> The Twin Technomancers
>  by Phantomdust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a famous workshop owned by the Church of Science and Technology in the middle of the City of Copper three people in plain black hooded robes were working on various machines. Two of these individuals were children. One of these children was male. His name was Gerhardt Scientia Mechanica. He appeared to be around the age of ten, had perfectly straight shoulder length grey hair, silvery grey eyes, a naturally serious expression, almost ghostly pale white skin from rarely being exposed to the sun, and his hands and arms were made of a special tungsten alloy. He had bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep as he would very often stay up for days on end working right alongside his sister without stopping to rest nearly as much as he should have. He was currently building a gun. As soon as he finished it he set it down in a crate filled with similar guns.

The other child was a female. Her name was Pixel Scientia Mechanica. She also appeared to be ten years old, had long almost metallically shiny silver hair that was just as straight as her brother’s, and cheerful eyes with irises the color of polished blue sapphire. No part of her appeared to be artificial in any way. At least from the outside. On the inside was a completely different story. Internally she was fully mechanical. There wasn’t so much as a single part of her that was truly organic. She was a sapient golem, a true artificial intelligence. More than that, she and her brother were both demigods. Their father had worked together with Scientia, the goddess of technology, in order to build Pixel. To ensure Pixel was undeniably their daughter and would be a demigod rather than just an artificial intelligence Scientia had taken a small fragment of their father’s soul and a fragment of her own soul and had merged them together in order to craft Pixel’s soul before she was first activated. Furthermore Pixel’s body was full of nanobots that healed her and allowed her to grow like a normal girl. She was currently working on making artificial body parts and organs.

Gerhardt, on the other hand, was partially organic. Apparently Scientia had offered to make a child with their father the old fashioned way but he had insisted on building one instead, partially because he simply preferred the idea of building a child and partially because he had lost the ability to reproduce naturally due to how heavily augmented his body had been at the time. Being the goddess of technology, Scientia was perfectly happy with the idea and thus Pixel was made; however Scientia apparently still wanted a child that was at least partially organic. Thus she built a cloning device and spliced together specific sections of her D.N.A. with their father’s D.N.A. and made Gerhardt’s body. The cloning device grew his body to the size and maturity of a four year old within a few days and while he was still in the device she had replaced various parts of his body including the memory centers of his brain with artificial equivalents and uploaded quite a bit of information into his mind before waking him up. He was taken out of the device and woken up on the same day they finished building Pixel and had first activated her, thus they were twins despite having been made via two very different methods.

The third individual was an adult. His name was Alexander Scientia Calculo. He appeared to be in his mid twenties though in actuality was several thousand years old, he had short black hair and a short black moustache and beard, his eyes were silvery grey just like Gerhardt’s, had similarly ghostly pale white skin as Gerhardt for the same reason, and had similar augmentations as him. He did appear more well rested, however. He was Gerhardt and Pixel’s half brother on their mother’s side and as such was a demigod just like them. He, however, had been born and raised naturally and only gained augmentations when he was already tens of thousands of years old when augmentations were first invented and reached a point they were at least equivalent in capabilities as their natural counterparts. He was only one of over a dozen older siblings they had but he was the oldest living sibling in the family and he was the one that they were the closest with by far. He was actually the one who had been raising the two of them for the past few years. He was currently working on a prototype interplanetary teleportation device he had been experimenting with.

As the three of them continued to work Gerhardt grimaced as his stomach suddenly grumbled. He had been so focused on his work that he hadn’t eaten anything in quite some time. He couldn’t remember how long it had been exactly. Several days? A week? Two weeks? Longer? He had no idea. Most of his body was mechanical so he didn’t need nearly as much food or water as fully organic individuals and he didn’t need to eat or drink as frequently. Furthermore he was a demigod which meant he technically didn’t need to eat or drink at all in order to survive. However, unlike his sister he did still get hungry just like everyone else and it was very uncomfortable.

Hearing Gerhardt’s stomach growl Alexander chuckled and set his tools down before turning to look at the young demigod. “Hungry?” He inquired in a teasing tone.

Gerhardt’s face flushed and he looked down at the ground in embarrassment, slightly ashamed of the fact that he wasn’t able to continue working indefinitely like Pixel. He wished his parents had built him as an artificial intelligence like his sister. “Y-yes…” He muttered.

Alexander smiled at him and said, “Alright. In that case, how about the three of us take a short dinner break? Come on, you two can help me cook.” He then turned and walked over to a small refrigerator they kept in a corner of the workshop. Opening up the freezer he pulled out three steaks before putting them in the microwave next to the fridge and setting it to defrost. Pixel went over to the fridge after him and took three potatoes out of a drawer inside, meanwhile Gerhardt went over to a metal cabinet and took out a can of peas as well as a pot to cook them in. The three of them then proceeded to get everything set up and cook their dinner together.

As their dinner was cooking Alexander took a small plastic folding table out of storage along with three metal folding chairs and set them up. He then set three paper plates down on the table along with three forks and knives. When their dinner was finished cooking he set one steak and one baked potato on each of the three plates and dished out the peas. After he set the pot with the remaining peas back down on the inactive burner they had been cooked on, all three of them sat down and ate their dinner together making light small talk as they ate.

After they finished eating Pixel smiled at Alexander and said, “Thank you, big brother! The steak was delicious as always!”

“Yes, thank you…” Gerhardt muttered, still embarrassed by his stomach growling earlier.

Alexander smiled at the two of them and said, “Of course! I always enjoy eating with the two of you.” He then picked up all three of their paper plates and silverware. Dumping the silverware in a small washing machine, he proceeded to throw the paper plates away. However, right as he threw the paper plates in the trash can a bright flash of leaf green light filled the workshop. Whirling around in surprise he was startled to see who he immediately recognized as Viridios. The son of Scientia’s biggest enemy, Silvanus the God of Nature. He was an elven demigod and looked extremely similar to his father. He wore a green robe made from plants, had long green hair that was reminiscent of vines, a clean shaven face, grassy green eyes, pointed ears, and very pale almost glowing skin that most with elven heritage had. He was currently glaring at Pixel and Gerhardt in a mixture of hatred, disgust, and disdain.

Panicking, Alexander cast a spell and teleported Pixel and Gerhardt over to himself. Standing in front of them defensively he demanded, “Viridios… What do you want?!”

“What do you think? To destroy you disgusting abominations of course! Don’t think that this is an isolated attack. My younger siblings are leading an assault upon the rest of you freaks as we speak. Now, the two of you should prepare to meet that heretic you called a father in the afterlife.” Viridios snarled at Alexander before turning his gaze to Pixel and Gerhardt.

Alexander snarled back. “You two, stay here and keep a barrier up. Viridios’s siblings could be waiting outside to intercept and kill you if you try running so it’s too dangerous for you to leave.” He told his younger half siblings before teleporting two seperate things to his hands. In his main hand was a pistol designed by Scientia to harm and even kill demigods. There were only a few weapons or devices in the entire world that were this powerful and almost all of them had been crafted by gods or spirits and granted to mortals for various reasons. The few that weren’t had been made with the help of demigods or fay and tended to be much bigger and less efficient than the ones made by actual gods or spirits.

In his off hand was a combat knife that had also been designed by Scientia and was capable of not only disrupting matter but outright destroying all matter the blade came in contact with and all of the energy that was contained within said matter. So it could destroy the matter that Viridios was made of, meaning he could be wounded by it just like everyone else. So if something happened to his pistol or if Viridios decided to close the distance so he couldn’t use his pistol as effectively, Alexander had back up. Finally Alexander raised a barrier around himself.

“Scientia gave you those toys, I presume? Well too bad they won’t save you.” Viridios said before raising a hand towards Alexander. However as his hand was still moving Alexander shot him blasting a hole through Viridios’s stomach. “GAH!” Viridios exclaimed, stumbling backwards. 

“You were saying?” Alexander inquired in a deadpan tone.

Viridios glared at him furiously. “You know, I was going to make your deaths quick and painless. Now? Now I’ll force you to watch as I rip those two little brats to pieces while you slowly bleed to death on the ground.”

Alexander just shot him again, blasting a hole straight through his chest this time. Unfortunately Viridios didn’t just stand still so Alexander missed his heart. Alexander continued firing repeatedly until Viridios finally teleported out of the way. Suddenly a blast of leaf green arcane energy slammed into Alexander’s barrier causing tiny cracks to appear on it. As soon as the blast ended the barrier began repairing itself.

Tracking the direction of the blast to the source Alexander tried to point his pistol at Viridios again, however before he could pull the trigger Viridios teleported away again. A blast of energy hit him from another direction causing more cracks to appear. This pattern repeated for several seconds, each blast being powerful enough to punch holes straight through entire mountains but dealing no damage to anything outside of what it hit. Viridios’s goal was to kill Alexander, Gerhardt, and Pixel not destroy the city. So he was concentrating one hundred percent of the power of his attacks on Alexander’s barrier rather than spreading that power out over a large area for a more flashy effect. Thus his spells were even more devastating as each and every last one contained enough power to destroy entire cities and all of that power was directed towards a very small area with absolutely none of it being dispersed elsewhere.

Alexander knew this full well and he knew that his barrier wasn’t impenetrable and couldn’t hold out forever thus he paid very close attention to how Viridios was teleporting, searching for a pattern. Eventually finding the pattern he was looking for he preemptively aimed where he thought Viridios would teleport next and as soon as the demigod appeared Alexander pulled the trigger and shot him in the hand.

Viridios cursed, clutching his hand in pain. Snarling in fury Viridios then teleported directly in front of Alexander and proceeded to punch him while simultaneously casting a spell to enhance his strike, pouring far more energy into this spell than he had into the blasts. Thus the barrier fell and Viridios’s fist smashed into Alexander’s side, breaking several of his ribs and launching him across the room where he then slammed into an experimental teleportation device that he had been working on.

Groaning in pain Alexander tried to raise his pistol only to find his hand was empty. Looking he saw Viridios holding the pistol which he then smashed to pieces. With the pistol destroyed Viridios proceeded to raise a hand towards Alexander, obviously about to cast another spell. Seeing this Alexander quickly threw himself out of the way. A bolt of leaf green energy then narrowly missed Alexander and instead slammed into the experimental teleportation device. Moments later there was a blinding flash of light as the machine exploded.

Suddenly Alexander, Viridios, Pixel, and Gerhardt all felt their bodies stretch and change as they fell through what could only be described as some sort of rainbow colored tunnel through space and time. Finally there was another bright flash of light and all three of them were spat out of the rainbow void.

When it was over there were a few things they noticed. Fist Pixel’s sensors — which had a one mile effective radius — were suddenly flooded with an absolutely massive amount of data as they immediately began detecting hundreds of thousands if not millions of energy readings all around her. It was almost as if all that inhabited the area she was in down to the very birds, rodents, insects and every other living thing that wasn’t either a single celled organism or microscopically small had some sort of connection to magic. Not only that but only a fraction of the energy readings she was detecting were consistent with actual mages while most of the rest were not even remotely consistent with anything she had ever encountered before — though she was able to tell that all of them were mortal except for her, her brothers, and Viridios. Fortunately her sensors had been designed by her mother so they were capable of withstanding such vast amounts of data without much issue. Second, all three of them felt strange for some reason.

Pushing himself back up off the ground Alexander found it difficult to even get up on two legs, let alone balance on them and was thus forced onto all fours. The same could be said for Viridios, Gerhardt, and Pixel. Looking down at himself Alexander noticed that his body had suddenly changed drastically. First and foremost he found that his hands and feet had suddenly changed to hooves, and his arms and legs had changed to reflect his now quadrupedal form. Second, he was now covered in dull copper colored fur and had an ethereal black mane and tail that seemed to flow like oil in an invisible wind or current. Third, he felt his hood catching on something on his head. Reaching up and feeling it he found that he now had a singular spike-like protrusion sticking out of the top of his head. Feeling something strange on his back he looked and saw that he now had metallic bird-like wings. He then looked at his younger siblings and Viridios and saw that they had all undergone very similar changes.

They now appeared to be equine-esque creatures with cartoonish proportions. All three of them had horns just like unicorns from Elven mythology and wings like pegasi from Dwarven mythology. Pixel had shiny gold fur that Alexander could only assume was made from tiny strands of actual gold. She also had a shiny silver mane which he knew was made from thin strands of actual silver and an equally shiny silver tail that was presumably the same. Her clothes had changed to match her new form as well. Most of them had actually disappeared but her robe appeared to have become what was effectively a black hooded cape. Gerhardt looked much the same except his limbs, including the wings on his back, were still made of a tungsten alloy and his fur, mane, and tail were much duller and more natural looking than Pixel’s.

Viridios had light green fur, a leaf green mane and tail that had taken on an almost ethereal quality just like just like Alexander’s had and were vaguely reminiscent of vines and leaves gently blowing in a non-existent wind, and had what appeared to be some sort of tattoo of a tree on his rump.

Quickly adapting to this Viridios glared at Alexander and his horn was surrounded by a leaf green aura as he cast a spell and fired a devastating sphere of destructive arcane energy several dozen times faster than the speed of sound.

Alexander intercepted the spell with a portal, the other end of which was several miles in the sky and was directed straight upwards. He then cast another spell and grabbed the combat knife he had dropped when his hands disappeared off the ground before activating it. He then bit the handle of the knife with his mouth and teleported directly in front of Viridios. From there their battle devolved into a brawl that went on for several minutes with neither one of them gaining the upper hand over the other. That was until Viridios pulled an underhanded trick and finally managed to knock Alexander unconscious. He then prepared to cast a spell to finish Alexander off.

Before he could, however, Pixel cast a spell of her own and blasted him in the side knocking him away. “Leave my big brother alone! I won’t let you take him from us like you took daddy!” She shouted at him.

Gerhardt, having been just about to do the same thing, was shocked by this. It was unlike her to do any actual fighting. While Gerhardt didn’t have a problem with fighting or even killing others if he had no other choice, Pixel hated hurting others.

Getting back up Viridios snarled in fury. “You insolent abomination!” Viridios shouted before unleashing a beam of arcane energy at Pixel. Before it could impact her barrier, however, she vanished in a flash of silver light as Gerhardt teleported her out of the way. So instead of hitting her the beam bored several miles deep into the ground where she had previously been standing. Once she was out of harm’s way Gerhardt cast another spell and teleported Alexander’s knife to himself before biting its hilt just like Alexander had.

Viridios glared at him and cast a spell at him. However, Gerhardt teleported beside him before sliding under him and slicing his stomach open with the combat knife. Viridios screamed in agony before grabbing Gerhardt with telekinesis and flinging him away hard, causing him to crash all the way through a wall of the workshop. Viridios’s eyes then widened as he looked down at his wound and saw how badly injured he was. Knowing full well that he was now incapable of continuing to fight he teleported himself high above the workshop. He then began flapping his new wings, trying to keep himself aloft. He was actually quite good at it due to the fact he was a demigod of nature and he had thus had turned himself into a bird plenty of times in the past. He then began flying away in search of somewhere to tend his wounds, rest, and recover.

“Gerhardt!” Pixel shouted as she watched Gerhardt crash through the wall. Running over to him she saw him bleeding from the head, completely unconscious. She immediately knew that she needed to find help as soon as possible. Picking up the knife she deactivated it. Then grabbing Alexander with telekinesis she levitated him over to them and slid the knife back into a pocket of his robes. Finally she picked up both herself and Gerhardt with telekinesis before levitating the three of them high up above the tree line of the forest their workshop had apparently ended up in. Then she began looking around in search of any trace of civilization. Seeing the ocean nearby she noticed what appeared to be a city of sorts on the coast line. It was less than a mile away and she assumed that it was her best chance of finding help. So she began levitating herself and Gerhardt in the direction of the coastal city as fast as she possibly could. She didn’t know how to use her new wings and since her brothers were hurt she didn’t want to spend the time trying to figure it out, thus the reason she used telekinesis instead.

Landing in the middle of the city she found herself in the middle of a large crowd. Her father and later Alexander had both told her never to trust strangers but right now it was an emergency so she said, “Help! Someone help! My brothers are hurt! Does anyone know where a hospital is?”

Many of the equines stopped to look at her but when they saw Gerhardt and Alexander floating just behind her with blood dripping from their bodies they saw she was indeed telling the truth. One of the equines that was closest came up to her and said, “The hospital is this way, follow me!” She — as it sounded like a female — then turned and began running off in a certain direction. Pixel followed after her.

A few minutes later they arrived at the hospital. “Thank you so much!” Pixel said gratefully before running inside the hospital with Gerhardt in tow.

“You're welcome!” The equine called after her just before she and Gerhardt disappeared into the doors of the hospital.

