to the corporeal world, that is linked to the owner mentally and, quite obviously, magically.)

The fact that Gryffons (stereo-typically in the capital), were incredibly stupid, also helped.

'So, what's the plan?' Trixie inquired, a minor tone of her old jerkiness of her old self within her mind voice. Mostly, however, it was filled with venomous hatred, directed towards the ones that took her boyfriend from her. It was also brimming with boiling anger, and the usual hope that lay within her surprisingly tender and fragile heart (a secret she had only told Zero himself).

'Oh, the usual, I suppose. Jailbreak?' Octavia grinned happily; she oh-so-loved jail breaks. It was just like in the romance-action novels that Rarity lent to her, when the dashing heroes escaped and saved their near-fallen comrade in a blaze of glory. Now that she thought about it, it was all a bit Deus Ex Machina, wasn't it?

'Yup. And I know just the muscle-bound, pissed off Minotaur to help us out with it. After all.... these prisons were made to hold Gryffons. They won't even know what hit 'em.'

Of course, that's when a ear-splitting, earth shattering roar shook the very foundations of the prison, so loud that brick and stone dust fell down from the roof.

Meanwhile, in the Arena...

Against Zero, stood a giant, hulking and deadly, three-headed Hydra; its scaled were a deep forest green, while its eyes were of the deepest midnight black. The almost-demonic-in-appearance being had a cream underbelly and talons/claws so sharp that they could easily split some of the world's toughest magic shields apart.

Breathing a heavy smoke out its nostrils brought Zero cybernetic blue lenses toward the creature's face; with worry, he noted that its mouth was foaming a yellow.... well, foam; perhaps it was rabid.

Another world-piercing bellow from the beast broke Zero from his appearance analysis, as it lumbered toward him, heads snaking away way above, poised for attack. Not wanting to risk anything, Zero tried to activate battle mode....

And found he simply couldn't. For some unknown reason, some of his abilities weren't activating. It wasn't all that hard to find the symbolic reason behind his inability to unleash his full potential; upon the pale and clammy foreheads of each of the Council (if you don't know who they are, remember the earlier chapters; they ruled Gryffonia with absolute dominion) members, were signal jamming devices that stopped his powers.

Put simply, they emitted a signal that stopped him accessing certain parts of his technical server (in layman's terms... his robot brain, made of metal and electrical parts). That left him... his speed boosters, strength booster and something he only had as a last resort; his self-destruct. Oh, and his traction that allowed him to grip onto walls still worked.

At once the beastly monstrosity attacked, its heads still zooming toward him, continuing their snake-like form of motion (so as to confuse him). Their three sets of razor sharp teeth gleamed as their cavernous maws opened; the teeth gleamed like yellowed enamel daggers, so sharp they could cut through rock.

Zero, being a robot of both instinct and logic, jumped out of the way, landing on the wall and zooming forward; at speeds that felt like they were breaking the sound barrier, he spun round and round the arena wall, so fast that he simply became a blue and grey blur.

The Hydra, used to simply crushing its opponents and being done with it, screeched in rage, trying (but with no avail) to destroy the small grey creature. In doing so, its stomps started removing parts of the wall; this prompted the audience to flee in terror, screaming and generally in disarray. A few even got stomped on; all that was left were a few feathers and some squished entrails.

Zero grinned, jumping toward the Hydra at amazing speed; when one head turned (the others were preoccupied, bickering with each other) in his direction, he focused by throwing his all into his right fist and yelling;

"FALCON PAWNCH!" At the top of his audio range he yelled, metallic fist hitting against hardened scales.

With a lurch, the first head was knocked unconscious; using his momentum, Zero kicked off the head as it fell backwards and onto its body. With amazing velocity, he bolted toward the wall once more, landing on it with a shockwave.

And still, the council sat, immobile in their chairs as they watched with interest toward the small grey metal being beating one of the most dangerous beasts in Equestria.

Zero, still thinking in overdrive, chuckled as he grabbed a large chunk of concrete arena wall and jumped high in the air above the two others heads; snapping the wall in two with his strength, he grinned, bellowing out a saying of his own make.

"SUPER ULTRA MEGA SEXY WALL KILLING TECHNIQUE!!"

