//------------------------------// // Chapter XVI – Derpy Hooves and Daeus Arms // Story: To Devour a God // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// I was expecting all of us to meet the local chief Daeus Arms engineer, make some introductions, maybe one or both of the present Captains to give some kind of speech on the importance of Daeus Arms and how they were even now turning the tide against the avidaeos. At the most, I was expecting Derpy to possibly give us a minor rundown on the various types of Daeus Arms and how they worked. All in all, I was hoping for the whole thing to be wrapped up in the span of half an hour to forty-five minutes or so. All of those things happened, but that wasn't the end of it. Derpy's explanation alone took up half an hour, and when that was done, we were all dragged to a slightly smaller room in the back, the entrance to which I hadn't noticed upon our arrival. The first impression I got as we passed through the door and into the room was that we'd walked into some kind of shrine dedicated to Daeus Arms. The room itself was circular, and nearly barren save for several large metal 'altars' lining the walls. Each of the altars were actually upright containers made of some kind of a dark brown metal and made to fit the Daeus Arms that had been placed within them. The grid-like amber metal floors reminded me somewhat of the training room once the hologram had deactivated, and looking at the display of weaponry around me, I wondered if this was some kind of private training room of sorts. But that wouldn't make any sense, I glanced back at Derpy, who'd walked into the room behind all of us, and frowned in bemusement as I noticed the distinct lack of an armlet, Derpy's not a Daeus Hunter. Is it for new recruits like us? Is she planning to let us use these? Test them out maybe? I hummed in thought and returned my gaze to the many containers around me. The majority of containers were open and showcasing one of every type of Daeus Arm ever made, ranging from the original and outdated pistol model to the latest creation, the powerful but unwieldy arcane staff. I would've been impressed by the display, had it not been for the oddly simplistic designs of each of them. Most of the weapons still looked like a mish-mash of complex machinery, but even I could tell that each only had the absolute minimum number of parts necessary to function as a Daeus Arm. There was no flair in the designs, no extra additions, and all of them were a dull grey in color. It was almost as if they were all prototypes, made before the finished product. Why would she keep these on display like this? I could think of a few reasons, but I wasn't interested enough to delve too deeply into the matter. What did pique my curiosity however, were the few containers that were sealed shut. I counted three sealed containers in all, each of varying sizes. On the lid of each closed container were a series of letters and numbers marked in a bold black font. BE-37541, HM-15742, and... RG-29512? What are these? Did her engineering team get the OK from HQ to make new weapons? "Curious, are we?" I turned away from the three sealed containers to see Derpy making her way over to where I was standing. Behind her I saw Vinyl having a hushed, but animated discussion with Captain Bon Bon near the blast gun display, one or both of them gesturing to the thing every now and then. Elesewhere, Captain Applejack looked like she was trying to reassure Fluttershy as the soft spoken pegasus stared at each of the weapons with noticeable discomfort. Seeker was eyeing the variant scythe model on display with perhaps the most interest I'd seen him show in anything since I'd met him. I turned my attention back to Derpy as she stepped up next to me, her eyes on the sealed containers and her expression one of pride. "I don't supposed you'd be able to tell me what these contain?" I asked the grey pegasus hopefully, "I'm curious enough about this room as it is, but these..." "Nope, sorry, Twilight, but telling you exactly what these are would be against company policy... for now," she explained, moving forward and rubbing a hand lovingly over one of the cold metal surfaces, "I can tell you that they're new weapons, and that I've been working my wings off on each one of them for some time now," she sighed wistfully, "me and these babies here have spent a lot of lonely nights together." "Lonely?" my brow furrowed in confusion a moment before widening in realization, "wait a minute... you don't mean by yourself, do you?" I asked incredulously, "you made all of these on your own?" "Well, I mean... they're not finished yet, but... yeah?" Derpy asked, frowning and tilting her head in bemusement, "why? Is that weird?" So I was right, then. She must've already submitted her designs to the Daeus Arms R&D division at some point and evidently they thought they were good enough to approve them, but seriously, to have designed all of these on her own, let alone make them... "It's... well..." I shook my head and looked at the large metal boxes, "usually it takes a whole team of dozens, sometimes hundreds of engineers to create a new Daeus Arm. These weapons are so complex that even the designs are handled by a group, and you've managed to design and are building three on your own." "Oh, wow," Derpy replied, chuckling awkwardly, "I knew Daeus Arms were normally handled by a team, but I just assumed there were some engineers out there who just liked to do things on their own, y'know?" "No, that's... not a thing, Derpy... not normally," I muttered, looking from the sealed containers to all the others, doubly shocked as another realization came to mind, "now that I think about it, I