Archimedes
Chapter XIV - Past Betrayal
Iron Wing let out a low and weary sigh as he slowly made his way down the corridor. He got into an incident with his fellow guard, Copper Hoof, which resulted in the noble stallion Money Bags somehow getting coated in a mixture of flour, oil, and a bunch of cockatrice feathers. Iron Wing was still unsure as to how it had all happened, considering the pair were just meant to be escorting the stallion from one part of the castle to the other.
Needless to say, their commanding officer wasn’t happy about it.
As such, whilst Copper Hoof had his own punishment, Iron Wing was given three months lavatory cleaning duties and was told to remain posted at the old laboratory for the mean time.
Again.
He hadn’t been back there since the day the giant metal man called Archimedes ran by him, and whilst he hated the fact he would be on his own for so many hours he did have to appreciate that it did give him some time to be with his thoughts. Not to mention, he had smuggled his favourite book and some fizzy soda to keep him company.
He yawned as he rounded the corner to see, already knowing it was going to be a long day for him. “Least I have my book to—.”
A sudden explosion interrupted him and sent him fall to the ground with a startled yelp of surprise. Groaning, Iron Wing shakily got back to his hooves and collected his spear, only to narrowly avoid being slammed into by Archimedes, again, and pressed his back into the wall as hard as he could as he watched the machine run by him.
He could feel the ambient temperature become boiling hot instantly as his eyes shot open wide seeing what was chasing Archimedes.
“Come back here, liar!”
Iron Wing felt the sheer heat flow over him as the flaming embodiment of Celestia stormed past him, he felt his fur became matted with sweat almost instantly due to the temperature rise. He panted as he looked back just in time to see Princess Luna, Princes Cadance, Moon Dancer, Discord and the elements of harmony race after the pair.
“Hurry! We need to catch up to them!” Luna shouted.
“Right behind you!” Cadance replied.
Iron Wing stood by the wall watching them run past. His guard instincts told him he should run after them and help in anyway he could. But, he didn’t think they saw him.
“Well, not much I could do anyway, right?” He asked aloud to no one in particular.
He removed his helmet and wiped his brow before putting it back on and heading towards his post, humming a little tune to himself as he did.
Archimedes thundered down the hallway as he narrowly avoided another blast of fire that shot past him, slamming into the wall and causing a large explosion that sent rubble flying.
“Faster, you tinhead!” Starswirl screamed.
“We’re at maximum speed!” Archimedes replied back.
They spun round a corner, just as another volley of fire blasted past them. Two guards stationed at the corner yelped as they dove out of the way as Archimedes and Celestia ran by them, blinking in confusion and shock as they were passed by Luna and the others.
“This is bad! We need to stop her!” Cadance cried. “If she gets to the main part of the palace, who knows what will happen!”
“I’ll be damned if I give those lazy nobles anything to complain about!” Luna shouted.
“Why? It looks like it could be a bit of fun,” Discord replied as he remained coiled around Moon Dance,r who was struggling to keep up with the others due to the extra weight.
“B-but how?!” Twilight cried out, “I’ve never seen her this angry.”
“I have,” Luna replied matter-of-factly, “at least twice. It normally takes three days to calm her down.”
“T-Three days?!” Twilight spluttered, “The Emperor is arriving in two! We don’t have time for this, we need a quicker way to calm her down!”
As they began to close the gap between the two, Luna’s eyes went wide as she grinned, and idea coming to her head. “I know how to stop her!”
She spread her wings wide to stop the group, causing everyone to stop suddenly and run into one another.
There was a crash as everyone ran into one another, Discord flailing as he grabbed onto the nearest thing to steady himself which happened to be Pinkie Pie who in turn grabbed Rainbow Dash by her tail causing the pegasus to yelp and slam down into Rarity and Applejack. Twilight bumped into Cadance and toppled over her as Fluttershy, who had been at the back of the pack, managed to avoid crashing into the others.
Everyone groaned as they slowly got up, Discord letting out an over the top groan as he slunk off Moon Dancer into a heap on the floor.
“Why did you stop suddenly?” Twilight asked.
“I think I’m concussed…” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“I think my brain fell out,” Pinkie Pie added, her eyes rolling about in their sockets.
“So, what’s the plan there Moon—” Discord started.