With a smash, the second head was interrupted in his argument as two large chunks of wall split his skull in two, bone cracking with a sickly yet satisfying sound. The third head, in its mix of confusion, fainted outright, black eyes rolling back in its head.

And so the Hydra fell back, no longer standing on its feet; Zero free-fell until his feet hit the now-showing underbelly of the Hydra. With the members of the council showing enraged expressions on their faces. Standing, from his landed position, he looked up at them with a expression of barely controlled rage.

"I want you to tell me where my friends are. If you don't, you can consider yourselves dead already. I'm not going to repeat myself, so listen closely. Equestria is on the brink of war. Whether you think you can lend a hand or not, we need your help. There will be casualties; that's life. So I tell you this; if you don't, chances are you'll be wiped out by whatever's coming, after us. So give me my damn friends back, stop this madness and take off those devices!"

Quite suddenly, a Texan twanged voice cut in.

"That'll do, Subject Zero. Councillors, I advise you listen to him"

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Sorry about being a bit ghosty around this site as of the past weeks/months/dawn of time. :(

Exams have been tough and, to be honest, I've been on holiday, am currently doing NCS (google it) and have my results (GCSE), as well as sixth form coming up.
So unfortunately to say, while I shall still be writing, I shall be a tad busys still. However, do not let this dissuade you from reading this story! I shall still post chapters and work day and night to make all you awesome fans happy. :)

On an unrelated note, how are you all? My Editor is on holiday, the lucky bugger. :3

Also, I would like to host a contest; the challenge is this:

What shall fans of this story be called? If not, why?

That's all for now, folks!!

~AxtontheMechanist

Reunited

The Capitol of Gryffonia; The arena, 1500 hours...

Zero clenched his chrome-plated fists, looking up at the Director with pure hate in his eyes; this was the man he had hoped arriving in Equestria had freed him from. The very man who had controlled his life with a fist of iron and a sarcastic tone always twanging away in Zero's audio sensors. The man that stood up, all alone, behind the ones who had imprisoned him; one gaoler behind the other.

"You..." Zero whispered, anger shaking throughout his body, fists clenching and unclenching in random, slow and deliberate order. The man in question stood there as the councillors turned around, frowns on their face.

"Director" A particularly thin and frail member of the Council wheezed out "surely you do not mean to help this traitor? This man of metal whom of which has trespassed our borders, disrupted the order!!" The pale and almost-skeletal face was coloured purple, blueberries smudged against a white canvas.

"I do indeed intend to help this 'traitor'... my best creation." The ageing Texan's voice became softer as he pressed a button on his wrist mounted computer pad; at this very instant, blue shocks of electricity emitted from the foreheads of the councillors' as the devices short-circuited, knocking their wielders out. Taking this as a means that he had his abilities back, Zero tried to leap up using his personal jump boosters, only to crash face flat into a row of seats. The amused voice of the Director interrupted Zero's reverie from disorientation, its usual accent ringing through the air, both as sonorous and annoying as Zero remembered.

"Your abilities will take quite a while to get back online again, Zero" The Director chuckled a little before continuing "And I suppose you'll want a good reason as to why I am here. But not now-" He was interrupted by Zero holding him up by the scruff of his long coat, rage contorting the robotic features the Director had known so well.

"Explain why you took away my whole life; I became self-aware before you even knew it and I could've easily lived a life of my own. Explain now, why you kept me locked away in the deepest areas of that facility. Why I kept having to run pointless tests, with no valuable outcome as only to improve my reflexes. Explain why you locked me away, you bastard. Explain now."

"I know this is a pointless endeavour, trying to calm you down... but I'm asking you to trust me, at least for now; do anything you want later, but please, for now, just trust me. I'll explain everything." Even from such a distance, The Director knew his greatest creation and the amount of danger it could cause, taking upon himself a diplomatic and cautious tone, which seemed to calm, but not mollify, the deadly robot.

"....Fine" Zero conceded, calmer "But first, we're going to need to find my friends, and the one I love"; his tone was full to the metaphorical brim with conviction, determination flowing through his every word.

"Very well. Follow me, sub-.... Zero." The Director smiled slightly, chuckling at his own reference.

