//------------------------------// // XV. Require (unedited) // Story: Replicated Wanderer // by QuartzScale //------------------------------// The Crystal Empire. The shining jewel of the entirety of the Equestrian world, at least through their viewpoint. Each of the ponies walking through the streets kept their eyes forward never changing their paths. Several golems stand at attention keeping the peach. Each of them the same egg shaped golems that would usually be used as front line soldiers. The streets were still ever silent as nopony made small talk nor eye contact with one another. The golems were always watching. Nopony wanted to be watched by them. Corundum had made them… receptive to shutting down dissent. Crystal Shears was one such pony who lived her life staring straight ahead and nowhere else. Her family had been spared the brunt of Corundum's rule since they specialized in cutting manes and nothing more. It was… peaceful for her and her family. “Ms. Shears you have been requested by King Corundum at the palace.” A guard announced himself as he stood in front of her. Her day was cut short… and nothing but dread was filling her heart. Reluctantly, Shears took short steps towards the crystal monolith in the center of town known as the royal palace. The sunlight pierced through the crystals enlightening the town in an aurora and cacophony of colors and brightness. It was the most harrowing walk she had ever taken in her life. The guards at the front doors each stared impassively out into space. Their glassy eyes seemed to reflect nothing but an emptiness which probably came from serving a usurper such as Corundum. At least within the safety of her mind any dissident thoughts could behave freely. “Follow the unicorn.” The guard on the left stared… though his tone was empty and flat not unlike someone who had seen something horrible. “Yes. Right away then.” Shears nervously answered as she followed the next guard further into the palace. The unicorn guard she followed held the same glassy eyes as the rest. His movement forward awkward and stifled as if he didn't know how his legs worked. The constant stumbling gait was unsettling since all the rumors in the palace started. Several nights when his reign started there were horrifying screams coming from somewhere in the building. Then they cut off. Several guards had tried to reassure the masses. When they came out they merely stated that nothing was wrong. They each held that glassy stare like the rest. Corundum himself made no attempt to speak with the citizens using proxies such as Ruby Geode, Flint Shard and Liquid Diode. The first two had been gone for some time. In the words of Goring Corundum, as dictated by Liquid Diode, to ‘show those philistines what true progress was.’ Shears had no idea what that meant being a simple tailor who made certain not to voice her thoughts while the golems were around. The guard finally led her into a parlor where a familiar stallion stood by the open window to a balcony on the southern side of the building. He seemed to be looking out towards the frozen wastes, whether contemplative or scheming she didn't know since his back was to her. His cutie mark of a wire passing through a glass tube full of a liquid of some kind on full display against his beige coat that had a reddish tint and forest green mane and tail. “Welcome my dear. So good of you to come so promptly. Please take a seat.” Diode called out barely turning his eye towards her. Shears carefully sat on the most ordinary seat she could find, a cushion that was only one color, paisley, and looked towards her host. He made no attempts to move from his spot seemingly rooted in one place. His eyes were back to staring at the frozen wastes. As a pegasus his eyes were top notch at staring out into the distance for whatever reason was needed. Shears, as a unicorn, tried to see what he saw, to no avail. “General Diode, I am but a humble tailor. What could I possibly be called to the palace for?” Shears tittered trying to play off her nervousness. It wasn’t helping at all. “Not at all Crystal Shears. Only somepony like you could possibly be able to assist us in our time of need.” Diode smiled as he turned to face her. He was giving her a genuine smile something that confused her. Liquid Diode was always smiling… a smile that never reached his eyes which would fog over whenever he looked at somepony. Now they weren’t. He was looking her in the eye and she couldn’t turn away. Diode quickly came up to face her seemingly looming over her when they stood roughly the same height. “W-w-what can I do General?” Shears stuttered out wanting nothing more than to escape the room. “I need a new suit and robe created for our king. That’s all. You still have his measurements don’t you?” Diode chuckled out as he took a few steps back. “Oh! Oh, yes. I still have his measurements. What color would both need to be?” Shears politely asked