He was interrupted when Luna’s horn shone brightly, so brightly that everyone had to cover their eyes. When the light died down, Celestia and Archimedes had stopped in front of them, frozen in place. As they slowly approached the two everyone was able to see just how angry Celestia looked, now she was frozen. And it was utterly terrifying.
Along with her already terrifying body they had witnessed when she had exited the laboratory. They were now able to see Celestia’s eyes. Both were a dark red with yellow slitted pupils with flames that were frozen coming out the corners of her eyes. Her mouth was wide open in a fixed snarl, showing two protruding fangs as a frozen fireball spell was stuck on the end of her horn.
Despite being stuck in place, the heat still radiated from the flames around her body. Archimedes had several black scorch marks over his iron body, and despite having no face to read emotions he still somehow had a look of terror on him.
“So… what do you have in mind, Auntie?” Cadance asked, “we can’t just keep them frozen in place, it’s going to drain your magic quickly for a start.”
“Discord,” Luna began, turning to address him, “I need your help.”
“Moi? Why moi?” Discord gasped, feigning surprise.
Luna inhaled and let out a deep sigh, “I… need you to use your magic.”
Discord's lips curled into a large mischievous grin as he floated into the air, propping his chin up with his claw and paw, “Oh? This should be interesting. Do go on, my dear.”
“I need you to send Celestia into your realm along with Archimedes. I think she’ll only be calm once she has vented all of her rage and the only place I can think of where she can do that quickly is your realm.”
“But why his realm?” Twilight asked.
“Because, my dear Twilight,” Discord began, smirking at Luna, “My realm warps time. Three days in there is the equivalent of three hours. Or something like that, I was pretty drunk when I created my realm, the rules are a bit off here and there. It would explain why the monsters keep coming in from the closets…”
Luna nodded, “Precisely…”
“Buuuut,” Discord added, waggling the suppressing bracelet on his wrist, “my poor magic’s being suppressed.”
“Which is why, I’m taking it off.” Luna finished.
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash voice their blatant disapproval of Luna’s idea whilst the others remained a little unsure about it. Though, Cadance, Fluttershy and Moon Dancer were the only ones who looked as if they agreed with Princess Luna.
“You can’t be serious? He’s still under punishment!” Twilight replied.
“What other option do we have, Twilight?” Cadance said, “We need to calm Aunt Celestia down now.”
As the group began to bicker amongst themselves, Luna flared her wings open, “Enough! I’ve made my choice. Discord, please extend your arm.”
Discord grinned as he stretched out his arm, watching with the others as Luna’s horn began to shine brightly with her magic. They watched as the bracelet rattled for a moment and Luna let out a grunt as she gritted her teeth, struggling to remove the bracelet.
Luna hissed softly. She was finding it more difficult than she had been expecting to channel her magic into the bracelet, considering the sheer amount of magic she had to call upon in order to freeze Celestia and Archimedes, and to prevent from Celestia from breaking free of the spell.
Not an easy feat when your older sister is engulfed in flames and is enraged.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Rarity asked.
“I-I’m fine, just harder to do this with one pony.” Luna lied, a few beads of sweat forming on her head. “Two are, uh, usually required to do so.”
“Auntie? Do you need help?” Cadance asked, “Both me and Twilight are alicorns and could—”
“No thank you!” Luna interrupted with a growl as she stared venomously at the bracelet, “I have got this, thank you!”
Discord watched with amusement as Luna began to sweat more as she strained with her magic, her horn shining brighter than before as a vein throbbed painfull on her forehead whilst the others watched a bit concerned.
Luna was not one to simply back down, and her stubborn pride refused to allow her to ask the other two for help, especially in front of Discord who would never let her live it down.
“Stubborn little…” Luna growled under her breath.
“Sheesh, I forgot you lose your cool quickly, Luna. Or is it an alicorn thing, I mean, your folks were pretty clam when we were young—” Discord asked,
“Be quiet, I’m concentrating!” Luna hissed.
Twilight took a step forwards, frowning a little at Luna, “Princess? Are you sure you don’t need—?”
Twilight stopped mid-sentence when Luna shot her a glare from the corner of her eye that could stone a cockatrice immediately and back peddled a little bit into Cadance, who giggled as she gently petted her sister-in-law’s head.
“I think we should just let Auntie Luna do it, I don’t think we need two angry alicorn rulers right now,” Cadance whispered.
Twilight nearly snorted at the irony of Luna getting angry, trying to find a way to calm down her angry sister. Luna paused for a moment, her magic fading as she tried to get her breath back, the bracelet stopping its rattling before her horn suddenly ignited in light again as she strained to force the bracelet off.