haven't seen any other ponies in the lab," I turned back to Derpy, eyes wide, "Derpy... are you... the only Daeus Arms engineer in this facility?" "Yup, the one and only!" Derpy replied, thumping her chest proudly. She gave a sobering sigh a moment later, "Ponyville's kind of short on engineers and scientists in general, and I was the only one who had any real interest in working for Wendigo, so... here I am." "Wait, so the Doctor doesn't have a staff either?" I asked, suddenly worried about my future working conditions, "I mean, don't get me wrong, making Daeus Arms by yourself like you've apparently been doing is impressive—beyond impressive, but Doctor Whooves needs—" "The Doctor has a staff, don't worry," Derpy cut in, raising her hands in a calming gesture, "it's a small staff, sure, but he brought most of his team from Canterlot, and they're good at what they do, and besides," she gave me a knowing smile, "you're here, aren't you?" I blinked. "Well, yeah, but... how did you... I don't remember mentioning—" "I'd already heard from Doctor Whooves that he was getting another pony on his team," Derpy explained, "and I was also told that we'd be getting a New-Type Daeus Arm wielder by the name of Twilight Sparkle," she shrugged, "when Doctor Whooves told me the pony he'd be working with was a New-Type, I just put two and two together." "Oh, I guess that explains it then," I replied, nodding in understanding, "still, as long as he has some kind of team, that's fine. I wonder if he sent for anypony I know..." "Who knows," Derpy answered with another shrug. She smiled and rapped a fist on one of the closed containers, "anyway, I bet these metal boxes aren't all you're wondering about." "Yeah," I agreed, looking around, "what is this place? Why do you have all these Daeus Arms on display like this? Are they also prototypes?" "Yes, and no," Derpy replied, much to my confusion, "I guess you could call them 'modified prototypes'," she made her way over to the container holding the dull grey short blade as she spoke, "I explained earlier that each Daeus Arm is a sort of avidaeos itself, and all Daeus Arms are made with a core at their center, just like a regular avidaeos." She'd certainly explained that detail previously, and while I'd known a bit about that before, the very idea still sent unpleasant shivers down my spine. The fact that these weapons were more or less pony made avidaeos was the reason they could devour cores from actual avidaeos with those monstrous mouth things. It was also the reason each Daeus Arm was unique to its wielder, and why compatibility was so important. From the way Derpy explained it, each Daeus Arm's core is specifically attuned to its user's armlet, and though the actual design of that specific Daeus Arm could be changed and modified with various materials, the core itself, once set, couldn't be changed. If a Daeus Hunter tried to activate somepony else's Daeus Arm, it would immediately begin devouring them from the inside out. Even if the situation was stopped before death could occur, that still left possible Hive Cell corruption. If that occurred, then mutations would start happening, and they wouldn't stop until the Daeus Hunter in question had fully turned into an avidaeus themselves. Such was the risk of being a Daeus Hunter. "The Arms you see around you were all built without cores," Derpy continued, gesturing to the other weapons on display, "that means their devouring capabilities are inert and they can't really be used to fight actual avidaeos, but that's not their purpose anyway." "Then what is their purpose?" I asked, eyeing the wall-eyed mare expectantly. "They were made with new recruits in mind," Derpy replied, turning back to me with a wide grin, "because they don't have any cores, any Daeus Hunter can wield one without having to worry about being eaten or corrupted. I made these so that you guys could get a feel for what type of Daeus Arm you want to use. "This place is just meant to hold display models, and that's really about it," she looked around the room fondly, "sometimes I come in here to think or just when I need a quiet moment away from work, kind of like a sanctuary or something." "Yeah, I... guess I can kind of see that," I replied, following her example as I scanned the room, "so, what then... this is basically just a place to showcase these 'modified prototypes'?" I guess that kind of explains the unfinished models in the closed containers. Still kind of weird that she keeps them with the training Arms though. "More... or less," Derpy grunted, trying with great effort to remove the short blade from its resting place, "I call them... 'Dummy Arms'. They might not... work like proper Daeus Arms, but... nngh... they're just as heavy!" she gave up pulling at the hilt of the sword a moment later and let her arms drop to her sides, blowing out a tired breath, "oof... sweet Celestia." "If they're that heavy, how do you move them around?" I asked curiously as I moved to stand before the display, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we can even wield these metal monstrosities." "Oh, I have magitech machinery for that kind of thing," Derpy replied, waving the matter away, "that, and I have the Daeus Hunters whose Arms I'm working on help me out from time to time. It's really not an issue, trust me. Anyway, these are what you guys are gonna be using once actual training starts in a few days." "Training, huh?" I mused, sweeping my gaze around the room and watching the others as they gawped and gawked at the weapons. A thought came to me then, and I looked back around at Derpy, "how exactly is that going to work for me? Not only am I gonna be using a completely new and probably