seemingly calm about everything at this point. “Oh you know. Standard practice for the robe. Something a vibrant purple while the suit should be light blue. You can never seem too pure for the populous. Since all those ponies loyally follow our illustrious leader, right?” Diode smiled back at Shears before patting her on the back… pulling her in. “I should get going… to make those outfits then…” Shears cringed trying her best to hide it through a smile. As she left the room Diode returned to the window. He watched her leave the palace back for her shop and quietly tapped his hoof against one of the palace’s pillars. Within seconds one of the guards came in holding his glassy stare on Diode. “Yes General?” The guard muttered monotonously as he saluted. “As soon as she is done capture Crystal Shears and bring her to the Restoration Center. Corundum wanted this particular mare for later.” Diode ordered his smile an ever present fixture on his muzzle. “As you will, Sir.” The guard answered before slipping out of the room. All throughout the entire exchange Diode never broke his gentle smile. He was the epitome of Geode’s opposite. All was for his master in the end. Everypony woke up the following morning.I had made certain to keep watch throughout the night. What was most likely Flint’s plan I wanted to keep any ambush from ever striking at any of my allies. They were most likely temporary as more of the troops started to join up with us. The nine guards I had actually gotten along with were now keeping their distance. It was for the best. I needed them to support each other and not get hung up on prejudice because of associating with me. I didn’t care since Hurricane made it clear under no uncertain circumstances that if they didn’t support me in battle they would be given to me for combat training. There were several laughs but I didn’t say anything at the time. Hurricane muttered that it was their funeral and the nine who had met with me agreed. Then I met Second Stand… oh god I met him. “Wow look at that a golem. You sure look different and such. Metal, eh? I’ve never been made of metal but it must be real cold.” Stand hugged me. “Oh nope you’re actually really warm.” “Let go of me.” I muttered to the giggling of Concerto. It actually made a lot of the guards slowly lose their fear of me… but vastly overestimate themselves if they fought me. Even with the constant deluge of guards I had left behind for them to capture. I wouldn’t change hearts and minds in a single day but I could at the very least get them not to try and pick a fight with me. Vicious Aegis had already made it clear that he wanted to put me in the ground. “Sorry bout that golem. Still I think the princess should join the rest of the ponies.” Stand mentioned before being rounded upon by the princess. “Move me and I’ll castrate you.” Concerto stated in no uncertain terms. Stand immediately hid underneath my right arm trying to hide from her glare. “Why do you know that?” I quickly defused her mood causing her to blush when I looked her in the eye. “I heard daddy say that whenever somepony was talking to mommy. It made them stop trying to talk to mommy so I figured that that would work.” Concerto answered with an innocent smile on her face. “Most of those ponies were stallions huh?” I deadpanned which got me a very large smile from Concerto who nodded almost happily. “Right then… Don’t worry Second Stand she doesn’t know what that means.” “Right… yeah… I’m just gonna go now.” Stand muttered before flying off for one of his tents. Hurricane had actually had us stay with him and the other leaders mostly out of fear of what I could do to the guards if they picked a fight. I knew that he knew I was much smarter than that but he also knew that his guards were a lot dumber. Emotions could have run high if he didn’t personally watch me. “X, a moment of your time.” Puddinghead called out. “Yes? Something wrong?” I answered back completely confused about what he could possibly need. “What are you? Platinum, Hurricane and I have come to the realization that you are not a golem. The others may know you as that but we can tell you aren’t. I’m certain Star Swirl is also thinking about this as well. You are made of metal and definitely don’t require magic to function even in the slightest.” Puddinghead examined me more closely keeping her voice quiet enough that only the five of us were around. “That is a complicated answer that requires a high level of trust to actually speak about. Also someway to magically block anyone who wants to actually know the truth.” I shot back giving her a little coy wink if only because I still didn’t trust that Discord wasn’t watching me in any capacity. He had proven to be wily. “You mean that spell Star Swirl cast in the basement of his fortress? I may be able to duplicate it but only for five minutes.” Platinum replied casually lighting up her horn. “Do so then. Quickly, X.” Hurricane