She could feel her anger increasing with each second passing, and could feel sweat beds roll down her face. Luna she gritted her teeth so hard they threatened to crack, she knew that it would be better if the other two helped her, but she was set in her stubborn ways.
“Don’t pull a muscle there, Moonbutt.” Discord teased.
“Shut it you mismatched lizard!” Luna roared at him.
Everyone’s eyes, with the exception of Discord who burst out laughing and Cadance who had seen the brash side of Luna before, went wide, shocked to hear the Princess speak so crudely not to mention loudly. Even if it was Discord.
Discord kept snickering away as Luna suddenly let out a loud primal roar of anger as she poured more of her magic into the bracelet as a second vein throbbed on her forehead.
“Break you little piece of shi—”
Luna stopped mid-sentence as she screamed in rage and the bracelet finally broke, exploding into several different pieces. Luna haunched over as she stared angrily at the floor, her pupils like pin pricks as she panted hard and for a brief moment her mane lost its starry, ethereal appearance and was blue, flat against her head.
Everyone looked at each other, unsure if they should say anything.he let out a sigh and shook her head, making her mane return to normal as she turned her head and saw the others staring at her with mixed expressions of shock, concern, confusion and a small amount of fear. Luna felt her cheeks blush a little as she smiled sheepishly at them.
“Sorry, everypony… got carried away.” Luna apologised.
Cadance raised a hoof to her mouth in order to hold back her giggles soon being followed by Pinkie Pie, watching Luna adjust her crown that had become wonky and smooth down the slightly damp patches of her coat with her hoof
“Anyway,” she started, coughing into her hood before turning to address Discord, “Now that it’s gone, can you—”
“Nah,” Discord said suddenly, interrupting Luna as he rolled over in the air and rested his arms behind his head.
Luna blinked at him, “Nah? What do you mean ‘Nah’”?!
“I dun wanna,” Discord replied, “I don’t really feel like it. You know? The time of day is all wrong and whatnot.”
Luna’s eye twitched as a third vein joined in on the throbbing. She was about to lose her cool when Cadance put a hoof on her shoulder and offered a reassuring smile.
“Discord, please. We need your help,” Cadance asked.
Discord stroked his beard, stretching it out long as he over thought about his answer, “Hmm… alright, I’ll do it. But on one condition.”
“Come on, Discord,” Applejack said, “this ain’t the time for games!”
“Oh come now I—.” Discord started.
“Now. Discord!” Luna shouted.
“It’s only a small request though…” Discord replied, pouting a little and pinching his claws together.
“Discord…” Twilight said, glaring at him.
“You know, I can just go, you don’t have enough power to put another bracelet on me. And I don’t really care about this meeting or whatever it is, I could just go to albuquerque for a bit if I wanted.” He replied.
Discord slowly raised his paw up to snap and teleport when Fluttershy took a step forward.
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “Your condition?”
Discord looked at Moon Dancer with a goofy grin, “I want a kiss from Moonie.”
Everyone looked at Discord, before turning to look at the bat guard, who in turn was staring at the draconequus with an unreadable face.
“... Come again?” Moon Dancer replied, blinking slowly.
Discord grinned, “You know., a kiss. A smooch, a tongue wrestle, a saliva swap, a snog, a frenchie, seven minutes in —.”
“No.” Moon Dancer replied, shaking her head, “No way, no how, no chance!”
Discord’s eyes welled up as his lip wobbled, “But, but!”
Moon Dancer glared at him, “Don’t you even think about using puppy eyes on me you, you…”
“Sexy rogue?” Discord smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Moon Dancer was about to shout at him when she felt Luna’s hoof touch her shoulder gently.
“Please, Private. This is for the good of Equestria…” Luna said.
Moon Dancer opened her mouth, but looked around at the others who all looked at her pleadingly. Except for Princess Cadance, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie who were trying not to giggle. The bat mare inhaled and sighed before grumbling a little.
“Fine… one little kiss.” She grumbled, “I don’t like this… I feel like I’m being pressured.”
“I know, my little guard, and I am sorry. But if this is what it will take to get Discord to co-operate. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” Luna apologised.
Moon Dancer nodded and sighed before she stuck her cheek out to Discord, waiting for the horror to happen.
“Uh-uh, on the lips,” Discord smirked.