more complex model, but I also have other duties while I'm here." "That just means yer gonna be workin' harder'n the rest of us," came the familiar drawl of my future Captain from behind. Both Derpy and I turned to see Applejack walking over to us, Fluttershy trailing a little ways behind, "yer trainin' regimen's gonna be a bit different than the others, an' it might take a little longer, but some good ol' hard work never hurt anypony if ya ask me." "I guess so," I conceded slowly, fully turning to face the Captain, "I honestly don't really mind the extra work—half of it is something I live to do, but still, I'm wondering how that'll fit into the team dynamic." "Now don't ya'll sweat the details on that," Applejack replied, smiling and clapping a heavy hand on my shoulder, "leave that to me an' the Director, we've already got somethin' sorted out," she nodded back at Fluttershy, "fer now, we just want ya'll ta focus on gettin' ta know the place an' the rest o' the Hunters around here." "That's why we've allotted you all some free time for the next three days," said Bon Bon, who was coming up behind Fluttershy and the other Captain, "there's no pressing missions that need to be taken care of at the moment, so until something else comes up, the Director's agreed to give the new recruits a bit of slack." "Oh thank goodness," murmured Fluttershy, letting out a barely audible sigh of relief, "I was afraid we'd be thrown right into the training. I don't know if I would've been able to handle that so soon." "Ah, you would've been fine," Vinyl assured, moving to stand next to the shy pegasus, she patted her gently on the shoulder once before sidling up to me and resting an arm around my own shoulders, "still, we get to chill for the first few days? Nice! Maybe I can catch up with Tavi in the meantime." "Maybe," I replied, pulling away from Vinyl's clutches as politely as I could, "if we are getting some free time though, I'd like to spend some time in the research lab with Doctor Whooves and the rest of his team. I want to know what I'll be doing and what exactly I'm working with." I'd also like to find out what happened to that drake... "Hey, to each their own," Vinyl replied with a small shrug. She turned to where Seeker was standing some ways away, "what about you, curls? What're you gonna do with all that free time?" I wondered for a moment why Vinyl had called him curls, then remembered that the stallion's light grey mane was incredibly curly. Seeker, of course, didn't answer, simply choosing instead to fold his arms, lean back against the wall, and stare idly at the variant scythe in its container, his expression once again as unreadable as ever. "Creepy son of a nag, isn't he?" Vinyl muttered under her breath before returning her attention to the two Captains, "anyway, we got the rundown about the training Arms, so what's next? We finally done for the night?" "Yup, ah reckon that's about it fer now," Applejack replied with a nod. She turned to Derpy, "thanks fer havin' us, Derpy. Ah know ya got things ta do, an' we're mighty grateful ya could spare the time, especially this late in the day." "Aw, It's no big deal," Derpy replied, that boundlessly cheerful expression never leaving her face, "I'm always glad to help, you know that, AJ." "Ah know it," Applejack chuckled, "but ah appreciate it all the same. Anywho..." she rounded on the lot of us and nodded sharply towards the exit, "...let's not bother Miss Hooves anymore. I bet ya'll are dyin' ta finally see yer quarters, yeah?" "And how!" Vinyl cried enthusiastically. The rest of us said nothing, but judging by the way Fluttershy and even Seeker hurried out of the room after Applejack and Bon Bon, I'm sure they both felt the same way. I was about to follow when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Derpy looking back at me, her off-kilter golden eyes sparkling with something like excitement, or eagerness. It was honestly somewhat hard to tell. "This'll be the first time I've worked with a New-Type," she said with a more reserved sort of grin, "I'm really looking forward to working with you and your Daeus Arm." "Um, right... thanks?" I asked, furrowing my brow in bemusement, "I'm... l can't wait either." The situation was incredibly awkward, but thankfully Derpy just laughed it off, patted me on the shoulder, and sent me off with a wave. I made my way to the door, wondering what that was all about, and couldn't help but look back one more time. Derpy already seemed to be lost in her own world as she stood staring at the sealed containers with a strangely thoughtful expression. Designing and making Daeus Arms all on her own... how have I not heard of her before? I never once heard mention of her in Canterlot, not even when I was working with the Daeus Arms R&D team... It baffled me. Somepony like her would've gained a lot of notoriety at HQ, and the fact that she'd submitted designs to HQ meant that somepony in the top brass knew about her talent, so why wasn't she more well-known? I had no doubt that if she'd chosen to move to Canterlot and apply for a position at HQ, she could've risen through the ranks of the Daeus Arms R&D Division and became a very rich mare in the process. Yet here she was, an unsung genius engineer living in a rundown town, working in near obscurity. And somehow I get the feeling she wouldn't have it any other way. Oddly enough, the thought made me smile as I stepped out of the room and hurried to catch up to the others. I wasn't sure why, but I supposed the mare just had that kind of effect on ponies. That was good, I thought, with how bleak life was for most, the world needed those kinds of ponies, and I wouldn't have minded seeing more like her.