ordered as Platinum weaved her spellwork casting that same strange field over our tent. Most likely, from what I gleaned from my previous interactions with the spell, it kept all manner of sound within the barrier at all times and Discord hated being known that he was listening in any capacity. “I guess you could call me… a reploid. A robot. I am not a golem. I am actually the closest thing created that could simulate an actual living being. I have my only wants, desires, needs and dreams. By the by, a reploid is a replicated android. I’d like to consider myself a replicated wanderer while I’m in this world.” I chuckled for some reason that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. “An-android? What the…? Are you making this up?” Hurricane rounded on me immediately but the moment he stared into my eyes he could tell. “You aren’t…” “That seems unbelievable. Why didn’t you tell Star Swirl?” Platinum quirked an eyebrow pushing more magic into the spell. “At the time I couldn’t. I was playing along with his plans which he already had in motion. Too many deviations and my own plan of keeping as incognito as possible would have been tossed the the wayside. I still volunteered for this so… acting like a golem just made things easier.” I explained as best I could. Secrecy in some parts was a blessing when it came to dealing with threats. “Are you not a golem regardless of how you dressed it up?” Puddinghead sniped in at the last moment. “Technically yet. I just have more… emotion, feelings behind my actions. I decided to help both for the sake of helping and personal reasons. Those grew as I learned more about what was happening. So I will keep my word when I say that I will bring Corundum to justice.” I stated with complete confidence in my tone. “So cool… “ Concerto breathlessly gushed for some reason. “That’s fine and all but I’m no optimist by any means. I know battle is full of uncertainty. I’m going to give you one order X. It’s the one order I hope you consider, especially with the power you wield.” Hurricane gruffly sighed out completely looking as though he was dreading what he was about to ask. “I’ll listen and see what I can do.” I answered honestly. I had a bad feeling for some reason. “Best I can hope for I guess. When and if you face Corundum, don't hesitate. Kill him where he stands. If the three of us know anything it's this. We don't have the resources to hold all these POW’s as is. Ruby Geode will be given a trial but only as a formality. He had no peers and nopony would stand to his defense after what he tried to wrought over the battles closer to the Foal Mountains. All that awaits the four who led this madness is the chopping block.” Hurricane stated though his solemn tone told me that he didn't want to do this. “I've never killed anything sapient. Sentient, yes, but never sapient. I don't even know if I can actually. A large part of me wants to dismiss that but… if it comes down to it. I… don't know.” I slowed down thinking about it more. In the games X never killed. He was a martial pacifist fighting only when necessary. While he tried to be an actual pacifist once I ignored that part of his story. I knew why he did it. I didn't agree with him on that aspect because people would get caught in the crossfire no matter what. I, on the other hand, have killed but only in defense of my home. That was only against a particularly desperate pack of wolves. Claudius shrugged it off as another part of his life living in a cabin. I felt a little sad up until I had to use the wolf fur for an armor piece. Then I just felt numb after it. “You're more pony than the rest of the guards figure you as.” Platinum spoke up breaking me out of my reverie. “Good to know that first hoof than from hearsay.” Puddinghead added next before the two looked towards Hurricane. “Yeah. A little disappointing that you might not be able to go through with it but relieving that you hold up so well to an ideal. If worse comes to worse I shall deal with Corundum. My hooves have known enough blood. What's one more?” Hurricane sighed out awash in both relief and anxiety. “If it helps I'll see what I can do when that time comes.” I brought up switching to my arm cannon and holding it out into the tundras. “Good to know. We'll be sleeping then. I take it you'll be keep my watch then X?” Platinum asked which I nodded to. The three leaders retired to their respective cots while I kept near the door. Concerto took one of the extras but always kept her eyes trained on me until she passed out from exhaustion. The sensors going off in my head were cranked up to their max range. In this makeshift base we had around two hundred ponies that had joined up including the twelve who I met the previous night. We had waited a full day before they had regrouped. I kept an eye out noting that no one was within the fifty meters while Nana sent out small pings with the thaumic sensor searching