The Heartbeats of Iron

by Eric Longtooth


Epilogue

Epilogue


“Look into my eyes as I take you into the abyss, and I will show you the dark, vile, perverse secrets that are within us both.”


“I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.”

Fourteen words, six on one door, eight on the other. Each cast in flowing gold and backed by the richest wood money can buy.

The double door was worth more than most would ever earn, with the trees the wood came from having long since died out, and the gold purer than one would ever think possible.

One could live off of that door.

At least, if they managed to get past the literal Goddess on the other side of it.

“Come in.” A voice from the other side of the door rung out, its feminine tone like the finest silk dancing across the air.

Solemn gulped as he got up from his seat, his leathery bat-like wings flicking out slightly with nervous energy. It took all of his years as Captain of the Night Guard to maintain his mask of practiced calm.

It was… odd, to report to Princess Celestia instead of Luna, but after what happened a couple of months before…

At the very least, Princess Luna wouldn’t be ordering anypony any time soon.

The door creaked open in spite the of the meticulous maintenance of the palace staff, and Solemn winced as he had to physically push through the magic saturating the air of the Princess’ private office.

It wasn’t usually this bad in public places, but when any magic user is in one place too often, they’ll leave behind a thin layer of magic coating everything…

But, saying that, a thin layer for a unicorn and a ‘thin’ layer for an Alicorn are very different things.

The effort needed to keep moving through the supercharged air was almost enough for him not to notice the powerful wards scanning and disabling anything he had on his person. Leaving Solemn’s thestral magic to be forced to remain within him for the time being.

No matter, he had no plans on flying inside.

As his slitted eyes focused through the visible saturation of magic, which seemed to turn all of the colors in the room up to eleven, he was greeted with the sight of a white pony almost twice as large as himself.

Her silky fur basking in the rays of the setting sun through its thin, summer-time, trim, the white blending oh-so-well into the golds of her cutie mark, which is a stylized symbol of the sun itself. Her feathery wings preened to perfection, and the massive spiral horn that was filed into a razor-sharp edge proclaimed this creature’s divine race, with the rippling muscle barely contained by her form seeming to daring somepony to challenge her right to rule.

“Was there something you needed Captain?” The Goddess asked, a slight hint of amusement staining her words as she gazed at Solemn’s visible discomfort.

“A-ah, yes Princess.” He stammered as he snapped his eyes away from where they were wandering. “We’ve lost contact with the Crystal Empire and Gryphonstone, and our forces stationed at Hollow Shades have started to be besieged by this ‘Factory.’”

“Any word from my Niece?” The Princess asked, warmth from her voice replaced with steeled professionalism.

“U-uh, no, sorry my Princess.”

“A shame.” She replied coldly, rising from her messy desk and slowly trotting over to the floor-to-ceiling window that dominated the west side of the room. An effortless pulse of magic struck a fancy marble castle from the chess set next to her, the marble heating up so quickly it completely missed the ‘melting’ phase, and skipping straight to ‘burning.’ A few other pieces moved around the board, some made of marble, others of obsidian. “What of my sister?”

“S-she is still comatose, the doctors have tried their best, but yo-I mean, we, will need to wait for her healing factor to regrow the missing parts of her brain.” The Night Guard Captain shuffled his hooves awkwardly as the room’s temperature began to rise by noticeable leaps. “T-the doctors wanted t-to thank you f-for allowing them to take notes on A-alicorn healing factors-”

“Captain.” Princess Celestia cut him off as the temperature in the room rose ever higher. If he were to guess, he assumed it was almost fifty degrees Celsius by now. “What are you afraid of?”

“I-I-I’m not sure what you mean P-princess.” Solemn hastily said, fearing the wrath of such a powerful being.

“You know what I meant Captain.” The Princess, nay, the Goddess, coldly said as she turned to face the mortal in the room. “Have I ever, ever, done anything to any of my little ponies that warrants such fear?”

