Authors Note
Thank you to all who support me and this story and thank you to all those who inspire me
It was shortly after Celestia and Luna lowered the sun and raised the moon that a knock at the door signaled the entry of Ratchet. "Ladies, dinner is prepared. I will be escorting you to were it will be served. If you will follow me I will lead you." Ratchet turned and exited the room with Celestia and Luna following behind him.
They walked for several minuted before Luna cleared her throat. "Will Twilight be joining us?" She asked the Clockwork.
"Yes, lady Twilight will be joining you this evening." Ratchet said calmly as they approached a set of double doors. Ratchet pushed the doors open to reveal a room with a large table at the center, other than the table the only thing of note was the large windows that lead to a balcony that over looked the small underground city.
"You can have a seat dinner will be here soon." A voice said from the balcony causing the sisters to jump and turn to find Twilight sitting on the balcony watching the city. Beside her stood two Clockwork but they were different than the others. They appeared to wear armor and there faces were designed to appear as if they wore masks. The only difference between the two was there coloring. The one on the left was made of a rust colored metal and while the one on the right was more regal and was a mix of gold and black and had a red core set into the center of his chest.
"Who are these Twilight?" Celestia asked as she examined them.
"Declaration: I an HK-47 Personal Assassin Droid of Mistress Twilight Sparkle who is also my creator." The one on the left said in a cheery voice said.
"Declaration: I an HK-55 Personal Bodyguard of Mistress Twilight Sparkle who is also my creator." The one on the right said in a cheery voice said. "Inquiry: Who are these meat bags mistress?" The Droid asked.
"Objection: HK-55, please reserve Meat bag status for those who have earned it." HK-47 said with what sounded like a sigh.
Luna blinked and tilted her head. "What's a meat bag?"
"You don't want to know." Twilight said with a sigh. "Celestia, Luna, meet HK-47 and HK-55, HK stands for Hunter Killer. HK-55 is my personal Bodyguard while HK-47 was my first attempt. While HK-47 didn't turn out perfect, I think I like him better this way."
Celestia looked at HK-47 cautiously. "He said he was an Assassin droid."
Twilight giggled. "He is."
"Clarification: I was designed to be Mistresses Personal Bodyguard but my programming made me far to dangerous. Therefor Mistress altered my programming to act as her personal assassin." HK-47's voice turned happy toward the end before returning to a serous tone as he continued to talk. "Affirmation: You need not worry about me attacking you. My programming allows me to attack only those who threaten my Mistress or who Mistress orders me to kill."
Luna nodded. "I see, so as long as Twilight is not attacked you will not cause any trouble."
"Confirmation: You are correct, as long as you do not cause trouble I will not cause trouble. Inquiry: You would not happen to be Princess Luna by chance? Mistress addressed you as Luna."
Luna nodded slowly. "Why do you ask HK-47?"
"Revelation: I actually find you to be most fascinating, your fighting style allows for many advantages and my studies of assassination points to you being the creator of such a combat style." HK-47 said causing Luna blushed at his praise. "Offer: I would very much like to spar with you at a later date. It will offer an interesting opportunity to learn and advance my programming."
"P-perhaps at a later time HK-47." Luna stammered out as her face was tainted red.
The sound of someone clearing their throat caused the group to turn. "Pardon the interruption but the food is ready." Ratchet said calmly.
The group turned and walked to the table while the HK units walked over to the doors and stood guard. As Ratchet seated them a mare in a servants outfit walked into the room pulling a cart. The servant placed the food from the cart in front of the two alicorns before placing a cup in front of Twilight. "Thank you Dotty." Twilight said as she took a drink from the cup.
"Will that be all?" Dotty asked.
"Yes, thank you." Twilight said. Dotty bowed and pushed the cart out the doors. "That was Dotty, She is the manors cook and maid, Though to be honest you two are the first to taste her cooking. I can't exactly eat." Twilight said.
"It is quite good." Celestia said surprised.
"What are thou drinking Twilight?" Luna asked after she took a bite.
"Oil." Twilight said as she sipped her beverage. "While I can 'eat' its more recreational, I don't get any nutrients from it. Oil however is quit good. Though it's more like alcohol for us or blood if you want to be on the morbid side of things. Oil is our blood, without it we probably wouldn't survive."
"Twilight, how do you and the Clockworks... work?" Celestia asked.
Twilight shrugged. "I have no idea how I work, actually I have no idea how I'm even alive. all I know is that whatever the blast did to me it merged me with the C.O.R.E.S. and made me part Magitech. From the experiments I ran my magic manufactures the steam that powers my primary systems while oil and water are pumped through my body and assist. The oil greases the gears and the water is isolated and converted into steam by my magic.