for airborne troops. Surprisingly, Discord was never a problem. True to his word he hadn't been in range of me for a short while now. I didn't like that. His attention somewhere else meant he was doing something dastardly most likely. The other option was that he was waiting out the boring parts of his personality was anything to go by. I couldn't place his mind anywhere either. Sociopathic, psychopathic or just plain nihilistic, I couldn't figure him out. He seemed to know a lot more than he let on hiding it behind that facade of insanity he most likely built up over years of activity. Star Swirl thought so, at the very least, over the extensive brunt of his research into other cultures. I don't know why he went through the trouble of that much research for other cultures since the ponies seemed almost secular about their culture. Though it did seem that this place was primitive. I had to dig out latrines for Concerto during our trip already. Fire Wave had been getting a work out in making the ditches for it. This place seemed to be out of a medieval setting and I was acting the knight from the future. “Sir. The other cyber elves have been working hard on something. We think we can triangulate the position of the capsule that was identified a few days ago.” Nana interjected breaking my thoughts from being Future Knight X. ‘Have you? Any idea which one it is?’ I quietly thought back. Even without the immediate threat of Discord, I wasn't taking any chances. “No. It is along our path, so far as we know. When we get within one hundred meters we should be able to tell you the general location. Any closer and we should be able to pinpoint it accurately.” Nana groused slightly, most likely from the lack of information. I merely nodded absentmindedly as if to some unheard music. Nana took that as a sign to keep working and went silent. The night passed us by so quickly it felt as though I had just blinked. Time. Time was the greatest enemy. A little over two weeks here and I was put on the front lines of a battle I had no real stake in. Sure, my new ‘friends’ were fighting in it but I had no personal reason outside of it was the right thing to do. In that time I had volunteered to lead a charge against someone I didn't know. I was stronger than most things here but that didn't mean much when I found out that I pissed off one of the few beings who could hurt me. When I looked towards Concerto I instantly squashed those thoughts. She looked up to me and that wasn't literally either. I was her savior even if we wound up in a tight spot when Discord decided to confront me with one of his hands. We had played a game of poker in a sense. For some reason it felt right to equate our fight as that. He had junk for that round while I had a pair in a sense. I won not by being stronger, faster or more clever than him. I won because I was lucky enough that he picked someone so inept that it worked in my favor. His smile had said otherwise. The popular theory that Nana seemed to subscribe to was the parallels of being antithesis to Discord. He was a Spirit of Chaos by the admissions of Star Swirl and the several books detailing their very limited knowledge on the matter. I was a reploid though. A machine made to act like a human. The first in fact though I was certain that I wasn't a reploid either. Through my memories of the lore X was merely a very upgraded robot master made to be as human as possible. Every other robot in the series was a reploid created from the DNA taken from X. How a robot had DNA I will never know but that was the case. Dr. Light had been a genius in this regard but the threat of Dr. Wily had made him paranoid. The encryption on my black box was staggering and I wanted to know more. Unfortunately the sun finally rose breaking me out of my musings as Hurricane woke up. He flew out of the tent with a trumpet and started to play it… very badly. All the guards woke up shuffling into their armor while Platinum, Puddinghead and Concerto looked perturbed by the sudden wake up call. “Alright you maggots! Up and at’em! We have a city to liberate!” Hurricane shouted out making certain to go out of his way to wake up the stragglers who had prepared for this, bucking them out of their cots. It took an hour for the troops to pack away the supplies with a pair of earth ponies carrying the cart full of supplies. It seemed like an easy target until some unicorns started casting spells around it. I stood at the forefront of the tundras ready to head out into the snow while the guards kept getting ready with several spells on both the pegasi and earth ponies. They seemed less bothered by the cold at this point. Platinum did the casting for the leaders. When she came to me I declined the spell. I was resistant to plenty of spells already and I wasn't cold at all. Concerto frowned until she noticed I put the scarf back on my neck. It was slightly charred and frayed but there