“N-no, b-”

“And yet, it seems you all fear me. Your protector.” Celestia sighed, turning back to the window with agonizing slowness. “It would be amusing. Was it not myself who had to deal with it, but you seem so afraid now. You all do. But when the terror of the week has gone, you forget my power. Even the nobles seem to think they can outsmart me.”

Solemn was left in stunned silence as he slowly began shuffling to the door, he’d rather face down the damn Factory himself than deal with an Enraged Goddess.

“Each day I wonder if I should give them a reason. Each night I think back to the sins I have committed for my little ponies.” She fumed, her mane and tail flowing as if they were in the middle of a storm. “I have done everything for this kingdom. I may not be my mother, but I am still not the Empress she was. I have brought a thousand years of peace to this land, and with this new threat, I wonder if it was worth it.”

“Perhaps, it would be better to watch it Burn…


Blood rained from the sky, the fire burnt the ground, and armies marched.

And there she was, like the eye of the storm.

She wasn’t a Princess here; she was a Goddess.

Time had little meaning to the dreaming, and here pain had no place.

Reality had no law here, the impossibility of the blood rain proved that.

Or maybe it didn’t.

With no reality to bind this land to its laws, logic had long since left.

She was herself.

She once had a name, but it was meaningless here.

She once had limited herself, but there was no reason to do so here.

It was a dream.

Perhaps a nightmare.

But what is a nightmare, but a bad dream?

She was once alone here.

Alone with the constructs of her shattered mind.

But now she had a friend.

IT talked a lot, as by ITself, IT had no form.

ITs words gave IT form; ITs orders gave IT strength.

She didn’t know what to think of IT.

She thought IT was nice to listen to if nothing else.

IT was something to give noise in this otherwise silent land.

But she couldn’t think of the silence.

The silence made her mind wander to dark places.

Dark places that told her she needed to wake up.

But that was stupid.

Why would she need to wake up?

She was the Dreamer.

This land needed her.

Without a Dreamer, dreams ceased to exist.

IT had once given an answer to be able to do both.

To dream and be awake.

IT said to think the offer over.

IT had time to wait.

But IT offered many things.

IT always said to think them over.

IT claimed it had time.

IT offered friends that wouldn’t leave her.

She remembered having friends once.

IT said her friends had joined IT.

That they lived within IT now.

IT said that everything would join IT in time.

Or they would die.

But She knew she couldn’t die here.

So she didn’t have to worry.

But then again…

Friends would be nice.

Something to talk to besides IT.

Perhaps she would take up ITs offer.

Perhaps she would join IT.


The Factory was in a state of harmonious efficiency, even the sun and moon moved to its command. Everything was calculated to the millisecond, each movement done in time with an unseen clock.

Machines expanded the Factory over the planet, each hour marking another swath of land being devoted to its cause. Biologicals were captured and transformed into the greatest works of machary ever known. No two models the same, with the process and implementation evolving into something new each time.

They had fought well, but the biologicals were dealt a losing hand from the beginning. Their only advantage, their ‘magic,’ hadn’t lasted long. Before the first month had passed, the factory had already mastered its use. Each mind it claimed was another book to consume and learn from.

Dirt was pushed aside in favour of concrete, oceans were drained and replaced with massive forges. Even the mountains where lain low as the Factory claimed their minerals for its own. One day it would run out of materials, but it wasn’t a problem for it.

The Factory would just do as it always did, it would prepare to move its core to a new world, and would use this new world to further itself even more.

Each new world gave new technology, making the next planet even easier. More refined. More efficient.

The Factory could remember when taking over a planet had taken decades. But now? It took only a handful of years.

It predicted the next would only last a single year, as now it would be able to teleport the machary from its current world to the new one.

It made the Factory almost giddy just thinking about it.

Each day that passed was a new expansion.

Each hour was new growth.

Each minute, a new Evolution.