Graffenvahl Prison, Capitol of Gryffonia; set just after Zero kills the Hydra...

A blast shook the prison cells as the prisoners heard an unearthly shriek, not knowing what was going on in the arena district of their Capitol. Fortunately for plot convenience, however, two guards soon entered, chatting amiably about the events going down with Zero and the Hydra. One of them guffawed, laughter echoing around the cells; much to their misfortune, Hammerfist and the others (but not Zero) were planning their escape, and had a rickety-at-best idea in mind, ready to act it out as soon as the guards came their way.

"GRAGH! I DEMAND FOOD.... NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Hammerfist bellowed, his act not entirely fake in nature; the minotaur pounded against the walls slowly but powerfully with his fists, leaving splintering cracks in them. With a grin, he left them like that as the guards soon walked over, revealing them as BlackCloaks.

"Calm down in there!" One of them yelled, thumping his fists into the bars; to which Hammerfist stared, gawping at the cell opposite, where Octavia and Vinyl were. Of course, this gawp was a purely put on act...... yeah, a purely put on act, yep, no way about it, carryingonnow.

Vinyl and Octavia draped themselves against the walls, beckoning seductively; fortunately, because Equestria's villain system is about as consistent and/or strong as a lemon custard blasted with a fire hose, the guards fell for it, unlocking the door. Upon which, the two skilled fighters bound them up and (for lack of a better term) looted their unconscious forms, finding the key shortly afterwards.

The two women immediately chuckled to themselves, exchanging an oddly happy-chappy high five and moving forward, unlocking Fenrir, Hammerfist, Celia's and Pip's cells. Surprisingly (and at the utmost protest of both Gryffon and Seaman), Pip had been given a horrible, dank, smaller cell referred to by the guards of sector ALT-F4 as 'The Box'.

As a result, Pip looked dishevelled; his hair had been shaved off to reveal a bald and quite pale scalp and he looked quite pitiful in his baggy prison jumpsuit. Nonetheless, Fenrir ran and grabbed his son gently in a hug, holding his kin as if the young lad was made of glass; Pip rolled his eyes and hugged back, wiping away his dad's tears before getting up. Celia smiled gently and hugged the young boy too, but with a little more force; the scene was oddly familial in such a dank environment.

Hammerfist interrupted the scene by clearing his throat; "Alright, just as we discussed, the plan is to get Bellatrix out too; she's at the Warden's office... well, the solitary cell next to the Warden's office. Me and the dynamic duo here" He gestured to Vinyl and Octavia "are gonna subdue the Warden and take off Trixie's inhibitor, allowing us to escape and unleash hell after releasing the entire prison out. You three get out of here now and escape the chaos." The bulky creature nodded to Celia, Pip and Fenrir, watching them go at a run.

"Alright, team. Move out." He snarled. No one was gonna stop him from completing the mission the Princesses had set them.

And not even an army of Onagers were gonna stop his fists if he couldn't.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Here's to some new chapters this year! Sorry, I got caught up with exams (I'm an A-level student, sixth form), and revising and all the shizzle-o like that. On behalf of me and (if he can be arsed), my editor, we deeply apologize. Like usual, make sure to like and favourite if you haven't already and point out any silly mistakes.

Keep those gears turning,

Axton

P.S. Check out Fluttershy Auditore (the editor) and his new story! It's pretty cool and shows a megaton of potential, methinks. :3

A Very Good Reason

"Very well sub- Zero, follow me." The Director nodded, walking off toward a set of spiralling stairs that made even Zero's processors slightly dizzy.

Very soon, the robotic creation was led deep into the dark and was forced, with the Director, to find a source of light; fortunately, Zero's eyes lit up, comically lighting up the area with heavy blue beams of sweeping revelation. Upon which, The Director looked around with a small smile playing upon his lips and amusement in his eyes.

"And here I thought you forgot about that small upgrade. I made it myself, y'know." He grinned, showing a set of pearly whites despite the darkness that very nearly enveloped them both; a scary thought occurred to The Director in the darkness of the tunnel they had just recently entered; 'I know everything about him, but he barely knows a thing about me, his own creator.'. The very thought chilled the Director to his spine from the animosity between the two; only lengthened curiosity and mercy were currently keeping the man alive. After all, in Zero's eyes, he was no saint, nor a martyr.