As soon as they were inside, Pixel called out, “My brothers are hurt! Please help!”

One of the nurses came running immediately and began checking Gerhardt’s head which she saw was bleeding. She then checked Alexander’s body and saw him covered in wounds, some of which were worse than others. Grimacing, she said, “You did very well bringing them here. Please set them down so I can bring them both to the emergency room.”

Pixel complied and set her brothers down on the ground. The nurse then cast a spell and picked him up with telekinesis. “Thank you. I’ll need you to stay out here for the time being. One of our doctors will be coming to speak with you shortly.” The nurse said before turning and running to get Gerhardt to the emergency room. 

Seeing some empty seats off to the side, Pixel walked over to them and sat down in one while she waited. About thirty minutes or so passed and she found herself growing restless out of concern for her father when finally a pony in a white doctor’s coat came out. He looked around for a moment before spotting her. He then approached her and said, “Hello. You’re the one who brought in those injured alicorns correct? What’s your name?”

“I’m Pixel Scientia Mechanica. My twin brother’s name is Gerhardt Scientia Mechanica and my older brother’s name is Alexander Scientia Calculo… Are… Are they going to be alright?” Pixel inquired timidly.

The doctor nodded. “Yes. They’re going to be fine. Your twin brother has a minor concussion but he should wake up in a few hours. He’s going to have a nasty headache for a few days but all he needs is some rest. So we’ll be prescribing him some over the counter painkillers for the next week or so. Fortunately Alicorns are said to heal remarkably fast so he should be better in no time. Well assuming you two really are alicorns. As for your older brother, he’s in significantly worse condition but he’ll live. Though, uh… He does appear to have suffered some brain damage so he may suffer some complications. Specifically blindness as the damage he suffered was in the occipital lobe… Ehem, Regardless, I have a few questions I want to ask if you don’t mind.”

Pixel smiled at him. She wasn’t worried about Alexander being blind in the least as she was confident that their mother could fix it when she came to visit again so the fact he would live was more than enough for her. “Alright! I’ll answer everything I can to the best of my abilities!”

“First and foremost, I need you to tell me what happened. Can you do that?”

Pixel nodded and said, “Mhm… A bad man named Viridios attacked us. He’s attacked us in the past. He wants to kill us… He… He killed our father a few years ago because daddy tried to protect us. My twin brother and I have been living with our older half brother ever since… Um… Anyways, when he attacked us again our older brother tried to protect us and while they were fighting Viridios accidentally broke a teleportation device our older brother had been building. We fell through some sort of rainbow tunnel and ended up in the forest near the city, workshop and all. Then my older brother continued fighting the bad man for a while before being knocked unconscious. Then I knocked the bad man away before he could kill our older brother and my twin brother hurt the bad man with the knife our mother gave our older brother and the bad man threw him through a wall before running away…”

The doctor’s eyes widened in horror as he heard what Pixel had to say. “O-oh… I, uh… I see… I’m so sorry to hear that… Ehem… Now, we noticed that most of your brothers’ bodies are artificial. Do you have any idea how they got their artificial body parts or who made them? They’re absolutely remarkable! We’ve never seen anything like them before!”  He asked, trying to change the subject and get Pixel’s mind off of what she just told him.

“Our mother made them. Well, she made the originals. Our older brother made their current augmentations.” Pixel stated simply.

The doctor nodded. “Well, I have one, maybe two more questions for you if that’s alright. First, I see you have both a horn and wings. Might you by any chance be an alicorn?”

“Um… I’ve never heard of alicorns before but our mother and father told me my twin brother and I are demigods. Our older brother said the same thing. Daddy was just a mortal technomancer but mommy is Scientia, the goddess of technology. The man who attacked us was a demigod like me but he isn’t related to me. His name is Viridios and his father is Silvanus, the god of nature.” Pixel explained.

“Uh huh… Right…” The doctor said in a skeptical tone. He believed that she might be an alicorn but he didn’t believe the part about her being a demigod or her mother being a goddess. Then again maybe it was just a cultural difference. Perhaps wherever Pixel was from called alicorns gods and half alicorns demigods or something to that effect. After all Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to be considered goddesses a thousand years ago so it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility that somewhere in the world still retained that ideology. If anything the most confusing part was where in the world Pixel used to live that there were not just one but four — six if one counted Pixel and her twin brother — previously unknown alicorns running around and they had medical technology advanced enough to replace most of a pony’s body with artificial parts. “Well then, that’s all for my questions for now but would you mind if we ran a quick test to determine if you really are an alicorn or not?”

“Okay.” Pixel stated.

“Excellent. A nurse will be by in a moment.” The doctor stated before turning and walking away.

A few minutes later a unicorn nurse came walking up to Pixel with a friendly smile on her face. “Hello again. The Doctor wants me to check your magic system to see if you’re an Alicorn or not. Are you ready?”

Pixel nodded with a friendly smile on her face.

“Okay. I promise this won’t hurt a bit.” The nurse said. She then cast a spell on Pixel and was surprised to see that not only was she indeed an alicorn but she appeared to be a full alicorn rather than just half as the doctor said she would probably be. Even more surprising than that, her magic appeared to be significantly stronger than even Princess Celestia’s was reported to be. “O-oh my. Um… Excuse me for a moment.” The nurse said before running off.

A few moments later the nurse came back with yet another unicorn nurse. This new nurse cast the same spell on Pixel and got the exact same results. This pattern repeated until every single unicorn that worked at the hospital scanned Pixel and all of them got the exact same results. When Gerhardt and Alexander finally woke up they all ran the exact same test on them and got the exact same results. At that point they had to admit it wasn’t a fluke and not only were the three of them alicorns but they were all indeed significantly more powerful than Celestia was reported to be. Eventually the doctors sent an urgent letter to Princess Celestia informing her that three new alicorns had come to their hospital and gave her the results of their tests.

[The Next Day]

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both walked into the hospital and were immediately greeted by one of the Nurses. After bowing to them the nurse said, “Hello Princesses. Pixel and her twin brother Gerhardt are with their older brother Alexander and haven’t left his side ever since we cleared them to visit him. Though as far as we’re aware all three of them have refused any food or water we have offered them for some reason. We’re assuming that for the twins it’s likely lingering trauma from being attacked by the individual who murdered their parents and has apparently been hunting them for several years now. For the older brother, we honestly have no idea why he’s refusing food or water.”

“I see. Could you take us to the room they’re currently in please?” Celestia requested.

“Of course! Right this way.” The nurse said before leading Celestia and Luna to the room they were keeping Alexander in.

Walking inside the two alicorns saw Pixel laying right next to Gerhardt on his bed. Approaching them Luna said, “Hello. You’re Pixel, Gerhardt, and Alexander correct?”

Pixel raised her head and looked at Celestia. “Mhm… Who are you?” Gerhardt also raised his head but said nothing.

Alexander turned his head in the Princesses’ general direction but very clearly couldn’t actually see them. “Hello. I honestly didn’t think we’d be getting any visitors, though it’s a welcome surprise.”

Princess Celestia smiled at her and said, “I’m Princess Celestia and this is my sister Princess Luna. We’re the diarchs of Equestria. We’re here because the doctors informed us that you three were here and you three just so happen to be alicorns. I apologize, I know you’ve all already undergone this test a dozen times already but would you mind if my sister and I confirmed the validity of this for ourselves?”

Gerhardt quietly groaned in annoyance and laid back down but Pixel nodded and said, “Sure. We don’t mind.”

Alexander shrugged to the best of his abilities with his new body and said, “I don’t see why not. It’s not like it really matters in the end.”

“Thank you.” Celestia said before both her and Lunacast the same spell all the unicorn nurses and doctors had the previous night. A few moments later the spell ended.

“Well, it would appear they were not mistaken. You are all extraordinarily powerful. Especially you, Alexander” Princess Luna said, appearing quite surprised.

Pixel shook her head. “No. I don’t mean to be rude but my sensors tell me that while you are both demigods like us your magic is abnormally weak to the point it seems almost atrophied, almost as if neither of you have ever once taken the time to maintain your magical fitness. I don’t understand why but the same can be said for every unicorn I’ve encountered so far. So while our big brother is really strong my twin brother and I are just slightly above average for demigods. Your magic is just really out of shape. You could both be as strong as us fairly quickly if you started to maintain proper magical fitness.”

Hearing her say that Gerhardt grimaced. He personally wouldn’t have told a stranger any of that but he supposed it was common knowledge so it didn’t matter that much.

The Princesses appeared confused by this. “Er… You realize we aren’t actually demigods correct? Also what do you mean by sensors?” Celestia inquired.

“No. Our mother was a goddess of technology. She’s a lot more powerful than both of us combined. Furthermore her arcane energy signature is a bit different from ours and is a lot different from a mortal’s. As for my sensors, I’m a sapient golem. An artificial intelligence. Our mother took a fragment from our father’s soul and her own soul and used them to make my soul. They built my body together. I have sensors that allow me to detect all arcane energy signatures in a one mile radius around me and they’re what allow me to detect the fact that you're both demigods like me and that your magic is atrophied. My brother isn’t an artificial intelligence like me. He was made in a cloning vat by mommy by splicing certain parts of her and daddy’s D.N.A. and the cloning vat grew him to the size and maturity of a four year old in a few days. Our mother gave him augmentations and uploaded a bunch of knowledge into his brain while he was still in the vat. We’re actually twins because he was taken out of the vat and was woken up just a few minutes before I was first activated. Both of us are technically only four years old.“ Pixel explained.

At this point Gerhardt just sighed in frustration and shook his head. His sister was far too trusting and it was already too late to cut her off. Hopefully these two new demigods weren’t hostile like Viridios because he really didn’t want to have to fight right now given the fact he was still recovering from being thrown through a wall by Viridios. These ones may not have been as powerful as Viridios due to not maintaining proper fitness but there were two of them rather than just one and in a fight numbers were just as important as raw power. And since Alexander was currently blind, Gerhardt would have to be the one to do the fighting.

Alexander honestly didn’t mind. As far as he was concerned this was fairly common knowledge. Well, minus the details about Pixel and Gerhardt’s creation. So he really didn’t care if they knew or not. And while he wasn’t nearly as trusting as Pixel, he wasn’t nearly as paranoid as Gerhardt either. So he didn’t exactly trust the princesses but he didn’t believe they had any true ulterior motives either and thus saw no reason to tell them anything but the truth.

“Uh… Sister, I know that the power of the element of honesty isn’t as strong in me ever since Applejack became its new wielder but I am getting a very strong feeling that what she’s saying is the truth.” Princess Luna stated, looking at Celestia.

“I’m sorry, I require a bit of clarification. Do you believe that she’s simply telling the truth and could simply be mistaken or what she’s saying is the truth and thus a fact. There is a very large distinction between the two.” Celestia inquired.

“The latter. What she’s saying is the truth, not that she’s simply telling the truth.” Luna said in a slightly unsettled tone.

Celestia was very clearly caught off guard by this. “I… I see… Er… In that case, Pixel, Gerhardt, and Alexander, all three of you need to know that it absolutely cannot be revealed that we’re demigods. Okay?”

“Why not?” Pixel asked, not understanding the problem.

“Well for one thing most ponies wouldn’t believe you and we don’t want everypony thinking you’re either crazy or just power hungry and seeking worship. For another thing, we don’t want everypony viewing us as demigods. I spent centuries trying to convince everypony of the exact opposite. We would much prefer to be viewed as and treated like normal ponies. I wouldn’t recommend telling anypony that you are an artificial intelligence either. However, do you think you could tell us more about this ‘magical fitness’? If magic actually needs exercise like a muscle that knowledge could be of great benefit to Equestria but we would need to know how to exercise it assuming just using magic is not sufficient.” Celestia inquired.

Pixel nodded. “I guess I could write out some instructions for magical exercises.”

“Pixel, why in mother’s name are you so trusting? Ugh… Would you two mind explaining the reason why you’re here? Surely there must be a reason behind the diarchs of an entire kingdom coming to see the three of us in the hospital beyond the fact that you were told that we’re ‘alicorns’ like you.” Gerhardt asked, sitting up and looking at the two princesses.

“Before we explain our reason for being here, could you tell us what happened? We read what you told the doctor but we would like to hear it for ourselves just to make sure he didn’t leave out anything important.” Princess Luna requested.

Now realizing what Gerhardt meant and realizing she had indeed been a bit too forthcoming with information, Pixel looked at Alexander and asked, “Um… Big brother, should I…?”

Alexander chuckled and nodded. “Well we might as well just show them everything at this point so go ahead.”

“Alright.” Pixel said. She then cast a spell and made an illusory screen appear between her and the Princesses. This screen began displaying everything she had seen and an auditory illusion played everything she had heard. The Princesses were both quite surprised when instead of displaying ponies as they had expected the illusory screen depicted mostly hairless ape-like creatures, but this surprise quickly faded.

When it was over Luna looked at Celestia and asked, “Sister, correct me if I’m wrong but hadn’t Starswirl the Bearded been working on a method to travel to other realms?”

Celestia nodded. “He was. Unfortunately he never succeeded in making a way to travel between realms but he did succeed in creating a mirror to observe other realms. I believe in his notes he mentioned seeing creatures who looked remarkably similar to the ones Pixel just showed us.”

“I see. And just last night I saw the dreams of four individuals who looked extremely similar to the creatures she just showed us. Hm… Regardless, do you think it’s possible that Viridios managed to survive or do you think he may have died from his wounds in his sleep? If he did survive, what do you think we should do?These three are more powerful than us and he is clearly either as powerful if not more so than them.” Luna inquired.

Celestia shook her head. “I sincerely doubt he did. One does not typically survive being disemboweled. However, I believe we should remain cautious on the off chance he somehow did manage to survive. If he did then my first option would be to trust Twilight and her friends to stop him with the Elements of Harmony but failing that the only thing we can really do is try to become more ‘magically fit’ before he decides to attack again.”

“He’s still alive. Demigods like us are really hard to kill. That’s why our mother made those weapons, normal weapons can’t hurt us. That’s why our mother gave our big brother that gun and knife so he could defend me and Pixel better if another demigod tried to hurt us. I don’t know much about biology but I do know that organic demigods like you, me, my big brother, or Viridios can survive wounds that would kill a mortal. So he’ll survive. And he’s equally as powerful as our big brother.” Gerhardt stated.

“Well… In that case I think there might be one other option available to us.” Luna said in a grim tone. “The doctors did say that they found a knife in a pocket on Alexander’s robe. The same knife he used on Viridios perhaps?”

Celestia gasped in shock and looked at Luna in horror. “Luna! You can’t honestly be suggesting what I think you are!”

Luna shook her head. “Calm down, I only said it was an option. I don’t want it to come to that either. I would much prefer if this could be resolved peacefully. So we can treat it as a last resort assuming all other possibilities have been exhausted… Let’s just hope it never comes to that… or perhaps pray would be more apt since now we know for a fact that gods do apparently exist.”

Celestia sighed. “Fine. Though, Pixel, I noticed that Gerhardt specified organic demigods. But what about you?”

“I can survive anything as long as my brain is intact. And mommy put nano bots in me so I could grow up like a normal girl, but they can also heal most of my injuries in a matter of seconds or even let me reattach severed body parts.”

Alexander shook his head and said, “You are not keeping my knife. Our mother gave me that and I absolutely refuse to give it up. Especially with Viridios still out there somewhere. Now that I’ve made that clear, could you please answer my brother’s question and tell me why you're here?”

“Don’t worry, if it’s really that important to you we’ll allow you to keep it. However, if we let you keep it we would much prefer that one of your younger siblings train with the royal guard so they can learn how to use it properly especially since you’re now blind and can’t use it effectively on your own. We also need your word that you’ll never use it unless you, your younger siblings, or other ponies' lives are in danger and there’s absolutely no other choice.” Celestia said in a placating tone.

“Fine. You have my word. I don’t make a habit of going out and fighting other demigods to have a reason to use it in the first place and I much prefer ranged weapons anyways. And I suppose I could let Gerhardt train with your Royal Guard. I would let Pixel train with them too, but she’s a pacifist. Now, if you would please…” Alexander said, motioning for them to get to the point.

“Well, since we have confirmed that you three are indeed alicorns and exceptionally powerful ones at that, we’re here to take you back to the Canterlot with us. You see, here in Equestria alicorns are royalty. So that means you three are princes and a princess respectively. The two of us will actually be officially adopting the three of you as our nephews and niece. As such, your safety will be a priority and we’ll do everything in our power to protect you from Viridios.” Princess Luna explained.

Alexander had to hold back a laugh. “Me, your nephew? How old are you two, if I may ask?”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other in confusion for a moment before looking back at him. “Slightly over a thousand years old. Why?” Celestia inquired.