The mare rolled her eyes, grumbling as she stuck her lips out slowly and shut her eyes tightly, praying for the nightmare to be over quickly. There was a moment of silence where nothing happened. Slowly, Moon opened her eyes to see what was going on.
“Are we doing this or—MMMPH!?”
Moon’s eyes went wide as she felt Discord press his lips onto hers and pull back with a loud smooch.
Discord sighed happily as he nuzzled into her neck firmly before coughing, “Whelp! A deal's a deal!”
He snapped his fingers and produced a suit with sewn on patches and a pair of large rectangle framed glasses.
“Come on, you two. Therapy time!”
Discord snapped his talon’s again and teleported himself, Celestia and Archimedes away. Leaving the others alone in the hallway.
“Thank the ancestors…” Luna sighed, “Let’s just hope he can get them to calm down fully and sort out, whatever it was that caused her to snap like that.”
“I’m curious to know what happened to, to be honest,” Twilight added.
The others all nodded in agreement as Luna turned to Moon Dancer, “Private, would you—”
Luna stopped as she looked at her guard, who was staring off in the direction where Discord was floating a moment ago with a goofy look and grin on her face and her eyes half closed. The mare was humming softly and happily to herself as her body gently swayed left to right, her head tilted at a slight angle and one of her ears flopping down at the side of her head.
The kiss had been over in a second, but to Moon Dancer. It was an eternity. Fireworks went off as she felt her lips tingle where they had been touched by his, a choir somewhere sang the most beautiful song as a string quartet began playing a song that would make angels weep. Moon Dancer sighed happily as the others tried not to snicker at the display.
“Private?” Luna asked, trying not to laugh. “Are you okay?”
“Hmm?” Moon Dancer replied, still staring off into the distance before shaking her head, “S-Sorry, your highness, I’m okay.”
“I’d say more than okay…” Rarity tittered.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Moon Dancer asked.
Cadance giggled as she felt her body wiggle with excitement, “I think someponies in love~.”
The others began to laugh as moon Dancer’s face scrunched up and she blushed, glaring at them as she looked away, “I-In love?! With Discord?! D-Don’t so ridiculous!”
“You can’t hide your love from me,” Cadance smirked coyly, “I am love.”
“I-I’m not!” Moon Dancer protested, her cheeks burning more which caused the others to laugh even harder.
“You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” Applejack laughed.
“But, but!” Moon Dancer started.
“As the Princess of Love, I approve of this,” Cadance nodded sagely, “Oh, I am on a roll with my approvals lately! Wait till I tell Shiny about you and—”
“Please don’t tell Shining Armor!” Moon Dancer interrupted, waving her hooves in the air “I’ll never hear the end of it from the other guards!”
“Oh, so you do like Discord?” Luna asked, smirking widely.
Moon Dancer tried to speak but let out a frustrated groan and turned away from the others, crossing her hooves in annoyance. “You’re all just as bad as him!”
“And you love him for it,” Rainbow Dash replied, bursting into hysterics as she fell to the ground with Pinkie Pie.
“We can have a ‘congrats on your special somepony party’ later!” Pinkie Pie said in between giggles.
Luna shook her head as she watched Applejack and Twilight restrain Moon Dancer who was shooting an angry glare at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, doing her best to try and grab the two laughing mares and lay a beat down on them whilst saying a colourful choice of words.
Discord sighed as she stretched and then clapped his paw and claws together, “Now… Tia, darling.”
He floated over to Celestia, still frozen in place albeit her eyes were able to move now showing that Luna’s spell was starting to wear off.
“I’m going to let Archy boy out first, then I’ll let your mouth have some movement. Mkay?”
Celestia didn’t reply, expect glare daggers of hatred at him. Discord grinned and clapped loudly.
“Excellent! Let’s begin therapy!”
He snapped his talons and Archimedes suddenly fell face first into a platform that materialized beneath him, making him let out a groan as the clang of metal rang out in the seemingly empty realm Discord called his home.
“Who? What? Where?!” Archimedes spluttered, standing up and looking all around him.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. He had no idea where he was an all he could see was bizarre patterns in what he assumed was the sky, of blue and purples. All around him were floating islands, big and small, connected to one another with floating planks of wood that looked to represent some form of bridge. One one particular island, he could see a quaint looking house with a white picket fence and a single tree in the garden. It stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the realm.
“W-Where are we, Discord?” Archimedes asked.