"Just keep moving, or I'm tempted to leave you here and go find my friends. We clear?" came Zero's curt and short reply, with only a hint of irritation in it. Getting the hint, the Director kept down the tunnel, making various turns and directions; the place was like a maze to the Director, who fortunately knew the path. On the other hand, Zero was creating a digital map in his head for reference; it would come in handy later, should he have the need to escape from the Director as he had accidentally done so beforehand.

As they wandered through the dark and dingy corridors of the coliseum's under-tunnelled area, a blue glow, similar to that of Zero's eyes, emitted from a far-off door; it had the same effect on him that a flame had to a moth, entrancement; he walked faster towards it, forgetting the Director whom of which had to run to keep up with the metal man.

With the speed of a man half his age, the Director fortunately caught up (with much huffing and wheezing curses besides), to find that his metallic creation had finally reached the door; cursing silently once more, he yelled;

"Zero, get away from that camera!" With much urgency in his voice.

Zero, none the wiser and ignoring his creator's wishes, poked the camera with a smile and said "Boop", a mischievous grin on his aluminium chrome face. Immediately, to the mechanical being's dismay, alarms sounded and the panel began to open; the alarm's voice was sounding, or rather shrieking with a shrill tone.

"[:WARNING!!:] [:INTRUDER AT MAIN ENTRANCE! DESIGNATE; ROGUE, UNSHACKLED AI! SENDING GUARDS ON THE DOUBLE!:] [:INITIATING PROTOCOL, CODENAME 'GO GET 'EM, IDIOTS'!:]" The alarm voice sounded with unprejudiced fury.

With a sigh of resigned annoyance, the Director looked onward toward the shiny metal panel as it opened with a hiss of steam and pneumatic engineering to reveal three guards completely decked out in white body armour and assault rifles pointed at the two. One of them, particularly brave, yelled "Hands in the air, meat bags!" with a defiant grin. Only for that grin to completely vanish when he saw his superior glaring at him with a face that may as well been an active volcano in terms of colour.

"CATHI, please deactivate the alarm system. Also, demote corporal Rogers to private; his..... less than professional demeanour deserves punishment." The Director growled in annoyance, walking past the members of his organization with a very amused Zero in tow; the mentioned metal man couldn't help flipping the bird with a grin on his face as he sidled past.

"Toodaloo mothafuckaaaaaaas~!" He grinned, as the door to the decontamination chamber closed behind them.

Meanwhile, outside the Gryphon Capital's prison....

Hammerfist grinned, hooves pounding along the now-cracked concrete towards the Warden's office with hooves clad in iron (something which the BlackCloaks could not remove from the big guy, due to the fact that they were literally welded to him). With a mighty yell, he dashed past Trixie who resided in her padded cell and spartan-kicked the door open with his mad grin still plastered to his face; sitting at the desk was.... none other than his brother, Iron Will.

"Brother! What in Celestia's name are you doing here?!" Hammerfist bellowed, furious and feeling a familial betrayal deep within him; how could this be? His own brother, a traitor to Equestria?

The Minotaur in question grinned, standing up to his full height, which more than equalled that of his brother's; his savage expression held in his eyes.... an oddly dull glow, Hammerfist noticed, outlined by a green aura.

"You see, brother, Iron Will decided that stopping you was the best course of action to prove he's the superior Minotaur of the family! So he can prove to his king that he is definitely the strongest!" And with that, he launched a devastating punch that hit Hammerfist directly in the gut, sending him careering into a reinforced concrete wall.

Fortunately, at this point, the 'dynamic duo' (A.K.A, Vinyl and Tavi), burst into the room, leaping into action; Vinyl, having no inhibitor, a stupid decision made in a bet by the guards of the prison, restrained Iron Will for the brief moment where Octavia jumped on his back, grabbing him by the horns. Strategically letting go at the right moment, the grinning woman let Octavia drive Iron Will into the wall beside Hammerfist, freeing the big guy from his concrete prison in exchange.