was enough left to wrap around my neck. I would have to talk to Star Swirl to repair it fully. There was talk about an origin spell that could fix it to pristine condition and if it survived this fight I would make certain to speak with him. We traveled for most of the morning in silence. I took pony with several pegasi following though their attention was split between their surroundings and me. Hurricane had to reprimand them when I still had Concerto on my back and they voiced their displeasure. Then she kicked one of them in the balls and they all stopped trying to voice their concerns. Platinum seemed to be taking notes, on what I don't know. Though she seemed to not really pay much attention to me. Puddinghead watched over the troops. Due to me being in their midst made a lot of the racially biased ponies quit being racially biased and look up to their leaders for guidance. That's when we came to our first obstacle, the terrain. Russia would be easier to get through with how high the snow banks were. The carts that held the supplies couldn't move through it. “Okay! Carry what you can and let's keep moving!” Hurricane shouted out until he winced as the sound of my buster firing. The snow melted and evaporated within seconds as I fired charge shot after charge shot through the offending snow. I was certain that the snow almost resembled glass from my offensive. I finally got tired of merely firing buster shots and switched to Fire Wave. Charging up I released the trailing fire pillars which melted a line forward for twenty feet. I had to start charging with my buster since apparently X didn't have a trigger guard and wasted ammo whenever charging up this weapon in particular. After going through the entire weapon bar I had burnt out a sixty feet length trail that allowed four by four ponies to walk through. How it was that powerful I didn't know but it created the path we could now walk through. Several of the guards who had rolled their eyes at me when I was carrying Concerto around like a sack of potatoes were now looking at me with fresh eyes. There were some in awe… some with incredulity… and most with fear. Hindsight at its best in my opinion. I needed to expedite this trip but there were consequences. Brilliant. Hushed whispers were now the norm and I could hear them echo through the path I made. On the bright side Hurricane thanked me for the clear path to the Crystal Empire. On the dark side I was reprimanded for not warning him before I acted. “You're acting like a real maverick X.” Hurricane stated. “Well… I am a maverick hunter so…” I started. “If this is more background on you then let's save it for later. We need to reach our next checkpoint before nightfall.” Hurricane stopped me before I could continue. “Contact.” Nana informed me as a new blip appeared in my sensor… only it wasn’t indicating an enemy. Nana finally figured out how to coordinate which blip equated to what. Green was the friendlies. Red were the baddies. Yellow were the mission objectives. White apparently were the capsules. Yellow hadn’t come up yet because the lack of satellite information made it hard to actually figure out where mission objectives were by the sensor. The new blip was white. ‘Are we in the Crystal Empire?’ I looked around at the melted landscape as we all walked through the newly made ravine. “Close enough to be considered in their territory. Based on the map I’ve copied we have entered their realm as soon as we melted our way through the snowbanks. We bypassed the trails they already put in place and the weather was cleared out beforehand. We found the perfect opportunity to both finish the mission and acquire more assistance.  It’s uncertain which capsule it is but it would help us out more.” Nana explained as she looked over some of the charts which quickly flashed over my eyes. ‘Good to know. Direction?’ I almost muttered out loud until I caught myself. “X? Is something wrong?” Hurricane tapped my shoulder trying to gain my attention. “No. But I think I’ve found something that would help me out more. Could you take care of Concerto for a bit until I find it?” I held Concerto off my back for him. “Um… certainly. Are you sure you need to do this now?” Hurricane seemed a little uncertain by my demeanor. “X? I should go with you.” Concerto immediately spoke up. “No Concerto. I have to go into the cold I think. Give me a second and I should be able to find it and if you need to see what it is I’ll get you before I find it okay?” I bargained as best I could which got Concerto to nod in affirmation. I quietly walked towards the white dot which was west of my location and through the snow. It took one full powered charge shot to create a tunnel for me to start walking through. Several of the guards watched as I basically performed a juggernaut like move and effortlessly push my way through the snow. I looked back once more as Concerto was given to Puddinghead and