“My home away from home!” Discord replied, twirling in the air and spreading his arms wide, “my own little chaos realm!”
“Great Scott…” Starswirl said, “I thought I’d never see this place for myself.”
Discord suddenly appeared before Archimedes and tilted his head, knocking on the metal man’s helmet, “Starswirl the Bearded, I presume?”
“You presume correct, good sir, and I take it you are the Discord from legends? Bringer of—”
“Bringer of chaos,” Discord interrupted, “Lord of mischief, King of anarchy, Duke of annoyance, Baron of cucumber sandwiches and overall a sexy danger noodle with limbs. At your service!”
Discord coughed into his paw as he stretched out his limbs and yawned, “Though, i’m a good little lad now.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Archimedes began, “But I think my b-beloved is about to become un frozen…”
Discord looked behind him to see that Celestia’s wings were beginning to flutter about as the spell was indeed starting to wear off faster than he was expecting it to, “Whoopsie, one moment.”
He snapped his talons and Celestia was freed, but she let out a squawk as she was forced into a overly sized armchair and had several straps wrapped around her to keep her restrained.
“Let me out, Discord! I have smelting to do!” she roared, her mane and tail still engulfed in flames.
“No,” Discord replied, suddenly looking very seriously as he crossed his arms, “I don’t want you to hurt our friend.”
“Oh, come on, just one little fireball!” she hissed, shooting a ball of fire towards Archimedes.
Archimedes let out a yelp and covered his face, bracing himself for the explosion. Discord, however, was quicker than her spell and managed to step in front of Archimedes and the fire ball. He opened his jaw wide and swallowed the ball of fire, patting his stomach before it suddenly expanded as a boom echoed from inside of him and he belched a small burst of fire,
“That’s-a spicy meatball!” He chuckled before returning his gaze to Celestia and walked over to her, all the while staring sternly at her.
“I’m going to fry his circuits!” Celestia roared, thrashing about in her restraints.
“Okay… screw the therapy, I’m just going to cheat and get this over with,” Discord said as he stood in front of her, snapping his fingers and changed his attire to a firepony. “Okay, Celestia, I’m going to do something and you’re not going to like it. It’s not going to go down well in Celestia town.”
“I’ll burn his shiny metal backside!”
“What are you going to do—?”
Archimedes was interrupted as Discord snapped his talon’s and a small rope appeared beside him to which he tugged on. As he did, a torrent of water fell from no where right over Celestia, making her scream from the cold as steam suddenly rose into the air. When the water vanished, Celestia had returned to normal, albeit her mane was now pink and flat against her frame and her eyes were wide with shock.
“There we go, fire’s out!” Discord grinned, snapping his talon’s and returning to his normal look.
“T-Thank you, D-Discord,” Celestia spluttered, her teeth chattering from the cold, “I needed—”
Archimedes gasped as Discord pulled the rope again and caused another torrent of water to fall onto Celestia who again let out a high pitched shriek. She spluttered and panted as she glared at him, her teeth clattering as she shook from the cold. There was a long pause and a silence that filled Archimedes and Starswirl with a terrifying dread.
“Sorry, just making sure,” Discord said. “You know, I have no idea why Moonbutt said this would take three days… seems like she was taking the pointlessly longer way. Chaotic magic water always does the trick!”
He snapped his talons and Celestia was dried and the chair had vanished, letting her stand up on the ground for herself as her mane returned to its normal ethereal flow.
“Are you going to be calm now, Celestia?” Discord asked sternly.
Celestia nodded, “I am. I apologise for how I acted, Archimedes, Starswirl… I don’t know what came over me.”
“It's fine, my friend,” Starswirl replied, “I think we had it coming.”
Discord stepped back, knowing for once that he should keep quiet as he snapped his talon’s and vanished, leaving the two along with a chair for Celestia to sit in. She climbed up into it and sat down as she looked up at Archimedes.
Both he and Starswirl knew what she wanted to hear, and she didn’t need to hear her ask. With a heavy sigh, Archimedes sat down on the ground as Starswirl spoke.
“As you now will know, Archimedes… was a prototype. He was originally meant to be the ultimate super soldier for Equestria should we ever find ourselves in a war, and at the time of me creating his blueprints. We were close to war with the griffons,” he explained before mumbling. “Though… he soon became my assistant due to certain… guilt factors.”
“But I told you we were having peace negotiations, Starswirl,” Celestia replied, “and we got them as well.”