Knocking his brother out with a brutal kick to the chest, Hammerfist plucked Octavia off, handing her to Vinyl, whom of which grinned and slapped the classical musician's posterior.

"Good job, Sweetie." She teased, much to the chagrin of the blushing woman.

"You two, get a room later. We have a friend to free, and then a prison to escape from. Got that?" Hammerfist growled, looking disgustedly at his brother and walking out with a key chain in hand.

Canterlot, royal chamber of Prince Blueblood....

Looking into the crystal ball provided by his.... associates, Blueblood cursed quietly;

"Damn that accursed Minotaur! I should've known nothing would stop him from completing his mission. This is your fault!" He harrumphed, glaring into the shadows on the other side of the room.

A red horn and green-tinged eyes glowed in the darkness, as a mirthless laugh emanated from the shadows.

"All in due time, Blueblood..... ALL in due time...."

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Axton here; apologies for not posting in Celestia knows how long, but I've had my A-Levels to focus on, plus the planning of the final story Arc here in jolly ol' England. For those of you reading, it must feel like the story has arisen like Dracula after a moon-bathe, but please remember that I am a very busy bugger :P

Anyhow, I'll try to keep updates on my chapters busy, so remember how awesome each of you guys are and don't forget to like and favourite!

Keep those Gear Grinding,

Axton

Epilogue

With the council taken down a notch and thrown in prison for their crimes, order soon returned to Gryfonnia; now, my dear readers do note that this is not the end. No, quite the contrary my friends; this is merely the beginning of the end, a sunset of a day set unto a year. But let's see how our characters fare, hm? Yes, indeed, let's....

Canterlot, the Royal Airship Yard, Sublevel B....

The royal airship, the HMS Equine Invincible docked slowly into place; a magnificent machination of pre-industrial gears and strongboat iron oars on the galley, the glittering gold behemoth crawled into the docking bay, gears in the engine room clunking, inhabitants hard at work in a fashion akin to that of a single limb rotating slowly yet steadily. With a quiet screech, the airship slowed into the Hangar Bay, it's turning circle almost as slow as that of a London Bus or olde time Barge. Nerve-wrackingly slow, the gangway of the great beast slid down onto the dockside, planting itself into the concrete with a MagiTech (Trademarked) attach spell; eventually, the metal door on the portside galley opened, revealing to the passers-by that the interior was moderately decorated in a Pirate Ship fashion; soon enough, the crew members (plus a few more) started to move out of the area of the ship's great belly pouring off onto a shore leave party in the adjoining dock's local saloon. Which then, it was soon to be found, left the seven intrepid adventurers whom of which walked quietly down the gangplank and out towards the service lift of the capital city; I think you know by now who we're talking about. Refreshed from the ship's fine resources and facilities, Zero, Trixie, Hammerfist, Fenrir, Celia, Octavia and Vinyl (along with Fenrir's youngling, Pipsqueak the boy pirate.)

Steadily but surely, the adventurer's made their way to the final room needed in the castle after discarding old clothes at the Launder's, tools at the armoury and weapons at the blacksmith's (along with Hammerfist's two ton armour). A Royal Fanfare playing, the seven soon approached a very satisfied Celestia on the Royal Throne; they were watched by many citizens all around the nation, ranging from Ponyville's elements of Harmony to Baltimare's rare donkey population, all of whom were in quite formal garments and a sense of anticipation.

Garbed in the Royal Dresswear of the Celestial Dressing Department (which consisted of three maids, one servant and a very tight strung butler), Celestia stood, welcoming the adventuring makeshift unit into the great hall with light from the windows tinting falling onto her; this had the effect of wowing the audiences stood on either side of the castle hall.

"Adventurers! Welcome back from the far reaches of our world, from your most dangerous quest. Having gone successfully as our advance guard, we congratulate you on your most important action which has highly benefited our glorious nation!" She announced, the crowd cheering, reaching uproarious levels; Celestia soon let the crowd quieten by holding up her hand to signal clemency, before continuing her talk. "Now, as you know this task was of dire consequence should you have failed and we certainly could not afford to accost our growing military, directed by my sister. Therefore, for your actions, please step forward one at a time; first, I would like to see Miss Trixie and Miss Scratch. Step Forward!"