"I see, and what about the clockworks?" Celestia asked.
Twilight turned and looked out the window for a while slowly sipping her drink. "I made the Clockworks, they're my children and nothing will change that. The process of making them is rather... intimate. When I first did it it was by complete accident. There bodies are constructed of a metal I created called Biometal, the reason I call it that is because it acts as like that of flesh. Every gear, screw, plate and wire is made from it. It grows and shifts naturally on its own, once it is set in a form it won't change that but it will develop it own features." Twilight smiled and turned to them. "That's why there all so different, I make them all the same but the metal changes them. No two Clockwork are the same." The smile faded and she returned to looking out the window. "When there made they are children. I raise them, care for them and love them but it wasn't enough." Twilight sighed. "The first hundred while they could express emotion and were somewhat free were still lacking something." Twilight turned to the two alicorns with a sad look in her eye. "You saw them they were the guards outside, tell me what were they missing compared to the others?"
The two alicorns thought for a moment before a though came to Celestia. "Earlier you said that you "wouldn't change them but they less advanced than the rest." When you said that I simply thought that they were less advance simply because they were an earlier model but there's more to it than that. There is a fundamental difference between them and the ones that came after. The ones down here seemed more alive."
"They are more alive. It took countless tries and there were so many failures but eventually I figured it out, what they were missing, the difference between a machine and a pony. It isn't something we can just program in, it's something that is intangible, a soul." Twilight rose and walked over to the balcony. "I extracted a shard of my soul and placed it in the first Clockwork I ever made, Prototype. the procedure was dangerous. One wrong move and I would be thrown into oblivion, if I cut too far then I ran the risk of being driven mad and if I took to much then I would start to seek out living beings and absorb there soul."
"Twilight such processes are forbidden." Celestia said sternly.
Twilight just turned to the princesses and shrugged. "I succeeded. I was rewarded with a soul shard. However, unlike the ponies who tried it before I know that I couldn't keep doing this so I placed it into a cube of the Biometal and then something amazing happened, the soul shard began to grow."
"How is that possible?" Celestia asked. "A soul can only exist inside a living body, it should be impossible to contain a soul, let alone let it grow!"
Twilight nodded. "I thought the same but then I realized that the metal was alive to an extent. So I repeated the process and placed a portion of the shard in Prototype. When I did this he became truly alive. I monitored the shard for a time and I discovered that when given time the shard formed into a completed soul."
"So they do have a soul, a shard of a soul that was taken from a shard of your soul." Luna said in thought. "Twilight is it possible that we may see the process?"
"No." Twilight said as she turned to the sisters. "As I said the process is rather...intimate. That is the process that I gave them a soul but there is a lot more to it. I-there are some things about the process that shouldn't be... viewed." Twilight finished lamely.
"Twilight, how intimate is this process? You're not going that far are you?" Celestia asked as Luna's face turn bright red.
Twilight glared at Celestia. "No, it isn't that far but it's close. At least it's as close as something like me can get to actually doing it." As Twilight said this Luna coughed as blood ran down from her nose and she passed out. "Really Celestia, really?" Twilight said with a deadpan expression.
Celestia laughed. "Forgive me Twilight but I could not resist. Though I was quit serous."
Twilight chuckled. "As was I and I'm still not letting you see the process." She said as she pulled a string on the wall. After a moment Ratchet entered the room.
"How may I be of service, my lady?" He asked.
"Can you take Luna back to her room?" She asked before turning to Celestia. "Will you be returning or do you want to stay and catch up?" She asked.
"We'll have to return by morning so I'd best get some rest." Celestia replied.
Twilight nodded and turned back to Ratchet. "Can you also take Celestia to there room as well?"
"It will be done my lady." He said as he walked over and placed Luna on to his back. "This way your Majesty." He said as he turned to Celestia and then exited the room.
"Have a good night Celestia." Twilight said.
"You as well Twilight." Celestia replied as she exited the room.
As Celestia left a Clockwork pushed past her. "Excuse me miss." He said politely and entered the room. "MOTHER, we're ready to begin work on the new Clockwork models. We also figured ou-"
That was all Celestia heard before they were out of range for Celestia to hear. Celestia and Ratchet didn't say anything as they walked down the halls till they reached her room. Ratchet walked in placing Luna on her bed before turning to Celestia. "Will there be be anything else Princess Celestia?" Ratchet asked.
Celestia shook her head. "No that will be all, thank you Ratchet." She said. Ratchet bowed and left the room. Celestia walked over to her bed and lay down lost in thought. "I wonder where Twilight's workshop is, that's probably where she builds the Clockworks..."