“Oh by the gods you two are still children! Er… My apologies for that outburst, I don’t mean to be rude. It's just that I’m old enough to be an ancestor of the ancestors of your ancestors. I am over ninety three thousand years old. As a reference for how old I am, humans — the creatures we used to be before our arrival here — have existed for over two hundred thousand years and I have existed for almost half of that time. There are only a select few demigods as old as I am who are still alive, and Viridios is one of them. So I just find the concept of me being your nephew rather amusing.” Alexander chuckled.

“Er… Sister, much like with Pixel earlier I am getting a very strong feeling that he’s telling the truth.” Luna stated.

“You’re joking…” Celestia said, looking at Luna in surprise.

Luna shook her head. “I’m afraid not, dear sister. He really is that old.” 

“You know, if adoption of some form is a required formality I’m fine with you ‘adopting’ me as a nephew. I just find the concept amusing since I and especially my mother are so much older than you. But it is not unheard of for an individual’s aunts to be younger than them. Inversely I could adopt the two of you as my nieces. However, before either case I would like to learn a bit more about the two of you first. I mean we only just met and you’re quite literally asking to join our families together via adoption. Not to be rude but we know nothing about you and thus have no idea if we would even want you as adoptive members of our family to begin with. I’m sure you understand.” Alexander stated.

“Oh, of course. You aren’t from here so I suppose you wouldn’t be familiar with Equestrian history or us as rulers or anything of the sort. Very well, I suppose we could give the three of you at least a few weeks to study our history and become better acquainted with us before coming to a decision. After all, we can’t force you to become Equestrian royalty if you don’t want to. In the meantime you three are, of course, welcome to stay with us in our castle in Canterlot until you come to a decision. And assuming you do agree, I suppose you adopting us as your nieces would be a rather… interesting option. While rather unconventional I suppose it might be worth considering.” Celestia offered.

Alexander smiled in the princesses’ general direction. “Thank you very much for your understanding. It’s nothing against you two personally, I would just prefer to be cautious with strangers we only just met. And it was only a suggestion. As I said, I’m fine with either option. And well, while I personally don’t have any issue with staying with you in your castle, our workshop did arrive here with us and Pixel has informed me it's not too far from here. So if it’s not too much trouble I would like to move it near wherever this castle is. And don’t worry, I’m not asking for your help in moving it. We can do it ourselves fairly easily since its foundations have already been uprooted. We just need to know a good place to put it, then Pixel can open up a portal to it and Gerhardt can levitate it through said portal.”

Luna nodded. “That can be arranged easily enough. Though we would have to see it in person in order to get a good estimate of its size before we can determine an appropriate location for it.”

“Very well. Pixel can bring the five of us there after Gerhardt and I are released from the hospital.”

“Good. Then please excuse my sister and I for a moment. We’ll be going to go speak with the doctors to clear you to leave the hospital. We’ll be back in a few moments.” Celestia said before she and Luna turned and left the room.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Whoa!” Pixel looked around at the inside of the castle.

Gerhardt was silent and was barely paying any attention whatsoever.

Alexander was obviously blind and couldn’t see at all so he wasn’t looking around. Rather he was listening so he could know which direction he was supposed to be walking in. If they still had hands either Pixel or Gerhardt would have been leading him by the hand. Unfortunately they didn’t so he was forced to rely on his sense of hearing. As such he accidentally made a few wrong turns a couple of times but the others would always catch him before he wandered too far.

Princess Celestia was currently giving them a tour of the castle by herself as Princess Luna had gone to bed. Pixel was paying very close attention to the tour and everything Celestia said, very interested in the castle. Alexander was also being polite and listening to everything Celestia explained to them. Gerhardt, on the other hand, was not. He honestly didn’t even want to be there. He would have much preferred to be back in their workshop building weapons or some other machine of war.

This tour lasted for a few hours until Celestia eventually brought the three of them to what was to be their rooms. She had originally offered to let the Pixel and Gerhardt stay in two separate rooms but neither of them had been open to this idea. Pixel refused because she was just so used to staying with Gerhardt and simply didn’t feel comfortable being separated from him if she didn’t have to. Gerhardt on the other hand had refused partially for the same reason but mainly out of sheer paranoia. He was worried that either the princesses had some ulterior motive for trying to separate them and might try to kill them in their sleep or failing that he was absolutely terrified that Viridios would find them again and attack Pixel while neither he nor Alexander were around to help her. Alexander’s room was directly next to theirs so that they could help guide him through the castle whenever necessary.

“Dinner will be in about an hour. Do you think you can remember the way to the dining hall or should we send a servant to come retrieve you?” Celestia inquired.

“Mhm! I’ve created a three dimensional map of the interior of the castle, or at least the parts of it that we’ve seen. I know exactly where the dining hall is!” Pixel stated happily.

“Alright, well I’ll see the three of you in about an hour then.” Celestia said before turning and walking away.

“Well, I suppose I’ll be spending the next hour trying to memorize the layout of my room. If you two would please come get me when dinner is ready it would be much appreciated.” Alexander requested.

“Of course, big brother! You know we wouldn’t just leave you behind.” Pixel said with a large smile on her face.

Alexander chuckled and nodded. “I know. You two are such good children. Much better than a couple of our siblings that I raised… Well, regardless, I’ll talk to you both a bit later.” He then opened the door to his room and walked inside before closing the door behind him.

Gerhardt and Pixel then proceeded into their own room. Gerhardt then peaked out the door and looked to make sure no one was around. He then looked out the window and did the same. Finally he looked back at Pixel and said, “Well I suppose this is as alone as we’re going to get. There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask you ever since I first woke up in the hospital but I couldn’t since I was worried that someone might hear us.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Pixel inquired.

“Why did you attack Viridios? I thought you were a pacifist.” Gerhardt inquired.

“Oh… I am… I wasn’t actually trying to hurt him. I was just trying to knock him out of the way to interrupt his spell… I… Seeing him again, I just couldn’t help but remember watching him kill our father and… Gerhardt, I’m just really scared of losing you or Alexander like we lost daddy…” Pixel explained sadly.

“Oh…” Gerhardt muttered. Walking over to Pixel he sat down and wrapped his forelegs around her. “I’m not going anywhere and neither are you or our big brother. I promise.”

“That’s what daddy said too…” Pixel muttered, hugging him back.

Gerhardt didn’t say anything in response to that. What could he say? She was right, their father had told them that just before Viridios murdered him. They continued hugging each other in silence for several minutes before finally releasing each other.

“Um… I know we have some left in our workshop but we don’t have the Church of Science and Technology to provide materials for us any more. So, how are we going to get more materials to build our machines and continue our experiments with technomancy?” Pixel inquired, trying to change the subject. She wanted to get her mind off the depressing topic of their father’s murder. She didn’t like to think about it.

“I… don’t know. Our dad used to have a way of acquiring more materials despite not being part of the Church but I don’t know how he did it. Maybe we should ask Alexander?” Gerhardt suggested.

Pixel nodded. “Yeah that’s probably a good idea. I’m sure he’ll know what to do. He’s been around for thousands of years so he has to, right?”

The two of them then spent the rest of the time while they were waiting discussing technology and forming theories to experiment with at a later date.

Eventually an hour passed and the two of them went and retrieved Alexander before all three of them headed to the dining hall for dinner. As they walked inside they saw the princesses already waiting for them. “There you three are. Please, come take a seat.” Princess Celestia said with a friendly smile.

As soon as they sat down Princess Luna said, “Prince Blueblood, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or just Cadance for short, and her fiancé Captain Shining Armor should all be joining us shortly. They’re all quite eager to meet the two of you! We decided to have a small celebration to welcome the two of you so I’m afraid the food is still being prepared.”

“How many princes and princesses are there?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Seven. Me, my sister, Cadance, Blueblood, and the three of you assuming you three accept our offer. Though if you’re asking how many alicorns there are, there’s only six counting you three. Blueblood is just a normal unicorn.” Celestia explained.

“Well, I’m quite eager to meet them myself. Though I do have somewhat of an unrelated question if you don’t mind.” Alexander said.

“It’s fine. What is your question?” Luna asked.

“Well, you see with our mother being the goddess of technology we are what you would call ‘technomancers’. Mages or in our case demigods who combine magic and technology to achieve things that would be otherwise impossible with one or the other on their own. However, to continue working as technomancers we require materials, and no I’m not asking you to provide those materials for us. We actually have enough materials in our workshop to last at least a few weeks. Besides which we have a few things built already. So, rather than that, might you be able or willing to help us get in contact with the various hospitals around Equestria and perhaps whoever manages your kingdom’s military? We could sell augmentations similar to those my younger brother and I have to the hospitals. And my brother has told me your soldiers are still using spears and platemail, so we could upgrade their equipment significantly. Both lethally and non-lethally.” Alexander explained.

“Oh, so you want to start a business? Yes we could most definitely help you with that, especially if you’re going to be selling augmentations like those you have. Such technology could save hundreds if not thousands of lives. Though I’m not so sure about military technology. We're at peace. We don’t exactly have any need for anything more advanced than what we currently have.” Celestia stated.

Alexander smiled at her. “Thank you. That is much appreciated.”

Celestia smiled back at him. “Of course.”

It was then that the door of the dining hall opened up and a white unicorn with a blond mane and tail walked in. “Ah Blueblood. Punctual as always.” Celestia stated.

“Of course, aunt Celestia. I wouldn’t dream of being late to meet the newest princes and princess.” Blueblood stated. Continuing into the dining hall he walked around the table and sat in the seat directly opposite of Alexander. Looking at him, Pixel, and Gerhardt Prince Blueblood's eyes widened. “Oh my… What in the world are you three wearing?”

“Robes… They’re good for working on machines since they can’t be stained by oil.” Gerhardt stated in a blunt tone.

Prince Blueblood relaxed slightly. “Ah, I see. Then they aren’t meant as formal wear. What a relief… They are just so… common. Completely unbecoming of royalty. If you plan on wearing clothing often then we really must get you some proper attire so you can be seen in public. Though is that what the three of you did to become alicorns? Build machines?”

Gerhardt raised an eyebrow at that and Pixel tilted her head in confusion while Alexander’s reaction was a bit more muted though he was still surprised by the question. “What do you mean ‘become’ alicorns? We were born this way. Our mother was the g— er… alicorn of technology. How could anyone possibly ‘become’ an alicorn if they weren’t born that way to begin with?” Pixel asked.

“Actually that’s how every alicorn up until this point was made. My sister and I used to be unicorns but due to our affinity for raising and lowering the sun and moon we became alicorns. That’s a bit of an over simplified version of the story but still. Cadance is much the same as she was originally a pegasus. You three are actually the first recorded cases of ponies being born as alicorns.” Princess Luna explained.

All three of the siblings were confused about the part where Luna mentioned that she and Celestia controlled the sun and moon. However neither of them decided to bring it up for the moment. Pixel didn’t want to be rude and Gerhardt just didn’t care enough to bother asking.

The door opened again and two more individuals walked in. One was a pink alicorn that was a bit smaller than Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. The other was a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail. Presumably Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. “Hello aunties! Hello, Blueblood.” Princess Cadance greeted as she entered.

“Hello Cadance, Shining Armor.” Celestia replied.

Cadance sat down opposite to Pixel and Shining Armor sat down next to Cadance and directly opposite to Gerhardt. “Hello, I’m Princess Cadance and this is my fiance Shining Armor. It’s nice to meet all of you! What are your names?”

“I’m Pixel Scientia Mechanica and this is my twin brother Gerhardt Scientia Mechanica and our older half brother Alexander Scientia Calculo. It’s nice to meet you too!” Pixel said with a friendly smile.

“Well, continuing where we left off… You were born alicorns? Interesting. You say your mother is the ‘alicorn of technology’. A slightly odd way of phrasing it but I suppose I understand. May I ask her name? And where is she at the moment? I would very much like to meet her as well.” Prince Blueblood inquired.

“Her name is Scientia. She’s… far away and we rarely see her. She only ever shows up for about a week every year around my and my sister’s birthday. And before you ask, our father was a mortal and he is dead. He was murdered by another alicorn by the name of Viridios, who wants to kill us because his father, Silvanus, is enemies with our mother. So we’re being raised by our big brother.” Gerhardt explained in a slightly bitter tone. Not that he had anything against Blueblood specifically and he most certainly didn’t have anything against Alexander, he just didn’t like talking about Viridios or the fact he murdered their father. Yet he knew it would come up eventually and decided to just get it out of the way so he wouldn’t have to talk about it later.

Shining Armor and Cadance appeared quite surprised and horrified by this information.

Blueblood winced. “O-oh… My condolences… Well, rest assured that this Viridios character won't be able to harm you while you’re here. The Royal Guard are quite good at their duties and in the highly unlikely event that they should fail, Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna won’t.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Agreed. I’ll be sure to inform the rest of the guard to keep an eye out for him. Do you think you could provide a description of what he looks like?”

“Mhm.” Pixel hummed in confirmation. She then cast a spell and created a life sized three dimensional illusion of Viridios above the middle of the table. It rotated so everyone could see him properly and memorize his features.

“Alicorn… Male… Green fur, dark green mane, similarly green eyes… Slightly larger than Celestia… Yeah that’s pretty distinct. Simple enough. I’ll have posters drawn up and have them passed around the guard. We’ll be on the lookout.” Shining Armor stated.

“A word of warning. If you genuinely want to stop him, don’t send your soldiers after him. He’ll kill them all just like he killed my younger siblings’ father. No, numbers most definitely do not matter in this case. He’s more powerful than Princess Luna or Princess Celestia and they can both attest to this. So if you or your Royal Guards see him the best possible thing you could do is warn us so we can either run and hide or set up a trap for him because normal individuals fighting him is suicide.” Alexander informed them.

“It’s true. The three of them are significantly more powerful than Luna or I at the moment and this Viridios is at least as powerful as Alexander. Apparently it's at least partially a matter of ‘magical fitness’ as they call it. We never knew that magic needed to be exercised like a muscle or even how to do so, but apparently it does and the three of them and Viridios all know how to maintain magical fitness. Pixel here actually agreed to write out instructions for us but it may take a bit of time before we catch up with them and Viridios. And non-alicorns are going to be significantly weaker than us by default even if they are at the peak of fitness. So, yes. Fighting him is out of the question for the Royal Guard.” Celestia explained.

Blueblood, Shining Armor, and Cadance all appeared quite surprised by this. “In that case I’ll tell the guard to keep an eye out for him but to not engage him under any circumstances… Uh, maybe we should have posters passed around all of Equestria warning the general public about him.” Shining Armor suggested.

“Agreed, but we should leave out the part about him being more powerful than us. We would rather avoid causing a panic after all.” Luna agreed.

“Well, on a brighter note, how have you all been liking the castle so far?” Cadance inquired, trying to change the topic to something a bit more light hearted.

“It’s absolutely beautiful! It's a lot different from the Grand Cathedral of Technology in Copper City.” Pixel chirped happily.

“I prefer our workshop…” Gerhardt muttered.

Alexander chuckled and said in a slightly amused tone, “I honestly have no idea. I haven’t seen it.”

“Hm? What do you mean by that?” Cadance asked in confusion.

Alexander smiled in her general direction. “Well, what do you think? After all, there’s a reason I haven’t been looking at any of you this entire time and it’s most definitely not because I’m trying to be rude or that I think any of you are ugly. The occipital lobe of my brain was damaged while I was protecting these two from Viridios just yesterday. I’m completely blind.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” Cadance said in an apologetic tone.

“Bah, it’s fine. No harm done. One absolutely must have something of a sense of humor about such things as being overly sensitive about it only causes further unnecessary issues. Besides, I’m sure our mother will be able to help me with this little issue once she comes to visit us again.” Alexander said.

“What do you mean by that? Didn’t you say your brain was damaged? How could your mother possibly fix that?” Blueblood inquired.

Alexander raised a forehoof in front of him and spread his metallic wings. “The same way she helped me with these. She can replace my occipital lobe with an artificial equivalent. My siblings and I are quite skilled in technomancy ourselves and are more than capable of making standard augmentations like the ones you see before you so I would have the two of them build the replacement for me but brain augmentations are, unfortunately, beyond us. However, our skills and knowledge pale in comparison to that of our mother and she has made brain augmentations in the past thus she should be able to assist me. Though until then I’m afraid I shall just have to get used to being blind and needing others to help lead me around. It’s not that bad so far. A bit inconvenient certainly, but I’m already starting to get used to it... Sort of at least. It will take a while to fully adapt to it but I have at least come to terms with it.”

“Well that’s good to hear! When do you think your mother might be coming to visit? I would like to meet her.” Cadance inquired.

