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// (Weiss Report) Lookalike [Metal Dash] 
// Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic 
// by Shadestyle 
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Dear Princess Celestia, I've sent you a translated entry that concerns me, though Weiss claimed to be building a prototype for a weapons platform yesterday, I've found an entry that suggests he already possesses a nearly complete final version of that very same weapons platform.  I've included copies of both the blueprints he gave me, seemingly uncaring if I sent them to you, but also copies of the blueprints in the Grimoire Weiss.






Entry Number Four-hundred and Six, Year Two-hundred and Fifty-three


Oh yeah, this one's definitely going to be my baby, I've packed every trick in the book into this toy.  There's only one problem left to solve, and unfortunately, it's a pretty irksome one.  I've made a golem so potent and capable, that I don't actually have a control-crystal skilled or smart enough to actually pilot it.  I guess that's just what happens when you design a golem to match and surpass the feats of the third most adorable pony to have in the future existed, Rainbow Dash.

First things first, I'll go through it's features.  Four Hellfire Reactors around it's back and barrel provide the highest top speed I can currently manage for it's weight and fuel consumption, converting magic and heat directly into thrust, the reactors are also plugged into specialized Royal Vibranium Sockets, enhanced with adamantite and, of course, orichalcum.  It would be one hell of a time finding some way to damage it, even if you somehow catch it.

What really makes it shine though is the specialized additives I managed to weasel out of some pegusi, real feathers, mixed into the orichalcum during smelting, and enchanted accordingly, this monster of a golem actually increases the durability of it's armor as it moves at higher speeds, much like how actual pegusi are able to.  As an added side effect, the armor is so flexible now that I've been able to massively simplify armoring it's joints, as the armor around them can simply move freely.  It's a good thing, too, because right now, the only thing this golem can do is crash.

If it could do other things, some of the things it would do include lightning enchantments, automatic haste crystals, and even a specialized fluid tank which emits durability-enhancing oil in response to damage.  The heavy enchantments on the orichalcum chassis also make it fully capable of combating even the most potent of magics with ease, and it's pegasus magic enables it to interact with a variety of mists and smokes.

The perfect weapon to utterly destroy my enemies.

Of course, it wouldn't be an ultimate weapon without some actual weapons, which I did not neglect to include.  Most of them are stashed in a special mobile chamber, where portals can be tethered between the chamber and the golem to grant access, hotswapping weapons and parts out with ease.  Weapons such as wind-blasters, magic missiles, lightning launchers, repulsive armor, and of course, the Weiss Special, Black Flame flamethrowers.  It was well worth figuring out how to make Black Flames come out in rainbow colors, but it's absolutely a necessity, I feel.

One thing that I had to figure out was how to get the colors right.  Orichalcum and Adamantite are both stunningly durable materials, but sadly, paint is not as durable as the substance it is applied to.  The solution?  Illusion Magic, baked right into the golem's enchantments, to project colored dots all over the metal's surface.  As a static illusion, it holds up nicely in the face of attacks, but more importantly, while the etherware is there, I might as well have put it to good use, so I did.

Project Metal Dash, therefore, is also equipped with high quality illusion projectors, I haven't thought of a good use for a mobile illusion projector, but I'm sure I'll think of a few, sooner or later.  Preferably, though, I'll first figure out how to make a golem effective and skilled enough to pilot it.

Obviously, Golems cued by myself won't work.  I'm not a pegasus, I'm not even that skilled at aeronautics.  There's a reason I have dudes to do my R&D work for me, after all.

I tried a number of solutions, from using programs instead of golemancy, to mechanical methods of giving the golem more control over it's flight, but those have all failed without compromising key components of the machine, leaving me back at square one, I've made a machine whose skill ceiling is too high for anything I currently possess.  Perhaps in the future, I can come up with some better solution, but for now, I leave this entry here.






Entry Number Four-hundred and Seven, Year Two-hundred and Fifty-three


Here's a thought, if a golem isn't sufficient to control it, then what about a pony?  Of course, I'm being a bit factitious, by "pony", I mean a golem whose cues are far more potent than that of ordinary golems.  The more magic is used to create a golem, the more strongly it draws cues from the pony who it's magic came from.  I've been doing some research on againte, and it's ability to replicate strong magic that is near it.  If it weren't for the fact that it radiates it as well, it wouldn't be nearly so potentially useful.

Using two carefully carved and treated againte gemstones, I've created what I like to call an Againte Reactor, using this, I could feasibly create a self-sustaining reaction, two stones, radiating powerful magic back and forth to one another, resulting in a theoretically unceasing magical core which draws incredibly potent cues from it's donor.

Golems have always acted in a fairly organic manner, by drawing information from a snapshot of the person who created them in the exact moment they created it, but if I can get this Againte Reactor up and running, I can't help but wonder just how lifelike the resultant golem would truly be?





It's a total wash.  The theory is sound, but in practice, there's not a single pony in the Shadow Realm or beyond who can personally generate enough magical force to trigger the feedback loop and also create the Life Data necessary to activate the againte core in such a way that it derives cues from a single pony.  I'm stuck, unless I want to go to Celestia and Luna, and god would that be awkward as hell.  "Hey, I'd like to test if I can make a golem so strong that it acts exactly like you in every way, mind giving it a jumpstart?"  They'd laugh me out of their court.  Well, who needs them.  I'm sure I can find some rube dumb enough and strong enough to generate the sufficient magical force.  Eventually.