“I know, I know… but I just couldn’t help myself. I used chaos magic to find out how I could create him, using magic and technology and I just had to do it!”
“And then the day came when you showed me your project… Project six two x five.” Celestia replied sadly. “When you cast that awful spell on me…”
Now that her memories had somewhat been restored, Celestia looked away as she remembered the day she had been summoned by Starswirl to overlook some blueprints he had created. She remembered how horrified she had been at what Starswirl had even suggested creating and she had remembered how loudly she had berated him and ordered him not to go ahead with it and to destroy the blueprints.
And she remembered what had happened the following day.
“Yes… that day. ” Starswirl said softly, his thoughts drifting to the day in question.
Starswirl wiped the sweat from his brow as he put down the soldering rod and let out a heavy sigh. Using his magic, he closed the door to the chest of his creation and took a couple steps back.
“Finally… after all these months, it is time.”
From outside, a crackle of lightning illuminated the room followed by a heavy boom of thunder as he walked over to a series of levers, buttons and switches. Pressing a couple of them and flicking a switch, he turned his attention back to the metal slab in the centre of his laboratory as it whirred and slowly moved at a ninety degree angle, revealing the metal machine strapped firmly in metal restraints to it with cables running from the sides of its head up through the tower and out the top, connected to something.
As the whirring stopped and the table came to a rest at ninety degrees, Starswirl pressed another button which allowed the tower's roof to open as two doors swung down, revealing the stormy sky.
“Now just a little juice to spark the dynamo core…” he muttered.
The lightning crackled as Starswirl waited impatiently, grumbling as the lightning avoid his masts until suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck one. Within a second of it doing so, Starswirl flipped a switch, sending the electric current down through the cables and straight into the machine with a loud buzzing noise.
The brightness forced Starswirl to cover his eyes until it the buzzing had stopped, leaving the room in relative silence. He opened his eyes and grinned widely as two yellow lights from within the helmet began to shine brightly and a billow of steam began to rise from the piping on its back. Several bulbs and see-through tubes along the machine’s body began to flicker into life as a whirring sound rumbled from within the metal body. Starswirl quickly pressed two buttons that released the clamps and wires on the machine.
“Can you hear me?” he asked
“I can.” The machine rumbles.
“Then step forward. Obey.” Starswirl commanded.
The machine creaked and groaned as steam began to slowly rise from his back, taking a lumbering step forward with a heavy thud. Starswirl ecstatically clapped his hooves together as the machine stopped in front of him.
“Wonderfull! I know I can sway her to liking you, I just gotta sell it to her and—.”
There was a knock on the door from downstairs that interrupted him, and a familiar voice called out into the tower.
“Starswirl? Are you here?”
“Up here, my dear Celestia!” Starswirl replied cheerfully.
He trotted up to the door humming to himself as he heard Celestia order some of her guards to remain downstairs as she began to ascend the staircase. Starswirl opened the door and closed it, waiting patiently as Celestia reached the top.
“So what is this big thing you wanted to discuss, Starswirl?” Celestia asked. “I’m running late for a meeting with the ambassador of the Yaks.”
“It won’t take long, I promise!” he beamed, “Now, I know that you said I was to not do this, but I just couldn't resist and I think you will love it! If you give me the time to explain, that is.”
Celestia’s brow arched as she eyed her friend suspiciously. Whenever Starswirl was this excited, it was never a good sign.
“What… have you done, Starswirl?”
“I’ll show you,” he grinned wickedly.
Celestia felt a little uneasy as Starswirl opened the door and ushered her inside. She stepped in and looked around before gasping in shock and horror at the machine standing in the middle of the room. Starswirl, not noticing how she was reacting, trotted beside her like an excited foal as he proudly stuck a hoof out to the machine.
“Ta-da!”
Celestia tried to find words to use but failed, her head shaking a little as she looked from Starswirl to the machine and back.
“Okay, watch this,” Starswirl said. “What is your name?” Starswirl asked.
“This unit is part of Project 62x-5. Designated username: Archimedes,” the machine replied in a monotonic tone.
Celestia took a step back, thrown off in surprise at the deep tone the machine used as Starswirl nodded, his excitement growing by the second.
“Report, what is your purpose?”
The machine whirred a little bit, the steam changing to a dark grey as the right arm and left arm transformed at the same time, revealing the hidden weaponry within as the yellow glow of its eyes faded into a crimson red as it chest opened up to reveal an ominous looking sphere attached to his mainframe.