“Well Gerhardt told you just a few minutes ago. She should be coming to visit for about a week during these two’s birthday. Their birthday should be in approximately… six weeks and three days or more accurately exactly forty five days if I remember the date correctly. Pixel, is that correct?” Alexander inquired.

Pixel nodded. “Mhm.”

“Really? That soon? That’s… just a few days after Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Celestia stated. “Oh, but what about you?”

“Oh, my birthday? I honestly have no idea. It’s been so long I honestly can’t remember.” He left the fact that he was born long before the invention of a standardized calendar system unsaid.

At that point servants began coming in carrying trays of food before setting them down on the table in front of everyone.

Celestia frowned slightly and said, “That’s unfortunate… Well, I suppose it's time we discussed what you three will be doing during your time here.”

“Oh? And what would you have us do?” Alexander inquired.

“Well, in your case in particular, Alexander, I suppose you should become familiar with Equestria and the political sphere. You’re going to need to know how to deal with ambassadors from other countries if you three agree to become Equestrian royalty. As for Pixel and Gerhardt, here in Equestria foals are legally required to go to school so we’ll be enrolling them in the School for Gifted Unicorns, here in Canterlot. I technically own and run the school so I can guarantee they will receive the best possible education.” Celestia informed them.

Alexander frowned at that. “You do realize that the memory centers of both of their brains are artificial, thus they can completely memorize the entirety of the contents of a book, word for word, after reading it a single time. And the storage capacity of the memory centers of their brains is infinite meaning there is no limit to their memory. Just let them read the books they would be studying in your school and they could completely memorize the entire curriculum in just a few days. They would be wasted on traditional schooling. There’s a reason I never sent them to school back in the City of Copper beyond the fact that they’re alicorns.”

“Be that as it may, the laws are the laws. Even royalty is not exempt from the law.” Celestia told him.

“Fine. Then I’ll personally homeschool them. Just give me the necessary forms and I’ll fill out whatever I need to. Blind or not I can still sign my own name.” Alexander stated.

“What? But…” Celestia said, very clearly caught off guard by this.

“But, what? If the issue is strictly education then they’ll receive just as good of an education being homeschooled by me as they would if they attended your school. Believe me, I know my siblings better than anyone save for our mother and as such am the best qualified to determine what’s best for them.” Alexander said.

“It’s not just about their education. Given what you just told us, I suppose you have a very good point in regards to education alone. However, sending them to school is about more than just learning. It would give the two of them opportunities to make friends that they would not have otherwise. Would you truly deny them the opportunity to form friendships?” Luna inquired.

Alexander nodded. “Yes, I would. Absolutely. Do you know why? Friendships with mortals don’t last. We will live forever while mortals will just grow old and die. Thus there is no point in being friends with anyone save for other immortals. It may sound harsh, but this is better for them in the long run.”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m afraid that I would have to disagree with you on that point. Friendships are more than worth it if for no other reason than to cherish the memories of the time you spent with those you care about.”

Luna nodded, “I agree with my sister. I’m actually quite shocked and appalled that you have such a negative view of friendship.”

“Ah, I remember when I used to think like that a long long time ago… How naïve I was… Listen, the two of you are still so young. You’ve only lived for a little over a thousand years. You still have so much to learn about what it means to be immortal or ‘alicorns’. Take it from someone much older and more experienced than you, you’re dead wrong.” Alexander said in a patient tone.

“They’re young?! H-how old are you?!” Cadance inquired.

“Ninety three thousand years old. I have existed since well before the dawn of civilization. And Princess Luna here can confirm that I’m telling the truth if you don’t believe me.” Alexander stated remembering the fact that Luna had some sort of ability to discern the truth from her confirming the validity of what Pixel said back in the hospital.

“He’s telling the truth… He really is that old… Regardless, please enlighten us, Alexander. Why do you think that way about friendship?” Luna asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

Arthur turned his head in her general direction and said, “Personal experience. At first friendships with mortals will only cause unnecessary pain as everyone around you slowly withers and dies. But eventually you start to be desensitized towards it. You get used to those you know dying around you even as you continue on into eternity. You start to care less and less about the lives and deaths of mortals in general. At that point it becomes like owning a pet. You care for it until it dies then you move on. However eventually you even stop treating them like pets. At that point not only do those so-called ‘friendships’ — if they could even be called ‘friendships’ at that point — become utterly meaningless due to how fleeting they are but you’ll start treating mortals as you would treat insects because you no longer care about them or if they live or if they die. You become cruel towards them not necessarily out of malice but out of the sheer fact that you simply don’t care anymore. After all, what is to care about? They would just die in a few decades anyway and to us a few decades is but a blink of an eye.”

He paused for a moment to see if anyone had any comments to make but no one said anything and the room descended into silence. He couldn’t see it but Cadance in particular was by far the most affected by his words and Shining Armor was a close second. Cadance was absolutely terrified. Would she become like that? What about her relationship with Shining Armor? She loved him so much, would she eventually stop caring about him? She didn’t want to… She wanted to cherish her memories with him now and forever.

Shining Armor, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly angry. Was he saying that his relationship with Cadance was meaningless? That his fiancé would eventually become some sort of apathetic monster that didn’t care for the lives of others? How dare he?

Eventually Celestia broke the silence and said, “Y-you said that you speak from personal experience… Did that happen to somepony you know or…?”

“Both. I’ve seen it happen to other ‘alicorns’ and I’m afraid I myself am not immune. It happened to me as well. While I eventually realized how awful my behavior towards and treatment of mortals was and I eventually managed to stop treating them like insects, I still can’t bring myself to care about them. It’s like trying to force yourself to care about a random ant you see crawling across the ground. You simply can’t do it. Not because you don’t want to or that you’re afraid to, but simply because the ant is irrelevant. And unfortunately I am the exception not the rule. Most immortals are unable to treat mortals any better than insects no matter how hard they try. Even I often slip back into treating mortals like insects despite my best efforts. Granted I don’t murder them like insects as the worst of us do. However I tend to speak to them as if they are irrelevant, will generally ignore their very existence, get annoyed if they insist on interrupting or pestering me as one gets annoyed by a fly buzzing around their head and will snap at them, and on an individual basis I honestly couldn’t care less if they live or die even if I have known them since the very day they were born.” 

“I obviously don’t want that for Gerhardt or Pixel. I don’t want them to fall into the same trap that I and so many others did. I am ashamed of what I have become. So I want them to grow up to be better people than I am. And the only way to avoid them becoming so uncaring and cruel towards mortals is to not allow them to form such fleeting bonds with mortals to begin with. Otherwise it’s simply an inevitability. In fact, since our mother is Scientia, the ‘alicorn’ of technology, we are even more susceptible to this effect than others and tend to fall into it much earlier than others. And some of our most susceptible siblings suffer an even more extreme version of it where we become completely detached and apathetic towards anything and everything except for technology, their own survival, and occasionally a few members of our family. A few of our siblings are known for their almost mechanical personalities and are often described as like machines in their own right for that very reason. And that means I have to be far more careful with these two than I would if our mother were almost any other alicorn. So, all that being said, can you understand why I don’t want them to be friends with mortals?” Alexander inquired.

Celestia nodded grimly. “I do see why you wouldn’t want that… However I simply can’t bring myself to agree with you. Surely there must be some way to be able to have friends without becoming completely apathetic…”

Alexander gave her a friendly smile and chuckled. “Oh, there is! Be friends with other immortals and only other immortals. So if you know any other immortals their age feel free to tell me because I’ll gladly introduce Pixel and Gerhardt to them! Otherwise, please don’t tell me how to raise my siblings. I have many millennia worth of experience over you and I know my family better than anyone save perhaps our mother. So I know what I’m doing.”

“Does this… condition have a name? Surely it must if it’s as common as you make it out to be.” Prince Blueblood asked curiously.

Alexander nodded. “Indeed it does. It’s not very creative but it’s most commonly called ‘Immortal Apathy’ or ‘Mortal Apathy’ depending on who you ask. I tend to call it ‘Mortal Apathy’ as it feels more accurate to me but most mortals tend to call it ‘Immortal Apathy’. ‘Immortal Apathy’ is in reference to this particular form of apathy being exclusive to immortals while ‘Mortal Apathy’ is in reference to us immortals being apathetic towards mortals specifically. Its scientific name is ‘Accidia Immortalium’. There have been efforts to find a treatment for this condition but… Well, obviously none of them have been successful otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place now would we?”

“Have you even asked what they want? What if they would rather risk it and have friends?” Luna inquired.

“Hm… Let’s do just that shall we? After all, we’ve been talking over their heads this entire time and that’s quite rude. So, Gerhardt, Pixel, what do you two want?” Alexander asked.

“I would rather not risk becoming like those of our siblings afflicted by the more extreme form of the condition.” Gerhardt stated.

“Um…” Pixel hesitated for a moment. “I… Hm… This is a tough question… I would love to have mortal friends! But… I don’t want to become apathetic towards mortals and stop caring about them… I wish there was a way to do both… But since there isn’t, um… I’m really scared of Immortal Apathy so I would rather not take the risk.”

Celestia sighed and said, “That sounds like an extremely lonely life to live. But I suppose we’ll respect your decision. If this is an actual condition then it would be cruel, unethical, and down right irresponsible to force you to be in a position where you would be at greater risk for acquiring it. However, my sister and I will be trying to come up with a way to circumvent these effects as the two of us most certainly don’t want to fall prey to it either. Nor does Cadance, I would assume?”

Cadance shook her head. “No, I… I really don’t… That sounds horrible…”

“Thank you for understanding and while I sincerely doubt you’ll find results I most certainly wish you luck.” Alexander stated.

After that the eight of them continued to make small talk as they ate their dinner and later dessert. Eventually they all finished eating and they said their goodbyes before parting ways for the night. Eventually a servant came by and delivered a fairly large stack of papers and a quill and inkwell. Thus Pixel got started writing down instructions for maintaining magical fitness.

As Gerhardt was getting ready for bed that night he removed his robe, being the only clothes that his current form had. However, as he did he noticed something odd. On his flanks were what appeared to be tattoos of a blood red gear with a pentagram in the middle. The gear with the pentagram was the main religious symbol of his mother representing the combination of magic and technology to achieve feats beyond what either are capable of alone but the fact that it was red made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever. “What…?” He muttered to himself as he looked at the symbol in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Pixel inquired, setting down the stack of paper and the quill and inkwell before turning to look at him. She then saw the symbol and was just as surprised as he was.

“I never had a tattoo. How did this get here?” Gerhardt inquired in confusion..

“I don’t know… Wait, I remember that Silvanus had something similar after we ended up here. And everyone we’ve seen so far has had one as well… Hm…” She then proceeded to cast a spell and use telekinesis to lift her own robe and looked to see if she had one as well. Sure enough, she did. Hers looked almost exactly like Gerhardt’s except hers was silver in color. “Oh! I have one too! See?”

Gerhardt looked at her symbol then back to his, still completely confused. “I guess that means big brother must have a similar symbol too…”

“We should ask him tomorrow.” Pixel said. “I wonder what they are and what they mean…”

“I assume that they must be symbolic of family. It makes sense considering this is the holy symbol of our mother.” Gerhardt stated.

“But if that’s the case, why are they different colors?” Pixel inquired.

“Hm… I don’t know… Uh… Maybe the ponies know?” Gerhardt said uncertainly.

“That would make sense considering all of them seem to have one.” Pixel agreed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the two of them heard Alexander’s voice say, “Gerhardt, Pixel? Is this the correct room? Er… If you’re in there I just had an idea that I would like your help with.”

Both of them then got up and proceeded towards the door before opening it and revealing Alexander. “What is it you need?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Ah, so this was the right room. I know it’s right next to mine but I had no way of knowing if I walked too far or not. Regardless, what I want your help with will hopefully help with that. I just thought of a device that might help me get around. It won’t fix my vision, unfortunately but it should still help quite a bit.” Alexander told them.

“Oh? We would love to help! What sort of device do you want us to build?” Pixel asked, eager to assist her older brother.

“It’s a fairly simple device in concept so either one of you should be able to do it on your own, though if you would like to work together on it that’s fine as well. Anyway, I would like you to build an earpiece connected to a camera on the front of a device vaguely reminiscent of glasses, but solid and without lenses since I obviously couldn’t see through the lenses anyway. The earpiece should play a sound of varying intensity depending on how close or far away whatever the camera is pointed at is. That way I will be able to know how close or far away something is just by looking at it even though I can’t actually see anything. Think of it like… echolocation but based on what a camera sees rather than sound bouncing off of objects. It would also serve to let others know that I am incapable of seeing since they would lack lenses. I would make it myself, but…” Alexander explained.

Gerhardt nodded. “Alright. That actually makes a lot of sense. We can definitely do that for you. It should be ready by morning.”

“Thank you. I am getting a bit tired of bumping into objects in my room because I can’t see.” Alexander said in a humorous tone. It really was starting to get annoying, but there was no point in taking out his frustrations on his younger siblings, in fact that would be highly counter productive. So for their sake he was trying his best to take it in good humor. “Anyways, I should probably go to bed. I’ll see you both in the morning. Thank you again. I really appreciate it.” With that Alexander placed a forehoof against the wall and began walking back to his room.

“Well, no point in standing around here. Let’s go!” Pixel exclaimed excitedly.

“Wait, but weren’t you writing instructions for magical fitness for the princesses?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Yeah, but that can wait. Big brother needs our help so that takes precedence!” Pixel said. A silver aura then surrounded her horn as she cast a spell and teleported them both to their workshop which was now located in a space behind the castle that used to be empty..

“Alright then. Well, this is going to be more difficult without hands but I suppose we should get to work.” Gerhardt stated before picking up several tools with telekinesis along with the materials they would need for this project.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viridios winced as his wounds twinged with pain. In particular the giant gash in his stomach was by far causing him the worst pain. He clutched at the vines and leaves wrapped around the wound like bandages with a forehoof. Using telekinesis he levitated a bottle made from clay that he had magically fired containing a medication he had concocted from the various plants and fungi he had found around the forest. As the son of Silvanus he had an innate understanding of all plants and their properties and thus could easily figure out how to create any sort of medicine he needed with them. The medication in that particular clay bottle was a painkiller to help mitigate the suffering his wounds caused him.

Taking the wooden lid off of the bottle he proceeded to down the contents. He grimaced and shuddered at the awful taste but swallowed the concoction anyway. After he had finished cooking the medication to make it an actual medication he had tried to add a bit of berry juice to the mix to make it taste better, and had only partially succeeded. It now had a hint of berry flavor to it but the taste was still quite vile. Still it took the edge off so it was better than dealing with the full force of the pain.

After taking the medication he made himself some breakfast as he waited a while for it to kick in. After eating his breakfast he stood up and walked out of the house he had made for himself out of leaves and vines the evening after his fight with Alexander. He needed to go collect some more food as well as some more ingredients for a new batch of pain medication. So since it was morning he decided to just get it out of the way before going about the rest of his day.

As he was walking he heard a noise. Curious, he walked over to investigate and saw a rabbit trapped under a dead tree struggling to get free.

“Tsk tsk tsk… Now how did you get yourself into such a situation, little one?” He inquired.

The rabbit stopped struggling for a moment and looked up at him, trembling in fear.

He considered whether or not to kill it for his dinner that night but ultimately decided against it. “Ah, there’s no need to be afraid. I won’t hurt you.” Viridios stated before using telekinesis to grab the dead tree and lift it off of the rabbit. “See? Run along now. And try not to get trapped like this again because next time I may not be there to help.”

The rabbit looked at him gratefully before hopping away.

“Father’s blessing upon you!” Viridios called after it. When it was gone he sighed. He very much wished he could actually bring himself to care about animals still. Unfortunately he was just as susceptible to Immortal Apathy as any other demigod and it had set in for him tens of thousands of years ago. So at this point the only reason he bothered interacting with animals at all was due to the natural impulses he felt as a son of the God of Nature. It was simply in his nature even if he didn’t care about them anymore. He much preferred plants and fungi over animals.

As he continued walking he eventually came across some of the medicinal plants that he needed. Using magic he helped the plant grow to the size of a bush before picking some of its leaves. It was then that he realized that he had somehow forgotten both of his baskets back at his house. Cursing he proceeded to cast another spell. Suddenly thin vines shot up out of the ground and weaved themselves together creating two new baskets. One was for the medicinal plants and fungi he needed and the other was for food. The one for food had two compartments separated by a wall, one side being for plants while the other side was for meat.

His new body may have been in the form of an equine but that didn’t mean he had to suddenly become a strict herbivore. It was completely natural to consume meat, animals did it in the wild all the time, so there was absolutely nothing wrong with him doing the same as far as he was concerned. And he had been eating meat for about a hundred thousand years, give or take, and old habits die hard.