continued on in search of the white dot. “Sir!” Second Stand shouted out as he flapped down to his Commander’s side. “Yes Second Stand? Is something wrong?” Hurricane growled out feeling that something was going to come down at this point. “Sir… a lot of the soldiers are feeling a bit… worried about how things are going right now. X is very powerful and they are nervous. Golems this powerful could be trouble in the long run.” Stand whispered almost conspiratorially to his commander. “Second, we’ve known each other a long time. I’ve led you for the past fifty years through windigos and the monsters we’ve encountered. I’ve made certain to lead you alongside Platinum and Puddinghead into a better future that sees you both fed and living within a civilized society. You know what I want you to tell everypony.” Hurricane stated with an evenly growled out tone. “Y-y-yes sir?” Stand cringed as Hurricane stared him down. “Trust in my judgement.” Hurricane stated in a low tone which Second Stand took as an order. Second Stand went back to the fellow soldiers who all seemed to take Hurricane’s word. Platinum and Puddinghead didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say since not even they could change the hearts and minds of ponies just like that. “I want to retire already... “ Hurricane muttered under his breath while Concerto watched X disappear into the depths of the ice tunnel he was carving out with his buster. It took me almost a half hour until I finally managed to get an actual reading. I had traveled for almost twenty meters to the west and twelve more charged shots to break through the ice that had formed. It was then that I came upon something much worse than I thought. The ice shattered showing off a large archway carved out of bones. All along the walls were several ice sculptures of several different races that I had never seen before. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns and more were stuck in different positions. I noticed that there were also several zebras, deers, yaks, buffalos, griffins apparently, and dragons. It was unsettling when I looked into each of their eyes. There was nothing but fear in all their eyes and what looked like hatred. Pure diluted hatred. I had wound up within a crypt full of all the races that apparently lived in the world… I think. I didn’t like what I was seeing and I was so glad that I had made certain to leave Concerto behind. It was the right decision no matter who would try to deny it. The white blip apparently was getting closer. There in the center of the cavern was the capsule I was looking for. I walked up to the capsule allowing it to open up. There still wasn’t any sign of Dr. Light so I quickly stepped inside downloading the data within. As soon as I stepped out the capsule started to short out and disintegrate into dust just like the last capsule. =Weapon Archive Unlocked= =Releasing Series Five Seal: Eight Armaments Unlocked= -Crescent Shot: Crescent Grizzly Module unlocked -Goo Shaver: Tidal Whale Module unlocked -Tri-Thunder: Volt Kraken Module unlocked -Firefly Laser: Shining Firefly Module unlocked -Dark Hold: Dark Necrobat Module unlocked -Wing Spiral: Spiral Pegasus Module unlocked -Ground Fire: Burn Dinorex Module unlocked -Spike Ball: Spike Rosered Module unlocked =Archive Pod Sigma War Reploid Invasion Number Five Package= -Downloading Falcon Armor- =ETA: 36 hours= -Downloading Gaea Armor- =ETA: 36 hours= -Harpuia Module Active- -Fefnir Module Active- -Downloading… - -15%- -35%- -75%- -95%- -... done.- =Activating Cyber Elf Program “Harpuia” and “Fefnir”= It took a few seconds as both Harpuia and Fefnir materialized in my vision before quickly heading back inside my body. An oversight most likely in the materialization process but one I had to chance. Both of them seemed a little stiff in my presence. “Master X! Please forgive us we have messed up your orders and hope you can forgive us!” Harpuia immediately got on one knee. Fefnir looked a little confused until he noticed my attention on him. With one quick bent knee he immediately prostrated before me. “I’m sorry for my actions!” Fefnir immediately spat out. ‘Don’t be, you did nothing wrong. I suspect its a side effect of the materialization process. There are more important matters to handle. Nana?’ I immediately thought making both Harpuia and Fefnir straighten up and sharpen their eyes. They knew what I meant now. “Target acquired. One enemy is within this cavern. Thaumic sensor is going crazy…” Nana gulped which I didn’t think was possible. “Master X! Target is flying above us!” Harpuia shouted as I rolled off to the side as a large horse like creature floated through where I was last standing. The platform froze on the spot showcasing a large split icicle. I knew now why there were so many ice sculptures around. Star Swirl had told me long before I left for the Crystal Empire. I had wound up in the crypt of a Windigo.