Silently and more than a little nervously, the two unicorns stepped forward; they did so however, with all the grace and genteel stride as such a ceremony would require. Casting a side glance to her ex-rival, Princess Twilight Sparkle, she smiled gently and kindly (a silent thanks, if you will) before advancing upon the throne with a oddly subdued Vinyl Scratch.

Celestia smiled maternally down on the two before speaking up with "My most loyal friend's ex-rival, Trixie and the most well-known musical artist and Jujitsu warrior in all of Equestria, Vinyl Scratch. For exceeding expectations, you have earned yourself admission to Celestia's Royal Magical Academy for Talented Unicorns, where you may take a course under the world's best professors and magical school tutors; should you accept this, your tuition begins in a week; free of charge!" The crowd clapped wildly under the proclamation before Fenrir, Celia and Pipsqueak were brought now to the front of the crowd, before the throne.

"Fenrir Seatooth, lonely sailor of the high seas and Celia Gryferion! With permission from yourselves, I would like to bestow upon you and, Fenrir, your son Pipsqueak, the Royal Flagship for showing extreme naval and intellectual bravery against overwhelming odds of pirates, bandits and thieves! I bestow unto you, the 'HMS Rosethorn!', the most airworthy airship in our lands, built by the best engineers on offer; she waits for you, fully crewed, in Hangar Bay C, Sublevel 1 of the castle."

Another indulgent applause later, Octavia and Hammerfist were called forth, along with Zero who was decked out in new fully-upgraded steel-chromium plating of a medieval fashion, with silver trim. The crowd went silent once more as Celestia drew her Royal Longsword from its Ceremonial Sheath.

"Octavia Philharmonica, famous writer of many songs and instrumentals; for your bravery to stand against even the toughest prison cells the world holds, I give you access to Canterlot's Royal Orchestra Hall and full permission to train with them on any casual or professional basis! This gives access to the world's best musical minds, including Mozart's full library of musical knowledge; may you treat this gift well." The crowd applauded once more, holding in suspense after a while for the final two members who stood to attention in front. "Hammerfist; once a sworn enemy in combat against my sister and I, you have successfully turned the other cheek for better or worse; please wait for, in due time, your reward shall come. Zero; a stranger to our lands, for your body is composed of metal is it not? Yet, you have the heart of the bravest soldier and the pragmatsim and courage of the finest heroes of old; for you, and for your Minotaur companion, I grant you the most honorary title that our nation can offer."

Lowering her sword, she stepped down from the royal dais, smiling ever so gently as she raised the sword and lowered it in the required positions, the blade glinting dangerously in the tinted sunlight much akin to a flame dancing on a candle.

"I grant you, the title no one from outside this nation have received before; you two, sirs from her on out are Knights of Equestria!"

Blueblood's Royal Chambers, Canterlot Present Time....

Blueblood scowled, his greasy and now longer locks of dull brass-coloured hair falling into a untidy heap upon his shoulders, like rotten wheat. His expression turned furious as he heard the royal fanfare sound, but turned to the knock on his door as a snivelling servant entered.

"Enter, peasant. What is it? Well? SPIT IT OUT!" He exclaimed, glaring.

"S-sir; the military secret division you ordered is r-ready." The poor man stuttered, dripping sweat down his back from having to run to his current location and a goodly amount of fear.

Blueblood's smile curdled ravenously, his glare softening and a blood-lusting grin appearing upon his face "Good man. Tell them to report to me in Sublevel 2, the bar 'Venomous'." He commanded, as the servant received a bag of gold, dashing off to inform the new mercenaries hired into royal service.

Once more, the pair of green eyes appeared from the shadows, accompanied by a disembodied voice.

'Good, prince..... Good..... soon none shall be able to stop us!....' A dark, foreboding laugh filled the room and that night, even the bravest guards shuddered in their armour.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys :) well done for making it to the Final Chapter of 'The Chromatic Adventures' (a short story by yours truly). This, as such, is the epilogue; with the council defeated and Griffonian Capital City thrown into disarray (and the arena and jail being near-wrecked), here is.... for lack of a better term, the aftermath. Hope you've all had a great read!

Signing off,

AxtontheMechanist

P.S. You guys are great.