Placing the leaves he picked into his medicine basket he decided that he was in the mood for fish and thus turned and headed for a nearby river. Catching a few fish with telekinesis he quickly killed them and placed them in his food basket. He then spent the next several hours collecting plants and fungi for food and medicine. He even collected a few plants that he could turn into a salve to apply to his wounds to mitigate the risk of infection. Granted he had already made and applied just such a salve the same night he got the wounds but it wouldn’t hurt to reapply it just to be safe since his wounds were fairly deep.

Once he got back to his house he immediately began cleaning and gutting the fish. He then set them in a clay cooking pot he had made along with a few herbs for seasoning. Finally he started a small fire in the fire pit outside of his house and set the pot on the edge to cook. After that he got to work on preparing and cooking his medicines as needed before putting them in his clay bottles.

When that was done he picked up his watering can, teleported to the river, filled it, teleported back home and began watering some of the flowers he had found in the forest and decided to plant around his house. He had never seen a few of them before and found them absolutely beautiful so he knew he was going to enjoy taking care of them.

Smelling that his fish had finished cooking he sat down and ate his lunch. Though he saved one of the fish he caught for later, planning to eat it for dinner. He then spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying his time amongst nature, far from the conflicts of his own world. He honestly vastly preferred such peace and quiet. He knew it could not last forever but for now he would enjoy it while it lasted.

[In Canterlot]

Working together Gerhardt and Pixel had finished making the device that would help Alexander get around in just a couple hours. After that Gerhardt spent the rest of the night sleeping while Pixel spent her time writing the instructions for exercising one’s magic. Having already planned out exactly what she wanted to write down, it didn't take her very long to actually write it. So when she was finished she took the stack of papers and went to go find Princess Luna since she was apparently nocturnal and was thus awake. Using her sensors she found Luna fairly easily as there were only a handful of demigods in a one mile radius thus their energy signatures stuck out like a sore thumb and Luna’s was the only one besides Pixel that was moving around.

Walking out on a balcony, Pixel found Luna standing there looking up at the night sky. “Um… Miss Luna, I don’t mean to bother you but I finished writing the instructions on maintaining magical fitness that you and Miss Celestia wanted. So I just thought I’d give them to you since you’re awake.”

“Ah, Pixel. I noticed that you and your brother’s dreams were absent earlier. Am I to assume you were both working on these instructions together? Thank you very much by the way. These instructions will be very useful.” Luna inquired, taking the stack of papers from Pixel with telekinesis.

“Mm-mm.” Pixel shook her head. “We were in our workshop working on a device to help big brother. It won’t help him see but it will help him get around. It works sort of like echo-location but concentrated on whatever his head is pointed towards because of a camera attached to the front of the device. But since we were working together we finished it really fast. So Gerhardt went to sleep for the rest of the night and I finished writing this since I don’t actually need sleep.”

“I see. Well I’m glad to hear that your brother will have an easier time getting around… Er… Well if you don’t need sleep, would you care to join me? I’m just looking at the stars for the moment.” Luna asked.

Pixel smiled and nodded. “Sure! I was going to go back to the workshop and make something but this is fine too. In fact, my brother and I sort of have a question and this seems like as good a time as any to ask.” She said as she walked over and stood next to Luna.

Luna looked at her curiously. “Oh? And what is your question?”

“Well, when we changed into these new forms we noticed that Viridios had this tree symbol on his rump. Then we noticed that a lot of other ponies do too. Then when Gerhardt was about to go to bed a while ago we noticed that we had them too. Gerhardt thought they might be symbolic of our family since ours are the main holy symbol of our mother, but we noticed that ours were two separate colors. Mine is silver while his is dark red suggesting that there’s something else to them. Since everyone seems to have one we thought that you might know what they are and what they mean?” Pixel asked.

Luna was confused for a moment not understanding what Pixel meant before she finally put two and two together in her head. “Symbols… You mean cutiemarks? They symbolize a pony’s special talent and they are almost always completely unique to the individual pony. And you say you and your brother’s are both the holy symbol of your mother?”

“Mhm.” Pixel nodded before using telekinesis to lift her robe and show the princess the symbol. “Specifically the gear symbolizes technology and the pentagram symbolizes magic. So the pentagram being inside the gear symbolizes technomancy which is the combination of magic and technology. And since mommy is the goddess of technology, technomancy is the holiest of practices among her followers.”

“Well then I believe it’s safe to assume that your cutiemarks symbolize your talent for technomancy. That being said, you claimed your brother’s was red whilst yours is silver. What do those colors generally mean, if anything?” Luna inquired.

“Um… Well dark red is pretty obvious. It’s the color of blood so it has a lot of negative meanings, mainly relating to rage, hatred, malice, violence, and bloodshed. It has a few positive meanings too but I don’t see how any of those could in any way relate to technomancy. Sooo… My brother does enjoy building weapons and he is really good at it. So maybe his cutiemark symbolizes that?” Pixel suggested uncertainly.

Princess Luna frowned at that. “Hm… And judging by what you’re saying I suppose the weapons he builds are lethal, correct?”

Pixel nodded. “Usually, yeah. They’re way more lethal than the primitive spears your Royal Guard uses… Uh… No offense… But platemail like they use is worthless against guns, grenades, bombs, rockets, and other modern weapons. Even modern body armor is worthless against higher powered weapons and they’re designed to be resistant to modern weapons. Certain bombs can even destroy entire cities twice the size of Canterlot. He’s actually built a few such bombs for the Human Kingdom’s military.”

“I… I see…” Luna said, very clearly off put by this. “And silver? Does it have a meaning?”

Pixel thought for a moment. “Hm… Well I know it’s generally considered a positive color. Um… With what we’ve determined about Gerhardt’s, I would assume mine represents my talent and affinity for medical technology. It’s what I enjoy building the most just like Gerhardt enjoys building weapons so it would make sense.”

Luna nodded and said, “Well, there you go. I suppose those are your answers… Now I suppose I have one or two questions for you if you don’t mind.”

“Okay! I’ll do my best to answer whatever I can!” Pixel said with a friendly smile.

“First, why would your kind need such powerful weapons in the first place?” Luna inquired. She was still absolutely horrified to learn that they had weapons that could destroy Canterlot twice over. She couldn’t comprehend what could possibly necessitate such powerful weapons.

“Oh. Well they were invented about a hundred years ago during a major war. Then there was an arms race with every major and some minor countries trying to develop bigger and stronger bombs so that they could remain competitive in war. It actually led to something called the ‘M.A.D. Principal’. Which is an acronym for Mutually Assured Destruction. So if such weapons are ever actually used it will lead to the planet being reduced to a barren wasteland with no survivors. There are even some designed to destroy underground shelters, bases on the ocean floor, and even sea-life in general to combat the merpeople so the bombs and their aftermath would be completely impossible to escape leading to the extinction of every sapient species and every non sapient species on the planet save for certain types of bacteria.” Pixel explained in a fairly serious tone.

Her tone then brightened slightly as she said, “Fortunately the M.A.D. principal has since become much less relevant since we have managed to colonize other planets in the solar system and have sent colony ships at sub-light speeds to other nearby solar systems to colonize them as well. So even if everyone on one planet dies there are still people alive on other planets and even other solar systems! Unfortunately this means it’s also more likely that such weapons will eventually be used at some point.”

Luna very quickly went from horrified and appalled to just plain terrified. Weapons that could cause the extinction of all life on the planet? What the buck was wrong with the leaders and militaries of Pixel’s world?! And what the buck was wrong with Gerhardt to enjoy building such devices?! To her it almost sounded like he already had Immortal Apathy considering how little he had to care for the lives of others to enjoy building such weapons, but from what Alexander had told them that should have been impossible. He had only been alive for a few years and had never been allowed to have mortal friends. So he couldn’t have experienced nearly enough loss that he would be so used to death as to not care anymore, right? Maybe he just didn’t fully understand how bad his weapons were? But, Pixel seemed to understand them perfectly well thus logically Gerhardt should too… She and Celestia would have to keep an eye on him. Luna didn’t think he was a bad colt but his affinity for weapons was very concerning.

“That is absolutely terrifying.” Luna admitted. “Such devastating technology absolutely cannot be allowed to exist here under any circumstances.”

Pixel grimaced and said, “Uh… I’m sorry but I don’t think it’s avoidable. The first weapons of mass destruction were discovered because of the invention of a new and extremely efficient power source for electricity that technomancy couldn’t compete with at the time, nuclear fission. It was originally intended to be something beneficial but ended up being turned into a weapon. That’s sort of how all technology works. Anything can be weaponized. So weapons of mass destruction will be invented one way or another. If not by you ponies then by another species. Their existence is an inevitability, it’s impossible to prevent.”

Luna sighed. “I really hope that’s not actually the case… Anyways, I’m sorry for changing the topic to something arguably just as depressing, but after dinner I couldn’t help but keep thinking about what Alexander told us about Immortal Apathy. I honestly don’t believe his approach to avoiding it is healthy. So my main question now is, are you really okay with this? Are you sure you don’t want friends at all? Wouldn’t it be better to just… take the risk? Your brothers aren’t here so you can be completely honest with me.”

“Well, I do want friends. It would be really nice if there were other immortals the same relative age as me and my brother. But even where we’re from it’s really rare for demigods to be born. The youngest demigod other than us was born four hundred years ago or so and her father was Lanius, the God of Law and Punishment. So not only is she a lot older than us but we’ve never met her and she’s not known for being particularly friendly anyways. Oh, my brother and I are friends with a couple of Fay back in our world! I’m actually really going to miss them… Oh, but I’m getting off topic. To answer your question, no I really don’t think it’s worth the risk. I want to care for mortals even if I can’t be friends with them.” Pixel explained.

Luna sighed and looked back up at the night sky. “Well, I suppose if that’s really your opinion I can’t force you to see things differently. What’s a ‘Fay’ if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A Fay is similar to a demigod but their parent is a Spirit instead of a god. So instead of half god half mortal they’re half spirit half mortal. We are or… were friends with two of them! One is a son of the Spirit of Death, his name is Grav. We met him during our father’s funeral. He was really nice to us and tried to help us feel better about our father’s death! It was a really hard time and he actually helped us a lot… We visited him fairly often after that. You want to know something interesting? The children of both the God of Death and Spirit of Death are effectively immune to Immortal Apathy because they don’t view death or mortality as a bad thing to begin with and they can temporarily separate their souls from their bodies to go visit the afterlife whenever they want meaning no one is ever truly dead to them.”

“That is interesting. That sounds like it would be a very nice ability to have… Um, would you mind explaining the difference between a Spirit and a God? I’m not sure I understand the distinction between the two. Also, who was your other friend?” Luna asked. She was actually fairly envious of the ability to visit others in the afterlife. There were quite a few ponies there that she would like to see again and apologize to. Unfortunately she would never have a chance and she knew it.

“Oh, Spirits are the living embodiments of specific concepts for a specific universe and their power only extends to that one universe. Gods, on the other hand, manage whatever concept they manage across an infinite number of universes and realities. Gods aren’t the physical embodiment of anything meaning they could exist even if the concept they manage did not whereas a Spirit’s existence is tied to their respective concept since they are quite literally that concept itself. So the Spirit of Death is death itself, the Spirit of Technology is technology itself, you get the idea. Anyways, our other friend was a daughter of the Spirit of Space. Her name is Sarah. Better yet she is actually around our age! She’s ten which means she’s only a few years older than our physical and mental age! Don’t let him know I told you this but I think Gerhardt has a crush on her.” Pixel explained.

Luna chuckled and said, “Oh don’t worry, my lips are sealed. I’ll admit I find it strange how many immortals and spirits your world seems to have, but it’s quite interesting. Perhaps it's an effect of gods actually interacting with your world while they seem to avoid ours for whatever reason.”

“They do?” Pixel asked, tilting her head in confusion. She didn’t understand why the gods would actively avoid this world. It didn’t make sense to her. Surely their influence had to be present in some sense even if they didn’t interact with mortals directly.

“Well, there have most certainly never been any reports of any real encounters with actual gods. Yes, religions do exist but there is zero evidence to validate them in fact there is quite a bit of evidence to disprove most of them. And I can personally confirm all of them I know of are complete fabrications. Remember, I do have the ability to discern truth from lies or fiction, albeit to a much more limited extent than I had in the past and that ability is slowly growing weaker as time goes on. Besides which, why would the gods have suddenly stopped visiting our world when they are very clearly continuing to visit your world? It doesn’t make sense. So yes, I believe they have either been actively avoiding us or perhaps they simply don’t care about us to begin with and that’s why they don’t visit us?” Luna explained.

Pixel shook her head. “Mm-mm… I don’t believe that. If they didn’t care then you simply wouldn’t exist to begin with because why would they make something they don’t care about? They wouldn’t. So clearly they do care. There has to be some other reason they haven’t visited you until now. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that mortals can become demigods in this universe? That was impossible in our universe so it stands to reason that there may be a link between the two. I’ll be sure to ask mommy when she comes to visit us again. Speaking of which, um… Would it be alright if we spread mommy’s religion here? I know you don’t want people knowing that we’re demigods so we don’t have to mention that she’s our mother but according to the church as her children it is our divine duty to encourage others to worship her.”

Luna raised a hoof to her chin in thought. “Hm… Perhaps… It would be better than ponies worshipping entities that don’t even exist to begin with. However, we’ll have to discuss this with my sister first. But we can discuss that in more detail later when Celestia and your brothers are awake.”

Pixel smiled at her, “Okay! Thank you.” After that they continued making small talk for the rest of the night until morning had finally come.

The first thing Pixel and Gerhardt did the next morning was ask Alexander about his “cutie mark”. Unlike theirs, his was not the holy symbol of their mother. Rather, his was an image of a loaded crossbow with basic sights and a crossbow bolt with an obsidian head which he invented in his teenage years. He didn’t invent the obsidian arrowhead, that was just the most advanced material they had at the time, but he did invent the crossbow and the primitive iron sights it utilized.

As the five of them were eating breakfast together Luna said, “Sister, I was speaking with Pixel last night and she made a rather interesting request. I know it is still quite early for you but I thought we should discuss it while all five of us are awake.”

Celestia took a sip of coffee before looking at Luna and asking, “Alright… What was this request?”

“Pixel, why don’t you explain it?” Luna said, looking at Pixel.

“Okay. Well, I just wanted to know if it would be alright if my brothers and I spread our mother’s religion. The Church of Science and Technology always told us that it was our divine duty as her children to encourage others to worship her. We don’t have to tell anyone that we’re her children.” Pixel explained.

“Personally, I think it would be fine. I mean there are so many religions worshiping deities that don’t actually exist, would it not be better for ponies to worship deities that do?” Luna commented.

Alexander nodded. “I was actually going to ask the same question myself at some point but I was waiting for a good time to bring it up. It seems Pixel beat me to it.”

“Hm… We would need to know the tenets of your religion before we could actually agree to anything.” Celestia stated.

“Tenets? There aren’t very many. Our mother doesn’t really care how mortals live their lives or what they use technology for. As long as technology is built and used and there is scientific and technological advancement she is perfectly happy. There’s only one real tenet that she made. That tenet being ‘creating immoral or unethical technology, mind controlling technology for example, is sacrilege and using such technology for immoral or unethical purposes, manipulating or enslaving others for example, is a grave sin’. Mother is not a pacifist however, so that very much does not include the creation or use of weapons. There are other tenets that were created by mortals later in history but those are rather idiotic and are thus irrelevant. We would only mention the tenet that our mother herself made as that’s the only one that truly matters.” Alexander explained.

“Mhm… Well then, I suppose that would be fine. However, if we do let you do this then you will also have to spread the knowledge and religions of the other gods you know of. It’s only fair that everypony would get to choose which gods they follow and they could only do that if they know those gods exist to begin with.” Celestia said before taking another sip of coffee.

Gerhardt frowned. “Silvanus is mom’s greatest enemy. We will not betray her by spreading his religion.” Pixel and Alexander stated their agreements.

“Hm… Fine, we won’t force you to betray your mother. However, ponies should still be allowed to know of his existence. You can preach against him if you would like. Just tell everypony that he exists.” Luna told them.

“I suppose that’s agreeable. Fine. They’ll know of him but don’t expect us to say anything even remotely positive about him. Followers of our mother view him as akin to the Devil, the Spirit of Evil, and that most certainly will not change here.” Alexander stated.

Celestia sighed and said, “I would honestly prefer a more unbiased perspective but I suppose I can’t expect anything more. Very well, we’ll give you free reign to spread your religion. Though I don’t expect that many ponies will be willing to convert, so don’t expect to gather too large of a following very fast.”