“To Protect Equestria no matter what, and to eradicate all who dare oppose Princess Celestia. By any means necessary.”
Starswirl’s lips curled into a wicked smile, rubbing his hooves together as a lightning bolt flashed and illuminated the room. Celestia simply stared at the machine, not from shock, but from fear. It was imposing and intimidating looking and the weapons sent a shiver down her spine.
“Excellent… Archimedes, standby mode. Command code zero zero five alpha.” Starswirl said.
“Acknowledged.” Archimedes replied, his eyes dimming a little as the weaponry returned back into his arms and he stood motionless
“Well? What do you think?” Starswirl asked Celestia.
“Starswirl… but how? You only showed me the designs yesterday!” Celestia replied, slowly finding herself getting more and more angry.
“I’ve actually been working on him in secret for a while now,” Starswirl said nonchalantly, not noticing that Celestia had gone quiet. “Now, if you’ll have a seat I can explain everything and—.”
“How dare you…” Celestia whispered, interrupting him.
“Pardon?” Starswirl asked.
“How dare you!” she roared using her voice.
Starswirl was thrown back as the sound wave from her voice hit him, sending him crashing into some crates that were holding metal parts.
“B-But Celestia, I had to!” Starswirl spluttered, “I didn’t know if war would—.”
He stopped when he saw the sheer rage Celestia was display as she glared at him, her tail and mane were ablaze and she was snarling at him. However, what got his attention the most.
Tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes.
“How could you do this to me, Starswirl? You gave me your word…”
“I-I know but—”
“I ordered you not to do this!” she shouted interrupting him, “Equestria does not need a weapon capable of mass destruction! How does this make us look to the other nations when we preach our ideals of peace and harmony?!”
“Celestia, I—.”
“Silence, Starswirl!” Celestia interrupted, pointing at Archimedes with disgust in her voice. “I read your notes you gave me, yesterday. I know what that thing is capable of! I will not have you jeopardize our peace with the griffons, or any other nation. You will destroy it, and everything about it!”
“But Celestia!” Starswirl protested.
“That’s an order, Starswirl! Or I’ll…” Celestia paused for a moment, as if she was struggling to finish her words, “I’ll have to arrest you for treason…”
Starswirl gritted his teeth as he slowly got up. He couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to do it. He had created the ultimate creation, given life to something. Starswirl had single handedly done something that would have seemed impossible and he couldn’t bear to get rid of it.
Even if his dear friend commanded it.
“... No.”
“No? What do you mean no?!” Celestia replied.
“I can’t! I spent too much time creating him, so many hours, bits and care! I can’t just, just get rid of him like a used tissue! He’s my creation!” Starswirl said, stomping his hoof.
There was an ominous silence between the two before Celestia broke it, glaring at the unicorn.
“If you won’t… I will!” Celestia replied coldly.
She pointed her horn at Archimedes and it shone brightly, covering him in her magic aura. Starswirl’s eyes went wide as he quickly ran in between Celestia and Archimedes.
“No!” Starswirl shouted.
Celestia was about to say something when she felt her magic suddenly get cut off. She looked at Starswirl whose horn was now glowing and felt her body get covered in his magic as she was lifted of the ground. From downstairs, she could hear the guards shouting in confusion, seemingly being affected by Starswirl’s magic as well.
“What are you doing, unhand me!” Celestia shouted.
“I'm sorry, Celestia, I’m afraid I can’t do that…”
Celestia gasped as she felt like something was crawling inside of her head and screamed, looking at Starswirl with tears running down her cheeks. His eyes had become yellow and red as he stared at her with a maniacal stare, his magic aura changing to a dark purple and the familiar sense of magic flowed off of him which caused Celestia to widen her eyes in surprise.
“C-Chaos magic?! How did you—?”
She screamed mid-sentence as she felt something force itself into her mind, into the very source of her magic like something was trying to suppress something and could feel her body go limp as she suddenly fell into a state of unconsciousness.
Starswirl grunted as his horn shone brighter and in a flash of light, Celestia was gone, along with her guards having being sent back to the palace from where they had come from, leaving him alone with Archimedes. Starswirl fell to the floor exhausted, huffing and panting as his own eyes filled with tears and he shut them tightly.
“I’m… so sorry… Celestia. But I can’t… Equestria will need Archimedes, one way or another.”