“We’re immortal. We have all the time in the universe.” Gerhardt said.

“A fair point.” Celestia conceded.

After they finished eating Alexander stood up and adjusted the device on his face before saying, “Well, would you happen to know where a library might be? My siblings and I need to go and read up on the history of this kingdom. Well, I’ll need them to read to me since I’m incapable of reading braille but the point remains.”

“Actually there’s a small library here in the castle. It’s not as large as the dedicated library in the city, but if you’re just looking to study our history it should suit your needs perfectly. I can have a servant lead the three of you there if you would like.” Celestia offered.

“Please do. We’ll be spending pretty much the rest of the day there if you need anything.” Arthur told her.

Once they were in the library, Pixel found all of the history books and spent about five minutes reading through them, her artificial brain allowing her to process the information far faster than an organic being. After she finished reading the three of them began discussing everything she read, starting with Luna becoming Nightmare Moon all the way to recent history. None of them understood how it was possible that Celestia or Luna could raise or lower the sun or moon let alone make it eternal day or night.

“It doesn’t make any sense… Even Merlin, the most powerful demigod in recorded history and being the son of the goddess of magic at that, was only capable of slowing down the rotation of the planet thus extending the day and night cycle by approximately ten hours at most. At least until the gods fixed it soon after. He most certainly couldn’t slow it down enough to force the planet to become tidally locked with the sun. At least not all at once. Maybe if he tried over the course of several days but most certainly not all at once. That’s to say nothing of forcing the moon to stay in a perfect geosynchronous orbit. Unless they are suggesting the sun orbits around this planet like the moon and they control that orbit? But that’s even more absurd!” Alexander declared.

“Hm… So, assuming this story isn’t a complete fabrication, I think it’s safe to say we are in fact in a completely separate universe with a very different set of laws of physics. So maybe the sun and moon aren’t nearly as big or far away as they would be in our universe?” Gerhardt suggested.

“I agree. But the only way we can know for sure is by building a telescope and sending it into orbit. Unfortunately we don’t have enough materials for that at the moment.” Pixel stated.

“No, we really don’t… Damn. Well, in that case we have no choice but to operate under the assumption that they really do control the sun and moon until we can build a telescope and confirm it for ourselves… Hm… I don’t like this whole ‘Nightmare Moon’ business. We’re going to need confirmation that nothing like that will ever happen again. Failing that we need a contingency to kill both of them should they become an active threat. My combat knife would work but fighting anyone head on is stupid if it can be avoided. The only reason I fought Viridios head on was because I had no other choice at the time and look where that got me… I’ll start thinking of possible weapon designs.” Alexander stated.

“I’ll help with that.” Gerhardt volunteered.

Alexander smiled at him. “I knew you would, considering your love of military technology. It reminds me of myself when I was young. I did invent the crossbow for a couple of wars that were raging at the time in order to give humanity a bit of an edge considering we were losing pretty badly until that point. It’s honestly my favorite invention! You know, the idea for it actually came to me in a dream. I believe mother may have had a hand in that.”

“We know, you’ve told us this story like twenty times… this year…” Gerhardt huffed in slight irritation.

Pixel chuckled. “I like big brother’s stories, even if some of them do get a bit repetitive from time to time.”

Alexander chuckled. “Well it’s one of my favorite stories! I mean, I have thousands upon thousands of other stories but many of them are a bit mature for children as young as you two, and a lot of them aren’t nearly as fun as that one. Granted it is a story about a war but more importantly it’s a story about primitive technology and primitive technology is always fun to talk about!”

Gerhardt shrugged as best he could in his equine form. “I guess. Anyway, what’s next on the schedule?”

“Well, we already went over history but there are other books in this library we haven’t gone over yet, yes? Well let’s see what else we can learn. Next I believe we should focus on Equestrian law so we don’t end up doing or building anything illegal by accident.” Alexander stated.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading up on Equestrian history and law took the three of them all day. By the time they were finished it was already time for dinner. Dinner went quick that night. After spending another four days discussing it and getting to know the princesses, Pixel, Gerhardt, and Alexander all finally came to a decision. That night they spoke to the Princesses and agreed to become royalty. Alexander then spent some time discussing it with the Princesses and determined a date to hold the announcement. They also determined that despite his age they would be adopting him as a nephew rather than the other way around.

Of course upon hearing that they had accepted and the date of the announcement Prince Blueblood insisted on taking all three of them to a tailor to get outfits made. They were currently waiting for him at the entrance of the castle.

“Oh cheer up would you? It’s not that bad. In fact I’m sure it will be really fun!” Pixel said to Gerhardt.

“‘Fun’… Right… Just like stabbing myself in the eye with a hot soldering iron would be ‘fun’…” Gerhardt scoffed. “I fail to see the issue with the robes the Church of Science and Technology gave us. They’re functional, they look just fine, and more importantly they are what all of our siblings in the Human Kingdom wear.”

“Not always.” Alexander stated. “You’ve never been to any as you are much too young but there are certain ceremonies in the Church that require more formal attire from all of our siblings who attend. Granted that more formal attire is just fancier and more ornate versions of what we normally wear, but that’s besides the point. So just think of it like that.”

“Hm…” Gerhardt grumbled bitterly. He was genuinely embarrassed that he was acting like this but he didn’t want to tell either of his siblings the real reason behind his reluctance to go get clothes tailored for them. Ever since they were ambushed by Silvanus’s children in the middle of the streets and he had to watch his father die in front of him he absolutely hated being out in public. He just didn’t feel safe whenever he was walking through the streets of a city. In fact he was absolutely terrified at the moment, especially with Alexander being blinded and thus incapable of protecting him and Pixel if they were attacked. But he was trying his best not to show how scared he was. Ever since their father died he always tried to put on a brave face for Pixel.

Pixel was similar in that she was also trying to put on a brave face for Gerhardt. She was also just as scared of going out in public as he was, she was simply better at hiding it than he was. She was able to run a simulation in her head of exactly how she should act if she didn’t have her fear of going out into public and could force her body to follow that simulation perfectly, giving her a distinct advantage that Gerhardt lacked. However, ever since they were attacked by Viridios in their workshop she didn’t exactly feel safe there either. Unlike Gerhardt who preferred to keep his emotions to himself she was actually considering talking to Alexander about it. Specifically she was considering talking to him about how she didn’t feel safe in the workshop any more, she didn’t want to bother him about something so situational as her fear of going out into public since that was a fairly rare occurrence for any of them.

Eventually Prince Blueblood entered the castle and walked over to them. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long. I’ve already spoken to the tailor and confirmed that they have a few design sketches ready to show you. They are currently waiting for us.”

“Thank you, Blueblood. Your help in getting us in contact with this tailor is most appreciated.” Alexander said in a polite tone.

“But of course. You will be becoming royalty soon. It wouldn’t do for the three of you to show up to the ceremony in such pedestrian attire. It would be an embarrassment to the entire royal line… And as I told you before I can personally vouch for this designer, she is the one I go to for all of my own clothes.” Blueblood explained. “Now I suppose we should be on our way. Just follow me. I’ll lead you there.”

Alexander, Gerhardt, and Pixel then all began following Blueblood through Canterlot. Both Pixel and Gerhardt grabbed parts of Alexander’s robe with telekinesis and led him through the city like that.

As they exited the castle grounds Gerhardt immediately went on guard and kept looking around, searching for any sign of danger. His heart was pounding furiously in his chest from panic. It was a struggle to attempt to keep himself from tearing up. Images of vines and roots shooting up from the ground and attempting to grab him and Pixel and later tearing their father to pieces flashed through his mind. He could practically still hear the screams of the crowd, Pixel’s screams, and their father shouting at them to run away before cutting to screams of agony. The scent of blood mixed with the almost suffocatingly overpowering and nauseatingly cloying scent of flowers, the coppery taste of his own blood, the terrible pain of his wounds, all of it came flooding back to him as they continued walking through the crowds of staring ponies.

“You, uh… Forgive me, I’m still trying to memorize your names… Gear heart?” Blueblood inquired.

“It’s Gerhardt.” Alexander corrected.

“Ah, thank you. Gerhardt. Are you alright? You look shaken by something.” Blueblood asked.

“Huh? Oh… I’m fine…” Gerhardt muttered.

Blueblood raised an eyebrow at that and said, “You’re trembling quite visibly.”

“I said I’m fine!” Gerhardt snapped. He then took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. Let’s just keep moving.”

“Hm… Very well…” Blueblood said. He then leaned over to Alexander and asked. “I believe I don’t need to state how obvious it is that he is most definitely not alright. If I may ask, why does he seem so scared?”

“Scared?” Alexander asked in confusion, whispering back to Blueblood. “I honestly have no idea. He’s never acted scared before as far as I’m aware so to my knowledge this is a first… It could be any number of things.”

Alexander was telling the truth. He had never once seen either of the twins act scared before, the only exception being the day they were attacked by Viridios. He had been in another country on business for the Church during the month they had been attacked and their father was murdered. So he hadn’t been present at any time that the twins had to leave the church and go into public for their father’s funeral. As such he hadn’t seen either of their behaviour in public around that time and they hadn’t left the premises of the Grand Cathedral ever since. So he never had the opportunity to see their behavior in public before and thus genuinely had no idea about their fear.

“I see… Well you do realize that I’m going to have to bring it up to Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna.” Blueblood whispered back.

“I understand and I suppose I can’t stop you, but believe me when I say I will be looking into this myself as soon as we get back to the castle. My younger siblings' safety and wellbeing is my number one priority.” Alexander responded.

“Very good. I would expect nothing less.” Blueblood stated, no longer whispering. After that he picked up the pace a little trying to get them to the designer as quickly as possible.

As soon as they arrived Gerhardt and Pixel were both presented with three sketches each, all of them displaying different designs for clothes. Gerhardt picked the simplest and most basic looking one while Pixel picked the one she thought looked the prettiest.

Being blind Alexander couldn’t exactly see the sketches to pick the design he liked the best so he ultimately left it up to the designer herself. Finally seeing him in person and now having an idea of what he actually looked like and having been given free reign to make whatever she wanted for him the designer decided to scrap the original three designs she made for Alexander and make a new one she thought would suit him better.

After that the designer quickly measured all three of them and wrote the measurements down for future reference. Once that was all settled, not wanting to walk through the city again, Gerhardt just teleported them all back to the castle.

After saying goodbye Blueblood immediately turned and left, heading straight for the throne room to speak with Celestia.

As soon as he was gone Alexander said, “Alright. What the hell was that?”

“What do you mean?” Pixel inquired in confusion.

“I mean, why were you acting so scared out there, Gerhardt?” Alexander inquired.

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” Gerhardt lied.

“Gerhardt, don’t lie to me. Something is very clearly wrong.” Alexander stated.

Gerhardt remained silent.

Alexander sighed. “Gerhardt, you know you can talk to me about anything. I won’t judge you. Or do you just not trust me enough to talk about it even after all this time?”

“I trust you…” Gerhardt muttered.

“Then why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Alexander inquired. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”

“I think I might know.” Pixel stated.

Alexander turned his head in her direction. “Oh?”

“Mhm… I think I might know because I think I might have the same problem… But, um… I don’t want to bother you and I don’t think Gerhardt does either.” Pixel explained.

“Well, now I’m worried about both of you. So now you’re bothering me more by not telling me than you would if you told me.” Alexander said, trying to be as patient as possible.

“Alright… I’m afraid of going out into public. Specifically, being in large crowds of people on the street scares me. I think Gerhardt might be the same. Right?” Pixel asked, looking at Gerhardt.

Gerhardt said nothing but eventually just looked at the ground and nodded.

“I thought so. He just nodded.” Pixel informed Alexander.

“Alright… You should have told me sooner. If I had known I would have requested to have the tailor come to meet us here rather than the other way around… Well, it’s too late now. So, would either of you mind explaining to me why you’re afraid of going out?” Alexander inquired.

“Remember how our father died?” Pixel inquired.

“Uh… Give me a moment to recall… I think it was our sister Nora who told me…? Ah! You were ambushed by Silvanus’s children. Sorry, Nora didn’t really give me very many details and what few she did were rather vague so that’s all I really know.” Alexander said.

“Well, that’s correct, if lacking in a lot of details. Daddy’s car had something wrong with it that he couldn’t fix on the spot so we had to walk home. But while we were walking we were surrounded and attacked on the streets in the middle of a big crowd.” Pixel explained.

Alexander frowned. “I see… It sounds like they set the entire thing up. A car is a fairly simple device so a technomancer like your father should have had no trouble fixing it even in the middle of a parking lot. For him to not have been able to fix it suggests the damage to the engine must have been extensive. I suspect it was intentionally sabotaged by them to force you to walk home so they could ambush you at a strategically viable location… Bastards… And I assume this event left you two with lingering trauma resulting in your fear of going out into public… Fuck… Alright… Well, I have no idea how to deal with this. I might ask the Princesses for advice during dinner tonight. For now, if you have any more issues like this please tell me immediately so I can try to help you and so I can avoid putting you in uncomfortable situations.”

“Okay… I’m not sure about Gerhardt, but after we were attacked by Viridios in our workshop I don’t really feel safe there anymore either…” Pixel stated.

“Good to know. What do you think could help you feel safer there? Built in defenses? Automated turrets? Combat golems guarding it? Actual guards? We spend a lot of time there so you should feel safer there than anywhere else. The fact you don’t is a problem.” Alexander asked.

“I don’t know…” Pixel muttered uncertainly.

Alexander sighed. “Alright, we’ll work on finding a solution then. What about you, Gerhardt? Do you feel unsafe in our workshop as well?”

“No.” Gerhardt stated.

“So it’s just Pixel then. That’s fine. For now, Pixel, I’ll let you take a few tools and materials into your room. You can work there. Just try not to damage anything or make too much noise, and remember to clean up after you're finished working. Understood?” Alexander inquired.

“Mhm.” Pixel hummed in confirmation.

“Good. Seeing as you two have had a rather stressful day, how about we take a break to relax for the rest of today?” Alexander suggested.

They then did as Alexander suggested and spent the rest of the day resting. Eventually the sun began to set and it was finally dinner time. As Alexander, Pixel, and Gerhardt sat down at the dining table Celestia started their conversation by saying. “So, Blueblood came to me a few hours ago and informed me that something occurred on your way to the designer today.”

Alexander nodded. “Yes, indeed… I was actually going to ask for your help with that because I honestly have no idea what to do.”

“I’m sorry, but what’s this issue? I was asleep so I’m a bit out of the loop.” Princess Luna asked groggily.

“It would appear that Gerhardt and Pixel both have some lingering trauma from witnessing their father’s murder at the hands of Silvanus’s children. Apparently it made them terrified of being out in public. Specifically being in large crowds in the middle of the street as that’s where they were ambushed and attacked. I honestly had no idea about this until today as we have never left the grounds of the Grand Cathedral ever since I first met them and they never told me. I have absolutely no idea what to do to help them. I was hoping one of you might have some ideas.” Alexander explained.

Celestia gave him a deadpan stare. “You’re ninety three thousand years old and you don’t know what to do in this situation? Seriously?”

Alexander shrugged. “I don’t know what you expect. I usually left dealing with this sort of issue to the Church. I don’t actually have any personal experience helping others through it myself.”

Celestia slapped a hoof against her face before sighing in exasperation. “Why am I not surprised…? Alright. What we need to do is have both of them speak to a therapist. I’ll try to get that scheduled tomorrow. For now, just avoid bringing them back outside the castle grounds. Understood?”

“Perfectly. Thank you Princess.” Alexander said gratefully.

Celestia smiled at him. “Of course.”

[Elsewhere]

Viridios grimaced as he took his afternoon painkillers. “Gods above, that’s vile.” He muttered after swallowing the concoction. Setting down the now half empty clay bottle, he turned and walked back outside. Looking around he decided it was a beautiful day for a walk. He had gathered enough supplies to last him several days at this point so he didn’t need to go out to collect any more for at least another day or two, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t go for a simple walk.

Right as he was about to start his walk however he was stopped in his tracks as someone unexpected appeared before him. “Hello, son.” Silvanus greeted him with a warm fatherly smile. Unlike Viridios he was still in the form he usually took. He wore a green robe made from plants, had long green hair and a beard that were reminiscent of vines, grassy green eyes, pointed ears, and very pale almost glowing skin similar to that Viridios had in his elven form.

“Hello, father. I was about to go for a walk, but—” Viridios said, only for Silvanus to cut him off.

“Ah, that’s fine. Would you mind if I joined you?”

Viridios shook his head. “Of course not. I would love for you to join me.” He said before proceeding to start walking off into the forest. Silvanus followed closely alongside him.

“So, father, I hope you don’t mind me asking but why do you look like that? Shouldn’t your form have changed upon coming to this world as well?”

Silvanus chuckled. “Tsk, tsk… I thought you of all my children would know by now that gods can take whatever form we choose. I choose to look like this, thus I do. Granted, I will admit I can sense this universe’s magic trying to force me to change to a form very similar to your own. But it’s influence isn’t strong enough to forcefully alter my shape against my will. Why? Would you prefer it if I took a form similar to your current form?”

Viridios shook his head. “No, you can use whatever form you wish. I was simply confused as it had forced me into this form the moment I arrived, and it appeared to do the same to Scientia’s children as well.”

“Ugh… What have I told you about mentioning that name around me?” Silvanus asked in a stern tone.

“I’m sorry, father. I realize your hatred for her. I was merely attempting to explain my confusion to the best of my abilities.” Viridios apologized.

“It’s fine… You know I can’t stay mad at you for something so small. Just try to be aware in the future.” Silvanus told him.

“Of course, father… Er… I have a few other questions, if I may?”

Silvanus smiled at him. “Of course. I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have for me. Within reason, of course. I do have to abide by the rules after all.”

“Where are we? Is there a way back? And what business do you have here?” Viridios inquired.

“Hm… I was expecting you to ask those one at a time but it’s fine. To answer your first question, we’re in another universe completely unconnected to your universe. To answer your second question, that depends. Does such a way back exist currently? No. Could it exist currently? Also no. as the universes are unconnected. Could the universes be connected and could a way back exist in the very near future? Most likely. That brings me to your third question. You see, us gods had no idea this universe even existed. That was until you and those you were trying to kill ended up here in a freak accident.”

This confused Viridios greatly. “You didn’t know it existed? How could you not have known it existed? I thought all gods were omniscient?”

Silvanus shook his head. “Yes and no. We very much could be truly omniscient if we wanted to, but we are not. This is for two… maybe three reasons. For one, other gods from other pantheons dislike it when forgine gods look in on their universes. So there is an agreement amongst the pantheons to limit our knowledge of universes outside of our direct control. As a result we don’t know all of the infinite number of universes that exist. Second, omniscience is hellishly boring. You are quite intelligent so I’m sure you can imagine why. So we discard some of it for entertainment. Third… Well, there are certain things even us gods do not wish to know.”

“I see… But that doesn’t really answer the question of what business you have here.” Viridios stated.

“True, I suppose… Well, now that we know this universe exists and that no other pantheon has claimed ownership of it our pantheon will be claiming it for ourselves. I’m not actually the first to come here, as much as I wish I was. Other gods have already visited this and other planets. I’m merely the first to visit this particular continent, and I most certainly won’t be the last.” Silvanus explained in a matter of fact tone. “As for why I’m visiting you, I just want to say how proud I am of you. Even if you failed to kill those disgusting abominations you still fought quite well. I also wished to inform you that several of your siblings have been asking as to your whereabouts. When I told them, a few wished for me to send them here so they could be with you. But I wanted to leave at least part of the decision up to you. Would you like for me to bring a few of your siblings here? I’m sure it must be at least a bit lonely being here all by yourself.”

Viridios was silent for a moment as he thought about it. “Would it be safer for any of them here?” He inquired.

“Hm… Yes and no. On the one hand the majority of the bastards of that mechanical whore aren’t here to try to kill them. On the other hand, there is a chance that she will send a few more of her children here as I might. Why?” Silvanus inquired.

“You know why. I’ve never been a fan of violence and I simply want what’s best for my siblings. Especially the youngest.” Viridios stated.

“I see… Well, if I could offer a bit of advice? I do believe Alice would be safer here with you, if no one else. The mechanical abominations attempts on her life have been growing in intensity in recent days, and she does care for you quite a lot. And it may help to have one or two of your other siblings here to help defend her in the event more of that metal bitch’s children end up coming here.” Silvanus suggested.

Viridios sighed. “Fine… If she would be safer with me, I can look after her. I suppose I could accept two more as well. How about… Weiss and Flora? I get along with them quite well and I believe they could be a good influence on Alice considering they haven’t fallen victim to Accidia Immortalium just yet. A better influence than myself for sure… That is, if they are okay with the idea. I don’t want to force them into anything.” There was another reason he chose Weiss and Flora that he left unsaid. They were both some of the least violent members of the family and were thus the least likely to go picking a fight with Scientia’s children unnecessarily, but weren’t pacifists by any means and could thus defend themselves and Alice should it come to that. Viridios hoped that choosing less violent members of the family would mitigate future conflict in this universe. However, he knew that ultimately the future peace or violence depended upon how aggressive Scientia’s children were towards them.

“They were actually two of those who were requesting to be sent here so I believe they will be quite alright with the idea.” Silvanus stated, coming to a stop.

Confused as to why they were stopping, Viridios turned and looked back at Silvanus who was now holding a hand out to the side. Suddenly a little filly with wings and a horn walked out from behind Silvanus in confusion. She had a mane and tail the color of kelp, ocean blue fur, eyes that were the color of coral, and a symbol of a wave on her rump. Not even a moment later two other fully grown Alicorns walked out from behind a couple trees. One had a pure white ethereal mane and tail vaguely resembling clouds, grey fur, sky blue eyes, and a symbol of a storm cloud flashing with lightning on his rump. The final one had a red ethereal mane and tail the color of roses that resembled flower petals blowing in the wind, pinkish fur the color of tulips, violet eyes, and a symbol of a blooming rose on her rump.

“Where am I?” Muttered the filly who then looked around and spotted everyone else. “Daddy? What’s going on? Why are you so big? What are these creatures?”

“Your siblings, my dear. The one in front of you is Viridios. That’s Flora and that’s Weiss. The magic in this universe, and yes you are in another universe, seems to alter the form of anyone who comes here. Even you aren’t unaffected. Just take a look at yourself.” Silvanus explained.

Alice didn’t even bother looking at herself and instead immediately bounded over to Viridios. “Big brother!” As soon as she got close enough she immediately wrapped her forelimbs around one of Viridios’s legs.

Viridios smiled at her and patted her on the back. “Hello, little one. I’m happy to see you again as well, even if it is in an unfamiliar form.”

“Well… This has got to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced…” Weiss stated looking at himself curiously.

“What, never changed forms before?” Flora inquired jokingly.

“You joke but no. Not even once. I simply never had a reason to. So this is a first for me… Gods above it's going to be hard getting used to not having hands any more…” Weiss stated, looking at the hooves where his hands used to be.

“It’s not that hard, honestly.” Viridios told him. “Just give it a day or two. You’ll adjust in no time.”

Silvanus smiled at all of them. “I’m glad to see you all seem to be alright with this arrangement. Now, I’m afraid I must be going. The discovery of this universe has made me quite busy.”

Viridios nodded. “Very well. Goodbye father. I hope to see you again soon.”

“I’ll try to make time to visit again soon, but we’ll have to see. Goodbye.” Silvanus said before seeming to blink out of existence as if he had never been there to begin with.

Once Silvanus was gone Viridios said, “Well, that wasn’t a very long walk but it will have to do.” He then teleported all four of them back to his hut. “I’m sorry it’s not a bit larger. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come stay here with me. I’ll help you all make your own huts if you wish.”

“Nah, I’m fine. I’d rather make my own. No offense, your little hut is nice but it's just a bit lacking in color for my tastes.” Flora stated.

“Actually, I believe it would be best if we took down your current hut and made a house in its place. That way we could all have our own rooms but save a bit more space than we could if we all had individual huts to ourselves.” Weiss suggested.

“I suppose that’s a decent idea. Fine. Let me just get my things out of my hut first. Before you ask, I didn’t have time to make much. All I have is a few clay pots, dishes and cookware, some food, some drinking water, and a bit of medicine.” Viridios explained as he headed into his hut and started levitating things out.

“Um, speaking of medicine, you look hurt… What happened?” Alice inquired.

“Ah, nothing. Just some wounds from my most recent battle with the children of the machine. Nothing to worry about. They’ll heal up in a month or two. Might leave a scar or two for a while but even those will fade in time. They hurt like hell so every few hours I need to take some painkillers I made, but I’ll live.” Viridios explained.

“Painkillers huh? The non-addictive kind, I hope?” Weiss stated.

“Oh bite me, Weiss. I’m in pain but I’m not fucking stupid…” Viridios grumbled. He almost wished they were the addictive kind since those tended to be quite a bit more powerful than non-addictive painkillers. The painkillers he made didn’t get rid of the pain entirely, they just lessened it a bit. It was still very painful.

Weiss chuckled at this. “Ah, good. We wouldn’t want our big brother being a negative influence on little Alice now would we?” Viridios snorted at this and threw an empty basket at Weiss. Weiss caught the basket with telekinesis before it could hit him and set it down on the ground next to him. 

“By father, I forgot how annoying you can be.” Viridios stated.  He then chuckled and said, “I missed you, little brother… How long has it been again? Fifty, maybe sixty years?”

“Just a little over a century if my memory serves correctly. Way too long.” Weiss sighed.

“That long? Gods, where has the time gone?” Viridios muttered. “And what about you, Flora? How long has it been since we last saw each other?”

“Not quite as long. Just thirty years. I tried to come visit you a few times but… Well… Things happen.” Flora stated. “Hey, would you mind if I used a few of these flowers to make my room?”

“Uh… Sure. Just avoid that big purple one. I don’t know how rare it really is but it's the only one of its kind I’ve seen in this forest so far. So I want to be careful with it and see if I can’t get it to produce a few seeds for me to plant.” Viridios said and he levitated the last few things out of his hut.

Flora frowned slightly. “Aw… That’s the prettiest one too… Oh well, I guess. Thanks, Viridios. I’ll help you collect some more flowers later to replace the ones I use.”

“That would be appreciated.” Viridios stated before casting a spell. Suddenly the hut began to wither and die before crumbling to pieces. “Now, shall we get started on this house?”
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple days passed and Gerhardt had finally started training with the Royal Guard to learn how to fight in his new body. They were teaching him with primitive weapons, but that was fine as far as he was concerned as he had to learn how to use the knife Scientia had made for Alexander. Meanwhile Alexander was learning about Equestrian economics and the exceedingly boring world of Equestrian politics. Being the pacifist she was, Pixel was learning economics and politics alongside Alexander. Specifically she was trying to learn as much as she could about diplomacy as possible in order to be able to resolve conflicts without violence.

Pixel was currently in the throne room, watching as Celestia dealt with nobles and ambassadors. She was recording absolutely everything in order to learn as much about politics and diplomacy as possible.

Alexander was there too and was doing mathematical calculations for Celestia whenever necessary and was offering more technological solutions to certain issues wherever it was prudent.

One ambassador Celestia had been speaking to had complained about the Changelings attacking and abducting their messengers. They had discussed the matter at length before the ambassador marched out in frustration.

“If you’re having an issue with these so-called ‘Changelings’ intercepting messengers carrying important letters, may I suggest a wireless alternative to traditional letters? One in which you can speak instantly and directly to other leaders and such even over great distances.” Alexander offered.

“As always, I am willing to hear your proposal even if I don’t end up accepting it.” Celestia stated.

Alexander nodded. “Very well. Then I, or more specifically my younger siblings, can build a long distance communications system for you. Depending on necessity it could send the voice and illusory images of the individual or individuals on the other end or it could just send the voice. Just the voice would be cheaper but the illusory image would allow for meetings on par with in person meetings without actually having to leave the comfort of your castle. Now, I’m not suggesting this system for civilians. Not yet at least. To put it frankly, with Equestria’s budget and the price of the raw materials that would be necessary we simply couldn’t afford such a thing. However, a more limited system specifically for you and the leaders of countries you must stay in contact with, we could do. The more limited system would only cost about… 350,000 bits? Pixel, can you run a quick calculation and confirm that estimate for me?”

“What type of system would we be building? Fiber optic, radio, satellite, or quantum entanglement?” Pixel inquired.

“Let’s go with radio for now. Voice only. It’s far cheaper than the alternatives. And we can set it so the radio can bounce signals off the upper atmosphere to reach further so we don’t need anything like satellites.” Alexander told her.

“In that case your math is only slightly off, though I assume you were rounding down. It would actually cost 354,617 bits specifically. That is assuming we used commercially available materials rather than making our own since some of the materials we need have only barely been invented here in this world and are a very niche market. We could probably make the parts and materials ourselves and reduce the overall cost to 93,291 bits.” Pixel stated.

“Ah, but we don’t have the tools to make some of those parts and materials in our workshop anymore since some of them were destroyed when Viridios attacked. You should know this since you and Gerhardt took inventory a couple days ago. And repairing or replacing them would also cost money.” Alexander told her.

“Hm. I was assuming we would have already sold some medical supplies to the hospitals and would have thus replaced our broken tools by the time we started this project.” Pixel said.

“Then it was a simple miscommunication, not an error in your calculations. So, does that price tag sound reasonable, Celestia?” Alexander asked, looking at Celestia.

Celestia nodded. “It does. We can definitely make space for that in the budget. Even better, I may be able to convince the other kingdoms affected by the Changelings attacking our messengers to chip in. So the cost would be effectively negligible. Well, the ambassador will be pleased to hear about this, I’m sure. I’ll have someone go get him so I can speak to him about it after he’s had a bit of time to calm down.”

“Should I send in the next one?” Asked Celestia’s personal assistant.

“Yes, please.” Celestia said, giving her assistant a friendly smile.

Suddenly half the room started to grow darker as if the light was being sucked out of it while the other half started getting brighter and the shadows on that half started to fade from existence as if every single surface had suddenly become luminous, causing everything on that half of the room to take on a flat appearance. As soon as this started, everyone, save for Alexander who had no idea that any of this was happening, immediately paused and observed what was happening. Suddenly two figures appeared in the middle of the room. Both of them were eight feet tall and were vaguely humanoid.

The one on the dark half of the room looked like a flat hole in reality from which no light emanated or could escape. It had no features whatsoever save for two arms, a bulbous thing that looked like a humanoid head from certain angles, and a tree trunk-like body without any legs. Its mere presence seemed to suck even more light straight out of the air around it. It was like a void of primordial darkness made manifest.

The other being was similar in form yet its body appeared to alternate between all the colors of the rainbow, and it had eyes that were solid white. Otherwise its appearance was just as flat as its counterpart as it had absolutely no shadows to define its features whatsoever. It was a single solid brightness as if light was shining on it or radiating from it in completely equal measures from every possible angle. It was as if darkness itself could not exist anywhere upon or near the entity.

“Forgive our intrusion but we require an audience with you and your sister, Princess. We saw that you were about to allow other petitioners in so we thought this was as good a time as any to let ourselves in.” The being of radiant light said in a warm and boisterous masculine voice that seemed to emanate from every possible direction at once.

“It’s fine… Who… or what are you?” Celestia inquired, very clearly unnerved.

“We are gods… I am Nox, the Goddess of Darkness.” The shadowy figure whispered in a colder feminine voice that seemed to echo in their very minds. It was creepy yet something about it was oddly comforting.

“And I am Lux, the God of Light.” The radiant figure stated.

“Oh… Well. I am honestly a bit surprised you two didn’t show up sooner. To be honest, if any gods were going to come visit, other than my and my siblings mother, I expected you two to be the first gods to approach Celestia and Luna, which you are. But what took so long, if you don’t mind me asking?” Alexander inquired.

“We agreed to intentionally limit ourselves to be in one place at a time in this universe, just for a change of pace. We thought it may be entertaining. We have spent this time speaking to other leaders and demigods on different planets throughout this new universe and the Princesses were the next on our list to speak with.” Nox explained.

“Ah, I see. Very well.” Alexander said, bowing his head a bit.

“Raven, please go dismiss anyone else waiting to meet with me. Then go wake up Luna and tell her to come here. Tell her it’s important.” Celestia told her personal assistant.

“At once, Princess.” Her assistant said. Her horn was suddenly enveloped by a pink aura and she vanished in a flash of pink light.

“I’ve never seen gods other than mommy before… You both look very pretty!” Pixel said happily.

“Why thank you, little one! Your mother, cold as she is, has nothing but praise for you and your twin brother. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Lux stated in a warm and friendly tone, looking at Pixel.

“Why are you both here? Gods have never visited this world before. Why now?” Celestia inquired.

“We should wait until your sister is here before answering such questions. Patience, little demigod.” Nox whispered.

The three of them stood there in an awkward silence for a few minutes until Luna teleported in, looking exhausted. “Celestia, what's this all about? Why did you… Oh… Oh! What in the name of Harmony are those?!” Luna asked, perking up almost immediately upon seeing the gods standing in the center of the room.

“Gods, Luna. They’re gods. Lux, the God of Light and Nox the Goddess of Darkness.” Celestia told her sister.

“Gods? But Equus has never been visited by gods before! Why now?” Luna asked, extremely confused.

“I asked the exact same thing. So?” Celestia said before looking back at the gods.

“We intentionally limit our omniscience for entertainment purposes so we did not know this universe existed previously. However, when these three and Viridios were sent here our pantheon discovered its existence. Since it had no gods at the time, we have claimed it as our own! So we would have visited this world long ago, but we previously had no idea it even existed.” Lux explained.

“As for why we’re here now, there are two reasons. First, we are going to claim followers here in your kingdom. We thought it only polite to let you know. Second, we come with an offer and depending on how you respond to said offer, some important advice as well.” Nox told them.

“Alright… What is this offer?” Celestia asked.

“You are both currently without godly parents despite being demigods. Since you are demigods of the day and night respectively you are close enough to what concepts we manage that we are willing to extend to you the opportunity to become our children. Well, not both of our children. Celestia, you would be my daughter but not Nox’s.”

“And Luna, you would be mine but not Lux’s. That isn’t to say you would stop being siblings. Your mortal halves would still be related. So nothing would change in that regard.”

“The way you said that suggests that certain things would change if we accepted this offer.” Luna said warily.

“Some things would. Your abilities would be slightly altered and enhanced due to having our blessings. For example, Luna, you would gain an inherent control over the darkness on top of your current abilities over the night sky and dreams. Notice how the half of the room I am in has become dark, you could do something similar or you could step into a shadow and use it as a portal to another shadow elsewhere in the world. Your ‘cutiemarks’ as you call them would take on slightly altered variations of their current forms, nothing too significant mind you. Perhaps a slight color alteration or something to that effect. And most importantly, you would have access to our guidance and your kingdom would be under our protection.”

“Protection? Protection from what?” Celestia asked.

“The other gods, of course!” Lux chuckled. “For example, if you were to offend, say, Silvanus by siding with Scientia or her children, in his anger he may just unleash a plague or a series of natural disasters upon your kingdom that would completely decimate your entire species. We could prevent that.”

Celestia and Luna gave eachother worried looks for a moment. Celestia then looked at Alexander and said, “Alexander, you never mentioned anything about Silvanus unleashing plagues on Equestria if we helped you.”

“Hey, I had no idea that was even a possibility! In our universe the gods had rules about such direct interference!” Alexander said defensively.

“He’s not lying. However, we have different rules for different universes. And since we have only just discovered this universe our rules have yet to be decided. So there are no rules for this universe at the moment and we have no idea what the rules will be once they are decided or how long that decision will take. So it’s entirely possible that such things will be allowed. Are you willing to take that risk?”

“If that’s the case, would Scientia not offer us her protection from Silvanus since we have sided with her children?” Luna inquired.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. With her it really depends… If she thinks her children can survive without you? Most likely not. If she thinks her children need you to survive, yes. Definitely. Or if she thought it would get your species to advance their science and technology faster with her protection she might. She doesn’t really have the same morals as many deities and is far from the most caring or empathetic being ever. Trying to play off her sympathy doesn’t work. If she saw a species being decimated by plague she would tell them to develop their technology to the point they could turn their bodies into machines and thus become immune to disease. She might point them in the right direction and give them hints but their success or failure would depend on them. Think of her like a machine in her own right. She has a purpose and she carries out that purpose with cold, calculated, ruthless precision and efficiency, completely uncaring about anything else.”

“And what of Silvanus?” Celestia asked.

This drew a wary look from Pixel and a frown from Alexander.

“Think of Silvanus like nature itself. He has points where he might act more like a mortal. He can be peaceful like a forest meadow or he can be like a hurricane, uncaring what destruction he brings to those who refuse to get out of his way or unfortunate enough to be caught up in the crossfire. He and Scientia are more similar than either one would like to admit. That being said, he is much more temperamental than Scientia being both easier to please and easier to anger. That being said, if you are considering siding with him, I would advise against it. Were you any other species it wouldn’t matter but since you’re you, you would suffer under him. At least for a time.”

“Why is that?” Luna inquired.

“Your species is completely reliant upon its control over nature. You control the growth of plants on a massive scale for your farms, you interfere with the cycle of natural selection by treating wild animals as if they were pets, you manipulate the weather however you see fit, and you even control the very seasons. But that is counter to the very nature of nature. The Everfree Forest is how nature should truly be yet your species finds it operating as it should to be ‘unnatural’, ironically. You would have to give up all of that control all at once and let things work naturally as they do in the Everfree Forest. And since your society is so reliant on that control, it would inevitably fracture and collapse. Yours is the only species in the world with this problem, as no other species controls nature in this way. So your species is the only one that is inherently incompatible with Silvanus.”

“Thus you are damned if you join him and you are damned if you do not. But we can offer you assistance in that regard. You need only accept our offer. So, what do you say? Will you accept and be guaranteed our support or are you willing to gamble on having Scientia’s support? And keep in mind, what we have said up until this point is not the advice we have offered you earlier. That advice is strictly reserved for if you accept.” Nox inquired.

“At this point is it even a question? Of course we accept. How could we not?” Celestia stated.

Luna sighed and said, “I agree with my sister, of course. It’s not as though we have much choice in the matter.”

“Of course you have a choice. We aren’t forcing you to accept. But I suppose I may be looking at it from too divine of a perspective. From your perspective I suppose it may seem like you don’t have a choice. Well, regardless, you have accepted. Therefore, Celestia, I accept you as my newest daughter.” Lux stated.

Suddenly Celestia was enveloped by a bright white light. After a moment the light vanished revealing Celestia’s new form. Not much had changed in all honesty. Her fur had become the brightest and most pure white it possibly could, reflecting one hundred percent of all light thus giving her a more radiant appearance. Her mane and tail now displayed all the colors of the rainbow and the colors were as rich and vibrant as they could possibly be and they both now gave off a soft glow. Her eyes had turned a golden color. Finally, her cutie mark had changed slightly. It was now a metallic gold color and was slightly reflective.

“Luna, I accept you as my newest daughter.” Nox’s voice whispered in all of their minds.

Suddenly Luna was enveloped by an orb of pure darkness. After a moment the darkness vanished. Luna’s fur was now as dark black as Nox herself, absorbing one hundred percent of all light. Her mane and tail were now darker. Her cutiemark now resembled what it looked like as Nightmare Moon albeit in darker shades of the same colors. Her eyes had become a darker shade of what they once were. Finally, she was now just as tall as Celestia.

“You both look absolutely lovely! Now, that advice we promised you. Don’t set a precedent and make the children of Scientia royalty. Make them nobles if you have to, but absolutely not royalty.” Lux stated.

“What? That seems a lot less serious than your advice about Silvanus… Why not?” Celestia inquired.

“Less serious? Quite the opposite, it is every bit as serious. There are going to be over a dozen more naturally born alicorn born in the coming decade or so as our kind reproduce with your kind and produce demigods. If you try to make all of them royalty, you will have dozens of princes and princesses all with conflicting ideals and ideologies all vying for control over your kingdom. It would lead to civil war with factions of your species rallying behind each one and fighting each other to the death over it. You thought your petty racial conflicts between the three tribes were bad? They would be but a pathetic joke compared to the war that would fracture your country. Which would weaken your species for future wars with other countries in the coming centuries, which would in turn lead to the vast majority of your species either being exterminated or enslaved.”

Both Celestia and Luna were clearly horrified by this. “What? What do you mean? Why would we go to war with other countries?!” Celestia demanded.

“Think about it, my daughter. Other demigods will be born in other countries to other species. Many will rise to power. And do you think they will be content with peace, harmony, and friendship? No. They will not. They will want to expand their power and influence and they will be willing to go to war to do so. True war that will last years. Thousands if not millions will die in those wars. And some, such as the children of the God of War will start wars just for the sake of war itself with no other justification, as is their nature. And the blessing of the Spirit of Harmony can only do so much to protect you when your enemy has blessings of their own on their side.”

“Indeed… And when that happens, you will have my and my siblings full support. We will ensure you have all the technology you need to fight and win these wars. Be that infantry weapons, WMDs, Ships, Tanks, Artillery, or whatever else.” Alexander stated.

“Thank you, Alexander… In light of this, I may actually have to discuss that with you at great length… Have you two any other warnings for us?” Celestia inquired.

“You will be visited by the other gods in the coming months. Be very careful. Even with our protection the last thing you want is to alienate a god. Any god. And that includes ones who manage concepts you may find distasteful. Including the God of Evil, the Goddess of Destruction, the God of Death, and the Goddess of Chaos. Their titles sound awful to you mortals but none of them, not even the God of Evil or Goddess of Good, are inherently good or evil. They merely manage the concepts across the universe and keep them in balance by tipping the scales every so often as needed. So do not let your mortal biases blind you and cause you to make enemies, otherwise even with our protection you will suffer disastrous and potentially nigh apocalyptic consequences.”

“And do give up on this notion of being treated as equal with the mortals and not being worshiped. They will learn you are truly demigods within the next year after the first natural born demigods of Equestria are born. It’s inevitable. You can’t hide it.”

Luna frowned at that, but it was impossible to tell as one could not see her features due to how dark her fur was. “Even if we can’t hide it, we can deflect any worship to you two rather than us.”

“You can try but such a thing won’t be as easy as you seem to believe. Mortals tend to worship anything that is even slightly divine in nature and you are both half divine. So, I wish you luck but I warn you not to get your hopes up.”

“Anyway, since you are now our children there is much more you need to know and learn. But I’m afraid we can’t teach you all of it in just a few short hours… Well… We could just force the information into your minds in an instant but you would find the experience confusing and unpleasant. So, we plan on staying here for two or three days to teach you what you need to know. After that we shall leave you to your own devices.”

“I see… Well, I think the other ponies in the castle may find your current appearances a bit intimidating. So if you are going to stay for any length of time, is it possible for you to take on less intimidating forms?” Celestia inquired.

Suddenly both Lux and Nox were no longer eight foot tall vaguely humanoid masses of light and darkness. Instead, they now both resembled alicorns except they both had four wings instead of two and they were twice the size of Celestia and Luna.

Nox had fur just as dark as her form had previously been, but now she had eyes. Said eyes had Irises that were just as black as her fur and the whites were gray rather than white. Her mane and tail were like liquid darkness flowing in an invisible current. She didn’t have a cutie mark, or if she did it was as dark as the rest of her and thus blended in with her fur perfectly.

Lux now had fur that was just as pure white as Celestia’s. His eyes were still radiating pure white light. Unlike Celestia’s, his mane and tail were both solid colors but were slowly changing and cycling through all the colors of the rainbow. His cutiemark was just a white circle that seemed to radiate light.

In their new mortal forms the effects they were having on the room began to fade and the lighting returned to normal.

“Better?” Nox asked, her voice now operating like a normal voice.

“Much.” Luna stated.

“Well! If that’s all, I should probably go find Gerhardt and start working out a plan for the production of weapons and military equipment. I am assuming the coronation is canceled, correct?” Alexander inquired.

“Indeed, it is. Our apologies but if what they told us is true, we just can’t set that precedent. We can still make you nobles but royalty? No. I’m afraid not.” Celestia told him.

“That’s fine by me, I never really asked to be royalty anyway you sort of just thrust it upon us because of tradition or some such reason. Nobility is perfectly okay. Or even just allowing us to be commoners. We can start our mothers church and fund everything by selling useful technology. At that point our relationship could be strictly business, thus putting you at less of a risk of completely alienating Silvanus and keeping your kingdom out of our war with his family. Regardless, we can discuss that later. Come on, Pixel. Let’s go find Gerhardt.”

[Gerhardt]

“Come on, cadet! Get back up! Do you think somepony like Viridios is just gonna stand there and give you time to recover when you fight him again?! Or do you want to get killed and let your sister and older brother die?!” The drill sergeant shouted at Gerhardt who was currently laying on the ground having been knocked down. They were in the middle of sparring with training weapons and the drill sergeant had just landed a fairly solid hit on Gerhardt, knocking him to the ground. Being a demigod, he wasn’t hurt exactly but he was exhausted.

The drill sergeant honestly felt terrible at the moment, though he tried not to show it. He didn’t even push his normal recruits this hard and they were fully grown adults. However, Gerhardt had absolutely insisted that the drill sergeant pushed him as hard as possible and refused to take no for an answer. He had even gone so far as to get permission from his older brother and the princesses. Of course he was being very careful not to push the little colt too hard but ultimately he was indeed forced to push him harder than a normal soldier and he was well aware of the fact he was incapable of genuinely injuring the colt in sparring so he was fighting as if he were genuinely on the battlefield rather than treating it like a simple spar.

Gerhardt growled furiously as he forced himself back up. He then bit his training dagger by the hilt and picked it back up off the ground before taking one of the stances the drill sergeant had taught him in preparation. The next round of sparring between Gerhardt and the Drill Sergeant went just as badly for Gerhardt as the last one and he ended up being knocked to the ground again.

It was then the drill sergeant decided to put his hoof down and said, “Alright, that’s enough.”

“N-no! I… I can keep… going!” Gerhardt growled through his exhaustion.

“No, cadet. You’re exhausted and need rest. Besides, your coronation is in a few days and you’ve been forcing me to run you ragged. Or as ragged as you can get with those metal parts. So if you really need to, then practice the stances and movements I’ve taught you. But we’re done sparring for today.” The drill sergeant told him.

Gerhardt grumbled in frustration but did as he was told and immediately started practicing stances and movements. He continued this for several hours after the drill sergeant left.

Eventually he heard footsteps approaching. Looking to see who it was he saw both Pixel and Alexander coming towards him. Sheathing his practice knife he said, “It’s still early. What are you two doing here?”

“We’re here to pick you up and fill you in on a recent development. Apparently Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been officially adopted by Lux and Nox respectively. The coronation is off so we are no longer going to be royalty. A wise decision, honestly. And, we seriously need to discuss starting the production of military technology as we have been informed that war is inevitable. So, let’s head to the workshop to talk about this shall we? That is assuming you can stand being in the workshop for a while, Pixel.” Alexander said.

“I won’t like it, but I can do it…” Pixel muttered.

“Okay? Uh… I missed out on a lot, didn’t I?” Gerhardt inquired, confused.

“Yup, you did. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure to fill you in on everything!” Pixel said cheerfully.

“Thanks…” Gerhardt muttered.

The three of them left and headed for their workshop where Pixel and Alexander proceeded to explain everything that Gerhrdt had missed.

“Okay. So, does this mean my combat training with the Royal Guard is over?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I am not sure. I’ll have to talk to the princesses about it. Regardless, we need to start producing military equipment for Equestria in preparation for the wars the gods mentioned. Gerhardt, I’ll need you to start working on the weapons. Pixel, you can work on making armor and medical equipment.” Alexander told them.

“We don’t have the materials to build nuclear fusion or fission bombs… I guess I can start with infantry weapons? Or maybe semi-automated defense turrets? Hm…” Gerhardt muttered.

“I leave that decision up to your expertise. With my eyes being non-functional I will be working on our family’s church, since I can’t exactly work on complex machines without my sight. Maybe I’ll train some other technomancers as well, to take some of the burden of production off of you two. After all, only two technomancers can not make enough weapons to supply an entire military by themselves.” Alexander stated.

“Okay. I’ve already made a bunch of augmentations to sell to hospitals, so I guess I can start working on body armor and such… Though, should it be capable of withstanding bullets or should it be for more medieval weaponry? Making it viable for both would be impractical.” Pixel asked.

“We’re preparing for the future, so bullets. They already have armor capable of defending them from swords, spears, arrows, and the like. We just need to tell them to start making it out of steel rather than gold. Unless it’s already made of steel and the gold is just electroplated on or something, which honestly seems more feasible as they seem too intelligent to assume gold is a good enough material for armor.” Gerhardt told her.

“Makes sense. Alright… Hm… Scaled ceramic or kevlar? Hard armor is less flexible but can withstand higher calibers but soft armor is a bit more flexible and can take more shots… The scaled aspect can help with the flexibility issue and would limit the damage to one ceramic scale at a time… I’ll build a few separate machines to make armor of all different caliber ratings upto fifty cal. Then the military can decide what to deploy and to who based on the circumstances for each individual battle. Better to leave that sort of decision to the experts, right? And I know pretty much nothing about military tactics. But I assume less effective armor exists for a reason, so the military can decide what to do with it.” Pixel said, half to them and half to herself.

“Well, I suppose I’ll leave you two to it. I’ll be in my room if you need me for anything.” Alexander said before teleporting away,